 Welcome, everyone, to the fifth lesson of this quarter's Cornerstone Connections. It's done by the teens class of the Nairobi Central Seventh Day Adventist Church. Our title for today's lesson is Last Longing Look. On the panel, we have Seth, Finley, myself, and also our wonderful teen teacher, Teacher Bridget. And we also have Amy playing for us some wonderful music. So I hope that you all are going to enjoy this and that you're going to feel God's presence in a way that you've never felt it before. Thank you. Welcome and welcome once again to the teens Cornerstone Connection lesson. We are blessed to have you and would like to invite you to turn to your lesson five, which is entitled Last Longing Look. So with me here, I have three panelists and I would like each one of them to introduce themselves starting from my immediate left. Hello, everyone. My name is Grace Oshake, and I'm happy that you're all here. Happy Saturday, everyone. I'm Finley Chabar. You're through what do you think section and the key text. Amen. Thank you. And my name is Bridget, and I'll be your moderator for the day. So before we start, I'd like to invite Finley to start us off with prayer. Let us pray. Our most gracious Father come before you. Thank you for this day. As we go to discuss the lesson, may you enable it to have a long lasting impact on our lives. In Jesus' name, I do pray and believe. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Finley. So today before us, we have a very interesting lesson. The Last Longing Look, as I said, is the title. Now, for those of you who've probably traveled to a beautiful place, maybe you've, at the time when it's, you know, when you need to depart, yeah, you usually say, let me just have the last look at this place. Like you just want to have the last feel of this place. I'm thinking it really used to happen, especially in the olden days, where maybe they didn't have cameras to, you know, have, keep their memories and photos of such places. And so today we're looking at the story of Moses. His life is coming to an end. And Moses, as we all know, was the leader of the Israelites. He's the one who started them off when they had cried out to God and God saw and he heard their cries and he chose Moses. Now remember, Moses had his own issues. He was a stammerer. There are times when he doubted God, but through it all, all these 40 years, he has proven to be a true friend of God. And so today we're going to see what happens in his last days and eventually how he retires to his death or to sleep, as we would call it. And eventually the lessons that we can learn from that. And so just to start us off, I'd like to invite Seth to take us through the what do you think section? Okay. So the what do you think section? It says how long do you think it will take you to get frustrated with the person in charge of a trip where you were, nor if they keep you wandering about in the desert for 40 years. So basically what I think is the first one is for one month. Remember in the desert, there is no any means of communication. It's a desert. And you would know what is going to happen in a desert for like one month. And that one month, you don't have any food, any water, like let's take Turkana as an example. Turkana are suffering. And I think that God is trying to see that no matter the circumstances that you're going through in life, you at times have to like constantly pray for that thing that you've been waiting for for such a long time. I don't know what my fellow panelists have to say about that. What do you think Gracie? How long would you take you to get frustrated if someone who told you maybe your trip would take two weeks and then you end up wandering for maybe one month or more? Honestly, by the end of the second week. Right? What about you, Finley? What do you think? By the end of the three months. Right? I think I would get frustrated similarly like Gracie. Like if the trip was supposed to take two weeks, by the time the two weeks are over, I'm already tired. And so it's just a question for us, you know, it's very easy for us to quickly get frustrated when things are not going our way. And you can see honestly to some extent when I look at the Israelites, they had, they were valid. It was okay for them to actually say that, you know, why is it that to complain? Cause they were supposed to take two weeks and they ended up taking 40 years. So truly you can see that the excuses and the complaints to some extent were valid. And there's also a part there in the what do you think section that was asking, do you agree or disagree? So maybe I'll ask Finley. So do you agree or disagree to this? Moses should have been allowed into the promised land. What do you think about that? I disagree because what God does, He does it with a purpose and a reason. Amen. And Gracie, I'll ask you the second question which says Moses was a success. Do you agree or disagree? Oh, 100% agree because, you know, he took people who were enslaved for 400 years and by the time he died, this, should I say rag tag bunch, very big bunch of people were now, you know, structured. They were now a nation. Amen. I agree. Moses was a success and we'll be talking about success just shortly into our lesson. Now in our lesson today, the fundamental belief is fundamental belief number 26. And it's about death and resurrection. Now in the Bible we are taught that death is just but sleep. So when you go to sleep at night, assuming that all of us sleep at night, you close your eyes and then the next thing is you'll be waking up in the morning. You probably don't remember what happened during the night. So similarly, death is compared to sleep. You just go and you don't know what happens when you're asleep. So we are told in the Bible that the wages of sin is death. But it is only God who alone is immortal that will grant eternal life to all those who chose to have that eternal life. And so later on in the story of