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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Sanctuary Service: Ps. Douglas Na'a

Douglas Na'a

How to Have the Mind of Christ

It's good to be with you here this weekend at Advent Hope.

I'm so excited to be with you here this weekend.

As what was mentioned earlier on, this weekend I'm just going to project and give you some ideas, just a forward projection about what to expect this weekend.

This weekend, I'm gonna be talking about the sanctuary series, the sanctuary service, I should say.

And of course, the Sanctuary Doctrine is so profound, so complex, and a few days won't be suffice enough to actually go through every intricate detail of the Sanctuary.

There is so much you could learn from the Sanctuary Message.

So I've just kind of narrowed it down where I'll be talking about the Sanctuary Service, in particular, 5 types of offerings.

5 particular types of offerings that I will begin talking about this weekend.

And that'll be the burn offering, the trespass offering, the sin offering, the meat offering, and the grain offering.

And of tomorrow's divine worship, I'm gonna be talking about Aaron's investiture and what that really means.

1 thing that I have found in my studies of the services, now of course we can approach the sanctuary from the different types of furniture and what it means, but I wanna just dwell on those 5 types of offerings.

And I want to begin this evening by preluding to you, hopefully something practical.

I believe as I study the sanctuary, and you would probably agree with me, that God wants us to reflect this character, amen?

That's God's ultimate desire for his people, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus, that they will perfectly reflect his character, to be of 1 mind with him.

And so I want to prelude this weekend series by talking about the mind of Christ.

So before we begin let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Great and eternal Father in heaven, we ask for your Holy Spirit not only tonight, but for the remainder of this weekend.

Uplift our hearts, our thoughts, and our minds to you.

You know as much as I do that there is a battle going on, isn't there?

A battle of the great controversy, a battle between truth and error, a battle between good and evil.

1 of the unique things about this battle is that you won't hear about this warfare on CNN.

They won't tell you about this kind of warfare.

This is not a warfare over ideologies, or this is not a warfare over oil or land.

It's not a warfare that's fought over in the Middle East somewhere, but this battle of the warfare is a battle of our mind.

The battle of the great controversy is the battle, yes, between truth and error, but more than that, it's the battle over our mind.

The pain of inspiration makes it very clear, dear friends, that out of our mind come our actions.

Our actions lay the foundation of our habits.

When you repetitively do something, it becomes a habit.

Then she furthermore goes on to say that our habits lay the foundation of our character and our character determines our destiny.

You see the battle of the great controversy is the battle over who we give our allegiance to.

Satan is not so much concerned about our character.

Satan is not really concerned about our action.

What Satan wants first and foremost is our mind.

Because once he has our mind, he has our characters.

He's concerned about our mind, because once he has our mind, he has our destiny.

So the battle of great controversy is a battle of our mind.

And we need to be very careful what we feed our minds.

And with that in mind, I believe that's why it is so imperative that Paul's message in Philippians chapter 2 states, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

There's a great controversy motif found right there in Philippians 2, verse 5.

Somehow, Paul must have knew about the battle of the great controversy being the battle of our mind.

Because once you have the mind of Christ, you will have the character of Christ.

Once you have the mind of Christ, you will have the actions of Christ.

And finally, once you have the mind of Christ, you will ultimately have the destiny of Christ.

Thus, from that perspective, from the battle of the great controversy, and as we're going to talk later on this weekend, the sanctuary message pointing us to have the mind of Christ.

The question I'd like to submit to your attention this evening is, how do we have the mind of Christ?

How does 1 have this mind, the mind that was also found in Jesus?

If you have your Bibles with you, come with me to the book of Philippians.

Philippians Chapter 2, beginning with verses 5 to verse 8.

The Bible reads, The Bible reads, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

He says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

If we glean that in and of itself, is it possible to have the mind of Christ?

Then Paul begins to break down in verses 6 down to verse 8, what this mind really is.

You really don't have to go anywhere outside of the book of Philippians chapter 2 to find out what the mind of Christ is.

Paul mentions it right there with verses 6 down to verse 8.

Then he continues to write under inspiration, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of what?

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he what?

Humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of Christ.

Paul states the imperative, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Then Paul begins to break down what that mind is.

To be of no reputation, to be a servant, to be humble, and to be obedient.

To be of no reputation, to be a servant, to be humble.

He became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Now brothers and sisters, I had to ask myself, what do we call these qualities?

To be of no reputation, to be a servant, to be humble, to be obedient.

The Bible is clear that these qualities are known as character qualities.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, to be of no reputation, to be a servant, to be humble, and to be obedient.

In other words, what Paul is simply stating is saying to have the mind of Christ is to have the character of Christ.

