 Happy sabbath. Happy day. Welcome one and all to this blessed sabbath day, even if it's cloudy. We thank God for the rain, we thank God for His providence. I'd like to invite us all who are in the congregation and even those at home to rise so that we pray before we commence. Let us pray. How kind of loving Father we thank you for this sabbath day. We thank you for the gift of life. We thank you for the opportunity to worship you. We don't take it for granted. Heavenly Father, even as we are about to embark on our service for the day Lord, I pray that you may be with us, that your spirit may dwell with us. We, those who are on their way to church, may you hasten their footsteps that we may all enjoy the blessings together. For it's in Jesus' name we pray and believe. Amen. Amen. Thank you. If I go any further, I'd like to introduce the team that is serving you today. My name is James Amayo, Makorista in the church. Karolina Simba. Happy sabbath. Happy day. Welcome to today's worship. We're also being assisted by our pianist, Sister Mabel Okyoga. Umolo, she can also wave to the congregation. We will begin our service today. Today is a special needs service, a special needs sabbath, sorry. And as we begin our sabbath school session, we'll begin with a series of hems. We'll begin with him number 44. Him number 44, morning has broken. The congregation to join us, as well as you who are at home to join us in the singing. We shall turn to song number 195, Showers of Blessing. Song number 195. Showers of Blessing we need, mercy drops round us are fall. Oh the showers we plead, there shall be showers of blessing. Precious liver, Showers of Blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are fall the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blood run to us now that are refreshing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us all for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing for that today they might fold us to God. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us all for shall now turn to song number five seven nine song number five seven nine tiz love tiz love that makes us happy tiz love that makes us happy tiz love that smooths the way it helps us mind it makes us kind to others every day god is little children god makes us happy tiz love that smooths the way it helps us mind it makes us kind to others every day this one is full of sorrow of sickness death and sin with loving hunt we'll do our part and try some soul to eat makes us happy helps us mind it makes us kind to others every song shall be eternal in all tiz love that smooths the way it helps us mind it makes us kind to others song number five two three song number five hundred and twenty three my faith has found the sky and rose against the seas these hands my feet ease the sky and rose a levyous name salvation through infal seek the lost decay precious bloody shed four song number six hundred and fourteen i see the full is mad raise the standard high for the lord that you're a vahon stand from everyone rest your calls upon his holy men soldiers running round the banner ready steady past the water lord shan'ta loud ozana christ is captain of the mighty the full marching on we go why must we miss rally round the bow no sanna christ is captain of our no sanna christ is captain of the mighty happy Sabbath again it is such a privilege to be before the lord this morning just to worship him to appreciate who he is i am glad that we are all here both in person and for those that are joining us online just to remind us once again we have begun our in person Sabbath school lesson classes and we've had a lovely week offline out of the church to discuss with one another the great topic of the flood i'm sure we learned a lot of lessons that we will proceed to share with our class members both online and physical so may we continue to be blessed those of you who are here who know that you have your members who are not yet joining you in the in person Sabbath school lesson class please reach out to them reach out to your friends that they may join you happy Sabbath we are so glad to be worshiping the lord on this 23rd day of April for those of you who are online we realize that we have Sabbath school members from all over the world Kenya included i've seen you in Kishi i've seen you all over the world Trinidad we are glad you're joining us Uganda we are glad you're joining us Texas Ethiopia and Somalia for those of you who are online we are so excited that Sabbath to Sabbath you're looking forward to joining this great Sabbath school lesson discussion which is now international but in our church we have begun in person classes which are spread all over the sanctuary and this week this week we are studying the great topic of the flood i pray that we shall all be blessed as we do that for those who are in the church please by 925 exactly we pray that you will be closing so that we can begin our next session may you be blessed as we share the love of god even in the flood praise the lord amen good morning and happy Sabbath we welcome you to our worship today we are glad you're joining us from wherever you are we would like to encourage you to please invite a friend or two your neighbor your family your relatives to join us by sharing the link with them we're coming to you from Nairobi central SDH church and i'd like to remind those of us who are in Nairobi to join us physically in church when you can we have physical classes running in church physical Sabbath school classes even as we have the online class still continuing once again today i'm joined by my lovely sisters i have Achieng O'rero happy Sabbath everybody and i have Sally Mwangi happy Sabbath everyone my name is Brenda Akedi we are happy to have you with us Achieng please pray for us as we start okay let's pray our heavenly father we come before you this morning we thanksgiving in our hearts we thank you for the Sabbath day that you very intentionally put that we may rest and that we may fellowship with one another we thank you for the opportunity to study your word and to have an in-depth and interactive class where we can look at the lessons that you've put for us in stories that were recorded not for entertainment but for our benefit lord i pray that as we study the lesson on the flood you may edify us you may draw us close to you you may point out to us our faults that we may be able to walk closer with you be with us now and forever more five prayed in jesus name amen we continue with our study on the book of Genesis and again i will remind you please get yourself a physical copy of the lesson i know they might be out of stock in the bookshop but you can get it online please print it out please do it actively even as we strive to grow towards christ together we've been going through the first book of the bible and we've been seeing very many firsts we have met our first parents we have experienced sadly the first murder we even mentioned the first case of polygamy it's a book of many firsts and today in our lesson we'll be looking at another first today our lesson is titled the flood i know it's a story that most of us have had many times since we were children but i invite you even as you hear it again probably for the millionth time to ponder anew what god has for you in this particular part of the scripture we'll be looking at the story of noah and story of the flood i'll read our key text that is coming from mathew chapter 24 verse 37 mathew 24 verse 37 from the new king james version and it says but as the days of noah were so also will the coming of the son of man be but as the days of noah were so also will the coming of the son of man be that's from mathew chapter 24 verse 37 so even from the key text we are seeing clearly that there is nothing new under the sun as it was in the days of noah social it be when the when the son of man will be coming and we are picking this up from our lesson last week where we talked about kain and his legacy and from kain's story we were able to meet kain who he was as a person what made him do what he did the punishment he was given and even the legacy that he had maybe as we introduced this week's lesson maybe it's a change you can just um maybe a minute or two just highlight the legacy of kain so that we can move from that and come even up to where we are in the times of noah okay so in the last week's lesson and basically in genesis chapter four and then chapter five we see kain's story and then his descendants right but i'd also just like to note their chapter four verse 20 25 and 26 where it says and adam knew his wife again and she bear sun and called his name sef for god said she has appointed me another another seed instead of of abel whom kain slew and to sef to him also there was born asan and he's called he's called his name enos then began men to call upon the name of the lord so we see there two distinct lines there's the line of kain and the line of sef from adam right and then chapter five goes into the descendants of kain and the descendants of sef and among the descendants of kain we talked about last week lamik who was a great great great grandson i think you know he was some few generations after kain but we were seeing the degeneration already starting to be to really take root we saw a lot of you know pride a lot of sin in that he didn't recognize his need for god he didn't see his sin as sin he didn't see what we like to say the sinfulness of sin he didn't see his need for saviour his need for repentance his need for redemption and then on the other hand we see the descendants of sef and from the the line of sef is where now noah comes from and then lesson tells us that noah's name means comfort and was was noted in genesis five us 29 that the same comfort of us concerning our work and 12 of our hands because of the ground which the lord has has cast so we saw a line of kain which you know really just descended into the pits of sin and then we saw as the bible tells us in chapter four verse 26 the the line of sef is where men the line that had men who called upon the name of the lord so we are seeing this duality of people who don't see the need for god versus the people who are calling upon the name of the lord thank you thank you so much aching for highlighting that very quick clearly and we that brings us all the way to noah and i like that when we are reading this lineages we are seeing people of vast diverse characteristics and we are seeing god working in them in different ways that means just god is able to meet each and every one of us where we are now looking at this part and bringing now this week study where we are looking at the study of noah um i'd like us to read there's a there's a there's a part where it says and god regretted chapter six verse six chapter six verse six um maybe you can read that with us okay so i shall read from the new king james version genesis chapter six verse six i think i'll start from verse five yes that says the lord then the lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually verse six says and the lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart thank you salim so that's the introduction we have to the state of the world as it existed then i want us to contrast this with what we had seen in the beginning when god was creating he was seeing that it was good but here he sees a sorry state and he actually regrets it what does it tell us about the condition of the people that existed at this time so here we are seeing god um in a very distraught state firstly before we speak about the condition because we've seen god in every of the previous characters we started with adam and eve and then we moved to kain and abel and seith was introduced and then now we are many many probably even you know some thousand years after where we start seeing god saying hey now enough is enough it's like those are steady downhill right it was literally from from the mountain top to the valley from adam and eve experiencing such a closeness with god perfect then falling then we get to kain who has no remorse and now we are coming to a point where god is now even regretting right and so you know as we had god saying in there are a lot of contrast we can see between the garden of eve and eden and now we see god you know he used to say everything he created it was good it was good and when he created man he said it was very good and now we are seeing that when he's when god said he saw and now god has always been seeing and now he has seen it is not very good and the fact that even vas 5 says that the intent every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually so you can see the perpetuating of the hearts the scene issue in the heart because it's not just an external aspect here because this is very clear as actually has always been saying nothing is put in the bible without reason and without intent so now we are seeing god introspectively looking at the hearts of man becoming evil continually so you can imagine even those scenes that we highlighted earlier of the murder with kain and polygamy now we are seeing it being an inside perpetual continual sequence of sin so now the man is at his lowest of lows and now we are seeing god at a point where he has to make a decision and this decision involves a lot of water when you read from vas 7 it says in the lord said because now this is in reaction to the condition of the of the people who existed at that time who are continually evil and when you think about it it's not just one of evil right continual like they had made it a way of life right in the in the if i can just add in the garden of eden sin was the exception you know it was a one of occurrence it was the exception it was the exception but here now sin is the general rule it's the norm yeah it's the general rule and we'll see