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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Carissa Vitorovic

Looks Are Deceiving

Thank you for that blessing and music this morning.

How hard could this possibly be, he thought, as he looked down into the faces of 4 little girls.

John, as I will refer to him, was the type of man who was prepared for every possible emergency.

The type of man who, every morning before he left the house, had on his strong utility belt, to which he would fasten a pair of scissors.

And mind you, these aren't the type that cut paper.

These are the type that can cut through seat belts just in case.

And there beside his scissors would usually be a first aid kit, a pair of handcuffs, and many, many sets of keys enough to break into any residence or vehicle, just in case.

John was prepared for every emergency he may face or so he thought.

That particular day John dropped by my parents home and as my parents had to step out for a quick errand, John quickly volunteered and said, oh, I'd be happy to watch the girls.

Remember, of course, John is prepared for every possible emergency.

The girls that their parents would march to the front row of church every Sabbath.

The girls that would follow behind like little ducklings.

The girls who, more Sabbaths than not, were dressed in the same dresses made from scratch.

Moments After my parents departed, 1 of my sisters loudly declared, I have a brilliant beyond brilliant idea.

Soon a game of cops and robbers Commenced.

Naturally, of course, these 4 little girls were the cops.

A game that naturally became far more enjoyable, considering that he had a real life pair of handcuffs dangling from his belt.

Only 15 minutes after the departure of my parents, 4 little girls, little cherubs, sat on the couch in the living room, hands clasped on their lap, while their babysitter, meanwhile, sat in the dark, in the bathroom, behind 2 locked doors, handcuffed to the toilet.

You see, again, he was prepared for every possible emergency, every possible scenario that could have gone wrong.

But prepared he was not for the antics of 4 sweet little girls.

Mind you that was the last time he volunteered to babysit for us.

They say that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Have you ever been in a situation where You planned for it, you strategized, you knew exactly what you needed, you were set, you had it.

Your best laid plans do not come to fruition.

Would you bow your heads with me as we pray?

Heavenly Father God, thank you that we are here together today.

Thank you that we all survived childhood.

Thank you for another day of life, of your blessings and your presence.

And God, today we come before you and Lord we want to know you more.

We pray for your Holy Spirit to be present.

May we draw closer to you and 1 another as our prayer.

In the name of your son Jesus Christ, Amen.

Harvard recently conducted a study entitled Loneliness in America, how the pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness and what we can do about it.

In a recent national survey of American adults, 61% of young adults ages 18 to 25 reported serious loneliness.

They reported feeling lonely frequently or almost all the time in the 4 weeks leading up to the survey.

43% of young adults reported increases in loneliness since the outbreak of the pandemic.

About half of the lonely young adults in the survey reported that no 1 in the last few weeks had taken more than just a few minutes to ask how they're doing in a way that made them feel genuinely cared for.

Young adults suffer high rates of both loneliness, anxiety, and depression.

According to a recent CDC survey, 63% of this age group are suffering significant symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Symptoms again that have only been heightened during this time of separation, of loneliness, of fear on a global level.

The authors of this study asserted, as a society, we do little to support emerging adults at precisely the time when they are dealing with the most defining, stressful decisions of their lives related to work, love, and identity, who to love and what to be.

They concluded we need to return to an idea that was central to our founding and is at the heart of many great religious traditions.

We have commitments to ourselves, but we also have vital commitments to each other, including those who are vulnerable.

You see, so many today are grasping at straws, Seeking desperately to fill the emptiness, the void inside.

And yet they grasp just at broken cisterns that don't bring relief, that don't fill that void.

Without knowing our unchanging identity as children of God, without recognizing that we have a creator that cares about us, that designed us, that formed us, that has a plan for our lives.

We find that all the best political agendas, all the man-made solutions, an obsession with the preservation of the mortal or making a name for ourselves through whatever mean possible is just grasping at straws while our society continues to spiral out of control.

Take for instance, the global incidents of mass shootings.

This year alone, there have been 200 mass shootings, defined as an incident in which 4 or more people are injured or killed.

Last week alone there were 2 in Texas, 2 in Serbia, another in Cleveland.

In each of the last 3 years, there have been more than 600 mass shootings.

Is any more evidence needed that our world is spiraling out of control?

As Fyodor Dostoevsky said, to live without hope is to cease to live.

To live without hope is to cease to live.

Perhaps you've heard the question before, you've considered it yourself, maybe as an icebreaker, maybe on a first date, where someone will ask you, if you could be born in any century, any time period in the world, when would it have been?

But of all the times in the world, even if you were a king or a queen, truly there is no time like the present.

In the sense of all of the technological advances that we enjoy, this glorious air conditioning that permits us to live in this part of the world, sewage, water, all these systems, the ability, the accessibility of food, all these things that we take for granted and yet kings and queens 100, 200 years ago could only dream of the lap of luxury which most today in the United States enjoy.

And yet still our world is spiraling out of control.

And today I would assert to you that it is the lack of hope.

Like my babysitter of old, we may have all the tools, we may have all the solutions, we may have all the plans, but without a living hope in Christ, they fall incredibly short.

Without hope in an infinite God, without hope in eternal life, there is no reason to preserve hope while we live in this mortal world.

Many of us here work in hospital settings, or we work in the community.

And you know, you've heard the stories, the rawness, the vulnerability of the people, of the patients, of the friends, of the neighbors that have come to you without hope.

As their families fall apart, as their health declines, and they cry out, where is the hope?

How can we speak into the storm that so many know all too well.

He, of all people, could certainly understand the feeling of loneliness.

Isolated, seemingly abandoned, there on the Isle of Patmos.

John, as we know, is the last of the apostles to survive, the only apostle that died a natural death.

All of his predecessors, all the people that he was so close to, those that understood the mission, those that supported and encouraged 1 another, his community was gone.

And there, very much alone on the island, He took a scroll and ink and he penned these words, I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation.

John knew what it meant to need hope and to grasp to hope for his very life.

In all of Revelation, I see a beautiful picture of hope, but specifically found in Revelation chapter 14.

In its essence, the 3 angels message is a message of hope, a global message.

Turn with me there now as we consider the hope found in this passage together.

Revelation chapter 14 and we'll read verse 6.

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God, give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come.

And worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

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Looks Are Deceiving

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