 Welcome, my name is Marie, and it is the second quarter of the Teen's Cornerstone Connections lesson of 2023. In lesson three, we have Baraka on the mission stories. In the orchestra, we have Shadrach on the piano, Lee on the saxophone, Subira on the clarinet, Amy and myself on the violin. Lastly, we have the Sabbath School panel, which is done by the Nairobi Central teens along with their teen teachers. Enjoy! My name is Baraka, and I'll be taking us through the third mission story for this quarter. Like the previous tweet also comes from the country of Romania, and I'll start off by giving some interesting facts about Romania. Romania has one of the world's fastest internet speeds at 260 MBs per second. It's home to the largest rock sculpture in Europe that measures 55 meters in height, and Romania is the world's main producer of plums, and among the largest maize producers in the European Union. Two-year-old Denisa absolutely loves going to kindergarten because she gets to play with her best friend Denisa. Denisa and her best friend would usually arrive at the kindergarten earlier than the rest of the students because her friend's mom was one of the teachers at the kindergarten. They'd play together, however, when the other kids started to arrive, and her friend would go off and start playing with the other children, this made Denisa sad, and she'd begin to cry because she didn't like it when her friend played with other children. The teacher tried to encourage Denisa and even prayed with her, and this became a daily habit until Denisa eventually began to play with the other children. She continued to pray with the teacher every single day and developed a habit of praying. Within the next year, Denisa began to go to church with her best friend and her mom, and she had completely changed and began to interact with other students as well. Part of the 13th Sabbath offering goes to, we'll go to open a school program and after school program for kids to learn how to pray like Denisa and to interact with other children as well as learn more about Jesus. Welcome dear viewers to our Lesson 3 of the Teen's Cornerstone Connection Lesson. We're excited to have you. Before we begin, I'd like to invite one of our panelists, Misati, to pray for us. Let's pray. Thank you, my father, for all the goodness that you've shown us. Thank you that you have accorded it at this blessed Sabbath. We can come before you, O Lord, and we can seek your face, and I will find peace in your presence, O Lord. But you say that be still and know that you are God. You will be exalted in all the earth. You will be exalted among the nations. We come before you, taking your face and seeking that you may enlighten us. We may grow from faith to faith. In Jesus' name, we pray and we believe. Amen, amen. I'd also like to invite the panelists to introduce themselves starting from my left. Right, so I am Misati, Misati Nyambane, and I did take you through the opening prayer. My name is Sid, and I will take you through the, what do you think? My name is Ashley, and I'll take you through the into the story, you're welcome. I hope you enjoy the lesson. My name is Brigitte Ogega, and I'll be your moderator for today. So the Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have had them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I know about their suffering. Exodus chapter 3 verse 7, I see, I hear, I know. That's the title of our lesson today. And today we are beginning the study of another book. We have just completed studying the book of Genesis, and today we begin a fresh study of the book of Exodus. Now Exodus is a very interesting book, because as we shall see, we'll be moving out of Egypt as God had planned and promised Abraham, he had promised Isaac, and he had promised Jacob. And so even as we begin, today we'll be seeing the kind of character that God has towards us, his people, though we are sinners. And we will see how God yarns to deliver us, his people, just as he delivered the Israelites. And so as we continue, I'd like to invite Sid to take us through the what do you think section. Some people do bad things because they themselves have had bad things done to them. Keeping this in mind, in each of the following scenarios, would you be most likely to comfort and or deliver the victim from the oppressor if you had the power to stop what was happening? How would you intervene? Personally, if a boy was being sold into slavery, I'd be like, we're in the 21st century. So like, why would you want to sell a boy into slavery? Put yourselves in the shoes of that boy. How would you feel, Misati? What would you do? Right, so for myself, the one where if I had the power, and let me say I do have the power, would be where a 14-year-old is mistreating a five-year-old. I find it at the very essence of all our problems starts with those formative years. If the five-year-old can end up thinking that being mistreated by someone who is in a position of authority is all right, I believe that's where all these other issues stem from. So I would want to nip this in the bud, that is. Amen. Maybe I'd like to ask Misati to also read for us Hebrews chapter four verse 15. Hebrews four verse 15 in line with what we have just discussed about how would we feel if we saw someone in an oppressed state? Right, so Hebrews four fifteen. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet bouncing. Amen. And so we're reminded that Jesus Christ himself, he went through the oppression that maybe some of us are going through in this day and age. So there's nothing that comes as a surprise to him, whatever we've gone through, he's gone through it and maybe even in our scenario. So that's a lesson we're learning. And even if you read Romans chapter 12 verse 19, we're encouraged that we should not be the ones to avenge, but we should leave vengeance to God. So even as we seek to help people around us who are oppressed, remember that it is not your role to be the one seeking revenge, leave revenge to God for he is indeed the only person, the only one who should be able to give revenge. So today's lesson, our fundamental belief is fundamental belief number three. Just in line with our lesson three, and it is on God the Father. So I'd like to ask my panelist, starting from my left, who is God the Father to you? Right. So to me, God the Father in my mind is perfect in that God is holy, but not in essence the way we would see perfection or holiness is that God is so very good and that God desires the very best for his creatures. Amen. That is. Is that even though Lucifer has seen, has fallen, has brought so much sin upon our world, God still loves him. Amen. What about you Sid? To me, God is immortal. Like most, let's say everyone on earth will live, let's say maybe 72, 73 years But as for God, God is immortal. He can never die like he can't die. Amen. What about you Ashley? For me, the part that appeals to me, the character trait of God the Father that appeals to me is God is long-suffering, patient, compassionate. You know, I would want to take that and vouch for myself and say, you know, I'm stubborn, but because God is patient and compassionate, he'll have mercy. But that is not the side I look at. I look at God from his long-suffering, compassionate thing that we are seen as. We fall seven times over the same thing, and he still has the, the, the, the, the loving, the, the intense kindness of heart in his heart to pick us up and say, my child, you can still work and I am with you. God is just God. Amen. Amen. I totally agree with all those sentiments. So each one of us absolutely definitely has something to say about who God the Father is to them. And in fact, in the Bible, the God the Father is compared to an earthly father. Actually, it's an earthly father who is compared to God the Father in that you realize that an earthly father would not give a child a stone if they ask for bread. Now you can imagine how much more our earthly, our heavenly father, who is longing to open his storehouse of blessings to bless us with, you know, so many things if only we ask. So God the Father is indeed compassionate. He is loving. He is everything that we have said. And so that is our fundamental belief for today. And now just quickly and briefly, there's an, an interesting fact here that did you know that the Israelites want the only people that God delivered from Egypt during that time when he delivered them? Apparently, there are also other Kushites. There were Philistines and there were Aramans. So similarly, just like these people, we who are living in this day and age, we are also in bondage, we are slaves. What are we slaves to? We are slaves to sin. Yeah, and God who loves us so much as we've discussed, a God who is compassionate and loving and long-suffering. He does not want to see us perishing. And so he has a plan of deliverance for us. So how about today we study and see how did he deliver the people of Israel back in the day and then compare it and see how is he planning to deliver us later. So I'd like to invite Ashley to take us through the story for today. One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to the field to where his people were. And he saw an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew, one of his people, looking this way and that, seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he saw two Hebrews fighting and he said to the one in the wrong, why are you beating your fellow Hebrew? And the man said, who made you judge and ruler over us? Do you want to kill me like you killed the Egyptian the other day? Moses was afraid and thought to himself, this thing I have done must have been known. When Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses. He tried to do it, but Moses ran away to Median. He lived there. During that long period, the king of Egypt died. And the Israelites groaned because of their suffering. God had their groaning and their cry went up to him. And he remembered his covenant with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob. And he was concerned about them. Now Moses was tending the flock of his father in Lodgethro, a priest of Median, and he led the flock to the far wilderness when he came to corrupt the mount of God. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a bush, in a burning bush. And he heard God call and say, Moses, Moses. And he said, I am here. Do not come any closer, God said, for the place where you take of your sandals, for the place where you're standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And I have heard the crying out of my people for their slave drivers. At this, Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God. I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them out of the land of the Egyptians to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now go, I am sending you. Go to Pharaoh, bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said to him, go, for I am with you. Amen. So today's excerpt is from Exodus from chapter one to chapter four. That's what Ashley has just taken us through. And I believe we'll also just go through some of the questions. So Ashley. One of the questions in this phrase I'd like us to ask ourselves is what does it mean to you to have a God who hears, a God who sees and knows what you're doing? Sid, what do you think? To have a God who hears, sees and knows what you're doing makes me feel like I'm being protected from all evil or harm and also that he's giving us a choice on whether we will follow him or we will take our own path. And for me, having such a God makes me realize that whatever I do, that God sees what I do and he will reward me in what I do. And even in the time when I feel confused, I know that God neither sleeps nor slumbers and he is there with me even when I feel that the darkness is so dark. Amen. For me, it is an encouragement that I will never have to walk alone in this life. Sometimes life can weigh you down. The burdens of this life can really weigh you down even as teenagers. You know, small things such as maybe you didn't get that A in that test or maybe that friend of yours went and bighted you, if there's a word like that, yes. So, backbeat you, yes. So, really, it is an encouragement that truly God is always there for me even in trials and temptations, yes. So, what major lessons do we see in this story other than the fact that we have a God who hears, who sees and knows? A lesson I see very prominently is when we come to Moses. And Moses strikes me as a very fascinating character is because this man is tending sheep, then as he is tending sheep, he sees there is a bush here that's burning, that's not burning. So, he's like to his head, ah, let me go look at this bush that is burning that is not burning. So, he turns aside to see the bush that is burning but not burning. And this shows me that Moses intellectual curiosity, that he was curious at this site, that he never assumed it as some supernatural being or some freak of nature, but that he was so curious to learn like, what is this that I see here that intrigues me so? So, dear viewers, we'll just go on a break as we get to him and we'll be right back to proceed with the lesson. I must tell Jesus, all of my trials. In line with our lesson today, for I see, I hear, and I know, we see that Jesus Christ is the friend whom we can tell all of our burdens, all of our sorrows. And he's the only one who'll be able to bear them. Even if I ask anyone of you, if you've ever told someone a burden and they've born it fully to the extent that you felt like it was well-born, it may be difficult to have found an individual as a human being who could have born a burden as well as Jesus Christ will do it for you. And therefore, it is an encouragement to you, dear viewer, that Jesus is the only one who can bear even that burden that you find hard to tell even your closest friend. Yes, before we went on the break, we were discussing the lessons that we have learned from our session today. So maybe we can continue with that. Sid, what are some of the lessons you've learned from our lesson today? One major lesson that I saw emerge in this story is the story of the midwives and how they were told to kill all the sons. But they didn't because they were God-fearing and they respected God. And they didn't want to kill any of the children. And to interject right there, something I find interesting with this story here is the midwives give a very fascinating excuse. The excuse is the Hebrew women are strong. So even before we go in to deliver them, they have already delivered themselves. I think in the Pharaoh's mind, it was like, hey, wongo, wongo, but they are the ones with the experience. So who am I to argue? And I'm not going to that delivery room, you know? So I just said, so be it. Amen. And in case you have ever wondered what fearing God means, as Sid and Misati have told us, fearing God is keeping his commandments. Just as he said, the midwives were expected to kill all the sons who were born. But in contrary, they decided to actually, you know, preserve their lives and therefore they did the will of God. So fearing God is not just, you know, I'm saying that I am a God-fearing person. You have to act by actually keeping and obeying his commandments. Any other lessons, Ashley? Yeah, just certain that, you know, we can do small things in a big way. They did what they could at their, what was at their disposal. You know, they would have said, you know, we can go against Pharaoh, go against this decree, but they would have lost their lives. But at where they were, at the positions they occupied, they helped the country. And then one other lesson I learned was Moses felt insufficient. And he said, Lord, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, go