later that you know it was an exception to be standing out of the crowd that was exceeding this info with continual thoughts of sin and evil when you read from vas 7 of genesis chapter 6 it says and the lord said i will wipe this human race i have created from the face of the earth yes i will destroy every living thing all the people the large animals the small animals that move along the ground and even the birds of the sky i am sorry i ever made them vas 8 says but no i found favor with the lord first of all i'd like us to talk about god destroying and him being the creator like what do you think was god's aim as he's seeking to destroy everything that existed then aching right for me i i thought of you know god as the creator last week we spoke a lot about free will and the choices that kain had to make right so god created this world knowing full well and also we've spoken a lot about god asking questions and yet he knows the answers right so even as he created us we have the ideal of a god who knows everything so even as he created adam and if there was always the possibility of them choosing to be away from him and with successive generations that possibility was even greater and now we are seeing actually men and women all over the earth are choosing to sin against god right so i to me i see a god who you know when you think of an inventor a scientist somebody who makes something your let me go back to the first example i gave in the lesson on creation about how when you're cooking something you know you're not cooking hoping it backfires you know you're not cooking hoping it burns right and if you knew it was going to burn then why bother right and god here knew that this creation as we would choose otherwise and yet he still creates us so the distraction now comes us okay let's start again let's let's start over let's give these people a second chance for them to realize you know that they have made a wrong choice yeah so god is ever looking to give us the choice he's in as much as his creator and he has the option of making us robots who will do what he wants when he wants but god gives us the opportunity uh to choose right choose freely yes yes so even in the distraction we still see the massi there that um it was the option of people choosing to to um to be saved amen amen so here we have people who are continually sinners and god seeking to do away with that to create a new no sorry sorry i just wanted to add because that's very powerful what ati is saying and also just the fact that um it just hit me right now the last statement on adverse seven that says for i am sorry that i have made them so you know you can ask yourself does god have regrets in his creation process am i one of those regrets am i probably a regret for oh my yeah i shouldn't have made so it was a mistake this was just totally a mistake what were we thinking you know and this is actually not sorry for just what happened he was sorry for us because we were missing out on what his plan would have been amen so i i look at it on that perspective he was sorry for us he was actually feeling these guys would have had the best of the best they have all my heart and here they are behaving like my presence is the kryptonite like they require to run away from me and they can do best by themselves and then also the fact that we can see another first we see you know god lamenting in a very you know sorrowful way and um that we've not seen since we started studying because you know we've seen you know mada we've seen polygami we've seen um you know disobedience and now we are seeing an aspect of the lamentations of god in such a way that he has no choice but to as you've said start anew so we see him actually starting anew from a plan that he had i think for me like who's in business i can imagine how it is when you realize you know we always told you know keep you know put your ears on the ground be able to understand what's happening on the ground in the industry so when you realize something is wrong something is not happening be ready to start again you have to be dynamic you have to be changing you have to be able to be dynamic and change and you hear you see god doing exactly that he's saying there was a mistake needs to be changed and the consequence was now the flood so now we read verse 8 and we're seeing a noah found favor with the lord then when you read father down it gives an account of noah verse 9 says this is the account of noah and his family noah was a righteous man the only blameless person living on at that time and he worked in close fellowship with god let's just pose there and talk about the kind of person noah was and why he was the one who found favor before god and even chose why he got to be the one chosen to do that job of building the ark aching what does this tell us about the kind of person noah was take note he was the only blameless person living on earth at that time and he worked in close fellowship with god what does it tell us about his character and how does it tie to us today great um i think we had earlier said how sin was the rule of the day and um noah was an exception he was the exception to the general rule but i want to also point out that um the last part of verse nine says and noah walked with god it's this working with god salih spoke about last week right the working with god that we see of enok in the previous chapter five verse 22 and enok walked with god and verse 23 and all the days were of enok were 365 years and verse 24 and enok walked with god and he was not for god took him so here i see this element of working with god you know what does working with god really mean because this to me is the only thing that's pointing out why noah was such an exceptional man in this time that he lived and you realize sorry at this point it's looking like such a small thing but it's really standing out in a big way yes for me actually it's the big thing because it's now what is the reason why he is the only one who at the time god so can carry out the task that he was given so a lot of times i think we take likely what it means to have a personal relationship with god maybe we see it as something that's a given but we from this i'm learning that we have to be super intentional about how much time we spend with god how much time we spend in prayer you know i i've i've often gotten criticism of the adventist faith that you know in other churches you see people praying till they fall down till they sweat till they okay talking tongues you know that one is not quite but really how how how serious do you take your personal prayer time with god how seriously do you take the time that you read with god last week we were the previous week sorry we were teaching um that the children here vbs and i was asking them if you were to draw a pie chart of your time and your day has 24 hours what percentage of that time is you spending that time with god right so um that walking with god aspect is literally as day by day taking time out you know taking time out of your day carving out time from your day to study the word to read to sing songs and psalms to pray but even as you're going through your day to day it's not that now i've done my devotion put god on the side uh now let's go and do all the weekend how does it reflect yes what's the impact of this spending time in your in your now day to day life as you're doing your business as you're working as you're relating with your family it's a constant you know back and forth with god of god guide me i'm not still order my steps order my word order my tongue order my you know order my life according to how you want me to live it so this walking with god though it's almost a footnote in the bible or in this verse um i think it is what sets no up to be this perfect and blameless man in such a or full time that he was living in that's true that's true because when you when you when you read further down in chapter six you see god giving noa specific instructions like god was specific to every detail this is these are the dimensions this is the kind of wood that you will use this is how it will look on the inside like god was very very specific and when you read verse 22 it says and noa did everything exactly as god had commanded him amen again as you've been reminding us a change from lesson one nothing is by accident yes as long as it's in the bible it's very deliberate so noa did everything exactly as god had commanded him how do you think the kind of life noa led salih how do you think it prepared him for this particular ministry i i honestly can imagine and i mean all of how noa must have been a well known figure in his community and he was not just you know obedient to god in secret he was not obedient to god only amongst his community his church members he was he was you know obedient to god even when it meant him standing out in a very peculiar way it just reminded me of a scripture uh first peter two versus nine which is but you are chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation own special people god's own special people um that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into the marvelous light now let's be honest i'm sure noa had a lot of temptation amongst his community for him to stumble and to probably not be very obedient however the way we read in the previous study or the previous week where we saw there was a aspect of being intentional with dealing with your sin and we can see probably it's not in scripture i'm not adding to the scripture but i can imagine in an environment where sin is rampant continually as we are experiencing that today um how can we still stay grounded and stable to what we know so he must have been somebody who knew his word so he was probably as we are saying walking with god as we said prior and as well he also was you know he took god's word as it were he had faith he did not question it i will see maybe this word may be a little weird i look different i'll probably be uh ostracized from my community he did not have that and so that stood out and i'm sure many people were talking about him and um probably emulating him but you know he he stood true to what he knew and that now is where we can see him having influence out of his obedience amen amen and we are seeing because of his work he was able to execute what god wanted him to do right and he was even able to just stand firm in a world that was falling apart literally yes and i just sorry i just wanted to add that noa was actually saved the lesson writer said that noa was actually saved simply because he had the faith to do what god um had commanded him to do simply it wasn't because he was so religious or he did certain acts that were completely great he had the greatest skill to build that indeed he probably did not but because of his faith faith as small as a mustard seed i'm sure and that grew to the point where he had to build the ark maybe just as a food for thought for all of us as it was in the days of noa socialit b in the coming of the son of man just think about in a world that is continually sinful what kind of characters are we to exhibit right how how how are we how are we to work with god in these times just food for thought for all of us so we have the event of the flood coming we we have seen god giving noa specific instruction on how to build the ark even specific instruction on the animals to taken two by two male female like the instructions are very specific and we see the flood actually coming and when the bible records it it wasn't just water from the sky it was also coming from the ground right this is a fast noa has seen this before and the earth is filled with water i change at this point it's not just about god punishing humanity it's also about god saving how there is a contrast here we see a god of justice all right because sin must have consequences right i mean the practice of the law and it would not be fair if people got different consequences some got none some got some some got the extreme you know god must meet out you know when the law is applied fairly it means everybody if for example the scene is now like kain he murdered somebody here it's we get the maximum sentence that somebody can be given so it wouldn't be fair if now kain gets the maximum sentence he's hanged for example and then Brenda kills somebody her god forgives her and then Sally kills somebody her she's told in fact become the president you've done so well you know so god applies the god is a just god meaning that the consequence of sin must be applied fairly to everybody this is why the flood you know comes as a sense of sin must have consequences you've transgressed my laws you've been disobedient you must face the consequence of sin but at the same time we see here god building no using noa to build an ark right for for anybody who wants to be saved to come in and we are told in the bible that noa built this ark for 120 years that's the amount of time god gave people to consider their sins look at your actions afflict your souls come before me yeah while the doors of mass you are still open open you know it people had the time to make the decision do you want to be inside the ark or outside the ark and i i loved what Sally said earlier that noa wasn't obeying god in secret he wasn't somewhere only in churches he an elder and then outside church is a different person you know right so and because of that god was able to use him again to preach to his entire society that you know this flood is coming getting the ark so god gave there an opportunity for anybody who wanted to come in the ark to be saved right there was that opportunity so there was that opportunity for god's mercy to be seen for you to be saved yeah so there is that contrast of a god of justice versus a god of massi and salvation yeah amen amen so we are looking