Participants: Jerod Thomas
Series Code: 10GYC
Program Code: 10GYC000003
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00:12 The phenomenon of GYC is that normal
00:15 young people started it without a captain or 00:18 without a administrator telling us what to do, 00:22 from normal young people. How many of you are 00:26 normal, please raise your hands? 00:29 Good to see so many abnormal 00:31 people in this hall. Today we have a 00:34 normal young person here. His name is, 00:38 what's your name? Delthony. Delthony and 00:41 Delthony where are you from? 00:43 What's your background? I was born in Jamaica, 00:46 grew up in Jamaica. Born in Jamaica, 00:47 that's pretty normal friends and when was 00:49 your first GYC? My GYC was 2006 right 00:53 here, 2006 here. By every word. 00:55 By every word. Yes. Okay, have you been to 00:58 the GYC in between? Through the internet. 01:01 Yes, through the internet. Yes. 01:02 Oh! That's very normal, that's a very normal 01:04 thing to do, okay, good. Well, Delthony, why 01:06 are you here? Why do we have you upon stage 01:09 in front of all these abnormal folk, 01:11 what do you have to present? What's going 01:12 on in your life? Well, I now live in the 01:14 Bahamas. Okay. And we started. And normal 01:18 Bahamas folks are here also, good, okay. 01:21 Bahamas youth initiative for Christ. 01:23 Okay, did you guys get that, Bahamas initiative, 01:26 Bahamas youth. Youth. Yes, youth, youth. 01:29 Bahamas youth initiative for Christ. 01:31 For Christ, okay, what is all about? 01:33 After my first GYC, you know many of us 01:36 we felt to impress that something needs to 01:38 happen like this in the Bahamas where we live. 01:40 Okay. And Lord's willing it started back in 2009. 01:46 Okay. We just stated to meet and we had our 01:49 first inaugural session in April of this year. 01:52 Okay. It was a wonderful experience at 01:54 the end of it, the Lord blessed more than we 01:55 could ever think, young people to rededicate 01:58 their lives in Baptism. Amen. Some went up to 02:00 school for training, as Bible workers and 02:03 evangelists and the Lord has been blessing 02:04 since then. Amen, amen. Is this something 02:07 that GYC gave you $4.3 million to go to the 02:10 Bahamas and start this project on your own, 02:12 is that what happened? Well, $4.3 million 02:15 worth of inspiration. Amen, amen, amen, 02:19 how many people are in the Bahamas? 02:21 The population is over 300,000. 300,000 and 02:24 what is the mission that BIYC, BYIC, BYIC, 02:32 wants to accomplish? Well, we want to be 02:35 evangelist for Christ, empowering young 02:38 people to take this message throughout the, 02:42 what we say the nooks and crannies out of the 02:44 Bahamas, to get the word out for the 02:46 preparation of God's return. Amen, amen, 02:48 you have some young people here with you 02:50 if you would like to introduce them to all of us? 02:52 Well, with us today are Juan, this is Juan 02:55 Dorsey, Juan Dorsey and Gabriella Roker. 02:58 Juan attended the first BYIC and he has a little 03:01 bit of his testimony he'd like to share with us. 03:02 Okay. Share us testimony what happened? 03:04 At your first, your conference? 03:06 Okay, well, in the nutshell, raised 03:08 Adventist, as a teenage drifted away starts to let 03:12 the glitter and glamor secularism outshine the 03:15 beauty of belonging to God, but the Holy Spirit 03:17 never gave upon me. He led me back to the 03:20 church, my home church and it was there 03:21 that I heard about BYIC there to be camp meeting. 03:26 Once I heard about it I definitely knew that this 03:27 was somewhere that the Holy Spirit wanted me 03:29 to be and when I got there he used the 03:31 speakers Phillip Sizemore, and Ivor Myers to speak 03:35 to my heart. Ivor he just inspired me to flew, 03:38 more of my light shine for Christ and Phillip 03:41 inspired me to come and experience life. 03:43 And as a result of going there I was re-baptized. 03:46 I enrolled at the Lay Institute for evangelism 03:49 and I also shared my experience with Gaby 03:53 and she will go on and tell you her testimony. 03:56 Okay, Gaby, what's the story here afterwards? 03:59 Well, as a lot of people know I did not attend 04:02 the camp meeting at BYIC but Juan I have 04:04 met with Juan the Monday after that 04:06 weekend and my life has not been in same since. 04:09 He told me how good of an experience it was. 04:12 He was re-baptized and I've never seen 04:14 someone so on fire for the Lord before and it's 04:16 been like truly a blessing and I started 04:19 going door to door knocking with this 04:21 young, with his group of young people and 04:23 then I went to some revelation seminars and 04:26 I was re-baptized and that inspired my father 04:29 to even be re-baptized and it's been like a real 04:32 blessing and then I enrolled at the live 04:35 program as well that Juan told me about and 04:38 it's been a real blessing to experience life 04:41 because it's been a real life changing 04:43 experience and Phillip Sizemore has been a 04:46 blessing as well because his family was generous 04:49 enough to bring me to GYC and the Lord has 04:52 been showing me so much like His love and 04:55 grace, and my life will never be be the same. 04:58 Now I want you guys to. I don't if you caught 05:00 this right, so here is a normal, normal person. 