”Has God Lost Control?” Pastor Jamey Houghton, March 7, 2026

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We're so glad that you can be a part of

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[music] Road and hope that you are

blessed in your worship together with us

today. God bless and enjoy our worship

service. [music]

>> [music]

>> In 2013, I think this was a Super Bowl

ad, and it involved professional race

car driver and NASCAR royalty, Jeff

Gordon.

And in the picture, let's see if we can

get this. There we go. Jeff Gordon looks

a little bit different in this picture.

He's got a fake mustache, fake hair, and

uh he's undercover. They've got hidden

cameras and whatnot in the car and

around the area. And in the

advertisement, he's going to test drive

a Camaro SS and he's going under the

guise of a minivan driving soccer dad

who's never driven a sports car in his

life before. And so he shows up and they

he gets one of the car salesman here to

come and and this guy's saying, "Hey

man, you know, this would be a great

upgrade from a minivan." He says, "Well,

I've never had this much horsepower."

And so they get in the car and there's

hidden cameras in the car and and as

he's uh he's getting ready, he he takes

the first, you know, he gives it a

little bit of gas and it lurches

forward. He's playing like he doesn't

know what he's doing. And the the uh the

salesman is there kind of like a nervous

laugh like, "Okay."

And so he does it maybe one more time

and then Jeff Gordon puts it in first

gear and just peels out and takes off.

Just rips.

and uh and he's he starts like power

sliding around light poles and he's just

he's just roaring and and the the uh I'm

sure this has happened before to some

other people in real life. But um he

goes through like an industrial area and

he's hitting ramps and just just flying

quite recklessly in this car at least in

the perspective of the uh of the

salesman and uh the salesman's face. I

was going to uh the video's out there

online, but uh the the salesman is quite

uh agitated and descriptive of how he

feels in this video. And so I figured I

would uh I would not play the video, but

I'd show you his face, how he felt on

this ride. And his face,

[laughter]

this sums up his whole ride once Jeff

Gordon hit it. And uh you can imagine

the noise that's coming out of him as

he's just in a full-on panic that this

this rookie is just tearing up this car

and just flying recklessly and he's even

going to make it. And uh I remember this

video I went and watched it and I freeze

framed this picture and I was like, you

know what, this guy's face is kind of

like how it feels to live in 2026.

Like there is just so much stuff going

on in the world that every day you wake

up and you're like, "Whoa, how can we

handle today? What's going on?" It just

seems like a roller coaster every time

we look at the world and the things that

are going on in the world. And I

thought, man, that's this is kind of how

it feels to be alive today. There's just

so much stuff going on in the world.

It's hard to even keep up with things.

It seems like years ago that we were

discussing Greenland. Remember all the

discussions around acquiring Greenland

and everyone's like, "Whoa, Greenland?"

Those discussions seem like so long ago.

Even even all the news with Venezuela

going down and capturing Maduro and all

this stuff. That seems like a long time

ago now, doesn't it? Because so much

stuff has happened. And and the whole

world is like, "Buckle up. Here we go."

And now we've got Iran and the news all

over the place. And then the Kurds are

being and you just hear news and all

this stuff is happening. And it's easy

to just be like, "What is going on?"

and to feel a little nervous, this

anxiety about the times that we live in.

And you add into that

political commentary and opinions,

life can just be downright stressful,

can't it?

Wondering how this is all going to turn

out.

And it can feel a little nerve-wracking

and scary. But there are some great

Bible verses I want to remind you of

today.

Like Hebrews 13:5, it says, "He will

Hebrews 13:5

never leave us or forsake us." When we

face the future with Jesus by our side,

there's no reason to be afraid. Psalm

Psalms 46:1

46:1 says, "God is our refuge and

strength, a very present help in

trouble." 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, "But

2 Thessalonians 3:3

the Lord is faithful. He will establish

you and guard you against the evil one.

Psalm 91 says, "He who dwells in the

shelter of the most high will abide in

the shadow of the almighty. I will say

to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress,

my God and whom I trust. For he will

deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence. He will

cover you with his pinions and under his

wings you will find refuge. His

faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.

You will not fear the terror of night

nor the arrow that flies by day." I like

the part it says, "And under his wings

you will find refuge."

Friends, when the world seems uncertain,

go and spend a little bit of time with

God

>> and you will be encouraged

for sure as we look at current events

today, we compare them. It's it's kind

of funny. Each day we wake up, we're

like, "All right, what chapter of

Revelation are we in today?"