at this and we've already even acheng i think you had talked about it why the old needed to be done away with and we are looking at this old which was sin filled being destroyed and then like we are we are we are coming to a new world a new world when you're looking at the end of the flada let's read genesis chapter 8 vaswan genesis chapter 8 vaswan says but god remembered noa and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat he sent a wind to blow across the earth and the flood waters began to recede just the first part and god remembered noa Sally what does this mean for you and god remembered i believe this reinforces the fact that god does what he says he's going to do god does not just share information because he just is angry you know there you can say but then they really don't so the child kind of is like hey mommy won't really beat me so god does not you know go against his word and then as well you know the word when he says god remember that literally is god um fulfilling his promise as well as reassuring those in the ark because remember noa is in the ark with these animals and with his family just to reassure them you're not forgotten even when you do what is right even when you're not seeing the fruits of doing right you are not forgotten your blessing is still to come i think i was on instagram the other day and i saw some memes about uh people saying you know sometimes you're so forgotten like you feel so forgotten i'm here doing right i'm here serving the lord i'm here praying i'm here fasting but i'm still not getting that job i'm still not being able to break through from that addiction i'm still not able to um forgive somebody who you know i'm supposed to forgive i still have anger in my heart god tells you today with this and to me i hope to all of us is that you're not forgotten he's still doing a good work in you he still has a work in you so as they are in the ark he's still telling them even though and we see later on how he sent i think it was a bad first then was it a raven and then a dove and then it does not come back so when it when it did not come back you know that's just a symbol to show that god knows he's we are not forgotten so we can trust that when we do what he says we're supposed to do when we obey he will remember us amen amen amen i change anything to add with regards to god remembering no i just love the aspect that god fulfills his promises right in aizaya he writes that there is not a word that goes out of his mouth that returns to him void right and it's quite literal that when god says something will happen it will happen you know um it's noted in the bible that after it was only his family you know i i had a funny thought of how sometimes our politicians you know they campaign for so long and then at the election only your family has voted for you you know it's oh yeah it's a bit sad you know so no i had the same situation he preached for that time but only his family came in but even at that time before the ark was built god had promised him that your father your sons and your daughters your family will be with you right so um we see there god fulfilling his promise of i will save you right after no i had preached for 120 years nobody comes in the ark with him the the doors were shut it didn't rain for seven days you know as they were in the air so there's still room for him to be mocked by the people outside i can imagine like they're like haa this person after all that nothing is happening no rain what you mean is going to what is aflame even the very concept of there's a lot of water coming from heaven it's yeah those have never rained before yes before that rain had never occurred um and so it's just a reassuring text to see that you know it's not about that god had forgotten them the remembering is not so much in the sense of god forgetting and now remembering it's just god saying i remember what i told you earlier i remember that i said i will save you and your family and here i am to fulfill that promise and god's promises are true they are real they are sure amen at in it it doesn't matter whether it's gonna take 10 years five months two minutes his promises are sure amen and it's going to happen if he says it's going to happen it's going to happen so be encouraged god has not forgotten you even when you're standing out in a world filled with sin in a in a situation where you're the subject of mokari you can imagine what noah probably went through as he was telling people as he even proceeded to build the ark but god remembered him god does not forget what you have done and does not forget how you have stood firm for him and his truth now when we read um genesis chapter 8 verse 20 tell you can read that with us all right and i'll read from the new king james version genesis chapter eight versus 20 and it says the noah built an altar to the lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar so this is after the flood when um you had mentioned earlier after when when god remembered and we'd seen the rain stopped and the winds blew so the earth was drying out and he sends out a raven then he sends out a dove and he says ah they've not come back so things are still yeah at this point we are seeing the first thing that noah does is worship amen he builds an altar and offers a sacrifice yeah again sali what does this speak to in terms of the kind of person noah was and the attitude he had having gone through i'd call it a traumatic experience because no one has seen so much water yeah yeah so what does this speak to in terms of his character and the attitude he had i think it's so it's humbling it's humbling to see noah putting his the knowledge he has of god to action because here he is like let's actually take this scene you know they had homes by this i mean noah his family his his his whole life had you know he could see his his water the water rising and destroying everything that he had built in his life because he was a tayang man yeah so to see that happening and then plus also to see the death because by this time waters have receded so you can imagine that um the you know probably even you know bodies are everywhere everything is just destroyed on everything is just everything is just you know like if you've ever seen images over tsunami it's a small picture of what it could have been and so now here he is going back to god even at a point where it literally is now where do we begin because now he has to it's a time of rebuilding so he's going back to god in an act of surrender so we see in his character he had built that muscle of learning how to surrender even when you don't know what you're going to face in the future i like that like he didn't know what next but he knew in my next there has to be god in my next there has to be god hashtag that in my next there has to be god and even just as you're speaking and as you ask the question i just looked at how he became a representative for humanity at that point because now he here he is symbolically and even literally the seam the the the leader of humanity now because he's the one who is you know under his family and he's he's even representing the animals because at this point you know even the animals had to pay for the consequence of man's sin so you know we need to pay to learn the vastness of our consequences of the sins that we have that we commit because now there's a new beginning it's unsure but no worships no one doesn't know what's going to happen but no worships and this is the fact where he uses such a very old time offering which is the band offering which literally means complete and utter surrender and open to the willingness for god to build in him anew because now we see a building of a new way of life not just only in the way they thought life would be but even in their diet as we start seeing how what they are allowed to eat you know there's a whole change so we also have to be dynamic in our worship we have to be able to be dynamic in based on this you know the the judgments that are coming forth onto the earth today we need to be dynamic in how we're going to worship we may not always be in a sanctuary like this we may not always be able to commune like this are we ready to be dynamic in our thinking and even in our worship amen amen well i like that i like that and as we've been saying in this book of genesis we've been seeing a lot of fasts and now here yet another fast is introduced and suddenly you'd already alluded to it because we see after this point god gives no specific instructions with regards to even the those who are remaining in terms of animals and themselves and we are seeing here there's a change in diet as sully has mentioned a change what's the change in diet right at the garden of eden man was told to eat from every plant bearing seed and have bearing plant you know their diet was entirely plant based but now because of here the writer says because of the effect of the flood plant food was no longer available so god allowed humans to eat flesh so god gave very specific instructions of which animals can use slaughter and eat which ones are clean and which ones are unclean so that is the change that we see i also just take this opportunity to draw the contrast here in the garden of eden man is given dominion over everything that he has in fact adam were told in some writings that adam was the one who named everything he went naming the cows the goats the sheep you know he really excited dominion but now we see the exceeding consequences of sin to a point where you know they had this relationship with the rest of the living things in the in the garden of eden but now it's coming from a place of that respectful sort of dominion where um this this was that the the responsibility he had over these animals now because of sin and god having to start from afresh we see now and a relationship um of fear yeah because animals now uh don't you know they are going to be our friends others are now becoming food yes we are predators and they are prey right and that is quite sad if you think about it that um as sali had said even animals had to pay for the consequences of the sin of mankind yeah thank you very much and even in this new diet there was restriction yes yes there was restriction yes there was clean and unclean and unclean so it was not just rampant yeah therefore it yeah it was it was very specific and even specific to the fact that it shouldn't have blood in it again god does not take chances god is very specific now we are coming to a part where there is a covenant between god and mankind through noa what's the covenant okay so now we see a part where we see noa again remember we are now in the new the other side of the flood now we are at the point where there is the new earth literally because now all that was before has been literally washed away by the by the by the flood and so now we see this covenant was about the promise of life and now here we see how you know um noa is literally been given a work to do whereby um there's a change in worship there's a change in how he's going to um be approaching god because previously if we look at our previous characters and the forefathers of noa we see that there was a direct communion with god and now we see the aspect of having to have a sacrifice so we see more so which is now where we see now the sacrificial system being introduced and so this now comes to us today on how because of that perpetual sin and that progressive sin now we we are not restricted but because if but for christ let me just say but for christ now we do not have to you know but do bant offering and you know put animals on um uh as it was in the sanctuary that was shown before when uh moses later on is in the desert with the israelites now we have a sacrificial system and now the blood is very important and now we start seeing the covenant of the blood where now we have to have the ultimate sacrifice who we know is jesus christ who died and was that lamb that was slain so we see now a promise of life because now the key question in um noa's mind is you know what uh what next and how can i be able to continue in the obedience to god's law so we see one of the promise of life so in this covenant a chain there's a sign a symbol that god gives talk to us about that symbol and is it still applicable to us you know we do have people to be thinking this bible was written for those people sure so in uh genesis nine verse 13 that comes after god just pronouncing his actual promise to noa he says i do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth 14 and it shall come to pass when i bring a cloud over the earth that that bow shall be seen in the cloud and i will remember my covenant and it goes on and on talking about this but this is the rainbow and the rainbow you know we sung this song when we were in the kinder gaten and younger classes that when you see the the rainbow remember god is love right because now after this god promised that he will never again bring such distraction you know um of life like what we saw literally completely obliteration of the entire existence except noa and his family and the animals that were in the ark so the rainbow there just shows us not only that god was faithful to noa but it also we still see the rainbow to date right we see the rainbow after it has rained when there's a cloud in the sky as god said in genesis and it reminds us that god is faithful god keeps his word god keeps his promises he has uh you know as salih was talking about the covenant of life it's the covenant that shows us that um god is not we are not god is not faithful to us because of who we are because of who he is yeah because there's no reason for god to be faithful to us to be honest you know we are just such sinful people we have so much baggage we have so much you know our hearts are