Participants: Dwight K. Nelson
Series Code: 10AYC
Program Code: 10AYC000006
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00:16 Oh! Thank you AYC choir that was what we
00:20 needed to hear right now. Amen. I wanna warn 00:24 you if you pray that prayer they just sang, 00:29 you are in for the adventure of your life. 00:35 I don't suppose there is a more radical prayer 00:39 that a young adult could pray or a not so young 00:41 adult could pray, as that prayer "here am I, 00:46 send me." And I'm sitting out, I am sitting 00:49 out where you are right now this morning just 00:52 getting blessed to the tips of my toes by all 00:56 these testimonies going on up here and I'm 00:58 thinking to myself can you believe this, 01:02 12 months ago a young adult hardly just a babe 01:09 in Christ Jesus, his name I think is Steve, 01:12 12 months ago. He goes out in the afternoon 01:17 door knocking or as it turns out window knocking. 01:21 He goes out in the afternoon, knocks on 01:25 that window and this young adult who 01:29 doesn't know God, has no clue about the origin 01:34 of this universe or the destiny of humankind, 01:37 this young adult named, was it Mel, Hal, I mean 01:41 Hal, Hal, Hal. Hal gets to window too late, they 01:46 go away, but the spirit of the living God comes 01:49 down upon Hal and moves on his young 01:52 heart and says chase the boys, just chase the 01:55 boys, puts on his best running shoes, gets out 01:58 there and bumps into Steve. Now Steve has just 02:01 come to Jesus, he is going out for the first 02:04 time door knocking, he met Hal, Hal engages a 02:13 brief conversation and 12 months later Steve 02:17 and Hal both are radical young disciples of the 02:21 Lord Jesus Christ. You can't believe it, 02:24 you can't make up scripts like this. 02:26 Hollywood could not design stories like this. 02:30 There is a supernatural threat through everything 02:33 we're hearing here, that's why when you 02:36 pray the prayer that the choir just sang, 02:38 "here am I send me." That is, that is such a 02:41 bold and radical prayer, you will never ever be 02:46 the same again. Oh! I praise God for AYC. 02:53 A generation of young, I don't believe 02:57 coincidentally being raised up Johnny, at this 03:02 very moment in human history, God is preparing 03:07 to storm this planet one last time. 03:12 We'll talk about Pentecost II in just a moment. 03:16 I just sit back and I say thank you Jesus. 03:21 What do you say? Amen. Amen and Amen. 03:25 Last night we touched opening night together, 03:28 some of you are here for the first time, 03:29 opening night together we considered, we pondered, 03:31 we prayed for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 03:34 And we found out, we found out that if you 03:35 take the Pentecost prayer seriously and 03:37 you pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 03:39 you are not praying for war and spiritual 03:40 fuzzies, you are not, you are not praying for, 03:42 for ecstatic utterances, you are praying one prayer. 03:46 When you pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit 03:49 and I hope you'll join me in praying that, 03:50 Karen and I are praying it. The team is 70 senior 03:54 leaders in the Pioneer Memorial Church, 03:56 which I pastor on the campus of Andrews University. 03:58 We have been praying for 40 days, the first 40 days 04:01 of 2010, praying night and day for the 04:04 outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but here is the 04:06 point when the Holy Spirit gets poured out 04:08 and you're baptized in the spirit. 04:09 You will be filled with what aspect of God. 04:13 What aspect of God you would be filled with? 04:17 What aspect of God you would be filled with? 04:19 Passion. His passion for life. 04:22 His passion for what? For the lost. 04:23 For the lost, one passion God has, that's why 04:27 I can't sleep at night. Sydney is up all night, 04:30 God's up all night, and boy with those 04:32 fireworks last night everybody was up all night. 04:36 I thought only in Michigan, we have 04:38 thunderstorms like that. I'm telling you what 04:40 Karen and I standing this dormitory over here, 04:42 lovely dormitory right across the street. 04:45 One of those was straight overhead 04:46 because you can't go one lollipop, 04:48 two lollipop, it just went blip. 04:53 And I kept thinking, I kept thinking of Jesus 04:55 words when the son of man comes, it will be 04:57 like a lightning. That crashes from the east to 05:02 the west. Boy, I want Jesus to come, don't you? 05:06 I want Jesus to come, don't you? Amen. 05:10 Yeah, there is a work to do. We got to have his 05:14 passion, so we're praying for that. 05:15 Baptism of the Holy Spirit, then last night 05:17 we noticed that the, that the church in the Book 05:19 of Acts is steeped in prayer. Our motto at the 05:21 Pioneer Memorial Church begins with 05:23 these words forward on our knees. 05:25 We believe like you do that prayer is a secret to 05:28 every thing the church does. And that's why 05:30 I was so pleased when I got to Melbourne and 05:32 I saw this word go. Well, I knew that it was 05:35 gonna be a go conference. I mean everybody who 05:37 knows anything about AYC knows, it's a go 05:40 conference. But, look how they pictured the go. 05:44 Look at this guys, you see these human beings, 05:47 these young adult radical disciples of Jesus. 05:51 Do you see what they're doing? They are on 05:53 their knees, forward on their knees, that's how 05:56 we go, we pray, and so last night I challenge 05:59 those of you who are here today for the first 06:00 time last night, I challenged everybody 06:02 here to begin praying for five lost people. 