Episode Transcript
And here is today's presenter, Sam Walters. Let's say a prayer and we'll begin. Heavenly Father, as we come into your presence this evening, we're asking for the infilling of your spirit. We're claiming the promise of Luke 11:13, which says, if ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them? That ask him. Every time we open up the Bible, we recognise that we're standing on holy ground. And so, dear Lord, we come humbly because we don't have the necessary capacity to understand your word, because spiritual things are spiritually discerned. And so we're asking, dear Lord, that you send down the Holy Spirit to increase our understanding and illumine us these things. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. I was about 17, 17 years of age. Some of you did some mathematics yesterday and calculated my age when I said I was baptized at 11 and you saw the year of my baptismal certificate. So I was about 17 years of age. And you know how it is. I think the majority of guys in church, my age group, had left church, males. Just the girls were left. Just the girls were left. And one had left, I think he'd gone to university or college or something and then the others had just left church. And so we were still friends, we were still friends, but they just left church. So because we were friends, they were having an influence on me. You know how these things work more than I was probably having an influence on them. And we're still friends to this day, but it's just you're older, so things are different. So one day I was canvassing. They do a yearly, or they used to do a yearly ADRA two week canvassing block that the whole conference program used to do. All the churches in the conference used to go door to door and try to collect raise money for adra. So it was our church was doing that and I was part of that process. So I was with a few people, Sister Mariette at my home church and she part of the ADRA crew. So we were going out knocking door to door trying to raise money for adra. And I saw my friend or my friend called me later that day. Now I was struggling so I was doing church things, but I was struggling and my friend called me and I didn't know there was a few of them, I think they were going to the gym. And he called me, said, sam, yeah, we saw Sister Marriott. And one of my friends said, yeah, we just kind of said, lah, it's the Adjo crew. And then he said, sam, we saw you and we burst out laughing. He's phoned me to tell me this. We burst out laughing that, you know, he was with those guys. And at 17, like now I'll probably just laugh with him, but at 17 you kind of feel it, if that makes sense. You feel it, you feel it. And I was sitting in my living room. Across from my mum. Mum didn't know what the nature of the conversation was. And I was sitting in the living room across from the mom, I think when the phone went down, I think I just verbally said, because it was kind of on my mind what had happened. And then I left that room and I went upstairs. My mom says when I went upstairs she could see I was just in a decision making mode. You know those moments where because I knew I was kind of on the edge, ish, I was in a decision making mode. And so mom said she was downstairs and she was praying for me whilst I was upstairs thinking about what am I on? Am I staying or am I going? And I remember going upstairs and just after a period of reflection, I just thought to myself, I'm staying, I'm staying. I didn't understand everything. I only knew two things, Sabbath and State of the Dead. I didn't know anything else and that Jesus was coming again. But with the little that I knew, I just decided I'm staying. And I think at every level that every person in this room, at some stage, you need your own why, your own why, Your own why for why you worship, your worship. Why is it based on just this is how I grew up, or have you got a why? Why, I would say is more important than how many times we get into the weeds of the how. But I feel like why is a question that comes before how. If you. I mean, when they did the adulting advice and they asked about relationships, the answer that was given for how do you know you're ready? He says he starts with a why. Why are you getting into a relationship? Because when you decide or discover why, the why impacts your how. Why comes before how. When you go to university and you think about why am I going? That will impact how you do things whilst you're there. Why impacts your how. You remember Job, don't you? Job caught himself in a bit of a situation, and he lost everything in one day. Reading from verse 13. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabians fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Verse 16. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, the fire of God is fallen from heaven, and have burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away. Yea, and have slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And Job's response to bad news after bad news, after bad news after bad news. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. Worshipped. In a moment like that, you need to have a why? Friends and family. Can I call you family? Friends and family. In Matthew 24, the Bible lets us know that things are going to heat up. And it tells us some of the signs of the times. Reading from verse 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. Wow. What the Bible just said is, expect another lockdown. What the Bible just said is the worst thing is going to increase. And as the situation around planet Earth begins to heat up, the call for worship isn't going to change. It's something that you're going to have to make sure that you've got a why. And the why, friends, is going to be more important than your how as we start getting in towards the last days of Earth history. So I want to look today are some whys, some whys, and we're going to go through three some whys about why we worship and the God that we worship and how we can connect with this God in the times that we're living in now. First one, we get a picture of this in Revelation chapter four and we see why some of the heavenly host worship in Revelation chapter 4. Reading from verse 10, the 4 and 20 elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power. For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Here the heavenly host are worshipping and they give a reason for why they worship. And one of the reasons that they give for worship is, is that God is number one, the Creator. God's the cause, the cause, the cause. And it makes sense. I just feel like the cause, as a general rule of thumb, is more important or more worthy of honor than the caused. In the book of Hebrews, the author of the Book of Hebrews expounds on this, and in the author of the book of Hebrews breaking things down. I've got it down here, reading from verse one. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Think about Jesus, who was faithful to him and appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every man is built, every house is builded by some man. But he that built all things is God. Paul here in Hebrews, he goes to architecture and says, if you look at a home, and as you're looking at the home, and you go past the home and says, you know what? Just imagine your favorite home. If I had my own favorite home, I can tell you some things that would be in there in the bed. I'd have a button right by the bed that I would press and my slippers would just come out and it would sense my footsteps as I walk down the steps and pour out my favorite cereal and the bowl and things. And then when I finish it, and what Paul says is, if you designed your greatest house, the biggest house that you know, although the smallest house, that you know the house exactly how you wanted it. And then you came to that, and then you thought about it and said, listen, who's worthy of more honor, the house or the mind behind the house? It's definitely the cause. The cause of the house is worthy of more honour than the house. Nobody's eating from some food. You get invited to somebody's house and the food's really nice, and as you're eating it, nobody turns to the plate of food and says, thank you, food, for being such good food. Nobody does that. Where do the compliments go? Compliments go to the chef. Because the cause is worthy of more honour than the caused. And so what the Bible tells us is one of the reasons why we worship is because we recognize that God is our cause, he's our Creator. We have to ensure, friends, that in our worship we don't elevate the caused to the same level as the cause, and that we keep the focus on the cause always. And that we don't leave having our minds just fixated on the things that are caused, but our minds are left thinking about our cause, God himself, God himself. A second reason why we worship, number one, because the Creator caused. The Creator caused. Number two, is because the Creator cares. The Creator cares. David put it this way in Psalms 8, 3, 4. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of Man that thou visitest him. David's taken in creation. I knew I should have. I've got a children's story that I do sometimes, and what I do is I ask the children, how far is it from? And I'm based in Wolverhampton, so I would say, if I was doing it here, I would say, how far is it from here to downtown Sydney? And they would guess. And then I'd bring it up on Google Maps, and then I would say, okay, so how far is it from here to Melbourne? And then we'd have a little bit of a guess, and then I'd bring it up on Google Maps. And then I would say, how far is it from here to London, United Kingdom? Then we have a bit of a guess, and then I'll bring it up on Google Maps. And then I would say, how far is it from here to the moon? And then we have a bit of a guess, and then I'll bring it up, the information up on the screen. And then I'd say, how far is it from Here to the sun, we'll have a guess, then I'll bring it up on the screen. And then I'd say, how far is it from here to. To our nearest galaxy? They have a bit of a guess, then we bring it up on the screen. And then I ask them, how far is it from here to heaven? Everybody goes quiet. And then I say to them, we don't know, but we've got a little bit of a clue. Then I go to a particular portion in Sister White's writings where she says, a space opened up in Orion. And I say, how far is it from here to Orion? Friends, it's light years away. But the God of the Bible, there's more stars than grains of sand. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, The Son of Man, that thou visitest him? David here is in awe of the fact that the Creator cares to the point he puts it to music. Isaiah 49:15. Can a woman forget her succoring child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget, but I will not forget thee, because I've graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me. Many people don't worship God because they have a wrong view of who they think God is. You remember the prodigal son, don't you? The prodigal son. He's at home and he's at home, and he just feels like Dad's just a little bit too restrictive. I can't do what I want to do here. I can't watch what I want to watch. I can't be on social media the way I want to be on social media. I can't go to parties the way I'd like to go to parties. Dad's rules are just a little bit too restrictive. So because I'm a bit too restricted, I've got to get away. I don't know, maybe I'll go to university in Melbourne. And so he's gone to Melbourne. I'm not saying Melbourne is. You get what I'm saying? And so what? He's there in Melbourne, he ends up in a pig pen. And the Bible lets us know that he came to himself. And he begins to think, how many of my father's servants have got food enough to eat. And he gets a shift in the view of his father's character. And as he gets a shift in the view of his father's character, he's drawn towards God instead of away from him. Because many people I think, feel like, especially young people, that God is too restrictive. But friends, that is a lie from the enemy himself. It's not actually God who's ultra restrictive. It's Satan who's ultra restrictive. You start smoking, you're free to smoke, but you're not free to quit. Because what Satan does is that he gives you the illusion of freedom. But once he gives you that illusion of freedom, he uses it to bind you. Whereas with God, see, this is what happens. This is what happens. You remember the Garden of Eden? There was just one tree. They couldn't eat one tree. But then when they brought that restriction, they're now outside of the garden. They can't eat from any of the trees in the garden. Because what Satan does is he has an illusion of freedom. But Satan, the one who is really restrictive and God is saying that my character is not one where I'm trying to stop you from doing things. I'm trying to ensure you live your best life. The Creator cares first. John 4:10 Hearing his love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Question for you. Does a newborn baby love its parents? We've got a mixed crowd. We've got a mixed crowd. We've got a mixed crowd. Who says yes, who says no, Right? Let me ask the question a different way. If mum has a headache, does the newborn baby care? If dad came in, tripped and broke his neck, is the newborn baby even bothered? What's the newborn baby interested in? Food, nappy change and sleep. Hearing is love. Not that the baby loved the parents, but that the parents loved the baby even when the baby wasn't aware. And sometimes the parents were restricting the baby from doing the things that the baby wanted. Because the parents cared. Even when the baby couldn't interpret the care because of their limited capacity. Hearing his love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And so God is worthy to be worshiped as Creator, not only because he caused, but also because he cares. It's one thing to make something, but it's another thing, friends, to care about the thing that you've made. God cares. There's a third reason why God is worthy to be worshipped as Creator. He caused, friends, he cares. But not only does He. Cause not only does he care, but we have a Creator who can. It's one thing to care about Something. It's another thing to be powerless to do anything about helping a situation that you care about. Ever felt powerless, ever seen something and you wish that somebody could do something about it and you've just not been able to do anything. We've got a godfriend who's not impotent, but we've got a godfriend who can actually do something and intervene in the scenarios and the situations that we're in. I remember I was in university and they told us. They told us, right, you've had your last exam today. If you score between a grade boundary. I don't know what grade boundaries you have here, but in the UK you get a first, you get a two one, you get a two, two. So if you score between a grade boundary, we'll call you in for an emergency exam. It will be external examiners and. But most of you won't have to worry about that. So that for me, went in one ear and came out the other one. I didn't even think about it. I was at camp meeting, call it big camp here. I was in the uk, big Camp, North England conference. I get a phone call on my phone. Sam, have you checked your emails? No. You've got an exam tomorrow and it can be on anything you've studied in the past four years. I'm talking about a God who can. You can't study four years in one