Fresh Manna 2021

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Strong Tower Radio

Fresh Manna by Jermaine Gayle

Jermaine Gayle

Living In the Truth

Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh from the ovens of Heaven, baked by the Master Baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can now experience the taste and smell of fresh manna.

Today you will be listening to Germaine Gale, pastor of the East Lansing University and Lansing Spanish Seventh-day Adventist churches.

Let us pray as we talk about living in the truth.

Father, we come before you in humility and with all thankfulness, gratitude on our lips because you are good.

And Father, we are here now, hungering and thirsting for truth.

You may speak to me, who often gets the message twice.

Father, I pray that you may not allow us to leave this place the same, but that you may change our lives, is my prayer.

Living in the truth, I have a map that I need to explain to you this morning.

The map is a map that captures the journey of a woman by the name of Lillian Alling.

In the spring of 1927, Lillian became very homesick.

She was living in New York, and she became very homesick.

By some accounts, she had traveled as an immigrant to the United States to find work.

And time passed and she really missed her family back in Russia.

What's surprising about Lillian is that as a worker she was only earning about $7 a week.

Living in New York just wasn't cutting it for her.

She really wanted to be back with her family in Russia.

She realized that she could not pay the fare.

Journey would cost too much, earning only 7 dollars a week, and that imagined being stretched to cover expenses that she had to take care of.

She decided that this feeling of homesickness was too strong and so she refused to stay in New York.

So Lillian Alling decided to walk home from New York to Russia, 12, 000 miles.

Took her 3 years to get home, but she walked.

It is very surprising to see this girl walking 12, 000 miles and I say surprising to see as if I was there.

I was not there, But it is surprising to read her story.

She traveled through Chicago, Winnipeg, Canada, British Columbia with a backpack and an iron rod in her hand for protection.

With only $20 in her pocket, she walked home.

Arriving in Nome, which was about halfway on this epic journey in 1929, she Started in 1927 and arrived in Nome 1929.

I'm not talking about going, in my case, to Jamaica, which I would strongly recommend that we all go to Jamaica this time of year.

Are you homesick, though, for a better country, a better home, heaven?

And this Christian journey is as epic as Lillian Alling.

When I look at this picture, this epic story, I can see the Christian experience.

We have to brave the journey, the harsh temperatures, the frigid temperatures of the world around us.

We have to walk day by day with our Lord on our way home.

And while we may not be able to pay the expenses.

We are thankful that Jesus made a way so that we can walk home.

We're thankful that we can walk in his footsteps and we are thankful that we can walk in the footsteps of others who have traveled this road.

We are encouraged as we try to find our way home.

Today I think back at the beginning of our walk.

Our church started in 1957 by a group of college students attending Michigan State University.

They had a passion, they loved the Lord, and they decided with as much determination as you would find in Lillian Alling, they determined that they wanted to start something.

So from a student group to a branch Sabbath school, then to a local congregation, just a group of students at Michigan State.

There are other students here, and I met you this morning, Nate.

Our church is a light in this community, and it is a blessing to be placed beside Michigan State University, our mission field.

And yes, in 1957, a group of students decided that they wanted to walk the journey, the long journey to raise up a church.

In 1975, our local church went through a flood.

We were over in Highland Park, and I say we as if I was there, I was not.

I just want you to remember that if I, well, I can't do the calculations right now how old I would be if I was in 1957 or 1974.

We were in Highland Park and there was a flood.

The Grand River overflowed its banks and 1 member wrote just for record so that we could quote today.

The story is recalled, several members returned after sundown to move things in the basement out of danger.

This is after Sabbath Members came and moved everything.

The piano was wrapped in plastic and put upon blocks.

A deacon and his wife spent the night in the church to keep track of the rising water.

Sacrifices at the beginning of this journey.

Just imagine the deacon and his wife spending the night in the church to ensure that the water didn't come inside, to make sure to keep track of the rising water.

The next morning, the other deacons were called and sandbags were piled at the top of the outside basement stairwell at the back of the church.

The floodwater came up to the sandbags, but rose no further.

Only a few inches of water leaked in the church.

I have a picture of what that flood looked like.

But for some reason God preserved our church.

As they're all on this long walk home, God preserved this local church.

Do you realize that we are standing, sitting, experiencing today a blessing that God has provided for all of us through the journey of our pioneers.

I am so thankful every single time I walk through the doors into this local church I think back to their journey And I say with renewed determination and vigor that I want to do the best that I can to continue moving forward as a church, as an individual.

And all of us together should keep that in mind.

There should be no doubt in your mind when you sit here in the University Church that God has been leading this church.

God has preserved this church through many different experiences.

Another member wrote after University Church celebrated 50 years.

This member wrote the University Seventh-day Adventist Church in East Lansing will always remember how God has blessed and guided us these past 50 years.

Always remember how God has blessed us these past 50 years.

This church can only be successful, the member wrote, as we continue to work together in 1 accord, asking God's guidance and thanking him for his many blessings.

Are you thankful for God's many blessings?

