 Welcome to our 9th Cornerstone Connection Lesson this quarter. On our panel today we have Brenda, Sylas, Ashley and Tisha Jonan. On our kestra today we have Elsie, Ashlyn and MPC and Joyce will be doing sign language today. I am very precious, I'll be taking you through the mission and before we start, let us buy heads forward of prayer. Oh God, we thank you for this day, thank you for being with us thus far as we are about to start. May our spirit be with us. In Jesus' name I pray and believe. Amen. So our mission for today's title is called Heart for Preaching. When Dacosta was 7 years old he went to a special children's program in the African country of Ghana. It was summertime and he and 290 other children stayed in rented dormitories for a fun weekend. On Sabbath a 10-year-old girl named Gifty preached about the second coming of Jesus. Dacosta liked the salmon very much. He couldn't wait to see Jesus come in the clouds of glory. After the salmon an adult asked the children how many of you would like to preach like Gifty if you would like to tell your parents and join the preachers club. Dacosta had never heard about the preachers club but he thought if that girl can preach I can preach too. A few Sabbaths later Dacosta land at his own church that a new preachers club would meet at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He remembered his desire to preach like 10-year-old Gifty and he went to the first meeting of the club. The teacher challenged him and other children to memorize John 14.1. Come back next Sabbath and recite from memory. The teacher said Dacosta worked hard to memorize the verse that week. He couldn't understand why he needed to memorize a verse when he just wanted to learn to preach but he memorized it anyway. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. He repeated over and over. On Sabbath afternoon he recited the verse perfectly. Other children also recited the verse. The teacher was pleased. He told the children to memorize Psalm 100. Dacosta worked hard to memorize the five verses of Psalm 100 that week. He couldn't understand why he needed to memorize verses when he just wanted to learn to preach but he memorized them anyway. Make a joyful shout to the Lord. All you lands. He repeated over and over from Psalm 100. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord he is God. It is he who made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter him to his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations. On Sabbath afternoon he recited Psalm 100 perfectly. Other children also recited the chapter. The teacher was very pleased. He gave the children more Bible verses. After some time the teacher announced a special children's Sabbath. Ten churches would get together to celebrate. The teacher asked Dacosta to preach a sermon about Jesus parable on the prodigo sun. When Dacosta agreed several weeks later when he preached his first sermon, he understood why the teacher had asked him to memorize so many Bible verses. Because he had worked hard to memorize the verses, it was easy to remember the sermon. Church leaders were very pleased with the sermon and they said Dacosta should preach again. Dacosta next preached for seven days in a row at children's and evangelistic meetings. At the end of seven days five people gave their hearts to Jesus and were baptized. Dacosta couldn't believe his eyes. God somehow had used his preaching to lead five people to give their hearts to him. Today Dacosta is 14 years old and he loves to preach. He is glad that when he was a little boy he had a 10-year-old girl preach. God used that someone to spark a desire in his heart to preach and now he plans to become an evangelist and maybe also a mechanical engineer. He hopes that every boy and girl who hears his story will also think about preaching. Just try he says. Memorize Bible verses and prepare a sermon to win souls for Christ. To our ninth kona stone lesson for this fourth quarter of 2023 and before we begin our lesson I'd just like to introduce the panel from my right. My name is Ashli. My name is Brenda and I hope we will be able to enjoy our lesson today. All right now that we know each other oh my name is Jonan Magana and I'd like to ask Silas to pray with us before we begin. Amen. Amen. Thank you Silas. So our lesson is titled A Sad End. You might be wondering who's sad end it is considering our previous lesson was titled Running and it was about David running away from King Saul. Now today's lesson is a sad end but we need to know who's sad end who's sad end is it is it David's or is it Saul's. But before we go there just a bit of a background to our story when David was chased by King Saul we know that he went out of Israel right he was in exile but he went and made an allegiance with the Philistines who were his enemies but drew out his rooms at one point David and his men they had a city called Ziklag you see that in a book of fast Samo chapter 28. So one time that city was taken and David's wives and children and his men's belongings their livestock and everything they were taken away and David we see that he went and he recaptured them and brought them back home. So our lesson starts at a point where David is celebrating victory after defeating their Malikites were taken his belongings but then there's also a sad aspect to it but before we get into that I'd like to ask Silas to take us through the what do you think section. So the what do you think section is asking what would you like better beginning of a journey or an end of a journey for me I'd like the end because that's when you you see the happiness you you see the enjoyment of the journey you've been through and and you reflect and appreciate what you've had. All right okay Brenda what do you think what's better the beginning of the end of a journey a long journey to be specific. For me personally I enjoy the beginning of a long journey because if you think about it the end of a long journey specifically is very tiring you're tired and you don't have really the energy to enjoy the end of it but in the beginning you're expectant of what will happen during the journey and there's