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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP220326S
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00:11 ♪♪ ♪♪ 04:48 ♪♪ 05:49 >> Speaking of Palau, thank you for whoever it was that ordered the snow so that we'd have a 05:53 little reminder that, while we were in all that sunshine, Michigan was still Michigan. 05:58 Just a beautiful morning to awaken to. I got nine pictures, alright? 06:02 I wish I had 90. Oh, I got more than 90, but I'm gonna show you 9, and the 9 help 06:07 kind of encapsulate what we were doing, and I'm gonna just tell you before I show one picture, 06:13 it's because of your praying that we can give this report. It's a beautiful report. 06:16 You're gonna see God's fingerprints all over it, but you were praying, God bless you. 06:21 Thank you for that. Beautiful, iconic Palau. This isn't a postcard. 06:28 Richard Parke, who is part of our team, our media director, he went with us. 06:32 I'll talk about him in a minute. He took this. These are the iconic 06:37 Rock Islands, 70 of them kind of in a circle, and these are 3 of them right there. 06:43 It's just beautiful. All over the world, people go to Palau. 06:45 You know why? Because it's glorious diving -- some of our group were 06:49 skindivers. So we had to have five days of quarantine. 06:52 When we went, the government says, "Not a COVID germ will come off of that plane until 06:57 we've checked you out after the five days. So don't hang around a lot of 07:01 people. You can hang around each other," and we were at the hotel, you 07:04 know, and that, "but just stay low." In fact, one of our guys, at the 07:09 airport, you get a green wrist tag, plastic. "Don't take this off." 07:14 Penalty -- huge penalty with the government. You have to keep this on. 07:18 It means you're not through quarantine yet. One of our guys said, "I'm just 07:22 gonna go out and buy a little something at a store." The clerk saw it immediately. 07:25 She said, "You can't buy a thing here. Now leave." 07:27 [ Chuckling ] And so he had to go home. So much for the green -- we 07:30 called them the mark of the beast to have to wear these things on Palau. 07:36 So we had these five days where we couldn't do anything. We got to the convention 07:40 center -- I'm gonna show you that -- to do some work, work, work, work to get it ready for 07:44 the big premiere, world premiere of "Return to Palau" -- dramatic documentary. 07:48 Don't let me forget to tell you when we're gonna be showing it -- in three weeks. 07:51 Don't let me forget it. If I don't tell you, then just say, "Hey, Dwight," let me know. 07:56 So we had time to go beautiful snorkeling. We had to. 08:00 Had to take advantage of the sunshine, and it was beautiful. Here's picture number two, and 08:05 this is -- by the way, I'm gonna show you the background first -- Palau National Gymnasium. 08:10 You'll see inside of it in the next slide. That's the big convention 08:14 center, where we had the world premiere. And these are five wonderful 08:18 people. I'll start from the right and move to the left. 08:21 You've got Loren and Ann Hamel. Ann is a psychologist, alright? They're both members. 08:28 They were here in first service. But Ann is a psychologist, and when Melissa, at the age of 10, 08:35 lost her mother, father, and older brother -- they were murdered while Melissa's in the 08:39 house, and she was somehow spared. Melissa, at the age of 10 -- the 08:46 greatest trauma you could ever experience in your life. The General Conference got 08:50 immediately ahold of psychologist Ann Hamel and said, "Get on a plane. 08:53 Get over to this little girl, and just be there for her. Get her through the first 08:57 stages." Trauma isn't something you get over, not right away. 09:02 So, anyway, she was -- Ann was the leader of this. It was her idea to put a 09:06 documentary together, and this is her daughter-in-law. This is Michelle Hamel, and 09:10 Michelle took three years to produce this documentary. It is powerful. 09:14 It's already won awards. It's going through the film festivals now, and I'm certain 09:19 it'll win more awards. Been nominated already. So "Return to Palau," and this 09:24 is, of course, Melissa DePaiva Gibson. They're both at 09:28 Southwestern University. He's a pastor on the university church team, and she teaches 09:34 nursing. She's like 28 years old, and she teaches nursing at the 09:38 university. So a wonderful team, and these are just kind of the ones 09:42 standing in front of the sign when we took the picture, but they're great people. 09:47 Okay, so here's inside the building. Do you know what S.R.O. stands 09:51 for? S.R.O. >> "Standing room only." 09:53 >> Devin, you got it. Both services -- I think you're the only one who has it, too. 09:57 You let me know. >> S.R.O. -- "standing room only." 10:00 And that's what it was. You're looking at it. The president of Palau, whom 10:05 I'll introduce in a moment -- the president of Palau said this is the largest gathering under a 10:10 roof in the history of Palau -- 1,500-plus people. Now, this is before the 10:16 documentary's gonna be shown. You see me sitting right nearby this palm tree, whatever it is. 10:23 So, after the lights come back on, and I'm to go up and say a few words 'cause that's what 10:27 they wanted me to do, when the lights came back on, there were people sitting all over here. 10:32 They just kept letting them in all the way through. This was known all over the 10:35 island. Palau is an archipelago of islands, over 500 islands, but 10:38 Koror is on the -- not the biggest island, but it's the dominant island in terms of 10:44 populace. Everybody had heard about "Return to Palau." 