Sermon

October 17, 2026 ”God’s Rescue Plan” Pastor Jamey Houghton

McDonald Road Church Sermons

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  1. Hello and welcome to the McDonald Road

  2. 7th Day Adventist Church. I'm so glad

  3. that you have chosen to worship with us

  4. today and I hope that the worship is

  5. meaningful and brings you closer to

  6. Jesus as you sing with us and study the

  7. Bible with us. God bless each one of

  8. you. So glad you're here. Happy Sabbath.

  9. >> Happy Sabbath everybody.

  10. >> It's good to be here worshiping with all

  11. of you. We're in a series right now uh

  12. looking at creation and the time just

  13. after creation and the journey of Adam

  14. and Eve.

  15. And last week we looked at the fall, the

  16. tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam

  17. and Eve eating the forbidden fruit.

  18. Today we're going to look at the hope

  19. that God gives us through scripture

  20. after that fall. When I was a boy, we

  21. lived in San Diego, California, and just

  22. across the border is the lovely town of

  23. Tijana, Mexico. Anybody ever been to

  24. Tijana, Mexico before? I'm kidding when

  25. I say it's lovely. It's not.

  26. And I can remember going there. We went

  27. there a couple of times and that was

  28. enough. We didn't really go back again.

  29. But I can remember going there as a kid

  30. and that was the first time I'd ever had

  31. anybody or that I saw anybody that was

  32. begging for money. They would come up

  33. and like have their hand out or a bowl

  34. out or or asking asking for something.

  35. And I remember maybe I was like, "Oh

  36. man, I don't know what to do here." And

  37. uh and still it makes me a little

  38. uncomfortable. I don't know about you,

  39. but when you pull up on the exit and

  40. somebody's there with a sign asking for

  41. money. I don't know about you, but

  42. there's like this this conflict inside

  43. of me that's like, "All right, this

  44. person probably needs some help, but

  45. what if they're gonna blow it all on

  46. drugs?" And and what if what if they're

  47. making more money than I am through all

  48. of this? And uh there's all these

  49. different questions and and you know,

  50. for a while we used Taco Bell gift cards

  51. and we had a whole little thing set up.

  52. Um, it it's just an an uncomfortable

  53. situation, but probably the hardest

  54. thing I've ever seen in life, the most

  55. disturbing thing I've ever seen when I

  56. lived in Asia.

  57. I would see kids begging on the side of

  58. the road. Kids that were handicapped

  59. that were hurt somehow or deformed

  60. somehow. And they were begging sitting

  61. down on the side of the road. And I

  62. found out that these kids had been hurt

  63. so that they could beg better and get

  64. more money.

  65. and it tore my guts out.

  66. And then the money didn't even go to

  67. them when they got the money. They had a

  68. controller who would take the money from

  69. them.

  70. And uh

  71. it's hard to even process

  72. something so horrific.

  73. This week there was a story in the news

  74. about a boy riding a bicycle. I think he

  75. was 14 years old. Just a kid riding a

  76. bike in a war zone. A bomb went off and

  77. killed this 14-year-old kid.

  78. Tragic. Absolutely tragic.

  79. Another school shooting this week.

  80. Special ed classroom. Who goes in and

  81. shoots anybody? But in a special ed

  82. classroom, a hero teacher and a hero dad

  83. took care of things to stop more deaths.

  84. As I was looking at all of this and the

  85. news and things, I thought to myself,

  86. how did we get from the Garden of Eden

  87. to here where all this stuff happens

  88. to choosing to go outside of of God's

  89. law, which we talked about last week

  90. with harmony and how harmony kept things

  91. together. God never intended for us to

  92. live in a world where people were

  93. killing each other. God never intended

  94. for us to live in a world where a

  95. 14-year-old kid can't ride a a bicycle

  96. down the road without being killed.

  97. God never intended us for for us to have

  98. schools where you have to worry about

  99. your kid being shot.

  100. It never was supposed to be like this.

  101. How did we get from the garden where

  102. things were perfect

  103. to the chaos that we live in today?

