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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Gem Castor Weekend

Gem Castor

Sabbath the Highest Delight

Our great God, our dear, loving Heavenly Father, thank you so much, Lord, for this beautiful gift that you have given us.

A day wherein we could rest from all our worries and all our cares, and most especially a day, dear Father, where we could fix our eyes upon Jesus.

And, Lord, I pray that this special day would even be more special by sending us the Holy Spirit.

And Lord, I pray in a very special way that you please prepare our hearts for the blessings that you're about to pour upon us.

Let nothing distract us, dear Lord, from this beautiful day that you have shared with us.

And Lord, I pray that this will be 1 of the highest Sabbaths that we'll ever experience.

And Lord, I pray in a very special way, let you please anoint us with the anointing of your Holy Spirit.

For we ask this in the loving name of your son, Jesus, all your children say.

I don't know who among you here are third or second generation Adventist?

Okay, who among you here are first generation or converts?

So most of you are from a family that are Adventists and I guess you could relate to some of you could relate to what I'm sharing and I remember when it's Sabbath time, there's always this thing that's hanging behind, hanging at the back of my mind thinking, oh, I could not watch the things that I want to watch.

I could not listen to the music that I want to listen.

I could not go to places that I want to go.

Our church back in the Philippines, by the way, I'm a Filipino, back in the Philippines, our church is at the edge of the city, of the downtown area.

When you open my right window, you'll see a mall 550 meters away.

My left window, there's another mall, 850 meters away.

So for us young people, we are somehow looking forward for the Sabbath to end.

Because we want to go and march to the mall.

There's even 1 time that we are We're doing a countdown like 10 9 8 it's like New Year and then we rejoice and we go to the mall And that was like the highlight of our Sabbath.

And and when friends talk about the delight of the Sabbath, the joy of the Sabbath for us, it doesn't quite make sense.

And I'm thinking, is this really is this really the Sabbath that they're talking about.

And I remember 1 time, 1 of our friends as well said, Jan, let's go to your room, because I have a collection before of DVDs, movies.

And my brother Mark here knows about that.

So every end of the Sabbath, this young people could not wait to go to my room and do a movie marathon.

By the way friends, don't worry those movies are destroyed now.

And as it goes on and on and on, it got boring.

Is this the excitement that we have on Sabbath?

And then until 1 day, 1 of the young people in the group suggested, hey, Brother Jen, why not let's do a fasting and prayer?

I'm thinking at the back of my mind, fasting and prayer.

And then I asked the person, when do you plan to do fasting and prayer?

And we went to our room, to our upper room.

We were just covering our eyes, not looking at the potluck.

And when we were there, when we began studying, friends, we tasted something way more delicious than the potluck.

When we come together and pray together and studied together, It was awesome.

And then after that study, the youth said, you know what, can we do it next Sabbath?

But I did not oppose because we have just experienced something that we have not experienced before.

And it went on the next Sabbath, and the next Sabbath, and the next Sabbath, and the next month, and the next quarter.

And every time we did Bible study and prayer, the excitement and the hunger kept on growing and growing and growing until 1 particular Sabbath.

Where were you studying this beautiful passage?

If you have your Bibles with you, please open it in Isaiah 58.

I'll read from New King James Version, it says, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure in my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.

And we begin to realize The reason why we were not enjoying the Sabbath as we're supposed to enjoy the Sabbath or receive the blessing of the Sabbath is because we were using Sabbath in the wrong way.

We're coming to the Sabbath and thinking, what do I want to do?

Instead of coming to the Sabbath, What would please the Lord?

Not speaking thine own words, not thinking your own thoughts, not doing thine own pleasure.

And then we begin to realize this is the reason why we were not enjoying the Sabbath before.

There was a huge change, a huge contrast.

And by the way, Sabbath is about worship, isn't it?

So when we come to the Lord and worship, we bring what delights God.

And for sure, what delights God will delight you.

And this is 1 somehow game changer in this whole thing that we have seen.

And come to think of it, like Cain and Abel, remember Abel's sacrifice or Abel's offering was accepted is because he brought what the Lord required and Cain brought what he wanted.

And I begin to realize this is what's happening most of the time when we come to worship.

We come and bring what we want and not what the Lord requires.

And I remember 1 time we were singing, why do we want to sing this song?

And worship is becoming more about us and not more about him.

And then when we looked at each other and we realized, oh friends, this is the reason why we are missing on this most important blessing.

We are not blessed by it because we are using it in a wrong way.

It's like using your iPhone X only for texting and selfie.

He is Faithful

So I love that saying that says, you cannot share what you don't have.

So this is 1 thing that I like to share this morning, what the Lord has done in my life.

Because I know that you could not argue with a testimony, amen?

So when people ask me, Jem, what is your work?