10:48 Palau owned this story. For their culture, it was a story of shame. 10:52 "How could this ever have happened in our paradise?" They've lived with that for 10:57 20 years, but God showed them the rest of the story, and it was a glorious story. 11:03 By the way, it ended up on the newspaper, cover of the newspaper. 11:06 The president gave a press conference. He said, "Dwight, have a 11:09 scripture and a prayer at the press conference." I said, "Man." 11:13 I said to him at the press conference, "I wish every world leader would have scripture and 11:17 prayer before a press conference." Our press conferences would be a 11:20 lot more civil in America, I have a feeling. Anyway, so here we are. 11:27 Success at every standard you use to measure it because you were praying. 11:31 Praise God. Here's back behind the big black curtain up front. 11:35 This was our friend, Richard Parke, media director at Pioneer. 11:39 He's up in the control room right now. I am so grateful that we had the 11:44 prescience to invite Richard along. We thought somebody from the 11:47 G.C. was coming. I'm so glad it ended up being Richard. 11:50 We would not have had the premiere we had. He's running everything. 11:54 I mean, they had little, you know, a little local church P.A. booth. 11:58 That was it. Had we not brought this equipment and Richard been the 12:01 professional that was helping run the livestream -- some of you watched the 12:06 livestream. I know it 'cause you've told me -- we couldn't have done it. 12:10 And by the way, Richard left Gaddiel here. We were gonna take Gaddiel, who' 12:14 also on our media team, but because of his visa, he's really getting close to what you want 12:18 when you have a visa to come to the U.S., we said, "No, he can't risk it. 12:21 If he leaves the country, there's a chance he wouldn't get back in. 12:24 And so, Gaddiel, you stay here," and he did a great two Sabbaths with Pastor Rodlie preaching. 12:31 So the fun part for me -- my assignment was, after the world premiere, take the four next 12:38 sessions, three in the evening and one on the Sabbath morning, and deal with forgiveness. 12:46 But my fun part was -- besides the teaching forgiveness, was to do interviews with people who 12:51 were boots on the ground when this tragedy happened. Here are two presidents of the 12:56 nation. You have the former president. I called him President Tommy. 13:01 I do best with just first names. President Tommy. And this is the present 13:05 president right here, and I got to interview them the first night of the ongoing series, and 13:14 his heart was broken when the tragedy happened. He knew little 10-year-old 13:18 Melissa. Now he meets her as this grown woman. 13:21 His heart was broken. He was running the construction company from whence came the 13:25 murderer. Oh, you're gonna have to hear that story. 13:28 Don't miss -- have I given you yet when the documentary's gonna be seen? 13:32 Remind me not to quit without giving you that, alright? So, first night, I got to 13:37 interview the two presidents. Second night, I got to interview the queen, Bilung. 13:42 It means "queen." Bilung Gloria Salii. She was a dignified queen. 13:48 I'm gonna show you a picture right after this. Dignified. 13:52 She just had a regal bearing. Because they have a culture that is matrilineal. 13:58 That means through the woman the royal line is drawn. So men are great, but it's 14:06 through the women that the lineage is established. And so she was very dear friends 14:13 with the DePaiva family, came to love them, and then they're murdered. 14:17 Just the whole island was just devastated. Here we are in her house, and 14:23 she's so regal. Look at her. And here are a few of the team. 14:26 You recognize some faces here. But with the queen. It's like a museum. 14:31 She had pictures up and shells and collections from the deep sea. 14:35 My, oh, my. God bless her. So every night subsequent to the 14:39 documentary, what's our theme? Forgiveness. Forgiveness, forgiveness, 14:43 forgiveness. 87% of Palau's Christian, so it really was the perfect place to 14:48 do this, because they're very open to considering the spiritual undergirding for 14:54 forgiveness. This is my last slide, and here's the president, 14:58 President Surangel "Phipps" Jr., and there's Melissa. There is Michael. 15:07 I just want to say a word about President Phipps. Whipps, I should say. 15:13 He's the president. He flew over to Guam to welcome us and to take us back on 15:17 United. And as we're going on, somebody said, "Hey, see those two guys? 15:21 They're secret service." Whenever he steps onto American territory as a head of state, 15:26 and he's the head of a state -- he's a nation leader -- government of the United States 15:31 says, "We'll provide a secret-service cover for you, if you want it." 15:34 He can turn it down, and he does oftentimes. So when he took us out during 15:44 that quarantine time, couple security are with him in the boat going to the Rock Islands. 15:49 He's a member of the local Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Koror. 15:53 Volunteer. Volunteer in the church. We're into our volunteer 15:56 engagement committee time where we'll be making phone calls to you, and you're gonna find a way 16:02 to say yes. I know you will. I just want you to remember 16:04 that, when you get that invitation, the president of a nation also says yes and says, 16:10 "I have the time. I can serve my church." Yeah, it's beautiful. 