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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
What God has done_ 125 years of Record
Intro: [00:00:00] Hi there, everyone. I'm Jared. And I'm Zenita. We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church, faith, and living well. We believe as followers of Jesus, faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we put into practice. Let's go live.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And it's another episode of Record Live. Welcome back, everybody. It's great to have you joining us. If you're watching, let us know where you're watching from in the comments. We'd love to say G'day. Now, Zanita is still away at the moment, but she is coming back very soon and we hope she's enjoying her holiday.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , but we thought we'd do something a little different today. Thanks We haven't shared very widely, , some of the information, some of the, presentations that [00:01:00] were made at our 125th year anniversary last year. It's been about a year since we celebrated last October, anniversary for Adventist Record, and We thought we'd share, , today the sermon from that event.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So it's me preaching, , a little bit different for this, show, this podcast. It's, yeah, the sermon from that Sabbath. But I hope you enjoy. It's some stories of record and how, , God has, worked in the history of record over the years that I've been involved. It's a, fairly short sermon, 20 odd minutes.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And, , I hope you enjoy it today. So we're going to play that without further ado, we're going to start with a. The scripture reading of the day. So you can hear the Bible story that was attached and then it goes into myself preaching. Now, if you have any comments, questions, feel free to drop those in the chat.
Jarrod Stackelroth: We'll be online and, , answer those back and. Yeah. If you want to see the rest of the [00:02:00] program, , I'll put a link to that. , it is on our YouTube already. We've put up both the afternoon program and the Sabbath morning program. So if you're interested in seeing some of the singing, the children's story, which was really creative, and.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Detailed the process of how record gets made. So if you've ever wondered about that process, it's going to be there in the children's story on that Sabbath morning. , all of that is available on our YouTube channel. So go over there and check it out, but here we go. We start with Julie Laws doing the scripture reading, and then we continue with, , my sermon entitled what God has done enjoy today's from Mark
Julie Laws: chapter five versus one to 20.
Julie Laws: They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with [00:03:00] chains. For he had been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.
Julie Laws: No one was strong enough even to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
Julie Laws: Swear to God that you won't torture me. Jesus said to him, Come out of this man, you evil spirit. Then Jesus said to him, What is your name? My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs were feeding on the nearby hillside.
Julie Laws: The demons begged Jesus, send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them. [00:04:00] He gave them permission and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2, 000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the town and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the, in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
Julie Laws: When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had been seen, those who had seen it, told the people what had happened to the demon possessed men. and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
Julie Laws: As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not, , let him, but said to him, go home and tell your family how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on [00:05:00] you. So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him and all the people were amazed.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I met Sharon at a big camp in Victoria. She was full of the sort of excitement that somebody has that just draws you in. You just feel the life oozing out of them. ,
Jarrod Stackelroth: And so she told me a little bit about her story. She had bumped around from church to church, different denominations even, trying to get to know Jesus, trying to find connection with God. And she, she loved God. She wanted to know more, but it didn't quite feel right. She didn't find her, her spiritual home.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , Eventually some of her family members in Melbourne, when she had moved over from New Zealand, , originally from the Philippines, her family members had been going to a [00:06:00] Seventh day Adventist church. And as she started attending church with them on Sabbath, she thought, this is all right.
Jarrod Stackelroth: This is good. I like, I like this church. She started picking up things , and learning more about what we believe in. One day the pastor came up to her and he said, You've been here for quite some time. Would you like to be baptized? And she said, Honestly, I'm waiting for my aha moment. That's what she told the pastor.
Jarrod Stackelroth: She was waiting for the Holy Spirit to sort of tap her on the shoulder and to do something. That's And then she read the record. It was just a little story in the flashpoint section. I don't know if you've seen the news snippets that we put in. They're about 50 words with a little picture. And when I heard her story, I didn't put two and two together, but I think I actually remember working on the flashpoint that she's talking about.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Anyway, we have, Stories [00:07:00] I like to call, what the heck stories. What's happening in this story? Where's something weird or something unusual is happening? And in this story, she talked, she read about how there'd been this baptism in Africa. And the little throwaway line that we included in the story was that it was in a crocodile infested river.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Now, I would hope that they'd , made sure there weren't any crocodiles in the area, that they'd beaten the water or something, scared the crocodiles off. But she had this person, this group of, large group of people as baptisms often go, , were baptized in this crocodile infested river. And when Charon read the story of these people who were willing to make the step to be baptized in a crocodile infested river, she was touched.
