 Welkom to you all, and thank you for joining us as we take you through the seventh lesson of the Cornerstone Connection for the first quarter 2024. My name is Mikael Flex, and on the panel we have Subira, Shamala, Umwari, Sid, and our wonderful teens teachers. On sign language we have Joyce, and on the orchestra we have Subira and Shemom. Now let me take you through the mission story. The title is Peace in a Teen Home, and it's from Nepal. It starts off with Anita, who lives in a small house on a small piece of land in a small town in eastern Nepal. Five people live in a small house, father, mother, grandmother, and a meter and a meter's little brother. Many families grow their own food on the land around their houses in Nepal. But the small piece of land around a meter's house was too small to grow enough food to feed her family. So, father and mother had to work extra hard to feed the family. Father and mother had never gone to school, so they couldn't read or write. They had never studied to work as a bus driver or a plumber or a teacher. So they worked with their hands, picking things up, putting things down, moving things around. Sometimes they carried bricks or dug ditches, and other times they planted and harvested crops. It was difficult to pick up things, put things down and move things around every single day. After a long day of work, father and mother were very tired when they came home. They wanted to relax. They tried to relax by drinking alcohol. But when father and mother drank, they began to argue. When they drank, they began to fight. The more they drank, the more they fought. The more they fought, the more they drank. Soon, father and mother seemed to be drinking and fighting all the time. Neighbours had the fighting and came to the small teen house to try and help. Then the leaders of the small town tried to help. Even the police came and tried to help, but nothing changed. Father and mother kept drinking and fighting. Then mother left. She got tired of drinking and fighting. She wanted a better life. She moved away to India to work. Asmita was left at home. Now only 4 people lived in the small teen house. Father, grandmother, Amisa and Asmita, small little brother. When mother was gone, Asmita was put in charge of the house. She cooked the meals and cleaned up. It was hard work to pick things up, put things down and move things around. All day long. It was difficult living with father. He kept on drinking. When he drank, there was no peace at home. It seemed like life will never get better. Then grandmother started going to church on Sabbath. And she came back very happy. She came back home with a smile. And grandmother told her the stories about God of heaven. Whom she had heard about a church. Amita had never heard this of this God. Her family worshiped Gods of stone and wood. And Amita liked the stories about the God of the Adventist church. Once Sabbath, Amita decided to go to church with grandmother. She left her housework and took a little brother by their hand. They went to church together. Other children warmly welcomed Amita to the children's Sabbath school. The teacher gave her big smile. Amita immediately knew she wanted to go to church every Sabbath. Today, Amita is 12 years old. And every week she sings songs and recites Bible verses in Sabbath school. She is so happy. Life has become so much better with God. Every Sabbath, Amita asks father to come to church too. And she is praying that he will agree. I think that if father comes to church, he will stop drinking and we will have peace at home, she said. Part of this quarter's 13th Sabbath offering will help establish a school where children like Asmita can study in eastern Nepal. Thank you for planning a generous 13th Sabbath offering. Welcome to our lesson discussion for today. This is lesson 7 of the Cornerstone Connections lesson. This quarter we've been looking at the stories that led to the stories in the Kingdom of Israel that were happening during the time the Kingdom was split. And at this time it was the Northern and the Southern Kingdom. Today's lesson will be focusing on the history of the King Jeroboam. And the title of the lesson is The Jeroboam Syndrome. The Jeroboam Syndrome. Before we begin, I'd like to introduce the panelists who will be serving together with me. And I'll start from my left. And everyone can introduce themselves. I'm Sid. My name is Omweli. My name is Shamala. My name is Sibirakundi and I'm happy to be here. Yes, thank you everyone. We'll be sharing about the Jeroboam Syndrome and it's an interesting lesson with many take homes for all of us. So please stay tuned and listen to what God's word has in store for us. Before we begin, I'd like to invite Omweli to give us an opening prayer and he can lead us as we start. Let's pray. Thank you Lord for today for giving us this opportunity to meet here and discuss the lesson Lord. Please help us to teach well what we have understood by reading and for not us to speak but for the Holy Spirit to speak through us Lord. Just let me pray. Amen. Amen. To begin, we'll start off with the what do you think section. It has some statements which we can either say are true or false. I'll start and then I'll continue towards my rights. So the first one is what may be a sin for you, may or may not be a sin for me. I would say that this is true and this is from a verse in James chapter 4 verse 7. James 4 17. And it says, if anyone then knows the good they ought to do it and doesn't do it, it is sin