Participants: Dwight K. Nelson
Series Code: 10AYC
Program Code: 10AYC000010
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00:16 I wanna share a story with you, in fact the story
00:18 so it's written so succinctly that to make sure we 00:24 get the point of the story. I want to read the story 00:26 too. I wanna end with another story, powerful 00:31 story in between we will come radical word of 00:34 Christ and I'm praying with you as William 00:38 Larison prayer and Bruce just did a moment ago. 00:43 The God will commune with us through this 00:45 radical word of Jesus and we will know how he 00:48 wants us to respond and so let's began by praying 00:51 and I am plunging right into the teaching. Dear 00:53 God, Sunday afternoon in Sydney, Chinese New 00:58 Year, a day as well that the world reflex for few 01:05 fleeting moments on love. We go to the greatest, 01:10 the supreme manifestation of love in the 01:12 universe, as we go to the cross right now. Two 01:16 stories and the radical appeal may how you want us 01:22 to respond be utterly clear in our own minds and 01:26 hearts, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. 01:32 Alright, here is the first story, it's appears in John 01:37 Ortberg's book. Everybody is normal to you get 01:41 to know them. I wanna read the story to you. 01:46 See the title up there, you see why the title is the 01:49 title, as we rap up our prime time series. You're 01:52 the prime time generation, this is your call. Some 01:55 years ago John Ortberg's writing, some years ago 01:57 I visited a little museum on Nantucket Island 02:02 that's an Eastern of Boston, Massachusetts. 02:05 That museum on Nantucket Island, they voted to 02:07 volunteer organization forms centauries ago, in 02:10 those days travel by sea was extremely dangerous 02:13 Australia. We've come up the cost line; you've 02:15 got buried sea, buried ships cost line as you 02:20 know. It was dangerous for everybody, because 02:23 of the storms in the Atlantic along the rocky 02:25 cost of Massachusetts; many life's will be lost 02:27 with a mile or so of land. So a group of 02:31 volunteers went into the life saving business. 02:34 They bended together to form, what was called 02:36 the Humane Society, you know when I read this 02:39 I'm thinking humane society, I'm thinking you 02:40 know dogs and cats, do you have humane yeah. 02:43 So, that's what I'm thinking but that's not 02:45 that. They call themselves Nantucket Humane 02:48 Society, these people build little huts all along 02:50 the shore, and they had people watching to see all 02:53 the time, whenever ship went down. The world 02:56 will go out in these people would devote 02:57 everything to save, every life they could. 03:01 They did not put themselves at risk for money or 03:04 recognition, they did only because they price 03:10 human life, to remind them what was its stake the 03:12 adopted a motto. Here it is, you have to go out 03:15 but you don't have to comeback. This doesn't 03:19 sound like a very cache little recruiting slogan 03:22 doesn't them. But it was it is fascinating to read 03:27 accounts of people, who would risk everything 03:28 even their life's to save people, they had never 03:31 mate. Over time things changed, the after a while 03:35 the US coast guard began taking over the task of 03:37 rescue for a while the coastguard and now life 03:40 giving, life saving society were side by side 03:42 eventual the idea the car of day was. Hey let the 03:45 professional do it, they're better trained, and they 03:47 get paid for it. Volunteer stop manning the little 03:52 huts, they start searching the coast lines for ships 03:54 in danger, they stop sending teams out to 03:56 rescue drowning people yet a strange thing happened. 04:00 They could it bring themselves to disband, 04:05 the Life Saving Society still exist today, the members 04:07 meet everyone's in a while and they have dinners, 04:09 they enjoy one and another company. They're just 04:11 not in the life saving business anymore, so are 04:17 we, are we really? I'm talking about our church 04:21 now, now the church that I love and the church 04:23 that you love. Are we in the live saving business 04:26 anymore, but of course do I? Did you understand 04:28 this is AYC? Then if we're in the life saving 04:31 business, how if you committed your life and 04:33 consecrated it's for the rest of the journey that 04:37 remains in your life, that's my question? Consider 04:40 with me a radical word from the Lord Jesus, open 04:42 your Bible with me, please for the Gospel of 04:44 John. Jesus, he's gonna take the sailing matter for 04:49 he's gonna move to in an extremely opposite of 04:53 matter for. But the passion is the same, 04:56 the Gospel of John chapter 12, comes this is a 04:59 surprise to some people that in the Gospel of 05:02 John there is no Lord supper, is that amazing. No 05:06 Lord supper, you know why because John is now 05:09 working with the second generation, the story is 05:11 already been told three times by the synaptic. So, 05:13 when John comes along, he says I'm not the put 05:15 Lord Supper in. I'm going to encoded in John 05:18 Chapter 6 where Jesus says: I'm the bread if you 05:21 eat my flesh and drink my blood, you remember 05:23 that? That is a Lord's supper harmony embedded, 05:26 mysteriously into the Gospel. It's amazing in 05:30 John's Gospel that he never taste what the 05:32 synaptic Gospel's take, I eat in other words if any 05:36 man will come after me, that I'm taking this cross 05:37 deny himself and follow me, non of that in the 05:40 Gospel of John, but here is John's equivalent to 05:44 that up Calvary appeal, Gospel of John Chapter 12, 05:52 John Chapter 12 drop down to verse 24. 06:02 Gospel of John chapter 12 drop down in verse 24 06:10 Jesus speaking I tell you the truths I wanna pause 06:15 button right there, because if you're reading 06:16 this line in the original language not that the 06:21 Jesus spoke, that was there make, but they wrote 06:23 in Greek, if you're reading it in the Greek, you 06:26 would read this way. Amen, amen, so if you have 06:31 the King James how does that we read; verily, 06:35 verily from how comes out our word amen. I tell 06:38 you the truth, only John uses this, this secrete 06:43 sign as an alert is, his readers. If a double Amen 06:48 appears, the two amen's together. It's like John 06:51 woven this massive red flags in hold a time out, 06:55 oh it's slow way down, are you reading through 06:57 the Gospel right now, slow down. You're about 07:00 to uncover, and counter something radically 07:03 important for you, amen, amen Jesus says. Amen, 07:11 amen let's put on the screen, read it together." 