exceedingly wicked but god remains faithful to us because of the promise that he made and as we had said earlier his word is powerful when he says something he means it and he does it yeah amen amen i'll take losing remarks we can start with you salih i i i know those much more we could have expounded yes but we encourage you of yours once again please um being the habit of studying father like for this week we're going through genesis from chapter six seven eight nine please take time and just go through the same i'll take losing remarks from i think um when we look at because we are looking at this world they were called the antediluvian world and we see that you know we can see a condition that is very similar to where we are today and so you know nothing is new under the sun i think there is that the sum he says that nothing is new under the sun we need to take heed on um the fact that when god is creating in us a new heart and making something new in us let us heed to it and let us not let us be a noa just as the way we sing there to be a daniel there to be a noa to be faithful to obey to do what god says even if it's different even if people don't hear you it's not about people it's about honoring god so may god give us more opportunities like noa to be able to stand sure to obey and to always look at the symbols and signs that god always gives us to show that he has not forgotten us amen amen amen aching right i just want to pick on what we had said earlier about walking with god right and that is something that we so we have seen from chapter one now we are in chapter nine that is something that has remained consistently there if we are to stand at chance or standing up and you know remaining faithful to god we must uh and this we mentioned last week we must uh be able to walk with god intentionally deliberately and we can't do it on our own ask god to help you to walk with him amen amen amen my prayer for all of us is that we may truly get courage from god may god give us the courage to truly stand for him even when it's unpopular even when it doesn't make sense may he give us um the courage to stand up for him and even so even as we are standing up for him may he remember you in a specific and very personal way may god remember you amen amen we want to thank you so much for joining us today and we'd like to encourage you to keep on sharing your comments with us please give us feedback please share your questions as well with us we will be able to sample a few in our next sessions we thank you so much for joining us and we are wishing you god's blessings this sabat tzali you could pray with us heavenly father as we pray we ask that you may dwell in our hearts help us be someone's instructions as we've learned from noah and continue being faithful to us as you always have been and help us to be faithful to you for it's in jesus name we pray and believe amen amen amen happy sabat come to the special needs sabat it is indeed a beautiful beautiful sabat morning that the lord has granted us um i request that all of us turn to our church hymnals that is the sda church hymnals to him number five hundred and twenty eight five two eight a shelter in the time of storm let us sing joyfully because indeed the lord is our shelter even in the storm time of storm our shelter in the time of pap酸 ashel time in the time ashel time in the time ashel time in the time ashel time in the time as shower generally ashel time in the time ashel turn you happy sabat happy day god is good and all the time thank god for this time without god for this sabat that has brought us to I'm happy to see all the smiles and happy faces in church today. Feel most welcome and may God bless you. I'd like to bring to you the announcements for the church. Before we read the announcements, let's have our dopreya. Our Father, what in heaven, as you're going to read the announcements that are going to guide the church programs, we pray that your Holy Spirit may come among us and that he might feel us so that we might go out by power and by his power and truth that all might know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. We with us now and forevermore, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you very much. Our first announcement is about Pastor Obed Nyamati's retirement which is due by the end of this month, April. We know we've been told that we should be able to help and come and congregate together with him. The foul event will be on 30th April that is next sabbath. So we are all encouraged to continue giving to us the same and let us all come next sabbath so that we can see off our pastor, all of us together and give him our blessings. The second announcement is about the women ministry. The women ministry's congress began on 20th April in Limuru and is ending today so we are being requested to pray for them, give them in prayer. The women ministries are also starting the book Steps to Christ so all the women and the church also in general can join them in reading and growing spiritually from this book. The women ministry also is encouraging the members to contribute prorid shillings monthly to the akiti so that it can help in the church programs so you can contribute through the church pay bill number, Safarikom 320100 and specify women ministry. The next announcement is about the postponement of the church business meeting which is supposed to be held tomorrow. So the pastor wishes to inform the church that the scheduled church business meeting that was supposed to happen tomorrow has been cancelled due to an urgent CKC meeting that will take place at our church premise tomorrow starting from 8am. So the leadership of the conference in consultation with the pastor decided to postpone the church business meeting so that to a further debt which will be communicated to the members, please kindly bear with us. The pastor also wishes to invite all the elders, stressurers, stewardship leader, development leader, deacon head deacon women ministry leader, youth leader, children ministry leader to the meeting that is happening tomorrow, the CKC meeting here at church from 8am. All those who have been mentioned please plan to attend. There are baptismal and post baptismal classes that are happening virtually and in person every Sabbath morning from 8am to 9am that are led by our elders Elda Arunga, Elda Ateng and Elda Odira and Elda Yemba supported by brother Abura Kathiani and brother Brian Ajoang. Please reach them on the numbers that are there on our screen on the YouTube channel and for the rest of the church you can get the numbers, the telephone numbers from the bulletings that are posted on our website. There's an appeal for evangelism following our mission as a church which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who live as loving witnesses and proclaim to all people the everlasting gospel of the three angels message in preparation for his soon return which is our mission as a church. There's an appeal for evangelism that has been going on at the north hall that is the northern part of Kenya at Maikona and Sololo. So all of us are encouraged to continue giving towards this evangelism so that we can be able to support an evangelist that is best there and that the work of evangelism can continue. So we can continue giving to this evangelism through the church pay bill number or through our envelopes. Just specify evangelism as your account number or as on your envelope you can give appropriately. There are lost items that were found during the children ministry vocational Bible school week. So the church administration is requesting that all parents of the children and even the children ministry can check for the lost items that in the custody of the church. I think that in the deacons room they were left behind during the VBS. So if your child lost something please check in the deacons room and you will find it there. The other announcement is about wedding bands. The first one is there will be a wedding ceremony between brother Azaria Kipkuru Sang of Nairobi Central Church and sister Betty Jepto Misoi of Lavington SDA church on the 4th of May 2022 at Sunrise SDA church Kerecho as from 10 a.m. This is the second reading. The next wedding band there will be a wedding ceremony between brother Meshak Asino Kwaka of Nairobi Central SDA church and sister Dora Richard Talawa also of Nairobi Central SDA church on the 1st of May 2022 at Kareng Community SDA church as from 9 30 a.m. This is also the second reading. The next announcement is on bereavement. Death has occurred of brother Albert Lithuli Abwoga on the 19th of April 2022 at the Busea Referral Hospital Busea. He was the brother to Dikones Christian Ouma and brother-in-law to Samuel Ouma. He was uncle to Paul Omondi winning Akini and Selina Nyango Ouma. Your donations in cash to help the family can be channeled through MPSA number 0726-427-724 that is for Agatha Nafula. Barrio will take place on 30th of April 2022 at Naitiri Navingenga Village Tongareni in Bungoma County. Let's all please remember this family in prayer and visitation and the church also conveys our deepest sympathy and condolences to the friends and relatives of our brother who are slept. The second last announcement is about the nomination of the music director. The church board recommends the nomination of brother to be the music director for the remaining parts of the current serving term. This is the first reading. There are some announcements on membership transfers, transfers in, some members are transferring in. The first name is Diana Gashuku Digwa who is coming in to Nairobi Central from SDA Church Tika Central. The next name is Nancy Minoyeng Ogwang who is coming in from SDA Church Jericho in Nairobi. Transfers out. Number one Agri Bosire Mogaka who is going to SDA Church Lavington Nairobi. The second is Beryl Grace Mogutu going to SDA Church Greenview Kiamumbi in Nairobi. The third is Catherine Anyango Osaso who is going to SDA Church Crystal Fountain in New Life Nairobi. Fourth, Christine Artieno who is going to SDA Church Siokimau. Glynton Bill is transferring out to SDA Church Siaka in Nairobi. The sixth is Happiness Kerubo Motari who is transferring out to SDA Church Muihoko in Gudurai. The seventh is Jen Jems Yakara Abuga who is transferring out to SDA Church Mount Olives in Gong. The eighth is Julie Mora Achenchi who is transferring out to Jomokenata University SDA Church in Juga. The ninth is Kerubo Memba Gloria transferring out to SDA Church Siaka in Nairobi. The tenth is Melvin Odera transferring out to SDA Church Nairobi East. Eleventh is Omuenga Velma Nyatuga transferring out to SDA Church Greenview Nairobi. The twelfth is Roda Nakonge Omoyo transferring out to SDA Church Mount Olives in Gong. And the thirteenth is Shalene Kerubo Onyancha transferring out to SDA Church Zimaman. And the last is Solomon Nyakina Mokheira who is transferring out to SDA Church. This is the first reading of this transfers in and out. May God bless you with these announcements and may you have a blessed sabat. I'd like to call upon our elder for the camp meeting announcements. Thank you elder. Happy sabat church. Happy sabat once again. I stand here to bring you the emphasis on camp meeting 2022 which is coming. The date will be second to ninth of July this year. And our speaker will be coming from the USA that is Pastor Donaldson and we want to invite everyone to come. It will be physical and also online. The theme will be which is the Quinconium theme for this period is I will go. I will go and proclaim the three angels message that is found in the book of Revelation chapter 14 verse 6 to 12. Families who are preparing to come we want to welcome you. We have speakers who have, the Lord has prepared for us who will be coming and all categories of the families in our church will be catered for and there will be a blessing. So we want, I take this opportunity to welcome all family members, children, the youth, the young professionals, the Amu members and every one of us to come even those who will be watching online we kindly request you to prepare and diarise so that you can all feast together in the forthcoming come meeting. So what do we need to do? The Lord, the Bible tells us in the book of Psalms 116 verse 12 that what shall I render unto the Lord for all his goodness toward me. So as we prepare for the success and blessings of this come meeting we want to welcome you also to prepare by returning than offering that the Lord has given you and how the Lord has been good toward you for the years past. Do you remember in the last two years we haven't had a physical come meeting and this year the Lord has prepared and has accepted that we shall have a physical one and we want to thank him, we want to praise him and also we want to support our come meeting. So as you prepare to support the come meeting please do so by putting your offering through the EMPESA charge account 320 100. EMPESA 320 100 and also Airtel money SDA 01 and on the bank account as is screened is shown on the screen right now and for those who may inquire it will be given unto you. So may the Lord keep us safely as we prepare and arrange to attend these years come meetings that will help us to strengthen our faith and also to keep our faith alive as we serve our God and our saviour. May God bless each one of us. Happy Sabbath once again. Happy Happy Sabbath everyone. Happy day. Happy Sabbath our viewers. Happy day. This is a very special Sabbath and we will start our song service with song with SDA hymnal number 516 but we will do it in Kiswayili. So Nimbosa crystal 155 all the way my saviour leads me. Jiani Uuni Ongosa Let's all sing Ubuzi The next song is drawn from the book of Mark 13 verse 35 Song number 207 It may be Atmuan Song 207 It may be Nimbosa crystal Next song that we will do together is song