Participants: Natasha Nebblett
Series Code: 14GYC
Program Code: 14GYC000001A
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00:40 King of my life,
00:42 I crown Thee now 00:46 Thine shall the glory be 00:52 Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow 00:59 Lead me to Calvary 01:06 Lest I forget Gethsemane 01:12 Lest I forget Thine agony 01:19 Lest I forget Thy love for me 01:26 Lead me to Calvary 01:42 Show me the tomb where Thou was laid 01:49 Tenderly mourned and wept 01:55 Angels in robes of light arrayed 02:02 Guarded Thee whilst Thou slept 02:09 Lest I forget Gethsemane 02:15 Lest I forget Thine agony 02:22 Lest I forget Thy love for me 02:28 Lead me to Calvary 02:45 Just as I am, without one plea 02:53 But that Thy love has saved me 03:01 Now, to be Thine, 03:06 and Thine alone O Lamb of God, 03:15 I come, I come 03:44 May I be willing, Lord, to bear 03:51 Daily my cross for Thee 03:57 Even Thy cup of grief to share 04:04 Thou hast borne all for me 04:10 Lest I forget Gethsemane 04:17 Lest I forget Thine agony 04:23 Lest I forget Thy love for me 04:34 Lead me to Calvary 04:50 Lead me to Calvary 05:12 Amen. 05:21 Good evening. 05:22 Again you've heard that before. 05:25 So it is my privilege to introduce the speaker 05:28 for tonight Natasha Nebblett, the president of GYC. 05:33 I was just quizzing her a little bit backstage 05:37 asking her how I should introduce her, and she said, 05:40 "Whatever you do just don't tell them 05:41 that I am the boss and so don't remember that." 05:45 But she did say that she loves her home, 05:49 she loves her family, and she loves orphans. 05:53 Now we're often asked at GYC some of the leadership, 05:56 how do we go about finding leaders of GYC? 05:59 And I'll give you just a little bit of insight 06:01 into the process of the board of directors. 06:02 We spend a tremendous amount of time 06:05 and thought and more importantly prayer 06:07 about the leaders of GYC. 06:11 We got together 06:12 when we were gonna select the leader of GYC, 06:14 we got up at a normal hour most of us, we went down, 06:18 we had a devotions, we did breakfast things like that. 06:22 Natasha was up at three or four in the morning 06:25 that same morning on her knees 06:27 while the board of director was probably sleeping. 06:30 We don't look for people 06:31 that have qualities of worldly leadership, 06:33 we look for people to have a deep relationship 06:36 with their creator. 06:38 And that's why we selected Natasha 06:40 to be the president of GYC. 06:43 And so she went through this prayer session 06:46 and then she came in, and we asked her, 06:48 "What's your vision for young people?" 06:49 I remember very specifically, she said, 06:51 "You know there are X number of children 06:55 sold into sex slavery every year. 06:58 If Adventists don't do something about that, 07:00 who do we expect to do about it." 07:03 She said, "There's X number of people 07:05 who are dying of hunger, 07:06 if Adventists don't do something about it 07:08 who do we expect that are gonna do it." 07:10 And I sat there and I was personally inspired 07:14 by her story. 07:16 And so tonight I get to introduce our president, 07:19 our speaker and someone that has personally inspired me 07:23 Natasha Nebblett. 07:25 Amen. 07:26 We have a interesting tradition that we do at GYC. 07:30 We have a Bible that goes with the president. 07:33 And in this Bible has had the privilege of going 07:35 to different place in China, actually all around the world. 07:40 Presidents have spoke out of this for opening night. 07:43 And so tonight it's my privilege 07:45 to transition that Bible 07:46 over to Natasha as our president. 07:49 And as I said, she has absolutely inspired me 07:53 and I'm confident she will inspire you. 07:57 And so here's the Bible 07:58 and we're thankful and we're here to listen to you. 08:00 Thank you Justin. 08:03 Let me tell you... 08:05 This is an amazing, amazing moment for me 08:07 just to even take it in 08:10 after a year's worth of planning, 08:12 it actually takes more than a year's worth of planning 08:14 for each GYC. 08:16 It takes about 14 months of planning 08:18 or so 14 to 15 months of planning. 08:20 So this conference has been a long time in coming. 08:23 We were planning it since before Orlando 08:25 took place last year 2013 and to see all that... 08:31 You know the conference calls, all the emails, 08:34 all the work that the executive committee 08:36 and the volunteers that have put so much time and effort 08:40 into this conference. 08:42 To see it actually come to reality right here 08:44 and right now is a truly amazing experience. 08:48 But all the effort, all the work, 08:50 all the labor comes to nothing 08:52 if we don't have one thing and that's the Spirit of God. 08:57 So that's what we're seeking 08:59 this week in this weekend here at GYC, 09:02 the Spirit of the Living God to fall on all of our hearts. 09:07 And I'm so excited about the theme this year, 09:10 because it is, it is the very center 09:14 and it's the cataclysmic moment 09:17 that took place in the existence 09:20 of the most precious thing in the universe to me 09:22 and that is Jesus Christ. 09:24 Let's have a prayer 09:26 and then we will jump into our time this evening. 09:33 Heavenly Father, 09:36 you know that I'm small, 09:37 you know, I'm just a girl, I'm young. 