16:15 Anyway, what happened at the very end was he presented to Melissa this plaque declaring 16:21 her the possessor of an honorary citizenship in the Republic of Palau, and that 16:27 place just went to a standing ovation. She's their girl. 16:31 The high chief got up, and he said, "Listen, Melissa, you can go back to your other country, 16:35 but don't forget, you're really from Palau." Yeah, it's just a beautiful 16:40 story. You'll see how broken the story was to become beautiful. 16:46 And thank you for reminding me about when -- to say when it's gonna be shown. 16:50 Easter Sabbath. April 16. Easter Sabbath. Just mark it down up here. 16:54 Easter Sabbath. HPAC -- Howard Performing Arts Center. 16:57 3:00 in the afternoon. And Melissa will be there and Michael. 17:02 And we'll have a chance to chat with them after the documentary. So don't miss it. 17:06 Bring your friends. I'm telling you, we're gonna run out of space, so you're gonna 17:12 have to get there early. It's the premiere. It's being premiered in Keene 17:15 before they come here. So God is good, and we praise Him. 17:20 But you were praying. That's the deal. You were praying, and I thank 17:24 you. On behalf of the whole team, thank you. 17:27 You say, "Dwight, did you take any calls for decisions during your lectures?" 17:31 I sure did. Ended every lecture with an invitation card, went down the 17:37 rows, down the rows. I just texted on WhatsApp the pastor there yesterday evening. 17:43 I said, "Yo, Danny." Pastor Danny. Danny Velez. His cousin was in First Church, 17:47 I find out. I said, "What were the numbers?" He shot me a text back. 17:51 He just looked at it before our first service. Praise God, 40 decisions for 17:56 baptism and 60 decisions to study the bible. Yeah, Danny wrote a series of 18:03 four studies just on the theme forgiveness, and he's been handing those out, and 60 people 18:08 will be studying with him. And, by the way, this was open to all churches. 18:12 All pastors were there. We had choir. Catholic church sang at the last 18:16 Saturday-night meeting, provided the music. It was a beautiful experience. 18:19 It was island-wide and it needed to be that way and God blessed, so thank you. 18:25 I got something else I want to share with you, though. I'm hoping you'll get this, but 18:32 I want to pray before we get into it, so let's pray right now. 18:35 Father, thank You for what You did in Palau. We praise You for it. 18:40 It's Your story, and what You begin, You finish. Philippians 1:6. 18:44 So we're asking You to finish what You've started, those seeds that were planted. 18:48 You just stay on that island, as You have a way of doing, and here we are, back in snowy 18:53 Michigan. We're glad to be alive. Your wheel goes on here, as 18:57 well, so take these moments. Speak to our minds and our hearts. 19:01 At the foot of the cross, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 19:08 What I want you to do right now is I want you to overhear an embarrassing conversation. 19:12 This is gonna be embarrassing. It's like when you're in a group and having this big discussion 19:16 and, you know, everybody's piping up, "Hey, hey, I got something to say." 19:19 You know how you are. You want to finally say 19:22 something, and you're so concentrating on what you're 19:24 about to say that you miss what just happened before you, and 19:27 it's just, like, total disconnect. 19:29 This is embarrassing. They were not listening. 19:33 They are so eager to tell what they've got to tell, you see, 19:37 the contribution to the group discussion. 19:40 But out of that embarrassment, something very significant for 19:44 you and me. 19:46 So let's go. Let's go to the Gospel of Mark. Mark 10. 19:50 "They were on their way up to Jerusalem." Who's "they"? 19:53 It'd be Jesus and the Twelve and a crowd that always followed wherever Jesus went. 20:04 So you have Jesus, then the disciples, and then the followers. 20:08 They're coming up from behind, and they are astonished. They are afraid. 20:14 You know, there's -- sometimes, when you see a friend of yours, somebody you know and love, and 20:19 their face has changed, it could be the pallor of the face, the countenance. 20:24 It could be a gray color. I've seen this. The face has actually changed. 20:28 Something's going on in the head of Jesus. They have no idea what it is, 20:33 but His face has changed. Some of them are afraid, like, "This is kind of -- this is 20:39 spooky." Finally, Jesus stops, realizes what's going on in the circle. 20:43 So He takes the Twelve aside. He said, "Hey, fellas, come here." 20:48 This is just the Twelve now, and He tells them what was gonna happen to Him. 20:52 He knows why He's going to Jerusalem. This is the third time He has 20:56 told them in the Gospels. This time, He will use a word He never has used before, and the 21:03 word is "crucify." He's never disclosed the manner of His impending death. 21:09 So He gets them aside, and here He goes. "'We are going up to Jerusalem,' 21:13 Jesus says, 'and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers 21:17 of the law.'" We're talking about the hierarchy. 21:20 The religious hierarchy are gonna do this. Keep reading. 21:23 "'They will condemn Him to death,'" the Son of Man, "'and will hand Him over to the 21:29 Gentiles,'" the pagans, "'who will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. 