But the more we know about God's plans

in the Bible, the more we can rest at

ease knowing that God is in control of

all this. And if we stay

under his wings, he will take care of

us. I think the message in this book is

don't be afraid.

>> We're almost home. Stay faithful to God.

Now, [snorts]

beyond the world being a bit of a mess,

there are many voices online that find

it to be their calling

to suggest that God's remnant church is

out of control and a mess as well.

Some of people's favorite YouTubers

get a lot of clicks and a lot of likes

and a lot of views by criticizing

this church. Not specifically the

McDonald Road Church, but the the 7th

Day Adventist Church.

There have been many who have accused

General Conference leaders of being

Jesuits.

You can read about that in many

different places

or watch it.

many that call church leadership

apostate.

Some recently that encourage you to

withhold your tithe from the church

until everything is straightened out and

perfect according to them.

[snorts]

Now,

are there fair complaints about things

that go on in our church that shouldn't

our denomination?

Yes, there are good complaints, valid

complaints. There are things that happen

when you have a group of n of 23 million

people. There are going to be decisions

that are made in different parts of our

church organization that we may not

agree with.

Are there things that our church in some

areas decide to do that I wish they

wouldn't and disagree with? 100% yes.

Should

we then abandon ship

and sink it?

I think the answer to that is no.

When people start encouraging [snorts]

members to leave this church or to not

support it with tithe anymore

and to start parurch organizations, I

think that is nothing short of apostasy

itself. And you may say, "Jamie, that's

pretty strong wording."

Well, I didn't say it. Ellen White said

it. The second selected message is page

390. She says, "We cannot now enter into

any new organization, for this would

mean apostasy from the truth."

There's not one Bible verse or quote

from the spirit of prophecy where we are

divinely instructed to pull out of the

remnant church and to start another

remnant. [crying]

The Bible says there is one remnant

church, not a remnant, within the

remnant. One of my favorite preachers,

Elder CD Brooks. Anybody ever listen to

any CD Brooks sermons? If you haven't,

go look him up on YouTube. He passed

away maybe 12 or 13 years ago. One of my

favorite preachers.

And I was listening to one of his

sermons this week. And he said this.

He said this many years ago, and I think

it's even more true today. He says,

"Most of the attacks on the church used

to come from outside the church. Now

there are more attacks on the church

from within the church.

Many calling them to

leave the 7th Adventist church until the

wrongs that they say are wrong are

writed.

Revelation 12:17 it says, "And the

Revelation 12:17

dragon was wroth with the woman and went

to make war on the remnant of her seed

which keep [snorts] the commandments in

God and have the testimony of Jesus."

The Bible says there is one remnant, no

remnant within the remnant. In fact, the

Bible says that the church is the bride

of Christ. I had a friend recently say,

who throws mud at God's bride?

Now, the tithe question I want to

address as well since this is a a fairly

highly discussed topic recently.

church tithe. And you've had this

explained when we do our offerings from

time to time. The tithe that we return

to this church helps support God's work

all around the world. Our gospel

commission is to share the three angels

messages around the world. I've been to

different places that are missions.

They're not conferences because they

can't afford to pay pastors or pay

workers uh because they're so new and

the and the work is so um so small

there. For instance, I was in Mongolia

many years ago. Mongolia is a mission.

They've only had work going on there

since the early '9s.

And so, because it's designated as a

mission, the World Church rallies

together and helps support God's work

there in Mongolia and in other places

like that that are designated as

missions. That's part of the beauty of

us being a part of a world church.

>> We're not just a community church that

just takes all of our money. We if we

were just a community church like some

of the ones that uh that are spread

around the United States um that keep

all their tithe in one church, we'd have

like 18 pastors. We'd have Disneyland

for our kids s children's Sabbath

schools. Um I mean it would be all the

money that would be held here. We'd

have, you know, luxury everywhere,

right? But that's not what we're called

to do. We're called to support God's

work in other areas. And with our tithe

dollars, we help support God's work in

these places where it's hard to hard to

do. And we do our best to support the

work here locally as well.

To remove that support

would affect our missionaries overseas

and halt God's work all around this

globe that we're called to be a part of.

This topic was around early on in our

church and Ellen White addressed this in

testimonies to ministers page 51 to 53.

She says this, "Those who are carrying

this message of error, denouncing the

church as Babylon are neglecting their

God-appointed work and are in no

opposite are they are in opposition to

organization, in opposition to the plain

command of God spoken by Malachi in

regard to bringing all the tithes into

the treasury of God's house. And imagine

that they have a work to do in warning

those whom God has chosen to forward his

message of truth."

