The Sabbath services on January 12, 2019 were conducted in part by a group from Hartland College in Rapidan, VA. The program began with a song led by Kaydence (9th grader) and two people from Hartland College accompanied by Felix (junior) on the piano or by one of the Hartland group on the guitar. A young lady from Hartland then sang a vocal solo.
The group then talked on the topic “Youth, Do You Dare?” They mentioned that 62.55% of young people are left in the church by age 30. The Hartland group then introduced themselves. They broke up the congregation into four groups to deal with various aspects of the topic of “surrender”. Then Rayne Clement, one of the Hartland group, had a short talk on surrender. Rayne had the closing prayer.
Following are a few notes from the group presentations and Rayne’s talk:
- Sins cause a gap between us and God.
- Jesus fills that gap between us and God. There is nothing we can personally do to fill the gap.
- We should surrender immediately when we come to realize that there is nothing we can do to fix our relationship with God.
- Disobedience leads to a separation from God – this happened when Eve ate of the fruit.
- On our own, we cannot save ourselves.
- Let God take control of our lives, stopping harmful habits as soon as possible.
- Matthew 26:36“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” “Gethsemane” means “olive press”.
- Matthew 26:37-38 “37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” Jesus understood His time was almost up. He went through depression and felt like dying.
- If you are having this problem, understand that Jesus experienced the same thing.
- Matthew 26:39 “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou [wilt].”
- This is the greatest surrender the world has ever known.
- Jesus went before us and showed us how to surrender.