for them. So if you don't know that something is wrong, then God can. It's not a sin for you personally but once you find out it's wrong and you continue, then it will become a sin. Okay, I'm worried. I think I had a bit of a different opinion when it comes to this statement and mostly because it's the way it's worded but I'm very glad that you gave clarity on the question but really the way it's worded sort of feels as if it's a sin for you but it's not a sin for me therefore there's no accountability there. And I think sin is sin. It should be called out regardless but the Bible equally states just like you said that there's different measurements of sin based on knowledge of it. So we as Christians, we as teens who are aware of the law and what God expects of us, we should keep His word and consistently obey Him recognizing that the things that we do wrong is actually sin. So calling sin for what it is. Yes, and even as we progress through our Christian experiences there are some things that we don't know are sinful right now but as we learn to know more and more about God we actually realize that it is sinful. So for sure it's a growing journey that we have. And the next statement is sin is nothing more than a bad choice. I'm a bit stoned on this but for sure all sins are bad choices just that some are made unconsciously but I'd be more willing to say that this is true unless someone has a different thought. Yes, I think the more than just a bad choice, sin is a bad choice and we make bad choices daily but are they always sin? I think sin also deals with the heart and that's what makes it really bad because once you sin you are choosing most definitely not just externally but internally on who you have your allegiance to and is it God or is it Satan? So I think sin is deeper because it deals with the heart and it's the turning and the twisting of your heart so I think we should think of it more of yes it is a bad choice but that choice has spiritual consequences. So we can say all sins are bad choices but not all bad choices are sins. Okay, Shambhala you go next. Some sins are worse than others. I believe that it's false because a sin is a sin. Just because someone has murdered someone else and you have stolen someone else's item doesn't mean that you have committed any lesser sin than them in my view. Okay, I think God has all sin is bad but in society we have degrees of sin that's why a murderer goes for sentenced to life and someone who lies just gets a pass or breaks a relationship but yeah, I think the next statement says there are always bad consequences to sin. On earth I don't think that's always true because there are so many people who are in high positions and they sin constantly but they are rewarded actually because this world is twisted it's not fully the kingdom of heaven but there are bad consequences in the afterlife and what God says is what you sin the wages of sin is death so in the Christian mindset there is bad consequences for every sin that you commit unless of course you repent but presently in the world unfortunately it's not as accountable as it needs to be. So before Sid goes out I actually wanted to clarify something on the previous one that says that some sins are worse than others I actually have a different thought to Shambhala that some sins are worse than others I definitely say that this is true and I bring it to an example in society if you are caught stealing a sweet at a shop you might be charged or taken to prison but if you are caught murdering someone you'll be given a life sentence so if you are to take things to the court of law then for some sins you'll be punished more and I believe this is true also with God in the book of Revelation chapter 22 verse 12 Jesus says that behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be so when we consider it from this perspective there are some people who receive a greater reward than others now we know that the Bible says the wages of sin is death like that's the payment for sin or the reward of sinfulness is death in a sense so basically speaking somebody who sins more will receive a greater punishment than someone who sins less but it doesn't lessen the fact that all of them will die as a result of sin so I thought it would be nice to drive the clarity there based on what the Bible says so Sid you can go on to the next one the next one is if we ask for if we ask forgiveness for our sins God forgets them forever I'm going to have to agree with that because God says forgive and forget okay forgive and forget you said you agree with that okay I think God doesn't forget because he's aware of it there's a knowledge of it forgiveness of course is definitely not holding you hostage on it so he doesn't hold grudges which I think is very good but I think he's still aware of our tendencies and what we have done in the past but he's equally willing to move forward so to drive clarity on this God will forgive us of our sins though he may not necessarily forget it but he'll wipe us clean such that we are not liable to be punished for the sin that we've committed so God is forgiving us entirely on the sin so we'll go to the next one before I continue I would want to comment on there all these bad consequences to sin I think what you might think as a bad consequences can differ from what God thinks as a bad consequence because you can choose for example to let's say you earn a good amount of money and after you've taken care of everything you can just use to spend it