♪ theme music ♪
(Derek) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,
an in-depth, interactive study
of the Word of God.
I am excited today as we begin
a brand new series
on God's Love and Justice.
In fact, I feel like we are walking
on holy ground, and I'm glad
that you joined us as we talk
about a God who loves freely.
So, welcome to Hope Sabbath School
and welcome to the team,
good to see you all.
Thanks for being here.
We've got some remote team members
with us, too; let's take a look
and see who's joining us remotely today.
Faith, good to see you,
glad you're with us.
Tricia Lee, welcome back,
always good to see you.
And, Gleny, great
to have you with us today.
We're so glad that you're with us, too,
because you're part
of our global interactive study together.
And we're always happy to hear from you,
our Hope Sabbath School members
from around the world.
You can write to us at sshope@hopetv.org.
You say, "Derek, I've memorized that."
Well, then send us a note
and share with us how God is blessing you
through a study of His Word.
You say, "Derek, I'm actually teaching
a class; I'm downloading the outline
from the website, and I'm sharing
the Word of God; praise God.
Write to us and let us know.
Here's a note from Kyrol
who writes to us from Papua New Guinea,
and he says, "I'm truly blessed
every Sabbath since I started watching
Hope Sabbath School
through YouTube last year."
Well, I don't know.
It's always dangerous to say
how many subscribers we have.
It's close to [120,000],
but probably that will be out of date,
Travis, by the next time we read it.
But one of them is Kyrol
in Papua New Guinea; isn't that awesome?
(Team) Praise God.
(Derek) "I've watched every Sabbath morning
before I go to Bible study.
Glory, honor and praise be to God
for the Hope Sabbath School team."
And we say? Praise God, right?
"May God continue to bless
and use all of you as His witnesses
to share His amazing truths
before Christ returns."
What do we say?
(Derek, Team) Amen.
(Derek) Kyrol, thanks for writing to us
from Papua New Guinea, and we're glad
you are part of our global family.
Well, Suwilanji writes to us from Zambia
and says, "I am a Pentecostal preacher
in Zambia, and I'm addicted
to Hope Sabbath School."
(Team) Wow.
(Derek) Well, Suwilanji, thanks
for writing to us.
We're happy that you're sharing
the gospel in your country
and learning more about the Word of God
on Hope Sabbath School.
Thanks for your note.
Here's a hand-written note
from a donor in Maryland
in the United States of America.
For those of you who may not know,
we actually film Hope Sabbath School
in the state of Maryland.
And the donor writes,
"Hello, Hope Sabbath School."
You know they do that
so you'll wave, right?
"I'm so happy to be with you once again
to see your smiling faces,
to be part of your interactive study
that blesses my heart immensely.
The study is so plain
that even an 84-year-old
like me can understand.
The team members' testimonies
are such a blessing to me.
I thank God for the Hope Sabbath School team
spreading the gospel around the world.
Enclosed is a small contribution,"
the donor writes, but no donation is small
when God blesses it,
a donation of 50 dollars.
Thank you so much, Donor in Maryland.
You know who you are.
And thanks to each one of you.
We're a donor-supported minsitry.
You say, "Derek, could I have a part?"
Absolutely! Go to our website,
hopetv.org/hopess,
click on the yellow button
and give online, or you get an address
and write us a note
just like this donor did.
Thank you to each one
for being part of this miracle.
One last note, and I'm looking at Travis
over here, Travis, because Nadine
is writing from Guyana.
So, I don't know if we can all
give her a wave, but, Nadine, we want
you to know one of our team members,
Travis, was just in Guyana
holding some meetings, and so that's
a special place in [his] heart.
"Thank you," Nadine writes,
"for Hope Sabbath School.
You are such a blessing to us.
An interactive study of the Word of God
helps me to have
a closer relationship with Jesus."
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) That's why we do it!
You know, the demons know a lot
about the Bible, and people
could win a Bible quiz and be lost.
But when you study the Bible and have
a closer relationship with Jesus,
that's eternal salvation, isn't it? Awesome.
"May God continue to bless you all.
We love you all. Nadine."
Well, Nadine, thanks for writing to us,
and I'm excited that you are all part
of our global family.
We would love to hear
from you, so, write to us.
I noticed a lot of you put comments
on the YouTube channel when you watch,
and that's great, too, but you can
also write to us at sshope@hopetv.org.
Well, today we're going to learn
a new theme song.
It is 3,000 years old.
We sing Scripture songs here
on Hope Sabbath School.
It is Psalm 63, and it says,
"O God, You are my God;
early will I seek You,"
but we lost the tune somewhere
in the last 3,000 years,
so my wife put a new tune to it.
And you can go to our website
and download the song free
and the sheet music, if you'd like
to sing it in your Bible study group.