  104. Turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis

    Genesis 3 chapter mention

  105. chapter 3. Right there in the very

  106. beginning, third chapter, Genesis

    Genesis 3 chapter mention

  107. chapter 3.

  108. And uh

  109. absolutely devastating for Adam and Eve.

  110. They find out there's going to be pain

  111. in childbirth and toil you will eat.

  112. There's going to be thorns and thistles

  113. and by the sweat of your brow you will

  114. eat bread. There's never been thorns or

  115. thistles before.

  116. And it says in verse 21 of chapter 3, it

  117. says that the Lord God made tunics of

  118. skin.

  119. Tunics of skin. And remember, they had

  120. robes of light and then the light was

  121. taken away and they realized they didn't

  122. have anything on and God provided tunics

  123. of skin. Where did that skin come from?

  124. As God was laying out the plan of

  125. salvation, he was laying out the

  126. necessities for dealing with sin. And

  127. like the Bible says, without the

  128. shedding of blood, there can be no

  129. remission of sins.

  130. and he walked them through this

  131. sacrificial system that was going to be

  132. set up in in dealing with sin that would

  133. point forward to the lamb of God.

  134. In the book Patriarchs and Prophets, the

  135. author says this about this situation.

  136. To Adam, the offering of the first

  137. sacrifice was a most painful ceremony.

  138. His hand must be raised to take life

  139. which only God could give.

  140. It was the first time he had ever

  141. witnessed death. He knew

  142. that had he been obedient to God, there

  143. would have been no death of man or

  144. beast. What a load to carry, huh?

  145. As he slew the innocent victim, he

  146. trembled at the thought that his sin

  147. must shed the blood of the spotless lamb

  148. of God.

  149. You know, it's kind of unfair that the

  150. animals, well, at least some of them got

  151. kicked out of Eden.

  152. They didn't do anything wrong.

  153. I've often thought about the plight of

  154. animals.

  155. Many people have asked me, "Will my pets

  156. be in heaven?" Uh, Steve Wahberg wrote a

  157. great book on this called, "Will my pet

  158. be in heaven?" I think I got the the

  159. title right, Steve. Here's a plug. It's

  160. a good book, and I think you can get at

  161. the ABC as well. Will my pet be in

  162. heaven? And he makes a strong case,

  163. which I agree with, that I think our

  164. pets will be in heaven.

  165. But can you imagine Adam taking that

  166. first lamb

  167. and having to sacrifice that lamb and

  168. take a life

  169. and see this

  170. result of his choice to sin.

  171. Everything was ruined. But yet in the

  172. midst of all this disappointment and

  173. this transition for Adam and Eve, there

  174. was hope given. We see up in verse 15,

  175. it says, "I will put enmity between you

  176. and the woman and between your seed and

  177. her seed. He shall bruise your head and

  178. you shall bruise his heel." There are

  179. hints already at a solution to this sin

  180. problem. There is hope on the horizon.

  181. Jesus hasn't left them just to wallow in

  182. this sin and have no hope. Also, Peter

  183. and John both write about the lamb slain

  184. from the foundation of the world. Jesus

  185. had a plan to deal with sin before sin

  186. even entered the world.

  187. Some people have said, "Well, Jamie,

  188. it's not fair

  189. that I have to deal with this sinful

  190. world and I wasn't there. Adam and Eve

  191. made those choices. Now I'm born into

  192. this world and have to deal with all

  193. this sin." That's not fair.

  194. It's true. We are born into a sinful

  195. world. In fact, the same author that I

  196. just quoted a moment ago, she says that

  197. we are born in the sinful world with

  198. sinful tendencies even.

  199. But Jesus taught that no matter if we

  200. were born here in this sinful world with

  201. sinful tendencies, we can be born again

  202. and he can help us overcome these sinful

  203. weaknesses that we have in our lives.

  204. Peter and John say the lamb that was

  205. slain from the foundation of this world.

  206. As I read through Genesis and through

  207. the scriptures,

  208. I find that Jesus is looking for ways to

  209. get people into heaven, not looking for

  210. ways to keep people out of heaven.