to not even pay taiso anything you might think that it doesn't have any consequences for you but then there's someone who needed that money and it's a bad consequence for them but you you think you're unaffected so I just want to say that yeah thanks for clarifying that and if my sin doesn't harm anyone it's not really a sin I would definitely say that this is false because for example you can also harm yourself by doing some sins against your body of course that's how sexual sins are that's how they're defined in the Bible not only that but I think sin is hurting God constantly so every time we do sin even though it doesn't have an effect on human bodies God's heart is definitely saddened every time we sin yeah so sin by definition is transgression of God's law and God's law has two precepts love for God and love for fellow human beings so if you break any of those two that's where sin is actually categorized so for sure if sin doesn't harm anyone it may be harming God in that sense and if you harm yourself then you are the temple of God so you are destroying God's temple which is offensive to God for sure before we continue to say the whole reason we were given the law is for us to live a better life of course we might see it as more limiting but then that's when you in the world when you accept Christ then you can see that it's a better life so what you can see is not hurting anyone as has been said it can be pulling you away from God and it's really crucial for us to recognize sin in relation to humanity because sometimes in some other religions and faiths you really condemn humanity see them as less of very evil which we do have evil tendencies for sure but in the what do you think section is God despises sin but always loves the sinner that distinction is really important because God has deep deep love for us because he created us but he despises the sin that we engage in yes yes and the next one is sin is separation from God Shamala what do you think I believe that is true so starting the example of Adam and Eve they were sent away from the Garden of Eden and separated not just physically but also just their bond with God was broken because of their sin and God is hurt by our sin and doesn't want it to separate us from him and that is why we are called to repentance there is a breach of relationship and we are forever scarred I think but with the whole thing of redemption renewal there is that restoration that comes if we choose to repent thanks Subira so we want you to actually take us through the story of how sin separates us from God and specifically focusing on the Jeroboam syndrome but before you do that just answer the last one sin is too often ignored in churches today do you think this is true or is it false wow I think that's a really deep question and it's difficult to say but I think certain sins are ignored in churches part of the reason is because when people come to church I think I've always been told church is like a hospital we check in as patients people who are sick and we are sick with the syndrome and as a result we are coming to be changed to be given treatment through the Holy Spirit and the word of the Lord and I think certain sins are ignored and that's on the part of us because we are the church we should recognize the presence of sin and that's the only way once we know what sins that we're committing it's opening a free space for us to truly get the treatment that we need and we see that in the story let's dive in so Jeroboam thought to himself and he said the kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David if these people go and offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem and they will turn to give allegiance to their king Rehoboam king of Judah this is his brother they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam so after seeking advice King Jeroboam actually made two golden cows he set one in Bethel and the other in Dan and these people actually committed sin they continued and decided to come and worship at the one in Bethel and went as far to worship in Dan by the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel and he met Jeroboam there standing in front of the altar about to offer a sacrifice and the man of God gave a sign which he received from the Lord he said this is the sign the Lord has declared the altar will be split apart and ashes poured out on it when King Jeroboam heard this from the man of God he cried out against the altar he stretched out his hand and said seize him that very moment his hand shriveled up so he couldn't pull it back then the King said to the man of God please intercede for me that I can be able to restore my hand so the man of God interceded for him with the Lord and the King's hand was restored so there was a certain prophet an old prophet living in Bethel whose sons came and said oh the man of God has come from Judah would you like to meet him so he told his sons to go and find him once he found him sitting under an oak tree the old prophet said are you the man who came from Judah I am he replied so the prophet said to him come eat and drink with me but the man of God said I cannot come eat bread or drink water with you because the Lord said you must not eat bread or drink water there so the old prophet answered I too am a prophet but of course he was lying so the man of God returned with the old man and ate and drank in his house this was a big mistake because immediately after the prophet who had brought him back cried out to the