Jarrod Stackelroth: She said, it was my aha moment. I read the little snippet and I decided I have to be baptized.
Jarrod Stackelroth: [00:08:00] The story stuck with me when Charon told me this story, , it's unusual that such a little story from a part of the world that's not ours, there's only a few words and a little picture that went in. In fact, I think there was no picture with this story. It was just, it was just a little snippet. This was used by God to help inspire this woman to make a life changing, eternal decision.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Some might see the story as insignificant, but it was a story that God used to call someone to his church family.
Jarrod Stackelroth: The value of that story is that it was a story of what God had done, and the reality is that stories of what God is doing, has done, are real. can change the world. I truly believe that. Throughout the Bible, , we see there's a call for God's people to remember what God has done. The Sabbath commandment we're familiar [00:09:00] with is listed twice, and one is to commemorate creation, and one is to commemorate God rescuing his people from slavery.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So, see, this is a really important commandment for us as Seventh day Adventists, and yet even embedded in that commandment is a story of what God has done.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Many of the Psalms recount the stories of Exodus, the creation, the things that God has achieved for his people in the past. And even the Gospels, as we read the Gospels, are a collection of stories of what God, now in the flesh, through Jesus, was doing while he was walking amongst his people. So we're going to the Gospel of Mark today.
Jarrod Stackelroth: We heard the scripture reading, it means I don't have to read the whole story for you. Well, my favorite gospel writer is probably John. I love his poetry, the way he writes, the metaphors that he uses. [00:10:00] I think Mark is the journalist of the gospel writers. Mark writes the good news as news, in a news style.
Jarrod Stackelroth: He's short and punchy in his descriptions. He uses, he's in a hurry when he tells his stories. It's the shortest gospel. He uses words like immediately. Not all the other gospel writers emphasize the timing, the time frame of events. . And so the story of the demoniac that we heard in the scripture reading is a story that Mark tells in chapter five of the gospel of Mark.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's a dramatic story. Picture with me the seashore, this calm stretch of beach, and these guys are pulling up there next to these cliffs, and this wild, crazy looking dude runs out of the, wherever he was hiding, the hills, a cave, something along the cliffs, And I imagine everyone was taken aback. What's going to happen?[00:11:00]
Jarrod Stackelroth: We heard in the passage that chains could not contain him. He's been pushed out of polite society. His skin is as broken as his story. You can see where he's been scarred. And it says his haunt is the grave. The graves, the cemetery.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's interesting that Mark uses the story immediately before this one to tell of the calming of the seas, the chaos waters, the raging sea. This man had chaos raging in him and around him wherever he went. And yet Jesus steps up and heals him just as he had calmed the raging sea. He confronts this chaos, this, this army of the enemy.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And we see the enemy's true nature as all the pigs that they go into are destroyed in an instant. The [00:12:00] people of the town are afraid of Jesus. They're annoyed by their loss of the livelihood of their pigs, and they plead for him to leave the region. I just imagine what happened in that moment after the pigs were destroyed.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Obviously, the, maybe imagine with me, if you will, some young boys looking after the flocks and they run off, they go herring off to town to tell the owners of the pigs what has happened to their profit, their livelihood. You can imagine, I often wonder, It's that the guy, the guy is described as his clothes are ripped or he's, he's barely clad, if not naked.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Where did he get his clothes? Well, I think the disciples, one of them must have had a spare change, or even Jesus himself had a spare pair of clothes, gave him something to wear. I imagine he tried to sort of [00:13:00] get his hair straight, maybe his long beard, Just, just pat it down so he would look okay. I don't know about you, but sometimes we do that when we come to church in the morning.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Am I going to look good enough?