Just go to hopetv.org/hopess,
that's our web address,
and you can download the song,
sheet music, and sing it.
We'd like to teach it to you right now.
♪ music ♪
(Derek) Amen? Wow, that was beautiful.
I hear you sing, too.
You say, "Derek, you couldn't hear us,"
but I was just imagining you singing.
And I just want to challenge us
with the thought, when the enemy
comes upon us like a flood,
we just sing that song, "O God,
You are my God;
early will I seek You," right?
We can run to God, a God
of love and mercy who will welcome us
with loving arms.
Well, great to see
our remotes singing, too.
I know we can't see you all,
but you're singing the Word, too,
and we're hiding that Word in our hearts.
Today, we're going to study
how God Loves Freely.
It's an amazing study, and we invite you
to pray with us as we
open the Word of God.
Father in Heaven, thank You
for the revelation in the Word of God.
The Scripture is given
by inspiration of God
and is profitable for us.
Guide us in our interactive study today
by your Holy Spirit.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Well, we're going to start
in the book of Exodus,
that's the second book
of the Hebrew Scriptures, the second book
of the Pentateuch as it's called.
In Exodus, chapter 33, and, Puia,
I'm going to ask you to begin our study
today by reading verses 12 to 19.
I want to invite you and those joining
around the world to listen
to what revelation we see
of the character of God, here in Exodus 33.
(Puia) Sure, and I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
Exodus 33, verses 12 to 19:
(Derek) Wow, that is amazing dialogue
between the Lord and Moses.
What are some lessons we can learn
just from hearing it if we
just had that one Scripture?
What could we learn
about the character of God? Kylynda?
(Kylynda) God wants to be with us.
(Derek) So, He's a relational God,
which, by the way, we ought not to take
for granted because a lot of pictures
of God are like, "Well, He did something,
and then He left." Harold?
(Harold) Very personable, because you
can talk to Him as a Person.
(Derek) He wants a relationship,
and He's communicating.
Alright. Yes, James.
(James) He is a God of companionship.
Moses asked for a companion,
and God said, "I will be your Companion."
(Derek) "I will go
with you," that's right.
Gleny, what do you hear in this text
that impresses you
about the character of God?
(Gleny) Besides all that was mentioned,
we see that He is good,
He shows a lot of compassion,
and He desires to be known.
(Derek) Alright, that's a good point Gleny makes.
His goodness, don't take that
for granted, you know?
It's that God is good.
He wants a relationship with us. Don?
(Don) Also with the first text,
"I know you by your name."
(Derek) Thank you for pointing that out.
So, talk about companionship
but not just with Moses, He wants
a personal relationship with us.
Now, to put that in context,
Sophia, if you could go back one chapter
with us, take us back to Exodus 32
and read the first three verses.
Let's have a little context.
God is saying, "I want a relationship
with you; I want to show
My compassion and love."
Let's see what's just happened
as part of the exodus.
(Sophia) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
chapter 32, verses 1 through 3:
(Derek) And what did they do with that, anybody remember?
(Team) Golden calf.
(Derek) They made a golden calf!
And not only did they make a golden calf,
but what did they say?
(Sophia) "This is our god."
(Derek) That, "you're the god that brought
us out of Egypt"!
I mean, it's like, terrible!
And yet, in the context of that,
God shows His love.
Now, I want to ask Tricia Lee a question.
Tricia Lee, we always appreciate
hearing from you.
Tricia Lee, it says, "I will
have compassion on whom I
will have compassion,"
but tell me somewhere else
in the Scripture, how many people
does God have compassion on?
(Tricia Lee) God has compassion
on all people; we know that
from John, chapter 3, verse 16.
(Derek) And what does it say there?
Have you memorized it?
(Tricia Lee) It says, "For God
so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life."
(Derek) So, I just don't want a person
to say, "Well, I guess He has compassion
on the ones," and then pick
a few here and have compassion on them.
As Tricia Lee quoted (I think she's got
another comment to share), "God so loved..."?
(Team) "...the world."
(Derek) Right. You want to add to that?
(Tricia Lee) When I think about that verse
in Exodus, "I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion,"
" I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious," I think
about it in the context
of the immediate request that Moses
made to God where he said,
"Show me Your glory."
And we know that no one can see God's face
or His full glory and live, and so I think
that was just God responding and saying,
"Yes, I will be gracious in showing you
who I am, and I will be
compassionate enough to let you survive
this encounter and experience with Me."
I think it was just more God expressing
that in this request, "Show me Your face,
show me Your glory," that He was saying,
"Yes, I can answer and honor
that special request for you, Moses."
(Derek) Well, with such an amazing view -
and, Travis, I want to hear your point -
with such an amazing view
of the character of God loving the world,
why are there so many people
with distorted views
of the character of God?