05:03 He comes to GYC, he starts a youth 05:08 conference, okay, and then what happens is 05:11 one of the attendees comes in. 05:13 He has the life changing experience. 05:14 He goes out and reaches out to someone else. 05:17 She has a life changing experience and as she 05:18 comes back to GYC to share the life changing 05:21 experience to all of them of us. Amen. 05:23 This is the GYC engine, amen. Amen. 05:25 This is the grassroots move, there's no one 05:26 incharge except for one person, who is in the 05:28 heavenly sanctuary on our behalf 05:30 and who is that person? And if these young 05:33 people can do this, who else can do this? 05:37 Maybe some of us are called to start our youth 05:38 conferences, some of us are called to empower 05:41 our local churches, some of us are just 05:43 called to be good Seventh-day Adventist 05:45 Christians in our homes. Are you inspired? 05:48 Thank you so much for your testimony, 05:50 thank you so much for your time here. 05:52 Thank you. Brothers and sisters we are 05:54 privileged to here today, I'm going to be 05:57 introducing my good friend Jarod Thomas. 06:00 He is one of the few people that, 06:02 has attended GYC since 2002 by show of hands, 06:07 I don't know if I can do this. Can I ask? 06:09 How is there anyone here in this, in this 06:12 ginormous hall, who attended GYC in 2002? 06:21 Amen. I only saw three of you. Good, good, 06:26 okay, 2002 some normal young people 06:28 got together and we started a youth 06:30 conference called GYC, we never I mean 06:33 speaking behalf of the founders, we never 06:34 thought it would end up something like this, 06:36 I mean praise the Lord for where it is now, 06:38 and we look forward to how the Lord will use 06:40 this movement in the future. 06:42 Jarod Thomas has been at every GYC since then. 06:45 He is currently the director for iCampus, 06:47 he is a wonderful friend, he makes a mean 06:52 chilli, he's got two kids; Gracie and Charlie and 06:56 today he will be sharing his testimony with all of 06:57 us and his prospective is actually sort of a 07:00 unique one and we will be blessed from it. 07:03 Before he speaks I'm gonna ask Sofia 07:05 Tsatalbasidis to come up and she is already 07:07 here and she will be singing a song for us. 07:33 All at once He walked beside me 07:36 Like He'd been there all along 07:41 Not a stranger but a Father 07:45 Who can sense when something's wrong 07:51 And He answered all my questions 07:56 He understood my fears 07:59 That somehow vanished now that He was here 08:08 Can't you see who walks with you 08:14 Can't you hear who speaks your name 08:19 Can't you feel something stirring in your heart 08:27 How His words ring strong and true 08:31 Like a once familiar strain 08:35 Can the paths we follow from now on be the same 08:52 I could not bear for Him to leave me 08:56 So I begged Him please to stay 09:00 Spend the evening, a few moments 09:04 Before He went His way 09:09 Then like a host He stood and blessed me 09:13 Broke the bread and poured the wine 09:17 Then I knew there was something 09:20 there I recognized 09:24 I can see who walks with me 09:30 I can hear who speaks my name 09:34 I can feel something stirring in my heart 09:42 How His words ring strong and true 09:46 Like a once familiar strain 09:50 And I know I'll never be the same 09:57 I can see And from that moment 10:04 in time I felt the emptiness subside 10:09 And all the wonder of creation shining through 10:16 And for that first time in my life 10:21 I really looked into His eyes 10:24 And saw eternity and suddenly I knew 10:37 I can see who walks with me 10:44 I can hear who speaks my name 10:48 I can feel something stirring in my heart 10:55 How His words ring strong and true 10:59 Like a once familiar strain 11:03 And I know I'll never be the same I can see. 11:29 Good morning GYC. Good morning. 11:32 It's a pleasure to be with you here this morning, 11:36 actually its this afternoon. 11:39 I can remember back about a year ago, 11:47 as a result of circumstances that 11:49 started about six months beforehand. 