for I am with you. That alone showed that Moses was humble enough to ask for God assistance and for God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Amen. And I also just want to bring out an important aspect from the lesson that even in the passage we have seen that before Moses killed the Egyptian, he had to look and see if there was anyone else watching him. And seeing that there was no one else, he decided to execute his plan. And so we see two important things. One is the folly of taking things, God's matters into our own hands. And we see that even from Jacob's story, we see that even from Abraham's story. And it is very important for us to notice that we should not take matters into our own hands when God has a different plan for us. And another thing and the last thing that I want to say on that point is that as teenagers sometimes we may want to do things after confirming that no one is looking at us. Yeah, you look around and you're like, oh, no one will know. Yeah, so it is a message to us to remember that we have our God who sees, we have our God who hears and we have our God who knows. Therefore we should be accountable. So at this point I'd like to invite Sid to take us through the key text as we proceed. The key text is coming from Exodus chapter three verse seven. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I'm concerned about their suffering. Amen. So the question is, have you ever wondered if God really knows what it feels like to be sad or maybe even to be a victim? So maybe I could throw it to Ashley. You know, being sad, being a victim, victim when, I don't know, but if any one of you has ever been in a situation where someone is trying to make you feel a victim so that you ask for their help and they victimize you or undermine you, it's not a laughing matter. It's not something that is funny. Even at that point you would literally lose yourself or shed your tears because you just do not understand why you're being victimized. So calling upon God at such points is where we understand or experience that God is a God who sees, he hears and he knows everything that we go through. We've read in a text that says that we have a high priest who has been tempted in all points as we have been yet without sin. So because he has been tempted, he definitely sympathizes with everything that has happened to us here. Amen. So in each of our lessons, we do go through the study of an interesting book. This quarter we are going through the book, Patriarchs and Prophets. And so I'd like to invite Misati to give us some insight on what Sister Ellen G. White says. Yeah, so here our lesser light to guide us to the greater light tells us that in slaying the Egyptian, that was a pivotal point, Moses had fallen to the same era so often committed by his fathers, remember Jacob, of taking into their own hands the work that God had promised to do. Infinite wisdom called him who was to become the leader of his people, spent 40 years in the humble work of a shepherd. He had bits of caretaking of self-forgetfulness and tender solitude for his flock. Thus developed, would prepare him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel. So right here, we have a very interesting narrative that presents itself. We have Moses. Now Moses was the Pharaoh's daughter. He was his mother's daughter but he was also the Pharaoh's daughter by adoption. Now for 28 years of his life, for 12 years, he only saw the palace on and off. Then Moses was taken a bit but then his mother was his wet nurse until 12 years of age. So for 28 years, this man was in the palace. He was schooled in all the knowledge of Pharaoh. He saw all the sophistry, he saw all the cultureness, he saw all the refined things of life. And then God had to take this, say, pampered prince and make him a leader of the Israelite nation. He had to take this man who was used to leading elite militaryians to leading people who could behave very sheepishly. So what did God do? God had to teach him by experience. He had to deal with the sheep so that he can deal with the sheepish people. That is. And what I find fascinating is that this story of Moses ties very closely the story of Jesus. And I think we could even tie it even closer with our lives. So let me jump in fast in saying how the story has really touched me and opened my eyes like this. So the way I see this is that Moses was his mama's boy until 40 years of age. That's a long time, it's a long time. But then Jesus was almost there as in he was his mama's boy until 30 years of age. I think from 12 years Joseph is never mentioned again. And then at Christ's crucifixion Joseph is not mentioned so we can infer that Christ was his mother's boy for all this time. And during this period, this 40 years of Moses and this 30 years of Jesus, they were able to critically find God for themselves. They were able to have an answer, they were able to have a reason for their faith. And when I tie this to myself is I find that my life at this point is me finding a reason for my faith. Me having a good reason, having a solid reason for why I want to do what I want to do. Amen. Sid maybe you could give some insight as well. For me, it's almost the same thing as what we had to say. Moses spent 40 years and the Jesus