HSS_2021_Q4_EP08

♪ theme music ♪

(Derek) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,

an in-depth, interactive study

of the Word of God.

We are in the middle

of a life-changing series,

Present Truth in Deuteronomy.

The topic today has eternal consequences;

it's called Choose Life.

So, I'm so glad you're with us

for our study today.

Welcome to Hope Sabbath School

and welcome to the team.

It's good to see you again.

And we're glad, even though we're
a small team here

because of the restrictions,

we've got some team members joining us.

I just want to welcome Travis

joining us from Michigan today.

Travis, good to see you.

And Adison joining us

from British Columbia, Canada,

Adison, good to see you again.

And Shaina joining us from Maine.

Shaina, it's always great

to have you on the team.

And we're just so excited today

because not only do we

have an expanded team,

but one of our team members is teaching.

Jason is going to be leading us

in a powerful study today

entitled Choose Life.

And I'm excited because I believe

that God wants everyone to choose life

and spend eternity with Him.

We're always happy to hear from you,

Hope Sabbath School members.

Write to us at [e-mail].

And sometimes people send a picture,

and Webson has written to us before,

but he sent a picture to us,

and he said, "Dear Pastor

and Hope Sabbath School team,

thank you for the spiritual inspiration

from the Word of God

through the Sabbath School studies."

He sent a picture of himself

and his two daughters, Shamiso

and Hanna, and grandma.

And he said, "Grandma only speaks Shona."

They're from Zimbabwe,

but living in Australia.

"Grandma only speaks Shona,

but she watches Hope Sabbath School

and says 'Amen, Amen.'"

Well, Grandma...Give Grandma
a wave, will you?

Give Grandma a wave.

Grandma, we're just so glad you're with us

for Hope Sabbath School

along with your son, Webson,

and Shamiso and Hanna.

What a beautiful family,

and thank you for being part

of our Hope Sabbath School family.

On the continent of Africa, Elias writes

from the great country of Kenya.

Many Hope Sabbath School members there.

In fact, he is an elder

of a church in Nairobi.

And he writes and says,

"Greetings, Hope Sabbath School."

(Team) Greetings!

(Derek) "Praise be to the Lord,

I want to thank God for the work

God is doing through you.

May the Lord continue

to bless your ministry.

We enjoy your Bible study with the team.

May the Lord bless the dedicated team

as they speak God's Word

to thousands of people across the world."

Well, Elias, thank you

for your leadership there in Nairobi.

God bless you; we're glad you're part

of our Hope Sabbath School family.

Well, here's a note, a handwritten note.

We get those every once in a while,
not just emails.

This note is from a donor in Georgia,

and the donor writes and says,

"I came across Hope Channel

about four months ago,

and I watched Hope Sabbath School.

Now, I can hardly wait

until 10 o'clock every morning

so I can watch Hope Sabbath School."

So, this viewer is watching

our daily Hope, which is series

that we broadcast in the past

in addition to our weekly program.

"I would like to thank you

and send something to help the ministry

of Hope Sabbath School.

God's blessings to you

and everyone on the team,"

and a donation of 425 dollars!

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) Praise God, thank you

so much, Georgia; you know who you are.

Georgia's not your name;
that's your state.

But I just want to say thank you

to all of our donors,

especially at this time of the year.

And I want to challenge you.

If you've never supported this -

this is a donor-supported ministry -

and you'd like to learn

how you can be part of this miracle,

write to me at [e-mail].

I'd love to share with you,

[e-mail],

or go to our website, hopetv.org/hopess.

Click on the donate button and say,

"I want to be part of the miracle,

sharing God's good news

for a better life today and for eternity."

But thanks especially to the donor

from Georgia, only been watching

for four months and saying,

"I want to be part of the miracle." Amen?

Here's a note from Tereapii
in New Zealand.

Now, I know I probably didn't

say Tereapii correctly,

and I'm guessing that's

a South Sea island name,

because I know there are

a lot of people in New Zealand

from the South Sea islands.

But here is the question from Tereapii,

"What talent is required

to be on Hope Sabbath School?"

And then Tereapii answers the question:

"Total surrender to the will of God

and to be led by the Holy Spirit.

Deny self daily, pick up your cross
and follow Jesus.

Thank you, Hope Sabbath School,

for sharing the good news of the gospel.

God bless you all. Amen."

Well, what a beautiful testimony,

and you're absolutely right,

Tereapii (I hope I said that right).

Write to me again and tell me

phonetically how to say it,

but great to know we have

Hope Sabbath School members

way across on the other side

of the planet in New Zealand.

One last note, from Harry

in the United States of America,

and Harry says, "I've been watching

Hope Sabbath School for over five years.

I want to thank you for sharing your lives

and your testimonies with us.

It means so much to hear them,

and I will support your ministry.

Thank you, again."

Well, Harry, you know, I would say this,

whether it's five dollars

or five thousand dollars,

it's not how much but the heart

that's willing to be a part

of the miracle. Amen?

The Holy Spirit will tell you what to do.

Just like someone sat down

and wrote 425 dollars.

The Holy Spirit will show you,

but we can all be part of the miracle.

And I want to thank you

for sharing with us.

Well, right now we need your help.