11:53 I wound up on a 15 passenger van, 11:58 headed from Knoxville, Tennessee to the 12:02 mountains of Southern California, nonstop 12:08 and the goal was to attend this conference 12:11 called GYC that there was some buzz about 12:16 but not many people knew really what it was. 12:20 I met new friends, friends that I still 12:23 cherish today. I went to an awesome workshop, 12:27 I think it was one of five workshops, 12:29 our decisions weren't that tough back then to 12:31 decide which workshop you're going to. 12:35 I started meetings with a woman who would 12:37 become my wife. That's not a primary 12:42 purpose of GYC by the way for those of you 12:45 who are hopeful of that. We knew each other 12:49 before for the record and on Saturday night 12:57 I sat in this meeting, I heard this preacher 13:03 and he made an appeal and he appealed to give 13:08 your life to ministry, full time ministry 13:12 and I went forward in that appeal and since 13:16 that time or shortly there after I've spent my 13:22 days in full time ministry for the Lord. 13:25 So I am aware of the atmosphere here, 13:35 the possibilities, the things that take place 13:37 here, the life transforming 13:40 experiences that you can have here 13:44 because I've experienced that myself 13:46 and if you're a first time GYC attendee I hope 13:51 you make the most of your time while you're here. 13:56 So, I take this time with you seriously this morning. 13:59 This morning I will be sharing my personal 14:00 narrative and I have to tell you before we begin 14:03 that it's not something that I really like to do, 14:08 in fact, it's something that I really dislike. 14:17 And I'll give you fair warning I'm an 14:18 emotional creature, okay, I will shed a few 14:22 tears, I'll sniffle little bit because I'm talking 14:25 about some things that are very close to home, 14:31 but I hope through everything that the Lord 14:33 will bless you and that He will help you and as 14:37 well as myself prepare for what God has in 14:41 store for all of us. I like to invite you to 14:45 pray with me as we begin. Father in heaven, 14:54 Lord we pray that in this time that we have 14:57 together that you would shock us to our senses, 15:04 that you would do something for us this 15:06 morning that is impossible for us to do 15:13 of ourselves in our own power, in our own 15:17 strength of our accord. Please bless us, 15:21 send your spirit to comfort us this morning 15:25 to convict us of sin and righteousness and the 15:29 judgment to come we pray in Jesus name, Amen. 15:38 I was born in a small town in Southeastern 15:42 Nebraska, very inauspicious beginnings. 15:50 When I was 5-years -old, we moved from 15:53 that town I was born in about 5,000 people to 15:56 the neighboring town it's about 187, 16:00 I think is that what it says on the sign, 16:03 so we downgraded. I lived across the street 16:07 from my grandmother. My sister and I spent a 16:13 lot of time over there with her, she was a 16:17 saintly woman, a woman that I have a lot 16:20 of respect for today, and we would play in her 16:24 house and I could remember this back bedroom. 16:29 It seems like it was always cold, she had 16:32 this thing it was like a snake full of, like a 16:37 bean bag snake. You don't talk about 16:39 it you put it under the door and that way, 16:42 you don't have to heat these rooms that aren't 16:43 being use so we played with that and then we 16:46 would go into the room. This is room that my 16:50 aunt and my mother shared when they were 16:53 growing up in that very house. 16:55 And my sister and I would go into that room 16:57 and we'd dig through the doors and we pulled 17:01 out some of the junk and some of the old 17:03 things of my aunt and my mother had left behind. 17:10 I can remember pulling my aunt's old retainers 17:13 out and putting them in our mouths. 17:22 But there was one thing that strikes me more 17:26 than anything else that's picking up this little 17:29 white Bible. It had this chapped leather interior, 17:35 exterior rather and a zipper, I could 17:38 remember pulling back that zipper and opening 17:42 the zipper to that Bible. As we open it up, 17:47 it was full of stickers. 18:01 And those stickers were given for faithful 18:03 attendance in Sabbath school, 18:09 I turned the page, 18:17 the Bible had my mother's name in it. 18:21 Well, my mother didn't go to church, 18:25 my grandmother did, she faithfully attended 18:29 Sabbath services, and it was through her that my 18:34 sister and I at a very young age we were first 18:39 exposed to Seventh- day Adventist church, 18:41 very small, rural church it had Sabbath school in 18:46 the basement. I can still remember the smell of 18:50 the heavy humid air of that basement. 18:55 I can remember felts, going through felts for 18:58 the first time. My father didn't always like 19:03 us to go to church because he worked on 19:04 the road, he traveled a lot, when he get home 19:09 he want us to spend time together as a 19:11 family, so he didn't always go to church, 19:16 and we didn't go to church we had this 19:19 books at home, maybe you're familiar with 19:20 these books. We had a set of red books 19:24 I think there was a volume 5 and they 19:27 came with a red plastic book of cassette tapes. 19:32 And I could remember sitting on the floor of a 19:36 little trailer house, Southeastern Nebraska 19:39 and open up this cassette tapes and put 19:43 them in a play and I hear things like, 19:47 Samuel, you know what I am talking about? 19:53 Cling clong, cling clong like small donkey's hoofs. 19:58 I read these stories to my daughter today. 