Dear Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for giving each 00:00:12.06\00:00:14.90 of us this new year of life. 00:00:14.90\00:00:17.23 A new year in which to serve You. 00:00:17.23\00:00:19.76 We pray that we will serve You faithfully. 00:00:19.76\00:00:22.90 Please give us the strength, the humility, the courage, 00:00:22.90\00:00:27.06 to live for You this year. 00:00:27.06\00:00:29.16 So if You were here walking and talking, among us in the flesh, 00:00:29.16\00:00:33.13 You would not be ashamed to call us Your children, 00:00:33.13\00:00:36.80 Your followers. 00:00:36.80\00:00:38.56 Open our hearts this morning to hear the message that You 00:00:38.56\00:00:41.76 have to give us. 00:00:41.76\00:00:43.10 I pray You will touch the lips of Sebastian your servant, 00:00:43.10\00:00:45.76 that he will give us the message that You have on Your 00:00:45.76\00:00:49.40 heart for us to hear today. 00:00:49.40\00:00:51.03 Help us not only to listen to it, but to make it a part 00:00:51.03\00:00:56.43 of our experience. 00:00:56.43\00:00:58.23 Help us to reach out to others in this new year and 00:00:58.23\00:01:02.06 to bring many to You. 00:01:02.06\00:01:04.13 May our connection with You may remain strong, may we look 00:01:04.13\00:01:07.73 to Your face and follow You continually, honoring You, 00:01:07.73\00:01:12.40 living lives unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:01:12.40\00:01:16.93 We pray all these things in Jesus' name, Amen! 00:01:16.93\00:01:20.10 Tell me do you love Jesus? 00:01:26.96\00:01:28.73 Audience: yes we love Jesus. 00:01:28.73\00:01:31.00 Are you sure you love Jesus? 00:01:31.00\00:01:33.20 Audience: I'm sure I love Jesus. 00:01:33.20\00:01:35.83 And why do you love Jesus? 00:01:35.83\00:01:37.96 Audience: here's why I love Jesus, because He first loved 00:01:37.96\00:01:43.06 me, that's the reason we all ought to love Him. 00:01:43.06\00:01:47.43 Oh I how I love Jesus, I can't hear you GYC! 00:01:47.43\00:01:52.03 Oh how I love Jesus, 00:01:52.03\00:01:57.10 oh, how I love Jesus 00:01:57.10\00:02:02.10 because He first loved me. 00:02:02.10\00:02:06.70 Now why else would young people get up on New Year's Day 00:02:06.70\00:02:11.26 at six in the morning except for one reason. Amen! 00:02:11.26\00:02:16.10 I'm delighted to see you here and I know that some of your 00:02:16.10\00:02:20.56 Christian brethren will be strolling in late. 00:02:20.56\00:02:22.96 There was an ungodly party going on above my room. 00:02:22.96\00:02:26.43 I had to call upon the name of the Lord, but this morning 00:02:26.43\00:02:33.40 you guys did so well yesterday in the favors that I asked 00:02:33.40\00:02:36.50 of you, I thought I might push the envelope a little bit 00:02:36.50\00:02:39.56 and ask you a couple other favors. 00:02:39.56\00:02:41.60 Is that okay? Yes, okay here we go. 00:02:41.60\00:02:45.40 Number one: one thing that I want to challenge us here at GYC 00:02:45.40\00:02:53.30 as I had mentioned yesterday that GYC is not an event 00:02:53.30\00:02:56.96 but it is a movement. 00:02:56.96\00:02:59.00 The success of any movement, is movement. 00:02:59.00\00:03:03.10 That means when we talk about the spirit of GYC, 00:03:03.10\00:03:08.30 the spirit of GYC is not just when the meetings start, 00:03:08.30\00:03:12.10 or when we're in the seminars, but there is something very 00:03:12.10\00:03:15.86 special about that little break time between 00:03:15.86\00:03:18.63 one seminar and another. 00:03:18.63\00:03:20.43 When you are traveling on to your next seminar, 00:03:20.43\00:03:22.50 and you are leaving here to go to breakfast, I want to 00:03:22.50\00:03:26.50 challenge you all to take your spirituality higher in that 00:03:26.50\00:03:30.20 little space of time. 00:03:30.20\00:03:32.46 The reason why say this, I got invited to go to China 00:03:32.46\00:03:35.53 several years ago to preach. 00:03:35.53\00:03:37.36 In that invitation I asked how long, etc. Etc. Etc. 00:03:37.36\00:03:41.90 all the details and they said we want you to come for a 00:03:41.90\00:03:44.10 weekend, oh okay, you are talking about four or five 00:03:44.10\00:03:46.46 sermons, they said no you need to preach 23 sermons. 00:03:46.46\00:03:50.43 In one weekend? 00:03:51.80\00:03:53.60 They said yes you know how things are in China, etc. 00:03:53.60\00:03:57.96 So the young people when they come they want to get as 00:03:57.96\00:04:00.70 much as possible. 00:04:00.70\00:04:02.26 I say well how will they take a break? 00:04:02.26\00:04:04.46 This is how we take a break, after you finish one sermon 00:04:04.46\00:04:09.70 people do not get up and socialize and get a glass of 00:04:09.70\00:04:12.76 water, everyone gets on their knees and have a prayer 00:04:12.76\00:04:16.20 session of their own volition. 00:04:16.20\00:04:18.06 Lord help me to apply this message to my life. 00:04:18.06\00:04:21.60 Then waiting for the next sermon. 00:04:21.60\00:04:23.73 So I want to challenge us to start having more spontaneous 00:04:23.73\00:04:27.30 prayer sessions in the hallway. 00:04:27.30\00:04:29.76 I want to challenge us to start singing while waiting to 00:04:29.76\00:04:33.76 get our breakfast in line. Amen! 00:04:33.76\00:04:36.53 Sometime you don't have to make the door people so afraid, 00:04:36.53\00:04:39.00 this huge mob is rushing and salivating at the doors for 00:04:39.00\00:04:43.00 their breakfast and it could encourage them if we would 00:04:43.00\00:04:48.00 just sing some old songs of Zion. Amen! 00:04:48.00\00:04:50.83 The old songs of Zion are so powerful that there is an 00:04:50.83\00:04:53.73 entire song about the captivity. 00:04:53.73\00:04:56.16 And say hey as we are sitting by the waters of Babylon 00:04:56.16\00:04:59.46 can you sing us one of the old songs of Zion? 00:04:59.46\00:05:02.66 Now granted they were mocking the people of God, but they 00:05:02.66\00:05:06.13 knew something distinct about the music that is designed 00:05:06.13\00:05:10.00 to invite the presence of Jesus. 00:05:10.00\00:05:12.40 So I want to challenge you to spontaneously break out in 00:05:12.40\00:05:16.86 Bible studies, prayer sessions, singing together 00:05:16.86\00:05:20.60 in the hallway. 00:05:20.60\00:05:21.76 One thing I love when I get to go to Africa, you preach 00:05:21.76\00:05:24.53 for an hour, and they are angry you only went one hour. 00:05:24.53\00:05:27.60 Number one, so you can go 2 hours and they won't 00:05:27.60\00:05:31.10 get angry at you. 00:05:31.10\00:05:32.70 Then after you are done preaching, they go out in the 00:05:32.70\00:05:35.16 hall and get together and sing for another hour. 00:05:35.16\00:05:37.56 I'm like Lord, and sometimes all the way back to America I 00:05:37.56\00:05:42.06 am thinking to myself, is the Holy Spirit different here 00:05:42.06\00:05:44.93 then it is over there? 00:05:44.93\00:05:47.23 What is the answer to that? There is no difference. 00:05:47.23\00:05:50.83 The difference is the willingness of the heart. Amen! 00:05:50.83\00:05:55.00 So I want to challenge you to do this. 00:05:55.00\00:05:58.33 Second favor: which is sobering, we have this habit, some 00:05:58.33\00:06:05.73 of us at GYC, we like to start exiting before the meeting 00:06:05.73\00:06:09.26 is over, Amen! 00:06:09.26\00:06:12.46 So I'm taking the license to ask you a favor. 00:06:12.46\00:06:16.06 Before you decide to get up out of your seat, wait for 00:06:16.06\00:06:25.46 the meeting to finish. 00:06:25.46\00:06:27.50 Now why am I saying this? 00:06:27.50\00:06:29.30 I was reading a book "Education" the chapter on faith and 00:06:29.30\00:06:32.80 prayer and she was talking about how we live in a very 00:06:32.80\00:06:37.03 busy world, and as we are living in this busy world, she 00:06:37.03\00:06:42.60 says we have no time to linger at the feet of Jesus. 00:06:42.60\00:06:47.33 We come to hear a message, we are like Lord, I want You to 00:06:47.33\00:06:50.30 speak to me like Mary. 00:06:50.30\00:06:51.90 We have chosen that one good thing, and when we come to 00:06:51.90\00:06:55.06 the feet of Jesus, we are like old breakfast and we rush out. 00:06:55.06\00:06:58.36 Can you imagine if Jesus was here, how many people do you 00:06:58.36\00:07:02.10 think would rush out to breakfast? Zero! 00:07:02.10\00:07:06.70 I believe Jesus is here, as a result of that I want to 00:07:08.10\00:07:12.60 challenge you, don't rush so quickly out of the Master's 00:07:12.60\00:07:15.50 presence, take some time to digest what God's convictions 00:07:15.50\00:07:21.23 have brought to your heart. 00:07:21.23\00:07:23.40 Let it sink into your bones, make a resolution in your 00:07:23.40\00:07:26.93 mind that because of this message I'm going to change how 00:07:26.93\00:07:30.30 I walked to breakfast. 00:07:30.30\00:07:31.90 It's going to change your conversations at your breakfast 00:07:31.90\00:07:35.13 table, Amen! Is this possible GYC? 00:07:35.13\00:07:39.13 It is more than possible, right! 00:07:39.13\00:07:41.60 Because yesterday we have but now experience, did we not? 00:07:41.60\00:07:44.36 Amen! This is a weak Amen! 00:07:44.36\00:07:47.30 Is it because you stayed up late for New Year's Eve? 00:07:47.30\00:07:49.76 No, it shouldn't change your power Amen's! 00:07:49.76\00:07:53.66 Is this possible GYC? Audience: Amen! 00:07:53.66\00:07:58.03 That's a little better, we're getting there. 