  211. But we make it hard on ourselves. Dwight

  212. El Moody said this once. He says, "I've

  213. never met a man who has given me as much

  214. trouble as myself."

  215. We make choices that cause harm to

  216. ourselves, harm to others and actions

  217. and words, some small and some big. Many

  218. years ago, I was sitting at a picnic

  219. table with a young man about 16 years

  220. old. And

  221. if I told you the circumstances of his

  222. story and his life, you probably

  223. wouldn't even believe me. It was so

  224. wild.

  225. and he'd also made some poor choices in

  226. his life. But it was it was it was

  227. tough. We tried to help this young man

  228. as much as we could. While I was sitting

  229. with him at this picnic table, the

  230. police were actively looking for him.

  231. And as I was sitting there trying to

  232. encourage him,

  233. I could tell this was he was in a rough

  234. spot where he was at.

  235. Not long after that, this kid

  236. disappeared off the face of the earth. I

  237. couldn't find him anywhere. asked his

  238. family, couldn't find him. For 10 years,

  239. I couldn't find this kid.

  240. 10 years I looked on the internet, I

  241. tried to find where he was to figure out

  242. where he was. I wanted to know what had

  243. happened to this kid. We had poured into

  244. this kid. I'd worked spent countless

  245. hours working with this kid, trying to

  246. encourage him, help him out in this in

  247. this tragic situation he'd been brought

  248. up in. And along with the choices he had

  249. made, couldn't find this kid. Had no

  250. idea what happened to him. We moved away

  251. from that town and I always wondered and

  252. I would occasionally keep on looking

  253. online, see if I could find this kid,

  254. see what had happened.

  255. About five years ago, I got a friend

  256. request on Facebook

  257. and it was this kid.

  258. I almost fell over. I accepted it, went

  259. straight to his photos to see what his

  260. life had been like. What had he been

  261. doing for the last 10 years? Where was

  262. he right now? What kind of choices was

  263. he making now?

  264. Had anything that we had worked with him

  265. on stuck?

  266. When I looked at his pictures, I saw a

  267. picture of he and his wife and his kids

  268. in church on Sabbath morning.

  269. I found out that he led his family in

  270. church worship and would lead them and

  271. take them to church every Sabbath and

  272. that all of them would volunteer in the

  273. food kitchen that they had at this

  274. specific church. And I smiled as I

  275. realized

  276. that God didn't give up on him and he

  277. kept working with him and he brought

  278. this kid back around and changed his

  279. life. There's a a quote from the book

  280. Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings on

  281. page eight. It's become one of my

  282. favorite quotes. says,

  283. "Whatever may have been your past

  284. experience, however discouraging your

  285. present circumstances,

  286. if you will come to Jesus just as you

  287. are, weak and helpless and desparing,

  288. our compassionate savior will meet you a

  289. great way off

  290. and will throw around you his arms of

  291. love and his robe of righteousness."

  292. Friends, you may have somebody in your

  293. family who you've been worried about,

  294. who's walked away from God or made a

  295. mess out of their lives. I want to

  296. remind you that God is looking for ways

  297. to get people into heaven, not to keep

  298. them out of heaven. His arms are wide

  299. open and he loves our families even more

  300. than we do. He loves those that have

  301. walked away from him and he is actively

  302. reaching out for them and he will meet

  303. them, she says, a long ways off. I love

  304. that.

  305. Maybe it's you that's walked a long ways

  306. off.

  307. Maybe in your walk in your life, there's

  308. been a distance between you and God.

  309. Maybe there's been something that's kept

  310. you away from God. I want to remind you

  311. today that God's arms are open to you

  312. today as well

  313. and that he will meet you and he can

  314. change your life as well.

  315. One of the biggest complaints about

  316. Jesus in the Bible

  317. we see in Luke 15:2 and the Pharisees

    Luke 15:2

  318. and the scribes complained saying, "This

  319. man receives sinners and eats with

  320. them." That was the big complaint that

  321. he spent time with sinners and even had

  322. meals with sinners. Didn't they realize

  323. that was the whole purpose of him coming

  324. here? His whole purpose was to come and

  325. to save people messed up in sin. Matthew

    Matthew 18:11

  326. 18:11 says, "For the Son of Man has come

  327. to save that which was lost."