man of God and he said you have decided the word of the Lord therefore your body will not be buried with your ancestors wow it's a really great story and understanding how sin has its deep effects it's really something that has infected all humanity so my question to you guys is do you believe that sin is a disease what is the diagnosis and how is it treated Jamala I believe sin is a disease in the way that it can that it results to death in the same way that physical diseases do and the diagnosis is dissecting the word of the Lord and understanding that which we do that may be wrong according to that which he says and the treatment is a very personal decision to step up to the plate and try to correct that which you've done wrong of course to the guidance of the Holy Spirit which the Lord has granted us ma'am anyone else with any thoughts I believe sin is a disease that only has one doctor that's Jesus Christ because he's the only one who can take away our sins and it's one of those diseases that death has to occur for it to be taken away so it's either us who die or it's Christ who dies so for us as Christians we believe that Jesus took all our sins and died for them on the cross for which if we do not confess to him to take our sins then we'll have to die ourselves so sin is a disease that we either die or it's Christ that dies so something that I pray that all Christians may give you sins to Jesus so that he may take care of the disease and that's the only way to treat it absolutely and sin like you said is the wear and tear of the flesh eats up the flesh and our job is to make that personal choice that decision to come to church places like this and open spaces to truly trust in God because he's a doctor he's a great physician another question is it really talks about how King Jeroboam reached out and stretched out his arm and said seize him that very moment his hand decided to shrivel so Ellen White calls this the palside arm my question is what are examples of palside arms in the Bible that you can see anyone would like to go? I would say that when Paul when he was on an island after he got shipwrecked a snake it bit him but he was okay even though the locals thought that he was going to die hence to just God protecting your Paul from death so the palside arm shows God's protection Jeroboam is trying to take hold of the prophet of God and when he puts forth his hand then God shrinks his arm away and says this is not just a normal man this is a prophet who I've sent with my word you want to take my word away so that comes out clearly as well in the story of Paul I believe it also comes out in the story of Daniel and the lion's den when God shuts the mouths of lions even when the king thinks that King Darius thinks that Daniel is going to be eaten against his will infact he actually comes to check up on him the next day I think he he really loved Daniel to the point of doing that I think I also see in the story of Balaam where he's being called out to go and curse the Israelites but really all that comes out of his mouth is blessings and what that really shows me is that the palside arm of course is like you should definitely go out and curse but God actually limits speech and for his chosen people make sure that only blessings are bestowed upon them wonderful insights here and the last question is it says and I quote here are your gods Israel who brought you up out of Egypt now this is what Jeroboam used to sort of convince these people to worship idols why was this so convincing for the Israelites Shamala I think I'd rather you give more insight Oh absolutely I think it was extremely convincing because them coming out of Egypt was deep into their culture where even things like the Passover came out from it and the whole long time 400 years of slavery all the way in Egypt was really saddening but equally a revelation because people like Moses came out of that and he was able to be led through that and the whole Israelite population was extremely grateful to God now Jeroboam is using this to actually lead them into sin so he has deep and amazing power and I think Shamala will touch light on that when we get to Tuesday thank you so as we proceeded like Shamala to read Galatians 6 was 7 and 8 and it says do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked a man reaps what he sows whoever sows to please their flesh from their flesh will reap destruction whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life amen amen so relating this to the key text what does this tell us I would say of course you report you so if you according to the flesh that means that that's what you want that's what you're putting energy towards even in smaller things that you do if you put energy towards something it's going to grow so we should direct our energies towards God on Monday this is a person called Wayne that he observes that many people think about the presence of God with sentimental familiarity they think of him as one of your baddies and of course it's good to think of God as your friend but then you have to remember this is you have to be serious about God it's not a light relationship because anything that has value you have to pay for it and you can't pay for that is money you have to give up some parts of your life for you to have a deeper relationship with God and this Jeroboam it can be sort of that he had a light relationship with God he might think that he's just there to help him when you know for example when he got his arm hurt but