07:17 The truth is, this is the new living translation, 07:20 the truth is, amen, amen, a kernel of wheat must 07:25 be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be 07:35 alone-a single seed. But its death will produce 07:42 many new kernels-a plentiful harvest of new 07:45 lives. Those who love their life, now this is the 07:49 beginning to sound like if you wanna follow me 07:51 denies self take it up you cross. Those who love 07:54 their life in this world will lose it. Those who 07:57 despise their life in this world will keep it for 08:02 eternal life." Amen, amen you wanna live, this is 08:11 what time is grabble calls Christ upside down 08:15 kingdom, counter culture of the Sydney, counter 08:19 culture of the Australia, super counter culture to 08:23 the United States, the exact opposite of the 08:27 kingdom Lucifer has established on this earth, 08:30 because in Christ kingdom, in the Christ upside 08:32 down kingdom get these guys, did you know this 08:36 that if you want to be first, you've got to become 08:40 last. If you wanna be great, you've got to become 08:44 the least. If you wanna be a leader and how many 08:49 hearts wanna be leaders, if you wanna be leader 08:52 you must become a servant. If you wanna win, 08:57 you've got to lose and if you wish to live, what? 09:04 You go to Die. You go to die, upside down 09:10 kingdom, counter cultural to the kingdom, 09:14 Lucifer has setup and by the way, I'm prince of this 09:17 world, these are my subjects and here how we 09:21 live. Oh boy, you just turn the television on, 09:24 I tell you what, there was a day, whenever we're 09:26 having a television, just catch the news anymore 09:31 I wonder its value. Oh! We got 3ABN appear, 09:35 I take that back. I know, it has slight value and 09:41 we're telecast our services as well, so there is a 09:44 value guy comes up with the technology and 09:47 instantly Lucifer seizes it. Satan turns into his 09:51 kingdom, so that when you ask the Tele today. 09:54 You've, you've a mind set that goes like this. 09:59 If you can survive and kill of the opposition, 10:04 you win. Another one who dies live no the one 10:08 who lives, but doesn't die wins. And so we, we've 10:12 got stuff in America; I sure hope you don't have 10:14 it over here. We've got stuff in America call 10:17 survivor, no are you serious? Deliver us look at 10:25 that out least, out play, out last. The last guy live, 10:33 the last one not to be voted off wins. That's 10:40 Lucifer kingdom for yeah, that has become so 10:44 pervasive. That we called reality television is 10:47 become so pervasive. That just a few weeks ago 10:50 in the United States, this really did happen. 10:54 Dressed to the nice, they deiced that they wanted 10:57 to get on reality TV and what better way to get 11:00 on reality TV, and then crash the party at the 11:05 White House. I'm only telling you about this, 11:09 because they were in Melbourne last weakened 11:13 and a full page, back page all be it. But the full 11:17 page devoted to this, past every security guard. 11:23 All the way into the heart of the White House, 11:25 this husband and his wife determine. That they 11:28 would become superstars and Oh boy, did it 11:32 work, did they get in the news, Melbourne gives 11:34 them in whole page. But unfortunately they did 11:37 get into see the president of the Unites States, but 11:40 the White House release the photograph and say 11:42 ops they got past security all the way into the 11:44 hearts. Reality television be the superstar, get 11:49 your face on the Tele, the kingdom of Lucifer 11:54 verses the kingdom of the Christ. You wanna 11:57 follow me boy, girl, you wanna follow me. 12:02 You're gonna die, if you wish to live. You're 12:06 gonna lose, if you wish to win, you're wanna be a 12:10 leader someday, you wanna grow up to be a 12:12 leader and you're gonna become the servant and 12:14 doormat of everybody. You wanna be first in my 12:18 kingdom; you will have to be last in my 12:22 kingdom. May I did a good job or that the other 12:25 night, the upside down kingdom, what Jesus 12:30 talking about? "The truth is a kernel of wheat 12:33 must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will 12:36 be alone-a single seed. But its death will produce 12:39 many new kernels-a plentiful harvest of new 12:41 lives. Those who love their life in this world will 12:44 lose it, those who despite their life in this world 12:47 will keep it for eternal life." Jesus says consider, 12:52 consider the world of the seed. You got grain in 12:56 Australia, don't yeah? Don't hay wheat fields like 12:58 that. Yeah. And that's from the U.S, but you got, 13:00 wheat fields, what part of Australia is the wheat 13:02 country? The Hay plains! The Hay plains, 13:07 where are they? Hay plains in New South Wales! 13:10 New South Wales, oh! We're in hay country, 13:14 hallelujah great. Okay, the hay plains, Jesus says 13:18 let's go to the hay plains guys, I wanna make the 13:19 point to you and I want to you get it and every 13:21 time you drive to the hay plains for the rest of 13:23 your life. I want you to remember, that's what 13:25 Jesus is doing, he's take it, he's take it the strip 13:28 in, strip in those, those kernels of that head of 13:31 wheat and he holds in his hand. He says, I wanna 13:33 tell you something, my kingdom is like this 13:37 seeds. Seeds are the amazing creation, aren't 13:40 they? Right. You can do anything you want with 13:42 seeds and I've seen some ladies in their kitchen, 13:46 who on the top self, will had this glass jars fill 13:49 with seeds. Have you seeing that, the popcorn 13:51 seeds in it, our bean of seed. You can put beans 13:54 in a glass jar, as lovely to have seeds on a self 13:58 glass jars. I mean, you can take some seeds, isn't 14:00 this true and you can put little oil up and put it in, 14:03 in the microwave and corn seeds, what are they 14:06 do, when they get them hot enough? They just, 14:07 pop, pop, pop, pop. Do you remember, when 14:09 you're kid in school, did you do this, did your 14:12 teacher tell you we're gonna make something 14:13 special for mom at home and she gave you 14:15 popcorn and do you have Elmer's Glue here, 14:17 do you have some kind of glue that you put on, 14:19 you know there are paper glue. And so, she 14:20 gave you piece of a, of construction paper and 14:23 you put the little corns, a kernels out and you 14:26 made a smile and you had the big eyes and you 14:28 put the eyebrow up and you take it home and 14:30 mother put it on the refrigerator for a few 14:33 weeks, you remember that. I mean, you can do 14:34 anything you want with seeds. You can pop those 14:38 seeds and string them together at Christmas time 14:40 as now what we're do just string them together. 