Moses, we are going to see that God did indeed resurrect him. He did not see the promised land, but he eventually got to a better land, which is heaven. And so we're going to see that later in our lesson. So it's just an encouragement to us that to those of us who've lost our loved ones, there's always that gap that is there. But just like Moses, God will eventually come and resurrect all those who are righteous and we'll be with him together in heaven and we'll celebrate. So that's our encouragement for the day. Now I'd like to invite Gracie to take us through the intro and out of the story. Actual supposed to be. Oh, sorry, Finley, please take that. So in the intro, the story, it says that Moses climbed Mount Nebo where the Lord showed him Canon. So he said to him that he promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the land and he will give it to their descendants. But God said to Moses that he has let him only see, let him only see, but he will not cross over into it. So Moses died there in Moab, just as the Lord had said, he buried him in the valley opposite Beth Paul. But to this day, Noah knows where his grave is. So Moses died when he was 120 years and his eyes were not weak, no restraint gone. The Israelites gripped for Moses for 30 days in the plains of Moab. Now Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and obeyed what God had commanded. Since then, there was no prophet in Israel as Moses because he did the signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt, that is to the Pharaoh and to all his officials and also to the whole land. For Noah, as ever, shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. Now in the out of the story. Sorry, just before we get out of the story, thank you so much for that summary that you've given. So our scripture story as Finley has given us is from Deuteronomy chapter 34, but we're encouraged to read all the way from chapter 31 to chapter 34. So I just want to bring in a story that we're given in the lesson of a young man. So there's a young man who was invited to a party by his best friend. So his best friend told him, when you come to their party, please bring along with you raspberries. And so his friend said, okay, fine. So a week later, just a few days before the party, he reminded his friend again and told him, please remember to bring for me the raspberries. And he said, yes, I will do that. So on the day of the party, this friend got really busy. He had so much work, he was frustrated, his vehicle broke down, so he had to get a mechanic. And so it really delayed him. So by the time he got to our supermarket and was now looking for berries, he had forgotten what kind of berries his friend had told him to get. And of course, you know in our supermarkets is a vast array of fruits to choose from. So he went to the berries side and he found so many berries. And he saw strawberries and he said, I mean, everyone loves strawberries. So I'm going to get those strawberries. So he carried the strawberries along with him and he went to the party, though he was late. So at that door, he knocked, his friend opened and he asked him, did you get the raspberries? And he said, oh my goodness, I have strawberries. Now, unfortunately, this friend of his was allergic to strawberries. So he said, I mean, it's okay. I mean, the other people probably eat the strawberries. And it turns out that everyone else really enjoyed those strawberries. Now, the point of this story is that yes, of course this young man who brought the strawberries felt really horrible, but that didn't kill their friendship. Now, it's just likened to the story of the relationship that Moses had with God. And Moses didn't do everything as God had commanded. As we've seen, the one thing that he committed that made him not get into the promised land did not make the relationship be cut off. God still loved him and eventually did save him and took him to heaven. And so it's a lesson about the relationship, the kind of relationship we have with God. Do you have such a relationship or a partnership with God as Moses did? Moses was human just like us. He was not a perfect human being. He did have his own faults. He did disobey God at some point. And that should be an encouragement to us that yes, there are times we may fall, but the question is, do you stay down or do you dust yourself up and get up, right? So that's the bridge that I wanted to bring into the story. So Finley, you can continue. You take us through out of the story. So the first question is, to whom was God trying to teach a lesson by not letting Moses into the promised land? According to me, God wanted to teach the Israelites the lesson because God wanted to show the Israelites that they should not make decisions out of anger. Because most decisions made out of anger are destructive, not the constructive ones. So the second question is, what legacy did Moses leave to the Israelites at his death? So the legacy was, he saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The third question is, why was this legacy so important? So it shows that the Lord needs people to be in good rapport with, just like Moses. Thank you for that. And just to add a bit on the legacy, there are some verses there that were given. There's Deutronomy chapter 31. Basically it's like reading the entire chapter of Deutronomy chapter 31. If you read that, there are some new laws that he had given the people here. And he told them that you have to read these laws. You have to commit them to memory and you have to continue teaching them to your generations. And it is only those laws that would keep the Israelites at, you know, in line with the word of God. And that's why he told them that you must keep on repeating this and repeating them to your children. You must have them engraved in your minds. Is there any other question you'd like us to answer before we proceed? I think that's it. That's it? Okay. So I'd like to