night. You've got to use these. They've told us that probably something might come up in your dissertation, likely. So I get to university, I've been driven up to the university. The next day, people have flown in. This is how serious this exam is. People have flown in from Lithuania. One guango flew in. People have driven from all over the country to be there that day for that exam. And so it's external examiners. And I remember there was a question that Dr. Simon White had asked me about grounded theory analysis and I wasn't able to give him a straight answer. So I went to his office, he didn't know I was having an exam. And I said to him, just give me some tips if they ask me about this. He said, right, if they ask about grounded theory analysis, mention these dates, mention these authors, mention this aspect of it, mention this aspect of it, make sure you avoid saying this, avoid saying this and avoid saying this. He didn't even know I was having an exam. It's external examiners. He doesn't know what questions they're going to ask. I get into the viva. The first question that they Ask me is on grounded theory analysis. I'm talking about a God who can step into your scenario and change situations around so that you. So you're thinking it's going one way, but actually it ends up going another way. Just last year, I became first elder in my local church. I had attended a program on men's health, and they were talking about prostate cancer. So one in four black men in the UK get prostate cancer. So I called up the head elder at my local church. I was sitting in the car park after the program. It was like AY service. Whether it was like spiritual, physical, mental health, AY service. I was sitting in the car park after the church program and I just thought, let me just call my head elder and say, listen, get yourself checked out. So I called him. I said, get yourself checked out. Have you had any checks? You need to get yourself checked out for this. Because 1 in 4 black men are getting it. And so as a result of that phone call, he gets in touch with his gp, has a few checks, diagnosed with prostate cancer. So anyway, he's getting his scans, he's getting his checks, and they've sent him to a scan in London to have his cancer checked out. And he asks for anointing. I'm talking about a God who can. Pastor and I went down and we anointed him. He had the results on the next Thursday. We anointed him. I think on the Tuesday, he got the results on the Thursday, cancer was gone, hadn't had any treatment. I'm talking about a God who can. Just three weeks ago, about four weeks ago, my little cousin hasn't been to church in years. Hasn't been to church in years. He's 17. He was about to start kind of the same age when I was making my own decisions. Calls me up randomly. Uncle Sam, can you pick me up? I want to go to church. We haven't had a proper spiritual conversation in a long time. But God, friends, is intervening in our scenarios. He's intervening in our situations. He's intervening in our lives. He's intervening in ways that if you just give him a chance and just open up yourself to him, he can do something God caused. God cares. But I'm realizing, friends, that God also can. He can do things for you. But David goes even further. In Psalm 51:10, talking about our Creator, he says, create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. God doesn't just want to do things for you, friends. Tonight, God wants to do something in you. In you a God, who can I remember when I first met my sister? Told you that I grew up in a single parent home, so I've got siblings for my father. And I had a phone call in 2011, someone who's good at mathematics, can work out how old I was. Had a phone call in 2011 and she lives in Jamaica. She phoned me, said, hi, is this Sam? Yeah, it's Sam. Who's this? This is Carolyn, I'm your sister. I'm coming to London next year because 2012 Olympics and I'd love to meet up. Yeah, we can meet up, we can meet up, we can meet up. So she comes to London, not to London, to Birmingham. She's giving me the address and I decided to meet up. So it's one of those houses, we've gotten there, I've knocked on the door, the guy's opened the door and I'm nervous because this is my. It's different, if that makes sense. It's different. So I've knocked on the door, guys opened the door, said, I've come to such and such number. He goes, yeah, it's not this house, it's the one around the corner. So in England the houses can be, depending on where you can be set up, a bit different. So I've knocked on that front door. So I've gone round the corner and then I've knocked on the next door and the same guy's opened the door and said, it's not this door, it's the next door. So now my nerves are through the roof, they're through the roof, they're through the roof. So I've come to the next door, I've come to the next door and I've knocked on the door and I've never seen a picture. So this lady comes to the door and she's looking at me, I'm looking at her and she says, are you Sam? I said, yeah, are you caroling? And I didn't know, didn't know how she was going to take things. I didn't know what the scenario was going to be. I didn't