06:06 And I wanna give you two testimonies right now. 06:09 God heard last night and get this, if you ever 06:13 want it before, if the promise in Isaiah 65 06:15 verse 24 is true, before you call I will answer 06:21 and while you are yet speaking I will here. 06:24 If you had a doubt before regarding the 06:27 veracity of Isaiah 65 verse 24, let me tell you 06:31 two testimonies. Sarah comes up to me 06:32 afterwards she says pastor, pastor I just 06:34 wrote down a name, was looking for one more 06:36 name to add to my list of 5 lost people and as 06:39 soon as I wrote the name down the one 06:42 I wrote down stood up and came forward in the 06:43 altar call, can you believe that, isn't that something. 06:48 Obviously God knew and he was responding 06:51 in advance to a prayer that hadn't even been 06:52 prayed yet. Some of you are praying 06:54 for your door knocking this afternoon, guess what? 06:56 The Holy Spirit has already gone before 06:59 you, everything will be in readiness because 07:01 there are other house waiting for you to come 07:04 today, who in 12 months will be standing 07:07 up here and saying I didn't believe in God 07:10 before, I now believe him, and I serve the 07:12 Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen. Holy Spirit's 07:16 gone ahead of you already, don't you worry. 07:17 You're a little bit nervous, hey, welcome 07:19 to the club. It's okay to be nervous. 07:23 It keeps your mind alert. Somebody's waiting for you. 07:28 God can hardly wait for you to get on that bus 07:31 and get going this afternoon, alright. 07:33 So, that's there, so before coming up here 07:35 I had to tell Russell, I said Russell isn't it 07:37 something two years ago you were even a 07:39 Christian, two years ago and now you've been to 07:41 Fiji and you conducted youth, I preach, I can't 07:45 believe this Russell. Nice to meet you, I like 07:48 that beard by the way, makes you look very 07:50 much like a philosopher, so keep that beard. 07:53 He said, hey pastor, I got to tell you this last 07:55 night I'm writing down those names and as 07:58 I write the fourth name down, the one whose 08:02 name I put down when you said, I'm not gonna 08:06 extend this call, I'm not gonna extend this call 08:09 and then he said I wrote that name and that 08:13 person stood up and came forward to be baptized. 08:16 Hallelujah. Guys, you think this is just a little 08:20 bit of a AYC hype, no. It's the Holy Spirit, who 08:25 says you got to believe me, you pray, I am 08:29 power, because it's my passion to seek and 08:32 save the lost for Calvary is all about. 08:35 So, we are doing the right thing, praise God. 08:40 I want to pray with you in just a moment, but 08:41 I wanna remind you there are three young 08:43 adults mentioned by name in the Book of 08:45 Acts, three of them, they're, they're 08:48 hundreds and thousands of them in the Book of 08:50 Acts, we just don't have their names. 08:52 We can surmise as the Pastor Garry suggested 08:55 that even the apostles, the disciples were many 08:58 of them young adults, John was probably 21, 09:00 22, 23 at the max, John boy. That would be a young 09:05 adult now wouldn't it, ends up being the great 09:08 Apostle, the beloved Apostle. But, we know three of 09:12 them in the Book of Acts by name we met 09:13 one of them last night, her name means Rose, 09:16 Rhoda and she was at prayer meeting. 09:17 A good place for young adults to be found in 09:19 prayer meeting. There is another young adult 09:21 that we are not even gonna talk about. 09:22 We are not gonna meet him here because we 09:24 don't have the time, but his name is John Mark. 09:26 Young as they come, I want you to know about 09:29 John Mark before we go to the third young 09:31 adult, who is the theme of our, our teaching 09:33 today. I want you to know about John Mark 09:35 because John Mark crashed and burned. 09:37 Got all excited after an AYC conference, said 09:40 I'm going, I'm gonna serve the Lord Jesus Christ 09:43 got two weeks into his mission and said I'm out 09:48 here, I'm an abject failure, and he quit, 09:51 went home. I want you to know about John 09:55 Mark because some of you have felt like quitting. 09:57 Some of you are going to feel like quitting. 10:00 You are gonna feel I just can't cut it. 10:03 I want you to know about John Mark 10:04 because God, when he starts on you, 10:06 Philippines 1:6, my God, who was begun a 10:09 good work and you will bring it to completion 10:12 by the day of Christ Jesus. When God begins 10:14 something in you, he will not quit until it's done. 10:18 Romans 11:29, both the gifts and the calling of 10:20 God are irrevocable. If God had called you, 10:24 you can never get out of that call. 10:26 You can run like Joanna, but you can't hide. 10:29 God knows where you are, he has got a big fish 10:32 just designed for the likes of you. 10:36 So, I hope you taste good. God kept his eye on that 10:41 boy that crashed and burned said John Mark 10:43 what a failure. Paul is saying, you know I'm 10:45 an evangelist. I can't have whips on my team, 10:48 uncle Barnabas, so you can take your nephew, 10:51 he is never on my team again. Adios and Paul's 10:54 gone, he grabbed Silas and God doubles his 10:56 money over that little conflict. 10:58 It's okay to have conflict in the family of 11:00 God because out of the conflict God doubled 11:02 his money. He got twice as much now. 11:05 And John Mark goes back, the tail tucked 11:07 between his legs, goes back to Jerusalem. 