a lot of energy and psych so I personally like the beginning more than the end. The beginning all right Ashley what do you think. Take on your challenge and I also prefer the end and away because it signifies that after all this at the end of the day I'm finally done it becomes a repeated cycle up to the end of a long journey begins a new one. All right all right okay that's a very wise thought for that thank you for that. Now let's read Ecclesiasis chapter 7 verse 8 so we see what Solomon speaks about this. Let me just read it Ecclesiasis 7 verse 8 it says better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. So Solomon's thought about the journey is he'd prefer the end of a journey than the beginning. Probably has his own reasons but anyway we'll see why. Now let us move to our story for today and I like Brenda to lead us through it and it comes from first version second sample after one Brenda. Okay so into the story part when you go and look apart from looking at it in the lesson if you look at it from the bible it is it has a title called the song of the of the bow yeah and this basically I did a bit of research on it and I found out this means a song of victory but also a song of morning basically and for David this was a very important it was very important to him that him and his men did this and it says that the song of bow was the beauty of Israel being slain and in this song David showed the great love and the generosity in his heart toward soul. It showed that David didn't kill soul without sword in his heart he saw beauty in soul and he wanted no one to rejoice over the death of soul so in summary the whole story of today is talking about how David was mourning soul and Jonathan and this is like you said this is after the victory with the Amalekites but even within that victory he did not want anyone even though he they were his enemies people wanted him dead apart from Jonathan I'm talking about soul he didn't want anyone else to start singing praises for his death instead he wanted people to mourn with him because at the end of the day soul was at some point they chosen of God and he didn't want anyone to look down on that so the whole story is basically talking about mourning your enemies you shouldn't pray for them to die or anything bad to happen for them you should just want them to be uh be at peace so it is the lesson majorly learned from this and what I feel David felt when all these events came together the death of soul and even in the alia chapter in chapter one of uh in the beginning verses of chapter one he uh he scolds the man who killed soul he tells him how how are you rejoicing this when the blood of the king is on your hands so it just shows how David felt overall as a person in his heart and physically and the example he put out to his men all right um thank you for that Brenda thank you for that summary actually something very interesting is uh from fast sambal chapter 28 verse 4 where we can just uh go there first sambal 28 verse 4 Alaska Brenda you can read for us fast sambal 28 verse 4 so we see where this this battle took place between the philistines and the israelites because there's something very significant about that place Brenda okay uh fast sambal 28 verse 4 and it says then the philistines gathered together and came and encamped at Shunem so soul gathered all israel together and they encamped at Gilboa um okay now this might come as a surprise for some of us but this very place there's something very significant that happened uh to the children of israel again regarding battle that is in the book of judges chapter seven when Gideon was going to fight again the amalekite right um this is the same place that the lord asked Gideon to take his 300 men his army so that he could pin down to 300 men and ask them to drink water from a river this was a very same place that that took place but then we see two very different um things that happen at this valley the very first time the battle happened there the israelites won but the second time we see that they lost all right so that's something important I'd like to point out and then something else about David's lament there is there is something about having a juicy story all right we have the tea all right it may be a sad thing to other people but you take the joy out of it now David in his lament he says tell it not to gath proclaim it not in the streets of ashkelon these are the major cities of the philistines so he was warning the israelites do not go around saying how badly we've been beaten in battle because it gives joy to the enemy okay so this is a reprimand to us as well we should watch our mouths what do we speak about in times of sadness or in times when great things have happened we should watch how we speak and who we speak it to all right um probably can just guide us through about uh two questions from the what do you think section yeah uh so I was going through the what do you think section and um two specific questions caught my mind my eyes uh the first one was who is the main character in this passage uh for me personally I don't think there was one main character because uh David was the speaker of the song he is the person who is basically rating what is in this verses but the main characters within his song was Dave was Jonathan and Sol so I feel like there wasn't a direct main character but if we were to pick one was I think David and Sol Ashley what do you think uh yes so I agree on the bit of Sol because most of the lamentation is David telling them not to fame Sol's death to other nations uh because then they will celebrate the death of one of their enemies rulers right all right for another question like the last one maybe yeah what lessons can you learn from this passage uh before I say what do you think what what major lesson do you get from the whole story of David's lament on Sol okay I think that David's lament on Sol means he valued he saw Sol as the chosen one of God and not as his enemy so for my lesson is that it doesn't matter how wrong someone treats you what matters is are they God's children or not yes uh for me it was um that the biggest thing that I