20:01 My aunt bought us the set of the book, 20:04 she bought us, we had uncle Arthur's bedtime 20:05 stories so they were some religious flavor 20:12 just a little bit in our home. 20:17 My grandma would read us these books. 20:20 When I was 9, our family moved to the 20:22 great state of Colorado, the following year, 20:26 my grandmother who had early on married 20:31 a non- Adventist, my mother, actually my 20:33 grandmother and great grandmother were the 20:34 first Seventh-day Adventists in our 20:35 family, baptized by a young preacher by the 20:39 name of Gideon Hass. Actually we had the 20:42 privilege of meeting with the guy who 20:45 baptized the first two Adventists in our family, 20:48 pretty awesome experience. 20:53 My grandma, she moved out with us to 20:56 Colorado and it's a good thing she did because 20:59 she helped provide some stability in our home. 21:03 Not long after are the location maybe a couple 21:06 of years, my mom was burdened with the crises 21:13 and some things came to light that she hadn't 21:15 told anyone. My mother was a victim of sexual 21:20 abuse while she was at school, when she was 21:26 very young. She never told anyone 21:30 her whole life. Now she's approaching 21:34 her middle ages and crisis sets in, and this 21:41 set off, triggered a series of different 21:45 events that I can remember, I can 21:47 remember going to Christian counselors 21:51 with my mom and sitting in the waiting 21:53 room and sometimes going inside. 21:55 I can remember her talking to my 21:58 grandmother, I can remember her saying 22:00 things like I don't know if I even 22:03 remember how to pray anymore. 22:10 I remember these books coming into our house, 22:13 great big volumes with the blue spine, 22:17 one had Jesus picture in front of it. 22:22 I can remember starting listen to Christian radio, 22:24 I can remember the first time I had a veggie hot 22:30 dog out of the can. Now I remember eating like 22:34 little Vienna sausages. There weren't big, 22:36 that is a reason why they call them big 22:38 franks because normally hot dog in a 22:40 can about that long and I remember taking my 22:44 first bite and not knowing what to do 22:45 with this thing like it was some cruel joke. 22:55 And I can remember down the road. 23:00 Our family started to go to Seventh-day 23:01 Adventist church. My dad brought 23:05 a sport coat and a tie, 23:11 we started to attend church regularly. 23:16 I can remember making the decision of my own 23:18 accord to quit playing football and baseball so 23:22 I could attend church on Sabbath. 23:25 It's probably in the 5th grade when that happened. 23:30 Eventually my mother was baptized, 23:32 when she was baptized, I was baptized with her, 23:35 shortly thereafter my sister, 23:37 my father were baptized. I knew that the changes 23:42 that were taking place in our 23:43 family were good changes. 23:46 We were hiking every Sabbath almost 23:48 in the summer time. We had new friends. 23:52 I would occasionally do special music for 23:54 church with a friend, my friend Ben who 23:57 was in church. There were some really 24:02 positive things that were happening. 24:05 I can remember walking down the Isle of the 24:07 church with my father collecting the offerings, 24:11 is it Dicken or the Junior Dicken. 24:17 My father is no longer in the church today. 24:25 There were things that just didn't add up 24:26 though in our home. From an outside 24:32 prospective it would look like we had 24:34 everything together at least mostly together 24:40 but there were things that just didn't add up. 24:42 My father's temper didn't go away, 24:45 my temper didn't go away, I can remember 24:47 tearing doors off of their hinges in anger 24:51 as a young man, there was stress in my parents 24:56 marriage, we would attend weekly services. 24:59 We would attend Friday night Bible study, 25:02 church on Sabbath, gym night, Saturday nights, 25:07 sometimes it felt like a game. 25:11 We're just going through the motions 25:14 and sometimes it felt like everybody 25:16 was just playing the game. 25:22 You know what the game is built upon, 25:27 by the way you know what I'm talking about. 25:33 This game that we play, it's the charade in 25:35 playing church, it's predicated by this idea 25:40 that everybody else has it together but me. 25:45 In order to fit in I've got to at least pretend like 25:50 I have it together too, to lie isn't it? 25:54 You ever fallen in that trap, 25:57 you don't have to raise your hand. 26:04 My mother did her best to keep things together, 26:07 we had devotions I can remember around, 26:09 in the breakfast table, my mom made 26:13 incredible sacrifices so that my sister and 26:16 I could attend local Seventh-day 26:18 Adventist School. We started attending the 26:20 Adventist School in the 7th grade. 26:23 It was about that same time that I started to 26:27 experiment with drugs, start smoking pot, 26:33 alcohol came into the picture, about that time 26:35 my parents divorced so now I'm living with my 26:38 father, my sister said, hey, I am gonna stay 26:40 with mom, I said well, you know who is gonna 26:42 go with dad. So I stick with my dad. 26:46 My dad works a full day, I get off to school, 26:50 I go home. There is nobody around. 