  328. And that's good news because we are all

  329. sinners in need of a savior. So, what

  330. kind of people was Jesus hanging out

  331. with? Turn with me in your Bible to Luke

    Luke 23 chapter mention

  332. chapter 23. Luke 23. How does Jesus see

  333. those of us that have messed up in life

  334. and made mistakes? Luke chapter 23.

    Luke 23 chapter mention

  335. Jesus is on the cross

  336. between two thieves. Two men who have

  337. messed up so many times and made so many

  338. poor choices. The society had said, "Not

  339. only are we going to remove you from our

  340. society, but we're also going to execute

  341. you because you've done this so many

  342. times. We don't see any hope for you

  343. changing. We're going to kill you, nail

  344. you to a cross."

  345. And Jesus is hung between these two

  346. thieves. And as I read this verse, verse

  347. 39, I want to see if you recognize the

  348. wording that's used by the first thief

  349. on the cross. See if it is familiar to

  350. you. Verse 39. Then one of the criminals

  351. who were hanged blasphemed him, saying,

  352. "If you are the Christ, where have you

  353. heard those words before in the Bible?"

  354. You remember where you've heard those

  355. words? The temptation in the wilderness.

  356. Who was it that said those words? Satan

  357. when he was tempting Jesus, he says, "If

  358. you are the son of God, turn these rocks

  359. into bread." Right? If you are the son

  360. of God, you can jump off of this

  361. building and the angels will take care

  362. of you. Questioning, making him prove

  363. that he was the son of God. And we see

  364. those same words spoken by this thief

  365. inspired probably by the same person.

  366. If you are the Christ, save yourself and

  367. us.

  368. Verse 40 it says, "But the other

  369. answering rebuked him, saying, do you

  370. not even fear God, seeing you are under

  371. the same condemnation, and we indeed

  372. justly, for we received the due reward

  373. of our deeds." It's almost as if he's

  374. confessing those things, isn't it?

  375. Admitting to his wrong.

  376. He says, "But this man

  377. has done nothing wrong."

  378. Then he said to Jesus,

  379. Lord, what does he call him?

  380. He calls him Lord.

  381. What does this tell us about who he

  382. thinks Jesus is?

  383. He's there verifying that he believes

  384. Jesus is the Lord, the Messiah.

  385. He says, "Lord,

  386. remember me when you come into your

  387. kingdom."

  388. Now,

  389. had this guy heard who Jesus was?

  390. Probably most people had heard about

  391. Jesus. Had he ever heard him speak?

  392. Maybe. And heard an appeal. Maybe. But

  393. yet his whole life had been a mess the

  394. whole time up until this point where

  395. he's hanging on the cross. He's about to

  396. die staring death in the face. But his

  397. whole life has been a mess.

  398. Now, in our in our human nature, we

  399. might say, "Yeah, well, why didn't you

  400. come before? Now when you're in trouble,

  401. now you come to me. Why didn't you come

  402. before?"

  403. But see, Jesus Jesus doesn't even care.

  404. The only thing that matters to Jesus is

  405. just that he comes.

  406. Doesn't matter if he missed it before

  407. the last appeal. What matters to Jesus

  408. is that he just comes to him. Even on

  409. the cross, nailed to him, right next to

  410. him,

  411. Lord, remember me when you come into

  412. your kingdom. After all Jesus has been

  413. through, even from the plans way back in

  414. the beginning dealing with Adam and Eve,

  415. looking at the beginning of sin, Jesus

  416. has been seeing all of this, dealing

  417. with this with Israel. Then he comes

  418. here, he's been through his ministry,

  419. he's mistreated, rejected, etc., etc.

  420. And here he is hanging on the cross. Can

  421. you imagine the joy it brought to Jesus'

  422. face and his heart that right next to

  423. him, nailed on the cross, somebody gives

  424. their heart to him.

