iShare 2012

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Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

iShare 2012 Plenary Sessions

David Solomon Hall

Don’t Hang Up Your Harp

I, as you find it, I am grateful to be here.

Just a few months ago, I had, and I'm going to talk about this more in my sermon, but I had a significant open heart surgery.

And last year, I was told some very disheartening, if I can play on the words, news, with respect to my longevity.

But the fact that I am not dead, that I'm standing here before you means so much to me that God has brought me all the way back.

And I have a renewed appreciation for the gospel of Jesus Christ and a renewed vigor, even in the weakened body, to preach and say a word for him.

Psalm 137, 1 through 4 reads this way, King James Version, by the rivers of Babylon.

There we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

For there, they that carried us away captive required of us a song.

And they that wasted us required of us mirth saying sing us 1 of the songs of Zion.

Verse 4 reads how can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

I want to talk to you for the next couple of moments on what we've entitled, Don't hang up your harp.

And now God our Father, we have gathered in this place for this weekend for 1 reason and 1 reason only, and that's to bask in your presence.

We want it to be said of us as it was said of Moses when he came down from the mountain and the glory of the Lord was so upon him that they had to shield their eyes.

We want people to see that glory upon us because we just want to spend some time with you this weekend.

So I'm asking in the name of Jesus, for you said in your Word, if we ask anything in your name, you would do it.

So I am asking you in Jesus' name to figuratively speaking place a crack in the floor of heaven and allow some of the glory of heaven to shine down upon this place.

Let your Holy Spirit walk among us tonight.

You have already been here through previous words and previous messages, previous songs, but we want you to linger just a little while longer.

Let this experience be like none other we have had before.

And when we prepare to leave, may we say it was good to be in the house of the Lord.

We ask these favors and mercies in the name of Jesus.

Where they were once free to come and go and do whatever it was they pleased, they now found themselves, according to this passage, and according to the record, as prisoners in the land of Babylon.

Prophet after prophet had warned them, if you continue worshiping other gods made of stone and wood, if you continue worshiping the heavenly bodies, then I will send the Chaldeans, the Babylonians to deal with you.

But they ignored every prophetic warning and soon, the Bible says, the Babylonians came.

They, I did some historical reading and those that could not make the trip, those that were slightly older, the record says they just killed them.

And some of the princes, some of the men, they hung them from trees, tortured them, and then proceeded to kill them.

And the lucky ones, come on, David, the lucky ones Got to walk behind horse or donkey, tied from where they were back to the Babylonian lands.

And so we have them being taken away as prisoners.

After a full day of working, let's fast forward, They're sitting there under the willow tree, looking at the river Chabar, which is separating them from where they came from.

And in my imagination, I'm thinking they're beginning to long for what they used to have.

I think the reason they began to cry was because they started feeling just a little bit homesick.

You ever went away somewhere and then after, you know, it's cool the first couple of days, but after day 3 and you wish you had a different kind of food, you start feeling and reminiscing about the time gone by.

I can't believe I've lived that long myself.

But I was 18 and I called home this particular Sabbath because I knew they had to be missing me.

So I thought I would do them the privilege of giving them a call so that they could hear from me and know that I was all right.

It was as if they were too busy to talk to me.

They began telling me all the food that they had at the house.

And my mind was on the cafeteria food that I had just partook of.

And while it was scrumptious and healthy and all the other positives, so I'm not talking about it negatively, while it was all of that, it was not Lillian Hall's food.

And I was listening to them talk about her food.

And I was listening to them not missing me.

I was sitting there in the hallway of the freshman men dormitory and something happened to my eyes.

It had to be allergies because I was 18 years old.

I was a man and men can handle things like this.

But these things, it was like they were racing down my face, You know, and then 1 of my boys come in the hallway, and he's like, yo Dave, man, are you crying?

I know lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.

I have been homesick before, but that Thanksgiving, thank you, Jesus, when I went home in November, after 3 months of toil and labor, I partook once again of the bountiful feast.

They still remembered my name, most of them.

My room, while it had other things in it, that's okay.

They at least pushed them to the side until I left.

After 3 months, I was able to go home, but the children of Israel, after 3 months, they were still there.

For what seemed like an eternity, they were still there.

They just looked over yonder at the river.

They began recounting stories of how good they had it.

And the Bible says that they took their harps, they hanged, King James Version, their harps in the willows in the midst thereof.

They took their instrument of joy and gladness, their way of celebrating their Lord and their God, those that remain true to him.

They took their instruments and they hanged them in the willow tree, in the weeping willow, if you will, Because inside they had nothing left.

No, We can't sing that because we're prisoners.

What a friend we have, no, we can't sing that because we're captives in a strange land.

Have you ever noticed when you're down, you're depressed, you can't take it anymore?

That's when the devil shows up, when you're at your weakest point.

The Bible says the Babylonian captors came to them.

Couldn't help but notice the harps hanging in the trees.

We know that that's your symbol for joy and gladness and praising your God.