14:42 And we rap them around the Christmas tree 14:43 hallelujah. That's just you can do with seeds, 14:49 you can even stick one up your nose, and you 14:50 laugh but my brother did that. My brother is 14:53 planning a church in San Francisco right now. 14:55 We're kids growing up in Japan together and the 14:58 mother notices the Greg nose which just running 15:00 all the time, just run whole a day. She says, 15:02 you're got a, you're got a fever; no you look like 15:04 you're fine but why your nose always run. So, she 15:07 say alright Greg come with me we're gonna take 15:09 Greg to the little Japanese doctor and so we got 15:11 in the car go down to the Japanese clinic and the 15:14 doctor said okay let see, let see ohm aha oh! He 15:17 looks fine, let me look up your nose, you know 15:19 they can do that and he just look woof, woof, 15:24 a so. So, so he goes ahead, he says, hey, hey. 15:30 hey. So he pulls, he gets his long tweezers and he 15:34 goes right up into my little brother's nose. And he 15:37 pulls it out, it was a bean seed. And it was 15:42 already growing a greens sprout, because it's 15:45 warm and moist in there and so he just push 15:47 it out, way up there. So, you can do, hey, hey you 15:51 can do all kinds of things with seeds. Here is the 15:55 point, here is Jesus point. Any of those, any of 16:00 those exercises with a seed, it has not fulfill the 16:05 seeds destiny has it. No. Has it, I tell you what 16:09 ladies and gentleman, Jesus is absolutely 16:13 inexplicably clear a seed has one solitary purpose 16:21 in life, only one. And what is that, yeah Jesus 16:29 declares in John. Please Jesus declares in a Study 16:31 guide. Jesus declares in John 12:24 and 25 that 16:37 the best seed, right that in, that the best seed is a 16:44 buried seed. No, if and buds about it Jesus is 16:51 utterly clear. The best seed is a buried seed, 16:56 what you saying Lord: An unburied seed is an 17:00 unfruitful seed. If you're not buried, you're not 17:05 fruitful. You may still be a seed, you may lovely 17:09 in a congregation, in a glass congregation that 17:12 meets on the seventh-day and for a few hours, 17:16 a hundred and twenty seeds come together in 17:19 that lovely glass and people driving by say oh! 17:22 There they're the people in the glass church, what 17:26 beautiful seeds they must be. You may look 17:30 good, but you have not found your destiny yet as 17:34 a seed. They can put little sticky glue all over you 17:38 and make a smiley face forget somewhere, you 17:41 still have not found your Devine destiny. 17:44 The best seed, said aloud with me, the best seed 17:47 is a buried seed. An unburied seed is an 17:51 unfruitful seed, that has missed its destiny and we 17:56 will not fulfill its highest calling. Wow, What's 18:03 the point? Jesus does not want us to miss it jet it 18:06 down: You've got to burry the seed in order to 18:11 grow the seed, that's the point. Make sure you've 18:16 it; you've got to burry the seed in order to grow 18:19 the seed that was Jesus point. In his capable point 18:24 let's took this put it another language, American 18:27 English, because the message translation is 18:29 American English, Eugene Petersons message 18:32 translation and we wanna put it on the screen for 18:35 you, you can fill it up: Listen carefully; there is 18:36 the double Amen, amen, amen. Something, 18:39 something radically significant is about to be 18:41 spoken, so listens it up: Unless a grain of wheat 18:46 is buried in the ground. See you can't escape; 18:50 you can't a escape the matter forth. Unless a grain 18:53 of wheat is buried in the ground, and dead to the 18:56 world. Oh! I was listening carefully to Pastor 19:00 Justin this morning talking about one foot in 19:03 the world and one foot in the church. Well, you 19:05 can't do it, you can't do it, and no man can serve 19:08 to masters. He would love the one and hate the 19:10 other; you will hate the one and love the other 19:12 you can't serve God in the world impossible. So, 19:16 you got a chose and if you haven chosen, you 19:18 have to chose, you have to choose in less then 19:20 twenty minutes. You've to choose, because you're 19:23 living in here and so am I. You're not go back out 19:27 into Sydney and Australia, startling to worlds are 19:30 you? I mean, how do you what, what would go to 19:33 you're for either world. You're a divided 19:35 specimen word close to both. Unless a grain of 19:40 wheat is buried in the ground, and dead to the 19:42 world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. 19:47 But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces 19:54 itself many times over." The best seed is a buried 20:02 seed. Paul comes along in first Corinthians makes 20:04 the identical point; this must be a critical point 20:06 for God to keep reiterating it again and again. 20:09 Amen, amen get this one God says: "When you 20:12 put a seed into the ground, Paul reminds us, 20:14 it doesn't grown into a plant unless it dies first." 20:19 The best seed is a buried seeds; it's got to die 20:25 first. Ladies and gentlemen the best seed 20:26 is a buried seed. This is an, this is a rocket 20:30 science, this is horticulture, the best 20:33 seed is a buried seed so. What kind of seed you're 20:39 gonna beak, you live in AYC and back out into 20:43 the wild world of Australia again. What kind of 20:48 seed are you're gonna be, when where our God is 20:52 gonna plant you. I wonder where you're gonna 20:54 allow God to plant you. He not gone to drop you 20:58 on the service of the earth, do he's gonna dig a 21:00 hole and bury you in the Farrell of this world 21:04 need, makes me wonder where he's gonna buried 21:07 you. When we're down in Melbourne few days 21:12 ago and I have an chance to see newspaper here, 21:14 I've an heard the news, it's just, have been the 21:18 great concentrate here, but I got to see a few 21:20 newspapers. When we're in Melbourne, they've 21:23 had a challenge in Australia, some Indians 21:27 students have been attacked, and you've heard 21:31 about that have you? Yeah. Yeah, to the place, 21:36 to the place where the police commissioner for 21:38 the city of Melbourne, last weakened made a 21:42 statement and an appeal for the news media, to 21:45 the Indian community. You've got move out of 21:49 the poorest sections of our city, move away crime 21:54 rate is natural gonna be higher there, move out, 21:58 the only reason, I access that's story and so that 22:01 you won't pretend. That there is no poverty