We need you to sing our theme song

because our theme song,

"Be strong and of good courage,"

you can teach that to your children,

but you can also learn it yourself

because we need that strength

in these days in which we live,

a strength that will give us

the courage to choose life.

That's our theme today.

Let's sing it together.

♪ music ♪

(Derek) I love the end of that song,

"He will not leave you or forsake you."

And I think He's always there

saying, "Choose life!"

That's our topic; Jason, lead us

in a prayer as we begin to study.

(Jason) Please bow your heads as I pray.

Our dear heavenly Father, today,

as we open Your Word,

help us to understand

how we can choose life today.

Thank You, how You've given us life,

and help us to understand

how to apply this in our lives.

We pray this in the name of Jesus,

our Life-Giver. Amen.

(Derek, Team) Amen.

(Jason) We've been looking here

at Deuteronomy and present truth,

lessons we can learn.

And today, talking about choices,

I thought it would be a good idea for us

to kind of think about some of the choices

that we've had to make in life.

And so I want to ask

some of you here on the team,

what are some choices

that you have had to make?

Maybe they were easy choices; maybe they

were some hard, difficult choices.

What are some choices

that you've had to make? Brittany.

(Brittany) Well, one has been,

first of all, choosing to follow Jesus
for myself.

That was the most important decision

that I've ever made.

(Jason) Your most important decision,
yes, choosing to follow Jesus.

John, what's a choice you've had
to make in life before?

(John) I think besides choosing
to follow Jesus,

an important decision that I had to make

was what to do after high school,

where God wanted me to go.

(Jason) Yeah, you had to make a choice

where God was going to guide you

in your education, in your career. Sabina?

(Sabina) I think that one

of the most important decisions

that I had to make,

apart from following Jesus,

was in a time in my life

when Jesus asked me to quit my job

to further pursue ministry.

So, I think this was a big decision also.

(Jason) Wow, you had to make a choice

to actually quit something

in order to follow, more,

God's plan for your life. Harold.

(Harold) Also, another important decision

I had to make is choosing my friends,

not that I cannot be friends with anyone,

but how often can I spend time

or allow them to influence my life,

depending if they have a bad influence.

So, it's like, "Lord, help me follow

what is right in something

that could make a difference

for the better for anybody around me.

(Jason) Alright, so as we see here,

we've all had to make choices.

Maybe some were simple choices,

others, as we've talked about,

were some difficult choices

or had a lot of significance.

Brittany referenced being able

to choose Jesus as our Savior.

So, let's look at this idea of choices,

and I want us to begin in Isaiah.

I want us to look at choice, actually,

by starting with God's perspective.

And so, Harold, could you

actually start us out and read

Isaiah, chapter 46, verses 9 and 10.

And I want us to kind of see here,

how do we see choices,

how does God see our choices?

(Harold) Yes, and I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,
and it reads:

(Jason) Alright, so someone on the team,

when you hear those verses,

what does that tell you?

Does that say anything about our choices?

Brittany, what do you see there?

(Brittany) Well, God knows

what we're going to choose ahead of time,

but it's amazing to me

that even though He knows that,

He gives us every opportunity
to choose life.

He doesn't just say, "Oh, I know

she's not going to choose,"

or, "He's going to choose,

but I'm going to give them

every opportunity that I can."

(Derek) Some people would state,

"Well, if God already knows,

then we really don't have

a freedom of choice."

But, as Brittany, said, God knows

the choices we'll make.

And if we make poor choices

or reject His grace,

He will still accomplish His purpose.

Unfortunately, it may be without us.

He's not going to say, "Well,

I guess We'll give up,"

because the story of Scripture

is a God who never gives up.

But He appeals to us to choose life.

(Jason) Exactly, the importance

of being able to make choices,

being able to make the right choices.

So, we talk about this idea

of God knowing the end from the beginning,

God knowing our choices,

not just our good choices,

but also even our bad choices.

So, Sabina, if God knows our poor choices,

why did He give us this freedom?

Why did He give our first parents
this freedom?

Why didn't He say, "I know
you're going to mess up,

so I'm not even going to give you
that opportunity"?

(Sabina) You know, Jason, God is love.

That's what the Bible teaches, right?

And a premise of love is that it needs

to be freely given and freely received.

So, I understand that He,

even though knowing

that there was a potential

for evil to come about,

He preferred that we would experience

true love instead of making of us

some sort of robots, you know.

(Jason) Alright, Shaina, I see you

raising your hand there.

You've got a thought here?

(Shaina) Yes, so the character

that's consistent with God

is that, as Sabina says, He is all-loving.

And as our Father, it would be
more meaningful

if the decisions that we made

were based on our convictions

and not because, "I have to do this

because it's a law and it's strict,

and I don't really want to do it."

But there's a difference between that

and, "I love God, so, therefore, I'm going

to make the right choice and choose life."

(Jason) Amen. Adison,

you want to jump in here?

(Adison) Yes, I was just thinking,

along with what Shaina was sharing,

this freedom of choice and love,

I mean, they only go together...

Essentially God wants

a relationship with us.

You can't have that with created beings

that don't have the ability to choose.

So, that's super important to God.

He wants to have a relationship

with each one of us.

And by the grace of God,

we'll choose Him every day.

(Jason) Amen. Harold,

you're nodding your head.

You really resonated with that statement?