21:35 Three days later he will rise.'" And Matthew's version -- almost identical except the word "kill" 21:40 is "crucify." Matthew was in that circle. Mark wasn't. 21:46 First time Jesus discloses, and here is what is so stunning, the temerity, the temerity of what 21:56 happens next, because, I'll tell you, for all Twelve, it just goes, whew, whew, in one ear and 22:00 out the other. Nothing about the crucifixion do they hear. 22:02 Nothing about the resurrection do they hear. It's just gone. 22:05 And for two of them, this is the embarrassing moment. They had been working so hard on 22:10 the speech that they're gonna give to the Master. They've been waiting. 22:12 "Is this our time? This is our time?" Jesus says, "I have a little 22:15 announcement to make." They listen to the announcement and do not hear a word. 22:19 He's just talked about His public execution. They want to talk about their 22:24 private and personal elevation. They want to talk elevation. He's thinking execution. 22:30 Something is a huge disconnect here. We do the same. 22:35 We do the same to God. Disconnect. We never got a thing. 22:43 So they come up to Jesus. "Then James and John," God bless them. 22:47 Everybody knows the sons of the thunder. These are the fisher boys. 22:51 "James and John, the sons of Zebedee, they came to Jesus." And, by the way, in Matthew and 22:57 Mark, the word is "then." It's put up right next to Jesus' disclosure of this barbaric 23:04 ending to His life. "Oh, I'll rise again." Right then. 23:14 Like little kids with their parent. "Hey, will You do anything, 23:17 Daddy, that I ask? We want You to." Not a word about what. 23:20 "We just want You to do whatever we ask." Jesus says, "Well, what do you 23:24 want me to do for you? Tell me." They said, "Alright, let one of 23:27 us sit on your right and the other at Your left in Your glory. 23:31 That's what we want." [ Chuckles ] You got to be kidding me. 23:37 Nope. The chutzpah. Now, Matthew says, "Mama." 23:43 Mama's with the boys, so they're hiding behind Mama's skirts, see? 23:47 They're using Mother as a front, but it's the boys pulling the whole thing off. 23:52 "We want the top-two positions." The temerity. The chutzpah. How could you possibly speak 24:00 about elevation, exaltation at this moment? You know, we don't feel it. 24:08 We don't feel this kind of a "fingernails on a blackboard" moment to us, number one, 24:14 because most of us don't know what a blackboard is, and number two, because we are steeped in 24:21 the very same culture that James and John have come from. We are tone-deaf by a culture 24:27 that considers self-promoting normal. "America's Got Talent" -- who 24:32 are the people that go on? "Hey, I got something for ya, America. 24:35 Take a look at me." We got these reality shows coming out our ears. 24:42 That's what we do. It's what politics is all about, self-promotion. 24:45 It's what sports is all about. It's what entertainment is all about. 24:49 Jesus said, "I can't believe it." We live in the same culture of 24:54 self-promotion which is the norm today. "You got a problem with that, 24:59 Dwight? I mean, come on. This is what we do. 25:01 We do it in the church, we do it outside of the church." No, I don't have a problem. 25:04 Jesus has a huge problem with it. Now, notice how Jesus responds. 25:10 I'll read it again. "Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus. 25:13 'Teacher,' they said, 'we want You to do for us whatever we ask.' 25:16 'Well, what do you want me to for you?' Jesus asked. They reply, 'Let one of us sit 25:20 on your right and the other at Your left in Your glory.' 'You don't know what you're 25:26 asking,' Jesus says. 'Can you drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism 25:31 I am baptized with?' 'Yep, we can,' they answered." And guess what. 25:35 They will. The first martyr of the Twelve is James boy. 25:38 The last of the Mohicans to survive is John boy. He'll be the last to die. 25:43 Yeah, we -- we -- we -- you... "Jesus said, 'Guess what. Yep, you will drink the cup I 25:48 drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or 25:53 left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.' 25:59 When then ten heard about this, they became indignant." Shooting nails, they're so 26:04 sputtering mad. They're ticked off with James and John. 26:07 And Jesus says, "This is teaching-moment time. Guys, come on, come on. Stop." 26:12 "And He calls them together and He says, 'You know that those who are regarded as rulers of 26:16 the Gentiles --'" He might as well have said "pagans" because that's what Gentile means, 26:20 pagans. "'Those who are rulers of the pagans lord it over them, and 26:24 their high officials exercise authority over them.'" Jesus says, "Don't you know the 26:30 culture you live in? Don't you know the media's obsession in your culture with 26:33 the moneyed and the popular and the famous and the rich and the powerful? 26:37 I'm talking about the Bill Gateses," Jesus said, "I'm talking about the 26:40 Mark Zuckerbergs, the Jeff Bezoses, the Steve Jobses, the Elon Musks, the 26:44 Warren Buffetts, the LeBron Jameses, and, God bless her, the Kim Kardashians. 26:52 Don't you know that you're in a -- that these titans of the industry, these titans of 26:57 commerce, these titans of entertainment and sports, don't you know they rule over us? 27:01 They look down on us. Don't you know that about your culture? 