Couldn't help but notice it hanging in the tree.

Heidi Carpenter

Buried

I am so proud of all of you for waking up early and being here bright and early at 8 o'clock in the morning for the devotional.

I pray that it will be a blessing for each and every 1 of you, as well as for me this morning, as we study the word.

We're going to have a Bible study this morning.

We're gonna study the Bible and see what Jesus has in store for us.

You know, I was worried actually about Bobby's introduction.

But those years at Souls West were the 2 best years of my life back then.

Every year it gets better in Jesus' service.

But from that point, I would have to say that that was the turning point in my life of genuinely enjoying life with Jesus.

And I remember those first classes, we didn't know hardly anything.

But God taught us so much from the word of God.

And I know 1 thing that I actually think about, now that you mention that, that goes along with what I'm sharing this morning, is the first time I ever met Bill Crick.

I don't think he's here this morning, no.

But the first time I met Bill Crick, he came right up to me.

And he shook my hand and he said, you must be Heidi Bryant.

And he's like, I've heard a lot about you.

And then he's, and then after talking for about 5 or 10 minutes about my background, my family background, where I'd come from, the parents that I had, he told me something that I will never forget.

He said, Heidi, because of the way the Lord has led in your life and what he has given you, you owe your life to the world.

He just said, you can't live for yourself.

And I remember that it burned in my memory and I've always remembered, Heidi, don't live for yourself.

God has given all of us in this room talents, abilities, gifts, and he's saying I've given them to you because I don't want you to live for yourself.

And this morning we'll be looking at that today.

Father in heaven, oh Lord Jesus, we owe everything to you.

Lord, you are a God who was willing to become a man.

You are the King of the universe who is willing to become a servant.

And Father, when we look at the character of your Son reflecting your beautiful character to earth, we see a God we want to serve.

Lord, we see a God that we want to serve with all of our mind, soul, and strength.

Father, we pray that you would be here this morning as we study from your word, that you would bring to our mind spiritual realities that will give us a deeper commitment to living 100% for you.

Father, I pray that your presence would be here and that I would not speak, but that you would, and that others and myself, that we would simply hear the voice of Jesus speaking to our hearts this morning.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 25.

Matthew 25, We'll be starting in verse 13 and as soon as you get there, if you could let me know by saying hallelujah, that would be great.

Matthew 25 and verse 13 reads, in which the Son of Man is coming.

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

We don't know when Jesus is going to come, do we?

We don't know the day, we don't know the hour, but what does Jesus ask us to do here in this verse?

Now, the context here is so important in what we are about to embark upon in our study of God's Word.

This verse is the context for the passage that we'll study this morning.

It says in Christ's object lessons, Jesus, speaking of Jesus, he showed what it means to watch for his coming.

The time is to be spent not in idle waiting, not in what?

Not in idle waiting, but in diligent working.

This lesson he taught in the parable of the talents.

So here we can see, it's giving us this picture of the fact that Jesus is coming soon and that we are to watch, right?

That's verse 13, and verse 14 goes straight into the parable of the talents.

I believe that everything boils down to priorities based on the time that we're living in.

I know Michael Touzon came through and gave some worships in our programs.

I work in Southern California and I have 2 wonderful, amazing Youth Rush programs that I love with all of my heart.

And he came through and shared some worships with these teams of young people who were going out and doing ministry.

And as he came through, his message was powerful.

For those of you who heard it, to think about the fact that we make decisions differently based off of knowing what time it is.

You know, If you gotta be to work by 8, decisions that you make at 7.55 are drastically different than ones you make at 6 a.m., right?

Because you have greater priorities, and that's the way it is for us.

I believe that's why Jesus put verse 13 in before verse 14 because he wants us to realize how important it is to him that we develop talents.

Now let's go through we're starting in verse 14 the parable of the talents in the context of the second coming.

It is the most important thing that we can be doing right now.

Not being idle waiters, but being diligent workers in what we do.

It says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

Here we see a man going on a far journey.

He calls his servants to him and he does what?

And to 1 he gave 5 talents, to another 2, and to another 1, to each according to his own what?

What I like here is the fact that this master was smart enough to realize that not everyone can handle everything.

This master gave to each 1 according to his ability.

Verse 16, Then he who had received the 5 talents went and traded with them and made another 5 talents.

And likewise he who had received 2 gained 2 more also.

But he who had received 1 went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money." Here we see 2 faithful servants, amen?

Right away they take the talents that God has given them that are not their own, whose are they?

Daniel Jackson

Your Witness is Showing

A number of years ago, I was interviewing candidates for baptism and I did kind of a cheeky thing.

You know, as a pastor I believed in visiting in people's homes.

And you know, it's sad when pastors don't visit.

But I believe very much in visiting in people's homes.

And you know, I'd been in the deacon's home a number of times, and I saw he had these lovely, big, armed chairs.

And I went to him on Friday and said, could you bring your chairs with you to church tomorrow?

And we put them up and some people thought it was sacrilege.