number 608 Faith indeed is a victory Let's sing it with conviction and power Song number 608 Faith is a victory Your people are assembled raised to your holy name Heavenly Father we have lived this week under your watchful care Lord you have blessed us you have touched us Lord we have struggled this week many of us have had challenges all of us have had challenges but Lord we are here to praise you this morning because we have never been alone you have always been with us and we are here today to declare the praises of him who has been faithful to us he has been with us he has blessed us Lord you have been good and so this morning we simply want to offer you our praise we want to give back to you the glory which you so richly deserve we only ask that you provide your holy spirit in this time Lord for without your spirit we are unable to give you the glory that you are worthy of Heavenly Father fall on this place fall on your people Lord we desire to serve you and bless you Lord inhabit our worship inhabit our praise this morning bless each one as we honor the mighty and glorious name of Jesus in his name we pray Amen It's good to see you all in the house of the Lord the summits stated it in Psalm 122 verse 1 I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord and here we are today in the house of the Lord to worship him and praise him I welcome all of you today into the house of the Lord for today's worship and praise I welcome also the church members who are joining us online through the various platforms the YouTube and the Facebook for Narobi Central SDA church please feel welcome and be blessed as you follow the service online we also welcome those who are joining us on the KBC channel 1 you are our part of our members and part of the audience we welcome you very much and feel welcome and be blessed this morning and as we continue the worship service we've had several members the choristers, the pianist and a number of elders who have served so far and will be serving as we continue the worship we welcome you and please pray for them as they offer the service to you let's remember to pray for pastor Emmanuel Pelote and the wife as they serve this morning to all of us please feel welcome and be blessed as we stay at the feet of Jesus may you be blessed happy Sabbath happy day it is another time that we need to approach the throne of Masi throne of grace and throne of love with our prayers and supplications where possible let us humble ourselves those who can kneel as we approach the Lord in our prayers you may be kneeling or seated if you are not able let us pray and believe Holy Father God of gods Lord of lords Honor and glory be unto you because you've given us this day the holy Sabbath that we come and commune with you sinners as we are but because of the Calvary because of the righteousness of your son Jesus Christ sinners as we are we are able to come to you Father your children have humbled themselves kneeling down before the throne Lord with various prayer request there are those who are just saying thank you Lord for the week that has passed you bless them there are those Lord who are coming with other challenges sicknesses and bereavement father meet them listen to them and Lord answer their prayers Father it is a few months a year plus has passed when the entire globe was panicking over COVID-19 Father time has come when we can now worship you as we were praying Lord we said at your own appointed time put this asanda thank you Lord because you've done that Father we are not forgetting that we have families who are afflicted and COVID has left cars in them permanently father but you Lord who was able to remove the sports from lepers and they become spotless Father we are praying for such families for them for the pain Lord to be removed promise that on that resurrection morning Christ Jesus you will take them up and meet with their loved ones Father we are praying for that healing and to such families and any other family that has lost the loved ones Father it is a time Lord that we are coming to you with all burdens in our hearts Father spiritual blessings we are asking for it Father meet us and let the spirit guide us Father it is a time when we are entering into the divine service and you've anointed your servant Pastor Emmanuel Preta to represent you and bring your word unto us Father we are asking for thy spirit to talk to him and reach us through him Father that as we leave this place we live blessed and changed as from where we were before Father we are praying for the leadership of this church from lock call church to the general conference Father that leads your church and show us how we should serve in your vineyard Father we are not forgetting the leadership of the country which you've given us we are entering into electioneering period Father we are leaders will be elected we are asking you Lord to hold the country together and give us the leaders who will glorify your name as they serve your people be with us and continue blessing us take charge of this day and our lives as well as we also commit the camp meeting preparation unto thy hand for this is our humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior as we continue with the worship and share with you the common verse that we all know and can recite offered the book of John chapter 3 verse 16 and just picking the first sentence which tells us for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son God gave out of love it's time for tites and offering and I just want to encourage each and every one of us that as God gave out of love we give and return this morning out of love we are reminded that you can give without loving but you cannot love without giving and therefore those who love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ excel in the grace of giving and I just want to remind you this morning that giving is an expression of the love one has for Jesus Christ so let's give out of love for our Lord Jesus Christ our giving this morning will result in praise and thanksgiving to God and therefore giving is an act of worship and I invite you this morning to participate in this act of worship through giving and return returning of tithe I invite the deacons and deaconesses to wait upon us as we give those who are in church please you can use the envelopes which have been provided for to return your tithe and give our free gift offering to God and those who are following online please we also encourage you to participate in the giving this morning you can use the M-Pesa Pable number 320100 or those who are on Airtel please use the Airtel money Airtel SDA 01 and the church account is also being shared online for those who are following online so please participate in this act of worship through giving I invite all of you for a word of prayer as we prepare to return and give to our God let's pray our loving Father we thank you this morning for this privilege and the opportunity you've granted us to come and worship you for our giving and returning of tithe Lord made this act today be accepted to you and may it enhance your work as we wait for the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and ask in the holy name of Jesus Christ Amen this morning children we are going to listen to the children's story and before you is Crador Albi Crador Albi and we are going to sing a song just one stanza before I go on I would like to ask a question what makes the trees sway answer Gaby what makes the trees sway for a few sabats we've been learning lessons from the wind and even today we're going to hear one more story that the wind is going to teach us my name is Nora Kemunto Nyaribo and I'm a member of the Crador Albi there are types of winds sometimes even the wind has a name like there's a wind that at some point did so much destruction when it came it started at the ocean does anyone know that wind it was called what the tsunami yes we have a mic tsunami and there is another wind that we normally hear it is also very destructive what is it called what it is called Hurricane Katrina you know all those are winds but very strong not like the smooth wind that just sways trees okay now we are going to hear one more name of a wind called Euroclidon and this one is found in the bible in the book of acts chapter 27 there was a servant of God named Paul and Paul this time was a prisoner he and his friends were held prisoner because Paul loved God very much and used to speak about Jesus with so much passion some people didn't like him and he had been accused of taking somewhere to be tried and they were going to travel by sea now at one time they were going to travel by sea so they were going to travel by what ah abort a ship yes a ship and before they started Paul said you know what we shouldn't go to this journey but I feel like it's not going to be safe and the soldiers who are holding them prisoner thought like Paul is just fearing and they said no no we have to go because we have to reach the other side where you are going to be tried now they just went Paul just left it at that and they started their voyage as they were traveling they reached a point and there was a very strong wind very strong wind the one that we can call a Hariken just a very terrible storm and it was very windy and they started crying out and then they remembered Paul told us not to go to this journey and that it was not going to be safe but we just decided to go now what are we going to do now they were they were crying but they remembered Paul and they looked to Paul and Paul told them don't worry you're not going to perish an angel of God appeared before me and he said that we are no life is going to be lost only the ship if you don't know how to swim and you hear like the ship is going to perish they were so scared some of them but they so just felt that they should kill the prisoners you know if they were going to kill the prisoners even Paul was among them but Paul had found favor with one who was a commander the one who is called a Centurion and sorry Centurion said no we are not going to kill them let's just swim a show and they swam a show and they reached the other side just because God was with them and our story today teachers ask that even through any storm that we go through God is there for us and he will rescue us and he will save us there are many storms that we go through sometimes it is sickness sometimes someone is very sick sometimes it is financial issues sometimes it is what again sickness yes we should know that through it all Jesus is going to be with us and he is going to save us from any storm of life that we are going through amen now I am going to request who is going to pray for us Gabi come let's pray for laying heaven as we have finished our story in Jesus name amen yeah thank you so much for listening to our story you like my story happy sabbat happy day happy day it's time for scripture reading our scripture reading is going to come from the book of Matthew chapter 5 verse 14 to 16 Matthew chapter 5 verse 14 to 16 I'll read from the new king James version you can follow from your respective versions and it says you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light up a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven I repeat may the lord add blessings to his reading amen our opening is going to come so let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go our opening hymn will be song number 300 SDA hymnol number 300 may we kindly be upstanding let us all rise Gracious father in heaven we thank you for this privilege of worship we thank you for this howl as we listen to your word from a man's servant we invite you to a presence to be in our hearts to move our hearts in this congregation through the power of the Holy Spirit we pray Jesus name the lord is good and all the time so happy to be here today and to see the church is full we praise the lord for his blessings just two quick things before the speaker stands I mean comes up to speak to us we our two other pastors our senior pastor is not with us this morning he traveled back from the village and he got late very late in the night and so he struggled to wake in the morning please understand he is following us through online from his house next up is a great day for us because we are doing the farewell celebrations for our pastor it actually is a celebration for the ministry and so I requesting everyone of you to prepare to come to pray together worship together to see how God can guide a man who has led so many people to Christ we just give glory to the power of the gospel our pastor is ministering in one of our churches in this city he is not with us as you pray for our speaker here please remember to say I want to pray for him whenever he is ministering this Sabbath we were supposed to as many of you saw your platforms and you are worried where we are not seeing the pastor who was supposed to come and preach to us he got challenges in traveling where he arrived at the airport he had challenges with his visa I think and he was not able to be alone to fly to the country but he promised to worship with us this morning and I want to thank him wherever he is he is following us that the Lord may bless him we pray that someday he will be able to come and fellowship with us minister to us but then God provided can you say amen God provided and I am sure that this is the man God wanted to speak to us today a pastor Emmanuel Pilote who comes to us from ECD who is the assistant to the president those of you remember when we invited the president to come over to preach to us he came with his two assistants pastor Pilote and I am glad that today within a very short notice it was gracious enough to come and speak to us pastor came with his wife you can stand and wave to the church sister Karen Pilote she was able to