in 22:08 Australia, the second most depress city in the 22:11 United States per capita is 12 miles up the road 22:14 from Andrews University. We've planted a 22:16 Church in the inner, inner city. Now, I wanna 22:21 make an appeal, do you know, I'm not step on 22:22 any leaders toes and doing this. I wonder what 22:28 God is gonna plant you in 2010. I praise God for 22:32 this vision, to reach forty thousand students of 22:35 the University of New South Wales and may God 22:39 flourish that young adult planted, young adult let 22:42 Church hallelujah. But here is my appeal, please, 22:49 please in your joy and working with fellow Unis. 22:54 Who can afford the education that they're 22:57 getting. Please don't forget, the inner, inner 23:03 city of Sydney. Where the improvers live and 23:08 the crime rates are higher and people are 23:12 desperately trying to survive. If we forget the 23:18 poor in our eagerness, to reach the educated and 23:22 the suburbs. We've missed, the passion of Jesus 23:30 heart, listen to I had you know this. Because I 23:33 just been preaching on it up high in the earth, 23:36 in January. Do you know that Luke, who writes 23:42 the sermon on a mount, after Matthew does. 23:45 In Matthew Sermon on the Mount, here how it 23:47 goes, it begins that this glorious, be attitudes 23:51 begin in Matthew, you've memorized it: Blessed 23:53 are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of 23:59 God, Luke comes along under the inspiration of 24:02 the Holy Spirit and instead of copying Matthew. 24:06 Because Matthew was there and heard it, Luke 24:09 didn't hear it. Instead of copying Matthew do you 24:12 know how Luke puts, how Luke renders at the 24:14 attitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is 24:20 the kingdom of God, he drops up in spirit. He 24:25 means no I'm talking about dirt poor, blessed to 24:29 you, he said do I you don't know that for sure. 24:31 Oh! I do because of the next be attitude, in 24:33 Mathew it says: Blessed are those who hunger 24:35 and thirst, after for they shall be filled and look at 24:38 he's blessed are you who hunger, for you who 24:41 will fit. Luke intentionally, he just says Sermon 24:47 on the Mount. So, that we will know that when 24:51 Jesus gets up as he does two chapters earlier, 24:55 the be attitudes are in Luke 6, two chapters 24:58 earlier Jesus gets up Nazareth and he announced 25:01 the spirit of the Lord is upon me quoting Isaiah 25:03 61:"The Spirit of the Lord is up on me, because 25:05 he has anointed me to preach the Gospel the good 25:08 news to the poor, we spiritualize that whole 25:11 commutation away of Jesus mission statement is 25:13 about the spiritually poor, the emotionally poor 25:15 that fit, you know, no nor the financially poor. 25:19 But Luke corrects that misreading, two chapters 25:23 later in his rendition of the, be attitudes. If you 25:26 ever wanna read a Gospel that use or friendly to 25:28 the poor read the Gospel of the Luke, it is written 25:34 for poor Christians in the Roman empire, to take 25:36 hope. That they're not the scum of the earth, 25:39 the God values them: Blessed are you who are 25:42 poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Ladies 25:45 and gentlemen, because of that we cannot remain 25:49 a moment that only focuses on the bright, 25:53 the young and the suburbs. We will have to move 25:57 into the inner city, for the Lord Jesus Christ and 26:00 it will be painful and it, something we don't know 26:02 how to do. And we will have to console others, 26:05 who are already doing it. But we will have to do 26:08 it, because in as much as you have done this to 26:12 the least of these, my brothers and sisters, 26:17 you've done it to me. And if you haven done it to 26:20 them, you haven don't to me yet. Every category 26:23 that Jesus listen Matthew 25, the last story, 26:26 he tells on earth, every categories is 26:28 disenfranchised, alienated and marginalized 26:30 human beings. You're either in jail, you're naked 26:33 it, you're hungry, you're poor. You do it to them 26:38 and all my Ellen White with all the goal of the 26:40 Spirit inspired writers comes along and writes a 26:43 chapter in Desire of Ages, devoted to Jesus last 26:46 story on earth. It's called the least of these and in 26:50 that chapter the first page of that chapter just 26:53 before Jesus dies. She writes in an interpreting 26:57 this paragraph, listen to this she writes: And 27:01 when the nations of the world shall be assembled 27:04 before the king one day in the final judgment, 27:07 their destiny in eternity will be determined by 27:11 one condition what did they do for the poor and 27:16 needy. I tell you what that is a chapter that blows 27:21 Seventh-day Adventist, which she was out of the 27:25 water, because I thought that she got to the front 27:28 of the line, if you kept the Seventh-day Sabbath, 27:32 well Jesus are Sabbatarian, yeah. Did he create 27:35 the Sabbath? Is the Sabbath true? Yeah. 27:38 Of course, so we got that taking care of now. 27:41 You just want to make sure I believe in it, you're 27:43 now known I do. But we thought that it was our 27:46 Sabbatarianism that got us to the front of the line. 27:50 And come to find out from the inspired author of 27:53 Desire of Ages no. it will be what you do for the 27:57 poor and needy. You know why, because it's only 28:01 what you do for the poor and needy that tells the 28:04 truth about the heart, you're hiding that nobody 28:07 else on earth, but God can see. And so can just 28:11 tell the universe trust me, save her, trust me lose 28:14 him. All he has to do is, say, listen I got the video 28:17 right here. I want you to watch, watch how many 28:20 times, he watched by somebody in need, watch 28:22 how many times she drives through that section 28:24 of the city or purposely drives way around it like 28:27 the levy in the good samaritan. Just watch her 28:30 and tell me did, I know she got the day of the 28:33 Sabbath right. But did she get the way of the 28:36 Sabbath right. Amen. No, she got the seven 28:40 rights, but she forgot that it's not the seven, 28:46 that counts it's a seventh in field with the heart of 28:52 Jesus Christ. Amen. So, Ellen White come along 28:56 and say the last, and so, so God can say hey, hey 28:58 universe check in, where she, what about she do 29:01 with the poor. Because well how I treat the poor, 29:04 well tell you how selfish I'm, isn't that true? 29:08 What I do to the poor, will tell you how selfish I 29:11 really am. You don't know I'm selfish, I look like 29:13 a pretty good guy, I go to Church just like you 29:16 do. It's what I do to the poor that tells