For a fresh, practical look into God's Word, join us now for "central study hour." Pastor Doug Batchelor and the pastoral team share new insights into the weekly lesson study. Receive power for practical living today. Good morning and welcome to Sacramento central Seventh-day Adventist Church. I'm so glad to have all of you here with us in the sanctuary. And those of you who are joining us live on the internet and on the radio and on television, we're so glad that you are a part of our church family as well.
And as is our tradition, we're going to start out by praising God with songs. Christmas is coming up really soon and we want to praise him with some Christmas songs this morning. Hymn 120 "there's a song in the air," let's lift our voices as we sing the first and fourth stanza of this song... [Music] Amen. And I bet some of you are wondering who requested that song because I didn't tell you who the requests were.
Well, debbie's in india and somehow the requests got erased and she couldn't e-mail it to us because she didn't have 'em with her there. And so, we chose The Songs this morning. That one was emma's request. So, thank you emma for "there's a song in the air." And we're also going to sing hymn 125 "joy to the world." I love this song. We're going to sing all four verses.
Before we do that, I want to mention those of you who have a song that they would like to sing, please go to our website at saccentral.org and make your request. We'd love to hear from you and if you're ever in the Sacramento area, please come and visit us in person. We'd love to have you. Hymn 125 "joy to the world." [Music] Amen. Let's bow our heads.
Dear Lord, your love is so wonderful. And I just pray that you would full our hearts with that love so that we can show that love to others, that we could be a blessing to others. Be with us this Sabbath morning as we open your Bible. I just pray that your Holy Spirit would guide us and teach us. Please be with John q.
As he gives the lesson. Speak through him, we pray, Dear Lord. Thank you so much for loving us. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
This morning, our Bible lesson will be brought to us by sac central's Bible worker and his name is John q. We call him "John q." Because we can't pronounce his last name. But we have his daughter here who can tell us. How do you say the last name? Quedzuweit. One more time.
Quedzuweit. Quedzuweit. So, we welcome John quedzuweit to give us our lesson study. Good morning. It's a real pleasure to be here.
And whoever is joining us, it's wonderful to have you wherever it may be throughout the country. Our lesson study today is going to be on "the price of duplication." And before I get going on that, I just want to offer you-- there is a free book that's going to be offered here. It's called "spiritual Israel." And if you want that, it's written by Doug Batchelor and steve wohlberg and the number is 174 and you just can call. It would be 866-788-3966 and request that free offer. It's interesting as I really got into this lesson; it was really a blessing for me.
And as we--no matter any time you get into the Word of God, there's really something about it that just starts turning our hearts and our minds and really brings us to a closer relationship with him in understanding. And I just want to read, before we get started here, I want to just read the memory text. And the memory text says, "behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. I will bring thee again into this land for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken of to thee." I would love for God to say that to me. You know, as we go through our lives, you know, Jacob had gone through a period in his time where he was low in his--he just felt so down and God revealed this to him.
And it's just wonderful for God to really just pick us up when we're down, isn't that? Amen. And--but with that, any time we get down in our lives and we have trials and we fail, there comes consequences. And through those consequences, we can see them in the Bible many different ways. We see David and bathsheba. We see there was a consequence involved.
We see adam and eve. Look at their consequence. We're still living in that consequence. And Jesus; Jesus dies for us and he is living out our consequences at that time now. And so, no matter what we do, there are consequences for our actions.
But praise God, there's a better way. And as we go through this lesson, I've noticed that it says in, a matter of fact, Jeremiah 17:9, "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" You know, as I listen to the news and, you know, you have people that maybe are chronic liars. Or even if you catch someone in a lie, you notice the lie that you caught them in is not the first one. It has been said before, it just never was caught.
