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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Rodney Bowes

Our Most Urgent Need

What a blessing to be here at Advent Hope today.

Wanted to make sure that all of you get a handout.

I'm a teacher more than a preacher, and I love to have something in your hand.

I believe that a message to really make an impact needs to be something that you can take notes on.

And so the message today is our greatest need.

As I was pondering what to share, There were a few things that came to my mind.

I asked some friends and they said, share that message.

I believe that God wants to do something very special in our personal experience today.

And Before we get started, before we open the Bible, I would like to invite you to once again bow your heads with me as we pray.

Father in heaven, Lord, great is Thy faithfulness.

We are so thankful that we can be here today on your Holy Sabbath, and I humbly ask that Jesus will be uplifted, that the cross of Calvary can be seen throughout this message, and that all of us, from the youngest to the oldest, might be blessed from our time here as we open your holy word.

So you'll notice on your handout, the first thing that we're talking about is what God is doing.

The world is falling apart, but God is doing amazing things.

So I would just like to encourage you to take just a moment and write down some of the amazing things that you have seen God doing in spite of the challenges in this world.

I'll just share a few that I know about from my personal experience.

I have the joy and privilege of serving as the president of LIGHT, the Lay Institute for Global Health Training.

So on a weekly basis, I get reports from all over the world about what God is doing.

So let me just share a few things with you.

Some of you may know that ministry, and it was so exciting what God has done in the last couple of years because we had a goal a few years ago to train some young people to go into the jungles of Peru to do mission work for those who are living in some very remote areas.

Our goal was to train 30 people, send them out, and we wanted, by God's grace, to see 300 baptisms.

COVID happened, and that was a tremendous challenge, but it was an opportunity and we trained 35 people and they went out and there were more than 220 people who were baptized in spite of the challenge.

God is good and He is working in amazing ways.

I'd also like to share with you what's happening in Nigeria.

We had a team that we trained to do medical missionary work, they went into an area where there was no Seventh-day Adventist church, which is very common actually in many parts of the world.

You know, sometimes when we're here in the Loma Linda area, we think Adventism is everywhere, but the reality is it's not.

There's a lot of places where there are no Seventh-day Adventist institutions, there are no schools, and there are no churches.

And So our team went to this area that was unentered.

For 3 weeks, they labored doing medical missionary work, ministering to the people, doing health education, getting to know them, going door to door and ministering to their felt needs.

My friend, Manoah, preached an evangelistic series at the end of this time, and there were 8 people who gave their lives to Christ.

And a little company is now formed in that area.

And then let me tell you about what is happening in India.

But by God's grace, we have trained several people to go and work as health coaches.

You know, doing open evangelism is not like what it has been in the past in India, and so we've had to adopt some different methods.

Now people are paying us to go into their home to share the gospel.

People are now asking for health coaches to come in and they're becoming befriended by our team of medical missionaries, health coaches, and they're not only sharing the health message in regard to physical health, but they also are talking about emotional and spiritual health.

Not to mention what is happening in the Muslim world right now.

Right now, God is working in a powerful way in the area in the Middle East and in North Africa.

Many of our brothers and sisters in the human family who have the Islamic faith, they're so dedicated and God is speaking to them.

They're seeing Jesus and they're giving their lives to Christ.

Jesus is being uplifted around this world, not to mention what is happening in China.

Amazing things, but I don't have time to tell you all of the stories.

Simply to say that God is working and miracles are happening.

But my friends, we have a very urgent need.

I would like for us to look at several Bible verses together.

This is a Bible study, so I want you to take your study guide, jot these verses down.

We're gonna look at as many of them as we possibly can, but these are some very solemn verses.

When we're thinking of our greatest need, we should not think that this is going to be an easy message, but 1 that could bring some challenge to us.

So let's look at several of these verses that are quite challenging.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven." Now, we recognize that, but verse 22 is especially difficult.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?" That's a pretty amazing list, isn't it?

That's a lot of good works, which is what we were talking about in Sabbath school.

But notice what verse 23 says, and then I, Jesus says, declared to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

I don't want to be in that group that hears those words.

Turn with me to Matthew chapter 24, just a few pages over.

Matthew chapter 24, we know this as the great prophetic chapter.

Matthew chapter 24 and verse 24 is another 1 that is certainly challenging to consider.

For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, who?

Does that make you think, am I going to be 1 of those who are going to be deceived?

Another story that Jesus told that really makes me think a lot.

We know we're not gonna go through all of this.

This is not a sermon on the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, but there's 1 verse that I want to highlight here.

As we know that there were 5 wise and 5 foolish.

It says, but while the bridegroom was delayed, how many slumbered and slept?

I don't like the idea of being asleep when Jesus is at the doors.

I don't like the idea of thinking that there's something I could have done, but I'm just not doing it.

We have a great need in our experience today.

We're gonna come back to Revelation chapter 3 a little bit later in this message.

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Our Most Urgent Need

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