you what 29:20 my heart really is. So, AYC, as you driven home 29:24 and somebody you've drive past the section of 29:26 the city. That is the heart of the Lord Jesus; 29:29 remember our mission is not complete to save 29:33 those who are just like us. We've to reach those 29:37 who are not like us. Amen. Alright, so that seed 29:44 is a buried seed, how do I know that Jesus 29:47 wants us in this, in the inner, inner, inner city. 29:49 Look what he says in verse 26: "All those who 29:51 want to be my disciples must come and follow 29:54 me, where are you going Jesus, because my 29:56 servants must be where I am. And if they follow 29:59 me, the farther will honor them." Will you like 30:01 that down please Jesus says my servants must be 30:04 where I am? Where are you Jesus? Tell us Jesus, 30:12 where are you? The Desire of Ages chapter 30:13 leaves it without a shadow of a doubt. By the 30:15 way in go much earlier in the book Desire of 30:17 Ages, I am sorry I don't have a page number for 30:18 this because you just coming to me. But Jesus I 30:26 the paragraph goes like the some people long to 30:28 go to the homeland of Jesus, or they can stand in 30:31 Bethlehem. They can gaze upon Nazareth. They 30:33 can look a Capernaum and say, oh! I am where 30:36 Jesus is. You don't have to go the writer of Desire 30:38 of Ages said, you need not go for the footsteps of 30:42 Jesus are found in the hovels of the city. Where 30:46 the poor lives out. You want to go where Jesus 30:49 is? You find the poor that's where he is, and 30:54 that's why ladies and gentlemen when the final 30:56 judgment is convened and the row call is being 31:00 made and I know where in the judgment now, 31:04 somebody like that woman who didn't get the 31:08 daylight, but the got the way right. 31:15 Don't be surprised? A rich American came to 31:19 Calcutta where mother Teresa was. Where she 31:22 served and she died? Serving the drags of society 31:26 and the rich American came to her and say this is 31:29 driving me crazy. Why are you waste your time 31:32 with these people? Why do you do it? 31:34 And mother Teresa replied, she said, we are at 31:37 contemplate of order. First we meditates on Jesus 31:41 then we go out the look for him in this guys " 31:45 In as much as you do this to the least of these, 31:53 you do it to me." I bailed them she says, do it to 31:58 me through them. Through the text one more 32:08 time then I read that story to you "All those who 32:10 want to be my disciples, Jesus says, this is Verse 32:13 26, must come and follow me. Because my 32:15 servants must be where I am." Where you going 32:17 Jesus I want and I will follow you, Jesus, 32:20 just I will give my life for you, Jesus. Where are 32:24 you going? Oh! There is no question in John 12, 32:27 look at Verse 32, here is where I am going " 32:29 And when I am lifted up, I will draw all men, 32:32 I will draw all women, I will draw all people to 32:36 me." Where are you going, Jesus? He said, 32:38 this indicate how he was going to die. 32:40 See that's John's quote: take up the cross and 32:43 follow me. Not a word about the cross. The word 32:45 not even used in John 12, but it's all there, If you 32:48 want to follow me, AYC member deny yourself, 32:53 take up your cross, drag it behind me. Where are 32:56 you going, Jesus? I am going to die. You want to 32:59 come? I am going to die. You want to come? 33:06 Where I am my servant will be also. That's the 33:11 truth. You know, what that's really is don't you? 33:14 They are talking about this in some circle today 33:16 it's called "Downward Mobility" somewhere you 33:18 are in the Uni right now and you pick in a career 33:21 that is going to just keep moment you, 33:23 Hallelujah, up the ladder of success and I am not 33:27 against success and if you get God calls you to 33:29 stay where you are, you just stay where you are 33:31 you just stay where you are sister, and I will be 33:32 cheering you on the whole way I got 3,400 uni 33:35 students in my Church, so I understand about 33:38 getting an education, but after you have that 33:43 major and that course sealed I wish you it 33:49 contemplate, not upward mobility. Jesus says, 33:52 would you mind considering downward mobility, 33:55 going down in order to get up, and loosening in 33:59 order to win becoming a servant in order to be a 34:02 leader, and die in order to live for where I am my 34:08 servant will be also. Wow! You have to go out, 34:16 but, hey, you don't have to come back. Some 34:18 happens to you will miss you, but we will see 34:20 you in heaven. You have to go out, but you don't 34:23 have to come back. The lesson of the Nantucket 34:26 Society before I read that story a quotation of 34:29 Christ's Object Lessons; here it is; "All who 34:31 would bring forth fruit as workers together with 34:34 Christ must first fall into the ground and die, 34:37 the italics are mine, the life must be cast into the 34:40 furrow of the world's need. Sidney's it's greatest 34:44 needs at your mission. The life must be cast into 34:48 the furrow of the world's needs Self-love, 34:51 self-interest, must perish. But the life of 34:54 self-sacrifice, here is the Jesus point, the life of 34:58 self-sacrifice is the life of self-preservation. 35:01 The seed buried in the ground produces fruit and 35:05 in turn this is planted. Thus, the harvest is 35:07 multiplied. The farmer preserves his grain by 35:10 casting it away. So in human life, isn't it 35:13 something to give is to live. Some of you made a 35:16 pledge yesterday for this little offering there was 35:19 taken off for AYC. You may wanna reconsidered 35:22 that pledge because look to give is to live. Maybe 35:30 that was just a little token something you scribble 35:33 down. To give is to live. You believe in this 35:38 moment. You believe in the young that this 35:40 moment is rising up. You are to be putting your 35:42 major bucks behind it to gives to live. 35:49 Let's putting few coins out and tossing on a man 35:50 is a bucket comes by isn't really giving. Now is it 35:54 unless like the widow that Jesus watched you 35:57 thrown an every coin you have, and that's why I 35:59 am judging you, but to give is to live. We are 36:04 asking these kids to give of their lives and in just 36:07 a moment I'm gonna ask them they give of this 36:10 meal and we are well into give. To give is to live 36:17 The life that will be preserved is the life that 36:20 is freely given in service to God and man, those 36:22 who for Christ's sake sacrifice their life in this 36:25 world. Will keep it unto life eternal? What's the 36:28 point to I, the point is "The best seed is a buried 36:31 seed" that's the point of Jesus teaching. That's the 36:35 point. We must take home. I'm gonna read a 36:39 story to you now I promise to you a story. 