then otherwise he wasn't really thinking about God most of the time he was thinking about keeping power to himself keeping the people to himself and this this is evident in people today the way they your light with God you can come to church of course and you sing nicely but then when you go home you forget about it the way you can see a friend one day then you don't think about them the rest of the time that's not how we should treat God we should be focused on him you should be the main thing in our life we are to read through Hebrews 4 and I would like to point out verse 12 the word of God is alive and active sharper than any double edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart verse 13 goes on and says nothing in all creation is hidden from God's light everything is uncovered and laid back before the eyes of him to whom we must give account Jeroboam sinned in the way that he ignored the covenant way of life and decided to go his own way ignoring the fact that God would have to judge him and punish him for leading the people astray in today's flashlight we learned that Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon and therefore was in a position to bring about wise reforms in both civil and religious affairs he had shown aptitude and sound judgment and knowledge during his years to service to Solomon but Jeroboam fails to make God his trust and that is why this prophet this man of God was sent to him to tell him that Josiah will come and take over your kingdom because you have led the people astray you have ignored all the teachings that you had gained from Solomon and come and done things in your own way built altars golden calves appointed priests from any tribe that you'd like and therefore all the blessings that you would have probably received while guiding God's people will be taken away from you Absolutely and I really like that statement on Tuesday where Jeroboam was in a position to bring about wise reforms in both civil and religious affairs and it really talks about the political hold that he really had in that moment so his choice was definitely to resort to sin and as a result he guided a whole nation into sin on the bad side of God so where we are as teens we might even be moving into leadership positions let us be very mindful of the opportunities that we have because these opportunities can be able to lead other people to Christ it's an evangelical step that we can take or a step to lead people astray and I think God will make sure that we are accountable for that Amen Thanks for sharing that Subir So I'd like to invite Sid to read fast John chapter 1 verse 7 and then Shamali you can take us through what this means for us to Sid First John chapter 1 verse 7 says But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus' son purifies us from all sin Thank you The first question is What is God trying to teach me through the story of Jeroboam I will begin by citing a verse in John 15 verse 5 where Jesus says If you remain in me and I in you you will bear much fruit Apart from me you can do nothing I think from the story of Jeroboam God is trying to teach us that if we stray away from that which he instructs us to do we cannot bear good fruit we cannot have a good harvest because we have separated ourselves from that which he says Amen Well I think what I get from the story really is twisted citations I think what the devil is very very good at is the language that he uses since he's very much aware of the Bible and the word of God he manipulates it and we kind of see this with Jeroboam he really says that these gods are the ones who took you out of Egypt That's a very powerful statement because that's tapping into their culture and tapping into what God has spiritually done for them So I think the citations from God are more credible and they're more purposeful they have more value So I think from Jeroboam's story once you are battling against the devil and his works and against sin you really need to use citations from the Lord and truly dig into his word and apply it most definitely So from what I hear what you're saying is basically matifofo man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that precedes for the amount of God Yes The other question is what are the specific benefits to me when I sell out to God What benefits do we get from surrendering to God Yes When we surrender to God we give up a lot of our our sinful habits that we might have gotten used to them we enjoy them but then now we'll get more fulfilled for sure by doing things for a greater purpose for yourself It also opens up a new community for you to enter the church and it just if you're even not sure about what career you could choose you can be sure that there's something I should be doing and that's living for God so this is a certainty of your life that comes with it I think it's freedom When we are entering into sin it's slavery The Bible really says that we are slaves to sin as once we really engage in it so what God offers is freedom because we are not tied to anything we have no guilt, no shame and these things are really the consequences of sin so once we realize what God has to offer and us surrendering ourselves it's beautiful because we get to be free and to live in unity with him Amen So we'll move on to the punchlines and the like sin to take us through this Okay, so in the the different verses and we'll each pick a verse and we'll say why it speaks to us maybe we can start from coming down this way Okay Beautiful