 Welcome dear viewers and join us as we go through the ninth lesson of the cornerstone lesson Then the first quarter of the 2024 Connection my name is Michael flex and on the panel. We have grace Ashley Oving and on the orchestra we have Subira and Shemmum. Enjoy Hello everyone and today I will be taking you through today's mission All the way from India banged up bike Judah usually walked to church the church was just up the road from his house and it only took five minutes by foot Usually he walked with his parents, but one day he was waiting for his parents to get ready. Do they had a bright idea? to Ride his bicycle to church father and mother warned him that's to not take his bicycle to church They said he did not need to go by bike because the church was so close They were also worried that he might get into an accident, but Judah loved to ride his bike It was a marvelous bike painted yellow with black trim He thought if I go now, they won't know they won't see me He didn't stop to think what would happen when his parents saw the bike at church. He just wanted to go Judah went outside and very very quietly Pushed the bicycle to the front gate once outside the gate. He got onto the bike He felt very excited. He felt like he should go very fast to church So he pedaled as fast as he could he didn't understand why his parents had forbidden him from riding his back to church The road went up a hill from his house to the church. He didn't even need to turn It did not seem dangerous as Judah peddled as fast as he could up the hill. He quickly got tired He stopped for a moment at an intersection to catch his breath at that moment He had he heard the roar of a motorcycle The motorcyclist didn't even try to stop. He was coming too fast as Judah stopped his bike The motorcycles slammed into him the yellow bike with black trim was crushed Judah felt okay He looked over at the motorcyclist he hadn't been wearing a helmet and his head was bleeding Judah saw the blood and was scared if he dies, I'll go to jail He thought if he if I go to jail, my parents will kill me neighbors came running someone gave water to the motorcyclist someone Washed his head and asked how he felt then someone asked you to how he felt I'm fine. You just said Then he heard the neighbors arguing Over who had caused the accident? Some said Judah was to blame others said the motorcyclist was at fault Someone ran to Judah's house and told his parents Father came and helped clear the crowd. Why didn't you listen to me? He asked you to the boy didn't say anything If something happens to you, what will your mother and I do? I'm sorry. You don't hang his head and said Father picked up the mangled bike and carried its home mother met the pair on the way at the house Mother mother and Judah prayed. Thank you God for saving my son father said Then mother and treated Judah's cuts. He declared that he was fine that night However, you don't woke up with a pain in his arm. He went to the hospital the next day and learned that he had fractured his elbow It was painful, but he got better after a while After the accident Judah was banned from riding bicycles until he's 16 now He is 13 and it seems to like a long time to wait He remembers the accident every time he walks to church. He wishes that he had listened to his parents He misses his bicycle, but he's grateful for God to God for protecting him. God saved me He said it would have been a lot worse Everyone who looks at my wrecked bike says God saved you Part of this quarter 13 Sabbath offering will help construct a church near Judah's school in Bangalore, India You do school is on the same campus as Larry Adventist College. Thank you for planning a generous offering Come to this lesson that was day by day and with each passing moment. I hope you enjoyed the song Today we are going to learn about never alone and on this panel I'll introduce to you those who are with me starting from my father's right Hello, dear viewers. My name is Michael flex Hello, everyone. My name is Grace wash okay Hello, everyone. My name is having more so me and I am Ashley Silas and I'll be the moderator for today Before we begin. I'd like flex to pray for us There's power heads for out of prayer Father in the mighty name of Jesus we come before your Lord to humbly request that you send your Holy Spirit Or does we go through this lesson or Lord may you reveal your life to my father and may we not speak our own words But you are the mighty father and may all who are listening be blessed Oh Lord and may we all glorify your name and may we all wait all Lord and be there all Lord in your soon and second return Oh, my father with his apprehensions name. Amen. Amen The topic today is never alone and we are talking about Elijah just after his mountaintop experience now I'd like to give each one of us an illustration here and The illustration reads that during the terrible days of bliss a father holding his small son by the hand Run from a building that had been struck by a bomb in the front yard was a shell hole Seeking shelter as quickly as possible the father jumped into the hole and held his arms out for his son to follow Terrified yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump the boy replied I can't see you the father Looking up against the sky tainted dread by the burning buildings called up to the silhouette of his son But I can't see you jump The boy jumped because he trusted his father the Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death Not because we can see but with the certainty that we are seen not knowing that we not that we know all the answers But that we are known so with that I'd like To go into the what do you think section? Oh So to begin the what do you think section? God sometimes refers to himself as a father or a mother and Jesus refers to himself as a brother If you when a hard difficult or even life-threatening situation in your life Who would you want to be there rank them in order of one beginning from the highest to 10? Being the lowest so the people here mother father sister brother and lastly best friend so Who would you like to be there in a life-threatening situation? So I can begin for me. I think this order really captures what I will who I like to be in my life-threatening situation my mother because