36:42 I am with this story moves me every time I read 36:45 it true story. You will get the point. Sit back and 36:51 listen now. Back in 1921, before your day in 36:59 mind, back in 1921, a missionary couple named 37:00 David and Svea Flood went with their two-year-old 37:03 son from Sweden to the heart of Africa to what 37:06 was then called the Belgian Congo, alright. 37:10 They met up with another young Scandinavian 37:12 couple, the Ericksons, and the four of them 37:14 sought God for direction. In those days of much 37:17 tenderness and devotion and sacrifice, they felt 37:20 led of the Lord to set out from the main mission 37:22 station and take the Gospel to a remote area. 37:25 When I just hang around the other missionary, 37:26 we were going to remote area. This was a huge 37:29 step of faith. At the village of N'dolera they 37:32 were rebuffed by the chief, who would not let 37:35 them enter his town for fear of alienating the 37:37 local Gods. The two couples opted to go half a 37:39 mile up the slope of the mountain and build their 37:42 own mud huts. Can't get into the village were live 37:45 up there. They prayed for a spiritual 37:47 breakthrough, but there was none. The only 37:49 contact with the villagers was a young boy, who 37:52 was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs twice 37:54 a week. Svea Flood a tiny woman only four feet, 37:58 eight inches tall-decided that if this was the only 38:00 African she could talk to, she would try to lead 38:04 the boy to Jesus. And in fact, she succeeded. 38:08 Amen, Amen. But there were no other 38:12 encouragements. Meanwhile, malaria continued 38:15 to strike one member of the little band after 38:17 another. In time the Ericksons decided they had 38:20 had enough suffering and they left to return to the 38:22 central mission station. David and Svea Flood 38:25 remained near N'dolera to go on alone. Then, of 38:28 all things, Svea found herself pregnant in the 38:32 middle of the primitive wilderness. When the 38:35 time came for her to give birth, the village chief 38:38 softened enough to allow a midwife to help her, 38:41 and a little girl was born, whom they named 38:44 Aina. The delivery, however, was exhausting, 38:49 and Svea Flood was already weak from bouts of 38:52 malaria. The birth process was a heavy blow to 38:57 her stamina. She lasted only another seventeen 38:58 days. Inside David Flood, something snapped in 39:03 that moment. He dug a crude grave, buried his 39:06 twenty-seven-year-old wife, and then took his 39:08 children back down the mountain to the mission 39:10 station. Giving his newborn daughter to the 39:12 Erickson's, he snarled, "I'm going back to 39:15 Sweden. I've lost my wife, and I obviously can't 39:17 take care of this baby. God has ruined my life." 39:22 With that, he headed for the port, rejecting not 39:25 only his calling, but God himself. Within eight 39:29 months both the Erickson's were stricken with a 39:32 mysterious malady and died within days of each 39:36 other. The baby was then turned over to some 39:40 American missionaries, who adjusted her 39:42 Swedish name to "Aggie" and eventually brought 39:45 her back to the United States at age three. 39:48 This family loved the little girl and were afraid 39:50 that if they tried to return to Africa, some legal 39:52 obstacle might separate her from them. So they 39:54 decided to stay in their home country and switch 39:56 from missionary work to pastoral ministry. And 39:58 that is how Aggie grew up in South Dakota, 40:00 and As a young woman, she attended North 40:02 Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she 40:04 met and married a young man named Dewey 40:06 Hurst. But listen up, Years passed. The Hursts 40:12 enjoyed a fruitful Ministry. Aggie gave birth first 40:14 to a daughter, then a son. In time her husband 40:17 became president of a Christian college in the 40:19 Seattle area, and Aggie was intrigued to find so 40:21 much Scandinavian heritage there. One day a 40:25 Swedish religious magazine appeared in her 40:29 mailbox. She had no idea who had sent it, and of 40:32 course she couldn't read the words. But as she 40:34 turned the pages, all of a sudden a photo stopped 40:37 her cold. There in a primitive setting was a 40:41 grave with a white cross and on the cross were 40:43 the words SVEA FLOOD. Aggie jumped in her 40:49 car and went straight for a college faculty 40:52 member who, she knew, could translate the 40:53 article. "What does this say?" she demanded. 40:55 What does this say? The instructor took the 40:57 magazine and summarized the story: It was about 40:59 missionaries who had come to N'dolera long ago. 41:02 The birth of a white baby, the death of the young 41:04 mother, the one little African boy who had been 41:07 led to Christ and how, after the whites had all 41:09 left, the boy had grown up and finally persuaded 41:11 the chief to let him build a school in the village. 41:15 The article said that gradually he won all his 41:17 students to Christ and the children led their 41:19 parents to Christ even the chief had become a 41:22 Christian. Today there were six hundred 41:26 Christian believers in that one village, all because 41:30 of the sacrifice of David and Svea Flood. But the 41:33 story is not over, listen up. For the Hursts' 41:36 twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, the college 41:39 presented them with the gift of a vacation to 41:42 Sweden. There Aggie sought to find her real 41:44 father. An old man now, David Flood had 41:47 remarried, fathered four more children, and 41:49 generally dissipated his life with alcohol. He had 41:52 recently suffered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one 41:54 rule in his family: "Never mention the name of 41:57 God- because God took everything from me. 42:02 After an emotional reunion with her half brothers 42:04 and half sister, Aggie brought up the Flood, that 42:07 this subject of seeing her father. The others 42:09 hesitated. "You can talk to him," they replied, 42:11 "even though he's very ill now. But you need to 42:13 know that whenever he hears the name of God, 42:15 he flies into a rage. Aggie was not to be deterred 42:20 She walked into the squalid apartment, with 42:23 liquor bottles everywhere, and approached the 42:25 seventy-three-year-old man lying in a rumpled 42:27 bed. "Papa" she said tentatively. He turned and 42:33 began to cry. "Aina," he said. "I never meant to 42:36 give you away." "It's all right, Papa," she replied, 42:39 taking him gently in her arms. "God took care of 42:41 me." The man instantly stiffened. The tears 42:45 stopped. "God forgot all of us. Our lives have 42:49 been like this because of Him." He turned his 42:51 face back to the wall. Aggie stroked his face and 42:55 then continued, undaunted. "Papa, I've got a little 42:59 story to tell you, and it's a true one. You didn't go 43:02 to Africa in vain. Mama didn't die in vain. 43:05 The little boy you won to the Lord grew up to 43:07 win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one 43:09 seed you planted just kept growing and growing. 