(Harold) Well, in terms of a relationship,

because the thing is, we seek that.

I mean, I seek that

all the days of my life.

And we were born like that as well.

We were made for relationship,

because we were made in the image of God,

and that's what it means.

Like, "Wow, I have this freedom to choose,

and I want to enter into that relationship

because I was made in the image of God."

(Jason) Amen. And talking

about the relationship and being made

in the image of God,

let's go there now and look

back at how we got

this freedom of choice.

What happened in the beginning

when we were made in the image of God.

And I'm going to ask Adison

if you could read for us

back there in the beginning

in Genesis, chapter 2, if you could read

verses 8 and 9 and 15 through 17.

And as Adison reads, I want us to see here

what happened here in the beginning,

how did we begin with this ability

to have this freedom to choose?

(Adison) And I'm reading

from the New King James Version:

And jumping to verse 15:

(Jason) Alright, now, before we get in

and unpack these verses a little bit,

I want to ask, who was the first person

that we see introduced here in verse 8?

Who is, if you will, the first mover,

the one making the first move here?

Brittany, who was the first person?

(Brittany, Jason) God.

(Brittany) In the garden.

(Jason) In the garden.

So, this freedom of choice that we have,

it doesn't come from ourselves.

God is the one who gives us this freedom,

and yet, it's interesting,

so God gives us this freedom,

and how does He give this freedom?

What happens here, Stephanie?

What are some of the facts we see

in the story that tells us
about this freedom?

(Stephanie) He put them in the garden,

and He told them to tend it.

And then He said, "Of this tree

you're not to eat,

but of these other trees you can eat."

So He gave them some guidelines

of what He expected,

and then He gave them

the opportunity to choose.

(Jason) He gave them the opportunity.

Sabina, tell us more,

what's going on here?

Stephanie referenced something
about this tree

and the opportunity to choose?

You want to expand on that?

(Sabina) Yeah, it says here in the text

that this was a special tree,

that there was this one unique tree

that they could not freely eat from;

otherwise, they would die.

But we can see here that God has

apparently relinquished part of His power

so that they could do their own choice,

even though this was

such a dangerous place to be, right;
it's interesting.

(Jason) So, they could surely die.

Now, we're talking about choosing life,
correct?

Isn't that kind of almost contradictory?

We're talking about choosing life,

and yet here we have

death being referenced?

So, how can we have

death being referenced with life? Derek.

(Derek) I've been wrestling,

even while we're reading:

Why did He put the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil

in the midst of the garden?

Why didn't He just put it

way off on the side somewhere,

where we wouldn't have to choose?

You know, just leave it out of the way.

And I think the only answer
to that, Jason,

is understanding what it reveals

in Revelation,

that there's a big controversy,

and lies are being told

that God's creation has no freedom,

and that there's this arbitrary God
who is a tyrant.

So, there are bigger issues

than just Adam, our first parent.

(Jason) John, you had a thought to share.

(John) Sometimes we think

that God is too restrictive,

but we find in verse 16 where God says,

"Of every tree of the garden

you can freely eat,

but just that one tree,

don't eat from it."

So that really doesn't show

that God is too restrictive.

You see, God gives so much choice
in choosing life,

and just one tree in choosing death.

(Jason) Yes, Brittany, you

had a thought there.

(Brittany) Just I definitely agree

with what John said, that God gives us

so many opportunities to choose life,

but there is the opportunity

at the same time where we could

reject that choice of life

and choose death instead.

There are really only two options for us.

But God wants to expand

on all the opportunities He gives us

to choose eternal life.

He doesn't want us to go down the path

that leads to death

and eternal separation from Him.

(Jason) Amen. Travis, you had a thought

you wanted to share here with us?

(Travis) Well, again, just building

on what has been previously mentioned,

and that is, God is full of choices.

He set up every tree,

as was just mentioned,

they could freely eat.

But when they had partaken

of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

they were banished from the garden,

and actually by choosing that,

then their choices actually
became restricted

because then they couldn't eat
of the trees.

And so, here there was a tradeoff.

When we sin, actually it's then

that our choices are restricted.

God is a god of choices.

He wants to give us all kinds of choices,

and when we sin...

I think of that story of Samson.

God gave him a free life

to choose and to do and to rule,

and he kept choosing sin, sin,

until finally he was bound,

grinding wheat for the Philistines,

and that's what sin is; it's restrictive,

restrictive, restrictive, restrictive.

But when we choose God's will,

it just opens up choices

and choices and more choices

that actually lead to happiness.

(Jason) Amen. Well, Travis referenced

what happened there in Genesis 3,

so, Brittany, I think

it's important for us

to actually read for ourselves.

And as we read (please read

Genesis 3:1-6), let's kind of look,

because we talk about this often

in terms of one choice, but let's see.

There might be some other choices

buried within the story that will help us

understand what happened in this process

of our first parents making choices.

(Brittany) I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,

Genesis, chapter 3, verses 1 through 6:

(Jason) Alright, well, we know

that's a very sad story,

but I want us to kind of look now

at the story and see.

Someone here on the team, what are choices

that you see that were made?

Harold, what's one of the choices you see

that were made in this process?

(Harold) Well, we see that Eve

engaged with the serpent

because the serpent started

with a question, trying to make her think.