think it came to a shock to me at first because David was mourning his enemy someone who wanted him constantly wanted him dead and I feel the biggest thing we can the biggest lesson we can draw from this is that we shouldn't wish il on our enemies we should just pray for them because David through the whole time he was at odds with Sol that is not one time he wished to do him evil not a single time and even when he died he scolded the one who killed him so instead of wishing bad on our enemies we should pray for them you know speak well of them even if it hurts us because in our way this kind of brought um a standard to the people around David he was being an example and if we want to be examples to the rest of the world as Christians we have to do it by how we act around people who hate us or how we speak the same way David was like don't speak ill in front of your enemies the same with us we should learn to talk in a way that will influence others in a way that want them to be like Jesus amen amen and that actually just picks directly to the him that we just played before you know he needed me David trusted in God to just guide his every single action that he took I mean every time before he went to battle with Goliath he prayed before he went to battle the Amalekites again he prayed in dealing with Sol he always prayed to God so many of the psalms that David wrote especially Psalm 23 one of the most popular psalms David wrote it when he was out in exile so David always trusted in God that is something you can also pick from that um Silas you can read for us the key text that you can learn something from that as well that is uh from 2nd Samuel chapter 1 verse 11 and 12 for those who do not have the lesson 2nd Samuel chapter 1 verse 11 and 12 verse 11 and 12 says therefore David took hold of his own clothes and stood them and so did all the men who were with him and they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for soul and for Jonathan his son for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword thank you for that we can combine that with the flashlight as well unlike Ashishu just take us through the flashlight and probably what Ellen White speaks about David's actions and his reaction towards Sol's death and it says David seemed to be cut off from every human support all that he held dear on earth had been swept from him Sol had driven him from his country the Philistines had driven him from the camp the Amalekites had plundered his city his wives and children had been made prisoners and his own familiar friends had banded against him and threatened him even with death in this hour of utmost extremity David instead of permitting his mind to dwell upon these painful circumstances looked earnestly to God for help he encouraged himself in the Lord now from this we can see that at one of David's lowest points he put his faith holy in God in which previously he hadn't just kind of digging further into this when David first sought refuge in the land of the Philistines that was just a moment in which he doubted God a moment in which he lacked enough faith to say that God would protect him wherever he encamped and so the Amalekites coming to raid and plunder his camp was the result of him putting his faith in the enemy of him putting the safety of the camp and all their stuff in the hands of the enemy and all that yeah all right okay that is very interesting as well because you see this whole alliance fell apart this is David did not trust in God and we've seen that time and time again in the Bible where people who have had great faith in God who have shown great faith at one point or another they just fail to trust the Abraham case in point when he did not have a son right but what do we learn from this what do you think we learn from that um David was at a low point in his life right everyone goes with low moments in a while but how do you think we should behave when you are at a low point in our lives I think that when we are at our lowest point we should trust more in God than we usually trust in in normal times because he's the one who's able to bring us back from that moment you're experiencing all right that is one thing as well probably another aspect I could bring out of this is um Illinois speaks about how David did not dwell in his low moments in his moments of weakness and sadness he chose to rise above the occasion how can we learn from that Brenda what are your thoughts um I feel like it's something that people these days need to really learn because like suicide cases keep going up and depression people are just like people not mentally doing okay and it's mostly because they let what they're going through get get to them and they forget that they need to talk to God about it they're like what will he do like that's the first thing that comes to the head we're going through something that like it's God's fault everyone doesn't no one gives God the glory when they're in victory or when they're doing well but when the something wrong is going in their life that's when they think about God they're like where is he now why is he not here so I feel the lack in communication with God during tough times has brought a lot of people to have a lot of problems in their lives being low physically mentally and I feel this can this this habit or this character trait of rising above it will really help a lot of people if people can just learn to trust in God fully I feel like a lot of the problems we have in this society will just start disappearing because as long as you trust in God everything else um disappears and I know I'm rushing a bit but I just wanted to read something from the punch lines Isaiah 41 13 and says for I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you do not fear I will help you so as long I think this is what David did and it's part of in other sums he also talks about this how as he did not fear and he just trusted in the Lord yes he had fear within him like it's it's normal to have such emotions but because he trusted in God he was able to overcome so without God it's a lot harder to do that true true thank you that Brenda and actually I was