And we can conclude on that right there in Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 to 8.

Having the mind of Christ is synonymous with having the character of Christ.

That's what these qualities are referred to.

Aaron’s Investiture

Oh, I'm sure you can do better than that.

And I emphasize the word again because as I was listening to the special music just a few minutes ago.

And by the way, thank you for that beautiful song.

The last time I was here was 4 years ago, going on 5, I believe.

And so it was 2008, 2008, yes, 2008, I was here.

And so it's very encouraging that 4 years later you come around and you see familiar faces and you see new faces.

And it's just an awesome privilege and an experience to be part of a group of young people who are serious about the second coming of Jesus and also those who are young at heart too.

So may God bless you and may God keep you as we do our part in this part of the Lord's vineyard to prepare for the soon return of our Savior.

Before we begin this afternoon, let us bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Great and eternal Father in heaven, we thank you once again for the blessed hope of your soon return.

Furthermore, we thank you for this beautiful Sabbath.

As we study your Word, speak to us, guide us, Holy Spirit, teach us, and bring things back to our remembrance.

As you have promised, this is our humble prayer.

This weekend as I was asked to come and speak to Advent Hope again, I began to ponder in my mind what should I talk about.

And so I decided that I'm going to talk about the sanctuary service.

And I began last night with something practical about how to have the mind of Christ.

In other words, how to have the character of Christ and the importance of having the character of Christ.

This morning, I would like for us to go to a book that is often referred to as pretty dormant and boring.

I must confess with you this morning, as you turn to the book of Leviticus, that When I became a Seventh-day Adventist, there was 1 task I had in mind.

I didn't grow up in Adventist, I grew up Methodist.

And when I heard the Advent message, I also heard that the Adventist people were known as people of the book.

And so I determined in my mind that I'm going to read the Bible from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation.

How many of you had that desire at 1 point in your life?

How many made that your New Year's resolution?

So I had a desire in my mind to study or read the Bible from cover to cover, the book of Genesis to Revelation.

And in my reading and in my pondering of scripture, There were 2 portions of the scriptures that I found absolutely boring.

As a matter of fact, I began to wonder to myself, why is it even here?

The first portion of scripture in my endeavor to study or read the book from Genesis to Revelation were the genealogies.

I mean, when I started reading the genealogies, I thought to myself, what's the big deal?

So-and-so begat so-and-so, and so-and-so begat so-and-so.

And some of these names you couldn't even pronounce or even say it aloud.

And so I determined in my mind that I'm sure the Bible says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof and that's including the genealogies.

And in my studies of the genealogies, I found The beauty of the genealogies is that the genealogies has some messianic meaning.

It confirms that Jesus was actually a fulfillment of these genealogies.

Thus, when we come to the Gospels, the reason why there's an end to the genealogies, you have no genealogies after Jesus, is because Jesus had fulfilled the genealogies.

Something beautiful in something that's perceived as boring.

I remember a friend of mine who's a pastor.

He came to me 1 day and he shared with me, he shared with me a visitation he had.

It was a, 1 of his members was on his deathbed.

And his final wish was for the pastor to come in and just be by his bedside and just be there with him as he breathes his last breath.

And as the member was lying there on the bed, my pastor friend came to talk to me and he says, this was probably the most weirdest visitation I've ever experienced.

Now as pastors, we have formulated in our minds certain passages of scriptures for certain circumstances.

I mean, when someone's about to die, you know, the classic book and chapter, Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

But to his amazement, when he came to the bedside of this dying member, the last request of this dying member was for the pastor to read to him the genealogies.

Out of all passages of scripture, somehow this individual found comfort in the genealogies.

And so the pastor really couldn't understand, so he turned to the Bible and he began to read and so and so begat so and so.

And with every name that was pronounced, that person lying on a deathbed just closed his eyes and just kept reminiscing, kept on saying, mmm, mmm.

How can he find hope and comfort in something so dormant and boring?

And so and so begat so and go, And so the pastor had to finally ask him and said, Sir, what comfort and hope do you find in the genealogies?

To which the man replied to the pastor and he says, If God can remember all these names, I'm sure he must remember my name.

And when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise, He, pastor, will call me by name." Whether you can look at it from a theological or messianic standpoint, I'm sure there is comfort and hope in the genealogies, amen?

Something so boring can produce something exciting and comforting.

The other portion of scripture in my endeavor to read the Bible from cover to cover that I found absolutely boring was the book of Leviticus.

So I had to plow my way through the book of Leviticus.

All of this gory blood, killing, flaying, skinning.

It doesn't just say kill the animal, it actually says wring off its neck, skin it alive, take the blood, put it, I mean it's gory detailed stuff.