43:12 Today there are six hundred African people 43:14 serving the Lord because you were faithful to the 43:16 call of God in your life. Papa, Jesus loves you. 43:20 He has never hated you." The old man turned 43:24 back to look into his daughter's eyes. His body 43:27 relaxed, and he began to talk. And by the end of 43:30 the afternoon, he had come back to the God he 43:33 had resented for so many decades. Over the next 43:37 few days, father and daughter enjoyed warm 43:39 moments together. Aggie and her husband soon 43:41 had to return to America-and within a few weeks, 43:43 David Flood died , but there is more. 43:49 A few years later, the Hursts were attending a 43:52 high-level evangelism conference in London, 43:55 England, when a report was given from the 43:57 nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo). 44:00 The superintendent of the national church, 44:02 representing some 110,000 baptized believers, 44:08 spoke eloquently of the Gospel's spread in his 44:10 nation. Aggie could not help going up to him 44:12 afterward and asking if he had ever heard of 44:14 David and Svea Flood. "Yes, madam," the man 44:18 replied in French, his words then being translated 44:20 into English. "It was Svea Flood who led me to 44:23 Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to 44:26 your parents before you were born. In fact, to this 44:29 day your mother's grave and her memory are 44:31 honored by all of us." He embraced her in a long, 44:36 sobbing hug. Then he continued, "You must 44:40 come to Africa to see, because your mother is the 44:42 most famous person in our history, and " In time 44:48 that is exactly what Aggie Hurst and her husband 44:51 did. They were welcomed by cheering throngs of 44:54 villagers. She even met the man who had been 44:56 hired by her father many years before to carry her 44:58 back down the mountain in a hammock-cradle. 45:02 But the most dramatic moment, of course, was 45:04 when the pastor escorted Aggie to see her 45:07 mother's white cross for herself. She melt in the 45:12 soil to pray and give thanks. Later that day, in the 45:16 church, the pastor read from John 12:24: "I tell 45:21 you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the 45:25 ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. 45:30 But if it dies, it produces many seeds." And then 45:34 he followed with Psalm 126:5: "Those who sow 45:37 in tears will reap with songs of joy." 45:46 If any man would come after to me, if any 45:50 woman would come after me, led her become a 45:53 seed and be buried in the furrow of this world 45:59 and die for me. For if she is buried and dies I 46:07 show reap a mighty harvest one day. Isn't that 46:12 amazing? Is it true? Look at Calvary, one seed, 46:19 one seed and we today apart to that harvest. 46:26 The best seed no question. The best seed is a 46:32 buried seed. When you came in, and I actually 46:38 just a moment ago when handed out the study 46:41 guide, this little piece of paper was handed to you 46:43 as well. Would you take it right now we gonna 46:44 end. But we not gonna end without an appeal. 46:50 One more time, I wanna make an invitation 46:54 today. This little piece of paper some of us, but 46:59 we've been appealing for through out this whole 47:03 weekend. Would you take the piece of paper, is it 47:06 there? Did it handed out. Do you have it? Oh! 47:09 You got it, okay. What it's say, what it's first box, 47:15 I wanna accept Jesus as my personal savior. 47:19 Then sing a song in just moment, but I give you 47:22 chance to reflect with me. Look at it is possible 47:27 to somebody here, has not yet accepted Jesus as 47:31 Lord and savior. It gone long away with it you 47:34 followed long or there have been, nobody here 47:37 even knows it. As another wrong would happen 47:40 nobody here knows it, but in your heart you 47:42 know I just have not surrender my life to him. 47:45 If that is you, right now. Would you put a look 47:49 check mark here? Would you put a check mark 47:52 here? I'm not gonna invite you to come forward 47:55 today. So this is an little bed and switch. So I 47:58 need you to be as honest as you can because you 48:00 are the only one to see this card plus that one 48:02 who will receive . If you have not accepted Jesus 48:06 as your Lord and savior, I wish you put a tick as 48:09 you stay in this country. Fill up tick right there. 48:13 I accept Jesus as my personal savior. Hey, is 48:17 there somebody here who is yet to be Baptized? 48:22 I tell you what my friend I stand on the shoulders 48:25 of all the appeals that have been made prior to 48:28 this moment, but I'm gonna to say it all over 48:29 again, there will never be a moment as simple as 48:34 this one for you to simply say, yes, I wanna be 48:38 Baptized. Get and touch with me, get and touch 48:41 with me. I'm not gonna be Baptized tomorrow, 48:43 I'm not gonna be Baptized next week, but I will 48:45 be Baptized when Jesus says, I am ready, but I 48:48 wanna Jesus to know I am making the decision 48:51 today because if I remain in unburied seed in the 48:54 water of Baptism, I am a useless seed forever and 48:58 ever, Amen. I have to be buried in the water of 49:03 the Baptistery. Before I can grow to the harvest 49:07 God is dream for me. If you haven't been 49:09 Baptized you are the one who knows. Nobody 49:12 around you knows I wish you take this moment 49:15 never simpler then this. How could it be simpler? 49:16 Then do just alright do I you are not to given the 49:22 decision. I want even see this cards. I am going 49:24 to home. You are going to home, but you telling 49:28 Jesus by that little tick. I am choosing to follow 49:32 you. Somebody have been touch with you, you 49:35 don't worry. Put a right now. I like to recommit 49:40 my life to Jesus and be re-baptized. If that's you, 49:43 right there. I was Baptized in the Church I grow 49:47 up in, but it just kind of Springfield, you know, 49:48 you know, you follow Jesus now. You have to 49:51 buried. The seed has to be buried just like the 49:55 master. Where the master is you must go. 49:57 He went into the water to be buried first. So, you 50:01 follow him. Let's put a check mark right there. 