just about to go to the punch lines as well because it speaks about how something you've brought up as well when you are not in constant communication with God it becomes hard to be to look up to him when in a tough situation but then again in the Bible God makes his promises but they still come with some conditions as well okay so I just want us to look at some punch lines and see a promise in that verse in the condition as well we'll start with Ashley you can just pick any of the punch lines just tell us where it's from what promise is given there and what condition does God put in place as well I is immediately turned to Job 22 versus 21 and it says submit to God and be at peace with him in this way prosperity will come to you now kindly remind me what I'm looking for the promise what is the promise that we see in that verse the promise is that prosperity will come to you if you submit to God holy so submitting to God is the condition to that right yes and I'd like to point out in relation to the story David submitted holy to God and he succeeded in his venture to reclaim what was stolen by the amalakites yes amen Ashley just ties directly to what we've been reading about how he defeated the amalakites as well thank you for that Ashley Silas what verse speaks to you here and what promise do you see and what condition God gives so that that promise can be fulfilled I think sums 38 verse 11 my friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds my neighbors stay away from me okay so in this verse David is saying that his enemies avoid him because he has wounds but he rejoices because those he has had to overcome things to get where he is yes all right actually in that verse you can also see that David is speaking about how the closest people around you will tend to abandon you in times of trouble but you can see he hasn't spoken about anywhere about how God abandons him because he knows as much as everyone else will go will go away from you in times of trouble God is still there for you all right there's something you can pick from that as well now moving on can move now to uh Thursday the Thursday part there's a verse that we have there to read that's jobs up to 22 verse 21 that is the same verse that we've just read I probably can just reiterate it a bit and I'll ask Ashley to just guide us through that some questions in the Thursday part yes so the main question being asked is do you know someone in your church in your family in your community who's going through a tough time who's been hurt or killed and what can you do to help this person and or their loved ones so the first thing that one should do is first go to God and ask him how you can help in that situation then afterwards you can now go to your friends your family your local pastor and ask them for ideas on how you can help all right thank you for that Ashley now as we as we just about to come to the close of this I like just to point out something there is a story that is given in the in the teachers section of the lesson and it speaks about a young man who had senpa issue now this is also something that we barely see David having now let's imagine put yourself in David's shoes you have been chased away from your country the only place you know that's home yours the one who's supposed to be the next king so by you being away it means you the chances of you becoming king are very slim and God had promised David you're going to become king because it already been anointed by Prophet Samuel so David had all the rights to become angry right but we see two or three different times where David has the opportunity to kill soul and take over the kingship but he does not do that now let me give the story there is a little boy who had anger issues okay and so his dad came up with a plan he gave this young man a couple of nails and a hammer and he told him every time we get angry I want you to take one nail and hammer it into the wooden fence of our home so by the end of that day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence that's a very young guy boy like younger than 10 years old okay but then um his father told him that for the next few days every time we get angry keep hammering a nail into the fence and as time progressed the nails that were hammered into the fence became lesser and lesser until it came to a point where for three days straight no nail was hammered into the fence the young man told the father dad I haven't become angry for the last few days so there's no nail in the fence and his dad told him that is very good now I want you to do something for every single day that you do not get angry go to that fence pull out one nail and he did that a few days months weeks because there were a lot of nails there and uh once the young man was done his father asked him now come to the fence look at the fence what do you see there are so many holes inside the fence so the father told him when you act out in anger you make a damage that is irreparable when you act out with emotion when you make decisions based on anger you may not be able to reverse the damages that it causes that is one thing that David really learned and some that we can also pick as young people in our days these days we are we really much encouraged to be in tune with our emotions right it's a good thing but it also means being in tune with the negative emotions focusing on them but that is not what God calls us to do learning from David we need to learn how to rise above our anger and that can only be done through the Holy Spirit and God's guidance all right uh now to finish up our lesson I want us read one verse Sam 38 verse 11 alas tell us to read because he is read the same verse from the punch lines as well Sam 38 verse 11 can just read it again Sam 38 verse 11 says my friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds my neighbors stay away stay far far away sorry mm-hmm mm-hmm thank you for that um so this ties back to the story about David and his men going back to their city in Ziklag and finding out that they are malakaisa taken everything from them and a question that I can ask to us this just something to introspect and