invite Seth. Seth, you can take us through the key text for today. Okay. So the key text for the day it comes from the book of Deutronomy chapter 32 was for 45 to 47. Right. Then it says, when Moses finished, let me look for the good news version. And shortly we are going to answer the question of what does success mean to each one of you. So that's a question we need to answer from today's lesson. So our key text, Deutronomy. Okay, a little bit. Someone can read it for us as I'm looking for it. Deutronomy chapter 32 verse 45 to 47. This is the new international version. Gracie, do you have it? Yeah. Yeah, you can read it for us. Okay, from the new international version it says, when Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day. So that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you. They are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. Amen. And so from this we can see that obedience carries along with it the gift of long life. Moses has made it very clear that if they were to follow these words of the law, then their lives would be preserved. And it is so true for us today. If we keep the commandments of God just even how the 10 commandments are summarized, if you choose to break one, there's always a consequence. And that consequence is often something that brings along with it pain. And so if you want your life to be prolonged, you ought to follow the commandments of God. Seth, is there anything that you'd like to add in the key text? Okay, so the key text, I'll read it again. This is the Good News version. That's Neutronomy chapter 32 verse 45 to 47. So chapter 32 it says, the enemies corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah are like vines that bear beta and procession grabs 33 like wine made from the venom of snares. Neutronomy 32? Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Verse 45. That's verse 45. Moses and Joshua, son of Nam, reached this song that the people of Israel could hear it. When Moses, that's 45. When Moses had finished giving God's teachings to the people. So I like to expand more about that one. Remember the Israelites worshiped idols. And in the Bible, it specifically says, you should not worship any other gods but me. What did the Israelites decide to do? They decided to worship a calf. And it was actually against God's law, of which it's not good to worship idols. Absolutely. It's not good. And the guys who call themselves the gods with small g. And let's take Sodom and Gomorrah. Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Because the guys were actually worshiping idols and of which it's against God's law. True. Thank you so much for that insight, Seth. So as we proceed, I'd like to invite Gracie to give us more insight about this very interesting lesson of the life of Moses. You know, normally we read in the Bible, you know, that Moses went up the mountain and took a look around the land and slept. And we think, okay, a full stop, end of story. But actually a lot happened according to the spirit of prophecy. And I'm going to read a small quote from patriarchs and prophets, page 478. The great adversary declared that the divine, declared that the divine sentence, dust thou art and unto dust shall thou return, gave him possession of the dead. The power of the grave had never been broken. And all who were in the tomb, he claimed as his captives, never to be released from his dark prison house. For the first time, Christ was about to give life to the dead. So, okay, a little bit of a flashback here. So Moses had, as we know, gone up the mountain and God showed him. You know, this is really interesting. Not only did God show him the promised land, he actually showed him like what would happen from the time he was right up until the time of the new earth. He got to see the Israelites thriving in their new land, especially under the reign of David and Solomon, Israel's golden age. Again, he got to see them carried off into captivity. He got to see them come back. He got to see the first advent of Christ. He got to see the way he served everyone, trying to win them back to God. He got to see his crucifixion. He got to see his resurrection. And he also got to see him ascending to heaven and being welcomed by the hosts of heaven. And this is where God actually showed him that he himself, Moses himself was going to be one of the people who would welcome Jesus back to heaven. I mean, that's so cool. God continued to show Moses spiritual Israel when the gospel now spread to the Gentiles, as I mean, we're not Hebrews. And how the word spread and how even now we are trampling it underfoot like the Israelites did back in the day and yet how some people will continue to hold fast to it. How they're going to be persecuted and also how Jesus will come back to save his people and eventually make all things new. God showed Moses all this. And after this, Moses felt at peace and he just slept basically. And God buried him and he assigned angels to keep watch over his burial place. And now we get to see that God after a while decides that it is time to come and it's time to resurrect my son and take him to heaven with me. So he descended from heaven and he found like the devil and his angels were there. And some kind of like, he started saying that the wages of sin is death as God had made so clear and Moses is dead, so that means he's mine. And up to this time, no one had ever been resurrected from the dead. And so the devil continues to rant about, he's mine, he's dead, so that means he's mine. Remember what he said? And he actually even started saying that God is, that if he resurrected Moses, that means God is unfair. But you know, all that Jesus said as we see in Jude nine is he said, the Lord rebuketh thee, that's all he said. And for the first time he was able to break the chains of death, he called Moses back to life and they just ascended heaven together. So yeah, basically. Amen, amen. Thank you so much for