But then eventually she gave in

based on the serpent's suggestion,

so that's a problem.

Like at times sin may be very tempting,

but we need to run away from sin,

because if you already know the truth

and the instructions,

why are you still entertaining it when God

already told you, "Don't do this"?

(Jason) So, Eve made the choice

to engage the serpent.

Sabina, what other choices
do you see here?

(Sabina) After engaging with the serpent,

the next more important choice

that I see her making here

is the choice of whether to eat
the fruit or not.

Because after engaging with the serpent,

she has this whole dialogue

on whether that's good or not.

And then the next choice

she needs to make is that one,

either taking or not.

(Jason) Shaina, you see a choice here.

(Shaina) Yes, I see Eve made

a conscious choice to give into her flesh.

Like, in verse 6 it says that she "saw

that the tree was good for food,

and it was pleasant to her eyes."

And that's a pitfall or a temptation

that we often face today.

We know the Word of God.

She knew the word of God; she repeated

the words of God to the serpent,

but she instead chose

to give in to the desires of the flesh.

And, you know, the repercussions,

as a result of that, followed.

(Jason) Brittany.

(Brittany) Another choice that I see

is that she chose to believe the lies

of Satan rather than the truth of God.

God had given her His truth to begin with,

and then she entertains this conversation,

and then she listens to his deception

rather than the truth

that God had already given her.

And that's the same thing with sin;

we can choose to rely

on the promises of God

or give in to the deceptions of Satan.

(Derek) And you know, Jason,

as Brittany just mentioned,

that was what really struck me.

Satan is a liar; Jesus called him

the father of lies.

He's also a deceiver.

If he had come and said,

"God, your Creator, is a liar,"

I would hope she would have run,

but he doesn't do that.

But clearly in his words he's saying,

"God is lying to you."

And so the fundamental choice

is, "Who do I trust?

Do I trust my Creator,

who loves me and gave me freedom,

or do I trust...," and we know

it wasn't a serpent.

We know "that old serpent,

the devil and Satan," the enemy,

the great adversary is using

the serpent to tempt her.

But I think that's

the fundamental question.

And for all of us who may be struggling

with all kinds of temptations,

"Will I choose to trust that God loves me

and that He desires my best good,

even in the guidelines He gives to me?"

(Jason) Yes. John, you wanted to add,

related to this idea of choices?

(John) Yeah, just to build

on what others said.

We see that Eve is trusting her senses

rather than what God had said.

And oftentimes we end up into a sin

because we trust our senses.

And that's why one author said that we

need to guard the avenues of our soul.

(Jason) Yes, it's important that we guard,

not just for our own self salvation

but so we're connected

in that relationship with God

because we have the freedom of choice,

and it's important that we exercise

this freedom of choice in the right way.

Well, we see here that Adam and Eve

did not exercise their freedom of choice

in the best way, and so there were

some consequences that happened.

And, Sabina, I'd like

if you could read for us

more about these consequences

in Genesis, chapter 3, here,

verse 19 and 23 to 24.

And, as you read, let's see here

what are the effects of using

our freedom of choice

in a way that isn't choosing life.

(Sabina) Okay, so I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,

and verse 19 says:

And then verses 23 and 24:

(Jason) Alright, so, we see here

there are some effects,

there are some consequences.

Harold, what are some consequences

you see of the choices

that Adam and Eve made?

(Harold) Well, because of their choices,

basically the prolongation

of their lives was restricted,

because also in the garden

was the tree of life,

and now they don't have access to that.

So, they lost that.

(Jason) They lost access
to the tree of life.

Brittany, what are some effects
that you see here?

(Brittany) They had to leave

their beautiful home; they were

sent out of the garden.

And before, they used to walk

and talk with God face to face,

but afterwards we don't see that.

We see God communicating with them,

but we don't see this face-to-face
communication

happening any longer

because they are out of the garden.

(Jason) Sabina.

(Sabina) I think that for me

the most dramatic consequence

is that now they are going to return
to dust.

So, verse 19 says that they were

taken out of the dust,

and to dust they should return,

and this was not God's intention.

They were supposed

to live eternally, right?

(Jason) Now, this death

that we're talking about here,

is this only the first death?

Or, the choice that Adam and Eve made,

is it true that the choice they made

could have resulted in eternal death?

Yeah, what happened, Brittany?

I see you nodding your head there.

(Brittany) Well, we know

earlier in chapter 3

that God made a promise,

in that a Deliverer would come

and give them the opportunity

to have eternal life again.

But they had to choose.

They had to choose to accept the gift

and He even demonstrated what that Being

was going to do for them by slaying

an animal and giving them tunics.

So, He was showing, "Someone's

going to have to die in your place

in order that you can have life."

(Jason) So, while we love exercising

our freedom of choice,

we have the opportunity to choose life,

and we also have the opportunity

not to choose life.

Though, as Brittany reminded us there,

even when our first parents

didn't make the right choice,

even when they didn't choose life,

God stepped in there,

put in the plan of salvation,

and Jesus ends up taking our place

so that we can choose life. Yes, Derek.

(Derek) I'm wrestling with why God allowed

Adam and Eve...I don't know that we know

how long Eve lived, but I think the Bible

tells us Adam lives, what, 930 years.