Same thing if you look at--if you go into the media and you hear about these serial killers, the one that they got caught on is not their first one. There is, in their history, you'll find that there was more, more sins involved. And as we go through, we're going to see the story of Jacob and esau and how they follow through. And we're going to see how God worked through their lives even though they plummeted at times, God still was with them. I need someone to read Genesis 25:21-24 just to get us going, all righty? Right here, that'll be Genesis 25:21-24 if we can get him a mic here.
Genesis 25:21-24, "now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord granted his plea and rebecca, his wife, conceived. But the children struggled together within her and she said, 'if all is well, why am I like this?' She went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, 'two nations are in your womb. Two people shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger.
' So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb." It's interesting. You see a parallel here for first of all rebecca was barren. She couldn't have children. And Isaac prays for her. Where have we heard that story before? Just one generation before, Sarah could not have children and Abraham prays for children.
The other thing we see is as rebecca was with child, it says the children were struggling. Now, I know my wife. We had emma, which you saw up here. She's 13 now. But when she was little, I remember my wife and i, and you know, she'd be laying there and she was getting on in months.
And all of a sudden, she'd say, "oh." You know, look at her stomach, you could see her elbow or "feel it, feel it," and you'd see her, you know, the elbow move or her knee or whatever. But then every once in a while, she'd be laying in bed and all of a sudden, you'd hear, "uh." I'd say, "what's the matter?" You know, a nervous dad, "what's the matter?" And she says, you know, "emma kicked me." But this was different, it said, "they struggled within her," so much that she wanted to find out what it was about. There was more than just a little kick and just an elbow moving. There was a struggle there. So much so, she thought something was wrong.
So, she pleaded with God and she goes to God. And God says, "here's what you have there. You have two nations and one is going to be stronger than the other." And he says, "the elder one is going to be servant to the younger one." And so as she goes, she--and first of all, we have esau which comes out first. He's a hairy man, they say. And as a matter of fact, in the Scripture, it says he was "red and hairy as a garment.
" And Jacob comes right after and he says he was a "plain man." And it's just interesting when you look up Jacob. Jacob said it was--the name tem or t-a-m in the original and it says, "complete, perfect or morally innocent." And as we think of the story, we think a little bit different. But this is what it said. And also in job, this same word was used for job's character in job 1:8. And so as these two are, you know, as they're born and they grow, we see Isaac and he's probably so excited with the twins.
He loved esau. And they're growing and I'm sure they continued that wrestling match; don't you? Young boys just do. And as they grow and I'm sure Isaac and rebecca told the boys of their heritage of Abraham and where God had talked with Abraham and where he had brought Abraham and the birthright that was going to come through this seed. And as they were growing, they found out the importance of this birthright and the need and the responsibility that God has for those who carry this birthright. And I just want to go through some of those things.
But I want you to remember them because we're going to touch on them a little bit later. One of them, they would have an inheritance. They would get a double portion of--the one that got the birthright would get a double portion, the firstborn. Secondly, there would be spiritual preeminence or there would be sort of a special anointing of God in their lives to fulfill this important task. Then, there was the priest of the family.
They were going to be--the one that got the birthright or the one that had the birthright would have a special place in the family as a priest. Also through their posterity or their children, the seed of God would come. The other thing, they would be dedicated to the service of God. Next, they were to obey God's divine requirements. Also, they were to marry within the family.
And last of all, they were to consult God, the will of God, through their lives. Now, as they started growing, esau didn't really have a desire for this birthright. First of all, we know he sold it, didn't he? He sold it for a pot or a bowl of soup. When we sell something, if you have an automobile, plenty of us have automobiles or we have houses or whatever it is, why do we sell them? Okay, we don't need 'em anymore or we have something different or we have a desire for something else. Esau did not see anything in the birthright that he desired.
Now, he might have saw some things. Now, I've been to an auction. I don't know if any of you have been to an auction. If you go to an auction and it was--we had gone to one that was an antique auction. And sometimes you have boxes filled with junk.