well she's the closest with me Maybe I'll put my brother then my father because he talked more to my brothers and my dad and My sister being the youngest yeah, and then my best friend and this really for me is how I'll put them in my list For me like flex I would have my mom because I'm really close to her and then my dad for siblings Can't really relate and then Maybe my best friend. Yeah, okay I'd say my father because I think he'd protect me My mother because yeah, she she will provide the emotional stability. I'd need I didn't want my siblings to be there because I'm the eldest I'd want them not to be in any any life-threatening situation my best friend out of course want my best friend to be there because I can be open with her and She will she knows me quite well So she will give the best advice on what to do and what not to do knowing me But I didn't want her to be a life-threatening situation. I feel like I feel like my list is Totally controversial to the least because first of all, I love my father to be there then secondly, I like my best friend to be there cause Yeah, just like that then Probably my mother then my sister then my brother lastly, but it's all like my sister is like Person I don't want to be it's like all of them are really important that It's like one is most important. The other is least important here. Okay, not necessarily least important You can say least important, but they're not that close. Yeah, they would be Important, but one is more important than the other Okay, I don't think I'd touch any importance because they're not necessarily equally important But there's a degree of important. They're all important, but in a different way. Yeah So just before the story there are times When we have a glitch when we have hiccups in this life when we don't know whether to turn left or to the right and the things that we see or their ways that seem like Suggestions to get us out of the problem are not easy not at all So it was with Elijah over and over again He trusted God to get him out of the situation Even when God tells him to jump it seems easier to do it our own way and his idea To step out in faith is better for him in the end. So as we read the story I hope that you will keep this in mind. Yes, let's go into the story. Okay, so we're gonna get into the story and our story as we've heard from Ashley here is about Elijah and It comes from the book of first Kings 17 1 through 16 you can go read it at your own free time But I'm going to give just a brief summary of it So God told Elijah to go tell the king of the time King Ahab who was a very wicked man that because of the way he had led Israel into sin by worshiping Baal because of Him being influenced by his wife Queen Jezebel that there is not going to be any rain for Three years or until you know when the Lord said that now, you know rain can finally fall on this land so this was a very tough message, but you know Elijah went ahead and carried it out anyway and God knew that this would put his life in danger So as soon as he got out of the king's court after delivering the message God told him to flee eastward and go to the brook of cherries where he was gonna provide for him so Elijah did as God told him and every single day birds would come ravens to be more precise Ravens would come and feed him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening every day and The brook cherries was what used to keep him, you know hydrated, but If you're in the middle of a famine you you can tell that a brook is not gonna last very long And this was the very this is what happened So after a while the brook dried up, but God did not forget a servant and said I want you to go to the village of Zarathath, which is in Sudan there I have commanded a widow to feed you so Elijah once again did as God had told him to and when he got to the city He saw the widow, although I don't think that at first he knew it was the widow But anyway, but he saw this widow collecting sticks And so he asked her if he could have some water and as she went to go fetch it for him he also asked her if She could go get some bread for him and now this is when in my imagination the lady just turned around very slowly and Told Elijah exactly what was going on that she was collecting sticks to go light a fire in order for her to bake the last In the last loaf of bread because she only had a handful of flour and just a little bit of oil So she wanted to go use that to bake the last loaf of bread so that she and her son could eat and then wait to die but then Elijah told Elijah told him and Elijah told her sorry to go and You know bake a small piece of bread for him first and then bake for her for herself and her son Because the Lord has now promised her that she is not gonna run out of food So in an act of faith she went ahead and baked the bread for Elijah But then found that that handful of flour that she thought was there had actually increased and the oil was more too and The Lord made sure that that family never ran out of food Amen. Amen What what what do you think? This story just before we we think say what we think about the story flex. Could you read us the key text? Yes, the key text comes from first Kings chapter 17 verse 4 to 6 And it says it shall be that you will drink of the brook and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there So he went and did according to the word of the Lord The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he would drink from the brook So we begin this lesson by the key verse and the key verse Highlights God's providence. It highlights that even though he is sending Elijah to do some perilias job He's still providing it shall be that you will drink from the brook and I have commanded driven to provide for you there So I've it. What do you think about this story? I Feel like I feel like God was testing Elijah at some point because Then father more instead of giving Elijah like a prosperous life like a comfortable life Now he tells him how you flee go to this brook and Eventually Elijah realized that this brook is not gonna give me water till rain comes back so Elijah had to have constant faith that the Lord will be protecting him and even he didn't know if He's going to tell the king that there will be no rain. He won't be