accompany her husband thank you mam for coming you know you are praying for him we are also praying for you as we pray for him pastor this is the time speak to God's people can we say a prayer for him as his minister to us today thank you amen thank you very much pastor and I want to say good afternoon good morning to everyone and sabato enjema I have to you will forgive me I know this is an English service but let me just say I love Kenya and I love being here I love the people of Kenya so whenever I get the chance I try to just touch a little bit of Swahili so maipenda Kenya maipenda Nairobi maipenda Nairobi central church I really was blessed last time that I was able to be here so many warm wonderful people but not only were there warm and wonderful people we meet warm wonderful people wherever we go but I want you to know when I was here I certainly did since the spirit of God the presence of God was here when I was here last time I just sensed it amongst the people as we visited with the pastors and the elders last time we were here I knew that there was a move of God happening here in this place and so it's very special for us to be here I'm so happy to be able to be here with my wife here today and I usually don't get to travel with her on Sabbath so it's a real blessing now my wife and I together we have six children and we couldn't fit all six of them into the car so they're all in America right now but if they're watching we want to greet them as well before we get started in the message I just want you to know Kenya I've sort of adopted Kenya as my country so I hope that's okay with you all if I just pretend that I'm in Kenyan maybe there's someone from the immigration service that can help me but I love this country and it's been a great blessing to me and I want to just acknowledge that we know that you're a former leader president kibaki and I wanted to just give my condolences also you know I love the African way this is not just your mother or your father it is our mother it is our father and so in that same spirit I feel that I have lost also lost my leader my president and I want to just give condolences you know the bible says that it is god who appoints leaders and so this is no small thing this is a man that god has chosen and god has used and so we acknowledge god when we give glory for the life that was given we are really giving glory to god for what he has chosen to do and I'm very pleased when I read in the news how the our president today was honoring this former leader and according state funeral and all of these wonderful honors even though the newspaper that I read was saying that this leader after his presidency he became an opposition leader now you know what that means if you're the current leader and you have an opposition leader there's some challenge there there's some conflict there but I was so blessed as I saw the dignity of the president as he was just simply according honor and dignity and respect to this former leader who actually was part of the opposition I understand I was reading all of those things properly but you know it reminded me that this is really one of the things that I love the most about the the Kenyan spirit if I may one of the things that I love about this country it really is the people now I could talk a long time about the food I love the food we love the chapatis we love the tsukumawiki and people are still asking me I've been here almost 4 years now and people are still asking have I tried ugali yes I have tried the ugali I love ugali and so we could talk about those things but one of the things that I love the most about Kenya is this Kenyan spirit maybe since you live here maybe you don't see it maybe you don't notice it but coming into this country and just observing I see there's this fighting spirit here in Kenya Kenya in my experience they just don't sit still to meet a Kenyan is to meet someone who is struggling and striving for things better some way somehow they are trying to make things better in their family they're trying to make something better in their home if they don't have a job they will make a job I have noticed there's always a struggle and a fight so this opposition leader he's simply going through this is the tradition really of this culture striving together to make where we are a better place we really need to we honor that that comes from God himself this struggle to improve things and to make things better so we honor that tradition but even as we honor that tradition here we don't come to church simply to congratulate ourselves we come here to worship God to get a vision and a view of this majestic almighty this perfect God and when we see him a little bit more clearly we also will be we're called up to be a little bit more like him what does that mean that means that when we get a vision of God we recognize that the nice way to say it is we recognize that we still have a lot of potential when we say we have a lot of potential it means we still have a ways to go there's a distance there's a place that God is still calling us to that we have not yet achieved we've not yet reached and really so today what I want to talk about today what I think God is wanting me to share about today is about unlocking that potential unlocking that potential in you in me unlocking that potential in our families unlocking the potential in our church unlocking the potential in this nation this is no doubt clearly a great nation but it is a nation that is also still full of potential how do we unlock that potential and become all that God is calling us to be I believe that a a great secret a great key to unlocking the potential in us is to recognize our true identity you see we've forgotten a little bit about who we are when we forget who we are when we forget who God has created us to be there's no way we can reach our potential there's a story that's told of an eagle that somehow it was separated a small baby eagle that was separated from from his family and before he learned how to fly before he became a mature eagle just as a baby eagle he was found himself in the company of chickens and kuku right he found himself in the company of kuku I don't know how to say eagle but an eagle is a majestic bird in fact it's our national bird in America but this eagle was just with all the chickens and he would eat with the chickens to corn and whatever it is that the chickens would eat and he would walk around the yard and he would flap his wings just like the other chickens did but since the other chickens didn't fly the eagle also did not fly so the eagle was just hopping around and doing what chickens do you see this eagle had so much potential he was meant to soar high above the clouds but because he did not understand his identity he even could look and see other eagles out there flying and he just he didn't even imagine that he could soar and he could fly like those birds because he thought he was a chicken one of the things that really concerned me that really broke my heart when we first arrived here in Kenya as I traveled to the different countries here in East Africa I would hear over and over again from time to time I would hear a phrase it would go something like this if things weren't perfect if they weren't excellent if they weren't okay this is just Africa after all it's just Kenya it's just Rwanda it's just Tanzania it's just Africa and it's okay for Africa we're okay we're used to that it bothered me because now you know over in America we're all sitting here thinking wow we wish we could just come and touch this land that has been touched and blessed by God and I couldn't understand why someone could think oh this is only Africa when the truth is this land is blessed by God the people of this land are blessed by God God has called you not for small things but for great things and I believe that part of the essential key to unlocking unlocking the potential is to understand our identities we have a crisis of identity you know we are given a purpose and it is to struggle you know John chapter 1 verse 5 one of my favorite verses in the Bible and it talks about how the light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not overcome it is unable to overwhelm the darkness you know and that verse kind of reminds me of this same spirit that we've been talking about this spirit of fighting the spirit of struggle that I see here in Kenya you know no matter how hard times are no matter how difficult times are you know this this king and spirit that I have seen you know you don't give up you keep fighting you keep struggling the light continues to shine no matter how much darkness is there you can count on there will be a king in somewhere fighting this is a God ordained spirit this is a God ordained struggle but Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 says that we don't struggle and we have to keep this in mind we don't struggle against flesh right? we don't struggle against flesh and blood we're fighting against powers and principalities and the rulers of this dark age that is what we are called to fight against but somehow we get confused and we think somehow that our struggle is here and now we're fighting against one another we're dealing with systems we're dealing with companies and the economy and struggling against other nations no God has given us a different identity what is that identity how can we know who we are in a way that will lead us to fulfill our greatest potential well if we want to know God's design and His intention we have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden we have to go back to the very beginning let me illustrate the problem of the mistaken identity if we go back to Genesis chapter 3 we're going to see the fall of humanity the fall of mankind see if you go to verse 4 we see the serpent Satan is speaking to Eve and he's not directly trying to convince her of anything to do anything directly wrong what he does is he places before her a different vision for who she could be the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die if you eat the fruit of this tree that God has forbidden Satan says the serpent says for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil you will be like God knowing good and evil now that as a young person I heard this I read this and I thought that's not so bad being like God knowing the difference between good and evil not bad what could be wrong with that but let's think about this now my pastor was good enough to introduce me as the assistant to the president of the seventh day of venice church well and good but now imagine someone comes to my office one day and says listen pastor I know there are rules here protocols that should be observed here in the church but I'm telling you pastor if you'll do this pastor you'll be just like the president I hear you laughing right can you see the problem there you see the problem I am not here to take the place of the president I'm not here to compete with the president right I'm here to serve the president right and the minute I make the mistake to say ah if I do this people will start to treat me just like I'm the president I can be just like him if I'll only do this now I happen to love the president president is is someone that I genuinely I tell you when I decided to travel from over here from America to come here that was the first thing I checked I said now who is this man that I will be serving and I asked all kinds of people from all around the world I asked them I said do you know this man is he and they all gave me such a good report in fact the report was too honestly I started maybe doubting I said maybe these people are just trying to you know but every the report was so good and I said well but I've come and I've come to love this man just like we all when we get to know the Lord the Bible says we're supposed to taste and see that the Lord is good and my prayer for you is that you have tasted and that you have seen that the Lord is indeed good oh he is good and I just worship him I love the Lord he is merciful and he is kind but as much as I love the Lord as much as I worship the Lord I have to understand the Bible to take his place to try to pretend that I now am also like the Lord I want to be like him the Bible says we're supposed to be perfect therefore even as our father in heaven is perfect we're supposed to strive to become like him but not in the sense that this serpent was trying to convince Eve hey you'll be able to be on an even playing field with him you'll be just as wise as him God knows good and evil but now you can know for yourself you don't need to ask God anything just do what you want because you will know for yourself good and evil he was tempting Eve to lose her perspective of who God is in relation to who she was well who is it that God has created us to be and another one of my favorite verses I love this Genesis chapter one verse 27 where we are given an indication of who it is that we are supposed to be why did God create us what is our purpose in the world and it says here I'm going to start with verse 26 it says then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness it says in our likeness the father the son the holy spirit working together one God and they said let us make man in our image according to our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea to the air and over the cattle over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them we are made in the image of God to be in the likeness of God and if I were to create something to be in the likeness of something else right it would look like the thing that the original model God has created us to reflect his image to reflect his glory in this world if I make a statue of the president the statue would look like the president the statue is not the president it just