Are you thankful to be a part of this church community?

This was at the 50-year mark and I did the calculations.

We are now 71 years old as a church family.

God Blessed Them

I always praise the Lord when I see your smiling faces in the audience.

I tell you it would not be the same if you weren't here today.

And as I always ask, are you happy to be in the house of the Lord?

God Bless Them is the title of our message today.

And as Nancy so beautifully read and mentioned, this is 1 of the easy verse to find in the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1, 27 and 28.

Before we begin, I'd like to offer a word of prayer if you don't mind bowing your heads with me as we pray together.

Loving Father in heaven, we wanna thank you so much for this wonderful Sabbath day that you've given to us.

As we come before you now, Lord, we pray that you teach us.

Dear Lord, we give our lives to you once more, and we ask that you take us and use us, even in our homes as family members.

Dear Lord, we pray that you inspire us and help us to be more like you in the most intimate circles there are.

We pray all these things thanking you ahead of time in Jesus' name.

Then God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply.

A wonderful, wonderful account of creation.

God had invested everything into the creation of this universe.

And He had given everything to the first created beings.

Today's sermon journeys into 1 of the most sacred spaces.

The most beautiful living analogy of the love of God and that is the family circle.

Friends, do you realize how blessed you are to have family?

This month, yes, we are focusing on families here in our local church.

And my Lord, I'm just so grateful every single time we come together as a church family, a body of families together.

So here's another reading of our text this is from the contemporary English version of the Bible and you might appreciate this The Bible says God gave them his blessing and said, have lots of children.

Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control.

Rule over the fish in the ocean and the birds in the sky and every animal on the earth.

I figure you might appreciate this rendering.

This text is the first benediction we read of in scripture.

It was said over the life of the first couple, the first family unit.

This is God setting precedence, disclosing His attention and intention for families.

This is a display of God's love for His created beings.

Every loving father wishes well for his child.

Every mother as well wishes the best for her children.

His blessings are given for time and for eternity.

Do you realize that today because you have a family you are experiencing and living a blessing that has lasted throughout eternity.

God bless them since the beginning of time family was designed to be a blessing.

I know the family circle can be a battleground of sorts sometimes.

We face many circumstances in life that changes us, that changes the family dynamic, and we go through many trying circumstances and sometimes we wonder, Is family a blessing after all?

Sometimes we doubt whether our families are a blessing.

Long ago I read a story of a man by the name of Thomas Hanson, who in 1978 sued his parents for malpractice.

According to him, his claim was his parents botched his upbringing so badly that he needed years of psychiatric treatment.

And yet there are other costly things regarding families.

There was a study that was done some years ago by the John Hopkins University Hospital where they discovered they were looking for a single precursor or a single reason why people suffer from many diseases and they were, during their research, they were trying to find out the single related cause for disease such as mental illness, hypertension, malignant tumors, coronary heart disease, and suicide.

This study was, they had over 1, 000 people in the study and it lasted for about 30 years and they discovered at the end of it all that the reason, the common denominator was not the lack of exercise or a bad diet but lack of closeness to parents.

Family can make people die, according to their research.

And especially, the research went on, especially in cases where the father is absent.

You are the 1 who holds the family together.

As men, we need to take this responsibility seriously.

Love your wife and cherish her as a husband.

Friends, there are terrible consequences when the family doesn't function right.

Many people have died, as I said before, according to this research, because family was not a blessing.

Many people are sick because of their family situation.

Many people are depressed because they are at home with family.

And many people are depressed because they can't see family.

Oh, friends, it was not God's design for family to be this way.

Family was supposed to be a blessing and it can still be and praise God that there are families in this local church who are a blessing not only to themselves each other but also to the church and to their communities amen.

Oh friends I pray that your family will be a blessing.

In the garden, the first family was created, presented before the universe.

The morning stars sang together as they saw the pair for the first time.

It May Be

And I'm reminded of my hometown and my homeland, Jamaica.

All right, As we begin this morning with our sermon titled, It May Be, I'd like to invite you to pray with me once more.

Let's bow our heads and let's pray together.

Loving Father in Heaven, I want to thank you so much for the privilege every single time we get to come before you to worship and every single time we come before you to learn more from your word we count it an honor to be in your presence today and father we pray that this moment may be a transformative moment We pray Lord that you may speak to us and that you may guide us into a deeper experience with you.

Father we thank you for the many blessings you've given to us and we pray now Lord that your presence may guide us through this moment is our prayer.

I want to remind you again that this month we are focusing on the family.

And I strongly believe, and I've done this as I've had this as a practice for years now that whenever there comes a time in my life where I don't know something about something I tend to ask people who know or who have the experience to teach me and that has benefited me over the years quite a lot and so I realize that I am treading on I guess you might say holy ground in this case and I'm treading on ground that I don't necessarily have a lot of experience but I want to tell you that it is not unusual for me to preach on subjects that I know nothing about.

There was a time in this local church where I preached a sermon on marriage even though I was not married yet And I was reminded after that sermon to come and say that again, after you've been married 10 years.

