Chester Clark

Dalton SDA Church

Finding Peace Within

You know, too often we don't even think too much about it.

We think of peace in the global perspective.

We think of international conflict and we think of maybe even more personal, we think of challenges in our work environment and our home.

But do we think much about having peace within?

Recent studies have confirmed what I think we've known for quite some time is that many diseases actually begin, where do you think?

You know, when you feel like you're being eaten up inside, have you ever felt that way?

When you feel like you can't sleep very well, when you feel like you've lost your appetite, you can't eat because of something that is troubling you.

It's a personal experience that proves to us that the body and mind are very much connected, aren't they?

And as our mind is not at peace, our body is not healthy.

Many diseases begin in the mind because, my friends, our minds are not at peace.

So today we're going to be talking about finding peace within.

Last Sabbath we talked about climbing new mountains.

We gave some simple steps about overcoming things in our lives that we want to see changed, that we want to overcome.

Today I think it's important for us to maybe even get a little more fundamental in our understanding of what we need.

Father God, we just thank You that You've called us to worship You today.

We Thank You that we can open Your Word, we can study Your will for us, that we can have an understanding of how we can have peace within our hearts.

Our scripture Today is Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, and it tells us, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, each part of this verse could be enough for a whole sermon.

We could have a whole sermon just on justification, couldn't we?

Justification is a big theological term that's really very simple.

It simply means that we can stand before God just as if I'd never sinned.

Think of justified as just as if I'd never sinned.

Justification means that when we come, we come to God with our filthy rags, our own record of wrongdoing, the mistakes that we've done, the hurt that we've caused, the scars, the wounds.

And God says, look, I am willing to exchange your sin for my righteousness.

I am willing to exchange your death for my life.

I am willing to put God's own son's record, Jesus Christ's record of his perfect life, his perfect righteousness in place of Chester Clark's account.

And so when God looks in at my record, he sees not what I've done, but he sees what Jesus has done.

Is that something that we ought to be excited about?

Absolutely, that's what justification means.

Now I've said before, we often try to get the cart before the horse.

Any of you ever tried to hitch a horse and a cart?

Did you ever try turning the horse around and having the cart in front of the horse?

No, and neither does it work for us to try to live a godly life without first having been made godly by Jesus Christ.

When we try to live, when we try to say, I'm going to do better, I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonna be a better person, And we try to do it on our own strength.

What we're trying to experience is sanctification, that's holy living, without first experiencing justification, God making us holy.

You can't keep yourself holy if you haven't been made holy, right?

You can't keep yourself right or righteous if you haven't been made right or righteous.

And that's why it's so important for us to experience justification.

Oh, we could spend a whole hour just unpacking what that means.

You see, there's sort of popular wisdom that says, if you're talking about peace you're talking about feelings.

And in order for me to be justified by, In order for me to have peace in my heart, I need to feel that I'm justified.

Well that's not exactly what the Apostle is trying to tell us.

He says being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That means, friends, sometimes our feelings aren't going to tell us whether we're right with God or not.

What can tell us whether we're right with God or not?

The Bible says in 1 John 1, verse 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to what?

And 1 of the examples that we can see in the New Testament is the story of the paralytic man.

You remember he had been laying there for 38 years.

He couldn't move on his own and Jesus comes to him and has the audacity to say, get up, rise, take up your bed and walk.

And it would have been very easy for this crippled man to say, Jesus, can't you see?

And I don't think there was anything in that man that said, well, now my legs are straight.

I think the man just said, you know what, Jesus said it, and I'm going to act upon it.

Sometimes, you know, we're in the same situation.

Have you ever felt like you prayed and you still felt that there was a burden of guilt in your heart?

In fact, I want to share with you a little bit of my testimony in just a few minutes because we don't have a lot of time.

But when I was a kid, I was a good kid, and I don't say that in a bragging way because good is the enemy of great.

And good means that I thought I was good enough.

Good means that I didn't realize that I needed a miracle of conversion.

You know, I read my Bible, I studied, I taught Sabbath school when I was a teenager.

I loved to study God's Word, but as a teenager I drifted away spiritually in my heart, away from Jesus Christ and I found that there were things in my life that didn't honor Him, that things in my life that I was doing that I knew weren't His will but I did them anyway.

And when it came to the point when I was about 18 years old, I was listening to some sermons and it was a prayer meeting sermon I believe that really touched my heart.

It was a prayer meeting sermon on the 2 sons.

Remember the story of the parable that Jesus gave?

There were 2 sons And he said to both, the father said to both of the sons, son go work today in my vineyard, remember that parable?

And the 1 said, yes sir, I'm going, and he went fishing.

At least that's what the Bible stories painted, the illustrator painted in Mount Fishing.

Chris Holland

It Is Written Canada

The One Thing

God's book, the Bible, still relevant in today's complex world.

It is written sharing messages of hope around the world.