11:10 His mother owned the upper room by the way. 11:12 So, John Mark hung around Jesus, his 11:14 mother owned the upper room and big old Peter, 11:18 big old Peter put his arm, that burly 11:20 fisherman arm around John Mark and said boy 11:22 stay close to me, I think you're a diamond in the 11:25 rough and O boy was he ever a shining diamond, 11:28 wrote the very first gospel. The Bible says it's the 11:32 gospel according to Mark, but we know the 11:34 truth today it's the gospel according to Peter. 11:36 Peter told, because all the eyewitness stories 11:38 that only Peter was in on. Peter told Mark the story. 11:42 And Mark dutifully wrote it down and 11:44 finally 20 years later, Paul says, oh, and by 11:47 the way PS, get a hold of my boy John, 11:51 I love that boy. So, if you crashed and 11:55 burned, you get another chance today. 11:58 Here am I, send me, God hasn't finished 12:01 with you. He's just getting started with you, 12:04 you have another chance today, I'm gonna 12:05 make an altar call at the end of this, at the end 12:07 of this teaching. And you'll have to chance to 12:09 respond, to give your life back to God, 12:12 not just spiritually, but physically put your 12:16 body on the frontline of God's mission again. 12:19 Let's pray together before we meet young 12:21 adult number 3. Dear God, Oh! It's hot in 12:25 Sydney, thank you Lord for summer time. 12:28 And it is warm here and sometimes when it gets 12:30 warm our eyelids get a little heavy, so Lord 12:35 two prayers, keep the preacher and the 12:38 listeners wide awake in the spirit and prayer 12:41 number 2. Dear Father, for the John Marks and 12:46 the Rhodas and the young adult we are 12:49 about to meet. For the Johns, and the James, 12:56 and the Marys, and the Marthas, for all of them 13:00 who are here by divine appointment, here 13:03 am I send me, when that appeal comes may 13:06 they say I will follow you, I will follow you 13:11 my savior, where so ever your feet may drive. 13:17 We listen now Father teach us the scripture 13:19 we pray in Jesus name, amen. Open your Bible with me 13:23 please today's teaching Pentecost II. 13:25 Laptop, cell phone, Oh! boy did I get corrected 13:28 last week, Oh! Pastor what is a cell phone. 13:33 Don't you know it's a mobile, you say 13:36 mobile? Mobile. That's what it is, a laptop, 13:43 a cell phone and a plane ticket, what's that all 13:45 about, open your Bible to young adult number 13:47 3 open your Bible please to Acts chapter 20. 13:50 The reason this young adult gets in the Bible, 13:52 Hallelujah and there are two lessons, they are 13:55 two messages that will come out of this 13:56 teaching today. Acts chapter 20, the reason 14:00 he gets in the story at all is because of what 14:05 happen to him when he was in church. 14:06 I'm keeping an eye on you very closely now 14:09 because what happen to him, could happen to 14:11 you and if I see it happening I'm gonna 14:13 call you by name and it will be like this, hey 14:15 you, alright if you start to nod and follow 14:19 asleep like this young adult did. 14:21 The reason we know this young adult is 14:23 because he slept in church. Yeah, that's true, 14:28 isn't that right? We know him by name, 14:30 his name means fortunate. He went by the name 14:34 his friends called him Eutychus. 14:36 And we know him because he fell asleep in church. 14:38 Somebody once said that if you, if you took 14:41 everybody who fell asleep in church, took 14:43 everybody who fell asleep in church and 14:45 you line them all up end to end, they'd be a 14:49 whole lot more comfortable. So, this is about a 14:52 young adult who slept in church and that's why 14:55 we know him. There is a message, there is a 14:57 message to the church and there is a message 14:59 to the young by that falling asleep and we 15:01 wanna note it together. Acts chapter 20, verse 7, 15:06 I've got the changer right here, Acts chapter 15:08 20 verse 7. I'll put it on the screen for you, 15:11 you have your Bible you read it from whatever 15:12 translation you brought along today; on the first 15:15 day of the week we came together to break bread. 15:19 Paul spoke to the people and, because he 15:20 intended to leave the next day, kept on it, 15:23 this is a farewell service, because he 15:25 intended to leave the next day, he kept on 15:27 talking until midnight. Now I need to get the 15:30 pause button right here. Because some people 15:35 read those words first day of the week, aha, 15:38 they're having a Sunday worship service that's 15:41 clearly what's going on, Jesus rose on Sunday, 15:43 so they're having a Sunday worship service. 15:45 Wow! Timeout, timeout, I need to remind you 15:47 that when Luke is writing this, the physician, 15:50 because he says we came together, so we 15:52 have a physician, who is an eyewitness about, 15:54 of what is about to happen. When Luke writes this, 15:57 he is using one of two reckonings for time. 16:00 One could be the Jewish reckoning of 16:01 time and the Jewish reckoning goes from 16:03 what to what? From sunset to sunset. 16:07 He can be the Jewish reckoning of time, so 16:09 that would be if it's, if it's the dark part of the 16:12 first day of the week, do you know when 16:13 that would be. That would be Saturday night, 16:16 in fact the old New English Bible for the 16:20 British Christians put it that way on Saturday night, 16:24 see that; on Saturday night in our assembly 16:27 for the breaking of bread, Paul, who was to 16:28 leave the next day addressed them, and 16:30 went on speaking until midnight. It's a farewell 16:33 service, it's not a worship service, 16:35 it's a farewell service. But, wait a minute, 16:36 Dwight, what if he is using Roman reckoning. 16:38 If he is using the Roman reckoning of 16:40 time from midnight to midnight then it has to 16:42 be midnight, just the dark part is coming up 16:45 to midnight that's Sunday night. 