But on the top, there's a few things that look very interesting to you. And you have to make an offer on the whole thing or none. You can't just buy part of it in the box and so, the same thing with the birthright. Esau, yeah, he would've loved the inheritance part, you know the wealth of Isaac and those things. But there were some things he just didn't have a burden for.
But Jacob saw more than he--he saw something there that he desired. As I looked at this birthright, I was noticing something about the birthright. God really has an inheritance for us. And I want to just go through a couple things here. As a matter of fact in--God has a special inheritance for us.
I want to just turn here and I'm going to read right here, Peter 1:4. And it says, "in an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you." You and I have an inheritance reserved for us in heaven. Do we want that birthright that he has for us? Spiritual preeminence through the birthright, if we accept it, he will give us a spiritual preeminence; a special sort of anointing of his spirit. A matter of fact in John 1:12, but it says, "as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become The Sons of God to them that believe on his name." God, if we will accept that birthright that he wants to give us, he will power us with a special anointing of the Holy Spirit that we can fulfill what he's required in this birthright. Are we to be a royal priesthood? Yes, we are.
We are to be a royal priesthood, not just to our children but to others. And God calls us "a royal priesthood," "a holy nation." Now, our posterity, God came through that line of Isaac and Jacob but what does he have for us? Through us, does he want to share and does he want to live Christ's life through us, that through us, that heritage keeps going? God wants us through him to have that heritage. If we choose to accept the birthright, we will have a life of service. We will want to serve God in a way that is an honor to him. We will want to serve him.
If we choose to accept the birthright, we will obey his requirements. God says, "if you love me, you keep my commandments." You're going to want to obey his requirements. Marry within the family. If we are with Christ, we're going to be married to who? To Christ, for one thing. We're going to marry within the family and he also gives us advice on marrying.
We're going to want to be married within the chosen family. Also as we walk with God and we choose this birthright, we are going to consult with God in our daily walk. As Abraham, Isaac, Jacob did, we're going to consult with God. This birthright is ours. As we think about this inheritance that he wants to give us, will we sell that birthright for a bowl of this earth? Will we do that? Or will we accept that birthright and ask for that special preeminence, that special anointing of the Holy Spirit to carry out that birthright that is promised to us? God is good.
If he is going to--he's going to anoint us with that power to be able to carry it out, amen? Amen. There's two texts here and I want to give them out to two people. And a matter of fact, the first one is Genesis 26:7. Do I have someone here that--Genesis 26:7? Okay, jason here, 26:7. And someone else get Genesis 22.
Someone here on this side. Roy, Genesis 22. And if you would read Genesis 26:7 for me there, jason. "And the men of the place asked him of his wife and he said, 'she is my sister,' for he feared to say, 'she is my wife,' lest said he, 'the men of this place should kill me for rebecca because she was fair to look upon.'" Okay, now we've got one over here and I want--it's Genesis 22, Genesis 22, if you would read that for us? "And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, 'she is my sister.' And abimelech, king of gerar, sent and took Sarah." It's interesting. It almost sounds like they're talking about the same person, doesn't it? But it's really Abraham and Isaac at different times in history.
And it's interesting as we look at Abraham. Abraham was a God-fearing man but yet he feared abimelech and he told him sort of a falsehood, not the total truth. And God gave abimelech a dream. Abimelech says, "hey, I'm innocent here." He says to God, "I'm innocent." And God says, "okay but here's what I want you to do. Go back to Abraham.
He's a prophet. And because you have done this, your family is cursed and they're barren. But now I want you to go and ask Abraham to pray for you and relieve this curse that's upon you." And so, he also went into trouble with--he went back to Abraham. Abraham prayed for him. And then, they had trouble with wells.
They were digging the wells and they had some dispute. So, abimelech comes back to Abraham and says, "let's make an agreement here and let's sort of have a peace treaty," you might say. And so, they went and had a peace treaty. Why would abimelech need to come to a Christian for a peace treaty? Abimelech, there was a thing about Abraham that he could not trust Abraham. Why? He had deceived him at the beginning.