If you want, make your comment first,
Travis, and then build on that question.
(Travis) So, when I read those verses,
and I read that God would be gracious
to whom He would be gracious,
I immediately thought there are people
in the world that we may see that we
would believe shouldn't be extended grace.
And then I remembered, anyone who calls
on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And I think the reason that that was
written in there is that we may
in our human minds believe that a person
shouldn't be extended grace.
But God says, "I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion."
(Derek) Wow, so people that we
may not think deserve...
That could have been us at some point
in our lives, right? Samantha?
(Samantha) To answer your question
about why people have...
(Derek) Distorted views?
(Samantha) Yes, I feel like it's
just what the devil does.
He tries to discredit who God is,
and so he puts the wrong thoughts
of God in peoples' minds.
Instead of having them believe
that, "Okay, yes," he has them think,
"Why would a loving God cause
your family member to die?"
"Why would a loving God cause
your wife to become sick?"
And so, I feel like it just all a part
of that Great Controversy where Satan
tries to discredit who God is.
And people who do not have
that full understanding of Him, it's easy
because if you don't have
that full armor, then you can easily fall
for anything that the devil brings to you.
(Derek) And unfortunately, if you
look, for example...
And I see Gleny's hand and Kylynda's, too,
and Harold; there are lots
of hands raised here.
Unfortunately, if you look
at medieval art, you know, God looks
like a horrible Person, and He's
just trying to torture people,
so it's not just in my imagination.
There have been people teaching
false ideas about the character of God.
I'm going to take the hands,
and we're going to move on.
Kylynda, Gleny and Harold.
(Kylynda) To go off what you said, Derek,
in the end of Luke 11, Jesus
critiques the religious leaders,
and He says, "You know, you're
overburdening people, you're making God
seem like a tyrant that's only concerned
about the smallest external effects,
not the internal transformation."
So some of our perception of God
can, unfortunately, be distorted
by different religious leaders
or religious mentors who portray God
in a way that isn't compassionate,
that isn't relational.
(Derek) False teaching.
Gleny and then Harold.
(Gleny) Yes, I just wanted to support
Kylynda's point, too.
You have your early caregivers,
like maybe even your parents, teachers,
as you had mentioned, people who are
set up to give a representation of God,
a good example of God, but somehow failed.
And that makes you wonder, "If the people
I looked up to had inflicted
and caused so much pain,
then God must be the same, too."
(Derek) Ahh. Harold?
(Harold) And I just want to add,
because, yes, the issue of suffering
and evil are some of the biggest questions
that everybody has, even atheists have.
It's like, how can a loving God reconcile
the suffering that is in the world?
But we cannot forget that our God
also suffered with us.
He is not indifferent to our suffering.
Now, as to why He allows suffering,
many times we do not know,
but He does give us the courage
because He suffered with us,
and He tells us, "I'll be with you.
I will give you the strength
that you'll need to go through this,"
and eventually we'll know the truth.
There is a battle behind the scenes
in the spiritual realm, and God will give us the answer.
(Derek) Do you know the amount -
and we're going to move on - but the amount
of interaction right now - and it's
like I said, there are 11 of us
on the team and 14 hands raised -
shows that this is really,
we have an expression in English,
like a hot-button issue.
People are like, "What is
the character of God like?"
We start with a clear revelation
that God is good, He wants
a personal relationship,
He knows us by name,
and He loves the whole world.
Now, before we come back to talk
about how we can show that to the world,
because there is a lot of distortion,
let's think about some stories
in the Bible which show God's love
for people who either ignore
or don't appreciate His love.
Because you said He loves
even the unworthy people, right?
Can anybody think of a story?
Don, can you think of a story?
(Don) This reminds me of the Prodigal Son.
The Prodigal Son when he [told] his dad,
or his father, "Give me my inheritance,"
but the problem was he
squandered it all, right?
But if we compare this to God's love,
God's love is steadfast.
His love remains toward us.
(Derek) But in that same story,
when he does come home,
how does the father respond?
(Don) He accepts him back fully.
(Derek) What does he do?
(Team Member) Throws a feast.
(Derek) He throws his arms around him,
he kisses him on the neck,
he throws a party for him.
And by the way, I don't know about you,
but some people say, "Oh,
terrible Prodigal Son," but the son
that stayed home wasn't very nice,
and yet the father loved him, too, right?
Anybody else, think of a story,
Tricia Lee, a story where it's obvious
that God is showing love
even to the people that may
ignore His love or not welcome His love.
(Tricia Lee) I think
about an Old Testament story,
the story of the people of Nineveh
of this Assyrian Empire.
They were known for being very violent
and cruel, not just to others they
were conquering but also to themselves.