So I pray that this will be beneficial to you.

And I pray that the Lord will utilize my experience on the other side of parenting.

That is to say, I am a child and I have parents and I've learned from my parents and I've learned from other parents that I've seen as I observe over the years, some very, very useful things.

And also ultimately, and most importantly, we see very clear pictures of parenting in the scriptures amen and we look today at the life of Job.

Job is a one-of-a-kind parent we don't know much about Job's wife I think that there was a time where she struggled in the story but my assumption is that there was a time when they were both working together in harmony and they helped to raise their children properly.

There were moments of difficulty in Job's life and you know the story of Job.

He had experienced some interesting or unusual tragedies that are hard to explain when you read the book of Job.

But you see the great controversy working in the life of Job.

And I want to tell you that the great controversy is working as well in your home circle.

And every single time he gets an opportunity he's going to try his very very best and we see the curtains unfold in Job's story and we see what is going on behind the scenes but we also see in a practical level how Job operated in his life as a parent.

And so today I want you to consider this 1 of a kind parent.

1 a man considered by God to be like no other in the world.

Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?

That there is none like him on the earth.

A blameless and upright man, 1 who fears God and shuns evil.

Can you imagine God having that kind of testimony over your life?

Saying, my child in the city of East Lansing is 1 of a kind there is no 1 else like this person on earth out of the 7000000000 people on planet earth you stand out in the eyes and the mind of God oh there's none like Job on the earth the Lord says and God is saying this to Satan now we read again in Job chapter 2 and verse 3 then the Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant Job that there is none like him on the earth a blameless and upright man 1 who fears God and shuns evil, and still, even after he was tried, he still holds fast his integrity.

There's a lot to be learned from Job's story.

Although you incited me against him to destroy him without a cause, he still holds fast his integrity.

And there's a text that we often quote, I know that my Redeemer lives.

And though after my flesh worms may eat, I know in the latter day I will see him." Job held fast his faith.

And there are not a lot of consideration to this aspect of Job's life, but Job, I want to remind you today that he was a parent.

After evaluating all the people on the top side of the earth, the conclusion in heaven, God responds to settle the argument, is that there is no 1 like Job on earth.

And it should cause us to rejoice, meaning God is considering yours and my life.

And in dialogue with the enemy, the arch enemy of souls.

God is saying look this is my child and there's no 1 like him or her.

He is blameless, upright, he walked the straight path, He fears God and he walks away from evil.

He holds fast his integrity even though Satan was out to destroy him.

Job was a consistent Christian and that is important.

If there's 1 man on earth to talk to therefore that man ought to be Job.

If there's 1 man on earth to talk to, therefore, that man ought to be Job.

If there's 1 man on earth to consider, then we must consider Job.

If we had the opportunity to learn, to consult in a classroom about parenting, then It might be well for us to sit and learn some lessons from Job.

If Job were to do a course on parenting, it would be well to take notes, because he knows what he's talking about.

That's how the story is introduced to us.

Job chapter 1, we Read this, Job chapter 1 and verse 3.

Also, his possessions were 7, 000 sheep, 3, 000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest in the East.

The life of Job, Job was a business owner.

Job could do a dissertation on any subject that you see here.

Job could teach you about yoking up oxen.

He could teach you about tilling the ground.

If the world were to get a hold of Job's story, the world would tell the story this way.

Everything regarding his faith would be left out and Job would be seen as an expert in these areas.

Job would be seen as a man capable of giving a course on agriculture.

He would be consulted in this regard, but not necessarily regarding his faith.

But Job's family story was interrupted by tragedy.

I stumbled across a book some years ago called When I Lay My Isaac Down, written by Carol and Gene Kent.

The book is about basically their experience as a family when they received a phone call that their son committed murder.

He was 1 who believed in God, but yet still, he found himself at a point in his life where he was now paying the penalty for his crime, facing a life sentence, their son, JP.

She tells a story in the book of how difficult it was to face that tragedy, to face that news as they clung and hung on to faith in God.

She said in the book, as she contemplated, well, she thought back to the moment where she received the phone call.

She says this, When she received the phone call, it was about 12.35 a.m.

In the morning, and someone on the other line had explained to her that JP was arrested.

Series

Fresh Manna by Jermaine Gayle

Broken Jars

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Fresh Manna by Jermaine Gayle

Generational Games

37m

Fresh Manna By Philip Mills

The Call for Unity

41m

Fresh Manna by Farai Nhiwatiwa

What is a Church

32m

From Big City Basketball to Big City Evangelism

38m

Fresh Manna By Philip Mills

A Difficult Question

29m

The Science of Surrender

56m

Daniel

Daniel Chapter 2: Jesus is Not Coming Soon

58m

Back to the Mission

The Battle Cry of the Remnant

1h 1m

The Three Angels' Message

07 The Fourth Angel’s Message

1h

Broken but Loved

1h

Fresh Manna By Jacob Gibbs

Without Human Hands

42m

Fresh Manna By Jacob Gibbs

When God Becomes an Idol

41m

Sound Doctrine