There was a deception there. Same thing with Isaac, the same thing happened. Another abimelech came from the same area and come and said--lied to him again and said, "this is my sister" because he was afraid. They had a dispute with the wells again and this abimelech came and said, "let's make an agreement." Even though we fall, God still is with us. The one thing God was with Abraham and Isaac through this but it's interesting that through that, through our deception or through our lying, we can create a bad light on God because they won't see God as someone trustworthy.
You look at--they set up a falsehood about God at that point in time. Now, even though we fail, if my daughter, which you saw here, if she lies to me, do I just throw her out with the bathwater? No, I love her. But there are still consequences that do come, still consequences that do come. But there's courage there. I want someone, Psalms 37:23, Psalms 37:23.
Is there anyone over here that'd like to read Psalms 37:23? Toah, Psalms 37:23. And on this side, I want someone to read Genesis 26:4-5, and verse 24. Okay, this lady right on the end here. All righty? Psalms 37:23. Thanks, toah.
Yeah, toah right there, Psalms 37:23. "The steps of good men are ordered by the Lord and he delighted in his way." "Though he falls--" "though he falls, he should not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." Ah, there's the part that I like. Even though we fall just like Jacob and--or just like Abraham and Isaac, they were not utterly cast down. Amen? Praise the Lord. God does not cast us down.
As I was looking through this and if you read Genesis 26:4-5; before you read that, there was promises that were given to Isaac prior to he went into this time with abimelech. And also at the end of it, there was a time when he gives another promise. And if you would read that now, that'd be Genesis 26:4-5 and 24. "And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give unto the seed all these countries. And in the seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments and my statutes and laws.
And the Lord appeared unto him the same night and said, 'I am the God of Abraham, thy father. Fear not for I am with thee and will bless thee and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.'" These promises were given to him right before and right after. Now, did God go through this time with him when he was going through those troubles with the wells and with this time of deception that he was doing? Was God with him even during that time? Sure he was. Someone read Isaiah 43:2. Does anyone have Isaiah 43:2? Any--? Okay, right here, elena, Isaiah 43:2.
"When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." As we--God gave him promises before, after and as we go through trials or difficulties or where we fall short, God is still there for us. That is so exciting to me, just like shadrach, meshach and abednego. They went through the fires.
God didn't spare them from the fire but he went through the fire with them. Praise God that he is with us. As these sons were growing up and this birthright, it came time Isaac was getting older. Rebecca was there. She was--there was a time there where she realized that Isaac was getting old.
And as Isaac was getting older, I'm sure she talked with Isaac about the time when the children were in her stomach and were talking to him about who was going to be the one that was going to carry on this birthright. And I'm sure they went over it and over it again as they were laying in bed and just rehashing what the Lord had said. But Isaac, even that time, Isaac was so in love with esau. And he just loved him as a hunter. Even though Isaac deliberately took and married a hittite woman, went out of the family circle, Isaac still was excited about having him as heir.
Isaac was really influenced by his taste buds. He called--he was there and he was about ready to die. He felt and he calls esau in. And esau, he says, "oh, I'm about ready to die. Here it is.
I can't see." He couldn't see anymore and he says, "what I want you to do is I want you to go out and I want you to go and get a venison and cook it for me and bring it to me." And as he went out--because Isaac wanted to bless his son esau. And as esau was there and he went out and he was hunting, he probably was out there for a time. And he just went out there and he was hunting and it must have took some days. I don't know how long it took. But there was time when rebecca was there at the door and she must have heard what Isaac had done.
And so, she gets Jacob. And he tells Jacob, "here's what I want you to do. Now listen to me," he says. This is all in chapter 27 if you wanted to follow along. He says in 27, "I want you to do exactly as I say and take--go get two kids.
" Isaac has just told esau to go and get some venison and bring it to him because he wants to give him the birthright. So, rebecca says, "here's the plan. I want you to go get two goats. We're going to cook it and we're going to make it just like he likes it. And we're going to dress you up and you're going to put on the garment.