16:47 Either way you have it it's not a Sunday morning 16:50 worship service, true? Yeah, it's a farewell service. 16:54 They've already worshiped on the Sabbath, 16:56 but Paul says listen I'm gonna be gone, 16:57 I'm gonna be gone and I don't know if I'm ever 16:59 coming back again and I'm gonna walk across, 17:02 I'm gonna walk across the Isthmus, first thing 17:06 in the early morning, so let me just talk and so 17:09 Paul begins to preach on the Lord Jesus Christ. 17:12 How do we know that Paul preached on Jesus 17:13 that night because Paul wrote in First 17:14 Corinthians 2:2, I determine to know 17:17 nothing among you except Jesus Christ 17:20 and him crucified. So, we know that Paul 17:22 preached on the cross. I got to take this off guys, 17:24 thank you for your permission. 17:27 We know Paul preached on the cross. He always 17:30 preached on Jesus and the cross. Jesus said 17:33 I, if I'm lifted up, I'll draw everybody to me. 17:35 If anybody response today in this appeal 17:38 that's about to be made, in just a few moments 17:39 it will be because Jesus is the drawing power. 17:43 We know that, so it's a farewell service, either 17:47 way, yeah, but doesn't it say here they were, they 17:51 broke bread, yes it does. Acts 2:46 says they 17:53 broke bread daily. So, you can't use breaking 17:56 bread as a day that designates the sacred 17:58 Holy rest day of God, no it doesn't make sense at all. 18:02 It could be a communion service, it could be a 18:04 social, we don't know because that phrase can 18:06 be used both ways, but either way it's not a 18:09 worship service, that's the point. 18:11 So, on Saturday night, in our assembly for the 18:14 breaking of bread, Paul who was to leave the 18:15 next day he addresses everybody. 18:16 Alright, let's read verse 8, now Luke is an eye 18:19 witness, I need to tell you Luke says; there 18:21 were many lamps in the upstairs room where we 18:23 were meeting. Now we are not talking about 18:25 little battery operated lamps, we are talking 18:27 about like tiki torches burning in that room. 18:33 And when you burn a torch, it produces fumes 18:38 and it gives off smoke. There is nothing worse 18:42 than being in a room full of smoke. 18:45 It just, it gets in your nostrils, you look at the 18:47 other person, you see the smoke in her 18:49 nostrils and say doesn't she look funny not 18:50 knowing that you have it all through your own 18:51 nostrils as well. You just breathe it in. 18:54 So, if you don't wanna have smoke up your 18:56 nostrils and the room is filled with bodies and 18:59 it's hot and you're a bright young adult, you 19:01 are gonna find a place to stay in the meeting, 19:04 but out of the sweat, the smell, and the smoke. 19:10 There were many lamps in the upstairs room 19:12 where we were meeting. Seated in a window, 19:15 smart boy, leave it to young adults to be the 19:17 creative edge. Seated in a window was a young 19:22 man named Eutychus. His name means fortunate. 19:25 Oh! He is fortunate with that seat, that 19:27 Saturday night. Seated in a window was a 19:29 young man named Eutychus, who was 19:31 sinking Oh! Boy here it goes, who was sinking 19:35 into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. 19:43 Now preachers find great comfort and hope 19:45 in that on and on. What you find is drowsiness 19:49 and sleep. We go to the same text for two very 19:52 different reasons. Paul is going on and on, oh, 19:55 I'm thinking, I wanna tell you this about Jesus. 19:57 Let me share this story, I just came back from 19:59 this trip, let me tell you and he is going on, 20:01 anybody here have questions let me take a 20:02 little break right now, good questions, Q&A 20:04 time, now let me tell you. Oh! This reminds 20:06 me, on and on and poor Eutychus, have you 20:10 ever watched people sleep in church it's 20:12 embarrassing for them. Because of where I stand 20:15 every Sabbath morning, I get a special vantage point. 20:18 We have one of our professors at Andrews 20:20 University, true story and this guy is such a 20:22 cut up that I decided I will call him out by 20:25 name in this big university church and 20:27 when he was nodding off, I said isn't that right Woody? 20:34 When you watch a person fall asleep you know 20:36 that they do everything they can to hide it from 20:38 everyone around them and it is so dump to try 20:40 to hide because we all know what you're hiding. 20:43 So, don't even try, just go ahead and lay down 20:45 on the seat beside you, put your head on the lap 20:47 and somebody will stroke your forehead. 20:49 We'll wake you up when the sermon is over alright. 20:52 So, seated in a window was a young man named 20:55 Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep 20:57 as Paul talked on and on. But, you know something, 21:00 you keep catching it, you keep catching it, 21:01 but eventually it will go all the way down, 21:04 your head I'm talking about. It goes all the way down 21:08 and when you are balanced in a window 21:10 sill and your head goes down, you control 21:16 yourself off balance can't you that's exactly 21:19 what happened, tragic story, tragic, the young 21:22 adult sleeping in the window, he goes on and on. 21:25 When he was sound asleep, he is not hiding 21:27 now because he doesn't even know he is doing it. 21:29 When he was sound asleep, he, the young 21:31 adult, fell to the ground from the third storey 21:34 and they counted the storeys beginning with 21:36 what we would call the second, so that's the 21:38 fourth storey, and he was picked up, what's 21:40 that word, who wrote the book, a physician, 21:45 this is not, he was comatose, this is not he 21:48 was unconscious, he had a brain concussion, 21:50 he is dead. Look who's there, probably got 21:54 down the stairs ahead of Paul, took the poles, 21:56 he is dead folks. And imagine Paul in the 22:02 middle, late night, there is a scream because 22:07 somebody sees Eutychus disappear. 