50:04 Somebody be in touch with you. Oh! Here comes 50:09 number 4. I would like to recommit. I would like 50:13 to commit my life for at least 6 months and more. 50:15 A full time Bible work. I am will to be buried in 50:20 the furrow of Sydney's need right now. 50:25 Melbourne's need right now. I wanna be buried in 50:29 that furrow. I am gonna hit the pause button on 50:31 my education. I am gonna hit the whole button 50:35 on my professional career. Hey, I was just talking 50:40 with guy yesterday. This is just come in to me 50:42 right now. You know, what he is a pharmacist. 50:47 You may know who is. Yeah, he has been under 50:52 conviction that he needs to hit the pause button. 50:56 Guess what? He is going to hit the pause button 51:00 and God is going to take care of everything back 51:02 on the job. Don't you put in be on God to be able 51:06 to step here right now. God is not going to make 51:09 the first move. You make the first move. I've 51:11 already move for you at Calvary what more you 51:12 that you want me to do for you? I've already done 51:15 it. Now the move is yours. Will you allow me to 51:20 throw you into the furrow of the world's need and 51:24 I'm gonna pour the dirt back on top of you. I will 51:26 bury you, but in that buried state you will bring 51:30 forth seeds that will increase my harvest and 51:34 enlarge my kingdom. You are young professional 51:38 here and you saying I don't know I just stood I 51:40 can do it. Don't worry about how you make the 51:43 decision. Let God take care of that how? So that's 51:48 box number 1, 2, 3, 4 if you are available I would 51:55 sure be blessed for Jesus to know you are making 51:59 your life on the line for him right now. I do in 52:02 2011. They be my guest. I do in 2015, how for 52:10 still hear for you. If you heart right now is same 52:16 boy, girl I am talking today commit to me your 52:21 life today. You got Angina there is no choice. 52:27 He is already paid the big price. He said, I give 52:31 you the grace to follow after me. How about the last 52:34 box, I sense God call on my life to commit my 52:36 life to full time ministry I know what this one 52:39 stand for because they told me what is stand for, 52:42 you know, the stands for. Some of you. God is 52:47 going to call out of what you are doing now to 52:51 full time Gospel ministry, and that's what this one 52:55 about. Six months of the year it perfect. God 52:59 needs you with your gift to stay in the very career 53:02 track, track your end in the profession you 53:04 already following. Don't you move a wet you've 53:08 got to have you as a radical disciples in the 53:10 calling that you have. This is not saying over I 53:14 am somewhat feeling God if I don't become a full 53:15 time Gospel worker. Not true, not true, if that 53:20 happen every profession on earth would be 53:22 bankrupt, every city office would be empty that 53:25 radical disciples. God is not in the mood for 53:28 emptying the cities of his fervent young 53:32 disciples. He needs you, but there some of you 53:35 and you know who you are by what's happening 53:38 in your mind right now. There are some of you 53:40 who have been wresting with the call of Christ to 53:42 go into full time ministry. You are a girl. You are 53:44 a boy. You are a young adult woman. You are 53:46 young adult man, and you've been wresting with 53:49 this. You may not be so young. You may be 53:51 older than young, but you've been wrestling with 53:54 the call of Christ. And today he is going to say in 53:58 just a whisper to your conscious, I mean you. 54:03 What about the guy of front taking. Listen to the 54:05 one inside of you talking. I mean you. If he says 54:08 to you I mean you, you must. Put a check mark 54:13 right there. And let me just say this I work on a 54:17 campus I already told you where every discipline 54:20 you get Ph.D. and every major we got a 54:22 theological seminar there and you know, the 54:24 spirit I live by. I believe the Church out to be 54:29 calling it's brightest and best to full time Gospel 54:33 ministry. When they are still in the deciding face 54:38 and so I am absolutely un ashamed to look at 54:40 young man and young woman that I've watched 54:42 up right the front several times and I see them on 54:45 the campus and I am watching them and I've 54:47 done this. I've gone up to engineering major and I 54:49 said, you know, something Glen, I am telling you 54:51 I believe you being called to the ministry, 54:54 and that's send him to a tailspin for a while and 54:56 pray about it and took a long time to pray 54:58 through, but he is today a Gospel ministry. 55:02 I think the Church ought to be asking the 55:03 brightest, it's brightest and best to be in Gospel 55:07 ministry. I make no apology for that. I am not 55:09 saying a word about any other career, but the 55:12 brightest and the best. If the spirit of Jesus is 55:15 speak in your heart and he is saying, hey, I am 55:18 talking to you right now then I want you to put a 55:20 little check mark there. Nobody is going to pack 55:22 your suitcases by tonight and saying, shift 55:25 yourself where. You have all the control you 55:27 need over your life, but somebody needs to know 55:30 and somebody needs to be in touch with you and 55:32 somebody can pray you for this. So that's what 55:35 our last boxes on there. Now would you feel it 55:39 out? Would you put your name right here? 55:40 Just come on give me your name and email. 55:42 Put your mobile right there, put a right there. 55:46 If you are near Church you go to Church, please 55:49 put that, that's help you too. I am not asking 55:52 anybody to come forward we have had, we have 55:54 had sufficient calls that way. But I am treating 55:57 this just as seriously as come forward call, just a 56:01 serious because how you respond. It's what you 56:04 decide. So if you already fill with our card I'm 56:09 not gonna ask you to bow head right now 56:11 because I don't want you watching what your 56:12 neighbors doing, alright. So would you bow your 56:14 head if you've already filled your card out just 56:15 bow your head and start praying. Don't look at 56:18 me. There is nothing to see. Just bow your head 56:20 right now and start praying because somebody 56:23 right now in this last moment of AYC is on the 56:26 line. Somebody right now is deciding what I 56:31 should do and that's somebody needs you praying 56:35 right deciding like decider. Now I'm going to 56:38 stop talking now and let the, praying. |
Revised 2014-12-17