And God sent a prophet to warn them
to correct their ways,
and he traveled over a whole sea,
took a ship to reach them,
But He loved them enough to send them
a warning message and give them
an opportunity to change their ways,
which they did take advantage of.
And I thought that was an act of love.
He didn't just leave them
to just destroy themselves, or destroy them
without a warning, but He gave them
an opportunity to really realize,
"You can do better; you can live better."
(Derek) So, He shows love to them
even though the prophet Jonah
complained about it, like, "God,
You're really too loving."
It would be easy to talk
about the Ninevites who were very violent,
like Tricia Lee mentioned,
but actually His own people,
the children of Israel,
were very wayward, too.
I want someone to summarize the mission
of the prophet Hosea,
what God asked him to do,
and what was God trying to teach
about the extent of His love?
Anybody want to try a summary? Kylynda.
(Kylynda) Hosea was a prophet
for the children of Israel in a time
when they were often backsliding from God.
So God [told] the prophet, "I want you
to marry a woman that you know
will be unfaithful to you."
(Derek) Ouch!
(Kylynda) Right? Quite harsh, but Hosea
follows God's command.
He marries Gomer,
and what happens, happens.
She has multiple children;
they're not Hosea's.
Hosea gives them names that indicate
this kind of separation
between God and His people,
like a child named "Not My People."
And eventually, even though it's
not quite clear in the Bible, Gomer
falls into slavery; it's implicated
that this [is of] a sexual nature.
And God says, "Go back to her, be faithful to her even though she's
not faithful to you."
(Derek) Doesn't he have
to actually purchase her back?
(Kylynda) He redeems her from slavery with money.
(Derek) Is that a picture
of the love of God?
I hope you're listening today,
that God loves us
with an immeasurable and unfailing love.
But just telling that story,
putting ourselves as a spouse,
whether a husband or a wife,
with an unfaithful spouse,
it would be easy for us to say what?
"I'm done. I'm done," right?
(Don) Ready to separate.
(Derek) Right, but God continues,
and you're saying, even when she's
in some kind of enslaved situation.
(Kylynda) Yes, Hosea goes back.
He redeems her; he purchases her debt,
and he loves her, and he says,
"What's past is past.
Now we'll be faithful to each other.
You'll be faithful."
(Derek) So, I'm going to ask James
to take us to that little book of Hosea,
to chapter 14, because there is
a beautiful revelation, again,
as Sophia read with the Exodus revelation,
they had just been dancing naked
around a golden calf and calling it
the god that delivered them.
And here, waywardness typified
by Gomer's behavior, let's see
how the Lord speaks in chapter 14
of Hosea, verses 1 to 4.
(James) Sure, and I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Derek) What do you think
about that immeasurable, unfailing love
of God even with such waywardness? Sophia?
(Sophia) He's such a forgiving Person.
(Derek) Yeah, forgiving.
(Sophia) Even when He was so angry,
you know, cast them away from Himself.
(Derek) Is it okay to be angry
when things like that happen?
Doesn't Scripture say, "Be angry and..."?
(Harold) Do not sin.
(Derek) "Don't sin," right?
So, there's every reason to be angry.
Actually, not so much angry at the person,
but angry at what sin is doing
to damage someone that you love, right?
"I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely." Yes, Puia.
(Puia) A verse like this, Derek,
gives me hope that there is forgiveness
and a new start for everyone.
There may be someone here
listening or among us...
You know, oftentimes we fall,
and we make mistakes, and the guilt
and shame that comes along with it
is too much to bear for us.
But here we see God letting us know
that, "I will heal you.
You can have a new start,
a new beginning," what a hope.
(Derek) I'm going to ask Faith a question.
Faith, did you grow up...
I don't know the answer, by the way,
so there's no right or wrong answer,
but did you grow up with that perspective
of the love of God, that even when we
make terrible choices like Gomer made,
right, like the children of Israel made
at various times, that God was
relentless in His pursuit
of them to love them?
Did you grow up with that kind of picture
of the love of God?
(Faith) Yes, I think that picture
was also shown in my parents.
Obviously they disciplined, but they
taught us, and they continued to pursue us
to steer us in the right direction
and guide us and say, "Oh, this is
the right thing to do,"
and never give up on us.
And I think as I got older,
and now I'm in college, I have
a big community, and I also continue
to read the Bible daily, which allows me
to see that God won't give up.
And it's like Puia was saying,
you have that shame and guilt,
but you've got to make sure you
go directly to God,
and you don't sit in that.
So, yeah, I did grow up
with that picture of God.
(Derek) Thank you so much
for sharing that, Faith.
This leads me to a question,
an interaction question for us,
because Faith said she saw that
revealed in her parents, right?