22:10 The place goes berserk and Paul short probably, 22:14 bald headed, heart of eyesight scholars believe 22:18 has to go downstairs they're outside, they're 22:20 outside, there is no stairs inside those homes, 22:22 outside, he gets down to the bottom, throws 22:28 himself on the young man, just as Elijah did, 22:32 just as Elisha did, he throws himself on the 22:35 young man and he puts his arms around him. 22:39 Boy, that's what we got to do with young adults, 22:41 just put your arms around them. 22:43 When they fall out, put your arms around them, 22:46 he puts his arms around him and he was praying, 22:50 I know he was praying the whole way down 22:53 those 4 storeys and he goes "don't be alarmed, 22:58 Hallelujah. He is alive!' And he was then he 23:06 being the good preacher that he is went upstairs 23:09 again, broke bread and ate and after talking 23:12 until sunrise. Because I had just one more thing 23:15 I want to say and then I'll let you go. 23:16 You ever heard that before just one more thing. 23:20 After talking until daylight, he left. 23:23 And the people took the young man home alive 23:26 and were greatly comforted. Hallelujah, Amen. 23:30 There are two messages in the story and I want 23:31 to share both of them with you. The first message 23:34 is to the church, church, we're all church, 23:38 America, Australia, we're all church. 23:43 Message number one, there are only two in 23:45 this story, message number one to the church, 23:50 "quit talking to yourselves!" I love this church, 23:57 I love the Seventh-Day Adventist church, 23:59 fifth generation Adventist, fourth generation preacher. 24:03 I love this church and so I know this church 24:06 that I love and we have a proclivity perhaps 24:08 more than any of the community of faith on 24:10 earth and that is we love to talk to each other. 24:14 We just yack, yack, yack, yack, yack got 24:16 this little debate going on. Got that little controversy 24:18 going on, yack, yack, yack, yack, yack, where 24:20 we are starting websites to prove our points, 24:23 we are publishing magazines in my country 24:24 at least to prove our point, yack, yack, yack, 24:26 yack, yack, and while we are talking to 24:28 ourselves the young are falling asleep in church 24:31 where the yawn as big as that one and are 24:34 falling out, are falling out. 24:39 On the first day of the week we came together, 24:41 I want to show you that this is in fact the point. 24:44 And the first day of the week we came together 24:45 to break bread and Paul spoke to the people and 24:47 because he intended to leave the next day he 24:49 kept on talking until midnight. 24:51 Jot this down in your study guide would you 24:53 please because they've been handed out to you; 24:54 The Greek world for "talking" is dialegomai, 24:58 from whence comes our English word "dialogue," 25:00 so I know that there is a little bit of a Q&A 25:02 going on, back and forth dialogue, dialogue, 25:04 while the church is dialoguing back and 25:06 forth, back and forth, a young adult falls 25:09 out and is dead. Collective conversation 25:15 between the speaker and the audience. 25:17 While the church was talking, Eutychus falls 25:21 asleep. And falls out of that window. 25:31 Why is it? That rather than become consumed 25:36 with the mission of the church. We become 25:39 impassioned, we're making sure we talk to 25:42 each other. Why do we spend so much energy 25:47 consumed on ourselves when the world and 25:50 Sydney are dying all around us. 25:54 It just doesn't make sense. I tell you what's 25:57 troubling though is that while the church that 26:00 I love is dialoguing, the young are falling away. 26:09 Let me share some astounding statistics with you. 26:13 Allen Martin, who teaches at our, in fact 26:15 you need to fill this in, I've been making the 26:17 point, but I forget to put the slide up. 26:19 Fill it in your study guide, while the church 26:21 was talking to themselves the young adult dropped out. 26:25 Allen Martin, who teaches in our theological 26:27 seminary at Andrews University and I pastor 26:29 on that campus. Wrote an article in Ministry 26:33 Magazine a few months ago and I want you to 26:35 know this is North America, these are North American 26:37 statistics, I don't know what the Australian 26:39 statistics are and we had the conference secretary 26:41 here a moment ago and I didn't check ahead of 26:44 time, but I have a feeling they may not be 26:46 so different. Let me just give you a few, a few 26:48 statistics. Jot these down please; 26:50 The median age for North American 26:52 Seventh-day Adventists is 58, 58 the median 26:59 age, half of the Adventist church is above 58 in 27:02 North America, half is below, but look how 27:05 high that median age is, do you know what it is 27:07 for Canada, for the U.S. and Canada, for the 27:10 U.S. it's 36 and for Canada it's 37. 27:12 The median age of those two nations on the 27:15 continent of North America, 36 and 37, 27:18 the Adventist church is 21 years older. 27:23 Listen to this more than 1000 Adventist 27:26 congregations out of a total of 5,500 in North 27:30 America have no children or teens at all. 27:35 And I know that's not only in North America 27:36 because I had one of you come up to me and 27:38 tell me do you know some of these kids are 27:39 going back to churches, where there is nobody, 27:42 nobody, isn't that something. Roger Dudley, who is 27:49 the head of the church ministry institute and is 27:52 a demographer, he surveys the church in 27:55 North America in particular has determined he wrote 27:58 an epic, a seminar a bit of research called why 28:01 teenagers are leaving the church. 