We actually moved the pulpit And we had a chair there and a chair there, and everyone who was being baptized that day sat in those chairs.

Like this, Why in the world do you want to become a Seventh-day Adventist?

Everybody in the church that day was absolutely blown away by the testimony of a young woman who with her husband was going to be baptized that day.

She said, at first I would bring my children to Sabbath school, drop them off, and then come back at the end of Sabbath school to pick them up.

I wanted nothing to do with the church, but I believed that my children needed a Christian education.

But Sabbath after Sabbath, as I would walk through the door, and she called him Uncle Peter, she said, Sabbath after Sabbath, as I would walk through the door, Uncle Peter would smile at me and shake my hand.

He wouldn't say much more than that to me.

But by the time I had done that for a couple of months, I said to myself, that man has something that I need.

This brother who didn't give Bible studies, who didn't even pray publicly, who never got up and called for the offering, had an attitude.

And he was grateful to God for the way in which God had blessed him and cared for him.

It was his ministry to stand at the door on Sabbath morning and greet people to the church.

This woman had her life changed by Uncle Peter.

And I will never forget that man getting up and mopping his eyes as he walked out of the sanctuary this morning, that morning.

But you see, for Christians living in the final days of Earth's history, it ought to be like this.

Wherever we go, no matter what we are doing, it ought to be that obvious.

It ought to be said by everyone who sees us, your testimony is showing.

I believe that the time has come for Seventh-day Adventists, and that includes everyone in this room today, and If you're not, we'll invite you to do that later.

But it is time for us to intensify our beliefs.

And at the very center, at the core of Seventh-day Adventism is the need to represent God in everything we do.

We must become more intentional about our faith and our beliefs And I want to talk to you for a few moments And I don't know what time we're really supposed to start, but when they start taking out the guns.

I'm running I Want to use this passage Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7.

Be anxious for nothing, But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ.

You see, the fact is this, that most people who become Seventh-day Adventist and most people who are leaving the Seventh-day Adventist Church do so because of relationships.

What do people see in you and me when they watch us?

Is our silent life testimony so powerful and compelling that those watching us would make lifetime commitments to Christ because of what they see in us?

You see we are preoccupied in the North American division with the idea of reaching our churches, our communities, our homes, our schools, and our business places with Jesus Christ.

However, if you and I do not personally demonstrate our connection with Jesus, then all other systems will fail.

And I believe that when we start to talk about the question of why are we losing such a high percentage of our young adults, it comes back more than we would like to.

It correlates with the idea that men and women of a younger age can see right through us.

I'm going to share something very powerful with you this morning.

It comes from an inspired writer by the name of Ellen.

It's from Christ Object Lessons pages 299 and 300.

We are to show the world and all the heavenly intelligences that we appreciate the wonderful love of God for fallen humanity and that we are expecting larger and yet larger blessings from his infinite fullness.

And then she says, far more than we do, we need to speak of the precious chapters of our experiences.

And then she gives us, she starts giving us some keys, and if you've read this statement before, you know what I'm about to say.

That is, when we are praising God, when we are telling people that we are still expecting more from what he is doing.

Number 1, they drive back the power of Satan.

Number 2, they expel the spirit of murmuring and complaint and the tempter loses ground.

And number 3, they cultivate those attributes of character which will fit the dwellers on earth for the heavenly mansions.

Then she goes on, and here's the real kicker of this statement, The most powerful thing comes at the end of the statement.

She says, such a testimony will have an influence on others.

Then, no more effective means can be employed for winning souls to Christ.

How may I develop such a compelling life statement through Jesus that men and women will see Jesus in me.

The Bible makes a very definitive statement and that is being thankful to God and praising Him come as a result of faith.

Lasting happiness comes when our trust is placed in Him, when our lives are God-centered.

The world today will have you focus your attention on yourself, on your needs, on your desires, on your aspirations, etc.

And yet true happiness comes when we place our trust in God and become God-centered.

Listen again to what Paul says, Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need always giving thanks and God's peace which is so great we cannot understand it will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus 2 thoughts jump out at me when I look at this passage.

Number 1, we have the privilege of being happy and grateful because we are children of a gracious and wonderful a generous Heavenly Father.

We know that He takes care of us even though we cannot always see it as He does.

Secondly, as we come to know and understand this about God, He will give us that level of peace of mind that will almost be impossible for people to miss.

Remember, these exercises drive back the power of Satan, expel the spirit of murmuring and complaint, and the tempter loses ground, and they cultivate those attributes of character which will fit the dwellers on earth for the mansions or for the heavenly mansions.

This is what Paul was attempting to say in Philippians chapter 4 and this is what he's trying to say to you and me.

This is God's plan that we will trust him enough so that it will change our lives And so that our lives will continue to change.

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iShare 2012 Plenary Sessions

Don’t Hang Up Your Harp

Transcript

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Parent Conference

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Recorded

Parts

Don’t Hang Up Your Harp

54m

Buried

38m

Your Witness is Showing

35m

Sound Doctrine