 Welkom to our 8th lesson of the Cornerstone Connections. Glad that you could join us. Our panelists for today are Brenda, Steve, Gideon, and our teacher, Kevin. And instruments we have Amy on the violin and Cid as the pianist. And we have Joyce at the sign language. I am very precious. I'll be taking you through the mission before we start. Let us bow forward of prayer. Oh God, we thank you for this day. Thank you for being with us this far. Thank you for guiding us and for touching us. Now we are about to start. Please be with us. May your spirit guide us. In Jesus' name I pray and believe. Amen. So the title of our mission today is, Loving a Neighbor. The old woman called out to seven-year-old Elliot in the African country of Garden. I see that you don't go to church. She said, come to church with me. Elliot looked at the next door neighbor whom he called Auntie. It was true he didn't go to church, but he liked the idea. He and his family had moved into the neighborhood just a few weeks earlier and he didn't have friends. Moreover, he was curious to know about God. Thank you for inviting me, he said. Let me ask mother for permission. That's a good idea, Auntie said. When she gives permission, be ready to go early on Saturday morning and put on your best clothes. We are going to worship God. Elliot ran home to ask mother for permission. She gave it. On Saturday morning, Elliot woke up excited about going to church. Then he remembered that Auntie had cautioned him not to be late. He quickly got dressed in his best clothes and ran next door. I'm ready to go. He said as soon as Auntie opened the door. Happy Sabbath, Auntie said. He looked at the boy carefully. Have you eaten breakfast? She asked. Elliot shook his head. He had left home before mother had finished preparing breakfast. Would you like to eat? Auntie said. Elliot nodded his head. Good, Auntie said. You need to eat. She served rice with tomato stew. It was delicious. After eating, Elliot got into aka with Auntie and her family and they went to church. Elliot didn't know anyone in Sabbath school and he felt terribly shy. He sat all by himself but that didn't bother him. He was amazed to hear for the first time about Noah and the Ark. He understood that she's important to obey God. Noah obeyed God and got into the ark. Noah's family obeyed God and got into the ark. Even the animals obeyed God and got into the ark. But nobody else obeyed God and they all died in the flood. Elliot decided to obey God always. At home Elliot told mother about Noah. That's a good story, mother said. You should be like Noah and obey God. Elliot smiled. He had already promised himself that he would obey God always. I liked going to church with Auntie. He said. I want to go every Saturday. The next Sabbath he went to church with Auntie again but this time he didn't feel quite so shy. Some of the children even spoke to him and he made new friends. He especially enjoyed the Bible story and back home told mother again about what he had learned. As time passed, mother began to look forward to hearing the stories that Elliot brought home from church. Adizah grew in her to hear even more Bible stories. So once Sabbath she went to church with Elliot. Elliot was so happy. More time passed and Elliot's older brother and sister also started going to church with Auntie, Elliot and mother. And so it happened that the family who never went to church now goes to church every Sabbath. Elliot is now 12 years old and he is so happy that Auntie invited him to church when he was only 7. If other adventists would love their neighbors like Auntie loved me they would be able to gain many people for Christ. He said. If we treat people with love we can easily win hearts for Christ. Part of this quarter's 13th Sabbath offering will help a nursing school in Elliot's homeland of Ghanam. The nursing school teaches students about Jesus and how to help the sick. Thank you for planning a generous offering next month. Alright. Thank you for that beautiful item. I'd like to welcome you all to lesson number 8. It's titled Running. Well, soul is still our subject matter, guys. And in this particular one we are going to highlight one of his chiefest failures. And his chiefest failure was actually jealousy. And there's also another beautiful element in this story which we will highlight much, much, much later. But first we'll start with his chiefest failure. Then next we'll look at one of the best lessons that we can actually learn from the story of soul and his fall. So I'd like to introduce a panelist from my left. Hello everyone. My name is Steve and I'm happy to be here with you. Hi, I'm Brenda Maiwa and I will be part of this mission lesson today. Thank you. Gideon and it's nice to study the word with you today. Okay. So welcome all. I'd like to straight on to just go into the what do you think section and I'd like Gideon to take us through of what he actually thinks over the statement that is there when. So in the what do you think section we have a question here asking us why we dislike jealous people. In my words I'd say I dislike jealous people because more often than not you find that they are also capable of doing something but they're just lying on their abilities and they are making you look like you're bad for doing whatever you can do. You might find that it's something that's just natural to you and they can do it to you if they tried but they are not trying anything and they might even go to some extent to make you stop doing something. I was actually just thinking about it. For you to answer this question you must at least disqualify yourself as being jealous. Is there a point in time whereby we can actually say you