>> [snorts]

>> She continues in testimonies to

ministers page 61. God has a church upon

this earth who are his chosen people who

are the commandment keeping people. He

is leading not stray offshoots, not one

here and there, but a people. Amen.

>> It's become very popular to

to call out the wrongs in the church,

which we'll talk about that in just a

minute. But in manuscript release number

one, page 353, Ellen White says this,

"Beware of those who arise with a great

burden to denounce the church."

[snorts]

But how do we handle things that happen

within our church that shouldn't?

And there are things that happen when

you have a group of 23 million people.

There are going to be things that happen

within that group that shouldn't happen.

If you've ever been a part of a

committee, somehow there's been a

committee decision that you didn't like.

Probably I've sat on boards and

committees and constituents and

nominating committees and all these

different things. That's why we vote on

things. And if it doesn't go your way,

that's can be a little bit frustrating

sometimes. Are there things that happen

within our denomination that should not

happen? Yes.

How is it that we handle those things?

And how do we not handle those things?

Again, we have some excellent insight.

[snorts]

Third selected messages, page 17, Ellen

White says this. I tell you my brethren,

the Lord has an organized body through

whom he will work. There may be more

than a score of Judas's among them.

There may be a rash Peter who will under

circumstances of trial deny his Lord.

There may be persons represented by John

whom Jesus loved, but he may have a zeal

that would destroy men's lives by

calling fire down from heaven upon them

to revenge and insult to Christ and the

truth. But the great teacher seeks to

give lessons of instruction to correct

these existing evils. He is doing the

same today within [snorts] our church.

Now, this next quote in regards to

excessive criticisms of the

denomination, I think is very valuable.

And we'll talk again in just a minute

about how a healthy way is to address

these things.

Third selected messages, page 19, she

says, "We are as a church to be wide

awake and to work for the airing among

us as laborers together with God. We are

furnished with spiritual weapons mighty

in the pulling down of the fortress of

the enemy. We are not to hurl th the

thunderbolts against the church of

Christ militant. For Satan is doing all

he possibly can in this line. And you

who claim to be the remnant of the

people of God had better not be found

helping him, denouncing, accusing, and

condemning. Seek to restore, not to tear

down, discourage, and destroy. I don't

know that I've ever found such a a

direct quote of hers.

very strong wording in fact by her.

[snorts]

You know, I [clears throat]

I remember a song and I we haven't sung

this song in a really long time. Anybody

remember the song Bright in the Corner

Where You Are?

>> Great [snorts] song. Maybe we should

sing that as a worship song sometime. Uh

cuz it's got a great message. What do we

do when there are things that happen

that are outside of our control?

Because for sure God has not put me on

some of these committees where some of

these decisions are made and he hasn't

put you on some of these committees

where these decisions are made. So what

do we do about those things?

If there's nothing you can do, you can

always trust that God will take care of

his own church.

>> And you can brighten the corner where

you are. You can speak things that need

to be spoken and point people in the

direction where they need to go where

you have the sphere of influence that

God has given you. If he's not put you

in that position to have that sphere of

influence, trust God with it. This is

his church. He loves it even more than

you do. And if he's worked with this

church for the lastund and whatever

years, 160, 70 years, he's not going to

give up on it today.

and he's still leading and guiding this

church, I believe.

Why should we worry? There's a verse or

a a quote in Last Day events, page 52.

She says this,

"There is no need to doubt, to be

fearful that the work will not succeed.

God is at the head of the work. He will

set everything in order. If matters need

adjusting at the head of the work, God

will attend to that and work to write

every wrong."

Let us have faith that God is going to

carry the noble ship which bears the

people of God safely to port.

And I believe God will do just that.

Friends, there are some [snorts] things

that are out of our control.

And we may see things that we don't

like.

Trust God.

It's his church.

He'll take care of it. When the Bible

calls the church the last day church,

the remnant church, when when God calls

it his bride,

that means he cares a lot about it.

He'll work to write the wrongs.

He'll take care of things. Let's not be

the ones that the first ones throwing

stones.

Turn with me in your Bibles. There's a

story I want to go over with you today.

Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

>> [snorts]

>> Sometimes it can be overwhelming when

there's frustrations whether whether

it's in the world. We look around us and

we're worried about things or or even in

the church if we're worried about things

and and the way directions are going.

And there are two men in the Bible who

are also concerned about what's been

going on with them. One of them's name

is Cleopus. We don't know the other

one's name. And in Luke 24:13, we catch

Luke 24:13

up with them. It's uh it's Sunday. Jesus

has raised from the dead.