And when I tell them I'm a missionary, and then the next thing that they ask is, so where is your mission field?

I tell them, you know what, that's quite a complicated question for me to answer because I don't have a permanent mission field.

You are a missionary and you don't have a permanent mission field.

And I tell them when I'm in Asia, the Lord brings me to 1 country after another almost every month.

And when I'm in the US, the Lord is bringing me to 1 state after another almost every week.

So, wow, that's quite an expensive lifestyle.

And I said, yes, I have a very rich Father, amen.

So I said, okay, so tell me who is your sponsor?

He said, we know that God is your sponsor, but tell me who really is your sponsor?

I was inspired by a testimony of 1 pastor.

And friends, it really pays attention to listen, isn't it?

I remember Romans 10, verse 17, it says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

And the moment I heard a testimony, my faith begins to grow.

He talked about George Mueller, and George Mueller, for those of you who do not know, lived in a time where almost around him, almost nobody believed that there is a God who hears and answers prayer.

So he dedicated his life to prove to people that there is a God who hears and answers prayer.

So he decided not to receive any salary, not to receive any stipend and he'll not do any solicitation or any donation campaign.

Whenever he needed something, he'll bend his knees.

And friends, just imagine, he has an orphanage.

And feeding like 100 to 200 mouths per day, that's no joke.

The Lord is faithful that every single time He needed something.

And when He comes to the Lord in prayer, the Lord gives the answer.

And when George Mueller passed away, they had a tally of every answer to his prayer.

Yes, that's the first word that came out of my mouth.

But when I saw, when I heard, when did this happen, it happened in the 1800s.

I remember I shared this message a few weeks ago in Battle Creek, and a friend of mine who was in the audience, he went to his app and somehow gave this computation.

He converted the money on our time now, on our date, and it amounted to more than 200 million US dollars.

The moment I realized that, my dear friends, I began to look at myself and say, wow, this is what happens when you take the Lord seriously.

This is what happens when you take prayer seriously.

And when I look at what happened in my life, the things that I have accomplished, it's just because of my little strength that I have.

So I told God, Lord, if you want me to be a missionary, then I'll make this deal with you.

I want to follow the footsteps of George Mueller to see if you are the same God that hears and answers prayer.

So friends, I told God, if you want me to be a missionary, I don't want to receive any salary, any regular stipend, and I will not tell people about my needs.

My dear friends, I have been a missionary for the past 8 years and 4 months.

No salary, no stipend, No stable job, but I have a stable God.

And I remember when people asked me that, so Jim, tell me, how does that work?

You not tell people about your need and then you have been traveling all over the world.

And before I kneel, my dear friends, usually 1 thing that happens is my knees will begin to shake.

You know what happens when your knees begin to shake?

It means to say that you have to fold them.

So I asked the Lord, Lord, if you want me to go to such and such a place, then you have to provide.

And sure enough, the Lord is so faithful to His promise.

I will receive phone calls or sometimes email or text messages, but most of the time a phone call.

And then people will tell you, are you going somewhere?

I was fast asleep last night and the Lord woke me up.

And I could not go back to bed until I resolved to give you a call the next morning.

And I said, I'm going to Indonesia or sometimes Malaysia.

And the people on the other end will say, okay, consider your tickets bought.

It happened only twice, but it has been happening for the past 8 years and 4 months of my life.

Because the moment you walk with God, the moment you take God at His word, you begin to realize that He is faithful.

And when you continually walk with Him, you begin to realize that He is continually faithful, consistently faithful.

So on 1 particular time, a friend of mine asked me this question.

I consider her as 1 of my closest sisters.

She said, Gem, so until when do you want to become a missionary?

And I look back on my life before, friends I was a photographer, I was a wedding photographer, portrait photographer, yes I'm always the photographer never the groom, praise the Lord.

So I look back at my life and I look back, and when I look at my missionary life now, I'm thinking, there's nothing more than this.

If God allows me to be a missionary for the rest of my life, then be it.

And then she said, you know what, Gem, it's good that you want to be a missionary for the rest of your life, but I know that you don't have any training for evangelism or something.

So she suggested, at least apply for an evangelism training and then she told me apply in Amazing Facts and said okay I'll do that and you know what friends Amazing Facts opened in the Philippines during that year.

Tis So Sweet

Our great God, our dear, loving, heavenly Father, Lord, there are so many things to thank you and to praise you for.

Lord, 1 thing that we want to thank you for is that you always compel us to draw closer to you, to lean upon you, to lean hard upon you.

So Lord, I pray that we may experience that today, that we may have that sweetness that the song is talking about.

So, Lord, I pray that you please, once again, speak to each and every 1 of us and speak through me, O Lord.

So, please hide me behind the shadow of your cross, that I will not be seen or be heard.

But Jesus and Jesus alone be seen, be heard, be lifted up and exalted.