27:08 But it's not to be that way for you. That's my point, boys. 27:13 You getting that? We don't live that way." He goes on. 27:16 "'Not so with you,'" verse 43. "Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be 27:21 your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 27:25 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom 27:32 for many.'" Wow. What is up with that? 27:38 I like the way Frederick Dale Bruner renders these words with his own 27:43 translation of the Greek. This is for Matthew, but the words are almost identical. 27:47 So this is how he puts it. Jesus speaking here. "'Whoever in your group wants to 27:52 be great must become the table waiter.'" By the way, the word there is 27:56 "deaconess," means "must become a deacon." "You want to be great? 28:00 You become a deacon. You serve." "'Whoever in your group wants to 28:04 be great must become the table waiter for all the rest of you, and whoever in your group wants 28:08 to be first must become the slave." That's the actual Greek word. 28:11 It's a slave, you know, with chains? You become a slave. 28:14 "You want to be great? You become a slave. You want to be cool and at the 28:17 top of the pack? You go to the bottom of the pack. 28:20 You become the servant." You can't miss it. Unmistakable. 28:27 We get it. "'Just like the Son of Man,'" Jesus says. 28:31 "Be like me." "'He did not come to be waited on but to wait on and to give up 28:35 His life as a Ransom for all the rest.'" That word, "Ransom," ooh, that's 28:39 a heavy word. I like the way Frederick Dale Bruner 28:43 capitalizes it. The Son of Man becomes a Ransom. Substitution. 28:50 "Somebody's taking my place. Somebody's paying my penalty. Somebody's purchasing my 28:55 freedom." I love the way A.A. Bonar renders this. 28:59 This is a keepable line. 29:14 Isn't that good? Boy, that's a collectible right there. 29:18 I'll leave it on the screen for you. 29:28 Ransom. Substitution. "Taking my place." Do you know what? 29:34 Mark 10:45 is the clearest self expression Jesus ever renders about what His sacrifice is all 29:42 about. And He uses the word "ransom." Doesn't explain it. 29:49 Just "ransom." "I'm gonna trade places with you. 29:53 I will die so that you live. I will die forever so that you might live forever. 29:57 I will exchange places." Nowhere has it said who gets the ransom, who is the ransom paid 30:03 to. Paul will use it in Timothy, but nobody explains it. 30:06 It just says it's a ransom. Is it a ransom payment to God? That doesn't make sense. 30:11 Is it a ransom payment to the devil? Deliver us all. 30:14 So then to whom is the ransom offered? The Bible never says. 30:19 "He dies a ransom," Jesus says. "That's me." In fact, this is not a strange 30:24 word. The Greek words are actually found here in Psalm 47. 30:27 Look at this. This is something. "No one can redeem the life of 30:31 another or give to God a ransom for them." I can't be a ransom for you. 30:36 I can't be a ransom for you. How could I? Somebody will, but not us. 30:42 Keep reading. "The ransom for a life is costly. 30:45 No payment is ever enough." How could you pay a ransom for the human race? 30:51 "So that they should live on forever and not see decay." Only one being in the universe 30:57 could make that payment. And that's our Lord Jesus. Come to the foot of the cross 31:03 right now, where He makes that ransom, but I don't want to get to that ransom without 31:09 considering one more notion, a little nuance here, and I hope you see it. 31:14 This will need your thinking, now. Your mind can't be wandering 31:17 now. You're gonna have to zero in on this now. 31:20 Whether you're in the balcony or in the front row here, you need to get this. 31:23 Listen to this. What is so provocative is that Jesus uses His death -- 31:30 "I'm gonna give my life as a ransom for you, I'll be crucified" -- Jesus uses His 31:35 death as the basis for His appeal to you and me to embrace the life of serving. 31:43 He will use His death as that basis. Watch this. 31:47 Frederick Dale Bruner again on the screen. "So seriously does Jesus take 31:52 the way we work"... What do you do for a living? A lot of you have a job. 31:57 What do you do for your living? Whatever it is, "So seriously does Jesus take the way we work 32:04 that He uses His death to motivate it." Keep reading. 32:08 "Jesus' doctrine of vocation"... Let me just tell you what this word means. 32:12 It means your calling, okay? So I'm looking into the audience. 32:15 Oh, you have a calling as a nurse. That's good. I like nurses. 32:18 Married to one. Oh, you got a -- You're an accountant. 32:22 I see that. Retired accountant. Another accountant right there. 32:26 Ooh, professor, professor. That's your vocation. It's what you do. 32:31 It's your calling. It's not your job. Vocation's not job. 32:35 Vocation is your calling. My calling is I only know how to do one thing. 32:39 It's to pastor, to preach. That's it. It doesn't matter where you go, 32:42 that's still your calling. Your calling is not this today and something else tomorrow. 32:47 You have one calling. It's what you're doing. Right now, your calling is to be 32:50 a mother. That's a wonderful vocation, by the way. 32:53 Don't ever apologize for that. It's one of the greatest vocations on Earth. 32:56 "Jesus' doctrine of calling is built on no less a foundation that Jesus' atonement itself." 