So, the question I wanted to ask,
and I think this is a good time:
With so many distortions
of the character of God -
and we see God here,
loving freely, relentlessly -
how can we help, Harold,
how can we help people
to see a clearer revelation
of the character of God?
(Harold) Well, in my case, I believe
that you need to meet them
where they're at, reflect God's character.
If they need a companion, be there.
If they need help, provide the help
that they need, because at the end
of the day, we are ambassadors of Christ.
We are to represent Him.
And even Paul says, "The only reason
why the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God
is because of you, of your example,
because you do things, you're hypocrites."
We're all hypocrites; I've been there.
(Derek) ...a personal question, Harold,
because I know you didn't grow up
in a very strong Christian family.
So, who helped you - because some people
have heard a little of your testimony,
it's quite amazing - but who helped you
to see that revelation of a God
who loves freely?
(Harold) Well, it took, after I was
introduced to God, maybe 15 years later.
It was a friend of mine
in Rochester, New York.
I never heard that representation of God
the way she presented it to me.
I mean, she was not perfect, you know,
she had her flaws, yet all these years
I thought God was very demanding,
very vindictive, and I was
always afraid of Him.
But when she said,
"God is very compassionate.
You can talk to Him as a friend,"...
I always had to talk to Him,
like, with this reverence of like,
"Oh, yes, Sir," "No, Sir," but I talk
to Him as a friend.
And I believe that He can forgive.
I did not believe He forgave, before.
Even though I've heard
the message of forgiveness,
I did not believe he actually forgave
because I was too full of sin.
I thought I had to be perfect
before I would present myself...
(Derek) Accepted by Him.
Gleny, I see your hand; how would you
like to add to the discussion?
(Gleny) As a therapist, I had been working
with a client at a residential
depression/anxiety recovery program,
and he was so blown away,
but also simultaneously confused
with the compassion and love
he was experiencing around him.
I remember he mentioned that he
doesn't want to be like the people.
He knew who would get so rigid
and dictatorial when they would read
the Word and understand God, and he said,
"I just don't want to be like that."
And I asked him, like, there are many
of us who understand and read
the Word of God; do you
think that we are the same?
And he said, "Oh, wait, that's right.
You guys are some of the first people
I've met who had a different response,
actually a very positive response
after intentionally learning about God."
So, by their fruits, you shall know them.
And he was drawn to God by the way
we were working with him.
(Derek) So, we're hearing a theme.
Thank you so much, Gleny.
We're hearing a theme that, with all
of the confusion
about the character of God
that followers of God, you said,
could actually be part of the problem.
We could even have false teachers
who are religious teachers, right,
who give a confused picture of God.
Or we can be a living example of that. Travis.
(Travis) Derek, one of the things
that I've learned about being
a powerful witness for Jesus
is in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8,
It says, "You will receive power
to be my witnesses."
And we're not that smart,
and God will give us the power
to be appropriate witnesses of the gospel.
(Derek) So there is a revelation.
I see Sophia, and then, Tricia Lee,
I see your hand.
(Sophia) Just the distortion
of the character reminded me
of the Puritans in 1600s America.
They came to America to escape
religious persecution,
and right after they made their colony,
they began to persecute
everyone around them
because of their strict religious standards.
(Derek) To be fair, we might say
some of them began to persecute
those around them because there were
probably some who really did reveal
the love of God, right?
But it's easy for us to fall into that,
that we don't reflect
the immeasurable, unfailing love
of God. Tricia Lee?
(Tricia Lee) There's a Scripture
I'd like to share in Jeremiah,
chapter 32, verses 38 through 40.
(Derek) What translation are you reading from,?
(Tricia Lee) I'm reading
from the New King James Version, and it reads:
And "fear" being that loving respect.
I love this Scripture because it
reminds me of this idea of a covenant,
and that that is what God's love is.
And repeatedly in this passage He says,
"I will, I will, I will."
So often in our human experience,
love is like a transaction,
"I'll do this if you do that."
"If you do this,
then I'll always do this."
But God's everlasting love
is a covenant to us,
that, no matter what we do,
He will never stop loving us,
and that He has committed
to what He will do.
And so, there are times where there are
conditional promises and things like that,
but His love is everlasting, and it's
always a promise
of "I will, I will, I will."
And I think that's very different
than how we treat each other.
You know, you don't hear someone
in a marriage ceremony saying,
"I will do these things
only if you do that."
You always state your vows
as what you're committing
to that person, and in a way,
this everlasting covenant is
how God has committed
His unfailing, immeasurable love to us.
(Derek) Thank you
so much for sharing that.
There was a word that Tricia Lee
was repeating over and over again
that leads us into the next part
of our study, and that is
the everlasting love of God.
