07/27/2025
This Sabbath, we were blessed by a powerful message from our guest speaker, Paul McKoy, reminding us where our true security lies in a world that feels increasingly uncertain. With wars, unrest, and technology advancing faster than ever, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Yet the Bible points us to a hope that is unshakable. Jesus invites us to place our faith in Him, not in the shifting sands of this world. When everything around us is changing, Christ remains our sure foundation. May we each take time this week to anchor our hearts in the promises of God, holding fast to a faith that cannot be shaken. If you missed the message, take a moment to read the summary below and let your heart be encouraged.
Our Greatest Need
Date: July 26, 2025 | Lakeview SDA Live Services
Speaker: Paul McKoy
The world is shifting at a pace that leaves most people unsettled. Wars rage in Ukraine, genocide devastates Gaza, and all the while, technology—especially artificial intelligence—is advancing faster than society can keep up. The headlines feel like they are pulled from a dystopian novel, but this is the world in which we now live, a world where security seems more elusive every day.
Recently, Stuart Russell, one of the world’s leading experts in artificial intelligence and a professor at UC Berkeley, delivered the 2021 Reith Lectures—a renowned BBC series—where he issued sobering warnings about the dangers of AI, especially its use in military applications. He described how AI-powered drones, equipped with facial recognition, can already be programmed to identify, hunt, and even kill targets without any human intervention. Russell’s warnings were not abstract speculation; he spoke of real-world technology that exists today, technology whose development and potential for harm far outpace the creation of moral or legal boundaries. The mere possibility of small drones, flying autonomously and selecting targets by algorithm, adds a chilling dimension to already chaotic times. It is a stark illustration of just how fragile our sense of control and safety really is.
So, with all these mounting threats—war, genocide, violence, and now even AI with lethal autonomy—where can we find security? Where do we look for answers? What is truly our greatest need in a world that seems to be coming apart at the seams?
Jesus gave a prophecy that speaks directly to our era. In Luke 21:25–27, He said,
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
If there was ever a time when men’s hearts fail them for fear, it is now. Many people today feel that these verses are describing our own headlines—distress of nations, perplexity, fear of what comes next, and the sense that there is no place left to hide.
It is easy to become fixated on the problems—the headlines, the rapid rise of dangerous technology, the seeming hopelessness of the future. But Christ always turned our attention from the problem to the solution. He challenges us not to focus on the terrors, but to ask where our faith is anchored.
In Luke 18:1–8, Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow, a story of a powerless woman seeking justice from an unjust judge. She persists until the judge finally gives in, not out of love for justice, but because of her relentless faith. Jesus concludes, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
That final question is the dividing line for every soul in a world gone mad: Will the Son of Man find faith? Not just belief in a vague sense, but real, living, enduring faith—faith that clings to Christ when every earthly thing is shaken.
The Bible makes it clear that the faith Christ seeks is not merely positive thinking or optimism. Romans 12:3 teaches that God “has dealt to every man the measure of faith.” This is not about the quantity of faith, but its object. Saving faith—pistis in the New Testament—is confidence placed not in ourselves, our government, our technology, or even our own understanding, but entirely in what Christ has already accomplished. It is faith rooted in the righteousness of Jesus, not the illusions of our own strength.
Consider the warning given in Acts 8 about Simon the Sorcerer. Simon was baptized and joined the early church, but his “faith” was self-serving. He wanted spiritual gifts for his own gain, not from a heart surrendered to Christ. Peter rebuked him sharply, exposing a heart not right with God. Contrast that with the blind man in John 9, who placed his simple, genuine trust in Jesus and received both sight and salvation.
Jesus Himself settled the question of what God requires in John 6:28–29: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Faith is not something you muster by willpower. It is surrendering your pride and placing yourself wholly in Christ’s hands.
The persistent danger in our world is that we will place our trust in the wrong thing. Some hope in science and progress; others in power, money, or self. But the faith that will endure is the faith of Jesus—the faith He both modeled and gives as a gift to all who ask. When everything else is shaking, that faith remains unmovable.
So how do we nurture and strengthen this faith? Romans 10:17 gives the answer: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” In its original context, Paul was reminding both Jews and Gentiles that the only saving faith is found in hearing and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is only one gospel for all people, and it is the only hope that can withstand the storms of this age.
Romans 5:8 declares that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” If Christ could love, redeem, and save us at our worst, what future threat could possibly undo His victory? Our greatest need is not more security, technology, or power. It is unshakeable, saving faith in Jesus Christ—faith that looks to what He has done and rests there, unmoved.
This faith is not just for moments of crisis, but for every day. Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we are strangers and sojourners on the earth, but we carry God’s promises in our hearts. Paul, facing the end of his life, could say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). The world may collapse around you, but faith in Christ cannot be destroyed.
So as technology grows ever more unsettling, as wars rage, and as human institutions falter, ask yourself: Where is your faith? Is it anchored in the shifting sand of this world, or in the Rock of Christ? The answer to our greatest need is not found in what we control, but in who holds us. By placing our faith in Christ, we possess a security nothing on earth can threaten, and a hope no darkness can extinguish.
When Jesus comes, will He find that faith in you? That is your greatest need, and it is the only foundation that will last.