spent around 30 years. So when Moses was actually in the palace when he was being raised, he was raised in the palace. But when God asked him to leave the palace, he did not hesitate. He remained humble. It's the same thing with Jesus. With all the power that he had, he could have refused crucifixion but yet he went and got crucified. He died for our sins just so we can be with him. Amen. So we see the lesson of humility from both the life of Moses and the life of Jesus. Amen. Yes Ashley. I'd like to echo what me, Sid said. You know, just bring it closer in application to our lives. We get to a point, you know, you finished high school, you've turned 18, you've gotten an ID and you're like, I have lived that life for the last all my life and now I just don't feel them. I just wanna do what I want to do. None is gonna call me, tell me, don't do this, don't do that. I just want to do what I want to do. And so we throw up, but the things our parents have told us, yet we forget that they were at the point where we are and they made mistakes and because of those mistakes, they wanted us to live in a particular way. So we should, first Peter 3.15 says, then sanctify the Lord God in your heart and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you the reason of the hope that is within you, that is in you with meekness and fear. We need to give the reason of the hope that is within us. We need, God said so is a good enough reason, but you need to know it for yourself. You cannot depend on me to tell you what God said on Shabbit it said that God said, you need to have a personal relationship with God so that you know at that set the Lord is at that set the Lord because you know God for yourself. Amen. And I would also add that the early development of a child is very important. The training of a child in their early years is very important. We can see both from the life of Jesus and the life of Moses that their mothers played a critical role in that early development and the principles and the lessons that they learned in those early years of their lives helps them to walk even through the difficult times that they were to face later on in life. And so it is a lesson to us that those lessons that our parents have taught us right from whence we were small kindly let us not depart from them because you know as teenagers we tend to feel like we want to be rebellious. What is my mom telling me? What is my dad telling me? What is my guardian telling me? But hey, remember that those are the principles that will help you to eternity. Amen. So even as we continue, Ashley maybe you could help us go through the insights for Wednesday. On the Wednesday part I'd like us to read the punchlines this week and know that God treats us as individual. He wants to have a personal to personal relationship with each one of us by simply comforting us. You know, he takes care of us and needs at a personal level. So Misati, what is the punchline that spoke to you most in this lesson? So what struck me most is where Isaiah speaking the word of the Lord in the 59th chapter and the first verse, behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, not his ear heavy that it cannot hear. So this strikes me here that God ultimately has the power to perform that with him once and that God is able to take us out. Like the hand of the Lord can either be mighty for war or can be mighty unto our salvation. That is, and that shows me that regardless of what we may be going through, God is willing and he is able to take us from our mess, from our darkness and lift us unto a higher plane. And he can do this irregardless of what seems to be happening around us and that his ear hears. That is that he inclines his ear to hear the words of the righteous. Sid, what are your thoughts on this? What caught my attention was second Timothy chapter four verse 18. It says, the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. What caught my attention is the fact that God is still willing to give us a place in heaven even after sinning. He will still want you to go to heaven. So he will forgive you and he will still rescue you. The Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself our sins to rescue us from the present age. That's Galatians one, three, four. He gave himself, you know, he left the glory, the riches. He emptied himself of all but love, came to earth to rescue us. You know, died on the cross. So to rescue us from the present evil age, he gave himself that that spoke to me. Amen. Psalms chapter 146, verse five, verse seven and verse nine. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free. The Lord gives sight to the blind. The Lord uplifts those who are bowed down. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow. In summary, God sees, God knows and God hears. So even as we come to a conclusion, we have the issue of excuses. We can see very clearly from the story of Moses as much as we've seen that he was brought up very well with a mom who was quite a good role model to him. As much as he was in the palace and he was trained with all this palatial issues and great things, there's still an issue when God came to call him. He started asking, okay, so who am I that you want to send me to Pharaoh? Then he also went ahead to say, okay, so if I go, what am I supposed to tell this Pharaoh who has sent me and he had more and more excuses? And I just want to ask a question. As teenagers, do we sometimes like Moses pose excuses when we have been maybe given a task? And why do you feel we pose these excuses? So do we pose those excuses and maybe could maybe one of us share an instance, for example? Okay, we do pose instances. I remember once when I was wondering what my calling would be in this life. And my mother was saying, you can be a missionary, my dad was saying, you can do medicine. I felt that, yeah, I've been called to stand out not to be the same, you know, to live for what I believe no matter the cost. But I quickly came up with an excuse. No, Lord, you know, I cannot do that. Why do I just always have to be different? Why can't I just have an ordinary life, live like everyone else? And to be honest, I still don't think I can be a missionary. You know, missionaries go through so many things, they go through, they lose their jobs, they suffer, you know, they're thrown out of their houses because of their beliefs. And I don't want to go to a country where no one believes in what I believe in and start teaching them. You know, I want to be in a place where there are one, two, three people who believe what I believe in, that way that is warped. So all these are excuses. Some other people have other instances. So what God says is go for I will be with you. On the bright side, you're a missionary, even now. So do not be discouraged, you're still a missionary. Maybe Misati, do you have any instance for excuses? So for me, I would want to zoom in to Moses and to look at the paradox of what he was saying. That is, he said, who am I? You know, the answer to that question is you are the most educated man in this world. That is, what shall I say unto Pharaoh? Do yourself what to be a Pharaoh? Say that which you would have said to that Pharaoh for he now stands as your peer. And thing is, during those 40 years that Moses was in Egypt, it is recorded that there was no peer in the whole of Egypt. There was no one who could stand by Moses and reason with him. In that, when he spoke, people kept silence. When he said, you know what? I'm forgetting the Egyptian tongue. So I think as God said, you have the brains, Aaron shall speak on your behalf. He shall be your mouthpiece. And I see here that it was, Moses was not acting in humility right here. He was acting in humiliation, this instance that is. And I think that's where we ought to draw a line. Are we being humble or are we being humiliated? They sing a low estimate upon ourselves. It's not humility, it is humiliation. And that's a powerful lesson. Asid, do you have any other thoughts? I don't really have any other thoughts. Okay. Emphasize everything. That's all right. So even as we come to our close now, God is making three promises to us in this story. Number one, he sees, he hears, and he knows. Trust him. Number two, God will surely be with us. We have seen that in the story of Moses and we have seen it through and through the Bible. God will surely and surely and truly be with us. And the last but not least, God will surely bring us out of Egypt and will deliver us. Now, as we have seen, Egypt is not necessarily the actual Egypt in this day and age. We're in Kenya. So Egypt for us is slavery to sin. So it means that God is ready and willing to deliver us from any form of sin that we are experiencing or that has put us in bondage. And so in order for us to activate these three promises that he's given us, God only requires one thing from us. And that is for us to trust and to obey him. So in humility, let us trust and obey God. Is there any other point that maybe you'd like to give us, Ashley? I'd like to add one thing by reading the Father's insight. By calm, simple faith, the soul holds communion with God and gathers to itself rays of divine light to strengthen and sustain it in the conflict with Saturn. God is our tower of strength. You know, in this years when Moses was unlearning the ways of Egypt and learning to be a shepherd, to be more like Christ, he wrote the book of Genesis. He spent a lot of time with God and God revealed to him the beginning of beginnings. You know, when the earth was void all the way, the stories of his father's, the chronological order. So I have a question to all of us. How do we spend time with God? And how can we gather to ourselves rays of divine light to sustain us in the conflict with Saturn? Amen. So to you, our dear viewers, what is that one thing that you would like God to deliver you from? You may not be comfortable sharing it with any other person, but there's one person who's ready and willing to listen to what that one thing is. And so I call and urge upon you to call out to God, to tell him all your sorrows, even as our hymn for today said. So in closing, I'd like to invite Sid to give us a prayer. Let's pray. Oh, have any father, we come before you today. We thank you for the lesson. We pray that all the viewers have understood and you may protect them all through the day. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. We'd like to invite you for our next lesson, which is lesson four entitled, Apply the Blood. See you next time.