You know, that's a lot of suffering,

that's a lot of pain, looking back

and saying, "Oh, God, I'm so sorry

for what happened there."

Well, I think there are two reasons.

I think that God wanted to continue

to show His love to His children,

and He did that in a variety of ways,
blessing them.

But also, again, the bigger picture,

the great controversy, that this liar,

called Satan, the devil,

that his deceptions would be exposed,

that he would be revealed

for the monster that he has become,

and that God's character of love

would be fully vindicated.

So, it's easy for us to say,

"Well, why did you...?"

But there's a bigger picture

that God is revealing

the truth of His character.

(Jason) Now, I want to talk

about that a little more,

because we know that God is all-loving,

and yet someone could say,

"Well, you say God is all-loving,

but if He's all-loving, why didn't He

warn our first parents about the history

that Derek referenced there

about this dragon in the beginning

and about what happened in heaven?

How could He be all-loving

if He didn't truly warn them?"

Harold, you had a thought on that.

(Harold) Even though it doesn't say

in Scripture that God directly warned,

then why did the devil

come up as a serpent?

I mean, he used a serpent to deceive,

because if an angel would have come

like he was, I mean, he is an angel,

if he were to come as is,

maybe it was not as easy to deceive.

I mean, that's an idea.

(Jason) Alright, so possibly he had to...
Derek.

(Derek) I have no doubt

that the Creator warned them, no doubt,

because He loved them.

And they said, "Well, God,

can you tell us about that tree?

What's that about?"

I don't think He said,

"Don't ask that question."

I think He loved them, and He said,

"That's all about a battle

that's going on right now

because a fallen angel

rebelled against My authority,

and deceived a third

of the angels with him.

So, we're in a big battle here.

This is just a sign that you can choose

to be loyal to a loving God."

So, I think He did warn them.

(Jason) Sabina.

(Sabina) What I'm thinking also,

and goes along with what Harold
just shared,

is that even in this case,

what matters the most,

more than the warning,

is that they would trust God's word,

because the serpent appeared not,

as he was saying, as a beautiful,

wonderful angel that they could discern

as being Lucifer or Satan now.

So, even if they had not been able

to know anything about that story,

the fact is that knowing

who is the serpent or not,

what matters is that they would obey God.

(Derek) Right, trust Him.

(Jason) Stephanie.

(Stephanie) I think it does matter a lot,

because God, it's His character

that's on the line.

And everywhere we see in the Bible,

He's not willing that any should perish

but all come to repentance.

He would not put us in a position

where we were not fully prepared

and know that we could go and trust Him

and ask Him for His help.

So, I think His character

is on the line here if He had not.

(Jason) Travis, you had a thought

you wanted to add.

(Travis) I wanted to build

on what Derek had said,

because I really think that's important.

For anyone to think that Adam and Eve

were not warned, I mean, I think

that would be just a silly thought.

And I think of the book of Isaiah,

there's a description of Satan,

the book of Ezekiel,

there's a description of Satan.

And then I think of Amos 3:7

where God says, "I do nothing

unless I reveal it

through my servants the prophets."

God knows the end from the beginning.

He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever.

If God is warning us, and we have,

through the book of Isaiah,

through the book of Ezekiel,

the descriptions of Satan

and how he had fallen and everything

that Satan is trying to do,

there's no doubt in my mind

that God would have warned

the first parents as well, in person.

(Stephanie) I agree.

(Jason) Alright, so just because we don't

have every single detail

of their conversations,

we can see from the context,

from God's character and personality

that He really cares, He loves,

and He definitely gave them a heads-up.

Well, let's think about this idea now

of freedom of choice,

because we know we can choose life,

but what about this idea

of freedom of choice?

Is it actually a good idea?

Stephanie, you're smiling.

Is it a good idea to be able

to have freedom of choice?

(Stephanie) It has to be. God chose it.

(Jason) It has to be.

God chose it. Harold.

(Harold) It is a great idea,

because, I mean, as an individual,

one, the way I was made,

I don't like to be just restricted.

I mean, that's human nature.

We like to have freedom.

Now, of course, freedom

that actually gives us...for life,

actually I like how Travis put it earlier.

When we sin, actually,

our life is restricted

and in some sense can even lead

to death more quickly.

So, God made us to enjoy

and enjoy abundantly, actually,

so I like that type of freedom.

(Jason) Amen. Yes.

Alright, Adison, you have a thought here.

(Adison) Yeah, I just heard

what Harold was talking about.

And to add to that,

just from my human conception

of this whole idea,

I think freedom of choice, it's risky,

There's a risk to it,

but yet it's a risk

that was completely worth taking.

And, yeah, it's an incredible thing

that we see here, God giving us

the ability to choose.

But by His grace, we can

choose Him every day and walk with Him

in newness of life.

(Jason) Amen. Shaina, you want

to add to this idea of freedom of choice.

(Shaina) So, freedom of choice

is a great idea because you elicit

or you're getting a genuine response

from the person about whatever
the situation is.

If they didn't have the freedom to choose,

you wouldn't be getting

what their true heart is,

and so it gives you an opportunity to see

where this person's heart lies,

where their mind is trained,

or where their train of thought is going.

And it ultimately helps you to determine,

is this person what you really need

for whatever you're doing.

(Jason) John, you had a thought to add?

(John) Within the freedom of choice

or the gift of choice that God gives us,

there is love, respect, and intelligence.

You know, you take kids that come

from two different backgrounds.

From one background we see

where the parents enforced, "Okay,

you need to be a doctor, nothing else."

But that kid wants to be a photographer

or something else, you know.

There is no excellence

in what the child is doing,

although he goes to medical school.

But on the other hand, the parents

say, you know, "You do what's best

and what you're good at."

That child really flourishes.

And so right there we see

how valuable freedom of choice

or the gift of choice is.

(Jason) Sabina.

(Sabina) I'm thinking also, Jason,

that a good question could be like, well,

is love worth, like, is love valuable?

Do we care about love?

Maybe if we didn't care about love,

then we couldn't care

about freedom either.

But if you care about love

and what love truly is,

then we love freedom of choice

because it's necessary for love

to be valuable to happen.

(Jason) Alright. Travis.

(Travis) Well, actually Sabina

kind of just took the words
out of my mouth,

and that is that I just believe

that love and freedom go hand in hand.

You can't have one without the other.

And we can see this,

as we study the Scriptures,

that Satan is always

the one doing the forcing.

And of course, we know

that that's not love.

And Jesus is always the one "coercing."

He says we love Him

because He first loved us.

He's "coercing" us by His love,

by His patience, by His mercy,

and He's giving us that choice.

I just don't think

that the two can exist without the other.

In order to have love,

we must have freedom.

(Jason) So, alluring and drawing...

(Derek) Yeah, I want to wrestle

with the word "coerce"

because I don't think love ever coerces.

But I know what Travis is saying.

He earnestly appeals to us, right?

"Coerce" doesn't work.

Harold's married to Brittany.

If when he first met her,

he chained her up and locked her

in a room somewhere,

she would never love him.

Love, as Travis said, love and freedom,

they are inextricably linked together.

So, how would you describe Jesus?

I would describe His drawing us

like an earnest appeal, like when He says,

"Jerusalem, oh, I wish I could gather you

like a hen gathers her chicks,"

so, this earnest appeal,

which is so different

from how the kingdom of darkness works.

(Jason) Amen. Now, we've talked

about freedom of choice here.

We all love it; we think it's positive.

But I want us to actually think

to our own experiences.

And this is a little bit vulnerable,

but I wonder, is there anyone

on the team here who may have had

the opportunity to engage

in freedom of choice,

and maybe you exercised

your freedom of choice in a harmful way,

in a way that was problematic?

Harold, you've actually exercised
your freedom of choice?

(Derek) In a wrong way.

(Harold) In the wrong way and had

very, very terrible consequences.

And one of the bad choices I made

was being in a relationship with a girl

who was not of the same faith

or the same belief,

which actually led me more away from God.

Not only that, it even made me

reinterpret the Scripture

to my own convenience.

Not only that, I lost 10,000 dollars,

the spending, trying to please her.

On top of that, I did poorly in school;
I failed courses.

And then the relationship ended,

and I was emotionally unstable
for a few years.

So, looking back, it's like...

But yet, God delivered me

because I did make this prayer,

because I realized, "I am not

in the right spot right now.

I'm with the wrong person.

I'm doing the wrong choices."

And I said, "Lord, if You

give me a way of escape, I will take it."

And thankfully she ended the relationship

because I did so many things

that I thought, like, I couldn't

break the relationship.

But God did it for me,

and I took the way of escape.

And I repented, and I

just thank God for delivering me.

But looking back, it's like, man,

this is very, very bad,

like trying to please my own pleasures

based on my choices,

and look where I'm at.

So, I thank God that in the end,

He helped me see

that I needed to choose life.

I needed to choose Him.

(Derek) And what's so powerful, I mean,

your wife is sitting right here, Brittany,

God never delivers us

from those bad choices

without giving us much better choices.

And here you are married

to a wonderful woman of God

who is not only part of the team

but helps teach Hope Sabbath School.

So, praise God, I love that idea

that when God says, "That's not healthy,"

it's not, as John said,

that He's taking away all of our choices.

He's saying, "Don't go

with that negative choice.

Look at all of these beautiful,
healthy choices

that are available for you."

(Jason) Amen. And now, Stephanie,

we need to go to Deuteronomy,

since we've been talking

about that book in this series.

And so, I'd like for you to read for us

in Deuteronomy, chapter 30,

if you could read verses 15 through 19

because Moses makes this appeal

based on this idea of our ability

to choose and to choose the right way.

(Stephanie) And I'll be reading

from the New King James Version:

(Jason) Amen. So this is

an earnest appeal here.

Brittany, what do we see

Moses saying in these verses?

(Brittany) He's setting before them
two choices.

There are really only two choices

for each one of us.

We can choose life

and eternity with Christ,

or we can choose death

and separation from our loving God

who's done everything for us.

(Jason) Yes, Sabina.

(Sabina) And I can see a parallel

with the text of Genesis

that we just read.

You know, the tree,

that particular tree we're talking about

that they were not supposed to take from,

it was also a tree that related

to evil or good, the knowledge

of good and evil, right?

And again, they are given

another opportunity to choose

between good and evil,

between death and life.

I was just considering that, and I think

that's an interesting parallel.

(Jason) Adison.