" And Jacob does not want to go through with this. He says, "esau is a hairy man and I'm a smooth man. He's going to find me out. And if I go in there and he finds out that I have deceived him, he's going to curse me." Jacob did not want to go through what his mom said. And he says, a matter of fact, rebecca says, "let that curse be upon me.
" She was determined for what she thought God's will was. She was determined. And as they planned, he goes to get these garments. Now as I think about them taking these things off, they cook the meal. They take this, the hair, off of these animals, in these he-goats.
And they take 'em off and they decided they were going to get the garment of esau and cover him. And they were going to put this fur on Jacob's arms and around his neck. Now, I don't know if you had a chance to ever pet a goat. They're pretty hairy. Now, he must've been a hairy man for a goat like that to be, you know, I mean, hair like that--it just amazed me that he was blind and they say your senses get more acute.
And it was interesting because I can imagine him putting on these things and these, all this stuff, and him going in there to his father with this bowl of soup and saying--let's read it, a matter of fact, let's go to Genesis 27:19. Chapter 27, verse 19 and 20, and I'll read that. And it says, "and Jacob said unto his father, 'I am esau thy first born. I have done according as thou biddest me that thy soul may bless me.' And Isaac said unto his son, 'how is it that thou hast found it so quickly?'" And here's what Isaac--now, here's what Jacob says, "because the Lord thy God has brought it to me." Now, if I was in a conspiracy to do something, I sure wouldn't bring the Lord into my conspiracy act. And then farther on down the line in verse 24, it says, "and he said, 'are thou my very son, esau?'" And here's Jacob and he says, "and he said, 'I am.
'" I can see esau--sorry, I'm getting these names mixed up. This is Jacob now. He's in the tent with his father. And I can see him. He didn't want to go in there in the first place and I can see him coming out with the weight of sin upon him.
Can you imagine you lie to him and then you bring God in as an accomplice? I can see him in his utmost state at this time. But I am so thankful God does not leave us. And as we go on and we see the price of what he has done. As we look, we see Jacob has to pay for this deceit that he has done. One of the things, first of all, he deceives, Jacob deceives esau not just once but twice.
He sells the birthright. Now he pulls the birthright out from under him. Now he has the consequences. Esau is after him, wants to kill him. He also has to leave his family and he probably never sees his mother again.
And we know his mother was very close with Jacob. Does God need you and I to help him? No, he does not. He does not need us to fulfill his plan. Does he need us to think for him? Does he not have the capability of thinking things through when we throw him a curve ball? He doesn't need us. He didn't need us when he put this complex world into space.
He didn't need us. God has a plan. God has a purpose for you and I as we go through, even through our pitfalls, God has a purpose. And he has the tools to turn it around for his glory. I remember a time I was working before I came here to California.
I was working as a body man in tennessee. Well, this was actually in florida before I moved to tennessee. And I was working at this body shop and I was putting this bumper on this vehicle. And I worked on a commission basis. So any time I destroyed something or I damaged something, I would have to pay for it.
So as I was putting this bumper on, all of a sudden it slipped and it hit the floor and it put a gash in the corner of the bumper. And this was like a $200 piece. And I'm thinking, "oh man, I don't have $200." And so, I'm wrestling, do I go into the office and tell 'em what happened or do I try to cover this thing up and try to patch it some way that it goes out the door without nobody noticing? My conscience is working on me. And I says, "okay, Lord, I'm going to go in there." He said, "don't worry about the outcome. Just do what I ask you to do.
" So, I go into the office and I tell 'em, "I got this bumper. I put a scar in it. We're going to need to get another bumper. Whatever you need to do. If you need to bill me for it, fine.
" And I walk out. About 2 hours later, the manager of the company comes out and he looks at me and he says, "I appreciate what you did but we'll take care of it. You don't need to pay for it." God can work things--i don't know how he does it all the time, but he does. He can turn things around that you think are impossible. There is nothing impossible for God, absolutely nothing.