00:07:58.03\00:08:00.13 The title of our message this morning is 00:08:00.13\00:08:03.66 "the Brave Hearted Gospel, the Brave Hearted Gospel". 00:08:03.66\00:08:09.30 Let's pray: mighty God, everlasting Father, 00:08:09.30\00:08:17.50 we thank You for the gift of life and we know Lord 00:08:17.50\00:08:21.56 that You did not give us life because we were so 00:08:21.56\00:08:25.60 righteous yesterday. 00:08:25.60\00:08:27.46 But because Your mercies are new every morning. 00:08:27.46\00:08:31.70 There has never been an age where it took anything less 00:08:31.70\00:08:38.46 than encourage to further the work of God. 00:08:38.46\00:08:42.26 It took brave-hearted souls and Lord we pray this morning 00:08:42.26\00:08:50.20 that You would give us that Spirit that dwelt in the 00:08:50.20\00:08:54.86 breast of Paul. 00:08:54.86\00:08:56.90 That Spirit that sat in the bosom of Job. 00:08:56.90\00:09:00.70 That Spirit that was in the Lord Jesus Christ that 00:09:00.70\00:09:05.26 challenged Him to not just be loving, 00:09:05.26\00:09:07.80 but to speak the truth. 00:09:07.80\00:09:10.13 Teach us Lord as we study Your word is our prayer 00:09:10.13\00:09:14.30 in Jesus name, Amen! 00:09:14.30\00:09:17.60 Turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 3, what chapter? 00:09:17.60\00:09:23.40 Are you there? Okay there is mercy. 00:09:23.40\00:09:30.00 When you get there say Amen! 00:09:30.00\00:09:32.23 If you're not there say, have mercy. 00:09:32.23\00:09:35.06 Daniel chapter 3, Amen! Okay, Daniel chapter 3. 00:09:35.06\00:09:43.26 One of my favorite stories in all the Bible and I will 00:09:45.66\00:09:51.06 tell you why throughout the entire sermon. 00:09:51.06\00:09:53.66 Daniel 3:1, "Nebuchadnezzar, the King, made an image of" 00:09:55.93\00:10:01.10 Gold, whose height was threescore cubits by six cubic. 00:10:01.10\00:10:07.16 "He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of," 00:10:07.16\00:10:11.16 "Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather together the" 00:10:11.16\00:10:15.20 "princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges" 00:10:15.20\00:10:18.70 "the treasures, the counselor's, the sheriffs, and all the" 00:10:18.70\00:10:22.36 "rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the" 00:10:22.36\00:10:25.46 "image which Nebuchadnezzar, the King, has set up. " 00:10:25.46\00:10:28.13 "Then the princes and the governors and the captains and" 00:10:28.13\00:10:31.50 "the judges, treasures, counselors, sheriffs, and all" 00:10:31.50\00:10:34.73 "the provinces were gathered together at the dedication of" 00:10:34.73\00:10:38.70 "the image that Nebuchadnezzar, King, had set up. " 00:10:38.70\00:10:42.50 "They stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set" 00:10:42.50\00:10:46.63 "up. Then a Herald called out, to you it is commanded oh" 00:10:46.63\00:10:51.60 " nations and people and languages that what time you" 00:10:51.60\00:10:54.90 "hear the sound of a cornet, flute, harp," 00:10:54.90\00:11:00.66 "sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music," 00:11:00.66\00:11:03.06 "you fall down and worship the golden image that" 00:11:03.06\00:11:07.23 "Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. And who so falleth" 00:11:07.23\00:11:11.43 "not down and worship it shall the same hour be cast into" 00:11:11.43\00:11:16.83 "the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Therefore at that" 00:11:16.83\00:11:23.33 "time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet," 00:11:23.33\00:11:27.60 "flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music," 00:11:27.60\00:11:30.80 "all the people, the nations, and the languages," 00:11:30.80\00:11:36.80 "fell down and worshiped the golden image that" 00:11:36.80\00:11:41.03 "Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. " 00:11:41.03\00:11:43.80 Now when you are studying the word of God, there is one 00:11:43.80\00:11:46.40 device that we would like to use to extract the message 00:11:46.40\00:11:49.10 from the Bible and that device is repetition. 00:11:49.10\00:11:52.40 What is it? Repetition! 00:11:52.40\00:11:54.53 So the Bible writers back then, they didn't have Microsoft 00:11:54.53\00:11:57.56 office, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, 00:11:57.56\00:12:00.70 none of these programs so you can bold, italicize, and 00:12:00.70\00:12:05.46 underlined something, right? 00:12:05.46\00:12:07.33 That's what we can do say that this is very important. 00:12:07.33\00:12:10.06 But in order for Bible writer to do that, they didn't have 00:12:10.06\00:12:13.66 those devices, what they used is something called repetition. 00:12:13.66\00:12:16.66 So when you are reading the first seven verses, I want you 00:12:16.66\00:12:19.36 to see how many times this phrase appears in the passage. 00:12:19.36\00:12:23.40 You see in verse 1, and it says he set it up, 00:12:23.40\00:12:28.20 this golden image. 00:12:28.20\00:12:30.20 You go to verse 2, it says right at the end of the verse, 00:12:30.20\00:12:33.36 which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 00:12:33.36\00:12:35.63 Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 00:12:35.63\00:12:38.36 Verse 4, Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 00:12:38.36\00:12:42.80 Verse 5, I'm sorry, then you come down to verse 7, 00:12:42.80\00:12:45.93 that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 00:12:45.93\00:12:50.10 Now that's some repetition, yes? 00:12:50.10\00:12:52.13 So you wonder to yourself, why is this phrase constantly 00:12:52.13\00:12:55.96 being repeated, well guess what? 00:12:55.96\00:12:57.53 Did Nebuchadnezzar come up with the concept of an image 00:12:57.53\00:13:00.76 on his own? Yes or no! 00:13:00.76\00:13:02.73 Where did he get that image from? 00:13:02.73\00:13:05.20 From what? Audience: The dream! The dream! 00:13:05.20\00:13:09.40 So follow this, God had given Nebuchadnezzar a dream. 00:13:09.40\00:13:13.16 While He had given Nebuchadnezzar a dream, God said 00:13:13.16\00:13:17.16 through Daniel, interpreting this dream, that there will 00:13:17.16\00:13:20.73 be an image Nebuchadnezzar. 00:13:20.73\00:13:23.53 This is what you saw, and in this image there was a head 00:13:23.53\00:13:29.03 of gold, chest and arms of what? Audience: Silver 00:13:29.03\00:13:33.23 Belly and thighs of? Audience: Bronze 00:13:33.23\00:13:36.30 Legs? Iron! Feet part iron and what? Audience: Clay! 00:13:36.30\00:13:40.50 I'm actually speaking to Adventist, we should all know 00:13:40.50\00:13:43.26 this prophecy by now. Amen! 00:13:43.26\00:13:45.16 So he says okay here is the image, now Nebuchadnezzar 00:13:45.16\00:13:49.33 turns over in chapter 3 and says, oh no, no, no God has 00:13:49.33\00:13:53.16 got it all wrong. 00:13:53.16\00:13:54.83 It's not a head of gold it's an image of gold. 00:13:54.83\00:13:58.83 So here God has revealed something to Nebuchadnezzar. 00:13:58.83\00:14:02.96 Constantly in chapter 2 it says the secret was revealed. 00:14:02.96\00:14:07.06 So here we have through the revelation of God, 00:14:07.06\00:14:09.83 Nebuchadnezzar can see into the future of nations, and God 00:14:09.83\00:14:14.40 says after you shall arise another kingdom. 00:14:14.40\00:14:17.83 Your kingdom will not last for ever Nebuchadnezzar. 00:14:17.83\00:14:20.90 But the God of heaven He will set up His kingdom. 00:14:20.90\00:14:24.03 His kingdom is one that shall not be overcome. 00:14:24.03\00:14:27.13 We find here is Nebuchadnezzar is taking something 00:14:27.13\00:14:30.13 that God revealed clearly to him and he is now perverting 00:14:30.13\00:14:34.56 the revelation of God. 00:14:34.56\00:14:36.76 He is bending what the revelation of God was in order 00:14:36.76\00:14:39.60 to fit it to what he wants to see. 00:14:39.60\00:14:41.96 Now you have to ask yourself the question. 00:14:41.96\00:14:44.33 How do you and I pervert the revelation of God? 00:14:44.33\00:14:49.73 When it is not according to our own desires, when it does 00:14:49.73\00:14:54.80 not fit nice and neatly within our plans for our future. 00:14:54.80\00:14:59.83 All of a sudden we learn about new truth from God. 00:14:59.83\00:15:02.93 We sit down to look at the spirit of prophecy, we are 00:15:02.93\00:15:05.96 studying the Bible, someone preaches a sermon, and God by 00:15:05.96\00:15:09.60 Revelation has opened our eyes to some new truth, to some 00:15:09.60\00:15:13.20 secret that we did not, without His divine aid, 00:15:13.20\00:15:16.30 have access to. 00:15:16.30\00:15:18.66 As a result of that when it is not pleasing to self, when 00:15:18.66\00:15:23.10 it is not conforming to exactly what I want it to say then we 00:15:23.10\00:15:27.46 like to set up an image of gold. 00:15:27.46\00:15:30.10 Because Nebuchadnezzar says I'm going to pervert the 00:15:30.10\00:15:32.70 revelation of God to say what I want it to say. 00:15:32.70\00:15:36.00 It is not a head of gold, it is an image of gold. 00:15:36.00\00:15:40.06 You ask yourself what statement is he making? 