Dick and Judy Hoyt were looking forward to the arrival of their new baby boy.

However, during the birthing process, something happened.

The child, who they were to name Rick, was deprived of oxygen for a prolonged period of time.

And as a result, the young child was diagnosed as a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy.

The doctors told Dick and Judy that Rick was destined for a life that was anything but normal, and the best thing they could do was to institutionalize him because he had no chance of recovery.

Dick and Judy made a choice to not institutionalize young Rick and attempt to give him every opportunity at a quote-unquote normal life.

Even though Rick could not walk or speak, it was clear that his mind was functioning quite well.

As he would look at his parents, his eyes would follow them around the room as they would move around.

Dick and Judy pushed for Rick to be involved in a public school and took him swimming and sledding and many of the other normal activities of young boys.

And there was no doubt that while he faced huge physical handicaps, his mind, his intellect and ability were excellent.

So the engineers at Tufts University designed a computer for Rick to be able to communicate in 1972.

And in 1977, Rick told his father that he wanted to participate in a five-mile run to benefit a paralyzed lacrosse player.

And so he came up with a plan that he would run while pushing Rick's wheelchair.

They completed that first race in next to last place.

But Rick told his father, Dad, when I'm running, it feels like I'm not handicapped.

Dick then committed that this would be his gift to his son.

And now almost 40 years after that first race, Dick and Rick have participated in over 1, 000 races.

This includes 6 Ironman triathlons where Dick swims with a harness pulling an inflatable raft that Rick is placed in and rides a bike with a specially equipped seat in the front.

The highlight of their racing though came in 2014 when they ran the Boston Marathon in the 1 year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings.

During all of this, Rick would graduate from public high school and graduated in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in special education from Boston University.

For Dick and Judy, they committed to their son and made making something of his life a priority.

Friends, we too must have priorities in order to have success in this life.

During the ministry of Jesus, there was an event that teaches us what our number 1 priority ought to be.

Come back with me to Israel, just outside the small village of Bethany.

Jesus and his disciples are traveling together.

He had just sent out the 70 to do their work 2 by 2, and now they had returned.

They all had been involved in an intense amount of ministry, and now Jesus felt the need for rest and fellowship.

He had no home, no place to rest his weary body.

So he, along with those who were following him, stopped there in Bethany.

It was here that his close friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived.

This is the same Lazarus whom Jesus would later raise from the dead.

These people had a special place in the heart of Jesus, and he would often come to find rest and solitude at their home.

It is on this day that Jesus and his followers stop, and although the text does not make it clear, it seems that Jesus has surprised his friends, most particularly Martha.

He has either surprised her because she did not know he was coming or he has surprised her because she did not expect him that early.

We find the story in Luke the 10th chapter and we will pick it up in verse 38.

Now it happened as they went that he entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

But Martha was distracted with much serving.

Jesus and his followers had entered the village of Bethany, and they came to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

I'm sure with a little surprise on her face, she invited the Lord in along with some of his followers.

Here Martha shows her compassion and love for the Lord.

Seeing him in this wearied condition, she invites him in as a guest of her home.

And as Jesus enters, as he enters that home, instead of laying his head down to rest, he sees the need and desire of others to hear his word.

And the text specifically says that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His word.

The Greek word that is used here for hearing is the Greek word akouo.

It carries with it the connotation of not only hearing and listening, but also of understanding and obedience.

Mary's listening is not just some casual background noise, but rather she was listening intently, desiring to understand.

And while she sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to the words of our Savior and the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Martha was distracted with much serving.

Now the King James says that she was cumbered about with much serving.

The word cumbered or distracted in the Greek literally means to be drawn away, to be over occupied, to be over burdened.

She was over occupied and distracted by what?

Friends, the word to serve here literally means to minister.

You have a very important guest coming and he or she has arrived a little early or you're running a little late And so now as your guests wait, you hurry yourself about serving and trying to get everything ready.

And that's what was going on there in Bethany.

And while Mary scurried around, it happened.

Maybe it was just out of the corner of her eye.

And the emotions of jealousy and anger and frustration all began to boil and mix together.

Martha has seen Mary sitting there listening to Jesus while she works so very hard.

Not only is this someone not helping her, but this is her sibling, her sister, which is just additional salt on the wound.

Those of you who have brothers and sisters, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

The absolute injustice of you having to do work while your brother or sister doesn't.

And Martha in her absolute frustration turns to Jesus and says according to verse 40, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

In the New Living Translation It reads, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work?

And in 1 of the great moments of biblical history, Martha tells the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, she tells him what to do.

In fact, she not only tells him, but according to the Greek, the verb she uses is an imperative, which means it's a command statement.

Now before we get too riled up about Martha's treatment of Jesus, we need to be very careful of our condemnation of Martha.

Because many of us do the same thing today, don't we?

Like Frank Sinatra singing, I did it my way.