If he can create this world and he can change you and I into his likeness, there's nothing impossible for him. Read Psalms 40:4, Psalms 40:4. "Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies." Trust God. Don't turn to lies. Trust him and he can do it.
There's a very blessed text and I have looked at this one many times. I want someone to read Proverbs 10:22, Proverbs 10-- is there anybody over here? Proverbs 10:22. Ah, there's someone way in the back right there, Proverbs 10:22. "The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it." Through God's blessings, there is no consequences. Praise God for that.
If we can turn to him, we always have that assurance that we have him. A matter of fact, I want someone to read Psalms 37:5, Psalms 37:5. Is there someone else here that would like to read? Okay, ralph right there in the back there, Psalms 37:5. "Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him and he will do it.
" Commit your ways to God and he can make it happen. Those things that you and I think are impossible, God can do them. If we think it's hopeless, God can do it. As a matter of fact, this story that I want to share with you happened to me when I was at the same body shop. I worked on a commission basis and I was really learning.
And he was bringing me through these trials to help realize that I could trust in him. I worked on a commission basis. And you know before your budget can work, you need to make a certain amount of money. You have all your things. You have your mortgages, all those things.
And I was $100 short this week of my monthly or my weekly that I needed to make. And I was tempted to go in and say, "well, I need to make more money." And I says, "okay Lord, you told me to trust you. So, here it is. I don't know how you're going to do this. I've done my best this week.
Here it is." And so, I turned in my sheet. The following week, I come and my check is $100 more. And I'm saying, first thing as an honest person, I go running into the office and I says, "my check is $100 too much." And I go in there and I show it to him and I show him all the Numbers. They says, "I know, but remember this time," and they went way back, and I don't know, a couple months back, and they says, "there was a time when you did something and you never got paid for it and we want to pay you for it. So, here's $100.
" The interesting thing is this was not the last time. This happened four other times. Another time I was $200 short, I did the exact same thing. I run into the office. My check was $200 more.
Now, I didn't mention anything to anybody. It was just between me and God that I said, "Lord, I'm going to trust you." I go walking in and again, they said, "we just decided we want to give it to you. Don't let anybody know. This is just between you and me." God can do things that you think are virtually impossible. As we go through life today and we see our lives crumble, as we see Jacob, he goes in through this trial.
He gets sent from his home and he goes through this trial of separation from God. He feels like he's deserted. He goes there because he has felt there is nothing, "I've deserted God. I pulled him in as an accomplice. God can't forgive me.
" But he goes through and it says here, a matter of fact it was in the lesson in Patriarchs and Prophets, says, "before he slept that night, Jacob with weeping and deep humiliation confessed his sins and asked the Lord for some evidence that he was not utterly forsaken." He wanted to know that God could forgive him. And as he goes, he pleads with God and he falls asleep, probably in tears. And God gives him this vision or this dream that he has. And I'm sure it looked like it came right at his feet. And he sees this vision of the ladder going from earth to heaven.
And he wakes up and what does he do? Praises God. God has given him the evidences of his mercy. End of that verse that was in our memory text, this is what God gives him again, "and behold, I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee again into this land for I will not leave you." God promises that to Jacob. He promises that to you and me too. He promises to be there throughout eternity.
Especially through this earth, he plans to be here with us until he comes to get us. You have that promise. We just need to accept that birthright that he has for us. Through this experience, what is God really telling us? He's telling us we see the ladder. He's saying, "come to me.
There's nothing impossible. I want you to know there's nothing impossible for me to do for you, absolutely nothing." Do you believe that? Do you have the faith to believe that he can do it? We need to just come to the foot of the cross. Amen for the foot of the cross so we can bring our burdens to him for the regeneration so we can be empowered with his love and that preeminence of this birthright that he wants to give us. There was a story and it was about this young man and he had a daughter. And he decided he was--he had the day off and he decided he was going to go to the beach.
