The world is in desperate need of men and women who can make an eternal impact for good. We investigate the histories of Joseph and Daniel to see how their lives provide timeless lessons for how we might become such people for the glory of God.

<p>The world is in desperate need of men and women who can make an eternal impact for good. We investigate the histories of Joseph and Daniel to see how their lives provide timeless lessons for how we might become such people for the glory of God.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Alistair Huong

The Greatest Want of the World

Father in heaven, we thank you for the Sabbath and technology that allows us to remain connected and to worship even if we are not physically in proximity to each other.

And so today we pray that although we are Separated by distance, we know that you have never been, your hand is not shortened.

You have always been able to speak to us wirelessly, so to say, across the airwaves, through the expanse of space and time.

And so today we ask that you condescend into this live stream, this online meeting, to teach us something.

We simply ask that you will show us what is true.

Speak to our hearts now we pray and ask in Jesus name.

Let's take a look at the passage where this phrase comes from.

It is found in the book Education, page 57, and it's important to notice what paragraph it's found because you'll find out in just a moment.

This is a third paragraph and we're going to be looking at the context in a little bit, so knowing the where it's found will be helpful for that.

Here, it says, The greatest want of the world is the want of men.

Men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, Men who do not fear to call sin by its right name.

Men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole.

Men who will stand for the right, though the heavens fall.

And of course we know that the usage of the term men here is universal for mankind.

We're talking about persons of character, people of integrity.

And you know this statement it seems like the type of thing that you will find emblazoned on a plaque or on a painting on a wall, you know, in the hallway of some corporation or on the desk of some CEO.

It's just 1 of those quotable quotes that is pithy, it's succinct, and it's sort of powerful.

But if we think about it, truly with the chaos, the uncertainty, the unrest in the world, I would say that more than ever this is exactly what the world is looking for.

We're looking for men and women of character, men and women that are able to move the world for righteousness, for the sake of good, to make lasting change that impacts us as mankind.

But really today I don't want to drill into this specific passage per se.

We know what it says, we understand its essence, and we agree with it, and we can see its relevance for our day, but I want to look really at the paragraph immediately preceding this 1.

Okay, so we're going to take a look at the context.

We were in paragraph 3, education page 57, now paragraph 2.

So this is immediately prior to what we just read.

The history of Joseph and Daniel is an illustration of what he, meaning God, will do for those who yield themselves to him and with the whole heart seek to accomplish his purpose." And the very next words after this paragraph is, the greatest want of the world is the want of men.

And on and on the rest of the paragraph goes.

So in essence, within the context of that powerful statement is the history of Joseph and Daniel.

In other words, God is saying The world needs men and women of integrity.

Well, what does a man or a woman look like?

And in this particular statement right here, not only does it say it's an illustration of that type of person, it says of what God wants to do, what He will do for those who yield themselves to Him and with a whole heart seek to accomplish His purpose.

So in other words, there is an appeal here.

God is actually making a direct application.

He's saying, look at their life So that we might emulate what God did through them.

The balance of our time, our study today, is going to be evaluating, reviewing, taking a survey, if you will, of the history of Joseph and Daniel.

And since we're familiar with these stories, this is going to be a view from 30, 000 feet.

So we're going to be flying over and we're going to be just taking in the big picture.

I often like to study the Bible in this way.

There is power in taking things in a minute scale.

We just 0 in and we drill deep in 1 verse until we really exhaust the meaning, if that's even possible.

But we just try to go as deep as possible.

But we don't want to lose the forest for the trees.

We need to actually get the lay of the land to see in contextually how all the pieces fit together.

We're going to just be flying over the stories of Joseph and Daniel and picking out, comparing, and contrasting the big themes, the principles that we can learn in context, right?

All in view of the understanding that God used them as an illustration of how men and women ought to be to fulfill the greatest want of the world.

So we're gonna take a look and we're gonna begin by looking at the family history of these 2 great men in the Bible of Joseph and Daniel and as You probably guessed we're gonna start in their homes.

Both Joseph and Daniel came from God-fearing homes.

We have a couple statements that buttresses this point.

In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God.

Daniel and his companions had been faithfully instructed in the principles of the Word of God.

And this is another statement from Patriarchs and Prophets, page 144.

We're seeing that for Joseph and Daniel to be the great men that they were, they had a strong foundation laid for them at home.

I think I don't need to belabor this point, except to say, there is something to be said about the family.

Society and the church itself is founded on the building blocks of the family.

An individual, his character, his predispositions, his worldviews, the way that he interacts with people, all of these things, and we're going to talk about a lot of them as we go along this study, it all starts in the home.

And that's why in the book Education, a great deal of what Ellen White has to say about education, which nowadays we associate with schooling, She is focused on the home.

So I don't need to belabor this point because we understand the value of it, but I think this also lays the foundation for a few things that will come later on down in this study.

So the family history, the first point is, foundationally, Both Joseph and Daniel came from God-fearing homes.

Now, to put a finer tip on this, they were brought up in country homes.

That was the patriarch's family, that's how they lived.

Daniel, by his point in history, they were captives from Jerusalem.

But based on the history of Israel, Most of Israel still had a very close connection to nature, even if they were living in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was not nearly the large metropolis that Babylon or the cities of Egypt were.

And so he and El Mouawai, in various places, as Daniel grew up in relative simplicity, which gives the idea of being connected with nature.

So even if it wasn't country as in off-the-grid country, but he was in a small town or smaller town, they then later, after their upbringing in that environment, they later went to minister in the cities.

This is a pattern right throughout history.

Moses was brought up actually he was brought up in the city you know he spent 12 years at home with his mother as a slave went to pharaoh's palace and then he had to spend decades being retrained in the wilderness out in the country before he came back to lead his people out.

So Jesus was raised in the country, John the Baptist, I mean on and on it goes and of course Ellen White's Spirit Prophecy has plenty to say regarding country living and where to raise our children.

I think this is an important point regarding raising children with the character to move the world.

But additionally they were both taught their Bibles.

I think this goes without saying Joseph knew the difference between right and wrong.

Potiphar came to seduce him, he could say, how can I commit this sin against God?

Back to Menu

The Greatest Want of the World

Transcript

Description

Sponsor

Recorded

Attachments

Related

Our Problem With Authority

53m

Seminars

Christ in the Word and Prayer

53m

The Most Important Question

43m

A Redemption Story

50m

Why ‘Sticks and Stones’ is a Lie: The True Power of Words

53m

When God Shows Up - Advent HOPE August 2019

Abundant in Goodness and Truth and Keeping Mercy for Thousands

37m

Filled by God's Spirit

01 Filled by God’s Spirit

50m

All of These and Those Are Mine

50m

Flight Plan

1. Departure

1h

Mind Cure- Part 2

1h 38m

Health

Depression and Anxiety - Blessings in Disguise

1h 34m

Christ in Crisis

1h 7m

Sound Doctrine