SWYC 2013: ONE

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GYC Southwest

Keala Thompson

My God Where Are You?

Before I begin, I just want to thank God that I'm able to come here and also this is a blessing of having my family with me.

I've always, I've learned the hard way to always put God first and then my family second and then my ministry is third, and then everything else.

And so, by the grace of God, there hasn't been 1 speaking engagement yet since I haven't brought my family with me.

And so I really believe that their most important ministry, so everything I pour into my daughter, my daughter's homeschooled, and I just feel that there's something, like my view of my ministry is only as powerful as my family is, so I just see that family's falling apart as I deal with relationships, and that's been a big burden in my heart to see the strength of the family once again.

There's a series I did on family and relationships, and 1 is on, it has 12 sermons in this, and this actually helps support to support my wife and my daughter to come with us on the speaking engagement.

So it's actually a blessing if you help us out in this way.

But we have it at the booth today and I'll do it at lunchtime for display.

Tonight my presentation, tonight we'll, we'll be on connection.

And the sermon title tonight is called Eve's broken bones, emotionally disconnected.

Eve's broken bones, emotionally disconnected.

And this morning my topic is entitled, My God, My God, Where were you?

I invite you to turn your Bibles to Matthew 22, verse 36.

Matthew 22, verse 36 to 40 is our opening text this morning.

And Before we begin, let us seek the Lord in prayer.

Father, we are here before you because we know we need you.

I pray that you help me to speak with freedom.

And may your words that come through be your words.

We thank you Lord for already answering This prayer in Jesus' name, amen.

The Bible says that God is love, 1 John 4 verse 8.

You know in the Conflict of the Ages series, that start off the 5 book series written by Ellen White, do you know what the first 3 words are there in Patriarchs and Prophets?

And then at the end of the conflict of the ages series on volume 5 in the great controversy, in the last 3 words of that book of the great controversy, does anyone know what the last 3 words are?

So packaged right there in the whole story of redemption from the beginning and the end is 1st John 4 verse 8 God is love you think that was there by accident you think that God actually put there on purpose.

I believe God had put there for a reason for us to understand that He is love.

See, the Bible says that God is love, and what He's really saying is that love is the only motive in which God does anything in this world.

Now, on your handout I have there, there's actually a saying here.

Think about this is your father your father drugs people to unconsciousness then when they are helpless he has a stretch out on a table in which he then cuts their bodies with knives.

Now what if I was to tell you that this was your father?

What if I was to tell you that your father was a mass murderer who killed your mom?

What if I told you the very same statement that your father was a surgeon who actually saved your mother's life.

How do you feel about this statement now, about your father?

So what I'm trying to say is, is not only the actions revealed here in this little statement, it's actually what is the motive behind the actions.

And what happens in the Bible is that people misjudge and misread the Bible, especially the Old Testament, all the destruction of what God allowed and did, and they misread the motive.

See, in the Hebrew culture, they wrote the stories, but what they did was, They didn't have the motive of love.

But in American culture, we always want to understand the whole story.

So in Hollywood, they always produce the motives.

They expected you to already understand that the motive was already there that God is love.

I'm sharing this because I've seen that a lot of people they misread God's character.

Things happen to them in their life and then they question God and I've seen the 1 number 1 reason why people become atheists or a lot of Adventists leave the church and young people are leaving the church because they're questioning God.

Something happened, happened to them in their life.

The same little statement there about the Father, right?

They misread that statement and they gave a wrong motive to the Father in heaven, and thus they left the church.

Now, a counselor shared a story about a pastor, and this pastor shared his experience of how he saw himself when he was younger, heartbroken, and he tells a story, when he was 13 years old, he remember going outside and he saw his father and his mother fighting, and they got a divorce, And he remember watching as the father drove away for the last time seeing his father, for the last time with tears streaking down his cheeks.

He said, all these years I have been angry at God for that.

I was mad at God for not keeping my parents together and I wasn't even aware of it.

Now I see how it's been affecting my ability to trust and receive God's love.

You see if we don't understand how God works and allowing things to happen, we will always end up disappointed with God.

And that's why this morning God wants us to see his love in everything.

Turn to Matthew 22, verse 36 to 40 for those that just got in.

The Bible says here, the Lord was asking Jesus, what is the most important commandment?

Master, this is a great commandment in the law.

Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind.

And if we're gonna have unity, the only way to have unity is that we obey all of God's 10 commandments.

And you think about it, the last 6 commandments deal with our relationship with each other.

The first 4 deal with our relationship with God, right?

So if we obey the first 4 commandments, we will have unity or oneness with God, right?

And then if we obey the last 6, we will have unity with 1 another.

We won't be stealing, we won't be hurting, we won't be murdering.

So we'll have that unity that we're talking about here.

So in order to have true unity, we must have the 10 Commandments.

If that's clear, let me hear you say amen.

There must be obedience to God's commandments.

We must obey, you must obey this morning to God's 10 commandments.

But I want you all to notice that these 10 commandments, they reveal that if we love God, we will keep His commandments.

And there's another thing about this also, is that these 10 commandments really reveal to us how to love 1 another.

The 10 commandments is this really a written version of God's character of love.

So when I look at the 10 Commandments, in my mind, it really reveals God's love to me.

I know a lot of times we think, okay, 10 Commandments, we get bashed over the head, but really, inspiration says, I don't know why it says, it's a transcript.

It's a written version of God's character his glory his character of love So when I look at the law of God to me it reveals that God is love And so this reveals how does love look like.

Well, love to your brother and sister, you're not going to murder them.

Love to your brother and sister, you're not gonna lie to them, right?

Love to your parents will reveal that you're not gonna dishonor and disrespect them, right?

Love to your wife or your husband is such that you're not going to commit adultery.

So in my eyes when I look at the 10 Commandments, it is beautiful.

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My God Where Are You?

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