We want to do things our way and then have God bless it.

You know, Jesus would rather have us come to him, ask for guidance so he can lead us.

But here in Luke 10, Jesus displays 1 of the greatest acts of compassion and mercy.

And Jesus replies to Martha in a loving way and outlines for Martha, as well as for us today, that which is most important in life.

It's recorded in Luke 10 verses 41 and 42.

And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but 1 thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.

Anil Kanda

Ceres SDA Church

Romancing Ruth

I really believe that God wants to communicate something very special.

So I want to say 1 more word of prayer and just ask that our hearts and minds would be open to the Holy Spirit today.

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you so much again for your grace.

And Lord, the reason why sinners like us can come into your presence is because of grace.

Thank you that your throne is a throne of grace.

And Jesus, we come seeking for grace, that you would bless us.

God, these are very dangerous times that we're living in, very unusual times, times of confusion.

You are the true pastor of the Syriza SDA Church.

You are the true guider and protector of our people.

Father in heaven, please instruct us in your word and reveal to us more closely your will for each and every person.

You know, when you study the Bible, What you will discover is that the Bible is a love story.

You know, many times people look at love as sort of this trivial thing, and you'll see many different versions of what love actually is.

You go out to the movies or you watch television or read books and you'll get these sort of variant forms of what love is.

And people use that word trivially, not trivially, in a trivial manner and they toss around that word like it's really nothing.

But it's interesting, when you read the scripture, love is epitomized in a very special verse and the Bible says, God is love.

Of all the descriptions that are given about God, the Bible's most powerful description about God is 1 John where it says, God is love.

So if we wanted to find out what genuine, legitimate, holy love looks like, we don't need to go to some movie, we can go straight to the Word of God.

And we're actually going to be looking at a very interesting love story in the Bible.

What you'll find in the Scripture is that the Bible is full of different books and each 1 of these books books are a love letter from God to his people and so we're going to be taking a good look at a very interesting love story in the scriptures and we're going to be turning to the book of Ruth, The book of Ruth.

Now I've read Ruth in the past, I thought that it's a very wonderful story, but as I began to study the book of Ruth this week I was blown away by God's love for his people and the pictures that are painted there.

And I really believe that God's going to communicate a very special message to each and every person.

We're going to the book of Ruth, chapter 1.

And we're going to see the context of the book of Ruth, and we'll launch off from there.

Now, it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled.

So the book of Ruth, or the story of Ruth, took place during what time period?

And do you remember there were about 2 verses that appear through the book of Judges over and over again which gives you a context of what was taking place during Ruth's time.

The Bible says in the book of Judges there was no king in those days.

In other words, there wasn't a government in Israel during those days Israel was very split the second thing you'll find out in the book of Judges the Bible says every man did was right in his own eyes You find out that Morality became very relative people designed their own morality They lived out their own morality and there was so much chaos during the time of judges.

God began to raise up men and women, that's right, I said men and women, very special people to do a mighty work for God.

And so the story of Ruth takes place sort of during this division in Israel's history.

A time in Israel's history where there really wasn't so much an overseeing government...

And Israel was spreading out and fragmenting into this place and to this place and to this place...

And sure enough, the pure worship of God was lost.

So let's start off with Ruth chapter 1 again, verse 1.

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land.

And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his 2 sons.

And the names of his 2 sons were Malal and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah.

They went to the country of Moab and remained there.

So there we see a family, because of famine, decided to sort of migrate all the way to another area, the country or the area of Moab.

They're realizing that the economy wasn't very good in Israel, so they said, let's go to Moab.

There's a famine over there, but when we go to Moab, we'll be able to be well taken care of there's a lot of resources there so this family does something very interesting they pick up all their goods and they just migrate to Moab let's keep going And then they went to the country of Moab and remained there.

Verse 3, And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her 2 sons.

Verse 4, Then they took wives of the women of Moab.

The name of 1 was Orpah, and the name of the other was what?

So the woman survived her 2 sons and her what?

This is a very interesting situation that she's in.

Number 2, they're in a foreign land where the worship of God is much different.

Moabites actually worship the god Chimosh, which is a very interesting depiction, interesting depictions of this god.

So you have this woman Naomi, she's in this foreign land without a husband, and the 2 males in her life die as well.

And all she is left with are these 2 daughter-in-laws.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Finding Peace Within

41m

The One Thing

29m

Romancing Ruth

43m

The Beatitudes of Revelation- When the Judged Are Judges

29m

The Beatitudes of Revelation- Wedding Invitation

29m

The Beatitudes of Revelation- Are You Wearing the Right Clothes?

29m

18- The Best is Yet to Come!

59m

17- Prophecy Predicts a People

1h

16- Messages from Beyond the Stars

1h 13m

15- Good News About Hell

1h

14- Facing Death Unafraid

1h 1m

13- Making a New Start

1h 9m

Sound Doctrine