00:15:40.06\00:15:44.06 He is defying the revelation of God, and he doesn't take 00:15:44.06\00:15:47.76 it so far that he wants to make this golden image and 00:15:47.76\00:15:51.26 set it up in his office on his trophy table, right? 00:15:51.26\00:15:55.00 Where does he set it up? On the plains of Dura! 00:15:55.00\00:15:58.66 He calls everyone in the realm and says, you know what, 00:15:58.66\00:16:02.00 not only will you and I pervert the revelation of God, 00:16:02.00\00:16:05.20 we are getting our knees and we're like Lord I want to 00:16:05.20\00:16:07.96 know God's will for my life, please tell me what you want 00:16:07.96\00:16:10.96 me to do. We pray and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit says 00:16:10.96\00:16:13.93 I want you to stop studying medicine. 00:16:13.93\00:16:16.76 I'm calling you into the mission field. 00:16:16.76\00:16:19.60 A revelation from God. 00:16:19.60\00:16:22.30 Oh I know what God meant, He wanted me to be a missionary 00:16:22.30\00:16:25.90 Doctor, somebody say amen. 00:16:25.90\00:16:29.86 That's what we do, do we not? Yes or no? 00:16:29.86\00:16:33.73 Oh Lord I'm going to GYC, is it Your will to go to GYC and 00:16:33.73\00:16:39.30 You will provide the funds? 00:16:39.30\00:16:41.20 Then you always save the money never came in so it must 00:16:41.20\00:16:43.70 not have been God's will. 00:16:43.70\00:16:45.46 Even though that God laid on my heart to go. 00:16:45.46\00:16:47.16 We use circumstances to determine, so you have all these 00:16:47.16\00:16:51.50 things to pray for the revelation of God, we perverted 00:16:51.50\00:16:55.80 it but guess what friends, it doesn't just affect you and I. 00:16:55.80\00:16:58.96 When you and I pervert something that God has revealed to 00:16:58.96\00:17:02.83 us clearly we become an agent of temptation for others. 00:17:02.83\00:17:06.66 It is not enough for me to have my own golden image, but to have 00:17:06.66\00:17:10.90 others to bow down to this image. 00:17:10.90\00:17:12.93 You see it is not enough for people to look at the 00:17:12.93\00:17:16.23 revelation of God, about creation but to pervert the 00:17:16.23\00:17:19.23 revelation of God to fit what they want it to say. 00:17:19.23\00:17:21.90 They are not content with just writing it in their own 00:17:21.90\00:17:24.60 personal journals, they want to publish it in articles, 00:17:24.60\00:17:27.30 and books, and propagated into universities. 00:17:27.30\00:17:30.40 I want everyone else to bow down to my golden image, to my 00:17:30.40\00:17:34.16 perversion of the revelation of God. 00:17:34.16\00:17:36.40 The flood was not worldwide. 00:17:36.40\00:17:38.23 Creation did not have to be in six literal, 00:17:39.96\00:17:42.53 continuous 24-hour days. 00:17:42.53\00:17:45.83 As we pervert the revelation of God, then they want all of 00:17:47.53\00:17:51.46 us to come to the feet of their golden image. 00:17:51.46\00:17:53.93 Everyone wants to bow down to this image. 00:17:56.90\00:17:58.96 Friends this is not a new concept. 00:17:58.96\00:18:01.93 Do you remember when Eve ate the fruit? 00:18:01.93\00:18:04.46 Yes! Did she just keep the fruit to herself? 00:18:05.70\00:18:08.26 You know Adam was in perfection, he was very happy serving 00:18:08.26\00:18:12.23 God, he was in the garden, keeping the garden as he ought 00:18:12.23\00:18:15.56 to be keeping the garden, but no Eve she takes the fruit. 00:18:15.56\00:18:19.03 Oh Wow, I've experienced a new sphere of spirituality. 00:18:19.03\00:18:22.73 Tish, Tish, Tish, Tish, and starts running to Adam with 00:18:22.73\00:18:26.43 her arms full of fruit. 00:18:26.43\00:18:28.06 Adam, Adam I ate the fruit. 00:18:28.06\00:18:29.60 Now all of a sudden as she's been confused and deceived by 00:18:29.60\00:18:33.20 the devil, she becomes an agent of temptation for Adam. 00:18:33.20\00:18:36.60 The serpent never came to Adam, he just had to get Eve. 00:18:36.60\00:18:40.00 So you see friends for each and every one of us this 00:18:40.00\00:18:44.06 idea, this aspect of you and I perverting the revelation 00:18:44.06\00:18:48.13 of God does not just affect your life and mine, 00:18:48.13\00:18:51.16 it affects every life around us. 00:18:51.16\00:18:53.80 Everyone under our influence, and we must make sure that 00:18:53.80\00:18:57.50 when God reveals something clearly to you and I, we submit 00:18:57.50\00:19:00.86 everything in our lives that is contrary to the will of 00:19:00.86\00:19:07.53 God, everything otherwise were pulling a Nebuchadnezzar. 00:19:07.53\00:19:13.20 Setting up a golden image and we want other people to bow 00:19:13.20\00:19:18.86 down to our image. 00:19:18.86\00:19:21.46 In fact there was even a punishment attached for not 00:19:21.46\00:19:25.96 conforming, we will cast you into the fiery furnace. 00:19:25.96\00:19:30.93 Well notice what happens in verse 8, the story goes on. 00:19:30.93\00:19:36.26 In verse 8 it says, "wherefore at that time certain" 00:19:36.26\00:19:41.40 "Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews, and" 00:19:41.40\00:19:45.60 "they said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O King live" 00:19:45.60\00:19:49.70 "forever, thou O King has made a decree that every man shall" 00:19:49.70\00:19:54.06 "hear the sound of the cornet, flute, Harp, sackbut," 00:19:54.06\00:19:57.33 "sultry, dulcimer, and all kinds of music shall fall" 00:19:57.33\00:20:00.56 "down and worship the golden image. " 00:20:00.56\00:20:02.70 "And whosoever not fall down and worship it," 00:20:02.70\00:20:05.53 "that he should be cast into the midst" 00:20:05.53\00:20:08.40 "of a burning fiery furnace. " 00:20:08.40\00:20:10.80 "There're certain Jews whom thou hast sent over the" 00:20:10.80\00:20:15.83 "affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach" 00:20:15.83\00:20:20.63 "and Abednego, these men O King have not regarded thee" 00:20:20.63\00:20:25.33 "they served not thy God's, nor worship the golden image" 00:20:25.33\00:20:29.96 "who set up. " Who set it up? Nebuchadnezzar. 00:20:29.96\00:20:34.60 So now follow this, here come these tattletale 00:20:34.60\00:20:39.16 Chaldeans, have you had a younger brother 00:20:39.16\00:20:42.20 or sibling that was a tattletale? 00:20:42.20\00:20:43.80 A lot of times, I'm the oldest of seven, actually one of 00:20:43.80\00:20:47.60 my younger brothers is here at GYC. 00:20:47.60\00:20:49.50 I believe he's going to be crossing the line some time 00:20:49.50\00:20:53.40 during this conference, pray for him. 00:20:53.40\00:20:55.86 probably asleep right now. 00:20:55.86\00:20:58.10 But I remember being the oldest of seven children. 00:21:00.30\00:21:02.46 I did not grow up in the church so I remember we use to 00:21:02.46\00:21:06.16 have all these fights over video games, because back in 00:21:06.16\00:21:09.86 my day video games only had two controllers. 00:21:09.86\00:21:12.40 Seven kids, you know the problem. 00:21:12.40\00:21:15.30 Now Sebastian is the biggest so we come and I picked him 00:21:15.30\00:21:20.50 up by his collar, excuse me and get on the videogame, 00:21:20.50\00:21:24.16 and my little brother would start crying and screaming 00:21:24.16\00:21:27.46 Sebastian is not where it's my turn, it's my turn. 00:21:27.46\00:21:30.66 While he is fighting me over this thing, the fundamental 00:21:30.66\00:21:33.03 issue that began to come down is that all of a sudden my 00:21:33.03\00:21:35.60 younger brother would run over to the side and start 00:21:35.60\00:21:38.16 walking up the stairs saying I'm telling daddy, I'm 00:21:38.16\00:21:40.70 telling daddy, this is what he is doing. 00:21:40.70\00:21:42.80 I'm telling daddy, I'm telling daddy waiting for me to 00:21:42.80\00:21:46.36 drop the controller and say no please don't tell daddy. 00:21:46.36\00:21:50.00 So all of a sudden when he notices that I'm not getting 00:21:50.00\00:21:53.56 scared, do you know what he does? 00:21:53.56\00:21:55.20 He turns around and comes back down and says Saab, please 00:21:55.20\00:21:57.20 let me play the game. 00:21:57.20\00:21:59.30 But a lot of the issue is that tattletaling is coming 00:21:59.30\00:22:03.70 from the jealousy that is there. 00:22:03.70\00:22:05.80 It is because I want something from them. 00:22:05.80\00:22:07.63 These are the men and notice what they said, "whom thou" 00:22:07.63\00:22:10.03 "hast set up over the affairs of Babylon". 00:22:10.03\00:22:12.80 And the Chaldeans being jealous of these men, they make 00:22:12.80\00:22:16.40 sure, oh, oh, oh, Nebuchadnezzar was sitting too far back 00:22:16.40\00:22:19.50 there were too many people they are at the Plains of Dura. 00:22:19.50\00:22:23.90 He could not see three Hebrew boys who were standing while 00:22:23.90\00:22:28.23 everyone else was bowing. 