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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Akeem James

Empowered Systems in Cities

Father in Heaven, we thank You so much for this Thanksgiving time.

And Lord, we thank You for Your Word and the truths that are hidden therein.

I pray, O Lord, that I would not be seen, but as we delve into Your Word, may Christ be seen.

May His methods be exalted, that a world that needs the gospel of hope and satisfaction may receive that gospel.

I pray, Father, that as we delve into the Scriptures that your Holy Spirit may rest upon us and that as He comes, O Lord, and I believe that He is here, that as He is here that He would prick our hearts and minds, that we may see Jesus and in beholding become changed.

This is what we pray and we ask in Jesus Christ's holy and blessed name.

So if you have your Bibles with you, I would invite you to go with me to the book of Matthew chapter 10.

And as you go there we're gonna look at a few statements and this is my desire for God's people today.

Last time I was here we went over this concept of being able to have gifts, Take your gifts, even monetize your gifts, and make resources from your gifts.

Now, 1 of the things that I didn't mention was the purpose for which we should use our gifts for God's glory, and ultimately at the same time make resources from it for a certain reason.

Friends, the reason is that there is a specific work that God wants us to do in these last days that has been forgotten and the work itself in order to accomplish it, yes it will take God's power, but it will also take financial resources in order to do this work.

And so as we look at this today, I think these 2 statements encapsulates the concentration God wants us to have in order to accomplish this.

It says, concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand.

And then it says, the sun's rays do not burn until brought to what?

That's Alexander G Bell and Arnold Palmer says concentration comes out of a combination of what?

And that's why many times until a person is in the midst of a struggle Where they need something to happen the struggle forces them to become creative 1 person says that crisis is the mother of creativity.

And sometimes it's not until we go through something that we begin to realize what we are truly made of and what is possible, which we did not explore before.

And so as we move forward, I want us to go to Matthew 10.

If you are in Matthew 10, give a shout out.

So Matthew chapter 10, and we're gonna look at a few principles in Matthew chapter 10 before we look at the actual pattern that will take every fiber of our being to accomplish.

So Matthew chapter 10 in verse 1 says, And when Jesus had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them what?

Power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Now this is interesting because as you look at this, 1 of the things you begin to realize is 1 of the first things that Christ did before he sent his disciples out was he gave them what?

So once they went out, they were not powerless.

But notice what He gave them power to do.

He gave them power to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease and to cast out what?

Now friends, this is very interesting because as you look at heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness, we have a term for that today.

Does anyone know the person who can address diseases within our nation and even around the world today, what do we call them in our church?

All right now question for you how many of you have read this statement from inspiration which tells us that how many members of the church are being called to medical missionary?

This is gonna sound pretty intense but that means are all being called to be doctors.

But are all being called to be medical missionaries.

Therefore, do we, in order to do this work then, there is a part of it that should be in a professional sense commercialized.

But do you need, therefore, if every member is being called to this work, do you then need a degree?

There's an aspect of the work that yes, must be professional.

But if everyone is called to do this work in the church, a work of healing, a work of health reform, that means, friends, to do this, not everyone has to have a degree in order to accomplish this work.

And friends, it is our role to understand that when it comes to this subject, I've heard people tell me, well I'm not gonna trust this person because they don't have a degree.

But friends, people will begin to trust you, you know when?

All of the arguments that the scribes and Pharisees brought against Jesus Christ.

They could bring it all the day long until he worked a miracle right in their presence.

And once he did that, every mouth was shut.

That's why I say to many 7th day Adventists today, the power lies not in apologetics.

The most powerful argument is the demonstration of the gospel's power in our lives.

That people see that this person doesn't only speak, but they have the power of Christ in them.

Now I want you to see who He gave the power to.

It says in verse 2, Now the names of the 12 apostles are these, The first, Simon who was called Peter, Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, James the son of Alphaeus, Labaius, whose surname is Thaddeus, and then Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him." So you combine all of these men and you realize that they are all of major different personalities.

But Christ knew that if he could bring all of these men to be 1, it could cause such damage to Satan's kingdom that friends, the gospel would not only go forward in the first generation, but it would go forward to the end of time, changing souls.

But the other thing I realized is that in each of these people we are represented.

You even have a man who's quote-unquote a terrorist in the midst of Jesus's group.

So you have men who are of major different temperaments, but Jesus calls all of them, and he says, in these 12 are represented every human being.

That if they would surrender to me, they would see the word potential that is possible.

So, the first thing that Jesus does is that when Jesus calls his disciples, Jesus empowered his disciples before he ever sent them out.

The second thing that Jesus did, before we go to the second thing, I want you to see this aspect of power.

Okay, so go with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts.

Hold your fingers in Matthew chapter 10, but go with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts.

All right, because it says He gave them power.

Something I've been noticing as I've been studying and as I've been trying to incorporate stories into the messages that I give, I was looking at a life the other day of a guy, a story of a guy in the 1950s.

So he was a little kid about 6 years old in the 1950s and he was outside playing in his backyard, playing with some other children in the neighborhood.

As he was playing he started feeling super sick so he ran into the house and as he ran in friends his mom he said mom I don't feel good.

His mom looked at him and just by his appearance she cried out Lord not my baby too.

So he ends up getting polio and it shuts down his system, shuts down his lungs, shuts down his muscles.

And so the only thing that was able to preserve his life was being put in what was called an iron lung.

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Empowered Systems in Cities

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