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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Adrian Zahid

Being Where God Wants You To Be

Dear Father, I ask that you be with us today.

I especially pray for the students at the Loma Linda University and other students and other young people that are here today that as they hear this sermon that they be inspired to see the possibilities of what God can do through them.

I ask that we do not see how little we can do for God, but how much God can do through us if we are surrendered to Him.

The time is a very critical time for the United States government, and They are arguing with the United Nations and other Western countries over the definition of a single word, and that word is genocide.

There is a famous picture that you can find on the internet of a church, just like this 1, a little bigger than this, And there are pews in that church and there are in the front of the church behind the podium on the stage is a life-size statue of Christ and He's holding his hands like this.

And below him, in the pews, are 150 dead bodies.

People who have been bludgeoned and killed and burned.

And they're right there in the pews in that church.

It's a surreal image of what happened in the time of that genocide period.

And it was a time when the United States government and other Western governments were pulling out their diplomatic personnel out of the city, out of the country because it was too dangerous for them to be there.

But in that time, in that dark period of that country's history, there was 1 man who decided that it was his duty, it was his personal conviction that he should remain in that country.

And so 1 American decided to stay in that country, and his name was Carl Wilkins.

And he decided that he would stay and he would help out as much as possible wherever his help was needed.

And so 1 day while he was traveling in his truck with his driver, they went to a certain orphanage in a certain city, and they saw at this orphanage there were men, and they had surrounded the orphanage, and they were sharpening their knives and their machetes, and they were just standing there.

And He drove in and he realized that these men would not come to the orphanage as long as his truck was there, but they were going to come for sure.

And there were 150 to 200 children there, and so he was thinking fast, and he was thinking, what shall I do, what shall I do?

And so he decided that he would leave his truck in front parked outside To make it look like he was at the orphanage and he was going to run out the back and run to the city and ask for help So he ran out the back and he went to the mayor's office to ask for help and he walked into the mayor's office and they told him that the mayor was in a meeting with the prime minister of the country.

And so he waited and then suddenly the doors opened wide and everybody snapped their attention and a line was formed and the prime minister and the mayor came out with his aides, and they started to walk down that line.

And the prime minister, as he was walking down, he was shaking some people's hands and then walking past some people.

But he was walking down, and people were clapping as he was walking by.

And Carl, in his heart, his heart started to pound very hard and he was thinking, should I ask this man?

Or should I just be quiet and just ask the mayor?

But the Prime Minister was coming closer and closer and closer.

And just as he came really close, Carl Wilkins stuck his hand out and he said, Mr.

Prime Minister, I'm Carl Wilkins, the director of Adra, Rwanda.

The Prime Minister paused and he turned and he took his hand and he shook it and he said, I have heard about your work.

And he said, well, it's not going too well right now.

There's some men outside my orphanage, and it seems like there's going to be a massacre there.

And so the prime minister turned to his aides, and he talked with them for a little bit.

And then he looked at Carl Wilkins in the eye, And he said, your orphans will be safe, I'll see to it.

And throughout the war, no 1, no 1 touched those kids.

There were many other instances like this where Carl was able to be at the right place at the right time and God gave him the right words to say.

And he, according to Frontline, the news organization, according to Frontline, this man was able to save more lives than the entire United States government combined.

And so, Carl Wilkins, in a small way, he was able to do things for God.

In his way, he was able to do things for God that had a multiplying effect in other people's lives.

Let's turn in our Bibles to a certain story that on the surface it seems like the wrong place at the wrong time.

But when we look at it deeper, we will see that it was an instance of a right place at the right time.

And it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Raba.

What had happened over here was an issue of bad, of diplomacy gone really, really bad.

In the previous chapter, David had sent some men to offer his condolences to a nearby kingdom where the king had died.

And so he had sent some men to go and offer his condolences to the son and say I'm sorry that That your father has died and I'm here and I'm here as your friend and I'd like to do whatever I can to support you Instead that King he listened to his advisors and foolishly decided to anger David and so what he did was he humiliated his diplomats and sent them back half-naked.

And so when those men came back, David decided that he was going to go to war over this nation and that he was going to utterly destroy it.

And so there was 1 last, he sent Joab to war and he raided the armies of Israel and Judah against that country and they went to war and they had just this 1 last stronghold, this 1 city that was left and Joab had his armies around it and they were going to destroy it.

And so David, in his time, he had what we would call today some special forces.

If we turn to chapter 23 of this same book, 2 Samuel, chapter 23, we see a list of men that were raised up to follow David, and these men were very powerful men.

They were known for their skill in fighting, and they were known for their skill in fighting and they were known for their bravery.

And if you turn to 2 Samuel 23 verse 23, we find that There was a certain man, 22 says, these things did Benaniah the son of Jehoriah, and the name among, had a name among the 3 mighty men.

And he was more honorable than the 30, but he attained not to the first 3.

And then the rest of these men over here are David's guard.

And at the end of the list over here, finishing the list in verse 39, is Uriah the Hittite.

There's 37 of them in all and Uriah the Hittite was 1 of those men.

And so David in chapter 11 is a commander-in-chief of Israel and he has his special forces and he has sent his special forces along with the rest of the armies into battle.

And I know from just experience in history and just if you look at it today, people who are generals in the army and people who are commanders in the army are often very close to the commander-in-chief.

And so, just like most of them today are centered, their houses are centered in Washington, D.C., which is the command of the United States, in the same way, Uriah's house was very close to David's house.

And unfortunately, at the wrong time of the day, David went up on the roof, in verse 2, in evening tide, and David arose off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house and from the roof of his house he was able to look into, in those days they didn't have binoculars, but he was able to look into somebody else's house and he saw someone taking a bath.

And he saw it was a woman taking a bath and just like any guy, he turned to his friends and he said, who is it?

And his friends looked closely and they said, that is Uriah's wife.

But in the king's mind, he was a king and he could do anything.

So he sent for her, she came and she slept with him and then she went back.

But verse 5 says, and the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am with child.

David had a situation on his hands that he did not want to deal with, but he had to.

And so David needed the husband, Uriah, to come back just for 1 night to stay at his house, at Uriah's house, and then go back to the war.

The pregnancy was early enough that if he came back and he stayed, there wouldn't be too much questioning.

So in verse 6, the Bible says, and David sent to Joab saying, send me Uriah the Hittite.

And since Uriah was 1 of the commanders of the army, he was part of the personal guard, When Uriah came unto David, David demanded him of how Joab did and how the people did and how the war prospered.

And so Uriah, as soon as he came straight from the battlefield, he marched right into the palace of the king and he gave him a full report of how the battle was going and how the general was doing.

And after he had done his duty, Uriah said, go down to thy house and wash thy feet.

In effect saying, you have done your duty, soldier.

And as a gesture of goodwill followed him a mess of meat from the king.

So what David wanted was some food to come home, Uriah is tired, he'll be able to sit with his wife, have a romantic dinner, and be able to enjoy the time at home, and then leave.

However, the Bible says, But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and went not down to his house.

You see, in Uriah's mind, he was a soldier and his place, because the country was at war, his place was at the battlefield and he needed to be there.

But if he was not supposed to be at the battlefield because his commander-in-chief had called him home, The next best place for him to be was at the palace of the king's gate, protecting the king in the time of war.

And so in his mind, that was what his duty was and he was going to stay faithful at his post of duty.

And so, the Bible says, And when they told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said to Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey?

Why didst thou not go down unto thine house?

And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in tents.

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Being Where God Wants You To Be

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