00:22:28.23\00:22:30.16 So the Chaldeans felt it was their duty to their country 00:22:30.16\00:22:34.50 to go to the king and let him know there were certain 00:22:34.50\00:22:38.80 people who don't regard you. 00:22:38.80\00:22:40.90 They don't respect you, they are not conforming to your 00:22:40.90\00:22:44.53 laws, so Nebuchadnezzar obviously could not see them. 00:22:44.53\00:22:48.66 He hears the report and so he says bring them men to me. 00:22:48.66\00:22:52.76 Verse 13, look at that with me. 00:22:52.76\00:22:55.20 "Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to" 00:22:58.90\00:23:02.50 "bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Then they brought" 00:23:02.50\00:23:05.96 "these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and" 00:23:05.96\00:23:10.60 "said unto them, is it true, oh Shadrach, Meshach, and" 00:23:10.60\00:23:15.00 "Abednego do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden" 00:23:15.00\00:23:19.33 "image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready. " 00:23:19.33\00:23:24.56 Now if you be ye ready what? If you be ready, "that at" 00:23:24.56\00:23:28.90 "what time you hear the sound he of the cornet, flute," 00:23:28.90\00:23:32.40 "harp, sackbut, sultry, and dulcimer, and all kinds of" 00:23:32.40\00:23:36.43 "music, you fall down and worship the image which I have" 00:23:36.43\00:23:41.70 "made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the" 00:23:41.70\00:23:47.20 "same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and" 00:23:47.20\00:23:52.96 "who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" 00:23:52.96\00:23:58.70 Now I want you to notice something here. 00:23:58.70\00:24:00.80 As I pause, Nebuchadnezzar brings the men to him and goes 00:24:00.80\00:24:04.76 okay guys I think you might of missed something. 00:24:04.76\00:24:07.96 I hope you guys don't think because I sent you over the 00:24:07.96\00:24:11.03 affairs of the province of Babylon that your exempt. 00:24:11.03\00:24:14.06 Maybe there was a mis-communication, 00:24:14.06\00:24:16.40 you didn't get the memo, so as a result of that, 00:24:16.40\00:24:19.23 guys is this really true? 00:24:19.23\00:24:21.63 Is it really true that you guys don't worship or serve 00:24:21.63\00:24:24.86 my God? You are not bowing down to my image? 00:24:24.86\00:24:26.26 I don't believe it, I trust you too much, you are my best 00:24:26.26\00:24:29.23 in my class at the University of Babylon. 00:24:29.23\00:24:31.83 So while you are the best I brought you in and you are 00:24:31.83\00:24:34.40 overseeing the realm and who better to enforce the 00:24:34.40\00:24:37.33 policies of Babylon then the individuals I set over 00:24:37.33\00:24:40.23 the province of Babylon. 00:24:40.23\00:24:41.90 I can't be having coup d'états in my cabinet. 00:24:41.90\00:24:45.10 So he says, listen guys, maybe you didn't hear, but you 00:24:46.50\00:24:49.73 are going to be cast into a burning, fiery, furnace 00:24:49.73\00:24:52.93 if you do not bow down. 00:24:52.93\00:24:55.23 This is where it gets good, verse 16, "Shadrach, Meshach" 00:24:57.03\00:25:03.56 "and Abednego answered and said to the king. " 00:25:03.56\00:25:05.63 "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in" 00:25:05.63\00:25:10.16 "this matter. " I just want to pause here. 00:25:10.16\00:25:13.60 They said in this response, we are not careful to answer 00:25:13.60\00:25:17.83 thee, now there are 2 principles that immediately emerge. 00:25:17.83\00:25:21.46 He said now if you guys be ready, I'll give you some time 00:25:21.46\00:25:24.23 to deliberate, I'll give you guys sometimes to think about 00:25:24.23\00:25:27.70 this for a second, fiery furnace, bowing to the image. 00:25:27.70\00:25:31.16 Okay guys, I just want to let you know that and I'm going 00:25:31.16\00:25:34.60 back to my throne and let you make your decision. 00:25:34.60\00:25:36.80 Whenever you are ready. 00:25:36.80\00:25:38.26 He goes back to his throne and as Nebuchadnezzar is 00:25:38.26\00:25:41.03 turning, oh King, we are not careful to answer 00:25:41.03\00:25:45.00 you in this matter. 00:25:45.00\00:25:46.46 You see friends before a crises comes there must be certain 00:25:46.46\00:25:49.80 decisions you and I have made in our minds ahead of time. 00:25:49.80\00:25:53.16 We are not waiting for the crises, so when you come down 00:25:53.16\00:25:56.23 and your boss says hey, sister I need you to come in on 00:25:56.23\00:25:59.16 Sabbath, blah, blah, blah, we don't need to walk away 00:25:59.16\00:26:02.03 shaking, like man what do I do. 00:26:02.03\00:26:04.30 I'll call my pastor, my boss wants me to come in on 00:26:04.30\00:26:06.33 Sabbath, I'm going to put something on Facebook 00:26:06.33\00:26:08.33 pray for me. 00:26:08.33\00:26:10.30 No, no, no, we don't need to be careful in answering you. 00:26:10.30\00:26:13.90 Amen! I already know what the answer is. 00:26:13.90\00:26:17.60 Why am I saying that? 00:26:17.60\00:26:18.73 Because some of us are trying to be careful and we have 00:26:18.73\00:26:23.96 this mindset today that we must speak the truth in love. 00:26:23.96\00:26:29.06 I don't disagree with that, but this is where I disagree. 00:26:29.06\00:26:34.23 There is some mindset in our hearts that believes if we 00:26:34.23\00:26:39.36 can speak the truth lovingly enough it will 00:26:39.36\00:26:42.03 become acceptable. 00:26:42.03\00:26:44.23 So we are sitting down trying to deliberate saying how do 00:26:44.23\00:26:46.96 I palliate this thing? 00:26:46.96\00:26:48.30 How do I soften the blow, you know Nebuchadnezzar I'm 00:26:48.30\00:26:52.00 going to get the violinist to play some nice background 00:26:52.00\00:26:56.70 music, oh King Nebuchadnezzar we will not be bowing down 00:26:56.70\00:27:02.40 to your image, thanks, sorry for the, and we dance around 00:27:02.40\00:27:06.90 we say these words in canvassing we call, curse words. 00:27:06.90\00:27:10.83 In canvassing we call them curse words because they are 00:27:10.83\00:27:14.76 not assuming the sale. 00:27:14.76\00:27:16.53 They are like I understand you don't want these books, 00:27:16.53\00:27:19.66 you don't want to buy so we say if perhaps, maybe you 00:27:19.66\00:27:22.76 desire on some other planet and some of the universe, 00:27:22.76\00:27:25.60 somewhere down deep in the depths of your heart you would 00:27:25.60\00:27:28.36 consider buying this book from us. 00:27:28.36\00:27:30.46 It's $10. 00:27:30.46\00:27:33.20 So we say no, no, no there must be some curse words for 00:27:33.20\00:27:38.20 Christians, and as we come back to the point of speaking 00:27:38.20\00:27:43.10 the truth in love, you must speak the truth in love 00:27:43.10\00:27:46.26 friends and there is no one that spoke the truth more 00:27:46.26\00:27:49.40 lovingly then the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:27:49.40\00:27:51.33 Can you say Amen!? Audience Amen! 00:27:51.33\00:27:53.20 As a result of that I want you to sit down and think for 00:27:53.20\00:27:55.80 a minute what Jesus said to people. 00:27:55.80\00:27:57.46 So one of my favorites, John chapter 8, Jesus coming 00:27:57.46\00:28:00.86 to these individuals and they say, hey look you guys are 00:28:00.86\00:28:03.43 trying to kill me, and they say you have a devil you are 00:28:03.43\00:28:05.63 a Samaritan, what do you mean we are trying to kill you? 00:28:05.63\00:28:07.80 He said, you seek to kill Me, a man who has told 00:28:07.80\00:28:13.70 you the truth. 00:28:13.70\00:28:15.50 They say, this brother does not know what He is talking 00:28:15.50\00:28:18.06 about your born of fortification. 00:28:18.06\00:28:19.70 So Jesus turns to them and says, you are of 00:28:19.70\00:28:23.83 your father the devil. 00:28:23.83\00:28:26.60 How do you say that lovingly? You are of your father the 00:28:26.60\00:28:31.96 devil, is that going to soften the blow? 00:28:31.96\00:28:38.00 Yes or no? No, if someone walks up to you at the lunch 00:28:38.00\00:28:42.40 line in GYC and said you are of your father the devil 00:28:42.40\00:28:47.23 or they come up to you like Nicodemus and they say you 00:28:47.23\00:28:52.06 must be born again. 00:28:52.06\00:28:53.73 First words out of our hey Sebastian, what about that 00:28:55.20\00:28:57.50 breakfast, you must be born again. 00:28:57.50\00:28:58.76 So here we have friends, a situation where Jesus gives us 00:29:02.00\00:29:05.73 this example, so do the Hebrew boys that we are not 00:29:05.73\00:29:10.26 careful to answer you in this manner. 00:29:10.26\00:29:12.53 So when we are walking through the hotel, when we're 00:29:12.53\00:29:14.53 walking through the convention center, we're meeting 00:29:14.53\00:29:16.70 people at the front desk, we're meeting people at the 00:29:16.70\00:29:18.83 restaurant we go out to. 00:29:18.83\00:29:20.50 Wherever we find ourselves at this conference and for the 00:29:20.50\00:29:23.80 rest of 2010 and the rest of our lives there are certain 00:29:23.80\00:29:27.06 decisions we have to make ahead of time. 00:29:27.06\00:29:29.53 And that decision is I will always speak the truth. 00:29:29.53\00:29:33.60 I will speak it in love, but love does not mean it is 00:29:33.60\00:29:36.76 going to make the truth more acceptable to people. 00:29:36.76\00:29:39.90 Is this clear? Audience: Amen! 00:29:39.90\00:29:41.90 Is this making sense? Audience: Yep! 00:29:41.90\00:29:43.60 We don't have to be careful, now let's keep going with 00:29:43.60\00:29:45.13 what they are saying. 00:29:45.13\00:29:46.43 So they say this, "we are not careful to answer the in" 00:29:46.43\00:29:49.50 "matter," verse 16. 