海角视频

When pastors address a difficult subject in their messages, they must do so with great care and preparation, especially if there are no easy answers. It鈥檚 not often that a pastor addresses five complex topics in a week. But Pastor Josie Ascencio did precisely that.聽

海角视频 held its annual spring Week of Prayer from April 17-21. Students led out in praise and worship songs and icebreaker activities each day. Ascencio, head pastor of the Antioch Seventh-day Adventist Church, spoke on the year鈥檚 theme of 鈥淩evival.鈥� Her topics included brokenness, isolation, and despair鈥攁nd the importance of building community and connection by reaching out. Each message centered on a biblical story of physical and emotional healing.

Ascencio began with the story of Jacob, who was far from perfect and so concerned with himself that he even swindled his father out of his brother鈥檚 birthright.

But then, Ascencio said, came the struggle in the desert and the dream revealing angels descending and ascending a ladder from heaven to earth. God showed Jacob he was still with him.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e a stealer? I鈥檒l make you a giver! All the world will be blessed,鈥� Ascencio said. In Jacob, she continued, we learn that God continues to be with us no matter how far from Him we think we are.

鈥淚 really enjoyed her message today, emphasizing that God isn鈥檛 looking for us to be perfect, to act a certain way,鈥� said senior Keren Castro. 鈥淗e just wants to be with us. Even though Jacob was a broken man, God still loved him.鈥�

In Tuesday鈥檚 message, Aim Low, Ascencio contrasted the humility of the woman who reached for the tassels of Jesus鈥� robe in faith with the proud stance of the disciples who considered her an outcast.

鈥淕od loves people even when society has given us permission to ignore them,鈥� Ascencio said. 鈥淪o let鈥檚 not hold up societal standards. Let鈥檚 hold up God鈥檚 standards and how we live on this campus.鈥�

Ascencio also preached on the power of community and connection at a time when there is so much loneliness and isolation. She encouraged students to reach out to one another, seek support from counseling services on campus, and reminded them that they are not alone鈥攎any people are hurt and lonely.

Senior Alex Chuquimi said, 鈥淭his service was an important call to action to look out for family and friends who are in a season of distress. And it was a reminder that God is always there in the broken places, and He hears you when you call.鈥�

At the end of the week, Ascencio focused on the story from John 9, when Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth. She noted that the Pharisees weren鈥檛 upset because he was healed; instead, they were jealous and upset that they didn鈥檛 get the credit.

Instead of being happy for the blind man鈥攖he outcast鈥攚ho could now see, they were angry and wanted him to leave.聽 Ascencio said that sometimes the church doesn鈥檛 treat people as it should. She talked about the pain that the church has sometimes caused people. She reminded them that the church is not God or Jesus鈥攖he ones who can truly understand, heal and change lives.

What gave the blind man hope and healing was that 鈥淛esus entered the scene,鈥� Ascencio said. When people fail us, even well-meaning people, it鈥檚 important to remember that there is one who never will.聽 鈥淚t is Jesus, and Jesus alone, that gives life and life in abundance,鈥� she said.

In Jesus, there is true revival.