33:05 It's based upon His death and the manner of His death. Now keep reading. One more line. 33:10 "This is the supreme service Jesus did for the universe, and on the foundation of this, Jesus 33:16 calls disciples to turn their work from careerism to service." Now, I'm gonna tell you, when I 33:24 read this last week, I came across that word "careerism." And I said, "My, my, my, my, my, 33:29 my, I've never heard that word before in my life." Have you ever heard of 33:33 careerism? No, you haven't, either. Admit it. 33:36 But it's all over the Internet. So I go on the Internet, and sure enough... 33:40 Let's get a definition. Merriam-Webster on the Internet. "Careerism is the policy or 33:45 practice of advancing one's career often at the cost of one's integrity." 33:51 Ooh, that's not something you want. That's negative. 33:55 It's not a good thing, apparently, careerism. In other words -- What do I have 34:01 scribbled down here? In other words, using your career to advance your 34:06 ambitions. "Yeah, this is my career right now 'cause this gets me up the 34:11 ladder. I got to keep moving up the ladder." 34:14 Some of you are still chasing that dream. I know you are. 34:19 That's careerism. "I don't care what it takes, I'm going up the ladder." 34:25 Oof. Wikipedia nuances it just a little differently. 34:29 "Careerism is the propensity to advancement, power, and prestige outside of work performance." 34:37 So it has nothing to do with your work performance. And, by the way, let's not make 34:40 a mistake here, a wrong conclusion. Is it okay to keep growing and 34:44 becoming better and better at what I do, what you do? Of course it's okay. 34:48 We want to grow. We want to mature. We want to get better and better 34:52 and better. But this problem is, "I want to get better so that I get higher. 34:58 I want to get better so that I get wealthier. I want to get better so that I 35:04 get smarter than all the others. I want to get better so that I'm up here." 35:09 That's careerism. You're using -- some of you are even using your calling to 35:16 advance. You're Peter, you're James and John. 35:23 Ambition to be numero uno at last. Oh, wow. 35:31 There's nothing wrong with growing, but if our growing -- if our growing is driven by our 35:36 longing to climb higher than the rest, then it's wrong. It's careerism. 35:40 "Teacher, the two of us have a request -- can he and I be on either side of you at the top? 35:47 Please?" It's wrong. That's careerism. 35:53 It's nothing more than that. I scribbled down -- I woke up early this morning, thanks to 35:59 the time zones, and I scribbled down something. I need to share this with you. 36:05 "Careerism is hanging on to position to validate my calling." 36:13 Everybody has a calling here, but some of you are hanging on to the position you're in right 36:17 now to validate your calling. "Everybody will know this is my calling if I keep this position. 36:22 If I lose this position, I'd lose my sense of calling." That's wrong, that's not true. 36:27 That's what careerism does. But vocation is the calling by which I serve humanity in my 36:33 God-designated way. "I pursue my calling in order to activate my serving." 36:41 Let me give you one more. Careerism is positional. "I seek position to discover or 36:50 affirm my calling." No, my friend, if you've got the calling, it doesn't matter where 36:56 you serve on this planet. The calling is still yours. You haven't lost it. 37:00 You don't have to change jobs just to advance the recognition of your calling. 37:05 You already got it. Hang on to it. Careerism will drive you crazy 37:09 because you never make it. You never actually make it. 37:20 Calling -- If careerism is positional, calling is personal. 37:26 Yeah. "I will pursue my divine calling 37:29 wherever God puts me, irrespective of my position." 37:34 I'm gonna just use myself as an example. 37:36 I don't talk about myself much, as you already know. 37:39 But lookit, I mentioned a moment ago, I only know how to do one 37:43 thing -- preach and pastor. That's it. 37:45 I mean, it's all the same gift. That's all I know how to do. 37:52 And I report to the Michigan conference, and if tomorrow the Michigan conference says, 37:56 "You know, Dwight, thank you. Been great. We're moving you," entirely up to them. 38:02 "We're gonna move you to a church about 50 miles down the road, 30 members"... 38:06 I'll move. Why? Because I have a calling. My calling's not dependent on 38:13 where it's exercised. It's just dependent on me being faithful to my calling and 38:20 serve. And if it's 30 people, 30 people. 38:23 Who cares? Do you see the difference? James and John said, "No, no, 38:29 no, no, we got to be here -- numero uno, numero dos," or whatever -- however you say 38:34 "second." "No," Jesus said, "you don't have to be there. 38:38 No, no, no, boys. You don't have to. You want to be like me. 38:42 You serve. I'm gonna ask you to lay down your life for me. 38:47 That's what you do. You're an accountant, you're a plumber, 38:55 you're a builder, good for you. That's my calling for you. I've always wanted you to do 39:00 that. Just serve me." Use where you're at now to open 39:06 the door to serve humanity. That's it. It's not about position. 39:11 We live in a university where position means a lot. There's tenured positions, 39:15 there are un-tenured positions. Everybody's sensitive, you know? "Where are you in this little 39:20 moving up the ladder?" "No," Jesus says, "I don't do it that way. 39:23 I'm not complaining, but," He says, "I don't work that way." Now, you're a doctor in a 39:29 hospital. There has to be somebody that's ultimately responsible for the 39:33 hospital, right, and somebody among the neurologists, and there's a little pecking order 39:39 there, right? Yeah. That's okay. You're not doing what you do 39:46 to affirm yourself or to get recognized. No, that's careerism. 