killed He was he's having faith throughout the journey when he went to the brook He had faith when he's being told to go to the widow of Zarafath here to have faith because What if there was no video there? What if the widow decided I'm gonna cook the next day? Not today. I'm not gonna pick sticks today. So he had to have faith I feel like he's displaying faith throughout this entire story. Oh If I can touch on that I also feel from this story How you could see how much love he had for God because if you're if you are told to go and deliver Punishment right to a certain group of people you will never expect the punishment to be for yourself, right? So imagine how much love it he had to have for God to actually tell people We are all gonna suffer together and not because I did anything wrong because of what you did They wouldn't be rain for three years until you all come back to the Lord of our land So they had to be a lot of love and trust in the Lord God Almighty for his people and in the Lord because to do that Yeah, it's not easy in some 139 verse 21 David says do I not hate them all Lord who hate you and do I not love those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. This is what is going on in Elijah's mind He is filled with the deep sorrow deep sorrow for the For the the Israelites because they have turned away against their maker and Ellen White says that Each revival was followed with deeper apostasy every revival was followed with deeper apostasy they've been apostate since the day they stepped their foot in the land of Canaan and Elijah's heart has gone forth and he's pleading with God that He will do something to cause them to know that he is God and so this story takes place and he goes before our hub and he Gives God's judgment, but you find that They believe that Well, Baal is the one who's supposed to provide rain and they keep killing the animals that they would use for food in the three years of farming instead of repenting. They are killing this animal and he says he says What does Elijah say? Elijah says your God is meditating. He might not be hearing you guys. I mean, he might be asleep. So you find that They are called to believe They are called to repent and even during the judgment. They are Apostosizing During their display of judgment. So we'll go into the art of the story Okay, so we have some questions here and we may not be able to go through all of them because of time If you have the lesson, please go ahead and take a look at them So this is rather open-ended and maybe you can have two people telling us how God has provided for them in their lives Well, I could say that God's providence is moment by moment basis. It's been here before it will be here Now and forever like the breath we breathe every moment Of course there times when we need God to do the big act of providence like you need to go to school And there's no money you need to you are sick and you're not able to get medical fees Or you need healing and that is a time when God provides for everyone of us That's a very good answer. Actually, I was gonna head to that because if you actually Let's say you've come to the end of the year like right now, right? And you take a look at your your lifespan or even the previous year you can just see how much God has provided for you till where you are at that moment and It's fascinating because in each trial you always feel like how am I gonna get out of this? Oh, what's happening? Oh, and it may be a for long period of time a short period of time but eventually by the grace of God get out of it and the more you look back the more you see It is true that God was in my life and he has been providing for me all that time You know, it's it's it's interesting that just because God doesn't necessarily provide for us by sending ravens to bring us food and Abduk flowing or flammati plying in the jar It doesn't mean that he's not with us turning over our lives does not mean we will never have bad things happen in us Or anything go wrong, but trusting that God will get you out right on the end In giving God his life Elijah and in obeying him the situation was dangerous He entrusted himself to God's care. He did not doubt and He at one point in his life whether God was really going to protect him Protect him even to the point when God asked him to kill like If it meant that his life would be sacrificed He was ready to do that in the flashlight at us left to read for us the flashlight The flashlight comes from pretexts prophets and kings page 119 the word of faith and power was upon his Elijah's lips and his whole life was devoted to the works of reform his Was the voice of one crying in the wilderness to rebuke sin and press back the tide of evil and While he came to the people as a reprover of sin His message offered the balm of gillard to the sin sick soul of all who desired to be healed So the sin sick souls of all who desired to be healed I think about what I would underline in this statement We live in a world where they are sin sick souls who are looking for healing who seek for Satisfaction in every single thing and every single place and they are unable to find satisfaction They're unable to find something that feels this gap that is in their hearts and we are to be the ones We are to be the voice of the one crying in the wilderness. We are to prepare the way for the Lord Elijah is likened and to John the Baptist and John the Baptist is also known as the one whose voice was crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord He had the spirit of Elijah and so is to be with all of us in this day and age We are to go forth in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way to Stayed seen by its rightful name. In fact interesting interestingly enough when John the Baptist came on the scene People asked if he was Elijah very true and I'd ask that How do you think that this kind of zeal and enthusiasm would be made met today? And do we know anyone who exhibits such zeal and enthusiasm for the word of God? Well, it might be we might not be able to answer the question and it might be a rhetorical question for us How can we exhibit this enthusiasm in our day-to-day lives? Even as we live we will go straight to the punchline having The first punchline Do not fear form with you. Do not be anxious Do not anxiously look about you for my good. I will strengthen you Surely, I'll help you surely. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand So what do you think this verse says to you as a person? I feel like this is an assurance that God is with us all the time and he's Always that to help us. Okay, grace the Luke 117 Hey Luke 117 it reads It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the prayer in the spirit and power of Elijah To turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedience to the attitude of the righteous So as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord I'd like you to underline the Part of to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedience to the attitude of the righteous What do you think this bus is saying to you as a person and to us who are listening? I mean personally, I think I mean it like we'd expect for it to say to turn the heart of the children back to the fathers Because you know like typically that's what happens with the children who go slightly astray But then in this case, it's like the fathers who've pretty much gone astray at this point I mean this this has shown how bad society can get like if you have to show if you have to turn They have attention back to their child It's that's pretty serious for me So, you know, we have like if things have gotten that bad we really need you know the message of Jesus You know to turn us back to the right way to the way things are supposed to be James one five James five are 17 legs. What do you think? So it says Elijah was a man with the nature like ours And he prayed honestly that it will not rain and he did not rain on the earth for three years and six months Now this just shows how though. He was a great prophet He was just a man like us and you'll see this in in in the future Lessons are about to come so stay tuned But it just shows you that even us with our normal natures and through all this Very discouraging society, right? it just shows that if we pray God still hears and If you are if your heart is right with God and it's for the right intentions Then he will answer your prayers and it will be for the glory and honor of his name at the end of the results Amen. Amen. You know I'd want to I want us to think about the woman of Zarefa and I want us to think about her dire situation and how in her dire situation she helped the man of God Flex if you had a Hundred shillings in your M. Pessa and you're going home and You meet a child on the street and this child is dying of hunger or Needs medicine. Would you give you a hundred shillings? Your next not necessary You'd have gone home You know, I'm thinking that many times we look at our necessities We look at what we need and we forget that there are those who are in more dire situations than we are and the father inside says All who in time of trial and want gives sympathy and assistance to others more needy God has promised a great blessing He has not changed his power no less now than in the days of Elijah God has promised a blessing To if we are in needy and we give the little that you have to those who are more needy He has promised a blessing. His power is no less today and he has no change If there was a point in your lifetime when you especially in need of him When was it? Did someone come and give you help you needed or you were left to fend for yourself? Being in a situation that proves difficult and dealing with it alone isn't easy What should you do in a difficult situation? Did you call on God? Did he answer you? Many times we may not know what to do where to turn what to say or who to talk to we may feel alone and deserted I'd like Flex Street for us Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 and 7 Chapter 4 verse 6 and 7 says be anxious for nothing But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and The peace of God with surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Be anxious for nothing That is what I would like to underline and that's the method I want us to take home even though our topic says never alone I want us to add the point of be anxious for nothing because when we are alone We need to be anxious for nothing knowing that God is with us He says in prayer and in supplication request bring your requests forth to God One of the most difficult things for people in their lives is they had times where they have to completely rely on God for help Naturally as humans we would like to take things into our own hands and do it our own way God repeatedly told the children of Israel to put their faith in him many times They did and were blessed but often they tried to do these things in their own way and ended up in a lot of trouble When are sometimes when God did come through for you? Was it in a way you expected or is it in a way that worked out? Well, but wasn't exactly what you had in mind and why do you think it happened that way the questions I'd like us to point out on sometimes when we pray Sometimes when we ask God for something does he bring these things in our way? Do he does he answer the the prayers we ask for in our way or in the way that we think and do we trust That he is all-knowing and all his purposes work together for our good Evan, I'd like you to say something on this What why do you think God would do something in a way that we least expected I feel like God is the only person who truly has good intentions for us because Sometimes we might pray for something that we don't know in the end will come to cost us That's why sometimes he blocks some opportunities that you may have Sometimes you may be looking to God and saying why have you removed this opportunity for my life? But God has seen ahead and seen that probably this opportunity will have made you draw father from him That's why he gives his answers for your best wishes. Yes Amen, amen. And also if you do not mind I'd like to share a little testimony So I finished high school at that time I was in doing very well but miraculously God enabled me to get grades that are good enough for me to do the course that I'd wanted to do since I was a little girl and that was medicine and Now we start the hunt of looking for universities and you know like Every single person thinks that if you want to go do medicine, which is the best