26:54 So not only am I starting to make bad 26:56 decisions but I have less and less supervision. 27:00 This continued into academy, I got 27:03 suspended my freshman year for suspicion of 27:06 using drugs. Sophomore year came around 27:11 in academy, same thing happened and I said, 27:14 you know, this is a waste of my time. 27:17 I pay big bucks to come to this school and they 27:20 want to make me take urine analysis test to 27:25 prove that everything is on the up and up, 27:27 so forget it. So I left the Seventh-day Adventist 27:32 school system and I went into the public 27:35 school system. Shortly after that I dropped 27:41 out completely, I lived with my father, 27:46 I worked full time. There was a period of 27:50 time when my father was rarely around, 27:52 he met a woman, I think she was a bartender or a 27:55 waitress at some bar up in the mountains. 27:58 He would come home from work and shower 28:03 and go up to the mountains. 28:04 I would get home and not see him, go to work 28:06 at the health food store in the evenings 28:11 and we would totally miss each other, 28:13 sometimes for two weeks I wouldn't see my dad. 28:16 Sixteen years old, have people over, 28:20 have parties in the house, get myself in 28:22 trouble and then after I dropped out and I was 28:25 working full time, I worked in a local health 28:28 food store, urban health food store in Denver. 28:34 You guys familiar with some of the culture in 28:36 these kind of hipster, health food stores. 28:41 You know I am talking about kind of edgy and 28:47 maybe a little weird to some of you. 28:50 I was one of the weirdos, this proved to 28:55 be a pivotal point in my life, 29:02 I became a vegetarian. 29:06 I started to do more drugs. 29:09 I was an avid urban bicycle 29:11 commuter, I took pride in that, 29:15 I started to grow some dreadlocks. 29:18 I got involved in the body modifications 29:21 scene, so I was piercing, I was stretching, 29:27 I was started to implant things under my skin, 29:31 hanging out with a friend of mine, 29:33 I visited him at the record stores, 29:36 his name was Jay, he had the big whole 29:38 wholes in ears you see ever once in a while. 29:41 He had padlocks in the holes in his ears. 29:45 Just pushing out into this extreme culture. 29:51 It was at this health food store that I met 29:53 a young lady, if you could call her that. 30:00 We got to know each other. 30:02 She became my girlfriend. 30:05 I thought she was a nice girl. 30:07 She went to an alternative school. 30:10 She was into ballet and other dance. 30:13 Was at her house one evening and that's the 30:16 first time I met this kid name Eddie. 30:17 Eddie was a street kid, kind of dirty, you could 30:21 smell him, his hair was messed up. 30:25 I think his hair was actually green at the 30:26 time when I met him, and we were sitting 30:29 around in the living room and he pulled 30:32 something out of his pocket and he said, 30:34 hey, see my big bird spoon, 30:41 so I looked at his spoon and it was spoon at big 30:44 bird on the end of it, great. 30:49 Eddie goes into the bathroom and he was in 30:52 there for a longtime and he comes out and his 30:54 eyes were about that big around. 30:57 Eddie was a junkie and it was then that 31:00 I learned of my girlfriend's 31:02 experimentation with heroin, 31:07 and I was kind of an extreme guy 31:11 and not long after that I was using it too. 31:16 This is a year after leaving 31:18 Seventh-day Adventist School. 31:26 I don't know if we have any administrators here, 31:30 maybe you're a teacher. I believe in Seventh-day 31:36 Adventist education as a high school drop out. 31:40 In God's providence, I wind up 31:42 eventually working in an academy. 31:48 Teachers take your job seriously. 31:56 You never know where some of these young 31:57 kids that God has entrusted to our care are gonna go. 32:09 For the next few years I just floated around. 32:13 I did my own thing, started to work with my father. 32:16 My father was in the building trades so 32:20 I went to work with him, worked 40 hour 32:24 work week so I could do whatever I want to 32:26 do on the weekends. When I was 19, 32:35 a subtle shift began to take place. 32:38 Now I only said because of the things 32:42 that I had learned in Bible study. 32:46 In the Daniel, in the Revelation studies at 32:47 our church, you know, I had an understanding 32:52 at least superficially of this book, and that's 32:56 etiology that we teach at the Seventh-day 32:58 Adventist Church, rooted in scripture. 33:00 And I always told myself as I see these 33:03 things that the Bible talks about, Revelation 33:06 chapter 13, I knew that stuff, when I was 33:10 working in the health food store I made sure 33:11 my boss wouldn't schedule me on Saturday. 