They've heard the story about it.

They've not seen evidence and clearly

they don't believe it yet. Verse 13, it

says, "Now behold, two of them were

traveling the same day to a village

called Emmas, which was 7 miles from

Jerusalem. And they talked together all

of these things which had happened." So

it was while they conversed and

reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near

and went with them. But their eyes were

restrained so that they did not know

him.

These two men were sad. They had thought

that Jesus was the Messiah. Now they had

questions. They were wondering what the

future held.

If they had been wasting their time in

these beliefs. They thought this is

where they were their direction was

going. Now it says they're sad. They're

not sure what the future holds. And who

comes up right alongside of them to go

for a walk with them but Jesus himself.

I love this story. It's one of my

favorites.

Jesus could have been with anybody else.

He could have showed up to somebody

else. But he goes and finds these two

men who are sad and downtrodden and need

a little bit of encouragement.

Friends, if you need encouragement in

your life, if you feel down a little

bit, spend some time with Jesus. He'll

pick you up. You'll feel so much better

if you spend a little bit of time with

Jesus.

>> Jesus shows up and goes for a walk with

these two guys.

He says, "What kind of conversation is

this that you have with one another

walking and are sad?"

Then one of those whose name was Cleopus

answered and said to him, "Are you the

only stranger in Jerusalem? And have you

not known the things which have happened

there in these last days?" And he

[snorts] said to them, "What things?"

The whole topic was about him. They

don't recognize him. Are you the only

one that doesn't know what's been going

on? I guess not. What are you talking

about?

He gets them to start talking. And

sometimes just talking out loud and and

and sharing what's on your heart is

therapeutic and it helps you get a

little more clarity sometimes. And

that's what they do here.

They said to him, verse 19, the things

concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a

prophet, mighty indeed and and were

before and were before God and all the

people, and how the chief priests and

our rulers delivered him to be condemned

to death and crucified him. But we were

hoping that he was that it was he who

was going to redeem Israel. Indeed,

besides all this, today is the third day

since these things happened. Can you

imagine Jesus thinking, "Come on, guys.

Put it together. Third day. Third day."

Do you remember me saying anything about

the third day? Think about it, fellas.

Come on. Third day. They just said it

out loud. We were hoping. This is the

third day. He's like, "Come on. Let's

keep going with this."

And yes, they said, "Certain women of

our company who arrived at the tomb

early astonished us when they did not

find his body and came saying that they

had also seen a vision of angels who

said he was alive. And certain of those

who were with us went to the tomb and

found it just as the women had women had

said, but him they did not see."

Jesus with a [snorts] a gentle but

slight rebuke says, "Oh foolish ones and

slow of heart to believe in all that the

prophets have spoken. Ought not that the

Christ to have suffered these things and

to enter into his glory? And beginning

at Moses and all the prophets, he

expounded to them in all the scriptures

the things concerning himself. What a

cool Bible study to be a part of.

Jesus goes through all of the scriptures

about himself with these two guys,

explaining, pulling the pulling the

clouds back from their eyes, inspiring

them.

And and if you look down at the

at the later part of this chapter, it

says in verse 32 after after he had

gone, it said, "Did not our hearts burn

within us while he talked with us on the

road and while he opened the scriptures

up to us?

The study that Jesus was giving them was

deeply inspiring to them. [snorts]

And in Desire of Ages, it says that that

they were saying to themselves in their

mind, that's kind of what Jesus would

have said.

That's how Jesus would have said it.

Things were familiar. They were coming

to his mind, which was what Jesus was

was hoping would happen. [snorts]

And they drew near to the village where

they were going. And he indicated that

he would have gone farther. But they

constrained him, saying, "Abide with us,

for it is towards evening, and the day

is far spent." And he went in to stay

with them. Now it came to pass as he sat

at the table with them, he took bread,

blessed, and broke it, and gave it to

them. As he hands the bread to them,

what do you think they saw in his hands?

>> Yeah.

They recognized the scars if not his

face. But then as they looked up into

his face, they recognized the face.

They realized that for the last seven

miles they had been with Jesus himself.

Then the Bible says

Jesus vanished from their sight.

Can you imagine the next 30 seconds

in their home as Jesus is now banished?

They saw his hands. They've got bread in

their hands that he just handed them and

he's gone.

Can you imagine the look on their face?

Imagine what they said next to each

other.