00:29:49.50\00:29:50.70 Verse 17, "if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to" 00:29:50.70\00:29:55.16 "deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will" 00:29:55.16\00:29:59.63 "deliver us out of thine hand, O King. " 00:29:59.63\00:30:05.56 After we have made up our minds about what we will do, 00:30:05.56\00:30:11.93 and what we will not do. 00:30:11.93\00:30:13.73 In order for you and I to maintain an unashamed attitude, 00:30:13.73\00:30:18.20 an unashamed lifestyle, to truly abide in this theme 00:30:18.20\00:30:22.83 we have to decide ahead of time, I will not be ashamed. 00:30:22.83\00:30:27.43 You have to make it up in your mind ahead of time. 00:30:27.43\00:30:29.76 Okay, I'm down here walking to this restaurant across the 00:30:29.76\00:30:32.90 street from the Louisville convention center and someone 00:30:32.90\00:30:36.00 says what are you guys doing here? 00:30:36.00\00:30:37.53 Many of us wait until the crises, well you know Adventists 00:30:37.53\00:30:42.03 are not popular. 00:30:42.03\00:30:43.73 We are down south in the Bible belt. 00:30:43.73\00:30:45.80 Seventh day Adventist you know they are not the best people to 00:30:45.80\00:30:50.86 just throw the name out there. 00:30:50.86\00:30:52.60 Say you are with the generation for youth with Christ, 00:30:52.60\00:30:55.33 that is a little better, then they don't know 00:30:55.33\00:30:57.00 if you're Adventist or not. 00:30:57.00\00:30:58.70 Oh you guys are a Christian group? 00:30:58.70\00:31:00.40 Yeah were with a Christian group. 00:31:00.40\00:31:02.03 When you go out and say I've decided it my heart ahead of 00:31:02.03\00:31:06.10 time, you see when I first found out they wanted me to 00:31:06.10\00:31:10.03 speak for this theme, I got on my knees and said Lord 00:31:10.03\00:31:13.36 I don't want to just speak intellectual messages. 00:31:13.36\00:31:16.63 I want to actually have a life of unashameness before I 00:31:16.63\00:31:20.70 come to this conference. 00:31:20.70\00:31:22.50 So in all my travels and all my here and there, to and 00:31:22.50\00:31:26.23 fro, I made up my mind, opportunities come 00:31:26.23\00:31:28.30 I will be unashamed. 00:31:28.30\00:31:30.10 So I remember the first thing that happened. 00:31:30.10\00:31:32.03 I went to Canada to speak over there. 00:31:32.03\00:31:34.76 When I got to Canada I'm in customs now, it doesn't make 00:31:34.76\00:31:37.53 any sense, you guys are right across the border. 00:31:37.53\00:31:39.86 But they make you wait two hours for no reason. 00:31:39.86\00:31:42.10 Because we are Canadians, I have nothing against Canadians 00:31:42.10\00:31:45.36 by the way, except for the fact that they make us go 00:31:45.36\00:31:48.56 through border control. 00:31:48.56\00:31:50.80 I walked into the customs line and I hand her my slip. 00:31:50.80\00:31:54.30 She said what are you doing here? 00:31:54.30\00:31:55.86 I said I am preaching. 00:31:55.86\00:31:57.13 She said oh you are preaching, do you have any alcohol? 00:31:57.13\00:32:00.63 I said I'm a preacher. 00:32:04.50\00:32:06.00 I know some preachers that drink? 00:32:06.00\00:32:08.00 No sir, if you know that preacher, he is not 00:32:08.00\00:32:10.46 really a minister. 00:32:10.46\00:32:12.13 This is as a customs line, she starts engaging me at the 00:32:12.13\00:32:15.30 customs line about alcohol and Christianity. 00:32:15.30\00:32:18.26 I'm like, am I in another world or something? 00:32:18.26\00:32:21.20 So I leave from that and get back on the plane and sit 00:32:23.36\00:32:26.53 next to a gentleman who is a chief financial officer for 00:32:26.53\00:32:29.63 a big financial accounting firm. 00:32:29.63\00:32:32.00 A Fortune 300 company, what ever they call it. 00:32:32.00\00:32:34.50 As we are sitting down talking, I bring out one of my 00:32:34.50\00:32:37.50 little books, obviously Christian. 00:32:37.50\00:32:39.76 He said hey, where you going? 00:32:39.76\00:32:41.96 I said I'm heading to Guam. 00:32:41.96\00:32:44.13 What are you going to be doing in Guam? 00:32:44.13\00:32:47.50 Don, Don, Don, I'm going to be preaching. 00:32:47.50\00:32:50.83 Really? What are you going to be talking about? 00:32:50.83\00:32:54.66 We are trying to do something at the University of Guam, 00:32:54.66\00:32:57.96 etc. and etc. and I started going on and on into the 00:32:57.96\00:33:00.93 conversation, by the end of it the guy was talking about 00:33:00.93\00:33:03.93 how he lives in Boston and his single and very lonely. 00:33:03.93\00:33:06.90 He said he was looking for a friend and we start 00:33:06.90\00:33:08.60 talking about cooking. 00:33:08.60\00:33:09.60 I thought hey man I can teach you how to cook? 00:33:09.60\00:33:10.93 Audience: Amen! Sebastian: yeah right! 00:33:10.93\00:33:13.50 That gave me extra motivation. 00:33:13.50\00:33:16.53 So I sit down this guy and start talking and giving him 00:33:16.53\00:33:20.66 the importance as men we need to learn more of the 00:33:20.66\00:33:23.60 practical things of life. 00:33:23.60\00:33:25.16 Amen! ladies? Audience: yeah! 00:33:25.16\00:33:26.66 Some of us even need to learn how to iron our shirts, 00:33:26.66\00:33:29.40 but let me stop. 00:33:29.40\00:33:31.33 I don't want to make the men feel bad. 00:33:31.33\00:33:33.80 Some guys going to shrink down in his seat, I didn't 00:33:33.80\00:33:36.33 iron my shirt this morning. 00:33:36.33\00:33:37.76 Audience: laughing. 00:33:37.76\00:33:39.46 So I left on another plane ride, I'm coming back sitting 00:33:39.46\00:33:43.10 next to a man who is a lawyer. 00:33:43.10\00:33:45.13 A big lawyer and he actually knows the McNeilus's. 00:33:45.13\00:33:48.70 So we were talking and he was like I know the McNeilus's. 00:33:48.70\00:33:52.26 I did a case with X,Y and Z... and Dah, Dah, Dah. 00:33:52.26\00:33:55.33 Their up in Minnesota. I said yeah exactly. 00:33:55.33\00:33:58.00 Their son is actually the president of the organization 00:33:58.00\00:34:00.23 I work with. 00:34:00.23\00:34:01.36 He said oh yeah, I know about them, I had to do some 00:34:01.36\00:34:03.26 research for a case. 00:34:03.26\00:34:04.60 He says so what is this organization? 00:34:04.60\00:34:07.16 Generation of Youth for Christ. 00:34:07.16\00:34:09.70 He says what's going on? 00:34:09.70\00:34:11.70 I said this is what's happening, we are trying to end 00:34:11.70\00:34:13.10 the world, finish the gospel. 00:34:13.10\00:34:15.66 Audience laughing 00:34:15.66\00:34:19.30 The rest of the flight we talked about spiritual things. 00:34:19.30\00:34:23.43 This guy was studying to be a Catholic priest, then he 00:34:23.43\00:34:27.50 left the priesthood to became a lawyer. 00:34:27.50\00:34:29.60 You would never know. 00:34:29.60\00:34:32.60 Last story, my brother just recently came to Boston where 00:34:34.43\00:34:38.00 I live, so I was taking my brother to get his hair cut at 00:34:38.00\00:34:41.56 the barbershop I usually go to. 00:34:41.56\00:34:43.00 While my brothers getting his hair cut I am sitting there, 00:34:43.00\00:34:45.70 they say, Sebastian, they found I travel and speak 00:34:45.70\00:34:48.93 sometimes, they knew I was a Christian. 00:34:48.93\00:34:50.83 So the guy who owns the barbershop looks and says hey, 00:34:50.83\00:34:53.63 Sebastian you are a man of God. 00:34:53.63\00:34:55.03 He says to you know anything about the Illuminati? 00:34:55.03\00:34:57.80 I'm like the Illuminati, oh no not this conspiracy stuff. 00:34:57.80\00:35:01.76 So I say I know a little bit. 00:35:01.76\00:35:04.00 The next thing I know as I'm engaging him on this thing 00:35:04.00\00:35:07.13 he said hey Sebastian it's time for your haircut. 00:35:07.13\00:35:09.83 So I'm sitting in the barber chair and they put on the 00:35:09.83\00:35:12.23 little drape and he starts asking me questions. 00:35:12.23\00:35:14.23 He says, what do you think about this, let me ask you 00:35:14.23\00:35:16.90 this question, we have been having a lot of discussions 00:35:16.90\00:35:19.53 in the barbershop about religion this week. 00:35:19.53\00:35:22.26 It has been getting heated up in here, but I want to ask 00:35:22.26\00:35:24.46 you a question. 00:35:24.46\00:35:25.70 He said is it possible for God and the devil 00:35:25.70\00:35:27.63 to be the same person? 00:35:27.63\00:35:29.50 I'm like what! So I am sitting in the barber chair, 00:35:29.50\00:35:33.33 and while I'm sitting in the barber chair he said is 00:35:33.33\00:35:36.20 that possible? I say it is not possible because God is 00:35:36.20\00:35:39.03 righteous and the devil is wicked, 00:35:39.03\00:35:41.03 they can't be the same person. 00:35:41.03\00:35:42.80 He said well what about the devil's evil and he starts 00:35:42.80\00:35:46.53 harping on the evil side. 00:35:46.53\00:35:47.96 He said than what is evil? 00:35:47.96\00:35:49.36 I said evil is that which ought not to be. 00:35:49.36\00:35:52.10 It goes dead silent in the barbershop. 00:35:52.10\00:35:54.76 He said man you're getting deep on me too fast. 00:35:54.76\00:35:57.13 Audience Laughing 00:35:57.13\00:36:00.10 After that another guy in chimes in and the barber next to 00:36:00.10\00:36:02.86 us start talking about the love of God. 00:36:02.86\00:36:05.16 The fact that God can forgive and the barber said I robbed 00:36:05.16\00:36:07.93 a church one time. 00:36:07.93\00:36:09.60 He was at a local church and they left offering out and he 00:36:09.60\00:36:12.00 stole $950 from the church. 