33:14 I was out Friday night late, but I didn't work 33:18 on, actually I worked one time, I switched 33:20 because I felt bad because the girl had a 33:21 birthday so I switched with her. 33:27 I had an understanding, tucked away in the back 33:30 of my mind, and what triggered some of this 33:36 change in ideas. I listened to a lot of 33:39 reggae music, I smoked a lot of pot, 33:43 it's kind of complimentary with the music and 33:48 I would hear these references to David 33:52 and to Solomon, there's this spiritual 33:54 undercurrent in reggae music and I started 33:57 thinking about some of those things, 33:58 when a musician would quote a song. 34:04 Now let me just make myself clear, 34:06 I don't listen to reggae music anymore, okay, 34:10 but there was something that God used, 34:15 perhaps one of the only avenues and He looked 34:17 down and He spoke to me through this, 34:21 and then He moved me on beyond those thing. 34:25 So, I'm not endorsing that music this morning, 34:27 let me make myself clear. I think sometimes 34:30 the church, we get bogged down because 34:32 we see how God could use something and then 34:35 we decide to use it ourselves and what 34:37 happens is we wind-up being more of a 34:39 stumbling block than of a blessing. 34:41 Are you with me this morning? 34:46 So I started thinking more about spiritual things. 34:50 It was Christmas of 2000, I was on my way 34:52 home, visited my family over the 34:56 holidays, my grandparents, 34:58 my aunts, my uncles. And as I was driving 35:01 home I lost control of my vehicle. 35:05 I was driving a little too fast. 35:08 I rolled my truck just outside of Lincoln on 35:10 highway 2 for those of you who are familiar 35:13 with the area. My car is gone. 35:20 My aunt incidentally is the same aunt who 35:22 bought me those Bible story books long ago, 35:25 helped me get on a plane. So I spent, I worked, 35:28 I spent, I worked, I spent, I didn't 35:29 have any savings. She put me on a plane, 35:32 I flew home, I got home, I got sick, 35:39 I couldn't work, I decided that on New 35:43 Year's eve, I was gonna drown my sorrows, 35:49 I stayed up all night. I was on multiple 35:53 different substances and my girlfriend at 35:57 that time different girl worked in a bar so as 36:02 soon as it opened, after all night of partying 36:05 we went, we sat, we drank in a bar all day. 36:09 I went home, went into the basement, 36:16 I fell asleep and I went into the 36:19 deepest depression of my life. 36:26 I called my girlfriend I was crying. 36:29 She was concerned, not necessarily for me, 36:33 she was concerned about other things, 36:36 she thought I was crying because I had 36:37 aids or something and are you okay? 36:41 You don't have a disease. 36:43 I said, no I don't have a disease. 36:48 Girlfriend broke up with me and now I have nothing, 36:52 so I looked back on that, that crises. 36:57 God was stripping me away of all of the 36:59 distraction I had surrounded myself with. 37:05 I didn't have any money, didn't have any 37:07 transportation except when I borrowed my 37:09 sister's car, it was a little brown Sab with a 37:11 90 percent angel sticker on the back 37:14 which made me look really tough. 37:25 I didn't have a girlfriend, all of the 37:27 distractions were gone and now I'm naked and 37:30 I cried out, I said God 37:33 what am I doing with my life? 37:37 Where am I going? What am I doing? 37:41 Those thoughts came to a decision point about 37:48 six weeks later, I was in the car, I was driving 37:52 home from one of my local hangouts and I get 37:54 this impression in my mind, Jarod, what are 37:58 you gonna do with your life? 38:01 Are you gonna keep going on like you've 38:03 been wasting your time, are you're gonna go 38:05 back to the way you were living before? 38:07 Are you gonna make a change? 38:11 Then another impression came into 38:13 my mind, you need to call your friend Ben. 38:16 Now this is the guy that when I quit football to 38:23 come to the Seventh- day Adventist Church, 38:25 he was the first friend that I made. 38:30 We went to academy together, we got kicked 38:33 out of the academy together, we left 38:36 academy together and we were in the world 38:39 together, and it was during that time, 38:44 that I caught wind of a change that took place 38:47 in his life, he had a dream of the 38:49 second coming of Jesus Christ. 38:53 In the middle of the night, 38:56 and he started going back to church 38:59 and he was re-baptized in the Seventh-day 39:01 Adventist Church. Well, I said, call you 39:04 friend Ben. That guy didn't take seriously 39:07 this, oh, you know, he will be back with us 39:08 again some day. I met him for dinner. 39:15 I went to church with him that next Sabbath. 39:18 The Lord introduced me to whole group of 39:20 people that I was able to connect with, 39:24 started studying the Bible. 39:28 Six months later I was re-baptized in the 39:30 Seventh-day Adventist Church. 39:33 And a month later I found myself at the 39:36 Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism, 39:38 getting some training to find out how 39:39 I could share with other people. 39:45 That's how I use to end my story. 