And I'd like someone to read
John 17 and verse 24.
John 17, Faith, do you have that?
John 17 and verse 24?
Let's see what testimony Jesus gave
regarding the everlasting love of God.
(Faith) And I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
John 17, verse 24:
(Derek) Alright, so there's a revelation.
You say, "Oh, no, that's
just that the Father loved His Son
before the foundation of the world."
What evidence do you find, anybody,
in the Scriptures that God's love for us
is also everlasting?
It's not bound by time, you know,
kind of like a time clock,
"You've got three years left," right,
or three mistakes left, or something,
but that it's everlasting.
Jesus said, "The Father has loved Me
since before the foundation of the world."
Anybody think of a Bible text? Yes, Samantha.
(Samantha) Well, I thought
of Romans 8, verses 38 and 39.
(Derek) Okay, give us
a moment to find that.
Romans, chapter 8?
(Samantha) Verses 38 and 39.
(Derek) And the letter
to the Romans was written by?
Anybody? The Apostle Paul, that's right.
So, these are to Christians
living in Rome, and you're reading
verses 38 and 39.
(Samantha) Yes, from the New King James Version.
(Derek) How does...?
(Samantha) It says:
(Derek) Somebody excited about that?
That's pretty amazing, isn't it?
Nothing can separate us. Puia.
(Puia) So, back to John 17:24
that we read earlier, what I see here
is that before creating the world,
God had already enjoyed
being in a relationship of love.
So, in a sense, God
didn't need to create us.
He didn't owe us this existence, nor love.
So this idea of God loving us freely,
voluntarily, is all an act of sacrifice
in a way, and we don't deserve
this level of love from God.
(Derek) But it's who God is, right?
Isn't there a text that says, "God is..."?
(Derek, Team) "...love."
(Derek) He doesn't just love,
He does love, but He loves because it's...
(Puia) His nature.
(Derek) The very essence
of who He is. Harold?
(Harold) I was going to read...
(Derek) Yes...
(Harold) It's in Lamentations, chapter 3.
(Derek) Lamentations doesn't sound
like a very happy book, does it?
But the prophet Jeremiah has
a beautiful promise there.
Lamentations, chapter 3 and verses?
(Harold) 22 to 24.
(Derek) 22 to 24, my wife
likes to sing this, so how does that read?
What translation are you...?
(Harold) I'll be reading
from the English Standard Version, and it reads:
(Derek) Beautiful, that's one
of my favorite verses, by the way.
And by the way, the context of that
is not that everything is going perfectly.
What's just happened?
(Harold) The Israelites were under captivity.
(Derek) They had just been taken into captivity.
(Harold) To Babylon.
(Derek) That's right, Daniel, Ezekiel,
and all those prophets are there.
Jeremiah is left in Jerusalem.
It's been ransacked, and he's lamenting.
But he says, "Through the Lord's mercies,"
I'm quoting the New King James,
"we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not."
Thank you for sharing
that text, beautiful. Yes, Don.
(Don) Another unfailing love from God,
if you'll allow me to read Isaiah 54?
(Derek) Give us a chance to find it.
(Don) I'm reading
from the New King James.
(Derek) Hold on just a minute then,
"Eye-ZAY-ah" or "Eye-ZY-uh," chapter 54.
(Don) Verse 10.
(Derek) And verse 10,
and what translation?
(Don) New King James.
(Derek) New King James,
"Eye-ZAY-ah" or "Eye-ZY-uh," 54:10.
(Don) And it says:
(Derek) We could find many texts,
I'm sure, in the Scripture that speak
about the everlasting love of God,
but one of the reasons
that people struggle is because they've
been in a relationship
where love has failed.
And they go, "Well, maybe God's
just like that, too."
"I thought it was
a loving, safe environment."
It may be a family member left,
like a parent or a spouse
or a close relationship,
and it's like it's hard for us
not to think, "Well, maybe God
is that way, too."
Anybody have an experience like that,
yeah, challenged that, but somehow God
made a clear picture that He
would not abandon you that way?
I don't know if anyone can relate to that.
I see a couple of reticent hands going up.
That's a tough question, isn't it,
but could you see how that could...
You know, daddy leaves, and it's like,
"Well, maybe my heavenly Father
is like that, too; maybe some day
He will just stop being there," right?
It's very real, isn't it? Harold?
(Harold) Well, my father, it got
to a point that I stopped
calling him father.
He was a very angry person.
He was a womanizer.
We would go to the park,
and he will tell me, "This will be
your new mom," and I'm like, "Excuse me?"
And I barely saw him, so...
(Derek) It's hard.
(Harold) It did hurt because I
always wanted a father, and I want
to be there for my daughter, too.