00:36:12.00\00:36:15.00 Everyone in the barbershop started moving away from him. 00:36:15.00\00:36:17.30 Audience laughing 00:36:17.30\00:36:20.80 he said hey man I know about God's forgiveness. 00:36:22.90\00:36:25.96 The guy was cutting my brothers hair and he started 00:36:25.96\00:36:28.96 bringing up the fact that it's all about the love of God. 00:36:28.96\00:36:31.30 This is what God is, the Bible says that God is love. 00:36:31.30\00:36:34.33 Then the guy at the end... the entire barber shop is like 00:36:34.33\00:36:37.23 preaching from the seat while I'm getting my hair cut. 00:36:37.23\00:36:40.53 It's like I'm paying $20 for you to preach to 10 people. 00:36:40.53\00:36:44.40 It works for me and I'm going to come out looking clean. 00:36:44.40\00:36:48.16 We are not careful to answer you in this matter. 00:36:50.23\00:36:54.06 We know that our God is able to deliver us. 00:36:54.06\00:36:57.66 You see friends one of the things that should embolden us 00:36:57.66\00:37:02.03 as young people is to be 100% confident that our God is 00:37:02.03\00:37:06.36 able to deliver us. 00:37:06.36\00:37:08.53 You see one of the problems is we come into the situation 00:37:08.53\00:37:10.73 and like man, I'm in a dilemma. 00:37:10.73\00:37:12.83 You are not in a dilemma. 00:37:12.83\00:37:14.96 If God be for you, who can be against you? 00:37:14.96\00:37:17.30 That is not a dilemma friends, that is an opportunity for 00:37:17.30\00:37:20.96 the miracle of God. Can I get a Amen! 00:37:20.96\00:37:24.03 audience: loud Amen! 00:37:24.03\00:37:25.43 So you're in a situation, man I'm in a bind, praise God. 00:37:25.43\00:37:28.86 Now watch the Lord deliver me from this. 00:37:28.86\00:37:31.43 I'm not careful, I don't need to figure out whether I'm 00:37:31.43\00:37:33.86 coming in on Sabbath or not, it is not an issue. 00:37:33.86\00:37:36.13 It is not an issue, I'm going to give God an opportunity 00:37:36.13\00:37:41.00 to work a miracle for me. 00:37:41.00\00:37:43.63 He is able to deliver us. 00:37:43.63\00:37:46.20 I want to tell you one of my favorite stories about this. 00:37:46.20\00:37:51.40 I heard it at a conference one time. 00:37:51.40\00:37:56.70 This guy was telling me the story of how he told his 00:37:56.70\00:37:59.50 little son, he had taken him to a zoo. 00:37:59.50\00:38:01.46 When he took him to this zoo, he was walking through the 00:38:01.46\00:38:05.96 zoo and saw all the animals. 00:38:05.96\00:38:07.86 The Lions are caged in a big box. 00:38:07.86\00:38:09.56 Then you go to another animal and they are caged in. 00:38:09.56\00:38:13.46 The monkeys are caged in, and apes are caged in and he 00:38:13.46\00:38:16.86 walked up to this elephant in the cage was beneath the 00:38:16.86\00:38:20.20 elephant, it was like coming up here on the elephant. 00:38:20.20\00:38:23.46 And all he had was a pink string on his leg. 00:38:23.46\00:38:25.56 The son was confused, he was like I don't get it. 00:38:25.56\00:38:30.50 He said Daddy how come the elephant doesn't just break 00:38:30.50\00:38:34.53 out of the cage? 00:38:34.53\00:38:36.56 All he has is a pink string on his leg. 00:38:36.56\00:38:39.80 So the dad turns to his son and says son this is what 00:38:39.80\00:38:45.00 happened, when he was a baby elephant they put a chain 00:38:45.00\00:38:49.86 on his leg and he would kick and kick, and he would kick 00:38:49.86\00:38:54.66 to try and break the chain but he couldn't. 00:38:54.66\00:38:56.40 Then he got a little bigger, when he got bigger they put 00:38:56.40\00:38:59.83 a bigger chain on his leg, and he would kick, and he would 00:38:59.83\00:39:03.16 kick and he would kick and try to break the chain, but he 00:39:03.16\00:39:06.50 couldn't, then he got full grown. 00:39:06.50\00:39:08.83 When he got full grown they put a bigger chain on his leg, 00:39:08.83\00:39:12.43 and he would kick, and he would kick and try to break 00:39:12.43\00:39:15.66 the chain but he couldn't. 00:39:15.66\00:39:18.06 So now all the time the elephant doesn't try to kick 00:39:18.06\00:39:21.36 anymore, so all they do is put a pink string on his leg. 00:39:21.36\00:39:24.60 As long as he feels something around his leg he will never 00:39:24.60\00:39:28.00 try to kick because he said to his son, the string is not 00:39:28.00\00:39:31.33 on his leg is on his mind. 00:39:31.33\00:39:33.53 For many of us we are like elephants in pink strings. 00:39:35.43\00:39:38.50 That is why we are ashamed, we have been kicking 00:39:38.50\00:39:41.86 against the grain. 00:39:41.86\00:39:43.13 We have been trying to share the gospel. 00:39:43.13\00:39:44.80 We have been trying to be bold and it seems we cannot 00:39:44.80\00:39:48.36 break free, but because of this we have kicked and kicked 00:39:48.36\00:39:51.86 and kicked like nothing is happening. 00:39:51.86\00:39:53.50 I go knock on doors, I give Bible studies, I get on my 00:39:53.50\00:39:56.56 knees to have my devotions. 00:39:56.56\00:39:58.03 It seems like nothing is happening, I'm not having any 00:39:58.03\00:40:01.50 breakthroughs, but the point is friends that we cannot 00:40:01.50\00:40:04.93 just let this string beyond our legs or on our minds. 00:40:04.93\00:40:08.33 Little pink strings make us timid now. 00:40:08.33\00:40:12.00 Little pink strings keep us from being bold for the Lord. 00:40:12.00\00:40:14.73 I believe friends, that is the Seventh-day Adventist 00:40:17.63\00:40:20.10 church, we have been talking since the 1800s about 00:40:20.10\00:40:22.53 finishing the work. 00:40:22.53\00:40:23.93 We've been talking since 1800s about seeing Jesus come 00:40:23.93\00:40:27.13 in our generation and as a church we have kicked, and 00:40:27.13\00:40:30.13 we've kicked, and we've kicked and couldn't finish the 00:40:30.13\00:40:33.23 work and now we have become a generation of elephants 00:40:33.23\00:40:36.30 and pink strings. 00:40:36.30\00:40:38.20 We don't believe God is able to take the gospel to all 00:40:38.20\00:40:40.90 the world anymore. 00:40:40.90\00:40:42.10 We don't believe that Jesus is able to use us to bring 00:40:42.10\00:40:45.10 a soul to the feet of Jesus. 00:40:45.10\00:40:47.06 Because we been kicking against chains and now the devil 00:40:48.63\00:40:51.03 has is bound with little pink strings. 00:40:51.03\00:40:53.96 They don't allow proselytizing on my campus. 00:40:53.96\00:40:56.36 We don't talk about religion in the workplace. 00:40:59.03\00:41:01.50 Pink strings, when you have as Pastor Asscherick was 00:41:04.60\00:41:08.43 telling us ever so eloquently, you are talking to the 00:41:08.43\00:41:12.23 Roman empire you will be killed on the spot 00:41:12.23\00:41:14.23 if you are Christian. 00:41:14.23\00:41:15.73 Those were chains, and we are in a generation 00:41:15.73\00:41:19.56 of pink strings. 00:41:19.56\00:41:21.60 My challenge is that some of us need to break the pink 00:41:21.60\00:41:25.96 strings on our legs. 00:41:25.96\00:41:27.86 In order to be unashamed we have to forget about the past 00:41:27.86\00:41:31.53 and have a "but now" experience, can you say Amen? 00:41:31.53\00:41:34.86 Audience: Amen! 00:41:34.86\00:41:36.00 Yeah, that was then, there was a chain then "but now". 00:41:36.00\00:41:38.86 You understand that God is able to break the pink strings 00:41:38.86\00:41:41.93 on your mind and mine. 00:41:41.93\00:41:43.86 He is able to break the chains, you just keep kicking. 00:41:43.86\00:41:46.46 He is the One who will bring the freedom. 00:41:46.46\00:41:48.80 You just keep pushing against the generation, you keep 00:41:48.80\00:41:51.83 pushing against the culture, I'm not going to submit to 00:41:51.83\00:41:54.83 post-modernism, I'm not going to submit to modernism, I will 00:41:54.83\00:41:58.70 not submit to evolution, I will not, I will keep kicking. 00:41:58.70\00:42:02.16 You will be afraid to put a pink string on me and then she 00:42:02.16\00:42:05.50 says when the law of God is exalted to its rightful place, 00:42:05.50\00:42:09.66 then we will see a revival of primitive godliness which 00:42:09.66\00:42:13.76 has not been witnessed since Apostolic times. 00:42:13.76\00:42:16.30 Let us become bold again about Jesus. 00:42:16.30\00:42:18.66 Let us become unashamed, do we know what we're asking for? 00:42:18.66\00:42:21.46 She says let us experience that revival, that rekindling 00:42:23.56\00:42:26.86 in the great controversy and you will see flagellation will 00:42:26.86\00:42:30.16 come back, you will see that torture come back. 00:42:30.16\00:42:32.76 You think it's hard to get hired because you don't want to 00:42:32.76\00:42:34.90 work on Sabbath? That is nothing. 00:42:34.90\00:42:37.80 And if you can't keep up with the foot man what are you 00:42:37.80\00:42:40.20 going to do when the Horsemen are running? 00:42:40.20\00:42:42.50 Friends it is time for us to start embracing a brave 00:42:44.36\00:42:47.73 hearted gospel, it's time for us to understand the gospel 00:42:47.73\00:42:51.90 message has never gone forward by the cowardly. 00:42:51.90\00:42:55.40 It was talked about Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus. 00:42:55.40\00:43:00.23 Erasmus, he was an intelligent man. 00:43:00.23\00:43:04.96 He was the man who was smart and make you feel good about 00:43:04.96\00:43:08.93 yourself, you know those people that have that kind of 00:43:08.93\00:43:12.86 winning smile, How are you doing today sister? 