know what she was going to say, I didn't know. Just a mix of emotions that I just didn't know how to navigate at that time. And she just throws her arms around me, says, sam, I want to let you know that I love you. And I feel like many times because just of a distance that sometimes we can have because we have wrong ideas about who God is, that sometimes we have barriers, because I probably put up a barrier between God and ourselves that God's been trying to break down. He's been trying to reveal himself to you. And God really, ultimately is trying to let you know that I caused, I brought you into existence. I formed and fashioned you in your mother's womb. I knew you before you even existed and that I've cared from the foundation of the world. I sent my son down. I promised it, I guaranteed it, because I had you in mind. And friends, tonight I can. I'm not promising to fix all of your situations, but what I'm trying to do is that if you place your life in my hands, I'll create something different inside of you. In Revelation, chapter five, as we wrap this thing up, we see another reason why God is worthy. Reading from verse 11. And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And what I've actually done is that I should have read verse nine. And they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood and of every kindred, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. God's worthy because he created, but also he's worthy because he's our Redeemer. This evening we've got some cards here that we all received on our way in. There's a few things here that I'd like us to think about checking. Number one, I'd like someone to talk to. Number two, Bible study. Number three, baptism. Number four says other. And I'm adding a number five, which you can write in the other prayer. I'd like to pray for someone this evening. Someone who's been praying for something for a while and you're still waiting on God to come through. First of all, I want to let you know that God caused. God cares. God can. Second of all, I want to let you know that if it's important to you, it's important to God that if it matters to you, it matters to Heaven. And so this evening, if you're feeling like, man, there's some stuff that's on my mind that I need prayer for. There's someone whom I've been praying for. There's something that I've been going through. There's someone that I've been trying to reach, or I've got a child, I've got a friend, I've got a parent, or there's something in my own life. Sam, I'd like some prayer. I'd just like to invite you. I don't know what the culture is here. I don't know what the culture is here. I don't know what the culture is here, but I'm pretending like I'm back in my home church. I'd like to invite you. If you'd like prayer for whatever reason, just slip out your seat and just to come meet me down here at the front. You're saying, I want prayer. Come. You can come. God caused. God cares. God can. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you this evening not because we're worthy. We come to you this evening not because we've got everything figured out. We come to you this evening, dear Lord, not because we know everything. Ken. But, dear Lord, we come to you because we don't know everything. We come to you because we haven't got all the answers. We come to you because we haven't got everything figured out. And sometimes, dear Lord, we are faking it till we make it. And sometimes we're here and there's a child, there's a family member, there's a spouse. I'm even sick myself. And we need you to do something tonight. Dear Lord, we recognize that you knew us and you know us, and you formed us in our mother's womb. And, dear Lord, that you care for us. And, dear Lord, you can actually do something about the scenarios that we're in. And so, dear Lord, we're asking that you will come in and that you'll make some changes in our lives. But, dear Lord, even more importantly than the things that we're praying for, the things that we'd like you to do for us, beyond that, dear Lord, we're asking you that you will do something inside of us, make us into the people you've called us to be. From the crowns of our head to the soles of our feet, may we be blessed by you, like Joseph in Potiphar's house. Dear Lord, may you make everything that we do to prosper because you are with us. We're asking for a deeper infilling of your spirit. As we go through this week, dear Lord, as we start asking for decisions, I'm asking, dear Lord, that you'll fill this place with a deeper moving of your spirit. We're praying for revival and reformation and may it start with us. There's a world waiting for the truths that you have for this time. Empower us, dear Lord, to experience that revival and reformation. May we be an influence to our friends and family to be winning and lovable Christians that people won't be able to resist the call that you have in their lives. I place all of our cares in your hands. These things we pray in Jesus name. Amen. This message was made available by the Waitara Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit waitarachurch.org au. This program has been brought to you by 3 ABN Australia radio.