verses here I think in relations chapter 6 verse 7 and 8 do not be deceived God cannot be mocked a man reaps what he sows whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life I think it definitely puts our lives in a sense of we can write our own script not entirely but every choice that we make just as Jeroboam did we are feeding into the syndrome so this is really just telling us that God cannot be mocked everything that we do will lead to results good ones or bad ones Amen The verse that spoke to me was verse John 1 verse 7 and it says but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son purifies us from all sin this is a reminder of God s endless grace that we can be purified from that which we do wrong that we are not separated from him forever and we can always be reconciled Amen I love Ezekiel chapter 11 verse 19 first because Ezekiel chapter 11 says that God takes no pleasure in the death of sinners in earlier verses but now God goes on to say I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh when I think about it Jeroboam heart and his heart he made his heart a stony place such that even when God sent the prophet to rebuke him for the actions that he was taking he now says sees him so when God says he will take away the stony heart and give me a heart of flesh it means that God wants to take away the syndrome it's not me to take sin away from myself it's actually God working with me to take the sin away so that really speaks deeply to me my favorite verse is Luke 13 34 Jerusalem Jerusalem you who killed the prophet and stone those who sent you how often I'll have long together your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you are not willing especially this last part choose God's willingness to have communion with us but then ask we are not willing you can say that you're willing but then overhear you you talk with your actions not with what you say and we need to we need to change our mindset about how we live normally I'd say mine is James 14 17 but it's the last one so it says if anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it it is a sin for them this verse was I believe I was mentioned when you were doing the what do you think section was the first one maybe a sin for you may not be a sin for me this verse it's like how do I put this if you know what you're doing is wrong and then you still do it I'm not saying it's not a sin I mean it is a sin but then you don't know maybe God could be a bit more lenient considering you never knew it was a sin but if you if you know it's a sin then you do it then you're completely on the wrong yes yes the Bible actually says at the time of ignorance God wings but now when he has told you what to do he commands everyone to repent from their deeds now on the theme of repentance when you have a syndrome the best way to go back to God is actually through repentance in the book prophets and kings we like to read a statement that says yet the Lord did not give Israel up without first doing all that he could be done to lead them back to their allegiance to him through long dark years when ruler after ruler stood up in bold defiance of heaven and led Israel deeper and still deeper into idolatry God sent message after message to his box leaden people through his prophets he gave them every opportunity to stay the tide of apostasy and return to him even in the darkest hours some would remain true to their divine ruler and in the midst of idolatry would leave blameless in the sight of a holy God this faithful ones were numbered among the goodly remnant through whom the eternal purpose of Jehovah was to be fulfilled when the ten tribes were led into apostasy there are people who did not agree with the things that Jeroboam did so even the world we live in today is like a syndrome idolatry exists in many forms there are many things calling us to do the wrong and we are called upon as God's faithful people even as teenagers to still trust in God and do that which is right if you want to quickly give us short closing thoughts from what they learnt in this lesson and we'll start from Sid and finally go to Subiru I would just like to say that you know when you're facing dark times like you're in a tunnel there is light at the end of every tunnel and the light in our case is Jesus Christ so if you turn to Him you will definitely succeed Amen and when we drift from God we might think that we are sinful of course we are but God can still accept us back so even after you sin don't give up just remember that God still loves you and He wants you to be with Him Amen I think the story of Jeroboam clearly brought out Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6 out clearly trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean out in your own understanding submit to Him and He will make your path straight Amen I think what I get from this is how the syndrome is fully cured is if we truly accept the direct citations from the Lord and lead a life of repentance walking in the light Amen Thank you all for joining us in our lesson today We'll meet again next week for lesson 8 and I'd like to invite Shamala to offer a closing word of prayer Let us pray Our father in heaven we thank you for the lesson that we've had we thank you for the reflections that we've had on our own mistakes and we pray that you will help us to trust in your word and to submit our ways to you that we may not lean on our own understanding continue to bless us and guide us It's all in Jesus and we pray Amen