(Adison) I love this passage because it's

not only just a powerful appeal,

but you really see the heart of God,

right here in this passage.

Moses is reflecting the character of God

in such a profound way.

He shows such a love

and a care for the people,

how he wants them to choose life.

And I hear like this earnestness
in his appeal.

I always picture him, like,

sort of...just crying out and saying,

"Will you make this choice today?"

You know, this earnest appeal,

"Today is the day of salvation,"

and it's quite an amazing thing.

(Jason) Amen. Travis, you had something

you wanted to add here?

(Travis) Yeah, I'm just thinking

about Moses talking this,

and it's something - a verse

came to my mind that I remembered reading.

And I thought, Moses was not

just speaking randomly; he was a man

who practiced what he preached.

And I don't remember where the verse is,

but I'm going to quote it, and it said

that Moses chose to suffer the afflictions

with the children of Israel

rather than to enjoy the pleasures

of sin for a season.

So, Moses, way before this,
had chosen life.

So, like, what a leader, right?

And here he is passing down the things

that he had learned about God

and the right choices;

he's handing them down.

And I just thought,

praise God for godly leaders.

(Derek) Hebrews 11:24,25,

part of the great faith chapter,

a great example of choosing life.

But actually it was kind of a paradox,

because, in choosing life,

he appeared to be letting go

of all of the wealth of Egypt,

all of the social standing, right,
all of the power,

but actually that was the way

that led to death.

He chose life with God's people.

(Jason) Yes, and we see here,

as Travis talked about,

this says something about Moses' character

and about Moses' identity.

Now, John, if you could actually read

for us just the last verse there

that we read, verse 19,

I want us to go back and look

particularly at how our choices,

they're not only for us,

they also can impact others, as well.

(John) This is Deuteronomy, chapter 30

and verse 19; I'm reading

from the King James Version, and it says:

(Jason) Alright, you and your seed,

you and your descendants.

Brittany, how does our choice, how does

it impact others beyond just us?

(Brittany) Well, I think

about my own story, my grandmother

at 40 years old accepted an invitation

to do Bible studies.

And that led to a transformation
in her life,

which then, she, at that time

was pregnant with my mother

who was the fifth child in the family.

And she was able to be raised

knowing Christ as her personal Savior.

And then that passed on to my mother

teaching me how to have

a relationship with God.

And so, I see the blessing

of not only you choosing life,

but your descendants also have
that opportunity.

(Jason) Yes. John.

(John) When Brittany talked

about her testimony,

it reminded me of my testimony

when my grandmother heard

about the Sabbath on the radio,

and then all of a sudden

she finds a flyer that lands in her house.

And then she goes

to an evangelistic series.

She makes the choice to follow Jesus,

and it had ripple effects, you know.

Today, I am able to know Jesus,

because my parents introduced that to me,

because my grandmother

introduced Jesus to them.

(Derek) Amen. So beautiful.

And the opposite, Jason, is also true.

I think of the tragedy

that there may have been children

at the time before the flood,

and the children said, "Mommy, daddy,

we want to go into the ark."

And the parents said, "Oh,

don't listen to Noah; he's crazy."

By the way, I do believe

that some of those people

will be saved by faith, trusting in God.

But you understand what I'm saying.

The same with Sodom and Gomorrah,

you know, I mean, choices we make

could lead to damage and even destruction

for people around us.

(Jason) Well, I want us to look

a little more at what it means
to choose life,

how this is applied practically.

And so, Shaina, I want to ask

if you could actualy take us

to the New Testament

because the Apostle John

in 1 John 5:11-13 actually tells us

more about how we choose life,

what that looks like for us today.

(Shaina) Yes, and I'll be reading

from the New King James Version:

(Jason) Alright, so, Stephanie,

how do we make the choice to choose life

according to the Apostle John here?

(Stephanie) Believe in the name

of the Son of God, that's what it says.

(Jason) Yes, Sabina, you wanted
to add to that?

(Sabina) I was thinking about...

I just had exactly like this verse here,

reflecting that the life is in His Son.

So, as long as we receive the Son,
we receive life.

(Derek) And I think it's important

(I know Stephanie believes this),

but it's more than just believing
in the name.

It's choosing to accept Him

because it says, "He who has the Son."

So, it's choosing to say,

"Jesus, be Lord of all."

You know, we have that little gospel song,

"Come into my heart, Lord Jesus."

So, it's believing and then accepting

all that Jesus wants to be

as Savior and Lord.

(Jason) Amen. And we know

that has an impact,

and that changes our lives.

Some of us here have shared testimonies

about how God has led

in our families' lives.

But it's important that we understand

the motivation for this

because we can make the right choices,

we can have a good testimony,

but it has to be motivated

by the right thing.

And so, Sabina, I'd like if you could read

Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse 20,

because Moses talks about the motivation

that we need to be able to have

to make the right choice here.

And so, yes, if you could read

Deuteronomy here for us,

we can understand the right motivation
for this choice.

(Sabina) Okay, so it's Deuteronomy 30,

verse 20; I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,
and it says:

(Jason) Alright, so, what is

the motivation here, Brittany?

I see you smiled there.

(Brittany) It's choosing love.

Choosing God because you love Him...

He loves us, and we want

to respond in love to Him.

(Jason) Harold, you wanted to add to that.

