Laurelbrook Academy SDA Church

The church service in the Laurelbrook Seventh-day Adventist Church on March 3, 2018 began with a short song service led by Eric (junior), accompanied on the piano by Jeremy Westcott. 

Clifton Brandt had the Ministry Corner, talking about religious liberty. The choice at the end of time will be to receive the beast’s mark and have a supposedly normal lifestyle or the punishment God guarantees that will follow (Revelation 14). This time may not be in the far future. Ellen White warns us that if we fail to help others to see these coming issues we will fall also and become nominal Christians ourselves.

Rodney Herra welcomed everyone and made a few announcements. New people have been added to the prayer list on the back of the bulletin.  March 7 will be the date for the church board meeting due to the Cuban trip.

The congregation sang “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder”. Jeremy Westcott played an introit. The congregation had a silent invocation.  The congregation then sang “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”. Mark Kent remarked that God formed the creatures of earth by words. Spring is a reminder of His power. Mark Kent then had the Morning Prayer; the congregation sang “Hear Our Prayer”. 

Angela Volpe then called for the offering.  Elyjah (junior) and Daryll Ellis then collected the morning offerings; the loose offering went to the local church budget.  The congregation sang the doxology, and Angela Volpe prayed for the offering.  Sarah (senior) then told the children a story.

Thanos (junior) then read Psalm 118:1-6 “1 ¶ O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good: because his mercy [endureth] for ever. 2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy [endureth] for ever. 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy [endureth] for ever. 4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy [endureth] for ever. 5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, [and set me] in a large place. 6 The LORD [is] on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” 

Bubba, Rodney, and Brenda Herra sang “People Need the Lord” for special music, accompanying themselves with guitars. Mark Kent discussed the topic “A Leader for God”. The congregation sang “All the Way”.   Mark Kent had the closing prayer. 

Personnel Other Than Students:

Brenda Herra – student vocational coordinator / wife of Rodney Herra
Bubba Herra – academy boys’ dean / men’s work coordinator / son of Brenda and Rodney Herra
Clifton Brandt – works with Laurelbrook’s sewer, water, and boiler systems
Mark Kent – Laurelbrook IT specialist
Rodney Herra – works with the agriculture and auto body programs

Following are some notes on the sermon:

1. What comes to mind when you think of a leader?  A leader inspires people with positive ideas when everything seems negative.
2. We in our personal lives are at the edge, needing a heart change. Each of us are leaders and have followers.
3. What people see, they believe.
4.  Gideon, Moses, Joseph were all unexpected leaders.
5. Leadership is action, not position.  
6. Daniel 3 is the story of a command to worship an image.  Three followers of God refused, to be joined in the fire by a fourth who was Jesus. The king had seen the image of Jesus in God’s followers.
7. Followers come to a leader because they are confident in this leader.  Confidence comes from integrity, to ignore consequences to stay on the right path. 
8. To be than to appear.  We should have a character that stands up to close examination.
9. Job was a man of integrity, who refused to do any evil spoken or in action.
10. Psalm 26:1 “« [A Psalm] of David. » Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; [therefore] I shall not slide.”
11. Job 1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”
12. Ellen White says that integrity, firmness, perseverance gives a person with an irresistible power.
13. We must learn to be a follower of Jesus before we try to be a leader.
14. Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
15. Joshua 24:16-18 “16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; 17 For the LORD our God, he [it is] that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: 18 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: [therefore] will we also serve the LORD; for he [is] our God.”
16. Joshua 24:19 “And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he [is] an holy God; he [is] a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” 
17. The people were still holding onto the false idols and relics of false worship and couldn’t serve the Lord. Do we have things in our lives that come between us and God? We can give these things to God and let him solve the problems as He controls our lives.
18. God sent Jesus to come to this world to save any number of people (only one?).
19. Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
20. The word “mammon” is actually a Chaldean word that means “confidence”.  We should never be confident in our own strength.
21. Mark 10:27 “And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men [it is] impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”
22. David is taking care of the sheep and has been anointed. Three of his brothers are with Saul fighting the Philistines. His father sends him to check up on them.
23. David had learned to obey and to be content. Note that he takes of his other tasks as well.
24. 1 Samuel 17:20 “And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.”
25. David refused to be intimidated by the opinions of others. He understood the power of God.
26. David demonstrated humility in the face of his brothers’ scorn and being accused of having wrong motives.
27. David’s courage was not weakened by Saul’s doubt because of his experiences with God in the past.
28. 1 Samuel 17:32-37 “32 And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou [art but] a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered [it] out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught [him] by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. 37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.”
29. David was not afraid to risk everything for God in the way that he had trained all his life. He had not armor against a fully protected giant.
30. David prepared for battle by taking his staff with him and picked out the necessary stones. He declared victory.
31. 1 Samuel 17:45 “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.”
32. David was confident in his God.   He ran to meet the enemy.
33. 1 Samuel 17:48-49 “48 ¶ And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang [it], and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.”
34. Everyone else ran from the giant.
35. Are you willing to become a leader for God? Day by day we are perfecting our characters for God’s service.