00:43:12.86\00:43:15.73 Make you feel just beautiful. 00:43:15.73\00:43:17.30 That was Erasmus and Erasmus understood through his 00:43:17.30\00:43:21.83 studies of the Bible, you know what the church is off. 00:43:21.83\00:43:25.50 In a matter of fact they are not just off, but church is 00:43:25.50\00:43:29.10 way off, so he started teaching these things. 00:43:29.10\00:43:32.46 While he teaches these things he meets a young man and 00:43:32.46\00:43:35.70 converts him and his name happens to be Martin Luther. 00:43:35.70\00:43:38.90 So Martin Luther comes into this guy is 00:43:38.90\00:43:41.73 like a thunderbolt. 00:43:41.73\00:43:43.16 I mean you just can't stop this brother, 00:43:43.16\00:43:45.10 you can't get more unashamed. 00:43:45.10\00:43:46.90 So Martin Luther embraces it and starts preaching. 00:43:46.90\00:43:49.36 Okay Martin were going to bring you before the Council. 00:43:49.36\00:43:52.23 They bring Martin Luther before the counsel and while he is 00:43:52.23\00:43:55.03 sitting there before the Counsel they said Martin Luther 00:43:55.03\00:43:57.80 what are you thinking, are you trying to 00:43:57.80\00:44:00.10 defend the church? Are you trying to tear down everything 00:44:00.10\00:44:02.20 that Jesus Christ tried o build. 00:44:02.20\00:44:03.63 I will build my church on this rock, etc. etc. etc. 00:44:03.63\00:44:07.96 After Martin Luther finished he says I will not recant, as a 00:44:07.96\00:44:10.90 matter of fact I have people that will support me. 00:44:10.90\00:44:12.46 They said really, like who? 00:44:12.46\00:44:15.73 Its like Desiderius Erasmus. 00:44:15.73\00:44:18.93 Erasmus says hey, he's extreme, he's extreme and he is 00:44:18.93\00:44:23.70 pushing things a little too far, this is never anything 00:44:23.70\00:44:28.43 I was teaching. 00:44:28.43\00:44:30.26 Luther points at him and says, you're a coward. 00:44:30.26\00:44:34.06 You're a coward and Luther went on to further the 00:44:34.06\00:44:38.03 Reformation, when did you hear about Erasmus? 00:44:38.03\00:44:41.93 It's always been the brave hearted that move the 00:44:44.10\00:44:48.13 work of a God forward. 00:44:48.13\00:44:50.40 Now Martin Luther said, some times I'm too harsh, sometimes 00:44:50.40\00:44:53.06 I'm a little too hard, but friends if we are going to risk 00:44:53.06\00:44:56.26 something in this generation, let's risk being too hard, 00:44:56.26\00:44:59.43 rather than too soft. 00:44:59.43\00:45:01.16 Let's put our neck on the line, not for something that is 00:45:01.16\00:45:04.70 cowardly but for something that is bold. 00:45:04.70\00:45:07.00 Then like the disciples, after you get persecuted you come 00:45:07.00\00:45:10.66 down to your knees, in Acts chapter 4, and say Lord give 00:45:10.66\00:45:14.30 us more boldness. 00:45:14.30\00:45:16.40 After I just got out of jail preaching the gospel, that is 00:45:16.40\00:45:19.80 what the disciples do. 00:45:19.80\00:45:21.83 The brave hearted gospel. 00:45:21.83\00:45:23.86 We are almost done. 00:45:23.86\00:45:26.13 The next verse in verse 18, "then they said to the king" 00:45:26.13\00:45:33.73 "but if not be it known unto thee, O king, that we will" 00:45:33.73\00:45:39.20 "not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which" 00:45:39.20\00:45:44.60 "thou have set up. " 00:45:44.60\00:45:45.80 Now I want to think about this one for a second. 00:45:45.80\00:45:48.60 The Hebrews boys said, our God whom we serve is able to 00:45:55.70\00:46:00.60 deliver us, and when they said that this is what I like 00:46:00.60\00:46:05.50 to call this first level of faith. 00:46:05.50\00:46:07.33 This is when you get to that place where I'm confident in 00:46:07.33\00:46:10.50 the power of God. 00:46:10.50\00:46:12.20 When you can actually sit down from your heart of hearts 00:46:12.20\00:46:14.30 and say I know in whom I have believed. 00:46:14.30\00:46:17.23 So that is the verse 17 kind of Christian, but then you go 00:46:17.23\00:46:21.30 to verse 18 and then they say you know what? 00:46:21.30\00:46:23.20 But "even if" God does not deliver us we will not bow down 00:46:23.20\00:46:26.73 to your image, so therefore what we have are two 00:46:26.73\00:46:29.13 kinds of Christians this morning. 00:46:29.13\00:46:30.70 We got a "what if" Christians and we have "even if" 00:46:30.70\00:46:33.63 Christians, and a lot of us live our lives around 00:46:33.63\00:46:36.53 the "what if's". 00:46:36.53\00:46:38.60 What if they don't understand? 00:46:38.60\00:46:41.10 What if they don't accept the message? 00:46:41.10\00:46:43.70 What if something bad happens? 00:46:43.70\00:46:45.83 What if I go into town to my university and I get banned? 00:46:45.83\00:46:48.80 You know friends when we do campus ministry at Eastern 00:46:48.80\00:46:51.70 Michigan University. 00:46:51.70\00:46:53.16 There was only 5 or 6 of us in the Ministry. 00:46:53.16\00:46:55.63 While we were there in the Ministry, the little work 00:46:55.63\00:46:58.43 that we were doing, they had United Christian Fellowship, 00:46:58.43\00:47:02.10 and they said do not invite Campus Hope, which was our 00:47:02.10\00:47:05.53 Adventist organization, they said they are not going to 00:47:05.53\00:47:08.90 be a part of anything we do. 00:47:08.90\00:47:10.76 Because of this we were banned on campus. 00:47:10.76\00:47:14.76 All the other Christian groups were like yeah you are a 00:47:14.76\00:47:16.36 Campus Hope, there is them and there's us. 00:47:16.36\00:47:19.83 The question is become from that and we were like man 00:47:22.90\00:47:25.76 maybe we should have spoken the truth more lovingly. 00:47:25.76\00:47:28.40 Maybe we were too aggressive about the health message 00:47:28.40\00:47:31.03 and had a veggie taste fest on campus. 00:47:31.03\00:47:33.63 This is what we start saying to ourselves, but is that 00:47:33.63\00:47:37.00 really the issue? 00:47:37.00\00:47:39.00 No friends, sometimes bad things happen to faithful men. 00:47:39.00\00:47:43.40 Sometimes you have to understand that people don't always 00:47:43.40\00:47:47.23 accept the truth no matter how lovingly you tell them. 00:47:47.23\00:47:51.03 But the point is you have to tell them. 00:47:51.03\00:47:53.70 You have to stand for something. 00:47:53.70\00:47:56.33 You have to have some time were some point in your life 00:47:56.33\00:47:59.30 decide I will die for this thing. 00:47:59.30\00:48:01.70 If it means I will loose all these things, but then for the 00:48:01.70\00:48:05.46 grace of God let it come. 00:48:05.46\00:48:07.63 And Jesus fared no better. Jesus fared no better. 00:48:07.63\00:48:14.30 You see friends we are now at a place where many of us 00:48:14.30\00:48:17.10 have become "what if" Christians. 00:48:17.10\00:48:19.70 That is why we are ashamed. 00:48:19.70\00:48:21.20 But God is saying when you look at this time, when this 00:48:21.20\00:48:24.26 situation parallels with what we are going to face in 00:48:24.26\00:48:27.30 setting up of the Mark of the beast. 00:48:27.30\00:48:29.30 Because the situation parallels this, you understand that 00:48:29.30\00:48:33.50 when we are facing the last days and the crises that 00:48:33.50\00:48:36.23 lays before you and lays before me, we do not need a "what 00:48:36.23\00:48:39.33 if" Christian to stand, we need an "even if" Christian. 00:48:39.33\00:48:42.70 I will not bow down, so you go down and say Sebastian 00:48:42.70\00:48:45.60 do you understand you can't work here if you don't come 00:48:45.60\00:48:48.46 in on Sabbath, "even if". 00:48:48.46\00:48:50.80 My question is what happens to that bold Christianity? 00:48:50.80\00:48:55.20 What happened to this kind of faith in God? 00:48:55.20\00:48:59.10 Like the Hebrew boys where they sat down and said "even 00:48:59.10\00:49:03.36 if" God won't do this, "even if" the people misunderstand, 00:49:03.36\00:49:06.93 "even if" the message isn't accepted, "even if" we are not 00:49:06.93\00:49:10.03 going to be popular, "even if" I'm going to go home and my 00:49:10.03\00:49:13.10 mom is not going to follow or understand all the 00:49:13.10\00:49:15.73 convictions that Jesus laid on my heart at GYC. 00:49:15.73\00:49:18.30 "Even if", that is true faith, complete surrender to God. 00:49:18.30\00:49:23.33 Doing what is right because it is right and leaving the 00:49:23.33\00:49:28.33 consequences with God. 00:49:28.33\00:49:29.96 That is what we are trying to say with unashamed. 00:49:29.96\00:49:34.03 "Even if", so you make up in your mind I will not 00:49:34.03\00:49:38.06 transgress the Commandments of God. 00:49:38.06\00:49:40.30 I will not go around trying to bash Christianity or act as 00:49:40.30\00:49:43.36 if it's embarrassing to know Jesus. 00:49:43.36\00:49:45.70 It is not embarrassing to know Jesus. 00:49:45.70\00:49:47.93 It is embarrassing to be a sinner, to be naked and not 00:49:47.93\00:49:50.56 covered with His righteousness, that's embarrassing. 00:49:50.56\00:49:54.43 Because when you stand before the awful eye of God then 00:49:54.43\00:49:58.26 you will understand true embarrassment. 00:49:58.26\00:50:00.56 It is then we will understand. 