that insight. For me, it is spectacular that Moses was shown everything that would happen from the point of, after his death, to the point of when the new heaven and earth would be established. That's such a beautiful scene that he had right there. Now I have a question to my panelists. How would you like to die if you were given an option to choose the way you want to die? How would you like to die? Maybe I'd start with Finley. How would you like to die if you're given the chance to choose? I'd like to die at a ripe old age and unnatural death. Unnatural death, okay. What about you, Seth? For me, I'll say like a peaceful death because I don't want to like cause too much problems regarding to financial bills or something. I just want a peaceful death, yeah, that's what I need. Okay, interesting. What about you, Gracie? I'd also like to die a peaceful death. I've lived at a ripe old age. Hopefully, I'll be healthy. I'm not dying from any disease. I'm just dying because my time has come. Right. Now it's interesting that each one of you has said a ripe old age, peaceful death. But what if, God forbid, your ripe old age in quotes is maybe 20 years or maybe 30 years only, yeah? Cause as soon as you've fulfilled your purpose, then if there's nothing more for you to do, then that's it. There's really no need for you to be here anymore on earth. But anyway, for most of us, truly we want to live to a ripe old age. We want to maybe have our family, friends right beside us. And even when you look at how Aaron died, I think a few lessons ago, we studied about how Aaron died. He went up the mountain with one of his sons and Moses. And, you know, Moses stripped him of his priestly garments and they put it on his son who was going to take over the priestly duties and just quietly and slowly Aaron died in the arms of Moses and they buried him there. Now, interestingly to look at Moses' death, he died all alone. There was nobody else. I think it's sad to die alone when there is no one right there beside you. So that's one thing I found interesting. But then one other very spectacular thing that comes out of even the life of Moses is that God actually told him when he would die. Can you imagine God telling you when you will die? So I don't know how that trek up the mountain was for Moses when he was thinking, you know, I'm going up this mountain and I've been told that I'm going to die on this mountain. But of course I'm going to die after seeing the promised land. But, you know, I don't know how it, you know, it's like walking. Yes, Gracie. According to patriarchs and prophets, Ellen White said that, you know, he actually had very little thought for himself as he went up the mountain. Actually, the only regret he had was that, you know, that one little thing that he had committed. And that was the only thing that he was, you know, feeling sorry for, he confessed once more. But he was mainly, so, you know, he was mainly worried about the welfare of the Israelites, whom he viewed like, you know, his children, he'd guided them for the past 40 years. So, like, they were his top interest. He didn't really think much for himself. Amen. What a selfless character Moses was that at the point of his death, he's thinking about the people he's living behind. Now back to the question that I said we would discuss. So what does success mean to you in a very summarized way? So Seth, what does success mean to you? That's a quite difficult question, but... Just in summary? Just in summary. Success to me, it means that if you work hard, you know, that people usually say out here, it's work hard, play hard. So, yeah, that's... For me, success is you have to work hard for it, yeah. Okay, so your success is working hard, okay? What about you, Findley? So according to me, success... I define success as the things you do for others, so that they will uplift them and not you, just like Moses did here in Exodus. He helped the Israelites being commanded by God so that they will come out of slavery. Amen, that's quite a definition. Gracie? For me, my definition of success is becoming the person God wants me to be and living up to the purpose that he has for my life, so yeah. Interesting, so I'd like to request, Findley, you could be opening Matthew chapter 17, verse one to three, and in the meantime, I did look up some few quotes about success. So I have three here. One says, success is best when shared. And I think that goes hand in hand with what Findley has said. Then there's another one that says, work hard in silence and let your success be your noise. So in short, don't go announcing to people that you're successful, just let it, you know, blossom on its own. And the last one I found here is that success is not final and failure is not fatal. So even when you get to a point where you feel that you've been successful, there's still always more to achieve. And basically from these quotes that I found here, you realize that different people have different ways of measuring success. For someone it may be, you know, working hard. For someone it may be the cars you have. For someone it may be family. You know, for someone it may be the degrees you have. The grades you get. The grades you get. The kind of friends you keep. So success means different things to different people. But before Findley reads Matthew 17, verse one, two, three, Gracie, please read for us the Father Insights. They give us a definition of what success is. The second quote on the Father Insights. So we're gonna have two quotes for the Further Insights. The first one is going to come from the book Education by Ellen G. White, page 135. The Bible's principles of diligence, honesty, thrift, temperance, and purity are the secret of true success. And the second quote still by Ellen G. White comes from Patriarchs and Prophets, page 509. The secret of success is the union of divine power with human efforts. Those who achieve the greatest results are those who rely