Jarrod Stackelroth: And he sat there for maybe an hour, maybe two before the people came and drove Jesus out. Just a small window of time that he got to be in Jesus presence before words spoken, and the townspeople, they gathered and they said, Go away, Jesus, we don't want you here, we're afraid. And the Bible says the man begged Jesus to take him.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I want to come with you, Jesus. I want to join you. Mark 5 , chapter 5 verse 19 says, Jesus did not permit him. He said, go home. to your friends [00:14:00] and tell them how much God has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. The word tell, I'm no Greek scholar, but the word tell in that passage seems to be to report or relate the good news he's sharing his story.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And this verse immediately stood out to me when I was looking for a theme. For today, what God has done. This man has no training, no theological degree. He has nothing but an encounter with Jesus to share and yet Jesus tells him, go and tell your friends what God has done for you. Did he do it? What do you think?
Jarrod Stackelroth: Did he do it? Could he, could he not? I think it was. Busting out of him.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Ellen White in The Desire of Ages says this about the story. And when she mentions two men, one of the other gospels has two men, Mark [00:15:00] has one man. I don't think it's a problem, but this is why it says they or there's two men referenced in this quote. But I want you to listen to what Ellen White says.
Jarrod Stackelroth: She says, not only did they tell their own households and neighbors about Jesus, they went through the Decapolis. Everywhere declaring his power to save and describing how he had freed them from the demons. In doing this work, they could receive a greater blessing than if merely for benefit of themselves they had remained in his presence.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It is in working to spread the good news of salvation that we are brought near to the savior.
Jarrod Stackelroth: This man. He made a huge impact because of a short, short time spent with Jesus. He shared the story of what God had done far and wide. It's no accident when Mark chooses his words so carefully and has such a short time to give the gospel account that the next time we read [00:16:00] about Jesus visiting the Decapolis, we read of a healing.
Jarrod Stackelroth: We read that they brought a man to Jesus. He was, he was mutant, deaf, and, and they were, he was brought to Jesus and he was healed. And it says that Jesus took him away from the crowd to heal him. Who are these people crowding around? to see Jesus. I like to think they're the people that these men told of what God had done.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Again, I'm no scholar, but as far as I can make out directly after the healing, it says during those days, and then we hear about the 4, 000 being fed. So if that's in the same region, that's quite a crowd that these men have gathered. It seems to me that Mark is suggesting that the impact that this man made just a few chapters before had multiplied to the [00:17:00] point where a crowd of 4, 000 now gathered to hear Jesus in a region which had driven him away the first time that he had visited.
Jarrod Stackelroth: The record started 125 years ago as a paper with reports about progress of the fledgling denomination in this part of the world. It had a letters from home kind of vibe. It's changed over the years, but the core of Adventist record is sharing the stories of what God has done. It's always been about that, but it doesn't stop there.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's not records job to tell the stories of what God has done. It's our job as individuals, as people who have had an encounter with God. It's our job to tell. The stories of what God has done. What's he doing in us and through us? What's he doing in the faith communities that we are part of? When we tell the stories of what God has done, we are tapping into that same power that the demoniac man [00:18:00] experienced.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Did you know, I'm about to give you a fact, did you know that stories are 22 times more memorable than facts? Yes. Yes. You're probably going to forget that fact because I just gave it to you as a fact. But I hope you'll remember the story of this man sharing. Why do you think Jesus told stories so often?
Jarrod Stackelroth: Part of my training, one of the things I studied was, The idea that stories have power, the power to heal those who tell the stories and those who receive the stories. It's cathartic to write down your feelings and your thoughts. It's helpful to keep a prayer journal or something. It's powerful to share a testimony.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Today's not the time to go into all of that research, but testimonies are an incredible way of sharing our faith and seeing a multiplying effect. They're easy to share. Non confronting, personal, authentic, and they're hard to argue with. You may have experienced it in your [00:19:00] own life. My love for my wife when we were dating grew when I knew more of her story, when I understood more of who she was.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Our relationship has changed over the years, but as we write more of our story together, it just makes that relationship much deeper. We've shared, as I mentioned with Daniel before, the, some of the, it's not always easy. There's difficulty and, and struggle in this life. And yet we've come through the other side.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And that's why I'm passionate about telling those stories. Because God, it's what God has done. It's not about me. It's not about you.