(Harold) Well, there's nothing else to add

because, I mean, God is...

Love is the definition of God,

actually they are like equivalences.

God is love; love is God,

I mean, that is what makes God.

(Derek) And you know what's so beautiful,

I love that verb there.

It says, "Cling to Him."

The beautiful thing

is we're not clinging to Him

like a divine Being trying

to shake us off, you know.

He's embracing us.

It's like when a little one

climbs up into your lap,

and they're embracing you,

but you're holding onto them, right?

You're making sure that they are

in a safe, loving environment.

So, to me, that verb "to cling"

is a very intimate relational verb.

(Jason) Yes. Now, this idea of love

is also connected to obedience,

and there's a verse I want us to read.

Travis, if you could

actually read that for us.

It's in the book of John,

chapter 14, verse 15.

And these are the words of Jesus.

Jesus actually talks about,

we know we're motivated by love,

and Moses here, as Sabina read

in this verse,

talks about love and obedience.

And so, let's see, what does Jesus say

about this idea of love and obedience.

(Travis) And I'll be reading

from the New King James Version; it says:

(Jason) Alright, Stephanie,

you had a thought there at this verse

about love and motivation and obedience.

(Stephanie) Well, I think it says it

pretty much all there.

"If you love Me, you will

keep My commandments."

And it goes on, well,

that would go into chapter 15,

but we love Him, and when we are

so connected with Him,

what we do, our will

becomes united with His will.

And so, therefore, we live out His will

because we have that love relationship,

and we're connected with Him.

(Jason) John, you had something

you wanted to share here about the idea

of love and obedience and motivation?

(John) Obedience is an expression of love

that God has placed within our hearts.

And when He changes us,

when He converts us,

He pours His love into our hearts.

(Derek) Amen.

(John) It doesn't happen naturally

because of our sinful nature.

But when He pours that love,

we want to obey Him.

We want to please Him.

(Derek, Team) Amen.

(Jason) Harold.

(Harold) I just wanted to add quickly

because 1 John 5:3 says that,

"His commandments are not burdensome."

He's not making us do things

that, like, we can't do.

He's going to give us the power.

He's going to show us how to love,

to the point that our response

is to love the same way He's loving.

(Jason) Amen. Stephanie.

(Stephanie) I was just thinking,

the whole plan of salvation is based

on the concept of love, right?

So, John 3:16 tells us that...

(Jason) You want to read that?

(Stephanie) Sure.

(Jason) Yes, the whole plan of salvation
is based on love.

Let's read this, and see

what the Scripture says
for itself here.

(Stephanie) And the New King James
Version says:

(Jason) Alright, and, Stephanie, tell us

more about how the plan of salvation
is motivated by love.

(Stephanie) It's motivated by love

because Jesus gave His life.

He died on a cross

for those who were persecuting Him

and for those who would

eventually accept Him.

So again, there's that choice:

Do I trust God fully,

or do I trust the alternative?

(Jason) Amen. Brittany,

you had a thought here.

(Brittany) It's just beautiful to see

that the God of the universe

was so invested in us

when He created us

that He already had a plan.

Even if we went astray

and we chose poorly,

that He would give us

another opportunity to choose life,

and that He did it through His own blood.

(Jason) Yes, Sabina.

(Sabina) What I'm thinking also, Jason,

is that ultimately this obedience

that Christ Himself showed

in the plan of salvation,

when we abide with that,

we are actually being benefitted,

not only with salvation
but with blessings.

When we look at Deuteronomy,

the text we had just read,

the promise was to multiply them,

to make them fruitful.

So, the obedience is not

purely with a known purpose.

It's also because God loves us,

and He wants to bless us.

(Jason) Yes, Shaina, real quickly here.

(Shaina) The most profound thing to me

about this John 3:16

is that Jesus chose us,

and that is motivation.

And by seeing His ultimate love for us,

it's motivation for me

to choose Him as well.

(Derek, Team) Amen.

(Jason) And I want to challenge you.

Maybe you have exercised

your freedom of choice

in ways that were harmful,

but thankfully we have Jesus Christ,

we have the Son, and I want

to challenge you: Ask the Holy Spirit

to guide you into a relationship with Him

so that you can choose Jesus today,

and so that you may have life.

(Derek, Team) Amen.

(Derek) Thank you so much.

What a great study,

and thanks so much for joining us

for Hope Sabbath School today.

I'm just so blessed

to hear the testimonies.

And maybe you're listening and saying,

"I was there, but I chose life."

We'd love to hear from you

how Jesus saved you.

Write to us: [e-mail].

Your testimony could bless

someone else's life.

So, write to us, [e-mail],

because Jesus came that we might have life

and have it more abundantly,

not just now but for eternity.

Let's pray together; Father in heaven,

thank You for reminding us

that You love us and give us freedom

so that we can choose life
forever with you.

Thank You for Your immeasurable
and unfailing love today,

especially for someone today

who says, "Jesus, I choose life

through You today; save me."

Thank You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) Well, thanks for joining us
for Hope Sabbath School.

We're always so excited to hear from you

because God is a miracle-working God.

You can write to us at [e-mail].

Share your testimony

and be an encouragement

to people around the world.

But don't forget your neighbor,

go out and be a blessing

to those around you.

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