When Jesus inspires us, the only thing

we can do is tell somebody else about

that inspiration. And they decide, we've

got to head back and tell everybody else

what we've seen. They go seven miles

back, 14mile roundtrip journey. Now

they're going back in the dark,

but they've got to tell somebody that

they've seen Jesus

on that journey, the seven miles back.

We see a quote in Desire of Ages that

goes along with this story. Page 801, it

says, "On their journey back, they did

not see, they did not know that they

have the protection of him who has

traveled the road with them. their

unseen companion close beside them all

the way.

Friends, Jesus took these discouraged

and downtrodden men,

pointed them to scripture,

gave them hope, and was not only with

them on the journey there, but he was

with them on the journey back,

>> watching out for them, taking care of

them, making sure they made it step by

step.

Friends, in our journey in life, we

never ever have to be afraid that we're

going through this journey by ourselves.

>> Amen.

>> Every step of the way in our journey, we

have Jesus by our side, taking care of

us, pointing us along the way, and

helping keep us faithful. No matter

what's going on around us,

if we're faithful to Jesus, he'll take

care of it. This morning,

>> [snorts]

>> um,

Steven Wright mentioned in his prayer,

he talked about

Peter walking on water and looking at

Jesus.

And when he was not looking at the

waves, he was all right. When he kept

his eyes on Jesus, he was okay. Soon as

he started looking at the waves, that's

when things started to go downhill. If

we keep our eyes on Jesus,

the wind and the waves don't matter.

We're with the master.

years ago, I took a youth group to India

on a mission trip. I've been to a lot of

different countries, driven in a lot of

different countries. Driven on the right

hand side of the vehicle with a

left-hand stick shift on the left side

of the road. Very confusing. If

anybody's ever done that, it's you've

got to stay really on top of things so

you don't have a head-on collision. And

uh India, out of all the countries I've

been to, India has the worst drivers

I've ever seen. Wonderful people,

terrifying to drive in India. We had 45

people on this trip and I had rented a a

like a 45 or 50 foot bus

and uh we were the first day getting

ready to go out. was like an hour and a

half drive out to this orphanage where

we were working with some kids and also

um helping out and doing some evangelism

at several different sites and some of

our young people were preaching and um I

had my clipboard with the list of

everybody and this was our first day we

were going out to the site and going to

start working and uh we all got on the

bus. I checked in everybody on the bus,

made sure we weren't leaving anybody

behind, and I went down to the front of

the bus, close to where the bus driver

was, and I sat down and gave him a

thumbs up, and off we went. And this

Indian bus driver was a pro, and there's

a huge bus.

And uh off we went first day.

And uh we took off and and I was, you

know, those big huge windows that are in

the front of buses, you it's like a big

bay window. You can see it's a huge

window. And so I had, you know, front

row seats right there. I could see all

the stuff that was going on and I was

like, "Man, this guy's this guy thinks

he's Jeff Gordon driving around this

thing and he was flying along in in this

bus and and doing some pretty risky

stuff and I was like, well, you know,

he's the driver and uh I'm going to keep

my mouth shut." And so [snorts] off we

go. And we're going down this back kind

of dirt road and it was there was a

there was like a ditch on this side that

was about 7 ft deep and there was some

mud and water and stuff. kind of gross

and but it was a real steep drop off

right here and he was kind of hugging

the line and I I'd look out and be like,

"All right, well, he's he knows what

he's doing." We were flying along this

road and on on the other side between

that and the other ditch was room for

maybe a car, a small car.

[snorts] And so he is flying along this

road and I I I look up and I notice that

coming our direction about as fast is a

trash truck, big old trash truck.

And I thought to myself, huh,

there's not room for both of us.

Nobody's slowing down.

How's this going to go? And we're

getting closer and closer. And I'm like

I'm like, "Okay." Uh,

and you know, I've been in some in some

tight situations before. We were like,

"Okay, we're probably it's probably

going to be fine. A little bit dicey,

but probably going to be fine." This

one, as it got closer, I was like, "Oh,

we're in trouble.

If we head on with this guy, first of

all, I'm going straight through that

window.

But this is serious enough to where we

might die if we crash with this guy cuz

it would be head-on collision. 55 mph.

Two monster vehicles like this. And I'm

like I'm starting to white knuckle. I

grab this. I hear a kid or somebody in

the back gasp because they can see it

coming. And I hear like this. And then

everybody in the back looks forward and

they're like I can just I can just hear

the tension behind me. I can hear people

like a couple of people scream because

we're getting that close and I'm like,

"Oh man, we're we're toast." I seriously

thought we were done. And the bus driver

is just like,

[laughter]

"No problem."