Not to mention the family was not good
because my mom also had her problems
growing up, so I did feel alone,
so, oh, I'm sorry.
(James) It's alright, it's alright. Tell your story.
(Harold) I did feel alone.
I didn't have the family that I wanted
because I didn't have birthdays...
Like, I got very indifferent about things
that people do as a family.
So, I just tried to protect myself
by trying to be indifferent
to these things so I could move on in life
because it's like, you know what, I cannot
allow these things to control me
or to dictate how I should live.
I need to do something.
So I do thank God that He did put people
along the way that started painting
this picture of God and trying to show me
who God really is.
And thankfully my mom,
even with her problems, she did
introduce me to the Bible
at a very young age.
So, I started reading and trying
to understand God from that angle.
So, then eventually, of course, I said,
like my friend from Rochester,
she eventually painted this bigger picture
of God to help me, like, "Oh, wow,
this is who God truly is;
I can call You my Father
because I always wanted a father,
but You are my Father that has been..."
Even though I did suffer, it was painful.
I did go through experiences that you
would think like, "Why would You
allow that, God?"
I mean it was done to me personally.
I mean, I cannot share
because of probably younger children,
but it's like, sure, I did
go through this experience, but I
cannot blame God because I am
in a broken world.
There are so many distortions
of God in the world, but yet we are
accountable for these things.
We are accountable, and we need
to take responsibility.
I cannot always put the blame on God.
But at the end of the day, I do praise God
that I was able to find a loving wife,
my family, and I don't want
to live like that; I really hated it.
I just want to be there for Sophia.
I want to give her a good representation
of who God really is.
(Derek) That's beautiful, Harold.
For those of you who don't know,
Brittany, who is one of our team members
and actually will be teaching one
in this series, but Brittany and Harold
just had a beautiful little girl.
And the name Sophia was mentioned,
so I can repeat it publicly.
And I'm really blessed
by what Harold just shared, and that is,
"I want my little girl to see
a true representation of the character
of our loving heavenly Father," right?
(Harold) Amen.
(Derek) And whether we're a parent
or a friend, right, or a child
to a parent, we want to be
a living representation
of what the loving character
of God looks like.
Whew, that's pretty intense,
but I need to move us on
to the last section,
because let's start again:
How many people does God love?
(Team) Everybody.
(Derek) He loves everyone,
but somehow we have a choice to make
whether we will accept
that intimate relationship
that we studied about.
Let's go to a story that Jesus told
in Matthew 24, verses 1 to 14,
Matthew 22, excuse me, verses 1 to 14,
and let's look; Kylynda, maybe you
could read it for us.
You say, "What has this got to do
with the love of God?"
Well, let's listen, because apparently,
lots of people are invited to a banquet.
So, how does this story
read in your Bible?
(Kylynda) I will be reading
from the New Living Translation:
(Derek) Wow, that's a pretty intense story.
Why would the king, if he said,
"Go find any," both good and?
(Team) Bad.
(Derek) So that would include us, right? Praise God.
Don't tell me which one you are,
but we're all saved
by the grace of God, right?
We're saved by the grace of God.
Why would the king be upset
if one person didn't have
a wedding garment on?
The only logical conclusion is?
(Sophia) He needed one.
(Derek) Well, he obviously needed one.
(Don) He needed to be really genuine or to fully accept the invitation.
(Derek) Who provided the wedding garment?
(Travis) He was unwilling to put it on.
(Derek) He was unwilling
to put on a wedding garment
that was provided!
If he had said, "Well, I didn't have one.
Nobody gave it; I stood
in the wrong line."
He's speechless because he's without excuse.
He's without excuse.
The wedding garment, that righteousness
which covers us, is a gift of God's grace.
To show up thinking we're okay without it
is a fatal mistake, right?
So, what does this last verse mean
in the story that Kylynda read?
"Many are called, but few are chosen"?
How many is the many who are called? Puia?
(Puia) All.
(Derek) It's everybody; how do you know?
(Harold) Good and bad were...
(Derek) Good and bad, everybody.
Everybody is called.
So, what does it mean?
"Many are called, but..."?
What does it mean, "Few are chosen"?
(Samantha) Only those who accept
that invitation and decide
to receive God's grace will be able
to enter into the Kingdom, will be chosen to enter.
(Derek) ...sounds like poor English,
but those who choose to be chosen, right?
Who wants to be chosen? Right?
Everyone is given the invitation.
The garment is provided.
Some people don't even want
to come, right?
In fact, most of the people
don't want to come.
But then some show up
without putting on the garment.
We have a choice to make. Travis?
(Travis) Interestingly, Jesus
starts out the beatitudes
in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 3,
[by saying], "Blessed are
the poor in spirit," those who realize
their brokenness, "for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven."
(Derek) Praise God.