00:50:02.70\00:50:04.30 You see friends, the concept of an "even if" Christian, 00:50:06.53\00:50:10.53 this is exactly what we need. 00:50:10.53\00:50:13.40 We need GYC, as a movement, to embrace a spirit 00:50:13.40\00:50:19.26 of "even if". 00:50:19.26\00:50:21.46 That when everyone goes home, wherever you are on the 00:50:21.46\00:50:24.53 globe, wherever you are in your neighborhood, small towns 00:50:24.53\00:50:28.46 big towns, big cities or small little Podunk passing through 00:50:28.46\00:50:32.33 streetlight, what ever the case may be. 00:50:32.33\00:50:34.80 Where ever you are you and I must make up our minds when 00:50:34.80\00:50:37.90 we leave this conference. 00:50:37.90\00:50:39.53 First sermon of 2010 I have made up my mind Lord, 00:50:39.53\00:50:42.56 I'm going to be an "even if" Christian. 00:50:42.56\00:50:44.56 I've already decided to follow Jesus, no turning 00:50:44.56\00:50:48.46 back, and once we come to that place friends this is 00:50:48.46\00:50:52.33 exactly what Christianity needs. 00:50:52.33\00:50:54.60 This is what we have been lacking is that kind of courage, 00:50:54.60\00:50:57.50 that Brave hearted gospel. 00:50:57.50\00:50:59.26 I'm going to take a hit for Jesus. 00:50:59.26\00:51:01.16 I'm going to risk being misunderstood because He risked 00:51:01.16\00:51:03.90 being misunderstood for me. 00:51:03.90\00:51:06.03 I'm going to risk being shamed, because He took the shame 00:51:06.03\00:51:10.60 for me and sometimes it has to, it boggles my mind, that 00:51:10.60\00:51:14.20 it doesn't break our hearts and we shrink back from the 00:51:14.20\00:51:17.80 responsibility He gave us as a church. 00:51:17.80\00:51:19.90 There is no backup plan to the three Angels messages. 00:51:19.90\00:51:24.23 There is no backup church to Seventh-day Adventist church. 00:51:24.23\00:51:29.56 This is it, and because this is it I looked down and think 00:51:29.56\00:51:34.86 to myself, Jesus did how much for you and me? 00:51:34.86\00:51:37.43 He gave everything for you. 00:51:37.43\00:51:40.26 Yet we come down the streets of Louisville, on the 00:51:42.73\00:51:46.40 streets wherever we live and start acting like Peter in 00:51:46.40\00:51:48.90 Matthew 26, "I don't know Him". 00:51:48.90\00:51:51.80 When He is the judgment hall being persecuted, I don't 00:51:53.76\00:51:57.06 know Him and every time I read the story it breaks my 00:51:57.06\00:52:00.33 heart because there were many false witnesses right then 00:52:00.33\00:52:03.33 and there in the judgment hall testifying against Jesus, 00:52:03.33\00:52:05.96 but there was one that broke His heart, it was Peter. 00:52:05.96\00:52:08.53 That was the only person that turned the head of Jesus 00:52:10.23\00:52:12.30 when He looked at Peter. 00:52:12.30\00:52:14.90 You don't know Me Peter? 00:52:14.90\00:52:17.40 Depart from me Lord, I'm a sinful man. 00:52:17.40\00:52:22.73 Fear not from henceforth you shall be fishers of men. 00:52:22.73\00:52:27.86 You don't know Me Peter? 00:52:27.86\00:52:29.83 Lord save me, I perish. 00:52:32.00\00:52:34.86 You don't know Me Peter? 00:52:35.70\00:52:36.76 Who do you tell men that I am? 00:52:36.76\00:52:39.46 You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:52:39.46\00:52:43.10 You don't know Me Peter? 00:52:43.10\00:52:45.03 Lord you're not going to go to the cross, I will suffer it 00:52:49.16\00:52:55.13 not to be so. 00:52:55.13\00:52:56.80 You don't know Me Peter? 00:52:56.80\00:52:58.66 Friends think back of all the moments in your life where 00:52:58.66\00:53:03.26 Jesus came through for you. 00:53:03.26\00:53:05.43 Think deep down, when He did and "even if" blessing. 00:53:05.43\00:53:09.56 You know you didn't deserve the goodness of God. 00:53:09.56\00:53:13.63 You know you didn't deserve the grace of God and because 00:53:13.63\00:53:16.20 we didn't deserve it, do we sit down and think in our 00:53:16.20\00:53:18.66 hearts because I didn't deserve it, you know what friends, 00:53:18.66\00:53:21.43 I'm going to come to this God bless me "even if". 00:53:21.43\00:53:24.43 Jesus died on the cross for all humanity, not just the 00:53:24.43\00:53:28.90 ones that would accept Him. 00:53:28.90\00:53:30.70 "Even if" they don't accept I'm still going to die for 00:53:30.70\00:53:34.03 them, even though they will suffer the pains of 00:53:34.03\00:53:37.23 hell for themselves. 00:53:37.23\00:53:39.80 Imagine what is going through their minds and now you 00:53:39.80\00:53:44.20 understand that throughout Christian history this is what 00:53:44.20\00:53:49.03 moved the Gospel forward, it was a brave hearted gospel. 00:53:49.03\00:53:53.80 No more cowards, no more individuals with no backbone, 00:53:55.66\00:53:59.23 no more young people being afraid of being misunderstood. 00:53:59.23\00:54:03.10 I remember reading about Athanasius, one of the early 00:54:03.10\00:54:06.93 church fathers in the 4th century. 00:54:06.93\00:54:08.56 When these heiresses were coming up in the church Athanasius 00:54:08.56\00:54:12.56 was fighting these heresies. 00:54:12.56\00:54:14.26 They came and said Athanasius don't you understand the 00:54:14.26\00:54:18.03 world is against you? 00:54:18.03\00:54:20.33 Athanasius coined this term called, contra mundum, 00:54:20.33\00:54:24.63 and he said if the world is against Athanasius then 00:54:24.63\00:54:28.60 Athanasius is contra mundum, I'm against the world. 00:54:28.60\00:54:31.93 Because I am standing for truth, there is no other 00:54:31.93\00:54:35.23 ground to go to. 00:54:35.23\00:54:37.30 That was a true Christian. 00:54:37.30\00:54:39.70 You read about these individuals I don't know if you guys 00:54:39.70\00:54:42.96 have read the book, A Thousand Shall Fall, have you ever 00:54:42.96\00:54:46.23 read that book before? 00:54:46.23\00:54:47.66 A powerful book I read it in like two days. 00:54:47.66\00:54:49.53 I want to share something with you before you go 00:54:49.53\00:54:52.80 into that story. 00:54:52.80\00:54:54.63 By Eric Ludy, where I get the title of my sermon, 00:54:59.03\00:55:02.00 The Brave Hearted Gospel. 00:55:02.00\00:55:04.03 This is what he says, "like many of you I've grown up" 00:55:04.03\00:55:07.86 "amidst a sterile and weak North American church. " 00:55:07.86\00:55:11.60 "We talk a good talk but when it comes down to living" 00:55:11.60\00:55:14.60 "it out in the real world we are nearly impotent. " 00:55:14.60\00:55:18.06 "We talk about love, joy, peace, victory and blessed" 00:55:18.06\00:55:21.50 "happiness, but few in our ranks actually exhibit these" 00:55:21.50\00:55:24.86 "basic evidences of the Christian faith. " 00:55:24.86\00:55:27.10 "As a group we Christians are soft, mushy and lax. " 00:55:27.10\00:55:31.76 "There seems to be a serious shortage of the majestic," 00:55:31.76\00:55:36.36 "intrepid, daring, just, endurable qualities the church" 00:55:36.36\00:55:40.30 " once possessed. The steel of a man is strangely lacking. " 00:55:40.30\00:55:44.43 "For instance, whatever happened to the idea of sacred" 00:55:44.43\00:55:48.60 "honor? Unvarnished nobility?" 00:55:48.60\00:55:51.70 "And unwavering allegiance to the King?" 00:55:51.70\00:55:54.03 "What happened to the quake in my boots fear of God?" 00:55:54.03\00:55:56.43 "The lay it all on the line commitment to the" 00:55:56.43\00:55:58.53 "cause of Christ?" 00:55:58.53\00:55:59.83 "the if I die if I must attitude toward defending truth" 00:55:59.83\00:56:03.43 "and Scripture?" 00:56:03.43\00:56:05.30 "Where did the radical abandon to seek and save the lost" 00:56:05.30\00:56:08.16 "disappear to?" 00:56:08.16\00:56:09.66 "Where is the once glorious idea of martyrdom or how" 00:56:09.66\00:56:12.16 "about the burning need to stand against evil?" 00:56:12.16\00:56:15.20 "To break the jaws of the wicked, 00:56:15.20\00:56:16.86 "in order to ransom the oppressed, the orphaned," 00:56:16.86\00:56:19.70 "the widowed, and the enslaved?" 00:56:19.70\00:56:21.50 "Where is the holy boldness, the courage, the daring" 00:56:21.50\00:56:26.50 "needed to bear the truth of Christ in this" 00:56:26.50\00:56:29.00 "godforsaken culture. " 00:56:29.00\00:56:30.96 "The brave hearted gospel is gritty living. " 00:56:30.96\00:56:34.33 "The stuff of Martyrs and saints, it's bravado meets" 00:56:34.33\00:56:37.90 "brains, it's hand-like fist meets poet-like heart," 00:56:37.90\00:56:41.36 "it's fore-head of flint meets tender love-inspired soul. " 00:56:41.36\00:56:45.10 "Rather it is historical living ripped straight from" 00:56:45.10\00:56:48.70 "the pages of Scripture and made incarnate in the lives" 00:56:48.70\00:56:52.26 "of the disciples of Jesus in the 21st century. " 00:56:52.26\00:56:55.10 "The brave hearted gospel isn't soft with sin. " 00:56:55.10\00:56:57.86 "It is not hard on sinners, but rather it is the giving" 00:56:57.86\00:57:01.70 up of everything to sin trumped and the sinner rescued. 00:57:01.70\00:57:05.06 "The brave hearted gospel is pure adventure, a life of" 00:57:05.06\00:57:08.40 "nuclear joy and hollowed ecstasy. " 00:57:08.40\00:57:10.63 "It is a hard way to live and yet the most satisfying. " 00:57:10.63\00:57:16.50 Friends today it's time for us to re-embrace the 00:57:16.50\00:57:26.20 Brave-hearted gospel. 00:57:26.20\00:57:27.80