Jarrod Stackelroth: God's work in our lives. And in our world is so powerful that just telling others about it can cause a change. We've been given a job to tell the world that Jesus is coming back. But if we don't have [00:20:00] our own good news, if we don't have our own experience of what God has done, it makes it harder. It makes it harder for people to believe us that Jesus is coming soon.
Jarrod Stackelroth: If we don't live like he is.
Jarrod Stackelroth: When we tell those stories, his power is multiplied, not because of us, but because others are exposed to him through sharing his story.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I met Evelyn in the beautiful country town of Inverell in New South Wales. I spent the weekend with the church there and we filmed an interview about God's closet ministry. It was a, a ministry where they would take clothes and toys and they'd let community members, disadvantaged people come in and take free clothes, free toys for their children.
Jarrod Stackelroth: She said around winter time, people were always looking for warm pajamas for their kids because they just didn't have enough. And [00:21:00] Evelyn said this. It started, this ministry, God's Closet, started when we were praying about how do we be relevant in our community. One afternoon I saw a fantastic article on God's Closet in Wai'i.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Where a group of people were serving their community in such a doable way and it sparked something within me To say we could do this in our community. This was Evelyn's aha moment This was the Holy Spirit as she read about God's closet. She said I can do God's closet here Who would have guessed that just a little article in the record would be Could have sparked such a beginning of a wonderful ministry that's making such a huge difference to our community and to our church.
Jarrod Stackelroth: You know, sometimes country churches are struggling, but this church was on fire. All the people were excited about this ministry. It gave them relevance in their community. People knew [00:22:00] who they were. And she told me it was the Holy Spirit leading her to read this little article in record that gave her the idea , to start something in her own space.
Jarrod Stackelroth: The words of God, the stories of what God has done around the South Pacific. My prayer is that when you read them, you are inspired to do something in your life. In your faith community, in your extended community. Because you can make a huge difference in your community and your church too. Back to the desire of ages.
Jarrod Stackelroth: The two restored men were the first missionaries who Christ sent to preach the gospel in this region. They could not instruct the people as the disciples who had daily been with Christ were able to do. But they bore in their persons the evidence that Jesus was the [00:23:00] Messiah. They could tell what they knew, what they themselves had seen and heard and felt of the power of Christ.
Jarrod Stackelroth: This is what everyone can do. Listen to this. This is what you can do. If your heart has been touched by the grace of God. As witnesses for Christ, we are able to tell what we know, what we ourselves have seen and heard and felt. If we've been following Jesus step by step, we shall have something right to the point to tell concerning the way which he has led us.
Jarrod Stackelroth: We can tell how we have tested his promise and found the promise true. We can bear witness. To what we have known of the grace of Christ. Will you take up the challenge today? This week, let's get practical.
Jarrod Stackelroth: What has God done for you? And who can you share that story with? It's not about you, it's about God. Record has been here for 125 years to share stories of what God has [00:24:00] done, but Record can't do it alone. It's up to you and me to share those stories also.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Let's sing our final hymn.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Well, there we have it. I hope you enjoyed that , just a reminder, the links are in the comments there for the full service on YouTube. If you want to get a bit more of a picture of what happened, apart from just me speaking, , there's the full programs there on YouTube. We like to get practical here on Record Live, and at the end, I did get practical there.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , your practical assignment this week is to share the story of what Jesus has done in your life with someone. , we always need to be sharing those stories as part of our Christian experience. What Jesus is doing in our lives, we can share with others, and that might make an impact. The Holy Spirit may just use that to make an impact in our lives.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So thanks for joining us. , go out, tell your stories this week and we will see [00:25:00] you again next week. Hopefully with Zanita back with us. , but until then, , God bless you all. Thanks for watching today.