28:04 This is probably the most significant longitudinal 28:07 study ever undertaken by any community of 28:09 faith period. It was done by the Adventists in 28:12 North America, what they did was they began 28:14 surveying teenagers at the ages of 15 and 16 alright. 28:17 He started asking them questions. They started, 28:20 they went back to them at 17, they went back to 28:22 them at 18 and they tracked them for 10 28:23 years until the age of 25 and 26. 28:25 They tracked them for 10 years and based on 28:28 those numbers and he wrote a fascinating 28:30 book, get it your A, B, C why teenagers reject 28:32 religion. Based on those numbers here is 28:37 Dudley's conclusion. It seems reasonable to 28:39 believe that at least 40 to 50 percent of 28:45 Seventh-Day Adventist teenagers, isn't that 28:49 something, are essentially leaving the church 28:52 by their middle twenties. Man, Oh! Man, Oh! Man. 28:59 I know that the AYC present company 29:02 accepted, but right now we're thinking church. 29:05 This is a church you're a part of and this is a 29:07 church I'm a part of. If we don't start some of 29:10 these SOS groups, have you been hearing about 29:12 these SOS groups? What is the SOS stand for. 29:18 Share our Savior. Share our Savior. 29:22 Share our Savior, small groups similar to care 29:26 groups from the gateway model. 29:29 If we don't start these SOS groups and start 29:31 bringing our young into groups, where there is 29:34 community and accountability and loving commitment. 29:38 If we don't start pulling them into something 29:40 smaller then just Sabbath morning we are doomed. 29:44 40 to 50 percent of them, I bet it's the same in 29:46 Australia 40 to 50 percent of Australian young are 29:50 saying adios to the church. How many former 29:53 Adventists young do you have in Sydney alone? 29:58 Mercy, that's the West, that's the young, while 30:03 the church is caught up talking to each other, 30:06 yack, yack, yack, yack, yack, yack, yack, 30:08 they're falling out by the buckets full. 30:12 40 to 50 percent I've heard some numbers as 30:14 high as 70% are not coming back. 30:18 Present company accepted and I'm grateful for the 30:21 exception, but we can't sleep, we can't just say, 30:25 Oh! Well it is not our problem, we're AYC, 30:27 we got it together, yeah you are AYC and yes 30:30 by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ you may 30:33 have it together. But, you have a mission for 30:35 the young who are in the church too, not just 30:37 the young outside of the church you have a 30:39 mission to the young in the church. 30:40 You're gonna have to start pulling them into 30:42 your circles and we can't wait every 12 30:44 months till another big conference comes to 30:46 Melbourne or Sydney. You're gonna have to 30:47 pull them in. In the 12 months in between 30:51 that's why those SOS groups are strategic, 30:54 pull the young in, he's fallen asleep he is 30:57 gonna hit his head, he is gonna, she is gonna lose 30:59 her heart and be dead spiritually. 31:01 Pull her in, pull him in. You know what, when 31:07 we stand before God one day, listen to me 31:09 very carefully now 'cause I may be 31:12 misunderstood in a gathering like this one. 31:14 When we stand before God one day, the first 31:18 question, he is not gonna ask us is what 31:22 did you do for all the children out there. 31:26 He is gonna say, I gave you a family. 31:30 What did you do with the children you had. 31:34 So, passionate about children in the Unis and 31:37 you are losing the children in your church. 31:40 Now I understand that the strategy here is to 31:43 keep the children in the church from being lost 31:46 and I praise God. But, don't forget SOS has to 31:50 include the young in the church or they'll fall out 31:52 of that window. Now go out the back door and 31:54 it's goodbye, alright. You know some of the, 31:57 I know what some of the older people are 31:58 saying well you know what Dwight, this is 31:59 really, this is just that the, this is the anomaly 32:01 of being young, it was that way when we were 32:03 young, the young just aren't involved, they 32:05 don't care, they're just doing their own thing, 32:08 pleasing themselves. Oh! My friend you are 32:10 so wrong at this moment in human history, 32:13 because I come from a country, where the 32:15 young change the political landscape in 32:18 the election of a man named Barack Obama. 32:21 He made it to the highest office in the 32:23 land because he mobilized a generation 32:26 of young, harnessed their passion, harnessed 32:29 their enthusiasm and they went to work by 32:32 the thousands for him. Text messaging their 32:36 friends, as passionate as you were about Jesus, 32:40 they were about Barack Obama. 32:43 Political moment, don't you tell me the young 32:45 are not mobilizable, they're already mobilized. 32:49 Don't you think there is a God in heaven that 32:50 looks down on this movement of young in 32:53 politics and says if only that could be my 32:56 church. So, don't tell me it can't happen to the 33:00 young, it can happen to the young. 