|
 Admissions Student Fees News Calendar Academic Classes Vocational Training Development Labor Case Elementary School Alumni Association About Laurelbrook Sabbath School Lesson Nursing Home Contact Us Home |
 Pastor Coulter and Southern Students End Week of Prayer  Services at the Laurelbrook Seventh-day Adventist Church on October 24, 2009 began with a Sabbath School song service led by and accompanied by students from Southern Adventist University. The opening song was “As Water to the Thirsty”. One of young men from Southern had prayer. Then another young men from the Southern students led a discussion after everyone moved into a more compact group. Each row discussed a question and then gave an answer to the entire group.
Following are notes from that discussion:
1. John the Baptist was kept in a stone pit underneath Herod’s palace. It was rather dreary, damp, and cold.
2. He may felt that the Lord had forsaken him after John had worked for him for so long.
3. He may have also expected Jesus to get him out of prison or he may have sent his disciples so they would turn to Jesus.
4. There is always darkness before the dawn. But God always gives us extra assurance.
5. John’s disciples asked Jesus whether He was the Messiah. They probably expected Jesus to kick out the Romans.
6. The question might have been “Why do unjust things happen to good people?” This is a question earthly philosophers are asking particularly of Christians. Why does God let homes break up, people die of cancer, true believers consigned to prison?
7. By letting John’s disciples see His works of mercy, Jesus may have been trying to show John that sin has to run its course so it will never return again and that He was the Messiah.
8. Isaiah 42:1-4 “1 ¶ Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.” He may have been referring to this scripture in His response to John’s disciples.
9. John also was allowed to share the loneliness and sufferings of Christ.
10. Isaiah 58:6-7 “6 [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7 [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” This is what the Jews were not doing so Jesus was showing them how to do it.
11. Christ was saying to see the big picture – how suffering fits into the history of sin and God’s intervention.
12. Illustration – leaves grow on tree but change color in the fall when their connection with their physical source of life is slowly closing. But in their death, leaves give off a brilliant set of colors. This may explain the place of suffering in God’s handling of sin.
13. Romans 8:16-19 “16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 ¶ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint–heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
He closed with prayer. The congregation broke up into several Sabbath School classes to study “Trumpets, Blood, Clouds, Fire”; the students studied a lesson from the Young Disciples organization.
 When services resumed at 11:00, Fred Douville made the necessary announcements. He welcomed everyone, including visitors, and reminded everyone that there was a fellowship meal in the school cafeteria after the service. There would be a bonfire at David Zollinger’s house; food will be provided for students and visitors only; vespers would be at 6:30. Worth Lowder has died. The viewing will be this evening from 5:00-9:00 p.m. and the funeral service at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Fred Douville had the Morning Prayer.The congregation sang “I Saw One Weary”, accompanied by the Southern students on the piano, flute, and violin. One Southern student mentioned that this hymn showed the hopes of the Adventist pioneer. The congregation then sang “Praise to the Lord” while standing. Everyone then sang the theme song for the Week of Prayer – “Open Our Eyes”.
One girl from Southern then read Romans 5:9-11 “9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only [so], but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
She then asked for personal testimonies as to what the Lord has done for them and then asked them to think of ways God has blessed them personally. The deacons – Roger Westfall and Douglas (junior Laurelbrook student) – then collected the offerings; the loose offering was to go to Georgia-Cumberland Conference Advance. She then prayed for the offering.
Two of the Southern students played a violin duet. Then Pastor Wayne Coulter spoke, prayed, and had an altar call while the Southern students sang.
 After the morning church services, there was a fellowship dinner in the Laurelbrook School cafeteria.Personnel Other Than Students:
Fred Douville – Laurelbrook’s vice-president for operations, local church elder
Wayne Coulter – retired conference president who has been the featured speaker for this Fall Week of Prayer
Following are notes on Pastor Coulter’s talk: 1. What should I charge you people? If you can persuade these Southern students to come to my church, I won’t charge you anything.
2. The old devil is attacking Laurelbrook by various means, but our God is more powerful than the devil.
3. We do know that Jesus is coming soon so we need to get ready and stay ready. The stage seems to be set for this to become a reality.
4. What is keeping Jesus from coming?
5. If the world doesn’t change, God is going to have to apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah.
6. Jesus is waiting for a people to rightly represent Him – and then He will come.
7. We have the three leaders of Laurelbrook here today – Ron Oxentenko is the current president. [He then invited Ron and Sharon to the platform for prayer. He then invited Robert Zollinger (past president) and Chuck Hess (past president) and all the church elders to the platform. He then prayed for the incoming president and his wife]
8. Ecclesiastes 4:1 “So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of [such as were] oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors [there was] power; but they had no comforter.”
9. We are in a battle with evil, and God’s people are opposed on every side.
10. We determine our own destiny by our life choices. As a student at Southern, I acted as a campus copy. One of my duties was to transport the girls from the laundry to the dorm. After various accidental encounters, I took my future wife out to Chickamauga Dam, proposed to her, and was accepted. We came to Laurelbrook – I as dean of boys and my wife as secretary to the principal.
11. One evening I took the boys out to a rock at the site of the present dorm. We prayed over letters asking for money to build the present boys’ dorm.
12. It is good to remember the history of Laurelbrook.
13. I still remember being a dean at Laurelbrook as one of the high points of my life. When I left Laurelbrook, I was ready to take on anything.
14. Life is a school from which we never graduate.
15. In Ecclesiastes 4:1, the “oppressions” are the outside or peer pressures. The oppressors had power. The righteous are without the Holy Spirit, which made them no match for the devil.
16. Peter was always getting into trouble, but he was committed to the Lord and willing to lay down his life for Jesus.
17. A boy said to his girlfriend he was willing to die for her. Her father said he must see this young man first. The boy got three boxes of candy. He was planning to use them to get the girl to let him get close and accept a kiss. Invited to dinner, the boy really got into praying for the food. It turned out that the girl’s father was that druggist.
18. Are you willing to do anything as you follow Jesus?
19. 1 John 2:15-16 “15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
20. Lust of the flesh – you can do anything you want. Lust of the eyes – if you want it, you’ve got it. Pride of life – you can be anything. These three constitute the world.
21. Matthew 16:26-27 “26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”
22. A Christian can do anything or be anything if it pleases God.
23. 1 John 3:21-22 “21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, [then] have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
24. Do you want to please Jesus? Are you willing to live for Jesus?
|
|
 |
|
|