university for you to go University of Nairobi, but then when we went to you know, go check it out I was told that my points, okay they're good enough for doing the course of medicine but not in the University of Nairobi and Of course, I was a bit bummed out and now we are pretty stuck because your end has rejected me We tried Kenyatta. We didn't really get much feedback eventually. I got feedback from Bound Kenya University and the University of J. Quatt, Joma Kenyatta University And I decided to go for Joma Kenyatta Although initially if you'd asked me just a few months before like which university would do not like to go out I said J. Quatt, J. Quatt immediately, J. Quatt Honestly, I did not even know why I chose that place and why After so many years of going to J. Quatt and falling ill because of allergies because and dust and all that when I went To start my studies. I did not have any Allergic reaction not even one and then when I finally got in contact with friends Who went to go do you want to go do my same course medicine in the University of Nairobi? I was like praise the Lord that I'd you did not let me go there Because they are learning through Allow me to say they're learning through like a lot of stress and they have a really really tight schedule And I know and the Lord knows that if you put me in a situation like that I may not be able to function so well and I mean and I may not be able to do as well as I could have so Like looking back and seeing the way God said like no, you're not going to go to you and you're going to go to the University which I'm going to send you to and do not worry if it's allergies I will cure you of it and right now I am I am really happy that God told me not to go into University of Nairobi. Amen. Amen. That's such a wonderful testimony and You know, sometimes I like to ponder on how there's a statement I was told that the highest level of intelligence a man can attain in this world That's where God's foolishness foolishness begins You cannot imagine, you know, God's Knowledge wisdom. Yeah, it's beyond our realm of possibilities And sometimes it's it's it's easier said than done because when in good times you can say it because everything's going well, but in hard time, it's hard to remember that because You're not really looking at the big picture because he is yes seen as I've been said he has seen the future He saw the past. He's seen all variable possibilities and he says Flex grace Ashley. I mean, this is the way we're all gonna go and it's a really beautiful thing to trust in him but it just takes a lot of obedience and and reading the scriptures and praying honestly as Elijah did you have to be Spiritually fed as he was given bread and water you have to be actually be connected to Christ To actually have this trust that is built up and and eventually grown into a level of that Elijah amen. I mean, what would be your parting short? God is the ultimate person that you should put your trust in because he will give you paths that will benefit you every time because if you Believe in yourself and you try your own thing Eventually you'll be doomed honestly eventually you'll reach a point where now you'll have to Leave everything and now start looking for God. Yes a way that see me threaten to man may end in death as we close I'd like to say this but We may not see well into the future yet goes knows everything He's all knowing he knows what is happening what will happen What has happened and the interrelation of all these things into our day-to-day lives So I'd like to implore each one of us or ask each one of us to trust God Unconditionally even though at times he tells us to jump and we are not seeing him We know that he is seeing us and that when he says I can see you you trust That's even though we cannot see we are certainly seen and even though we know not all the answers We are known like what is your parting short? My parting short is Build up the relationship in Christ so that you can attain the level of trust and faith like Elijah did It's not something that you wake up and say oh, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna do what the Lord tells me today because as you've said it's not easy to do what the Lord says You actually have to be connected to him to be given the strength Because even as we go tired in the faith So you have to be constantly connected to the bread of life to the water of life to get that Renewment of energy keep on with it with the faith. Amen. Gracie. What would be your parting short? Well, my parting short is that you know, God can tell you to do something that you know, quite dangerous I mean look at Elijah's case going to a king like Ahab What was pretty much a death warrant? But God has promised that he's going to be with us that we're never alone Whenever he sends us to do something whether something small or something dangerous or something that is challenging to you personally It's going to be with you and guided through every step of the way Amen, even as we close the song day by day will be played and I'd like as it is played We ponder on the words that day by day and with each passing moment strength we find to meet our trials here Trusting in our father's wise bestowment We have no cause for worry or for fear because he whose hand is kind heart is kind beyond our measure Gives unto each day what he deems best lovingly. It's Mean lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure mingling toil with peace and rest with this. Let us pray I can and loving father we see in this that you are long suffering you know when we go astray and you do everything in your power to bring us back to thee only that you may choose you this day and Avoid the judgments that would come away if we don't we also see that your heart is kind beyond all measure in each day Even though we have toil You also mingle it with peace and rest even though there is pain you give us pleasure once in our while a While and you teach us in all these things to trust you Lord We walk into this life. We walk in paths that are unknown. They seem dark yet We pray Lord, but even as we walk we should not walk because we can see but because we are seen Not because we know all the answers, but because we are known we pray this trusting in Jesus name. Amen. Amen