39:52 But I've got some more things 39:53 I need to share with you. 39:59 I had some unfinished business with the Lord 40:01 at that point, sins that should have been cast 40:03 off were cloaked by this veneer 40:07 of self righteousness. I was baptized as 40:10 a smoker, nobody helped me, nobody 40:13 asked me, nobody cleared me. 40:16 I was baptized, I would drink on occasion. 40:19 I struggled with relationships from the 40:22 past and pornography. You know, what I think 40:28 is interesting is that one of the biggest problems 40:33 that youth that we have with the church is the 40:35 hypocrisy in the church. Amen, amen. Right. 40:40 Young people how are you doing this 40:41 morning with your hypocrisy? 40:46 That thing that I didn't want to 40:48 become is what I turned into, 40:56 it's a shame our first work is not to leave 40:59 the church because of hypocrisy, our first 41:02 work is to be real, isn't it? 41:08 Couldn't smoke it out though that was a good 41:10 thing, at least not in conceal it, 41:14 it was too hard to quit but my struggle with 41:18 pornography lingered and I would like to 41:21 speak to this directly this morning because 41:23 statistically a majority of people in this room 41:26 deal with this very issue. Are you with me? 41:31 I was reading last night, reflecting about this, 41:34 there is a statement in the chapter Apostasy at 41:37 the Jordan, in the book Patriarchs and Prophets. 41:41 I would encourage you to go back and read the 41:42 whole chapter, she says, that the very challenge 41:46 that Israel faced before they were about to enter 41:48 into the promised land. These Midianite women 41:50 coming into the camp. Is this one of the same 41:57 problems, sexual immorality that the 42:00 enemies would use in these last days. 42:02 The only difference is women aren't walking 42:04 down the road into the Israelites camp, 42:05 they're streaming into your house through a 42:08 broadband connection. It's a something I dealt 42:11 with, I was first exposed to pornography 42:14 I was 7-years-old. That was lower than 42:17 the average at the time but that's probably 42:19 about average now, okay, I was addicted to 42:23 pornography, I can remember I was 12 42:25 years-old, stealing it from family members, 42:28 from friends. I had, I had friends at school 42:30 lived next to them, went into their house when 42:33 they were on summer vacation, broke into 42:34 their house actually and just go in, 42:37 I broke in through the back door and stole 42:41 some pornography out of their home that 42:42 I knew they had. Went into a street club 42:47 for the first time I was 15 years old, 42:53 dysfunction in my life, so what happens when 43:00 you want to follow Jesus and you struggle 43:03 with these very real issues and nobody in 43:05 the church wants to deal with them. 43:10 Nobody wants to talk about it, everybody 43:13 wants to play church. I can remember kneeling 43:18 by my bed at night I was crying, praying 43:21 Lord, just take away my will. 43:25 I can't make a good decision. 43:27 Nobody taught me the gospel, nobody taught 43:31 me how to have victory over sin. 43:33 You know we have programs at GYC this 43:35 year, seminars designed specifically for you to 43:39 help you with these very issues, 43:41 not pornography in particular. 43:43 But if you are dealing with these challenges, 43:45 GYC is here to serve the needs of the youth 43:47 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 43:49 Can you say amen? Amen. 43:56 I'm out of time and that's a shame. 44:03 I'd like to address this topic specifically more, 44:05 I'm not going to because I don't have time. 44:08 But let me point you to a few places that might 44:09 be helpful here at GYC. We've got a seminar by, 44:19 it's dealing with binding the wounds, 44:20 it's in your booklet for people who have 44:23 experienced abuse. We've got Chad and 44:26 Fadia Kreuzer who are doing a seminar on 44:29 "Gaining victory and overcoming sin." 44:32 If you're a young man here this morning 44:35 and you're living a double life, I want to 44:38 encourage you to go to the workshop 44:41 that brother Angelo Grasso is doing on 44:44 duplicity, you need to be there. 44:48 I can remember talking to a friend and finding 44:52 out about a brother of mine who was 44:54 struggling with pornography and 44:55 I kept this a secret and I talked to this brother, 45:02 actually before that I said, you know what 45:05 I've got to be real and I was married at this 45:08 point, but to my wife I said Beth, I gotta tell 45:12 you something and I split the beans I said, 45:18 I've been struggling with this my whole life. 45:20 She said, I know. You can't keep 45:23 anything secret from your wife. 45:30 My brother whose secret sin had come to 45:33 the forefront and now he had to deal with it. 45:35 My next call was to my friend. 45:40 Actually it's not exactly true but we got together 45:43 that very next day, out going, he said, yeah, 45:47 am having this same problem. 45:50 Sexual sin thrives in secrecy. 