39:50 Jesus says just lay your life down, that's it. That's it. 39:54 How did Jesus put it? "The son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to 40:02 give His life a ransom for many." As far as I know, that call to 40:08 service -- and, by the way, that's the bull's-eye for this little Springtime series we 40:13 begin right now -- that's the bull's-eye for the next few Sabbaths. 40:18 We'll go to that bull's-eye of service. We've been pinned down by this 40:23 crazy pandemic. Some of us have been pinned down. 40:26 I met people today in the first service, this is the first time they'd been in church in two 40:30 years. They're not elderly people, either. 40:34 We've been pinned down. We've been locked down. It's time we break the shackles 40:42 and step out into service again. We need you. This church needs you. 40:49 God needs you. And in following Jesus, you will find your deepest satisfaction 40:57 and your truest fulfillment. Because you already have the calling. 41:02 Just live with your calling. You'll live so much freer not worrying about position. 41:08 Oh, we even sing that little song. Come on, sing it with me. 41:11 How's it go? [ Congregation sings ] ♪♪ 41:20 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 41:36 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 41:52 ♪♪ Oh, God, that's our prayer. Jesus said, "You want what life 41:59 has to offer, then follow me. Lay down your life for me in service to humanity." 42:08 Here's a room full of servants right now. They're already assigned a place 42:15 on this campus, in this community, in this culture. But they're assigned as servants 42:22 of the most high God. And so, we humbly -- we sing and we pray, "Make us servants. 42:28 Make me a servant." The calling is sure we don't need the affirmation of a 42:35 career. We just want the faithfulness of our savior. 42:41 And now, as we take the emblems of calvary, oh, if there's a heart that needs healing from 42:47 careerism, the disease of careerism right now, let these two emblems be your agency 42:53 for cleansing and for equipping for the brand-new chapter ahead. In your mighty name, Lord Jesus, 43:01 we pray together. Amen. So we're gonna go right now to 43:07 our Lord's Supper. Don't even move. Take two seconds to do this. 43:11 If you didn't get the little Communion kit -- see, they're coming your way -- if you didn't 43:15 get the Communion kit when you walked in, just somehow got by, hold your hand up right now, and 43:20 we'll put one in your hands. All the way in the balcony, you didn't get one? 43:23 In the back of the church. All right. The deacons have done a good job 43:26 of making sure everyone entering this space has it, but if I'm somehow not seeing your hand... 43:32 But I didn't see a single hand go up, so thank you, deacons. You did well. 43:36 But put your hand up. They'll come by one more time. Okay, and while they're doing 43:40 that, I'm gonna ask the other deacons to move the pulpit, bring the table forward. 43:45 We're ready to go. The organ will play three or four measures of something 43:48 beautiful. You'll hear it. And then Pastor Rodlie and our 43:52 elders will lead us in our beautiful Lord's Supper. This is for careerism. 43:57 This is to set us free from having to clamber up a ladder. This is to bring peace -- the 44:04 peace of Christ -- that passes all understanding to our hearts. God bless you. 44:10 [ Organ plays ] ♪♪ 44:22 ♪♪ ♪♪ 44:42 ♪♪ ♪♪ 45:02 ♪♪ 45:13 >> Amen to that. 45:16 So I confess to you that I'm a believer in holy moments. I believe when the church 45:25 gathers together, that's a holy moment. I believe when we witness a 45:32 baptism, we've witnessed a holy moment. And equally, like today, right 45:42 now, I believe when we gather for the Lord's Supper, for Communion, and we take the bread 45:52 that represents the body that was broken for us and we take the grape juice that represents 45:58 the blood that was spilt for us, I believe we're partaking in a holy moment. 46:06 I mean, really, that's what the words of Jesus and Mark 10:45 are all about, right? 46:14 "I did not come to be served but, instead, to serve and to give my life as a ransom for 46:22 many." That's why I'm excited that we could participate in this 46:26 together. To my right is one of our Pioneer elders Ildiko Gyeresi. 46:35 And she's gonna take us back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 so we can hear that story right now. 46:42 >> I will be reading from the new international version 46:46 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. 46:53 "For I receive from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night He 47:01 was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is my 47:11 body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after supper, 47:21 he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 47:28 Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread 47:37 and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." 47:44 >> Amen. And to my left is Anthony Yeboah, also one of our 47:49 Pioneer elders. Just gonna pray to ask God's blessing for the emblems we're 47:55 about to receive. 