are jealous of something? Personally now. Steve, I've never been jealous. At some point I could see yes but it was when I was very young and at that time I had not really understood the value. So yes, I was jealous of a few things just like a toy or something so then to be that that big. Okay. Brenda have you ever been jealous? Personally I think so. It's something that I feel is not in the best way but it is inevitable in people's lives. Like in every stage in your life you would be jealous of something when you're younger you're jealous of a toy you move up and let's say when you're in your early teen stages and peer pressure is really heavy and you're jealous of what other kids have and what you don't have. In each stage I think there's just a certain thing that someone wants and you don't have and that causes jealousy even sometimes the person knowing so I feel like growing up I might have been jealous of things and I didn't even know I was jealous of them until you think back on it and you're like that was actually jealousy or envy that was happening there So yeah, I think so. Thank you. Gideon What is it that you think made soul to be so jealous and angry of David? Just to look into the story sorry to invade into that but soul was David was getting so much praise and glory for what he was doing more than soul but when you think about it it was soul's job to be doing this and many people didn't have it in mind it was also David's job so when you're doing something that is without that is outside your parameters outside what you should be doing it gets so much praise because you look like the hero but when this is a practical example if you go out there and save someone from robbers or something that gets so much attention it gets so much praise oh look at this person he's a hero but if a police does that it's their job so if for soul here he was doing his work and he wasn't getting as much praise but David for doing something seemed very minor to soul he got so much praise from it and that's what made soul jealous so the other question I'll ask is there anything that David did that actually made soul to be jealous do you guys think is that something David did that of course Kydian has already mentioned it but will it have been better if he didn't do it for me the way I see it David didn't really do anything to gain the negative emotions soul felt towards him I feel like David was just like David had always been like this and you can if you go back deeper into the Bible the beginning of David's stories his brothers didn't have the best attitude towards him and that is because he was the last one he kind of reminds me of Joseph he was one of the best of the group that was there and for soul the fact that David was so amazing at what he did like later on when he went to the story soul would send information and everything he would do he'd come back victorious and I feel like that really triggered soul because he was like in rhetorical questions like why, why is he so amazing and I feel like he just bothered him because he is the king he should be the best he should be praised more than everyone else because he is in that high position and the fact that someone below him someone he gave power to was getting all that glory instead of him it really really triggered him in a way that I don't think not in a positive way in a negative way so even if David did not do anything he would still care about those emotions because David was just being himself there's nothing he really did towards soul I think now that you've briefly illustrated what is happening in the story now what do you deduce out of this story in regards to David, Jonathan and so after reading first somewhere 18-16 what actually do you get out of the story with the questions that are asked therein in the into the story part it goes really deep in first somewhere 18-16 it goes really deep on where these emotions came from and how Jonathan, soul and David were all linked together towards the ending of the story and it all started with when Jonathan and David became really close and this was after David had joined soul's group and he was now active in politics let's say in the wars that were going on he was very close to soul when he comes to war politics and Jonathan and David became very close friends and he says that they made a vow to each other and some might even say it was their love was one of a kind one of the best loves shown in the Bible and I feel like it's not talked about but the fact that soul's own son was loving someone that he hated so much even though he didn't know it like a subconscious hate was growing and the fact that his son was so close to this man I felt that's where it really started and how it caused him to start looking for more things to hate him randomly in the story you can see how David was playing his liar for him and soul threw a spear on him for no reason pushes you to ask why did soul do that and I feel like it was something that was growing and it started with the love that Jonathan had for David and it just kept on growing alright that's beautiful now having completed at least into the story can you list at least two ways two specific ways in which probably maybe soul could have reacted as opposed to how he reacted in the actual story what suggestions do you have to maybe a soul in these days who's dealing with jealousy who feels like someone else is doing better than them to the point of hatred what two suggestions do you give to such a person I want to find a way to phrase it but before I do that something I picked up on especially the way soul reacted when nv took over soul was the king of Israel he was the person placed as a