45:56 And unless you can find someone to speak to, 45:59 to hold you accountable, to pray 46:01 with you it will continue to fester. 46:05 Are you with me? And it's not just that 46:08 problem. We need to be held accountable, 46:12 don't we? We need to be held accountable. 46:16 I'd like to appeal to this morning GYC, 46:19 it's time to get real, no more sweeping junk 46:23 under the rug. Jesus is about to come, 46:27 you believe it? Amen. I don't think we're ready, 46:31 I don't thing we're ready. I want to appeal to you 46:33 this morning. If you have been 46:38 stirred by this message this morning by my 46:41 story, it's been briefed. I want to encourage you 46:44 to stay seated. If you've got a struggle 46:49 this morning with sexual sin, 46:53 with hypocrisy, there's something as the Lord 46:56 looks down on you and He puts His finger in 46:59 your heart, there's something that doesn't 47:00 look neat to be there. If that's you, don't 47:07 raise your hand. I want to be clear, 47:17 you respond to an appeal last night when 47:19 our president was addressing 47:20 us praise the Lord. If you are responding 47:23 this morning when Thando made an appeal 47:25 to give a year of your life, praise the Lord. 47:30 We need more of that. But Daniel didn't need 47:36 an appeal at GYC to purpose in his heart 47:40 to not sin. Joseph didn't need a GYC appeal, 47:47 he didn't need a warm fuzzy experience when 47:50 Potiphar came in and tried to seduce him. 47:53 Are you with me? GYC 2003, I'm sorry 2004, 48:02 it was GYC number 3. Pastor David Asscherick 48:06 was up here on Sunday morning. 48:09 He was preaching and he made an appeal, 48:11 a very specific appeal, give seven years of 48:15 your life to reaching the unreached. 48:20 My friend John Baxter was up here at the front. 48:24 He got a stack of 50 decision cards probably 48:27 too many, 200 people came forward, 48:32 totally unprepared for that. 48:33 If you want to read the sermon you can read it 48:36 in this book, you can get it at the GYC booth, 48:39 it's in there. You can read through the 48:41 appeal and you can read through the result. 48:45 I called John Baxter and I said, brother, 48:48 what was the outcome of that? 48:49 This was just a few weeks ago. 48:52 How many people came? How many people 48:57 followed through? Less than 5 followed through 49:01 on their decision. Some of you are most likely 49:06 in this room. What are we doing? 49:14 Friends, I believe we need less ostentation 49:16 and more personal priority in this 49:18 movement and I am not saying that when 49:21 Dr. Walsh gets up here and preaches the word 49:24 and makes an appeal not to come forward. 49:27 If the spirit is talking you come forward, 49:30 don't hold back but when you go back to 49:33 your hotel room tell somebody. 49:36 Say you know what I made a decision today 49:39 to follow Jesus and I'm not going to turn back. 49:50 Last year I was sitting in the back with my wife 49:54 and again it was Pastor Dave and he was 49:56 making an appeal and I watched the young man 50:00 sitting in front of me, he was fiddling with an 99 50:03 set game on his iPod the whole conference. 50:15 His friends got up and went for an appeal 50:18 and he stood up, he put his iPod away and he 50:20 said where are we going? 50:28 GYC, where we going? What are we doing? 50:32 What are we doing here? Do you want to step it 50:37 up this morning GYC, lets get real. 50:44 Do you want to be real this morning GYC? 50:47 Don't come forward, stay in your seat and 50:50 bow your heads with me. I say Lord, in the 50:54 quietness of your heart say Lord, I wanna be 51:00 real, I wanna go deeper, I wanna make real 51:08 decisions not based on emotion. 51:13 Not because my friends are going forward, 51:15 but because I sense your call and when 51:18 I make those decisions this week I'm gonna go 51:23 home and I'm gonna tell somebody and I'm 51:26 gonna say brother, I'm gonna say sister 51:32 let's keep it real, hold me 51:34 accountable to my decision. 51:36 If this is your prayer, say those words in your 51:40 heart and bow your heads with me as we pray. 51:44 Father in Heaven, we desire to be real this 51:50 morning, to walk in your spirit, not just to 51:55 come to GYC wearing a suit and looking 51:57 good on the outside. Not as whitewashed 52:01 sepulchers or cups that are clean only on the 52:05 exterior, but did you transform us? 52:10 Lord, I pray for the appeals and I pray for 52:15 the young people here who hear this appeals. 52:21 I pray that these decisions are made, 52:24 that they would be done in sincerity and in truth 52:27 and that by your spirit we would follow 52:30 through on them. Lord you've told us 52:31 through your messenger there all of our 52:33 promises are like ropes of sand. 52:37 Help us not to rely on our own strength we 52:40 pray and move us forward as a movement 52:43 that we would not only grow in numbers but we 52:45 would grow in depth, in character and in 52:48 determination accomplishing the work that you send 52:52 us to do, we pray in Jesus name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17