reminds me of the president does that make sense you with me we were created that wherever we go in this earth that the image of God the reminder of God the glory of God the recognition of God would be lifted up wherever we go in the world that is the purpose of humanity we are to reflect his glory we cannot compete with it but that was the mistake that Eve made she decided that she would try this fruit because she now wanted to compete with the glory of God she wanted glory of her own she wanted to be like God this is exactly the sin the great sin of Satan himself he said I will ascend like the most high this is how war began in heaven this is the mistake that we make go down a path that surely does lead to death God said the day that you send you will surely die and surely if it were not for the mercy of God surely Adam and Eve would have been destroyed in that moment but God decided even though the law even though by all rights they should have lost their life in that moment God provided for them a savior God provides for you and me a savior he provides mercy and redemption when we lose our way when we forget God is there to protect us to give us His grace you know Genesis chapter 11 we see sort of the culmination of this rebellious spirit that humanity has against God we go to that chapter this is the story of the tower of Babel these people are building the flood has already occurred humanity has all been destroyed the earth was destroyed by a flood and these people the Noah and his descendants the descendants of Noah's family they say listen we don't want to hear anymore about this creator we don't want to serve him we want to rebel against him we want our own glory we want to fight for our own glory in this world and so they decide that first thing they need to do is instead of spreading out across the globe as God has commanded many times to spread His glory and to spread His image instead of doing that these people decide they will gather themselves together in a city and what is their purpose this is Genesis chapter 11 verse 4 and they said come let us build ourselves a city the city now belongs to them they've forgotten that the earth and the fullness thereof belongs to the Lord they've forgotten all of that they want a city of their own and they said let's build a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth we don't want to do what God has commanded us to do the very image of God we are created in the image of God wherever we go as we spread out across the earth we will be reminders so that there will be a recognition of the glory of the creator who made us who made heaven and earth but no no no they say we don't want that we don't want to spread the glory of God and build up glory for ourselves let us build a name for ourselves this is in direct rebellion direct opposition to God this is the great sin of humanity and it all begins with a failure to recognize our true identity simply because we're made in the image of God does not mean that we are gods we can't compete with him and we will never reach our full potential because we're trying to be something that we are not we can never be what we were not created to be but there is great glory in what we were created to be and the story of the Bible as you go through from Genesis all the way to Revelation God is trying to release and unlock the fullest potential that he created us to have but we're struggling we're fighting against him we don't want that we want to try to stand on our own two feet but Jesus Christ came to this earth he said not to bring peace but a sword he came to struggle against the darkness and to call you and me to engage with him as his army against the darkness and in this chapter of Matthew chapter 5 Jesus this is Jesus's declaration of war he is declaring that together we're going to fight the darkness and this is what we see in this passage he is telling the people who are listening to him preach he says don't make any mistake let me clarify for you in case you've misunderstood what your true identity is you are the light of the world you are a city set up on a hill which cannot be hidden you see god is so proud of his people of his creation when we understand our true identity when we understand what we were truly created to be oh there's nothing more beautiful god longs to be in the presence of his people this is why Jesus came sacrificed and gave his life so that he could be among this beautiful creation this beautiful family that he's created and we are at our most beautiful when we recognize who we are he says you are the light of the world who are these people he was preaching to these were the Jews these are Jews that were living under Roman occupation I think here in Kenya we know something about what it's like to live under occupation to be colonized right and it's uncomfortable and the only thing you can think of oh we need independence we need to be able to express ourselves and to have our own way we understand that god has put that in the heart of humanity we were not made to be subject to one another to be subject to god and so these people they understood that same dynamic that we understand here in Kenya of being being subject to others and so they weren't used to being talk to this way that you are the light of the world the Romans they're the light of the world they are the power of this world we could understand Jesus if you said that to the Romans but you're saying that to us what do you mean we are the light of the world Jesus is going on talking about how beautiful this light is that you're a city up on a hill shining so bright you can't even hide this city you want to show it off to everyone this is god's perspective the way god sees you and me when we recognize our true identity god said no i want to show off i want the universe to see who you are he says you don't take a lamp and put it under a basket no you take that lamp it was designed for one purpose it's the same purpose for which you and me that we were created for which is to share the light now we are not the light we are the lamp okay this word light fos is a word that it could be the light itself but you can tell by the way Jesus is talking we are the lamp and wherever we go we are to display the light and the glory of god it is his glory that we are displaying in this earth Jesus is saying to you and me don't you understand this world is full of darkness but because you are here and because you are filled of my spirit the world does not have to be filled with darkness anymore wherever you go there will be light i've created you for this everywhere you go people's eyes will be able to be opened and they will be able to see who I am and they also will be able to claim their identity together we will fight and we will shake off the yoke of oppression in this world no it is not the Romans that I'm talking about Jesus is saying we're not fighting against flesh and blood Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world I have a greater kingdom and that kingdom is depending on the light that is displayed across the world through you remember who you are Jesus is saying remember who you are you are the light of the world he goes on he says so therefore the word therefore he says let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and do what glorify your father in heaven remember who you are you know he just got through Jesus just finished going through the beatitude you see in this world when we talk about the great people the great nations and all these things we talk about power we talk about military we talk about finance we talk about money we talk about titles that people have and I'm sorry I love you are my people and I am your people we are together we're together but I'm here speaking on behalf of God and God himself wants to tell you to remind you of your true identity and we are not living out our identity when we are fighting for all of those things in this world Jesus was rejected because he would not fight with them for the things of this world because he would not fight with them fight with them against the Romans he's not against the Romans he created them and he loves them so they rejected him and my friends we are so often rejecting Jesus himself ourselves why because we have set him aside because we're not as interested in his kingdom as in building a kingdom of our own God wants to build us up into his great city that he will set up on a hill but instead we're like those people in Genesis chapter 11 we want to build a city so that we can make a name for ourselves we don't want to bring glory to God we want to bring glory to ourselves and this is why we struggle and fight this is why we need a title for ourselves this is why we need a better job this is why we need more money this is why we need a greater education and we're struggling and we're fighting for these things because we want the glory for ourselves don't you know don't we understand that if we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord that he will lift us up don't we understand that God himself opposes the proud he fights against the proud he will fight against us why because we were made to bring glory to him but we're so busy thinking that we're better than our brother better than our sister and we need to struggle and fight and keep this person down so that we can be a little bit higher we need a car that's just a little bit bigger than the other person's car and friends have we forgotten who we are if we will only fight for the glory of God and this is the key this is the test of the final hour this is the test that is coming upon the world my friends if you don't know let me tell you now Jesus is coming soon he's returning to this world he's returning to this earth very soon judgment is in his hands his reward is with him the hour of his judgment the first angel of revelation chapter 14 the hour of his judgment has already come and he is coming with that reward for us but the test is do we understand our identity the final test that will come the enemy is not going to give up without a fight that final test is coming the same thing to all of us to the entire world that he did with Adam and Eve and he's going to make them question what's your identity do you want to challenge God do you want to try to build glory and kingdoms and cities for yourself what's the kingdom that you're trying to build in your life what is the record of your life say about the kingdom that you are building does it say that you're trying to build your own kingdom and have a bigger compound or another house over here and over there is that the record of your life or have you ordered your life in such a way so that everything you do brings more and more glory for God so that men will see what your good works and not glorify you not be impressed by you and your title and what you have that they should see you and say ha there's no explanation for this life that I see in this person I can't understand why they live this way unless there's a God in heaven that they are serving that makes it worth it all to them and I don't know if they can live this way if they're willing even to risk their life and even die this way they have so much passion they're living righteously I don't know I've got a lot of things in this world I've got opportunity but I don't have that passion I don't see that glory in my life I want to be like them let me have that glory in my life let me change my life so that everything in me fights for his glory let me be a lamp for your glory God and let the nations be converted come to Jesus let Nairobi be let Kenya be God City and God's Nation if we want to unlock the potential in our lives if we want to unlock the potential in this church unlock the potential in this city and in this nation we have got to remember what our true identity is we have got to remember what we were created for who we were created for and stop fighting for our own glory we've got to lay it all down we've got to do what Jesus said and pick up our cross and follow him and I know it is the path that the world says is not a good path you see it's a humble path if you look at the beatitudes he says blessed are the poor in spirit the world says no no no don't be poor in spirit even if you make a mistake no no no we can't do that but God says Jesus says you're blessed if you're poor in spirit Jesus says you're blessed if you mourn Jesus says you are blessed if you are meek ha? let me tell you people don't fight in this world to become more meek they're busy fighting the other way they're not fighting and hungry and thirsting for righteousness they say hey listen if you're not a little bit corrupt if you don't take a few bribes if you don't just well you know you have to give respect here and there no you do not you are created to bring glory to the one and only creator of heaven and earth that is all you don't have to worry about the rest God will lift you up the world doesn't tell us that we need to fight to be pure in heart the world doesn't tell us to become peacemakers even at the disadvantage of ourselves peacemakers the ones who are the first ones to forgive the first ones to apologize the first ones to sacrifice the first one to suffer for the glory of the name of Jesus I'm telling you if the Christmas don't you know what would happen in every single seven day Adventist here in Nairobi just in this church decided to make a radical departure and choose to live this way what would happen oh the city would never be the same again we have to live our lives without compromise there is a challenge coming the enemy is coming to challenge the whole world he's going to make the entire world choose who will you follow will you follow me Satan will say as I'm building my kingdoms and you try to build your kingdoms in this world or will you follow