representative of God to the children of Israel and if you think about it it's the same thing that happens today and back in Israel when the children of Israel would not give God the glory he deserved but instead of God getting angry and being envious of Gods that could not speak or made of clay and mud would either give the Israel's punishments and then forgive them but he would always he never put it upon them to destroy them yes, there times he was like I wish I could destroy these people like why did they create them but he always came back and said there are my children I made them and I love them and at the end of the day God would still be with the children of Israel and now this is where I feel like soul went wrong and instead of going to God to ask kus the first thing he should have done was to go and pray kus if he felt all these emotions he should have gone down on his knees and prayed to God to give him the strength to deal with these emotions but because the spirit of God had left soul and this is seen later back in the story the spirit of God had left soul it was not the first thing he thought about and this can show that if you don't read the Bible if you don't try and strengthen your relationship with God when these problems arise your first thought won't be I need to go ask God I need to figure out a solution with God not get a solution and then present it to God after I have done it so that's the first thing he should have done he should have gone to ask God for help and that is only by having a close relationship with God which he did not have the second thing I think soul should have done was not listen to the praises kus he was taking his own like he was estimating his power or he was giving himself a rank depending on what other people thought of him and the comparison they were doing between David and soul into the story party talks about how when David came back from wars the women would come and they would shout that soul has slain thousands and David is 10 thousands so they were clearly making a comparison and in a way you can see this is the devil trying to poke kus he knows soul is dealing with this issue the devil watches and he knows what you are struggling with and he will make situations to worsen those emotions and I felt like instead of soul not listening to them because the only type of acknowledgement you should be looking for is from God that is the only acknowledgement you should look for but soul didn't do that for the acknowledgement from the children of Israel from the praises that people were giving and that was one of the second part he went from instead of listening he should have just ignored the praises and looked for his acknowledgement in God. Thank you very much for that analysis now we see that into the story that soul was now in pursuit of David and a huge coincidence happens here Gideon and they find themselves in the same cave soul is over here resting and is resting apparently where David was what happens here Gideon lemme repeat the question David is on the run is being pursued by soul then soul decides to rest apparently where soul rests in this cave it is the same cave where David is I just want you to briefly illustrate according to first Samuel 24 v. 10 what actually happens here because David finds himself in a situation whereby he finds soul resting could have killed him but what actually transpired in that particular set So David was given a perfect opportunity was available to him he had the chance to kill soul and just gather story over but what he chose to do I think he cut his robe and just to show so all that I had the chance I could have come and cut your sorry I came and cut your robe and you didn't know it so I could have also killed you in your sleep but David as if I may read first Samuel 24 it says look this day your eyes have seen that the lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave and someone urged me to kill you but my eyes spared you and I said I will not stretch out my hand against my lord for he is the lords anointed so David refrained from killing soul because as we have read here he said that soul was a lords anointed to kill him was just not an option though it seemed so easy it was so so convenient for the time David chose not to do it soul was gods chosen so the reason was soul was gods anointed and therefore you ought not to touch the gods anointed now how does that help us to deal with differences in the church setting differences in amongst our peers how does that principle help us to deal with other people when conflict arises that's an open question anyone can answer Steve you want to go first okay so one way if you only we can deal with this really everyone is unique in their own way and we have to find a way to we have to be grateful for what we have our strengths our capabilities and we are supposed to use those in gods house to the best of our ability so when conflict arises we are supposed to acknowledge differences that we might have between each other find out how best we can contribute to gods word to the church in general and I believe when we do that we can solve conflicts better it can be easier to assign roles to people because you know what you're good at thank you very much thank you very much Steve any other contribution on that how can we deal with our fellow brethren given how they've dealt with soul I feel in a church a church is not very different from what was going on back in Israel because they would go to the temple during Sabbath and they would fellowship together and of course they had to be conflicts inside the temple and I feel the best way as the people within the church the best way we can solve conflicts