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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Tim Arakawa

Arise and Build: A Story of Restoration

Wow, I could listen to those testimonies all day.

What a blessing that was that we were able to hear some of those.

And if you are able to join us for potluck or for the meeting afterward, maybe we can share a few more of those testimonies as well.

There are a lot of stories about restoration and how it began.

I'd like to share a little bit about my story as well and kind of how restoration began.

I was able to be a part of restoration since the very beginning and so we'll be telling that story today.

But before we begin let's have 1 more word of prayer.

Dear Father in Heaven, I thank you so much for the ministry of Advent Hope and of restoration here on the campus of Loma Linda University.

And Father, through all the testimonies we've heard already so far this morning, we know that each 1 of those was only because of your Holy Spirit going before us to soften hearts and then working through us to invite people and to organize the meetings.

And so as we contemplate the work of restoration that you want us to be a part of, may you convict us of the role that we are to play in Jesus' name.

In order to properly tell you the story of how restoration started, I need to tell you the story of another restoration from the Bible.

And that is the story of the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem.

So if you could turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah and we'll start in chapter 1 and verse 1.

The middle of verse 1 starts and this is Nehemiah speaking, And it came to pass in the month Chislew in the twentieth year as I was in Shushan the palace that Hanani, 1 of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem.

And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach.

The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Just to step back a little bit, remember that the children of Israel had been conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Their nation and their city had been completely destroyed.

Jerusalem was laying in ruins for 70 years while they were a concaptive there in Babylon, scattered throughout the empire.

And It wasn't until some miraculous and prophetic events where King Cyrus of Persia allowed them to go back and begin to rebuild their nation, to rebuild their city.

A few went back and under the leadership of Ezra, they were able to finish rebuilding the temple.

And they had a spiritual revival at that time.

But, you know, after that, things came up.

The tribes around them were threatened politically by what was happening in Jerusalem and enthusiasm for the work began to kind of fade.

Morale kind of sagged with all the challenges that were facing them And eventually the sound of hammers and chisels at the construction sites grew silent and the work stopped.

And this is where Nehemiah comes into the picture.

He is serving in the king's palace as the cupbearer and he is not actually, he's working in the palace.

That's the 1 thing that he has going for him, but he's not that experienced in construction or architecture.

He's not a major political leader, he's not a military strategist or someone who really has had any leadership experience.

He's just a cupbearer, someone there that the king trusts that's there to make sure the king isn't assassinated by poisoning, right?

But the thing about Nehemiah, the 1 thing that set him apart despite his inexperience was that while Nehemiah was serving the king in the palace in Persia, his heart was with his people in Jerusalem.

And so whenever someone would come from Judah and pass through his way, he would find them and he would ask them, Have you any report about what's going on in my home country?

How are the sacrifices going with the temple?

How are the construction on the walls going?

And he would hear a report that went something like this.

The people are in great affliction and reproach.

The wall is broken down and the gates are still charred from the fires over 100 years ago and they still haven't been built yet.

And my question to you is, what do you do when you hear a discouraging report about God's people?

When you realize that things maybe aren't as rosy a picture as you first thought about the church.

Maybe you find out that God's people aren't living up to the high standard that you believe that they should be.

And to a certain extent, that is a natural response.

But notice what happened, what else Nehemiah did.

Verse 4 says, And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned.

But notice, after certain days, Nehemiah fasted and prayed.

Now we don't have time to get into this prayer of Nehemiah, it's a powerful prayer, but if I could summarize it for you, the way I would summarize it is I would say Nehemiah prayed something like this, Dear Father in Heaven, I have sinned and my people have sinned, but Lord you have promised that if we return to you, in your word you said that you would gather us back together and you would gather us back together in the place where your name is to be set up.

Lord, if it be thy will, give me an opportunity with the king.

So Nehemiah started out with heartfelt confession.

It was personal and corporate confession and then he began to claim the promises of God's word.

And as he did that, Ellen White says that during that prayer a holy purpose began to form in the heart of Nehemiah.

And he resolved in his heart that he would take the opportunity that God gave him to make a difference for his people.

Nehemiah pledged after realizing the situation, he pledged to become a part of the solution.

So when you hear discouraging news, it's okay to be sad, to wish for something better for yourself and for those around you, but don't forget to be a part of the solution.

And I believe that God is giving us all an opportunity here on campus to be a part of an amazing restoration and solution here on this campus.

The next part of chapter 2 is where God gave Nehemiah that opportunity.

But I do want to tell you that restoration started in very similar circumstances as Nehemiah.

And so in order to tell you the story about how restoration started, I want to tell you a little bit about my own personal journey to come to Loma Linda.

I went to medical school and graduate school here at Loma Linda, but actually Loma Linda was not my first choice.

My original plan was I had actually accepted an invitation to be a part of a program at a school on the East Coast for their MD-PhD program.

And sometime after that, that summer before I came to Loma Linda, I became convicted that God wanted me to come to Loma Linda instead.

Now I had already accepted a position, I had a place to stay, a lab set up, you know, everything was ready to go and I came under strong conviction that I needed to change my plans.

And So mid-course, right before, actually the session had already started here in Loma Linda, I changed and I decided to come to Loma Linda.

I didn't know why, but I knew that God had a reason for me to be here and I promised the Lord that whatever doors he opened here in Loma Linda, that I would walk through them.

Again, when I stepped on the campus of Loma Linda, I didn't even know why I was to be here.

But I made a promise to the Lord that I would step forward in faith.

Well, nothing happened for about 3 years.

I went to school, I went to different events on campus, kind of watching, but nothing really happened.

However, I did attend different spiritual events.

I was actively praying for my campus, caring about their spiritual life here.

I was early in my spiritual walk, like many of the testimonies that we heard earlier this morning.

I was still seeking the Lord sincerely, but there was much I had to learn as well.

So that process took some time, but it was in 2002 that the Religious Vice President of the Student Association here at Loma Linda approached me and asked me to run to be religious vice president for the next year.

And I see a couple RVPs here who know what that's like.

I really wasn't even interested in considering it.

I didn't have any leadership experience practically before coming to Loma Linda.

I was deathly afraid of standing in front of a large group of people and speaking to them.

And I really didn't feel spiritually prepared to be in charge of a campus of 3 or 4 thousand students, to be in charge of the religious programming for something like that.

But, as I prayed about it, I remembered my commitment to the Lord.

That I really shouldn't even be in Loma Linda, except that God had asked me to be here for a reason and I was committed to stepping through the door that he opened.

And this was a clear door that had opened.

I probably wouldn't win, no experience, not really comfortable in front of people.

And would you know, of course, I did win.

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Arise and Build: A Story of Restoration

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