most implicitly upon the almighty arm. Amen, amen. So if you want to succeed, you need to combine your human efforts with divine power from the Lord. And that means that you cannot succeed on your own. Yeah, as humans, you cannot succeed. So Findley, you could read for us Matthew 17, verse one, two, three. So Matthew 17, verse one, two, three, in the NKGV, version says, now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to him, to them, talking with him. Amen, thank you for that. So that was just evidence that indeed Moses was resurrected. I know there are some people who don't believe that Moses was resurrected, but we can clearly see that in the New Testament, when the transfiguration was occurring, he was among the people. And truly, this was a blow to Satan, even as Gracie told us, because Satan thought that he had power over Moses when he was dead. But when Jesus resurrected him, it was victory over Satan. And so this, as we said, was one of the first times, actually, that we see that God had raised someone. And it is an encouragement to us that indeed God will come and raise all those who are righteous to go up to heaven with him. So even as we close, let's turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 31, verse six. I'd request Gracie to read that for us. So Deuteronomy 31, verse six. If you have it, you can read it. It says, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord or God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Amen. So the Lord promised Moses, he promised Joshua, that he would be with them to the end. And even as we've defined success, everyone with a definition of success, it would be important for us that even as we get to, you know, the ripe old age that we would probably, we have probably described, if God gives us grace to get to that age, then we would like to look back on our lives and say that indeed I have been successful. Yeah, so it is a challenge for you that even as God has promised to be with us as we've read in Deuteronomy 31, verse six, would you look back on your life at the end and say that truly God I have lived for you, truly I have served you. Yeah, so it is for you to decide what kind of a person you want to be right from this day, every moment by moment, step by step, day by day to choose what you want to do. So we saw how Moses, because of that one scene, was denied entry into the promised land. And maybe for us, there are some sins that have denied us some blessings and that should not deter us from still having a relationship with God. We are encouraged even from the life of David, remember David committed a grave sin, yeah, and yet he's still considered a friend of God. So it is true that indeed, it doesn't matter what you have done, but true confession and repentance will eventually lead us back to God. And he still promises us eternal life in the end. And so I think let's just quickly go through a few punchlines. Maybe Finley you can take us through maybe one or two punchlines and then we can close. So in Deuteronomy 34, 34 verse 10 to 12 says, since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders that, and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his old land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. Amen, thank you for that. And I'll just read Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 47. It says, they are not just idle words for you, they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. And these are the ones that God is telling us today. Take time to think about God's word. As you study His word, meditate upon it day and night. Tell it to your friends, tell it to your siblings, tell it to your children when you have children and may it continue being passed down to all generations that even at the second coming, it will be said of you that you have done well, you're a good and faithful servant because you did pass on the legacy to those who are later than you. And so is there anything that maybe one of our panelists would like to add before we close? Yeah, many of us look at God's judgment on Moses saying that he wouldn't enter the Promised Land at all as quite harsh. I mean, if God told him to speak to the rock and water would come out, but he struck the rock and still water came out of it anyway. So what's the big deal? The big deal was he was doing it for the sake of the Israelites as Finley had mentioned because we can see that in the dealing of God with the other Israelites, whenever they did something, he'd punish them. Whenever they did something, he'd punish them. But then when Moses does something and then he fails to punish them, I mean, the Israelites would have thought that God has a bit of favoritism and would have started treating him trivially. So he wanted to show the Israelites that inasmuch as he is a loving God, he's also a just God. Right. And also, this one we got from patriarchs and prophets that the reason why Moses' burial place remained a secret and still remains a secret today is because, you know, if people, especially if the Israelites would have found out just where Moses was buried, they would have kind of like idolized the place. They would have idolized Moses. And of course, we know that God wants us to worship him and him alone. So everything that God does, it may seem unfair or mysterious, but he has a very good reason for it. Amen. Thank you so much for those insights, Gracie. And that's our lesson for today, the last longing look. I trust that you have been blessed. I'd like to invite Seth to close for us with prayer. Okay. Let's bow our heads for the word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, for this day. Thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for the gift of another quarter. Now, as we are going to depart, guide us, protect us for this prayer trusting until we meet again in the next lesson for this prayer trusting. We live in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen.