Participants: Justin McNeilus
Series Code: 13GYC
Program Code: 13GYC000001
|
00:14 How many of you guys use social media?
00:16 Can't see, raise your hands. 00:18 Okay, a lot of you guys. 00:19 Well, here I have a group of friends 00:22 who use social media 00:23 at the beginning of last year for something credible. 00:27 Amy, can you share to us what-- what you guys did? 00:29 Sure, after GYC last year 00:31 my friend Josephine and I were talking 00:33 and we said you know, it would be really great 00:35 if we read through the whole Conflict of the Ages series 00:37 in a single year. 00:39 And we decided we wanted to hold each other accountable 00:41 and Josephine posted on her Facebook wall, 00:44 we are gonna read code, who wants to do it with us 00:46 and the next thing we knew dozens of people liked it. 00:49 This guy in Arkansas formed a group 00:51 and the next thing we knew there were a 177 people 00:54 who committed to read Conflict of the Ages through 00:57 over the year of 2013. 00:58 How many books are those? 00:59 There are five books, Patriarchs and Prophets, 01:01 Prophets and Kings, the Desire of Ages, 01:03 Acts of the Apostles and the Great Controversy. 01:05 So five books in one year, that's awesome. 01:08 On your social media and how many people ended up 01:11 on joining this group on Facebook. 01:13 Hundred and seventy seven. 01:14 Hundred and seventy seven people reading the Great Controversy, 01:19 all these other books at the same time, incredible. 01:22 So we have here Joanne who joined us 01:24 or joined the group. 01:26 Can you share a little bit on did you finish all the books 01:29 and how was your experience. 01:30 It was an amazing experience. 01:32 Unfortunately I wasn't able to get 01:33 through the entirety of the five books. 01:35 I still have about 28 chapters to go, 01:39 but I'm on my way and I'm going to catch up 01:41 and it was so amazing to be able to read through the five books 01:45 working through the stories of the Bible 01:47 and apply the principles to my life. 01:49 It was amazing to see how the Holy Spirit 01:50 uses reading experience 01:52 to apply those principles in my life to the situations 01:54 that I was experiencing as I was reading the stories. 01:57 The Holy Spirit used it to reach me 02:00 and to reach those that I was encountering to the ministries 02:01 I was involved with. 02:02 Blessing. 02:04 We have Ronnie and you, did you finished everything? 02:06 No, I wasn't able to finish everything, 02:08 I got most of the way through the Great Controversy 02:11 and the other books 02:12 but it was still a blessing to be a part of the group. 02:14 Okay, awesome. 02:15 So, you know, something you don't finish it 02:16 but at least we try. 02:18 So, Amy, which come to an end 02:21 but what's the plan for this group 02:23 in this coming New Year? 02:24 So the group decided to make it 02:25 an annual kind of accountability thing for us to keep 02:28 encouraging each other to read the Spirit of Prophecy. 02:30 So we are gonna read five more books next year, 02:33 Education, Early Writings, Christ Object Lessons, 02:35 Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings 02:37 and Steps to Christ. 02:38 And we are also gonna do some catch up 02:39 for those of us who didn't quite finish 02:41 The Conflict of the Ages this year. 02:43 But really the encouragement is for anybody can go home 02:45 and decide that they want to hold each other accountable 02:47 for a spiritual goal in their own life. 02:49 And you can use social media in such an easy way 02:51 to get other friends involved and may get a good way 02:54 to encourage each other to continue for those goals. 02:56 It's great. Thank you. 02:58 So I encourage you to even in your own wherever you are at, 03:02 get a group of friends and get reading these books. 03:06 You'll be blessed. 03:08 So here I have another friend David 03:10 and David you're a student? 03:12 Yes. What are you studying? 03:14 I'm a senior medical student at Loma Linda. 03:16 Medical student, okay, sorry cut you there. 03:18 So you must be really busy. Most of the time. 03:22 But you did something this past year 03:24 that was incredible. 03:26 Tell us little bit about that? 03:27 Oh, God opened an exciting opportunity for me, 03:30 I had an opportunity right after I left GYC 03:33 to go up to Idaho to work with a Christian Adventist team 03:38 that has developed a family practice 03:41 that integrates spiritual care 03:42 and really brings meaning to people's lives through God 03:46 and through His word in addition providing good medical care. 03:49 So you went to Idaho 03:50 for two weeks to work with a doctor? 03:53 And so I'm taking care of patients 03:54 under the doctor's supervision. 03:56 I go in and grab a chart, 03:57 when you go to the doctor's office 03:58 the patient is written why they are there. 04:01 So I pick up this guy's chart and the reason that he said 04:04 that he had come in, you know what it was? 04:06 What was it? I need a friend. 04:08 So he needs a friend. So what did you do? 04:12 So that's not something we have got special training on. 04:15 Okay, yeah, I can see that. 04:17 But I went in saw him and heard a bit of his story, 04:21 he is dying from liver cancer. 04:22 Wow. 04:23 And he is trying to decide whether to go on 04:25 with the chemo or not. 04:26 And he wanted to talk to my supervisor head doctor 04:29 and so I thought what do you say to a dying man? 04:33 Because this is not something we've gone over I thought, 04:34 well, may be I can at least offer to pray for him. 04:37 Not necessarily for healing, 04:38 we don't always know if that's God's will 04:40 but at least for comfort and strength and wisdom 04:42 because he's got an important decision 04:44 and I asked him and you know what he said? 04:45 What did he say? 04:46 I would rather not, because he said I just-- 04:50 I just feel sad about all the wrong 04:51 that's done in the name of God. 04:53 Is there anything else I can do, I asked him. 04:55 And he said yes, can you just call the head doctor. 04:57 So I went and called the head doctor and they went in 05:00 and 15 minutes passed and they are not still in there 05:04 and I thought I was impressed to pray for him. 05:06 Thirty minutes passed, he is behind schedule, 05:08 I was impressed to keep praying. 05:10 Forty five minutes passed, they're way behind schedule 05:13 and the guy comes out of the room. 05:15 In the room Dr. Tukado had spoken to him 05:18 I mean talked to him about the situation, 05:20 he was taking experimental chemo in Texas at MD Anderson. 05:23 He was away from his family and felt he was dying 05:26 and he felt his choice was either die 05:29 with the experiment away from family 05:31 or die at home with his family. 05:33 So here we have a man who is dying, 05:36 he wants to have a friend 05:37 but he doesn't want to hear anything about God. 05:39 Well, that's what it seems like, right? 05:40 Okay. 05:42 So... What happens? 05:43 Dr. Tukado knows this guy and said, you know, 05:46 we have talked before about spiritual things 05:47 if you give any more thought to this 05:50 and the man brought up what he brought up before 05:51 that there is so much wrong done in God's name 05:54 and they had this conversation Dr. Tukado said, 05:58 sir, do you love your children. 05:59 He says, of course, 06:01 would you give your life to save theirs 06:03 if you knew it would come to that? 06:05 He said yes. 06:06 And then Dr. Tukado brought up that 06:08 verse in 1 John where it says, 06:10 "Beloved, let us loveone another, 06:12 for love is of God. 06:13 Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." 06:16 And he said sir, 06:17 God has been working to put this unselfish love 06:21 in your heart and you don't even know it. 06:24 Is that is an unselfish love in God like that, 06:28 the kind of God you could be friends with. 06:30 And what did he say? He says, I believe so. 06:33 Wow, amen, 06:34 so this man comes in wanting a friend, 06:37 he doesn't want to hear anything about God 06:39 but in the end he accepts him. 06:41 He had been an atheist. An atheist. 06:43 So he comes out of the room gives the doctor big hug, 06:46 says my wife will be so glad. 06:48 His family had been trying for years 06:49 to lead him to Christ. 06:51 He went home he didn't do the chemo later he died. 06:56 Dr. Tukado said I'm not going to make this choice for you 06:58 but I'll help you think of some ways 07:00 that you can make the choice for yourself 07:02 and be in peace with God would have helped him. 07:04 So he died and the wife came back later and said 07:08 thank you so much for what you did for my husband. 07:11 You were the only pastor he ever had 07:15 and this office was the only church 07:17 he ever attended. 07:18 Wow. Amen. 07:20 So what-- basically really short, 07:22 what do you suggest what's your message 07:25 through this experience through us here today? 07:28 For anyone God can use you where you are, 07:30 you don't have to go overseas to serve Him, 07:32 the needs are here and overseas 07:34 and for those of you that have 07:36 professional skills in medicine or other fields. 07:39 God sometimes gives us special opportunity 07:41 to help people at key points in their lives, use it for him. 07:43 Amen. Thank you. Amen. 07:45 So whatever you're doing you can use it for God 07:48 and that's why on Saturday night 07:49 you can go to the networking session, 07:50 connect with other professionals 07:52 to see what you can do for God. 07:54 So here we have some-- I have some other friends. 07:56 And they are doing also something, 07:58 what's happening Madelina? 08:00 I want to share about the power of God's word. 08:04 God is just amazing. 08:05 Some months ago, a friend and I, 08:07 we were talking about memorization 08:09 and our need in memorizing and for many years 08:13 I have sporadically memorize the couple of verses 08:16 but never something consistently. 08:18 So after a sermon by Chad and Fadia 08:21 they came to our college and they shared about 08:23 the power of memorization, Bible memorization. 08:26 So we decided to take the challenge, 08:28 the one verse a day well then seem challenge. 08:31 So we started memorizing one verse a day each day 08:35 and for me I thought this is impossible, 08:38 I have such a bad memory, 08:39 this, this just can't happen but God is powerful, amen. 08:44 So I have tried doing that its hard, 08:46 so you did it one verse a day for how long? 08:50 Well, it didn't last long 08:52 because one verse a day was not enough. 08:54 Not enough, okay. 08:55 We wanted to memorize more 08:57 because the verses were so powerful. 08:59 We were just like let's memorize more. 09:01 So one evening we were talking and deciding how much time 09:04 it would take to memorize the Book of John 09:06 and we decided that if we memorized 09:09 eight verses a day it would only take two weeks. 09:12 So we took up this challenge to memorize 09:14 on the Book of James, 1 John, 2 John and Jude 09:18 in the end of the semester, 09:20 so we started praying and doing it each day 09:23 and it was such a blessing. 09:25 It impacted my life in ways I cannot explain. 09:29 And the fact that I cannot memorize 09:31 but God's word is powerful enough to help us 09:34 put that word in our minds. 09:36 The world then seems they spent their lives memorizing 09:39 because they knew that they wouldn't have 09:40 the Bibles with them 09:41 and today, this is what we should be doing as well. 09:45 So you did verses once a day 09:47 and then you move to couple of verses a day. 09:49 Now you're doing chap-- not even chapters 09:51 you're doing books. 09:52 It's a blessing, so we are here 09:54 and we are thinking I want to do that. 09:56 Natasha what is some advice you can give us 09:59 on how to start memorizing verses. 10:01 Some practical things you can do 10:02 if you want to get to memorize more. 10:05 First thing is pay attention to what your best-- 10:08 your primary learning style is. 10:10 If you are an auditory learner, 10:12 if you are a visual learner and really capitalize on that, 10:15 but also remember that the more learning styles you include 10:18 as you are trying to memorize, 10:20 the better off you'll be and specially reciting out loud 10:23 as you're trying to do it, not just doing it in your mind 10:25 really, really, really helps. 10:27 Another thing that is incredibly key is the consistency. 10:31 Memorizing every day 10:32 rather than just trying to do big chunks 10:34 and struggling within, you are feeling like you can't. 10:37 Or also another thing have a very good review schedule. 10:40 If you have a smart phone, get the scripture typer app, 10:43 it's also out for android this year 10:45 and we are excited about that 10:47 and it can help you have a consistent 10:49 review schedule that will really, really help 10:51 and the last thing is have an accountability partner. 10:54 Awesome. Thank you. 10:55 How many of you guys are going to memorize verses? 10:58 Awesome, thank you. 11:08 Jesus, my Shepherd, Lord 11:11 And Friend 11:13 My Prophet, Priest, and King 11:17 My God, my Life My Way, my End 11:23 Accept the praise I bring 11:27 Hallelujah 11:32 Hallelujah 11:36 Hallelujah 11:45 Hallelujah 11:49 Hallelujah 11:54 Hallelujah 12:02 Weak is the effort of my heart 12:08 And cold my warmest thought 12:11 But when I see thee as thou art 12:17 I'll praise thee as I ought 12:21 Hallelujah 12:25 Hallelujah 12:30 Hallelujah 12:39 Hallelujah 12:43 Hallelujah 12:48 Hallelujah 12:56 Till then I would Thy love proclaim 13:01 With every fleeting breath 13:05 And may the music of Thy name 13:10 Awake my soul from death 13:17 Hallelujah 13:22 Hallelujah 13:27 Hallelujah 13:35 Hallelujah 13:40 Hallelujah 13:44 Hallelujah 13:49 Hallelujah 13:54 Hallelujah 14:04 Amen 14:10 Amen 14:22 You know something, 14:23 I have been involved in planning 14:25 or at least assisting in planning 10 GYC's. 14:29 How many? 14:31 Ten GYC's if you count Europe. 14:34 Of all the GYC's I have been involved 14:37 and this one has been the most difficult for us to plan. 14:43 All ten most difficult 14:45 and someone from the executive committee 14:46 I think it was Jeff, he said, you know, 14:48 as soon as we made the decision to hand out 14:50 the Great Controversy in our land of Florida 14:53 the problems got stronger and more. 14:58 Amen. 15:01 God wants to do incredible things 15:02 through this conference. 15:05 Last night, we prayed 15:07 the executive committee got together 15:09 and we had a very humble prayer. 15:11 You know, we have two new editions 15:13 to the executive committee. 15:15 I have a six month old, Jeff has a six month old, 15:18 we prayed that our children would never have to come to GYC 15:22 and comprehend what is being spoken about. 15:25 We want Jesus to come again. 15:29 Never have we had such difficulties, 15:31 God has incredible blessings in store for you. 15:37 This is a interesting Bible. 15:41 This is the Bible of the president of GYC 15:44 and it is the last time I'll preach with it. 15:48 I have been involved with GYC and on Sunday I retire. 15:54 It's been an interesting and exciting 15:58 and a blessed to serve God through GYC. 16:05 I was young, unmarried, no gray hair and I joined GYC. 16:13 I'm not so young any more, I have quite a bit of gray hair, 16:17 I have a lovely wife and now a son 16:20 and so it seems fitting to me to retire from GYC. 16:26 But let me just share with you a couple of things you-- 16:29 you get ready to retire 16:30 and you begin to survey the landscape 16:32 of what God has done through GYC. 16:36 God has blessed us abundantly. 16:39 I have had the privilege to travel 16:41 to five of the six continents as president of GYC 16:45 and something has become so clear to me. 16:50 If we did not have a conference each year, 16:54 GYC would still exist. 16:58 If we didn't have a conference, 17:00 if we didn't have the nice flowers, 17:01 if we didn't have the fancy feather 17:03 like it or not, 17:04 if we didn't have the screens, 17:05 if we didn't have the video cameras, 17:06 if we didn't have the piano, 17:08 if we didn't have any of these things, 17:10 GYC would still exist 17:13 because GYC is not a youth conference. 17:19 At a core, GYC is radical commitment to him, 17:25 faithfulness, faithfulness and so traveling around 17:32 meeting different young people all around the world, 17:35 God has a generation that is radically committed to Him. 17:40 You take away all the stage and everything else 17:43 and GYC still exist. 17:46 And so I'm confident in telling you 17:49 the best days of GYC are ahead of us. 17:54 The best days of GYC are ahead of us. 17:59 Tonight, I'm gonna share with you a devotional thought. 18:07 When I give my notes in order. 18:10 The clock in front of me is racing down 18:14 and honestly, I don't care. 18:17 It's my last year. 18:21 We're gonna go as long as we need to go. 18:24 Are you prepared for that? 18:29 As of Christmas day I wasn't even thinking 18:31 that I would preach tonight, 18:34 I was gonna have someone else come 18:35 and someone else was preparing a sermon 18:37 and we got talking and started thinking 18:39 about the philosophic journey we might take tonight 18:43 and immediately after listening to that 18:44 I realize I needed to preach the message tonight 18:49 because it's a message for me. 18:52 One point, one appeal, 18:56 and honestly it's for me. 18:59 You can listen in if you like and I'll pray in a moment 19:03 that God also touches your life with it 19:06 but it's one point, one message and an appeal for me. 19:11 Let's pray. 19:15 Heavenly Father, Lord 19:16 here we are at the opening night of GYC. 19:22 It is New Year's and we can think of 19:24 no better way to spend it with you. 19:29 So we come together by the thousands 19:32 different countries, different backgrounds, 19:35 different ages, different experiences 19:37 but united under you. 19:40 Lord, we ask that you'd speak through me tonight, 19:44 despite my glaring deficiencies and weaknesses 19:47 we ask that you would shine through. 19:50 That is this message is delivered 19:52 that is a direct appeal to me that may be Lord 19:55 it would touch the heart of one other 19:58 or may be many others. 20:01 We pray that our minds wouldn't be distracted tonight. 20:07 That we would be completely focused on you 20:11 and the message you have for us. 20:14 Lord we pray these things in your precious name, amen. 20:19 Right now, at this moment in time 20:21 they're about 7 billion people on the planet. 20:26 7 billion that makes you 20:29 . 0000000014 of the earth's population. 20:37 In terms of numbers in the earth's population 20:40 you're extremely insignificant. 20:43 And yet Paul tells us in his letter, 20:46 he says you are a spectacle. 20:50 And he uses an interesting word in the Greek 20:52 he says, you are Theatron 20:53 where we get the word theater and he says you are a spectacle 20:59 not just to men, not just to the world, 21:01 not just to your parents, your friends, your co-workers, 21:04 not just to them but to the world and to angels. 21:10 We're insignificant and yet we are spectacle to the world. 21:17 So the question we want to ask ourselves tonight is why? 21:23 What is it about you and I that have the ability, 21:26 the capacity to hold captive even the attention of angels? 21:33 And for us to answer that question I would submit to you 21:35 we have to understand who we are? 21:40 In the beginning Genesis 1:1 you can turn there if you like. 21:45 "In the beginning God created" God did what? 21:48 "Created the heavens and the earth." 21:50 Now, right away from this passage we notice something. 21:53 It says in the beginning God created, 21:56 the word there is Elohim. 21:58 This is the same Elohim that Moses 22:00 later ask in the Book of Exodus 22:02 He says, Elohim who are you? 22:05 and God comes to him and he says 22:06 very potently and very small it's a sink he said 22:09 I am that I am essentially 22:14 I am pure existence, 22:20 no beginning, no end. 22:22 Not subject to time like you and I are. 22:25 So In the beginning Elohim created. 22:28 So notice this very carefully. 22:31 God didn't have a beginning or an end. 22:33 Elohim I am did not have a beginning or an end. 22:36 But he chooses, he chooses to create a beginning 22:41 to place themselves in human history. 22:45 You missed it. 22:47 God did not need a beginning, does not have a beginning 22:50 but in choose, he chooses to create a beginning 22:53 so he can be a part of your story. 22:57 Elohim comes, in the Book of Genesis. 23:00 In the beginning God created, 23:02 He chooses to create a beginning 23:05 so that He can be a part of your life and a part of mine. 23:10 Chooses to interject Himself into human history. 23:14 You go out at night, and you look up into the stars 23:18 and most of us good Adventist upbringing can spot Orion. 23:23 You look at Orion and on the right shoulder 23:25 is the tenth largest star it is Betelgeuse. 23:29 Betelgeuse is 13,000 times brighter than the sun 23:32 and 10,000 times lighter. 23:35 If you replace Betelgeuse with our sun 23:37 it would extend past the orbit of Jupiter. 23:41 Now, you look up at Betelgeuse 23:43 and you can see it but it is 643 light years away. 23:47 Can you believe that? 23:49 That is you traveling a 186,000 miles per second 23:53 for 643 years 23:55 and you can look up and you can see it 23:57 but that's nothing with the naked eye 23:59 when the conditions are right 24:00 you can look up and see the galaxy Andromeda. 24:03 Andromeda is 2.5 million light years away from you. 24:08 Now, that's a large number, in my hunches 24:13 we can't comprehend that number, 24:15 so tomorrow when you're at breakfast 24:16 I want you to do me a favor. 24:18 Can you do that, yes or no? 24:20 You pull out your napkin and you get out a pen 24:23 and you write down the number 15. 24:26 What number you're gonna write down? 24:28 Fifteen, you are putting in on your napkin tomorrow morning 24:30 where the food is great at breakfast, 24:32 15 after the 15 you are gonna write down 19 zeros. 24:38 That's how many miles away we are from Andromeda. 24:42 Fifteen, Nineteen zeros, 24:46 past Andromeda there is approximately 24:48 a 100 billion galaxies 24:51 each of those galaxies has a 100 billion stars, 24:54 each of those stars has a 100 billion 24:56 excuse me suns, each of those suns 24:58 has approximately a 100 billion stars. 25:02 In terms of the sheer numbers of the galaxies 25:07 and the distances involved, 25:09 you and I are insignificant 25:14 and yet Paul boldly declares, 25:18 we are a spectacle, a Theatron. 25:23 How are you and I as insignificant beings 25:25 when we think about the vastness of God's creation, 25:29 spectacles to the world? 25:31 How do you and I hold captive even the imagination of angels? 25:39 In the beginning God created light, light is unique. 25:44 Picture with me outreach day, 25:46 outreach day is Friday and let's just say 25:48 you and I are on a bus going out on outreach. 25:51 You're gonna do that, yes or no? 25:55 So, one third of you are going out on outreach. 25:58 Are you gonna be on a bus with me or not? Yes. 26:01 You and I are on a bus we are traveling at 50 mph. 26:05 How fast are we going? Not a trick question, 50 mph. 26:11 Now, Jeff he is there and he is directing the buses, 26:14 Jeff is stationary, he is not moving, 26:16 he is going zero miles per hour. 26:17 How fast is Jeff going? Zero miles an hour. 26:21 Now, let's just say in this imaginary Friday outreach day, 26:24 you and I are cruising on the bus 26:25 and we happen to have a bow and arrow in our hands. 26:29 And I don't know why we have a bow and arrow in our hands 26:31 but we do for whatever reason. 26:33 Let's just say you and I shoot that arrow off the bus. 26:36 Most arrows travel at about 300 feet per second 26:39 and we could round that up to 200 miles an hour. 26:43 Our arrow flying off the bus is gonna go how fast? 26:47 How fast is it gonna go? 250 miles per hour. 26:52 Now, Jeff let's just say for whatever reason 26:55 he has got a bow and arrow too 26:56 and he shoots it from where he's standing still. 26:58 How fast is that arrow gonna go? 27:01 200 miles an hour. 27:03 Now, this fits very nicely with our world view 27:06 our Newtonian understanding of the universe. 27:09 A+B=C we shoot it, 27:13 it has the flying through the air at 250 miles an hour. 27:17 Now let's just say, we had a huge spotlight on this bus. 27:22 Again, I don't know why we have a huge spotlight 27:24 but we have a huge spotlight. 27:27 And we want to really kick things up 27:29 because you and I are excited, 27:31 yes, to get out to outreach. 27:34 So we tell the bus driver to crank things up 27:36 to a thousand feet per second. 27:39 Okay, now, we shine the flashlight from the bus 27:45 or let's do a thousand. 27:47 Now, I'm really gonna confuse you. 27:48 Let's do 1,000 per second. 27:51 How fast are we going? 27:54 We are going 1,000 miles per second. 27:56 Now, we shoot the flashlight 27:59 which light travels at a 186,000 miles per second, 28:03 we are going at 1,000 miles per second. 28:05 How fast is the light gonna go? 28:09 How fast? Did anyone say 187? 28:15 You would assume that wouldn't you? 28:17 Newtonian understanding of the universe A+B=C. 28:20 You know we shoot the flashlight 28:22 and it goes at 186,000 miles per second. 28:25 Jeff shoots the flashlight 28:27 it goes at 186,000 miles per second. 28:30 We can get the bus going a 185,000 miles per second. 28:35 We shoot it, it goes at 186. 28:37 Jeff shoots it goes at 186, 28:39 it does not matter how fast we are going, 28:41 it is going to shoot out of that beam 28:44 at the same speed, strange isn't it? 28:49 I mean it just boggles our mind. 28:50 We can't even comprehend light. 28:53 Light defies physics, but you and I, 28:56 we walk around the universe and all the Newtonian 28:59 understandings that we have A+B=C 29:01 we have to live by, light doesn't. 29:07 You would think that something like light 29:08 would hold captive the imagination of the world. 29:12 You would think something like light 29:13 that makes zero sense to you and I in our minds, 29:16 zero sense to a logical mind would hold captive 29:20 would be the theater to the world, 29:23 but yet Paul says, we are the spectacle. 29:29 Astronomers have found this planet 29:32 racing through our galaxy at 67,000 miles per hour. 29:36 At the same time it is rotating at 1,000 miles per hour. 29:40 You and I, we affectionately call it earth. 29:44 We have a greater light 29:45 that gives us four million tons of energy per second 29:48 and in a 11 year cycle 29:50 that sun varies one tenth of one percent. 29:55 Every 11 years, one tenth of one percent 29:58 our earth tilts at twenty three and half degrees. 30:01 You know why it does that because if it didn't tilt 30:04 one side of the earth would become too hot 30:06 so life couldn't be sustained on planet earth 30:09 and the other side will be too cool, 30:11 no life on planet earth. 30:13 Hydrogen coverts .007 percentage of its mass to helium, 30:18 if with there as .006 converted no life on planet earth. 30:22 If there is .008 no life on planet earth. 30:27 We are 93 million miles away from the sun. 30:30 94 million miles away no life on planet earth. 30:33 92 million miles away no life on planet earth. 30:38 Thus the oceans have 3.4 % salt content 30:42 your blood has 3.4% salt content. 30:46 4% salt content no life on planet earth 30:49 in the oceans or your blood 30:51 2% no life on planet earth. 30:56 Our earth is finely tuned to sustain life. 31:02 Our atmosphere has 21% oxygen, 23% no life on planet earth. 31:07 19% no life on planet earth and there are 31:10 hundreds and hundred of these finely tuned dial 31:13 so that life can be sustained on planet earth. 31:17 Carbon levels, ratios of proton to neutrons 31:20 and neutrons to electrons 31:22 and core temperatures of the earth all finely tuned 31:25 so that you and I can exist on planet earth. 31:31 And it's more than that 31:32 if one of these little dials are slightly off, 31:35 the rest are rendered useless. 31:38 All of them have to show up and be perfect 31:42 everyday for a life to exist on planet earth. 31:47 You look at the finely tuned earth and you would think 31:50 that would be a spectacle to men and to angels. 31:55 All these hundreds and hundreds are finely tuned dials exactly, 31:59 perfectly executing the will of God day after day after day. 32:08 You and I can't go a day without making a mistake. 32:14 The earth goes day after day without making a mistake. 32:20 Yet somehow as insignificant begins 32:28 you and I are spectacle, Theatron, 32:34 a theater not just to our peers 32:35 not just to our parents, not just to our friends 32:38 and cousins and family members 32:40 but a theater to the world 32:41 and hold captive even the attention of angels. 32:45 You and I look at this beautifully finely tuned 32:48 doing everything to God's will planet earth 32:52 and think why isn't it the spectacle? 32:55 You don't have all of a sudden apple trees producing oranges. 32:59 They execute perfectly everyday 33:01 and yet you and I can't go a day without making a mistake. 33:06 And somehow we are the spectacle. 33:13 Everything we have is made up of atoms. 33:16 Atoms are .0000001 millimeters in diameter 33:22 that is small. 33:24 Let's pretend you and I had a grapefruit just to illustrate 33:27 how small that is a grape fruit only with neutron atoms, 33:32 nitrogen atoms rather. 33:34 Now, we look at that grapefruit 33:36 and we slice it open and we think 33:37 we want to take a look at 33:38 all the atoms inside of this grapefruit. 33:41 So we pull out each atom 33:43 and we blow it up to the size of a blueberry. 33:46 Now, look at down at your hand and picture a blue in it. 33:50 Do it quickly, quickly, quickly I'm looking. 33:52 Pull out your hand, you are picturing a blueberry in it. 33:55 You are tuning in by 3ABN 33:57 get your hand out look at the blueberry. 34:00 Now, we have just blown up every nitrogen atom 34:03 in a grapefruit to the size of the blueberry. 34:05 How big now do you think 34:07 our grapefruit has to be to encapsulate 34:10 all of those blueberry size atoms? 34:15 The size of the earth. Can you believe that? 34:21 From here all the way to the bottom 34:23 completely filled up with blueberries. 34:30 Now, you might remember from grade school 34:33 sort of the diagram of an atom. 34:35 You have got right a dot in the middle 34:37 and then sort of circling it is this other dot 34:40 the dot in the middle is the nucleus, 34:41 it has your protons and neutrons 34:43 that's what the mass of the atom is. 34:45 Let's say we slice open that blueberry, 34:47 we take a look at it 34:49 and we want to look at the nucleus 34:50 where the mass of the atom is, 34:51 you know, our blueberry 34:53 we can't see the nucleus with our naked eye. 34:56 So, we blow it up to the size of the baseball stadium. 35:02 And then nucleus is the size of the baseball. 35:08 Things are really, really small. 35:12 Now, these are extremely dense too 35:14 and let's say we wanted give something that is 35:16 equal density to that baseball size blown up atom. 35:22 Now, let's take a box about 1 foot by 1 foot 35:25 and let's start smashing cars into it 35:28 because we are trying to create something 35:29 that has a same density I'll donate my truck 35:31 we will smash it into this one foot box 35:33 and then we will have everyone in this auditorium 35:36 smash their car into this one foot by one foot box. 35:40 Will you do that yes or no? 35:41 It's just an example, you can do it. 35:44 So we are smashing our cars in and I don't know 35:47 how many people there are may be 3,000. 35:52 You think there is 3,000 cars in here? 35:54 Will this go with that three or four thousand cars 35:56 we are smashing it into this one foot box. 35:58 Now, that's gonna be pretty dense 35:59 three or four thousands cars you agree? 36:01 Yes or no? 36:03 One foot box three or four thousand cars? 36:06 You know how many car we got to smash in there 36:08 to get an equivalent density? 36:11 6.2 billion. 36:21 Let me tell you something friends. 36:23 You and I are insignificant 36:26 6.2 billion cars to get equivalent density, 36:31 blow it up to the size of a blueberry 36:33 and it fills the earth. 36:36 And in the 1890s they thought to themselves 36:37 you know, it be really cool 36:39 if we could get to the bottom of these particles. 36:42 So they were-- they got to split in these atoms 36:45 and they got to something 36:46 even smaller than an atom, a quark. 36:51 And then they thought you know we will split that 36:52 and they found something else and we will split that 36:54 and they found something else and they split that 36:57 and now they believe that there is a theory out there 36:59 that the smallest thing on the universe is a string. 37:05 You may have heard of string theories 37:07 and super string theories these strings of energy. 37:10 Now, just to give you an idea of how small 37:12 we are talking about in these strings, 37:14 check this out. 37:15 They are saying that the universe to the earth, 37:19 okay, the entire universe to the earth 37:22 is like an atom to a string. 37:30 We can't comprehend that. 37:35 You look at the atoms 37:36 and the density of the nucleus and the quarks 37:40 and the leptons and the bosons 37:42 and the Higgs bosons and the strings. 37:46 You and I are insignificant 37:49 you would think that of the created world 37:51 that would hold captive the attention of angels. 37:57 But Paul says you and I are the spectacle, Theatron, 38:03 theater to the world. 38:06 Up in the stars, you have these stars 38:09 that are essentially dead start, 38:10 their protons and neutrons have collapsed on each other. 38:14 It would be like if we looked up at the sun 38:16 and crumpled it like a piece of paper 38:17 to the ten mile diameter. 38:21 Now, you take a piece of a neutron star 38:24 and let's just say we can extract 38:26 one sugar cube of a neutron star and put it on to our hand. 38:31 So you and I look at your hand again, 38:33 quickly look at it, look at it, look at it, 38:35 you no longer have a blueberry there, yes. 38:38 But you have one sugar cube of a neutron star. 38:44 How much do you think that weighs? 38:48 100 million tons... 38:54 100 million tons, 38:59 you and I, we are insignificant. 39:04 But yet somehow Paul says we are spectacle. 39:09 In the beginning God created, he filled the skies with fowl. 39:15 There is a bird called the albatross, 39:17 its wing span is 12 feet 39:19 and it can fly 600 miles without stopping. 39:25 The world record for an individual 39:28 set in New Zealand. 39:29 I think even last year is about half of that, 39:33 300 and some miles without stopping. 39:37 That is nothing compared to, I got to just get the name 39:40 I always forget it, the Bar-tailed godwit. 39:43 The Bar-tailed godwit can fly 7,000 miles without stopping. 39:49 That would be like you and I running to Seattle 39:52 where we held the conference last year back to Orlando 39:55 and then back to Seattle without stopping. 40:00 You and I are weak compared to the fowl of the air. 40:05 My wife and I were traveling one time 40:07 from Salt Lake City to Bend, Oregon. 40:10 We had just taken off 40:11 and then we heard this tremendous thud 40:14 and felt this tremendous thud on the plane 40:16 and the captain came across a loudspeaker, 40:19 he said folks we have hit a bird, 40:22 we are gonna turn around, the bird had collapsed the cone, 40:26 the nose of the plane. 40:29 We felt like it was a good idea to turn around. 40:33 They have hit a buzzard at 37,000 feet above sea level, 40:39 seven miles above. 40:44 There are approximately 40:45 4,000 species of birds that migrate. 40:49 There are geese that migrate five and half miles above, 40:53 the Arctic tern in a one year cycle 40:57 travels 49,700 miles. 41:01 In its 3rd year life span 41:03 that would be like going to the moon 41:05 and back three times. 41:08 The average adult travels about the equivalent 41:11 of going to the moon a half of time in its life time. 41:16 You and I are weak, you and I are pitiful 41:23 and yet somehow Paul says we are a spectacle. 41:28 In the beginning Elohim created, 41:30 he created creatures of the sea. 41:33 Our ocean makes up about 71 percent 41:36 of this affectionate thing we call earth 41:38 and we have explored almost five percent of it. 41:42 Not long ago my grandma and I 41:44 we are on an exploratory trip down in Curaçao. 41:48 Curaçao is an island just north of Venezuela 41:50 and our intention was to be down there 41:53 and take a submarine down and study these shells 41:57 at 1,000 feet below sea level. 42:00 Now, one morning the head marine biologist of the Smithsonian, 42:03 he got up and he said to me, he said Justin, 42:06 today we are gonna take a trap down to the bottom of the ocean. 42:10 Now, you can imagine my excitement 42:12 because I'm thinking the Smithsonian 42:13 we are going to take this highly sophisticated trap 42:16 down to the bottom of the ocean 42:17 and see what we catch. 42:19 So I go with them over to the lab 42:22 and he goes and he picks up this 42:23 five gallon white bucket. 42:27 Now, I'm not a fool 42:29 because you don't ever judge a book by its cover. 42:32 So I'm thinking of myself oh, nice inside of this bucket 42:35 is the highly sophisticated Smithsonian trap. 42:40 No, the bucket was the trap. 42:44 So, he proceeds to drill exactly one hole into the bucket, 42:48 he puts one five pound weight 42:50 and then he fills it with fish guts, 42:52 put the lid on top and says we have got it. 42:55 This is our trap, so we get to the submarine, 42:58 we put it on the submarine and we are ready 43:01 and we descend 1,000 feet 43:03 below sea level to put the trap out. 43:07 Now, we take that trap, we put it down on the bottom 43:10 and let me just sort of paint the picture 43:13 for what I saw, nothing. 43:18 We put this highly sophisticated trap, 43:21 you and I might call it a bucket with a hole, 43:23 we put it down in the bottom of the ocean, 43:25 1,000 feet below the sea level 43:27 and as far as you could see was sand. 43:31 You cut the lights and you can't see anything 43:33 because light can't penetrate that far down. 43:36 And so for a moment I'm thinking to myself, 43:39 what a waste of time. 43:42 There is nothing around. 43:45 We put the bucket down 43:46 and we took the submarine off 43:48 to this other little coral head that was there 43:51 however far away we checked it out 43:53 and it may be 15, 20 minutes had gone by 43:56 and the biologist he said you know let's go back, 43:59 let's take a little look at that trap. 44:02 So we go back and 15, 20 minutes later 44:06 and we shine the light on this trap 44:09 and I'll never forget the sight. 44:12 There were fish surrounding the trap, there were eels 44:18 that had worked their way into the hole of the trap. 44:21 There were invertebrate that were swimming 44:24 and hovering around the trap 44:26 and in the sand every direction leading up to that 44:29 you could see these little lines of snails and crabs 44:34 and starfish and mollusc 44:36 all working their way to the trap. 44:40 These highly sophisticated, highly tuned sensory organs 44:45 leading them to the dead fish in our trap. 44:51 For the longest time the Mariana Trench 44:53 is about seven miles down, 44:54 the pressure is thousands of feet per square inch. 44:57 They had assumed that no life could exist down there. 45:01 It's a deepest part of the ocean, 45:02 just recently we have been able to send some 45:04 unmanned submarines down there to check it out. 45:08 You know what they found? Life. 45:12 The assumption was that 45:14 no sunlight rays can penetrate that far down so, 45:16 so what on earth could be feeding this, 45:18 this ecosystem down there. 45:21 What you have essentially what our underground volcanoes 45:24 and out of the underground volcanoes 45:26 you are having bacteria that's not only living 45:29 but it's thriving down there. 45:32 And its setting up these beautiful ecosystems 45:34 that we've never even imagine could be on our planet. 45:39 And they have this tubeworms T-U-B-E tubeworms 45:42 that have lodge themselves 45:44 basically into the crust of the earth. 45:47 They don't have a stomach, they have two sets of gills. 45:50 One set of gills extracts oxygen from the water, 45:54 the other set houses this bacteria 45:56 that synthesizes sugars from the water. 46:00 And by the way their head is about three degree Celsius 46:04 and the feet of these two worms is about 200 degree Celsius. 46:09 It will be like you walking around in freezing 46:12 ice cold water in your head and boiling feet, 46:15 boiling water at your feet. 46:18 Yet, they are thriving and there are 46:19 these beautiful ecosystems down below our oceans. 46:23 Electric eels have produced enough electricity 46:25 to light ten light bulbs. 46:28 Oysters change their gender 46:30 and then change their gender back. 46:32 Octopus have three hearts 46:34 and their blood is the color blue. 46:37 There are sponges that don't have a head, 46:40 don't have eyes, don't have sensory organs, 46:43 don't have anything that you and I have 46:44 and yet they are still alive. 46:47 And you know what, we have only explored 46:49 less than five percent of the oceans 46:52 that God created. 46:55 You would think that angels 46:58 and men would look down at the oceans and say this, 47:02 this is a spectacle, this is something 47:05 I want to know more about. 47:08 But Paul says, you are the spectacle. 47:13 You are the theater not just to men 47:19 but to angels and you. 47:23 In the beginning God created you, 47:25 I assume most of you can see me. 47:28 You have 110 million cones in your eyes, 47:32 you have seven million rods 47:34 and a million nerve fibers making that happen. 47:37 That all working with your brain, 47:38 simultaneously you are making about 47:40 a trillion computations per second. 47:43 You have a couple of hundred billion brain cells 47:46 that span into these neuron branches 47:49 to the tune of about over a trillion. 47:52 If you could extract the circulatory system 47:54 from your body it would wrap 47:56 around the earth two and half times. 48:01 You have a 100 million white blood cells stored in your body. 48:04 Every second your body is killing off 48:07 eight million red blood cells 48:08 and developing eight million new once which begs to ask. 48:14 How does my body know 48:16 to keep producing more of me, not someone else? 48:22 All of my blood cells have what we term DNA. 48:26 Each blood cell has about six feet of DNA. 48:30 If you wanted to type the code to how to make Justin? 48:33 You would have to start typing now 48:35 at 60WPM eight hours a day 48:38 and 50 years later you would complete the code. 48:42 If you could line up that DNA 48:45 and over and over and it would start here, 48:48 it would go to the sun it would come back 48:51 and it would do that 600 times. 48:55 My body is hardwired to be me 49:00 and your body is hardwired to be you and no one else. 49:05 And I would submit you this if that 49:08 where the end of the creation account, 49:12 we would be fascinating. 49:15 We would be about as interesting as the octopus 49:18 with three hearts or the neutron stars 49:22 that's a hundred million pound cube of sugar or the atoms 49:28 or the leptons or the quarks, 49:30 we would be just equivalent on there, 49:36 but we are not just that. 49:39 We have been created to be more, so much more. 49:46 The creation account doesn't just stop it there 49:48 because you and I have something that is different. 49:51 You and I have something that is different 49:53 than anything else God created. 49:55 These things are all interesting, 49:56 these things are all-- we observe them, 49:59 we are in awe with them and we feel insignificant, 50:02 but we have something that they don't 50:06 according to the Book of Genesis. 50:10 And for a second I would like 50:12 to give you a little insight into my field, 50:17 where I get a little more comfortable 50:18 than trying to share these facts about the earth, 50:21 astronomy or your body. 50:24 Banking, I'm a banker 50:29 and I remember very vividly one of my mentors in banking, 50:32 he said, Justin, you can be successful in banking 50:35 if you learn one thing. 50:37 If you learn how to say no, 50:41 banking if you learn how to say no, 50:43 you will be successful and so to -- 50:45 to understand the fundamentals of banking 50:49 and the fundamentals of finance we will go to the basics. 50:53 The 5Cs of lending across the world 50:59 there are always individuals 51:01 who are passionate, who have a great idea, 51:03 who are ready to be the next Bill Gates. 51:06 If they come in to request an investment from a bank, 51:10 that investment is filtered 51:12 through the criteria of the 5 C's of lending. 51:15 How many C's are there? Five. 51:18 And so the first thing 51:19 that we're gonna look at is collateral. 51:21 Some one comes into the bank 51:22 and it is assumed that they have an asset 51:25 that is going to be a stable value 51:27 and possibly an increasing value 51:30 and something that, if they get fallen into a pit 51:33 and everything goes bad for them, 51:35 they have something 51:36 that can be a long enough rope to get them out. 51:40 And so they look at the collateral, 51:43 they also look at the conditions, 51:45 the economic conditions surrounding it. 51:47 Let's say that you came in 51:48 and you had this great idea for a newly invented mouse trap. 51:53 We'll take a look at the economic conditions 51:55 and understand is there a market for that, 51:58 are there individuals out there who will spend money 52:01 to buy this mouse trap and are there enough mice 52:04 in the world that need to be trapped? 52:07 So we're looking at the trends 52:08 and we are looking for a positive trend. 52:13 We are gonna look at the capital. 52:15 The FDIC has very specific banking regulatory guidance 52:20 that says, you know, if a person comes in 52:23 and they invest at least 51% 52:26 they're considered well capitalized. 52:29 So that is to say with our mouse trap example, 52:31 let's say you needed $50,000 52:34 to get this venture off the ground. 52:36 If you put in more than 25,000 you'll be considered 52:39 well capitalized according to the FDIC. 52:43 And then we are gonna take a look at the capacity. 52:46 Once we get the terms of the loan figured out 52:48 and the bank decides that 52:49 they are gonna make the investment in you, 52:51 do you have the ability to pay back the terms. 52:56 So we set up may be a nice amortization 52:58 and every month you pay back your principle and interest 53:02 but we are gonna look at do you have the capacity to do that. 53:08 And then we are gonna take a look at the character, 53:11 which is arguably the most important of the C's. 53:16 Do you have the willingness to pay it back? 53:20 In other words, when you come in, 53:21 can I trust you as much as you trust me. 53:27 And so those are sort of the 5 C's 53:29 the fundamental principles of the world of financing 53:33 and so I look at the book of creation 53:34 sort of through those eyes of the 5C's of lending. 53:39 And we come to God with our insignificant human lives 53:44 and he approaches it, praise God not as a banker 53:49 but as a creator and as a loving God. 53:52 And let me just be abundantly blunt with you. 53:56 God is crazy. 54:00 God is crazy. You think about it. 54:03 You and I come to God and we say, 54:05 God can you give us an investment. 54:08 And so, through the fundamental understanding the finance 54:11 we take a look at it and he says, 54:12 okay, okay what kind of collateral can you offer? 54:17 Most of the time we take collateral 54:19 and it's an appreciating asset or at least something 54:21 that's gonna maintain its value 54:24 by the time you and I meet our creator 54:26 at the eternity we have nothing of value. 54:32 You can't go to God and pledge your house 54:35 or your bank account or your 401k 54:39 because by the time you meet Him in eternity 54:41 that is worthless. 54:45 And so we come to the creation accounting 54:48 and our collateral is non-existent. 54:53 Look at the economic conditions. 54:57 Is there a positive trend that we can somehow pull out? 55:01 No, you and I are one day older today than we were yesterday. 55:07 We just entered into a New Year, 55:09 you and I are stuck in this thing we call time. 55:12 We cannot go back in it so, so that you and I 55:15 as we woke up this morning we are one day older 55:18 and one day closer to death. 55:21 There's not a positive trend with our conditions. 55:26 Look at the capital, ha. 55:30 What do you gonna offer God? 55:34 FDIC asked for 51% so that you can be well capitalized. 55:38 Once a loan goes towards a negative direction, 55:41 they have these other categories 55:42 where you might be substandard or you might be doubtful 55:46 and at very worst case it's a loss. 55:50 You look at your capital investment 55:52 you are not investing 50% or 25% 55:55 or even 5% you're investing zero. 56:01 What could you possibly invest in 56:05 and give to the creator of the universe? 56:11 Then you look at the capacity. 56:16 June 27 of this year, 56:20 I woke up to my wife saying oh, my! 56:24 It was her body's way of telling her 56:26 our son was going to be born that day. 56:29 I'll never forget the first time holding my son. 56:32 He'll never love me as much as I love him 56:37 because before he had the ability, 56:39 before he had the capacity to love me I loved him. 56:45 You don't have the capacity to love God 56:48 more than He loves you 56:51 because before He created you, 56:54 He loved you in character. 57:00 Can God trust us as much as we trust Him? 57:06 God puts His absolute trust in us 57:10 and we continue to fail Him. 57:14 So you look at the 5 C's of lending 57:19 and everything about an investment in our screams, 57:25 don't walk away from this investment, 57:28 run away from this investment. 57:31 But God, God doesn't look at life 57:37 through the eyes of a banker. 57:40 He looks at all the conditions, 57:42 He looks at us insignificant as we are 57:45 and He says, okay I'll invest. 57:52 And the terms of the investment 57:53 they don't even have vocabulary for that 57:56 and finance because he says it's a gift. 58:00 You don't have to pay me back. 58:04 And so he looks at us insignificant 58:07 and He makes the most significant investment 58:11 anyone in the history of time has ever invested. 58:18 Looks down at us insignificant as we are 58:22 all the 5 C's screaming stay away, run away 58:27 and He says okay, I'll invest. 58:30 I'll invest my image. |
Revised 2014-12-17