is by facing them as soon as they start if we let them grow it becomes harder to deal with them if you let a big tree grow the harder it will fall but if you start when it's small you'll be able to uproot it easily and deal with the problem and I feel like that's a problem that's a solution that hasn't been taken up in many churches because a problem starts and they keep quiet about it and it grows and more people get involved and then when it finally comes out it's such a big thing that people shy away from dealing with it because it's such a big problem and people don't like dealing with mountains so I feel we should learn to deal with these conflicts when they're still mole hills or just a tiny bump on the ground then waiting for them to become huge mountains that we can't deal with Thank you very much for that Steve, when you read the flashlight it tells you that David's blameless character aroused the wrath of the king there's a text I think of prophecy that says that in the last days we shall have people who despise those that are good and in this one now King Saul despised David because he was a good person how do you explain that so if you also read the flashlight you will notice when you look for the excerpt it says he deemed that the very life and presence of David cast a reproach upon him since by contrast it presented his own character to a disadvantage so this simply tells us Saul realised that he was in the wrong that the character was not that he did not match up to David and he did not want to look that way to the light and if I can give a similar example it's that one of Jesus Jesus was blameless he didn't commit any sin on earth and people started liking him but you see what that did is that it made the Pharisees hit him because there was also supposed to be the standard but when they saw they saw that Christ was doing something better than them even though they did not know he was the Messiah it kind of arc them it's like when you find someone that does something better than you sometimes it makes you think why can't it be me and not them so that's where the envy comes in it comes in for someone so I think when someone lives a pretty much righteous life it's a rebuke to they that are not godly and this makes them godly hate them well in well in so Brenda I can see several punchlines here which is your favourite and why what does this list of scriptures mean to this story so we have around like six punchlines over here John 13-1 Matthew 16-25 Prabhupas 29-23 Romans 12-13 and Matthew 11-29 Exodus 33 and Vas 14 and personally the one that really impacted me the most I had to but I'll just read the one that really touched me the most and that's Exodus 33 Vas 14 and it says my presence will go with you and I will give you rest so I feel this is the one that related the most with the story and what we're trying to find out in the story and if you really analyse the story if you think about it and just see what is the main theme what is the most common theme throughout the whole story is the spirit of God or the spirit of Anga from God and in this verse it says that the Lord the Lord says that my presence will be with you and I will give you rest and you can see throughout the story soul is anxious he's he's not at peace and this is because the Lord's spirit his presence had left him and because of that and when he noticed the presence of God near David that's when it started that's when the problem started and it just shows how God's presence it's such an important thing to have in your life because as soon as it departs from you things go wrong it's a common thing I saw in the whole story and I feel like that really spoke to me as the text says that there's no rest for the wicked some of them even flee even when no one is pursuing them so I think the biggest encouragement there is that when you embody the spirit of Christ when you embody the spirit of Christ there's peace with that even when you're in the midst of challenges there's a lot of peace that comes with embodying the spirit of the Lord thank you very much for that contribution now Steve I think this week we've studied about souls consuming jealousy in fact the author of this story was saying that it was unquenchable it was a jealousy and a hatred that could not be quenched in other words there was no remedy for this type of jealousy and David's success seems to be in the middle of this conflict and his popularity in his kingdom my goodness you have made soul to run mad technically and have you ever been jealous of a family member or a friend just because you've succeeded in one thing or the other or you felt maybe as Brenda has told us you felt that maybe probably that should have been your place this really ever happened to you in terms of now success forget about that one for kids loving toys and stuff like that but now as a grown up pretty much a teen have you ever felt jealous for maybe someone in school a family member, a cousin who maybe got a pass with your dad and stuff like that is it a reality in your life yes I'll say yes because I remember back when I was in like in high school and all that someone was good in the spot I was playing in and it got it was so good to the point where I was like why do you have to be that good like it was so annoying and like it got me to the point where I was like I didn't want that person to be there because it would ruin how it would perform because I was trying to perform better than him but in the end it turned out to be to backfire me here too okay okay that's amazing I mean did you tell them or did you tell God did you tell God hey God me I'm jealous of this person I mean help me either acquire those talents or