So, I'm going to have you do
a little computer scan.
I want our remotes to be engaged here,
I'm going to ask you to be involved in that.
Can you think of someone
who received an unexpected invitation
to be part of the banquet -
which means to be part
of God's eternal kingdom, and experience
His immeasurable, unfailing love forever -
someone who received
an unexpected invitation and accepted it?!
Someone share a story with me,
unexpected invitation
and accepted it. Yes, Puia.
(Puia) It reminds me of Zacchaeus.
(Derek) Okay, Zacchaeus,
you don't need to read the story,
but tell us; Zacchaeus was a...?
(Puia) Tax collector.
(Derek) Very wealthy.
(Puia) And he probably didn't expect Jesus
to even know his name or invite him,
or, you know, dine with him.
That story just came into my mind.
(Derek) So, Luke 19, great story,
"I'm going to eat at your house today,
but more than that, salvation comes
to this house today," right, amazing story.
Someone else, an unexpected invitation.
I see Tricia Lee's hand raised. Tricia Lee?
(Tricia Lee) Yes, I think
about the thief on the cross.
He is guilty, and he is in the midst
of being punished for his crime or crimes,
and God extends salvation to him.
He has no chance to come down and live
a reformed life or do good things.
It is simply the faith, grace, and mercy
of God because we believe and know
that He is saved still hanging on that cross.
(Derek) Beautiful. Wow, that's
an amazing one.
I see Gleny's hand raised, too.
Gleny, somebody else that received
an unexpected invitation to be part
of this banquet which symbolizes
the Kingdom and said, "Yes!"
(Gleny) There's Matthew, who was
a very bad candidate for being a disciple
of Christ's because he was hated
as a tax collector, but he accepted
the invitation to follow Christ.
(Derek) Yeah, I hope that Matthew
and Zacchaeus got to be good friends,
you know, both tax collectors. Sophia.
(Sophia) Paul.
(Derek) Saul of Tarsus, what was he doing
before he accepted the invitation?
(Sophia) Persecuting Christians, killing them.
(Derek) Persecuting Christians!
Killing people, forcing them to blaspheme
the name of Jesus!
And he gets an invitation.
Where was he when he got the invitation?
On the Damascus road, and when he
got to Damascus, he gets the invitation,
and he says, "Yes."
Now, tragically, I wish we
could just end there,
but remember there's a choice.
So, someone, you're watching,
and you're going, "But you're saying
people could say no.
Maybe everybody will be saved."
Can you think of someone who received
a surprise invitation and said no?
(Samantha) The rich young ruler.
(Derek) Alright, Samantha mentioned
the rich young ruler who Jesus says,
"Get rid of the stuff
that's getting in the way and follow Me,"
and he walked away.
Anybody else? Yes, Harold.
(Harold) Judas Iscariot, unfortunately.
(Derek) After being one
of the close team members of Jesus,
Judas Iscariot rejected the invitation.
And, of course,
there's a shocking realization
that when we walk away
from the love of God,
there is no hope, there really isn't.
And tragically, he hangs himself.
But the love of God gives us
a reason to live.
What's the most important lesson
you've learned in our study today?
We've got a few seconds to wrap up.
Most important lesson, anybody. Puia.
(Puia) God is faithful even when we
are not faithful.
(Derek) But we can then choose...
(Puia) To be faithful.
(Derek) ...and to receive His love. Yes, Samantha.
(Samantha) God's love knows no bounds.
(Derek) It knows no bounds.
What's its only limit?
(James) Us.
(Derek) Us, that's right, James.
I want to appeal to you.
We're starting a series
on God's Love and Justice.
I want to testify by the Word of God
that Jesus loves you.
He came to reveal the Father's love
who has loved you
since the foundation of the world.
And He wants you to experience
an intimate relationship with Him,
to spend forever with Him.
You say, "Derek, you don't know
the things I've done."
It doesn't matter what you've done;
He can cleanse you, forgive you
of your sin, and give you
the gift of eternal life.
I want to appeal to you
to accept His love today.
You say, "Derek, I did that long ago."
Then, would you tell someone around you?
Would you tell someone who needs to know
really what God is like?
Let's pray together.
Father in Heaven,
we're just starting this journey,
studying about Your love and justice.
And I pray that Your Holy Spirit
would give supernatural revelation,
even as a result of this study,
of Your beautiful character of love,
that You will never stop loving us.
May we open our hearts to receive
Your love, even today.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Thanks for joining us
for Hope Sabbath School.
This is going to be an amazing journey.
You say, "Derek, it's going to change
my picture of God." Praise God!
See God for the awesome loving God
that He really is.
And, friend, don't keep
that good news to yourself.
Go out and be a blessing
to those around you.
♪ theme music ♪