  425. Somebody right there says, "You know

  426. what? I believe who you said you are.

  427. Remember me. Save me. I've done I've

  428. been a mess. It's why I'm here.

  429. Remember me." Can you imagine

  430. the joy in Jesus' heart

  431. as he sees one more person

  432. come to salvation. This is what he says.

  433. Assuredly I say to you today, you will

  434. be with me in paradise.

  435. If Jesus can save the thief on the

  436. cross, he can save you and me from our

  437. past as well. Because Jesus cares about

  438. our future, not as much about our past.

  439. He can handle our past. What I love

  440. about Jesus is that when he looks at us,

  441. he doesn't see the mess that we've made

  442. of our life, our poor decisions, the all

  443. the different things that embarrass us

  444. about our lives, the the choices that

  445. we've made that haven't honored him.

  446. What Jesus sees when he looks at us is

  447. potential and what we can be with him.

  448. That's what he sees with our next story.

  449. Turn with me over to uh to John chapter

    John 8 chapter mention

  450. 8. John chapter 8.

    John 8 chapter mention

  451. We're reminded in this story as well of

  452. of John 3:16. It says, "For God so loved

    John 3:16

  453. the world that he gave his only son that

  454. whoever believes in him shall not perish

  455. but have eternal life." That word

  456. whoever believes in him, that's anybody.

  457. We might think that there are somebody

  458. we know that, oh man, they've gone too

  459. far. No, Jesus came for them. He came to

  460. save them as well. The people have gone

  461. so far that are locked up in prison,

  462. Jesus came to save them as well.

  463. You know those people that that text

  464. message you and email you saying that

  465. they're me and asking you for those gift

  466. cards, all those scams that keep coming

  467. by. I'm not a big fan of those people.

  468. They're trying to scam you out of money,

  469. saying that they're me and

  470. misrepresenting me. That drives me nuts.

  471. But you know what? Jesus came to save

  472. those people, too. Next time they ask

  473. you for money, saying that they're me,

  474. give them a Bible study.

  475. Jesus came to save those people as well.

  476. Whosoever believes in him, no matter

  477. what their past, can have eternal life

  478. through Jesus. John chapter 8

    John 8 chapter mention

  479. says, "When Jesus went to the Mount of

  480. Olives, now early in the morning, he

  481. came again to the temple, and all of the

  482. people came to him, and he sat down and

  483. taught them. Then the scribes and

  484. Pharisees brought to him a woman caught

  485. in adultery. And when they had set her

  486. in the midst, they said to him,

  487. "Teacher, this woman was caught in

  488. adultery in the very act. Now Moses and

  489. the law commanded us that such should be

  490. stoned. What do you say?" This they

  491. said, testing him that they might have

  492. something of which to accuse him. All

  493. right, pause here for just a minute.

  494. Jesus is always they're always trying to

  495. trap Jesus. And any way he answers this

  496. question is going to be the wrong

  497. answer. They'll have something on him no

  498. matter what he says. Either he's

  499. rejecting Moses' law or he's he's trying

  500. to usurp Roman power and they'll get him

  501. in trouble with the Romans. There's no

  502. good answer to this question. But that

  503. question

  504. is insignificant, I think, compared to

  505. the woman who's there that they've

  506. dragged in.

  507. This poor lady

  508. has a long track record of poor

  509. decisions in her life. But they've set

  510. this woman up. How much do these people

  511. hate this woman to set her up for a

  512. capital punishment of stoning and then

  513. bring her in in public and humiliate

  514. her?

  515. Yeah, she's made some mistakes, a lot of

  516. mistakes.

  517. But my heart breaks for this woman as

  518. they bring her in and use her as an

  519. example,

  520. not even caring about her as a person.

  521. In fact, leading her into this,

  522. what does Jesus do?