47:57 >> Oh, gracious, loving, and merciful Father, we stand before 48:05 you at this time. 48:07 We've gathered here to partake of these emblems that represent the broken body of Christ and 48:17 the blood that is spilled for the forgiveness of our sins. And so, Jesus Christ blessed 48:27 the bread and the wine in the upper room, we are asking that these emblems 48:35 would also be blessed so that, as we partake of them, we would, as Apostle Paul says, continue 48:44 to proclaim the death of our Lord till He comes back. Thank you for hearing us. 48:53 Amen. >> Amen. Amen. 49:09 [ Organ plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ 49:29 I hear the peeling taking place already. If you haven't already started, 49:35 I want to invited you to do so, just the top layer. And you're gonna do it as 49:39 carefully as possible. We have a little bit of experience with this now. 49:43 We've had a few cycles of those. We want to just take out just a little bread portion. 49:49 Let me see if I can do it on mine. Okay, got it here. 50:00 I've got it in my hand. Hopefully you have it in yours. And, again, the words of Jesus. 50:07 "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples 50:16 and said, 'Take, eat. This is my body.'" 50:28 [ Organ plays ] ♪♪ 50:42 Amen. I want to invite you to peel back -- very carefully with this 50:48 one -- the second layer now. And I always do like to turn it just a little bit away from me 50:56 'cause it's -- I don't want to create a mess. 51:12 Are you doing okay on yours? Kind of struggling with mine a little bit here. 51:17 Okay. I've got it there. Again, the words of Jesus from 51:26 Matthew 26, "And it took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, 'Drink from it, all 51:36 of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of 51:44 sins. But I say to you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine 51:50 from now on, until that day, when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.'" 51:58 Let's take. 52:04 [ Organ plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ 52:22 Amen. Friends, I've got some incredible news for you. 52:27 I don't know if you've heard it before. Based on the authority of the 52:34 word of God, Jesus said in His own words, "This is done for the remission of sins." 52:40 If you've partaken of that just now in faith, you are completely forgiven of your sins. 52:48 I want you to receive those words. You are completely forgiven of 52:54 your sins. That's some good news. What do you say, Church? 52:58 >> Amen. >> Yeah, me too. Amen. 53:00 It's kind of like a re-baptism whenever we partake in Communion. 53:05 That's why I'm always very happy when I have the opportunity, the privilege to partake in the 53:10 Communion service. So, friends, I do want to invite you to hold on to your cup. 53:16 And as you make your way out, please throw it out on the trash can. 53:21 So, just hold on to that. Also, let me just read verse 30 for you from the same chapter. 53:31 It says, "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of olives." 53:37 So what do you say? Should we do that, as well? We're gonna do that, Church. 53:41 We're gonna sing a hymn together, but before we do, just want to remind you that 53:45 after the hymn, on your way out -- this is a tradition in our church and so 53:50 many churches -- we receive a special offering that goes towards emergency assistance. 53:55 And every single year, because of your generosity, we have the opportunity to help dozens and 54:02 dozens and dozens of families when they are in a financial time of need. 54:07 So thank you so much for being generous. On your way out, you'll see the 54:11 plates where you can put in an offering for that. Friends, I want to invite you to 54:16 stand. And we're gonna sing together hymn 407, 54:20 "Sent Forth by God's Blessing." [ "Sent Forth by God's Blessing" begins ] 54:28 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 54:49 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 55:10 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 55:31 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 55:52 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 56:13 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 56:30 Amen. Let's bow our heads for the benediction. 56:34 And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be 56:40 gracious unto you, the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace now and 56:47 forever more. Let all the church say... >> Amen. 56:51 >> Amen. [ Organ plays ] ♪♪ 57:07 >> We've been really blessed by the financial support that comes 57:09 from our viewers, and we've made a conscious decision not to 57:12 continually appeal to you for that support. 57:16 The fact is, as everyone in the industry will tell you, we're 57:19 needing to make constant upgrades to our technology. 57:21 So if God has blessed you and you'd like to further the work 57:24 of this ministry, we invite you to partner with us. 57:26 Not a single penny of your donation will go to me. 57:29 Every bit of your gift goes to the mission of blessing your 57:33 community and our world. You can donate on our website, 57:36 newperceptions.tv. Or call the number. 57:39 You know the number -- 877-HIS-WILL. 57:42 Again, that number is 877 -- the two words "HIS-WILL." 57:46 And may the God who has blessed you continue to pour into your 57:48 life the gifts of His joy and His hope. 57:52 Thank you. And I'm looking forward to 57:54 seeing you, right here, again, next time. 58:01 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:21 ♪♪ |
Revised 2022-04-07