to our viewers as well how did David's failure to trust God affect those around him because you see it did have an effect and actually pointed it out very well David did not trust in God went made an alliance with the philistines and the amalakaisa angered by this and so they came and they took all the things that David and his men owned so we see every single decision we make as well it affects the people around us so I want us to think even you our viewer just think about how much the decisions you make how you failing to trust in God affects the people around you and then number two how do your failures to be God affect the people as well as we close we usually have a fundamental belief in every lesson and our fundamental belief for this lesson nine is unity in the body of Christ that's belief number 14 and we see that David as much as he had been exiled he still his heart still young for the people of Israel and the king and as much as King Saul had died David still showed unity by mourning for the king by even slaying the pastor who brought the purported good news that King Saul is dead so this shows that she's also need to be united as people we should not rejoice over the death of our enemies over the demise of our enemies but instead just pray for them and just be saddened by the fact that God did not they didn't get a chance to you know see the goodness of God as well as we finish up like us to just read up the further insights Alaska Ashley to read one and then Brenda can read the other one and it says the angels of heaven are sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation all right that's from the desire of ages we know that what results a day an hour or a moment may determine and never should we begin the day without committing our ways to our heavenly Father his angels are appointed to watch over us and if we put ourselves under the God guardianship then in every time of danger they will be at our right hand allenji white Christ objective lessons page 341 that is also another very good insight we may get when we start each and every day we are encouraged to commit our days to the Lord so that his angels may guide us each and every step the way any final comments from my finalist as we finish up can start with Ashley throughout the story God works his wonders and miracles in David's life in ways that we may not recognize reading it for the first time like the first time when David was sent away from the Philistine camp when they were marching forward to fight against Israel that was actually God's doing him being sent away because David was caught in a snare kind of because if he fought with the Philistines in that battle he'd be labeled as a traitor to to the Israelites and he'd lose his chances of becoming king and if he backed out from fighting he'd be labeled as a coward and ungrateful uh for the hospitality that his host had shown him yeah and finally um from this lesson we can all learn that we should be people after God's own heart just like David was because as much as he had his shortcomings at the end of the day he always went back to God. Amen. Phylist, what do you have to tell us? For me I think that David should should love to God's anointed by mourning that he died and not rejoicing that he died because he was his enemy and he should the sincerity that no matter what your enemy does to you wish them good. Amen. Amen. That also reminds me of how we know we have love when we love the people who deserve our love the you know the people the person who you think does not deserve your love when you love them that's when you know you really have to love that's what David should thank you for that friend. Um for me two things I'd like to like just end with is that um the first one is that because of David's connection all the closeness of proximity he had with God he he worked on his relationship with God and even though he had shortcomings he made sure that even in the worst of my of my time whatever time it is the worst I am I will still pray to God I'll still talk to God even when he was angry he would still talk to God either in song in poem in whatever way he in whatever time and in whatever way he would still talk to God and that gave him a relationship that made him know when is what's time that's why even when he had the chance to kill soul he didn't because he knew it was not yet his time that's because of the connection he had with God and the second thing is um I'd like to um just repeat the promise and the condition even in Isaiah 41 13 and the promise is that God will always help us in whatever time in whatever problem we have he will always help us all the only condition he gives us is not to fear and sometimes this is this can be very hard especially these days um depending in whatever situation you're in either in school some people are very scared about whatever it might be their grades or relationships they have in school or at home in at work it like in in any situation God tells us not to fear and he will help us so I just hope we can meditate upon that amen amen thank you for that thank you Ashley uh Silas and Brenda for that lesson so that is the end of our lesson today and uh I just like to encourage you if you have any question or comment as well just write down on the comments and I will get back to you as well thank you for being with us throughout the lesson line we'll see you for the next lesson lesson time but as we please like to ask Brenda to pray with us let's bow heads for Radaf prayer our father in heaven we come before you this day we thank you for this beautiful lesson in which we learn about uh the mourning of David the lament David had for soul and his son lord and the lessons in which we have drawn from this and the lessons of noon we can put in our lives so that we can be better Christians for you and for your heavenly kingdom may we learn um to um to may we learn to be able to manage our emotions not to um act out in anger but in love to everyone around us even our enemies as we continue with our with our day with our lives may we continue to draw more lessons from this lesson as teens you just need to pray amen amen