33:01 Alright, there are two messages in this story, 33:04 message number one is to the church and then 33:07 message number two is to the young and 33:08 I wanna give this message to you, who 33:10 are young. What's the message to the young 33:14 "wake up, wake up," you can't make an 33:18 excuse, the preacher is long winded and church 33:21 is boring, so I'm falling asleep in church that 33:24 doesn't cut it. You are responsible for your 33:27 own life. Wake up, your generation is being 33:31 called by God right now. I want to share with you 33:34 some astounding parallels between the young and 33:37 AYC today and the young at Pentecost I. 33:46 This is why I'm so excited, this way I'm 33:48 pastoring on a campus with 3,500 young 33:51 adults, why? Because I believe that's the key 33:54 the God's finished word, it's the mobilization of 33:56 the young. Let me share this with you, look what 33:59 was happening, okay here, here we are down 34:01 at the pulpit, that's where, that's where we 34:02 are today, this is right down here in Acts 34:04 chapter 1 and 2. Look at what, Pentecost I, the 34:08 financial conditions, the economy with 34:09 Pentecost I, lets do this. This is a historian 34:13 Philip A. Harland, University of Toronto, 34:15 a Canadian. Here he goes; In that first 34:17 century AD more and more of the land in 34:19 Palestine became concentrated into the 34:21 hands of fewer large landowners at the 34:24 expense of the peasants. So, the rich are getting 34:27 richer and the poor are getting poorer, does that 34:29 sound familiar. The forfeiture of land due to 34:35 indebtedness, Australian debt personal debt now 34:39 is at the highest it has ever been in human 34:41 history and guess what, it's even worse in the 34:43 United States. We are so in hack, we are in 34:47 hack in debt above our eyeballs, we will never 34:51 get out of debt as a nation. The forfeiture of land 34:56 due to indebtedness at the time of Pentecost I 34:59 back there, the forfeiture of land due to 35:01 indebtedness was a main cause of peasants 35:02 losing their land. We are having 10,000 35:05 houses foreclosed a day. 10,000 a day, gone bank 35:10 takes it back. Gone bank takes, I can't pay, 35:13 I can't make the payment. This house is worth less 35:15 now than the loan is, why would I keep 35:17 taking, they're walking away, foreclosed. 35:22 Could it be that the he economic meltdown we 35:25 are experiencing in Australia and the US 35:28 and the West and the East, don't let China 35:31 fool you. China is not immune from this 35:35 economic meltdown. As the world goes China 35:38 will go. We are all in this together. 35:43 Look at the similarity, economic meltdown 35:45 Pentecost I, we are going through 35:46 meltdown Pentecost II. Look at the similarities 35:50 with who is in the upper room there and who is 35:52 at AYC today, watch this, jot these down will you. 35:54 Just like those in the upper room, just like 35:56 Eutychus, you also are devoted followers of 36:00 Jesus Christ praise God. You have given your 36:04 life to the Lord Jesus, you have followed him 36:06 in baptism and if you have not given your life 36:08 to the Lord Jesus and you have not followed 36:10 him in baptism, in just a few moments I'm gonna 36:12 give you an opportunity to decide today is the 36:14 day I'm deciding to be baptized, 36:16 I will follow Jesus. You will be baptized 36:18 today, you will be baptized tomorrow. 36:19 I don't know when you'll be baptized, but 36:21 today will be the day you make your decision 36:24 by the grace of God. You are followers just 36:26 like the upper room of 120. You are also devoted 36:29 followers of Jesus Christ, guess what just like 36:31 them you were also relatively poor, aren't you? 36:36 You look rich, but I know you're poor. 36:39 Isn't true, the young today are poor, come on. 36:42 It's their baby boomer parents that have 36:45 accumulated the possessions of this life. 36:48 Just like them you are also relatively poor and 36:51 dominantly landless. How many young adults 36:53 here own property, don't put your hand up 36:55 because nobody does. Nobody owns property, 36:58 you're landless just like the 120 in the upper room. 37:01 Just like them, you are also Sabbatarian, look 37:04 at that. You worship the creator on his 37:06 Seventh-Day Sabbath and you are also little 37:09 a Adventist, they were little a Adventist. 37:12 They believe passionately that Jesus is coming soon. 37:17 That's what ignited that moment. 37:18 Pentecost I, that's what ignites Pentecost II. 37:24 Just like them, you are also without roots, and 37:28 thus perfectly positioned to be instantly mobilized 37:32 by the Holy Spirit. I want to talk to the 37:34 baby boomers, who are here because some of us 37:36 are baby boomers and we are not apologizing 37:38 for it, we had no choice we just did. 37:41 There is nothing we can do about it, but we are 37:42 baby boomers, so come on be honest baby boomers. 37:46 We have dropped our roots pretty deep into 37:49 this life, haven't we? I mean we're working on 37:52 distal accumulation, we have that accumulation, 37:54 we have this, we have that, we have so much 37:57 now that if Jesus came to us and said I want 38:00 you to move for me now, we have to say 38:03 I can't, I got all this. I got a good job now, 38:08 you can't ask me to do this. And so he doesn't, most 38:12 of the time, but unlike your parents you are 38:18 also like the 120 in the upper room, you have 38:20 no roots and thus you are perfectly positioned 38:23 to be instantly mobilized by the Holy Spirit. 38:28 You know what, all you need is a mobile, 38:32 a laptop and a plane ticket, you can go 38:34 anywhere on earth. You are the most traveled 38:35 generation in the history of the human raise. 