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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Pavel Goia Weekend

Pavel Goia

01 Can People Change?

02 Growing in Christ

03 Incredible Grace

Father in Heaven, we thank you so much for your love.

We cannot find the words to thank you and to praise you.

And Father, we right now Pray that you'll open the world.

And as you know every heart and every need, and you know the plans that you have for us, we pray that your Spirit may touch everyone, transform us, and Help us to see you, to know you, to love you, to commit ourselves.

Father, we pray in Jesus' merits and we thank you.

Tonight, I'm going to start with a message and I'm not sure I will be able to finish it, but at least we can start it.

And I'm going to give a couple of stories that my wife tells me not to tell the story.

She says, you encourage people to do the same.

But nevertheless, I'm going to tell 1 or 2 and then ask you 2, 3 questions.

And you don't need to answer except in your heart, in your mind, but do people change?

We, many times, we want to change and we make some decisions and some resolutions and we say I'm not going to lose my temper anymore or I'm going to eat healthy or I'm going to study or pray or whatever decisions you make, whatever you struggle with, whatever you know that God wants you to do, It may be something that you desire to do or maybe a sin that you want victory over and we decide and then we try and then we fail again and we feel discouraged and then we decide again and try again and then fail again or if it's a sin we ask forgiveness and then we do it again.

Is it possible to experience righteousness?

Do you have the peace, the joy that salvation brings?

I mean, real joy, real, let me say, crazy joy that you scream and jump.

If Christianity doesn't bring joy in your life, why would Christianity be attractive?

I'm not saying that we should look for joy and blessings.

I'm saying that We should have more peace and more hope and more joy than anybody else.

We should have more victory than anybody else.

We should have more power than anybody else.

Anyway, and so we are going to explore a little of these things.

I'm going to start with a story from my life.

My head cannot stop, I mean, all the time, too many ideas.

When people talk, I was young, I was then a student in college and so on.

When people would talk, before they could finish the sentence, I had a million answers, not 2 answers.

And not only that, I got ideas what to do, how to do it.

And always, because I had too many ideas and too much energy, I did a lot of pranks.

For instance, my uncle, I was only, I don't remember, 6, 7 grade, doesn't matter.

My uncle was fixing his car and fixing the muffler and that part of the car.

And I talked to him and he explained me that if the muffler is closed, if you put something to block it, the smoke cannot get out, there will be no exhaust.

Therefore, eventually the engine will choke and die.

It needs to eliminate the smoke, it needs to breathe.

Well, the pastor took the young people, all of us, camping And we went just short, we didn't go for a weekend.

We went in nature, Sunday morning, and we came back Sunday night.

And we had a bonfire and we ate together and we played a few games and we shared.

Well, during the meal, I ate some corn, corn on a cob.

I put the corn on the fire, nicely turned it around and then I ate the corn and then I got to the middle part that you don't eat and I got, as usually, always an idea.

I said, well, this goes perfectly in the pastor's car muffler.

So when nobody could see me, I put the leftover of the corn, the cob, in the muffler of the pastor's car.

Sure, that evening when everybody was supposed to go home, everybody, people got in the cars, The pastor started the car, he left.

He drove only about 20, 30 meters and the car cupped a few times and then the engine stopped.

And he tried again and again and again and again the battery started to die.

People looked, they, whoa, what is wrong here?

I go to the pastor and in a wise, humble way, I say, pastor, did you pray about it?

Oh, Pavel, I didn't think you are a pastor, come on, you should think about it.

They got around the car and they prayed that God would start the car while while they were praying.

I went behind the car and I pulled the corn from the muffler.

After they prayed he tried the car and the car started and they said miracle.

Well a young guy who didn't close his eyes during the prayer, he saw me and he told the pastor and the pastor got angry.

He forgot that he's supposed to have the patience of the saints and and you will never change.

Look, we get phone calls like 20 a day, every day from the things he does.

My father looked at my mom and then looked to me.

He said, you know, I was that way and my father prayed for me.

And my father looked to me and said, I am praying for you, son, and I know you will change because God has the power to change.

I was in a college and in a big church, I'm not going to tell you the name of the church, in the capital of Bucharest and in Romania.

We had an old pastor, 300 years old, I am exaggerating to make a point.

I don't know if he was 90 or 95 or 99, But he could hardly breathe.

You would think that he would die right there on the pulpit.

It would take him 10 minutes to say 2 words and then breathing, you know, ventilating.

Anyway, and so because the communist regime didn't allow too many pastors to go to the seminary, maybe 2 a year, and we had so many retiring, all pastors would stay there, you know, forever.

And so, because he was so sick and so old, good man, but nevertheless, people would sleep during the sermon.

I was at the balcony, I had a tube, like a straw, thicker, and with rice I would shoot in the head people who would sleep to wake them up.

And old people would sleep, young people would play games or look through magazines or talk or tell jokes.

Eventually, I started to be concerned for the church.

And my father said, there is no benefit to get upset with the church or to criticize the church.

The church is the people, the people is you.

If you really care, you got to do something.

You should not talk about it, but do something about it.

Series

Pavel Goia Weekend

01 Can People Change?

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Breakout Session A

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1h 11m

Experiencing God

Session 1: New Life in Prayer and Praise

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Why the Adventists are Stuck with Me

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Life of the Apostle Paul

When God Says No - Part 12

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Our Mistakes and God’s Purpose

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What is Righteousness by Faith?

The Answer to Our Deficiencies

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Plenary Meetings

2019 Lost in Translation

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Being Adventist

The Terrifying Tyranny of Adventist Eschatology

1h 7m

Encounters With Jesus

Jesus’ Encounter with the Woman with the Spirit of Infirmity

42m

Mind Over Matter

44m

It's Time Someone Finally Told You the Truth About...

The Human Nature of Christ - Part 2

51m

Survival Secrets for End Times

49m

Sound Doctrine