And he was going to take his daughter with him. They loved to swim together. And he took his daughter and they were swimming out in the ocean there. And they were swimming. Unknowing to them in their fun, they were out there for hours.
Unknowing to them, the current, the tides were starting to go out. And being this was a young girl, she was a good swimmer but The Father noticed that they were about a mile from shore. And he noticed that his young girl was a good swimmer but could not fight the tide that was going out. And as this dad, he's laying there and he thinks. He looks at his daughter and he says, "here's what I want you to do.
The tide is going out but I want you to know something. I will come back for you. This is my promise to you. I will come back for you. I am going to go swim in and I will come back for you.
" But he says, "this is what I want you to do. I want when you get a little bit tired," he says, "you'll roll over on your back and just float there for a few minutes. And any time you get tired, you swim a little bit and float. Just float and swim, float and swim until I come back." And the daughter says, "okay dad." So, he goes swimming in. It takes him a while because now the current is really strong.
Finally, he gets in. He calls the lifeguards and he calls the coast guard. And they're there and they start going out. They get the boats out there and they're hunting. They cannot find this girl.
They see the sun starting to set, starting to go down and this girl is nowhere to be seen. And as this girl is out there and she's just out there floating, nobody knows where she is. Sun starts going down. It starts getting cooler out. The Father says, "we need-- I know she's out here.
I need to find her." They radio--the boats radio the coast guard and they get some helicopters out. The dad gets on the helicopter and they're flying over the ocean there. And the tide has just gone out. They had nowhere for this girl to be seen. And as they go, they see the sun is about ready to go over the horizon.
You know how it's just about down and you see the glare across the ocean. And you could see it. And the helicopter is flying and they just see some speck in the ocean there, something floating. And they go out there and they see this girl. And they finally--the helicopter comes down, lands on the ship and they pick the daughter up.
She looks like a prune. I mean, she's been out there for hours and hours and hours. And the dad gives her a big hug and they hug. And the dad says, "oh man, I knew you would come, dad." Meanwhile, they finally get in. They finally get to the boat that takes 'em a while.
And they go in and there's cameras on the boat. They get on the shore and they get to the docks. And there's this camera's crew and there's flashing lights and photography going on. And the girl's just sort of blinking her eyes. She's young.
She sees--and the reporters are just shoving these mikes into her face, "what was it like out there? Were you scared? Did you think your dad was going to come back for you?" And the girl just looks and says, "no, my dad promised he's going to be back." She trusted in The Father's word. Do we today, as we go through our life, do we trust in our father's word? Do we trust in this birthright that he offers for us? Do we trust that he can carry you through? This life that we have is a special blessing. He desires to walk with us and be with us continually. A matter of fact, Hebrews 13:5, it says, "let your conversation be without covetousness and to be content with such things as you have. For he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.
'" God today has said to you, "I'm never going to leave you or forsake you." Praise God for his promises, amen? As we close this class today, I just want to remind you of this special offer that they have. It's "spiritual Israel" and it's free for the asking. Just ask and call 866-788-3966 and ask for offer number 174, offer number 174, which is "spiritual Israel." And all you do is you ask or you can go on the website, which is www.amazingfacts.tv or .org I believe you can do also. So, praise the Lord and may the Lord richly bless you this week as we hang onto his promises. A website whose roots date back to the beginning of time; Sabbathtruth.
com is the definitive resource for Bible light on the Lord's day. Clear Bible answers for every question you've ever had about the Sabbath. Seven key topic headings guide you through the purpose of the Sabbath, which day is the Lord's day, the Sabbath and prophecy, questions about the Sabbath, how to keep it holy, the Sabbath and history and many Sabbath resources. Visit Sabbathtruth.com today and share your newfound treasure with a friend. If you've been encouraged by today's message and would like to know more of what God's Word says to you today, Amazing Facts invites you to visit our educational website at www.
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