38:37 Nobody's traveled like you, I have never seen 38:39 guys like you, just go up to the plane counter 38:40 and put 300 bucks, I'll take that ticket, 38:43 I'm going to Fiji, boom you're gone to Fiji. 38:45 What's up with that, you just travel, it's a 38:49 part of your DNA. You've been set up 38:52 because they were the same way, you have been 38:54 set up to become Pentecost II, you have 38:56 every thing Pentecost II needs if you have the 38:59 infilling of the mighty third person of the God, 39:02 the Holy Spirit. Amen. You got it all, we are not 39:06 waiting for another generation, baby boomers 39:08 are slowly fainting off the scene, it's the why 39:11 you call yourself generation, why here we call you 39:13 Millennials in the United States, it's this generation. 39:16 That is now positioned strategically by God to 39:19 be instantly mobilized. Oh! My, look at that, 39:24 you've got a mobile, you have a 39:27 plane ticket, and you got a laptop. 39:32 Oh! Did you see that, I'll do it again, alright. 39:37 Because you were probably sleeping in the 39:38 window, watch it this time. Look at this isn't that 39:41 something. Oh! How do you. I had some young 39:49 adults put that together. I don't know how to do 39:52 that, I don't know what you do, but anyway 39:55 that's who you are. All God needs is a handful 39:59 of you. He doesn't need 500 of you, Hallelujah 40:02 for 500. He doesn't need a 1000 of you, 40:05 he needs just a handful of you. 40:06 He got by with 12 minus 1 plus a few others 40:09 thrown into an upper room, 120, he turn the 40:11 world upside down with a 120. Small numbers 40:14 have ever chanced the landscape of the human raise. 40:17 Watch this Margaret Mead, the great anthropologist. 40:20 Margaret Mead she wrote; Never underestimate 40:24 the ability of a small SOS group, that's what 40:30 she meant. Never underestimate the 40:33 ability of a small care group of committed 40:38 individuals to change the world. It takes only 40:41 one group of you to change the human race. 40:47 Never underestimate the power of one small 40:51 handful of young adults devoted to the Lord 40:54 Jesus Christ, it's all it takes to the change the 40:57 world. Indeed, they are the only, write that in, 41:01 they are the only ones who have ever changed 41:04 the earth. Name me a massive body of people 41:07 that's changed human history, name me one. 41:10 History has been changed by handfuls, set ablaze 41:15 with their passion. You have a passion for 41:18 Jesus, do you? You love him with all your heart 41:21 I know you do. My friend, you are 41:24 positioned for God to begin Pentecost II, 41:30 that's why Ellen White wrote unequivocal 41:32 language exactly what Margaret Mead will 41:34 say, Ellen White wrote this; With such an 41:37 army, jot it down; With such an army of 41:40 workers as our youth, rightly trained, you see 41:44 AYC is about that rightly trained. 41:47 You don't, you don't, you don't just go 41:49 marching off. No soldiers just goes 41:50 marching off clothe, with half of his ammunition, 41:54 out of gear, you got to get trained first then we 41:58 put you in a band. So, that you are never 42:01 alone, you're not afraid, you have the almighty 42:06 God with you, but you have, you have mates with you. 42:11 With such an army of workers as our young, 42:14 rightly trained might furnish, how soon, 42:18 I believe the secret to the soon coming of 42:20 Jesus is right here. How soon the message of a 42:26 crucified, risen, and soon-coming Savior 42:28 might be carried to the entire city of the 42:31 Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, Adelaide, 42:40 Canberra, and I met some from New Castle, 42:46 Cairns. How soon, how soon the message of a 42:51 crucified, risen, and soon-coming Savior 42:53 might be carried to the whole world! How soon 42:55 might the end come, the end of suffering and sin, 43:01 suffering, sorrow and sin! So, here is the question, 43:06 I want to end with this question, are you 43:08 willing, are you willing to follow Jesus out into 43:14 that world and reach it as his last Pentecost II 43:22 generation, are you willing? Would you be 43:26 willing if Jesus were standing here today and 43:29 I would love to be there, right there on that 43:32 front row, if Jesus were standing here today and 43:34 he says alright guys let's just cut to this chase. 43:38 I have an invitation for you and I need to know 43:40 who will go for me, would you, would I, 43:46 jump to my feet with the cry, here am I, send 43:50 me, send me. I don't care where you send me, 43:52 if you want me to go Jesus I know you are 43:55 with me always even to at the end of the age, send me. 43:59 Are you willing to be send today? Are you? 44:05 want to pray with you right now and then I'm 44:06 gonna pull out a card that you have on your 44:08 lap and I want you to prayerfully consider 44:10 that card. Let's pray together, Oh! God, if 44:13 only Jesus were here, he is through his spirit, 44:18 if he were here in person and we were 44:20 sitting at his feet, his nails scarred feet and he 44:24 said you know my eyes have swept over this 44:27 great nation, I need more in my army. 44:32 The Messiah's army needs new recruits. 44:34 Would you, who are here AYC, would you 44:38 give me your life this year? Would you go for me? 44:45 O Father, would we have the courage, 44:51 oh! But of course we would, we would jump 44:53 to our feet and we would say Jesus starting right now. 44:59 Here am I send me. Well, he is not here 45:02 Father, his spirit is hovering over us, his 45:05 spirit is speaking to our hearts and I pray that as 45:08 we look at this humble little card that you 45:10 might impress us with what your will for us is 45:14 in 2010 not a 11, not 9, this year the only year 45:20 you've given to us is this year, what do you 45:23 want us to do, what would Jesus have us say. 45:26 How should we respond, God for the mighty third 45:29 person who guided through our consciousness speak 45:32 right now. We pray in Christ name, Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17