help me deal with my inefficiencies how did you deal with it I think it never tells a person okay it's almost like it never tells a person otherwise they do that against you people tend to do so and one thing I didn't do though was ask God about it that's the one mistake I made but I did come to realise that what I was doing was in vain because it's not like I was going to gain those talents from him overnight and be good easy and it taught me that I had to be good in my own right in order to like earn the success and the joy that comes with it okay thank you now you guys as we conclude do you guys have friends I mean I'm just asking because in this story I am seeing a friendship that even overlooked a parent's opinion of someone you understand we live in a society whereby sometimes if maybe probably a parent tells you hit someone you follow through and you hit but we see here Jonathan goes beyond that and declares his love for David and overlooks the opinion of soul and gets really sufficient soul ties that we can say probably even saved David's life you guys what do you think about that do you guys have such friends have you ever witnessed such friendships what do you think Gideon maybe yeah definitely we have friends that we just click with and it's also sometimes questionable how you guys are friends and it might look weird to some other people but when you and the other person you know the essence of your friendship it doesn't matter what people think about it what opinions, what conditions you're laying under because David and Jonathan your father hates your friend that could destroy everything you have you have with your father could destroy relationship with your father but on what basis is my father having a certain beef with my friend you see that it was jealousy it was just to me a jealousy but that should not be enough to destroy the bond I've been creating my friend so it's definitely something we need to pay attention to that we should be vigilant on our friends and when we see that this friendship is actually beneficial to us this friendship is actually bearing fruit what other people think about it doesn't matter as long as it's not destroying somebody else's business or something amazing amazing amazing amazing you see again we might not be called to risk our lives for our friends that's for sure but I think what David and Jonathan had was really beautiful and is it possible to develop such quarterly friendships any such friendships until when your dad tells you but I hate this guy you still go ahead with the friendship because you know it's genuine is it possible but it takes a lot of courage because first of all I'm just going to say from my point of view as being in an African household what your parent says is very important like if they say this that's what's going to happen but at the end of the day if you think about it the path for genuine in our generation it's very hard to find genuine people but it's also very hard to find people who aren't straight forward my generation is very straight forward and it will tell you what is happening and I feel as long as people are honest with each other they will be able to find those genuine relationships because you can't look for honesty someone else you have started by looking for honesty in yourself if you are an honest person like attract likes and you will find someone just like that and at the end of the day even though your parent is against it if you know it's a good friendship you are the one who is going to use those connections in the future and I don't want to use friendship as a connection thing but for David because of Jonathan's love for him later on David ends up helping his son after Jonathan is long dead and he helps his son and treats him like his own and that's because of the love that they formed and the friendship they had when they were younger so I feel like it is possible to find those friendships and yes our parents opinion is important in who we are friends with but at the end of the day we need to affect us and our lives in the future Steve as we conclude what's your parting shot so for the question you just asked I believe it is it is possible because the Bible represents various themes that are applicable in the life situation so I believe it it is possible then it is possible now but what I will add is that it requires insane level of trust something which quoting Brenda is not really visible in this generation certainly seen as much so it requires a level of trust it requires a level of dedication and it requires also that we are able to put ourselves out I think as we conclude as you guys were speaking one thing that came to my mind was that what Jonathan did for David is actually what Jesus Christ did for us he put his life on the line for our salvation and I think as we conclude it's my prayer that we may have such integrity and trust that people may trust us to do the right thing even when everything seems to be against everything so I'd like to ask Brenda to pray for us as we conclude ok, let's bow our heads for our prayer our father in heaven come before you this morning we thank you for the breath of life which you've gifted unto us we don't take it for granted Lord we thank you for this lesson which we have learned deeply about the relationships that we can have with other people and how we can share certain negative emotions like envy help us to take example from soul and to learn from his mistakes and help us to be more like David to be more like you so that we can show the world how amazing being a follower of Christ is Lord may we be able to show the world what a human being a kind person an amazing Christian should be amen