And Lord, I pray that may Jesus be lifted up higher than we have lifted him up before.

This Lord we pray in the loving names of Jesus, amen.

So continuing on with that story that I shared a while ago, The moment I arrived in that school, they said, oh, Brother Jem, we forgot to inform you that we somehow booked you to speak every morning devotional for the dorms.

At the dorms, you know what time do they start your devotional?

And I'm thinking, oh I'd be drained here.

And friends, after that, after they have me eat, I have to do like a short devotional in 4 classes in the morning and 4 classes in the afternoon.

And the first morning that we've had, You see young people, the girls dorm, young people dragging their legs towards the worship hall.

You could see people that are out of body experience, friends, and when they went there, and then when they sang this song, their opening song was, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.

Friends, that was the first time I sang it, I heard it sang in the lousiest form.

Everyone was just, there's no sweetness in their faces.

Everyone was just like so tired, like, "'Tis so sweet." But you know what, for the first time, that song really hit me.

Even it was sang in that manner, that song, the lyrics of that song, for the first time, it really spoke to my heart.

Friends, tea's so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know what?

Just imagine, friends, if we trust Jesus and Jesus alone, life would be sweeter.

And I begin to realize, oh Lord, this should be the theme of my life.

And that was the time that somehow the Lord is somehow speaking to my heart.

When we do things for the glory of God, when we work in his vineyard, the first person that gets the message is us.

So the Lord has been teaching me to rely fully on him.

And it's not just for my tickets now, it's not just for my finances, but everything, Even my schedule.

And this is 1 thing I remembered, friends.

The moment I relied to the Lord that I should not be making things for myself, even scheduling my talk, when I surrendered it to him, the Lord could do a better job than we could.

I remembered when I surrendered to the Lord, the Lord showed me that he could book me 3 months in advance.

After 3 months, I'm thinking, oh Lord, it's nice to give all to you.

So I give a little bit more, and the Lord booked me 6 months in advance.

And after the 6 months in advance booking, I said to the Lord, I learned my lessons now, I should not be putting my finger in any of your plans.

So the moment I said that, you know what the Lord did?

The Lord booked me a year and a quarter in advance.

We have to trust Him and life would be sweeter.

So, and 1 of those quotes that I really go back into, this very, very inspiring quote.

If there is a life that we have to pattern our lives, it's from the life of Jesus.

Help in Daily Living, page 18, paragraph 3, it says, Christ in his life on earth made no plans for himself.

I remember when I was still in college, in the university, I'm thinking, at the age of 25, I should be putting up my business.

At the age of 30, I should be settled down.

And then I realized that even if I could see part of my plans are getting fulfilled, it's not as fulfilling as you imagine it would be.

But when the Lord is handling my plans, my dear friends, it's fulfillment every step of the way.

So listen to this, to the line that follows.

It says, Christ in His life on earth made no plans for Himself.

And day by day, the Father unfolded His plans.

So should we depend upon God that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will.

As we commit our ways to Him, He will direct our steps.

Friends, if God is the 1 directing our steps, don't you think that life would be sweeter?

If God is the 1 leading, life would be awesome, isn't it?

I remember that beautiful verse, Psalms 32 verse 8, "'And I will instruct thee and teach thee "'and the way that you should go.

"'I will guide thee with mine eye.'" Friends, if God is the 1 guiding us, will we ever get lost?

But most of the time, we don't think that that promise is for us.

I was even thinking that promise is just for those who will take their exams.

Those promise, that promise is just for those who are lost.

Who knows what's going to happen next week?

No 1, No 1 even knew here that I'm going to do this.

So if only God knows the end from the beginning, why would not we rely fully upon Him?

He says, I will instruct, teach, and guide.

So many times of our travel, we get lost of GPS, but God's GPS will not get you lost.

Series

Gem Castor Weekend

Tis So Sweet

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Breakout Session C

Reflecting Christ to Your Community as a Healthcare Provider

1h 7m

Knees, Keys, and Please!

2. Encountering God

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Above and Beyond: Keys To Personal Revival And a Lifestyle of Vibrant Living in Christ!

6. Called to Above and Beyond Surrender

1h 12m

FYI 2009 Plenary Sessions

From World-class Dancer to Word of God Preacher

1h

Prayer

04 Prayer

53m

The Final Call

4- What will it Take?

1h

WYC 2012 Plenary Sessions

John’s Work, Our Work, Part 2

55m

The Art of End Time Preaching

6. Tools of Creative Language and Speech

1h 20m

Plenaries with Norman McNulty

Sleeping At Midnight

56m

Life With the Spirit

I Want to See Jesus

1h 4m

Testimony

1h 5m

ECYC 2012: Plenary Sessions

The Almost Christian

54m

Sound Doctrine