Jesus and the bible tells me that God has a special people that he has created in Revelation chapter 14 people give three messages and those messages are God's messages they are God's messages his declaration of war against the darkness in this world we'll say no we're going to reject building our own kingdoms and choose to live for his glory the bible says in Revelation 13 that if the challenges the temptations of the enemy if you're living for money and prestige and power you will choose the side of the enemy so you better learn now that you can't live for that the bible says in Revelation 13 that you won't even be able to buy or sell or do anything in the economy you will become the lowest of the low in this world not only that you will be persecuted even to death if we have not learned to trust in God now is the time to make that decision you want to unlock the potential in your family unlock the potential in your life humble yourself before God and allow him to lift you up let us see what he will do are you ready to reclaim your true identity that every word that comes from your mouth every decision you make will be not for your glory you're not worried about what people think you're not worried about the expectations of your family you're worried about does this bring glory to God are you ready for that are you willing people of God are you willing let's trust God let me just pray for you heavenly father we recognize that you've made us for a purpose the greatest purpose even angels angels don't even understand this mystery of redemption what you've accomplished on our behalf heavenly father we pray that you will help us lead us guide us to fulfill our true destiny our true calling which is to bring you glory to be the true light of the world heavenly father I pray that you will bless every man woman boy and girl under the sound of our voice Lord God let your Holy Spirit fall on us so that we can be all that you have created us to be and it is in the mighty holy perfect matchless name of the only one who was worthy Jesus that we pray amen our closing hymn will be from sdahymno 294 let's all rise let's all rise sdahymno 294 power in the blood happy Sabbath God is good all the time how many of you have been blessed could I just see by a sure of hands all of you are not raising their hands please raise your hands if you fail you've been blessed the people at the balcony thank you we thank God for this Sabbath and we thank God for his word from his servant identity crisis that is the title of the message that we've received from the servant of the Lord and may we leave to reflect the glory of God as the Lord wants us to now it's wonderful to see all of you here in church and it's so nice to see that the church is full and back to normal we praise the Lord who has been with us and who has touched our hearts to come and worship him in his house which we've missed for a very very long time let's continue coming we want to thank the church members who are in the church today and we want to thank all the worshipers that persuaded online through the YouTube and through the church Facebook we also want to really thank our online worshipers the global online worshipers we want to give you special recognition thank you for continuing to be with us and thank you for your participation in the church service and all those who participated today and who facilitated the worship program today we want to thank all of you the lesson discussion panelists which those who are able to to watch it we are now doing a pre-recording but we want to thank those who have been participating and facilitating Brenda Kedi Sally Mwangi and Achen Oreiro thank you so much for the good work that you are doing for the Lord we want to thank our choristers as well for the singing that they have been bringing to us our pianist thank you so much our sign language interpreter Joyce Kwambuka and the one at KBC studio thank you so much the children ministry someone that was brought to us by Nora Narebo thank you so much scripture reading was brought to us by Ruth Thiranda thank you the communication team thank you for the good work that you are doing Paul Odira and Victor Nyacharo who are leading the team our elders who facilitated the program today Joshua Uma, Dan Matoke and Zefa Ura thank you so much the KBC team we continue to thank you for the partnership that we have together in spreading the gospel and the word of God in a special way we want to thank the servant of the Lord Pastor Emmanuel Paloti for speaking to us the word of God with your dear wife thank you so much may the Lord continue to bless your ministry thank you and we want to also thank our pastors Pastor Nyaga who is with us here Pastor Bede who is at home and Pastor Jaco Gueda we thank you for your leadership may the Lord continue to bless you as you lead his flock this afternoon we will have a special needs program you saw how they blessed us during the offering with the song how many are saying a main to the special needs team can I just see by a show of hands they will have an afternoon program please join online come physically to participate with them as they lead in their program and may the Lord continue to bless them as they also participate in the spread of the word of God the program of the special needs starts at 2 pm we also have the children ministry the college yet who will have their program starting at 4 they will have us songs inspiration please join in that program that the children ministry and the college yet will have starting at 4 in the evening may the Lord bless us as we break for lunch and as we come in again to start the program at 2 o'clock praise be to the Lord and may we all be blessed thank you so much happy Sabbath church happy day and we will sing the song number 198 and can it be song number 198 request us all to open our hymn notes let's all join together in song let's sing another song song number 213 Jesus is coming again may also sing it to the same power that you just sang the previous song with song number 213 happy day I just like to make an emphasis on what teenagers these are teenagers and colleges are our young people who are in various universities and colleges and we have a program this afternoon starting from 4 pm it's a singspiration which basically is just a song session where we have prepared and we have practiced songs to praise our Lord and our saviour the theme of our singspiration is behold our God and we'd like to extend an invitation to the entire church to our parents, to our friends and to our relatives so may you be blessed even as you listen to these songs and thank you so much for your support and most importantly we'd like to thank God for bringing us this far may you be blessed thank you praise to our God I request you to remain standing as you realize today is the last sabbat before our children return to school the schools are opening next week and we want to take this opportunity to present our children unto the Lord that they may be kept safe and go through their studies as they start a new school year so I invite all the children who are in the congregation just to step forward and join us at the pulpit as Pastanyaga comes forth to offer the prayer our children who are returning to school please just step to the pulpit to join the others children let's try to fasten our feet to go coming because of time I know we are in the sanctuary you can try to fasten our feet thank you we as you waiting for them you can see they are still coming down from the balcony this church we are so blessed church what do you say I mean it is so amazing and touching to see all this great army of young people in their church we know that indeed this church will be here even tomorrow and we want to thank especially the children department that is busy taking care of these young people and also the church leadership for supporting the church programs through the children department we are so glad that God has blessed us with all these great team of young people children and young people in church want to let you know that as a church we love you so much and we pray for you even when you are not in church you in school those of you in boarding schools in colleges I want to know that we pray for you and we are very happy especially for your participation in church I know you have your peers your friends who have nothing to do with God in church if you come back from school you identify yourself with this church you participate fully we want let you know that we are so much happy and proud of you and we are praying for you if you have listened to today's message about the identity crisis and indeed that's where most of us are I want to also request to you that you may reflect on especially the message for today that in your school your friends in that school those of you in colleges always seek to let people know that you love God and that you are seeking his name to be glorified through what you do it pays it pays to be a Christian and a genuine Christian we have no doubt that you love God we have no doubt that you are struggling and you are fighting we have no doubt that you are going to overcome because he who is in you is greater than what is fighting you I want you to have faith even as you pray this moment the Lord is listening and he shall take you back to school and to give you success in all your pursuits for education I know that they are also in the congregation the class 8 who sat for the exams they are now waiting to go for form 1 are you there can you stand because they are going to form 1 thank you but just mentioning this that we prayed for our young people before they sat for the exams many parents have been talking to me and other pastors and the church can tell you our children were blessed through the exams God answered our prayers so we need to thank God for this and we need to continually teach our children that they will never go long I mean wrong if they stand with the Lord and always seek to do what is good before him it pays to trust in the Lord thank you young people I want you to have faith as we pray do you believe there is power in prayer do you believe so do you believe that you need God as you go back to school thank you because you are so many we are not going to kneel down we are not going to put our faith in this prayer in humility and reverence as you seek the Lord in prayer let's pray together thank you for this privilege of the gift of these young people Lord we are so humbled as a church to know that you have entrusted us with the lives of these young people what they shall become of tomorrow it has to do with not only what their parents are doing but what we are doing as a church and more importantly that we are clear to them that they need God in their lives we first want to thank you especially for the candidates who sat for the exams and they passed so well Lord we just came back to say thank you for what you have done parents were in prayer the church was in prayer and these young people were busy working the teachers in classes but we thank you because the report we have received of the results came out indeed you answered our prayers so we thank you Lord because you have demonstrated as you have done always you have concerned and committed to the lives of these young people Lord it is in faith we take this moment once again to invite you into their lives first Lord that you can work with them and lead them each of them to surrender their lives to you for they are the light of this world they are the light of the world the influence of your age the classrooms the lecture halls in all that they do and where they be my father we are praying that we shall make this be a light there are issues of peer pressure things that attract them to compromise and live in conformity with the patterns of this world but Lord yet not for us because we choose to be identified with you and we are praying for them the Lord we shall give them the spirit of courage to speak in season and out of season to declare publicly that they belong to you and because you have said seek ye fast the kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added unto you and since you declare that you will know the plans you have for each one of them Lord we are not in any way doubting that indeed you shall bless them yes Lord we commit them as they will be traveling back to school those will be traveling far indeed we commit them that you shall give them traveling masses especially the former Lord who are going to begin the new environment of learning for the next four or so years Lord we commit them as they get into those new experiences the new environment we pray for them that you shall work with them and give them power to remember always that you shall work with them in Christ Jesus I pray for the parents for resources Lord I know going back to school in these hand economic times it is not easy for most of the parents but Lord I am praying that none of the children will miss out in their school because parents are not able to provide for the school phase Lord may you come through parents even those who are watching and following us online Lord I pray for all parents in this country whose children are going back to school may you provide for them that these young people will be happy to see their lives continue and prosper and be prepared to be great men and women in the days to come and because you have said that the highest of human thoughts is your ideal for your children Lord we release them into your hands and commit them and you await to hear good reports from each of them as they come back to worship with us this is our prayer in Jesus name amen May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit may you be blessed amen God bless you we shall be here at 4 waiting for you to bless us God be with you