  523. says here that Jesus stooped down and

  524. wrote on the ground with his finger as

  525. though he didn't hear. He ignored them

  526. and he goes down into the sand and he

  527. starts writing with his finger in the

  528. sand. They repeat their questions. Maybe

  529. he's not hearing us. Says verse 7, they

  530. continued asking him. And he raised

  531. himself up again and said to them, he

  532. who is without sin among you, let him

  533. throw the first stone. And he stooped

  534. back to the ground and kept on writing.

  535. Here's this woman probably hands in her

  536. face, tears streaking down her cheeks,

  537. not sure if she's about to die or not.

  538. And Jesus is writing in the sand.

  539. There's a crowd of people around. He's

  540. been teaching to a crowd of people, but

  541. now these Pharisees are here as well.

  542. He's writing in the sand and he's not

  543. answering their question. Well, what is

  544. he writing in the sand? And they they

  545. kind of they kind of look a little

  546. closer and they're they're reading a

  547. little bit.

  548. What if there was a guy named like

  549. Bartholomew and he's writing Bartholomew

  550. with his finger and then he just starts

  551. writing Bartholomew's sins? Like

  552. Bartholomew did this and Bartholomew did

  553. this and then there's another guy named

  554. Judas over here and he writes Judas and

  555. he starts writing he's writing their

  556. sins in the sand with probably their

  557. name on it

  558. and they're looking and they're like how

  559. in the world does this guy and and it's

  560. embarrassing for them. And here's here's

  561. what it says. Those who heard it, verse

  562. 9, being convicted by their conscience,

  563. went out one by one, beginning with the

  564. oldest, even to the last. As Jesus is

  565. writing their sins in the in the sand,

  566. they realize it and they start leaving,

  567. dropping stones and walking away. But

  568. did you notice what it said about them

  569. in the scriptures? It says they were

  570. convicted by their conscience.

  571. They were being faced with their own

  572. mistakes.

  573. And when we are convicted in our

  574. conscience, we have two choices we can

  575. make. Right? Two choices. We can either

  576. respond to those convictions and ask God

  577. to change us and to forgive us of those

  578. things or we can continue in those

  579. things and reject the prompings of the

  580. Holy Spirit and keep on in our sins.

  581. Somebody said this once. They said, "The

  582. only reason people will be lost is

  583. because they love their sin more than

  584. they loved Jesus."

  585. And here these men as they they're

  586. confronted with their own mistakes as

  587. they've been trying to bring up her

  588. mistakes,

  589. they reject those prompting and that

  590. conviction

  591. and walk away. They walked away from the

  592. one person who could change their lives

  593. and change their futures.

  594. We often we we know what it what it

  595. feels like to have our conscience

  596. pricricked, right? When we've done

  597. something we know is wrong and we feel

  598. that conviction like I shouldn't have

  599. done that. I shouldn't have said that.

  600. We know what that is. And we have two

  601. choices as well.

  602. When we have those choices, don't be

  603. like the Pharisees and walk away.

  604. Come to Jesus.

  605. As they leave, it says, "And Jesus was

  606. left alone and the woman standing in the

  607. midst and Jesus had raised himself up,

  608. looks around. I picture in my mind as

  609. Jesus his hand's been in the dirt. He's

  610. been riding with his hand. He gets up

  611. and probably like we would gets the dirt

  612. off of his hand, looks around

  613. and it says, "And Jesus was left alone

  614. and the woman standing in the midst."

  615. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw

  616. no one but the woman, he said to her,

  617. "Woman, where are those accusers of

  618. yours? Has no one condemned you?" And

  619. she said, "No one, Lord." What did she

  620. call him, by the way? She calls him

  621. Lord, doesn't she?

  622. And he says, "Neither do I condemn you."

  623. And he says, "Go and sin no more." Why

  624. does he tell her to quit sinning?

  625. Because it will change her life.

  626. The things that we read about in the

  627. Bible that God calls sin only bring us

  628. harm in our lives.

  629. And when he calls her to leave her

  630. sinful life and to go and sin no more,

  631. he knows that she's going to be much

  632. happier in her life living in harmony

  633. with God's law.