The whole bus, I mean, we all feel like

we're about to legitimately die. And if

you've ever driven and you've seen

something in the road where where it's

tight, you maybe remember a maneuver

like this where you're driving and you

just kind of go and you kind of come

back before it's really done. But but

your car that that force kind of leans

your car over and then you come back

just in time. Well, these guys were a

master at that. And so both of these

guys knew the move clearly that we

weren't aware of. And as we get close, I

mean, people are screaming in the back

and I'm like, "Oh, I'm bracing for

impact." And the bus driver is just

cruising and he does this move, he just

goes and he puts the wheel right on the

edge of this drop off. I'm looking down

and it and with the force the the the

bus is going like this and leaning but

he's already moving back and the other

guy's doing the same thing. We're almost

nicking mirrors on the inside. We're

losing it inside this bus cuz and I'm

looking over the edge and the bus

driver's just cruise. He's like does the

move and comes back and we're fine. And

there's sheer panic in this bus.

Everyone just thinks we dodged death

which we kind of did. [snorts]

Bus drivers just cruise and as he hears

the screams he's kind of smiling a

little bit like

rookies. [laughter]

He's just driving along. No problem. All

of us were just in a dead panic. We were

like, "Oh my goodness, we almost just

died." And then another one came up and

we're like, "Oh, oh no." Same thing. And

and and we were all a little bit less

nervous. There was less screaming,

but he made it and just fine. And and by

the end of that day, we were we were

hitting situations where we're like,

"Huh, looks like we're going to die, but

we probably won't." [laughter]

and we kind of got used to it.

But it took us having to learn to trust

this bus driver.

He kind of held our our lives in his

hands.

And he knew what he was doing. Even

though it looked like chaos, looked like

everything was just going to be a

disaster.

The bus driver knew what he was doing.

And we learned to trust that bus driver

as he went along the road. Was it chaos

around us? Yeah.

We backed into a cow. We backed into a

building. We knocked a guy off his

motorcycle.

We started keeping track of the things

we bumped into.

But he got us there safely.

And we made it to our final destination.

friends, when the world seems like chaos

all around us,

when we start to have a little bit of

nervousness even around things that

might happen in church or in our

denomination or in the world around us

or current events, things like that.

Friends, I want to remind you today to

put your trust in Jesus.

In the end of this book, Jesus wins.

Amen.

>> Let's make sure we're faithful to Jesus

all the way

>> and keep our eyes steady on our savior

no matter what is going on all around

us. Friends, I believe [clears throat]

that the 7th Day Adventist Church is the

remnant church that it talks about in

the Bible that are commandmentkeeping

people commissioned to share the three

angels messages and prepare a world for

Jesus coming.

>> Let's finish the work.

Let's build up the mission of the church

and encourage our church members. And

let's trust the direction of our church

to our very trustworthy God. Let's

brighten the corner where we are and be

the light shining in darkness that God

calls us to be.

And soon

Jesus is going to part the skies and

come and take us home.

>> And I am looking forward to that day

very much.

And I'm so glad that today we're one

Sabbath closer to being with Jesus in

heaven. Let's pray. Father in heaven,

Lord, there's so many different things

going on in the world, different voices

pointing us in different directions.

Lord, may we be faithful

followers of you. May we have our eyes

in our Bibles

and thus our eyes on you

>> as we get closer to the day you come to

take us home.

Lord, keep us faithful.

Give us opportunities to be a shining

light for you.

We're so thankful, God, that you're

preparing a place for us in heaven.

We're so glad today, God, we're one day

closer to being with you. Thank you so

much for the promises that you'll never

leave us or forsake us and that you'll

guide us through the time between now

and when you come to take us home. We're

banking on that, God.

Thank you for walking by our side like

you did with the men on the road to

Emmas.

Jesus name I pray. Amen.

>> Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church [music] for worship. Each month

we reach between 25 and 30,000 people

with gospel content online. [music]

We're looking to expand our

audiovisisual department this year and

looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you to

partner with us on this and consider

making a donation to our audiovisisual

department as we look at expansion and

reaching more people with the gospel

across the internet this next year. You

can go to [music] mrcsda.org

to make a donation directly to our

audiovisisual department. Thank you so

much for considering making this

donation [music] and the privilege is

ours to partner with you in making this

a bigger and more effective ministry

here at the McDonald Road 7th Adventist

Church. God bless each one of you and

thanks again for joining us here at the

McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church.

[music]