But it is my hope and my desire this evening, this afternoon and later on this evening to bring out something beautiful in the book of Leviticus that's often perceived as boring.

With that in mind, come with me to the book of Leviticus.

There are some things in my study that I found in the book of Leviticus that are interesting facts.

First of all, the book of Leviticus has more direct speech from God than any other book in the Bible.

There is more direct communication between God and man in the book of Leviticus than any other book.

Thus that probably tells me that if you desire a direct word from God, consider the book of Leviticus.

There is more direct speech between God and man in the book of Leviticus than any other book in the Bible.

Secondly, in my studies of the book of Leviticus, I found that the book of Leviticus is at the heart of the Torah.

The Torah is simply the 5 books of the Bible.

The 5 books that make up the foundation of the completeness of the Scriptures.

Every other book in the Bible borrows its ideas, borrows its language, and its concepts from the Torah.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

These 5 books lay the foundation of the entirety of the scriptures.

And Leviticus is right there in the heart of the Torah.

There are 2 books before it and there are 2 books after it.

Right there, smack dab in the Torah is the book of Leviticus.

Furthermore, the heart of the book of Leviticus is Leviticus chapter 16, which talks about the atonement.

Thus 1 can safely conclude that probably the whole entirety of the scriptures stems from the principle or the doctrine of the atonement.

And as 7 day Adventist Christians awaiting the return of our savior, living in this perilous times, the Atonement is a doctrine that we ought to be intimately acquainted with, isn't it?

Since October 26th in 1844, the great high priest, Jesus, stepped into the most holy place.

And right now, we are living in the anti-typical day of atonement.

So right there, smack dab, in the Torah, is the book of Leviticus.

The heart of the book of Leviticus is Leviticus chapter 16 which refers to the atonement.

Interesting facts of the book of Leviticus that brings out the beauty of this once perceived boring book.

Sanctuary Offerings Part I

It's very encouraging for a speaker to see his audience come back.

How many of you had a blessed lunch just before?

Well, we're going to carry on our study for this weekend.

We're talking about the the investiture of Aaron the priest, the confirmation of Aaron the priest into the role of his priestly role in the sanctuary in the time of Moses.

And we began to look in the book of Leviticus how there were certain qualifications that was mandatory for the priest to go through in order for him to be confirmed or qualified to do his job in the sanctuary.

Today we're going to go back to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 1.

And before we even talk about the meat offering, we're going to talk about another offering that's known as The burnt offering.

And that's found in the book of Leviticus chapter 1.

So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Leviticus chapter 1.

And we will begin reading from verses 1 down to verse 17.

Before we begin, let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Father, once again, we humbly come before thy throne of grace, seeking for your mercy and for enlightenment upon our hearts and our minds.

There were 5 offerings in the sanctuary and this is the first of the 5, the burn offering.

Leviticus, the first chapter, beginning with verse 1.

The Bible reads, children of Israel and say unto them if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord ye shall bring your offering of the cattle even of the herd and of the flock if his offering be a what friends?

A burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish.

He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.

And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord, and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

The burnt offering and cut it into his pieces.

And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar and lay the wood in order upon the fire.

And the priests Aaron's sons shall lay the pots the head and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar.

But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water, And the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord.

And If his offering be of the flocks, namely of the sheep or the goats, for a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring it a male without blemish.

And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord.

And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar and he shall cut it into his pieces with his head and his fat and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar.

But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water, and the priest shall bring it all and burn it upon the altar.

It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord.

The Bible reads, And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtle doves or of young pigeons, and the priest shall bring it unto the altar and ring off his head.

And burn it on the altar, and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar.

And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east part by the place of the ashes but he shall cleave it with the wings thereof but shall not divide it asunder and the priest shall burn it upon the altar upon the wood that is upon the fire.

A burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto whom?

In the book of Leviticus there are 4 offerings that the Bible tells us that were mandatory.

You had to bring these offerings into the sanctuary.

There was the meat offering or the grain offering.

Then the Bible speaks of a peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and the burn offering.

5 separate offerings in the book of Leviticus.

Now the Bible tells us that, we just read, that a man could bring a bullock, a sheep, a goat, even turtle doves or young pigeons.

However, the Bible makes it very clear that it must be clean.

The Bible furthermore tells us in the book of Leviticus that the offerer had to lay his hand on the head of this animal.

Then the Bible teaches us the offerer was responsible, was the 1 responsible in killing the offering.

Thus teaching the sinner that it was his sins that was responsible for killing our Savior.

The offerer was the 1 responsible, not the priest, but the offerer.

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Series

Sanctuary Service: Ps. Douglas Na'a

Sanctuary Offerings Part II

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