  634. And Patriarchs and Prophets, here's what

  635. the author says first about Jesus. He

  636. says, "Well, he knew. Jesus knew for

  637. what purpose this case had been brought

  638. to him. He read the heart and knew the

  639. character and life history of everyone

  640. in his presence. These wouldbe guardians

  641. of justice had themselves led their

  642. victim into sin that they may lay a

  643. snare for Jesus. As Jesus looks at this

  644. whole situation,

  645. he sees potential. Listen to what it

  646. says in the next page about this woman

  647. after her experience with Jesus. After

  648. interacting with Jesus,

  649. it says this was to her the beginning of

  650. a new life,

  651. a life of purity and peace devoted to

  652. the service of God. This is what a life

  653. without sin will look like. If we reject

  654. those temptations and choose to look up

  655. to Jesus, we will have a life that it

  656. says here, peace,

  657. a new life in Jesus.

  658. Jesus saw the potential in her. Thank

  659. God he sees the potential in us when we

  660. make mistakes.

  661. Thank God we can go to him

  662. no matter what our past is and have a

  663. new life in him when he gives it to us.

  664. There's a story, one of my favorite

  665. preachers, Elder CD Brooks, told this

  666. story.

  667. A friend of his

  668. had made a big mistake in his life

  669. and uh the church removed his membership

  670. a while back. He came back in tears,

  671. repentant, came back into church

  672. membership. A little while later, made

  673. the same big mistake.

  674. He was embarrassed,

  675. ashamed,

  676. wasn't in church.

  677. And a while later, Elder Brooks came and

  678. was doing an evangelistic series in this

  679. town.

  680. And there was the audience that was

  681. there. He'd been preaching. And and on

  682. this specific night, he was making an

  683. appeal to accept the grace of Jesus, to

  684. turn from the the things in life that

  685. had brought you separation from Jesus,

  686. to repent and and confess your sins and

  687. to have a new life in Jesus. Making a

  688. big appeal.

  689. And after his appeal, he prayed and the

  690. the meeting was over and he turned to

  691. walk off stage and he looked over behind

  692. the curtains over here and here was this

  693. guy, his friend.

  694. He was standing behind the curtain. He

  695. was too ashamed and embarrassed to be

  696. seen by everybody out in church because

  697. of his past. And he was behind the

  698. curtain still listening though. And as

  699. Pastor Brooks walked off the stage, he

  700. looked at this man. The man's head was

  701. down. He could see that he was crying.

  702. And on the floor right in front of him,

  703. the floor was was wet with tears from

  704. this man crying.

  705. And being his friend, knowing his past,

  706. he knew that the Lord was working on his

  707. heart.

  708. He walked over to this guy behind the

  709. stage. Nobody could see. And he just he

  710. gave this guy a big bear hug. Just held

  711. him close and just just hugged him

  712. tight.

  713. He could tell the Lord was working on

  714. his heart. The Lord was changing his

  715. heart.

  716. And after a moment, he stepped back and

  717. looked at him and he said, "You love the

  718. Lord, don't you?" And through tears, he

  719. just nodded his head.

  720. And as as Pastor Brooks was fond of

  721. doing and raising his voice and and and

  722. preaching with power, he said nice and

  723. loud, he said, "Welcome back to the

  724. family of God."

  725. And held him close again and hugged him.

  726. That man,

  727. his life was changed by Jesus.

  728. Mistakes that he'd made in the past,

  729. Lord gave him victory over those and a

  730. brand new start.

  731. He went on later to become a Seventh Day

  732. Adventist minister

  733. and tell people about the grace and the

  734. new start that God had given him and

  735. that God could give them as well.

  736. I'm so glad that God doesn't give up on

  737. us,

  738. that God is long-suffering with us,

  739. that God forgives us when we ask.

  740. Friends,

  741. all of us, the Bible says, have fallen

  742. short of the glory of God. All of us

  743. have dealt with sin in our lives. We all

  744. have choices and mistakes that we've

  745. made that we we look back and we can

  746. say, "Man, I wish I had done that

  747. differently. I wish I hadn't said that.

  748. I wish I hadn't done that." Friends, I

  749. want to remind you today that God is

  750. much more interested in your future than

  751. your past.

