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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Wes Peppers

Christian Service and Character

So let's pray together and ask the Lord's blessing.

Father in heaven, this morning, we've knelt before You, and in our hearts we're kneeling before You again, recognizing that we are but weak and frail human beings.

We are weak and frail, sinful, living in the last days of earth's history, in a time when the world is crumbling, the world is growing more and more anxious, looking this way and that way, trying to find answers to what's happening upon our world.

We're in the midst of crisis and pandemics.

And Lord, it seems like where there used to be places of escape and peace, there are none.

They are getting smaller and smaller, farther and farther between.

We have an encouraging rock that has never failed.

He's been through all the people, with the people of the ages, and that is you.

So this morning we look to you and we ask your Holy Spirit to bless us and we pray that you would draw near to us in a mighty way.

Please send your Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and to shake us where we need to be shaken, to wake us where we need to be wakened, and to break us where we need to be broken, but to lift us up and to bring healing, strength, and a rebuilding, a transformation.

Just a few months ago, we were in Portland, Oregon, and it is written, was conducting a very large-scale evangelistic series across the state of Oregon and part of Washington, the Oregon Conference, and we had partnered with them.

And so Pastor John and I actually co-preached a series there at the Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland.

You know, that city of Portland really needs prayer, really needs the love of Christ.

There's a lot of difficulties there, a lot of challenges.

And in the last several years, you can talk to just about any citizen of that city and they'll tell you in the last 5 to 10 years, the city has completely changed.

There's an increase in violence, increase in anxiety, increase in problems.

In fact, while we were conducting the meetings, Pastor John was in the church preaching the meeting.

During the meeting, During the meeting, a man who was attending the meeting got his truck stolen right out of the church parking lot.

On another night of the meeting, 2 people were shot and killed 5 minutes from the church.

But in the midst of all that, there was a man who was coming to the meetings, and his name was Ed.

And Ed had been persuaded lovingly by his wife, persistently and wisely by his wife to come to the meetings.

And she was a church member, he had not been.

And the first time he came into the meetings, he came the very first night, the greeters greeted him.

I was in the lobby and they said, oh, it's so good to see you here today.

And he looks and his head snaps over at them and he says, well, I'm not happy to be here.

And I heard that and he went in and sat down and I smiled at him.

And a few nights later, it was time for me to preach.

And just as I was about to preach, I mean, special music was happening.

And I run back to the sound booth because I had to double check that they had something ready.

And he caught me And he started to chew me out about a particular thing.

I won't tell you what it was, but it had to do with masks.

And we ended up, I'm not gonna say anything about that.

And he said, well, I just might not come back.

And I was very kind to him, and I said, brother, I looked at him in the eye and I said, brother, you don't know how much it would break my heart if you don't come back.

And he just kind of softened and he went to his chair.

After the message, I made a beeline for Ed as he was leaving.

And I said, you know, Ed, I really sure hope that you will come back tomorrow night.

He said, well, I suppose I'll probably come back.

And this was interesting, friends, because night by night he said, I don't want to be here, but every night he was riveted.

And he would lean forward and he would just be engaged in the meeting.

And finally the day came when I asked him if I could come and visit him at his house.

So when I got there, they had this meal spread out and we ate food and had some good fellowship, and then it was time to pray and just talk a little bit.

He told me that he was a Vietnam veteran.

In fact, he held a picture up for me to see, to look at, and Ed was this guy, he had his M16 rifle slung across his shoulder, he was standing like this, he probably had dress socks, but he was standing like this, he had his helmet on, he had a cigarette sticking out of his mouth, and He just looked like Clint Eastwood standing there, just like on the top of a ridge.

He said, I lived like a madman my entire life.

He said I'd been a scoundrel and a hoodlum.

And he said, and I got called and drafted to Vietnam.

And he said, my wife, who was this lady, sent me a ring as a token of her love.

Now I'm not advocating for that, but sent me a ring as a token of her love.

And he said it was a pretty big ring, and I had that ring on.

And when we were in the jungle, the enemy began to fire on us and began to shoot at us, and he said I lifted my rifle to fire back, and when I did, a bullet from the enemy struck that ring and deflected off the ring, and it blew my entire finger off.

I noticed when I shook his hand that he didn't have that ring finger.

And he said, And that day I began to realize that what I thought was wisdom was really foolishness.

He said, When I thought myself smart, I realized that I was trusting in a wisdom that was fading, and I began to reflect on my life about what was really true, what was really false, about the life that I had lived, about what the truth really was.

And he said, and it took decades after that, He said, I continued to live almost the same lifestyle.

But when I came to these meetings, it began to change my heart, and I began to see the wisdom of God for the very first time.

And he said, I want to give my life to Jesus.

He said, my wife, who was truly wise, had invited me.

She said, there's some meetings that are going to take place down in Portland, and I want to go to them.

And he had said to her, I don't have any interest in going to those meetings.

And she said, they're down in Portland at the Sunnyside Church at this place, and they're at 7 o'clock at night, so it's after dark.

And he said, I'll drive you, and then I'll go to the mall, and I'll walk while you do the meeting, and then I'll come back and pick you up.

And the wise lady said, well, if you're going to do that, I'm not going to go at all.

He said, fine, I'll go and sit in the back.

And this lady just gently and wisely drew this man in.

If you would meet this lady, the husband of Ed, you would realize that she's not amongst the most wise people on the earth.

But some people appear to have more understanding of things than others.

But there's a wisdom that's very rare in this world.

Very rarely, does it manifest itself in the things and in the ways that we esteem as human beings to be wise.

Now right now, we're on a campus of a place that claims to project great wisdom and knowledge to the world.

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Christian Service and Character

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