  752. If your past has been holding you back

  753. from giving your future to Jesus,

  754. I promise you that Jesus can handle your

  755. past when you give him your future.

  756. If he can save the thief on the cross,

  757. he can save you. If he can save the

  758. woman that was brought by all these men

  759. into the middle of the square and give

  760. her a fresh start, he can give you a

  761. fresh start as well.

  762. You see, all the way back in the

  763. beginning in the Garden of Eden, when

  764. when God saw through the the the the

  765. halls of time how sin would ravage the

  766. human race and his love for us,

  767. he gave us hope and he gave us help.

  768. And when we feel those prompings of the

  769. Holy Spirit pricking our conscience and

  770. we come to Jesus repentant, he will give

  771. us a brand new start. Before you were

  772. even born, God was working out your

  773. salvation

  774. and making a way for you to be saved.

  775. If he forgives the thief, if he forgives

  776. that woman, he'll forgive you as well

  777. and give you a fresh start. Our song

  778. we're going to close with is a song

  779. called Jesus Saves. I want to invite our

  780. worship team to come up and lead us in

  781. our closing song here.

  782. And the theme of the Bible is a rescue

  783. mission by Jesus for you. And indeed,

  784. the words of this true are or this song

  785. are true that Jesus does save. And if if

  786. Jesus has given you a fresh start in

  787. your life and you've experienced the

  788. grace and forgiveness of Jesus when we

  789. sing this song, I encourage you to sing

  790. it nice and loud and remind be reminded

  791. today that Jesus came to save you. Let's

  792. stand together as we sing our closing

  793. song. Jesus saves.

  794. Today I want to remind you just how

  795. valuable you are to Jesus. That he would

  796. set this whole plan of salvation up just

  797. for you.

  798. How important you are to him because he

  799. will move in different ways in your

  800. life. He'll respond to your cries for

  801. help.

  802. He'll respond with forgiveness when we

  803. repent. And all of this he does because

  804. he can't imagine heaven without you.

  805. And as we get closer and closer to the

  806. second coming of Jesus,

  807. may we be as faithful to Jesus as he has

  808. been to us, may we remember the plan

  809. that he has for our lives. May we

  810. remember the way life is supposed to be

  811. and how God meant for it to be and look

  812. forward to living in that way in harmony

  813. with God. May we live our lives in

  814. harmony with his his scriptures and his

  815. law that he has given for our own

  816. happiness today. I'm so glad that today

  817. we're one Sabbath closer to being with

  818. Jesus in heaven. Let's pray. Father in

  819. heaven, Lord, thank you for going that

  820. far to save us. Thank you, God, for

  821. looking more at our future than our

  822. past. And Lord, if there's anyone here

  823. today who's been hesitant about coming

  824. to you because of their past, Lord, give

  825. them courage and boldness to come to

  826. you, knowing that you will accept them

  827. and forgive them of their past and give

  828. them a fresh start in you. Lord, we

  829. thank you for that for each and every

  830. one of us and look forward to being with

  831. you in heaven. And we're so glad that

  832. today we're one day closer to that in

  833. Jesus name. Amen.

  834. >> Amen.

  835. >> Thanks so much for joining us here at

  836. the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

  837. Church for worship. Each month we reach

  838. between 25 and 30,000 people with gospel

  839. content online. We're looking to expand

  840. our audiovisisual department this year

  841. and looking to raise $30,000 in this

  842. project. We would love for you to

  843. partner with us on this and consider

  844. making a donation to our audiovisisual

  845. department as we look at expansion and

  846. reaching more people with the gospel

  847. across the internet this next year. You

  848. can go to mrcsda.org

  849. to make a donation directly to our

  850. audiovisisual department. Thank you so

  851. much for considering making this

  852. donation and the privilege is ours to

  853. partner with you in making this a bigger

  854. and more effective ministry here at the

  855. McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church. God

  856. bless each one of you and thanks again

  857. for joining us here at the McDonald Road

  858. 7th Day Adventist Church.