09:43 You know that it's far, 09:45 far easier to be up on the mountain 09:48 behind our home just praying than it is to be on the stage. 09:54 Lord, not a word that I say tonight 09:57 can benefit anyone in this room 10:00 or bring any blessing to them 10:03 unless Your Spirit accompanies me. 10:06 Please let me decrease, please increase. 10:12 Please lift up your name tonight, 10:15 and I pray that Your Spirit would fall upon me 10:17 and fall upon all the hearers here 10:20 and everyone that's joining us via 3ABN at live stream. 10:24 Lord, I pray that all of us 10:27 would see Jesus and not a human. 10:32 Open our ears to hear what you would have for us 10:34 right at the beginning of GYC. 10:37 We pray these things 10:38 in the precious name of our King Jesus Christ. 10:41 Amen. 10:45 All right, so it's the beginning of GYC. 10:50 How can we get the most of it? 10:53 I want to just say first, 10:56 I said this once in my prayer already, 10:58 but I don't know how many of you 11:00 would necessarily pick up on this just from seeing myself 11:04 with my executive committee 11:05 and going around and planning and what not, 11:07 but I am a very major introvert. 11:11 It is not easy for me to be up on a stage, 11:14 it is not easy for me to be in large crowds of people 11:18 or even smaller crowds of people, 11:21 but I have a God that just like enables and empowers. 11:26 And I am so thankful for Him and He gives me freedom 11:30 and He gives me peace and besides my God, 11:33 I have an absolutely amazing family... 11:36 my parents. 11:38 By the grace of God I am what I am 11:40 because of godly parents 11:41 who have spent unnumbered hours praying for me, 11:45 and I don't know how many days this year my mother has fasted 11:50 and prayed for me like every, 11:52 it seems like every time I turn around, 11:54 she's just calmly going around the house, 11:56 and mealtime comes and she doesn't sit down 11:57 and I'm like, "Mom are you eating?" 11:59 "Oh, not today honey." 12:01 And then I find out later 12:02 she was fasting and praying for me specifically. 12:06 She's done this over and over again, 12:08 and she has fasted and prayed for the two, 12:10 for all of you as well. 12:11 My brothers have put in unnumbered hours, 12:14 unnumbered hours and have accompanied me 12:18 to the most wild places 12:20 to support what has happened here today. 12:22 And last but certainly not least, 12:26 one week ago today on Christmas Eve 12:30 the most amazing man in the world 12:31 proposed to me and I said yes. 12:35 So I am very, very glad and very thankful to God 12:42 that he has blessed me 12:45 with an amazing man that knows how to care for my heart, 12:48 how to protect my heart, 12:49 how to lead my heart, and how to win my heart. 12:52 And if you get a chance say hello to Paul Dysinger 12:56 because he is the most amazing man in the world, 12:58 and I am so honored that I will someday be his wife. 13:02 So how do we get the most out of GYC, 13:04 it were right at the beginning of it. 13:08 We're going to be sitting through so many plenary, 13:10 so many breakout sessions, 13:11 how do we gain the most out of it right from the start. 13:15 And this is what I want to be talking about tonight. 13:17 I'm pathetic in naming my messages, 13:20 but if I was to name this sermon, 13:21 it would be called, "The Impossible Life." 13:24 The impossible life. 13:25 We will get the most out of GYC if we do three things. 13:29 The first is that we're honest about ourselves 13:33 and where we really are. 13:36 Bible says that, "We ought not to think 13:38 more highly of ourselves than we ought to think." 13:42 First is if we're honest about ourselves. 13:43 The second is if we recognize 13:45 that there is something bigger about Christianity 13:49 than we actually have in our hands right now. 13:51 Christianity is an endless frontier, 13:54 it never stops and there's something more to be attained, 13:57 no matter how long we've been in this walk, 13:59 if you have never given your life to Christ 14:01 or if you have done so over and over and over again 14:04 for years, for 20 years, for 30 years, for 40 years. 14:08 However, however old the oldest person in here is I don't know. 14:12 But if we have given ourselves over to God every day, 14:15 there's still an eternity more. 14:18 There's something bigger than the Christianity 14:20 that we just have in our hands right now. 14:23 And the third thing that will get the most out of GYC 14:25 is if we are willing to be true to the Word of God 14:30 and who we declares Jesus to be. 14:34 What is real Christianity? 14:35 I'm gonna start my message with two stories of people 14:39 that are actually currently alive 14:41 and walking on this planet. 14:43 At least I think they are, they were alive 14:45 as of a few months ago. 14:47 I think you understand 14:48 once I actually tell you the stories, 14:50 I'm not confident if they're alive right now. 14:52 Two separate stories but before I get into that 14:54 who can tell me where the term Christianity 14:57 or Christian was coined. 15:01 Antioch, that's right. 15:03 Antioch in... 15:05 Antioch in Syria 15:07 is where the term Christian was coined. 15:10 It probably was actually not a very complementary name 15:13 Christian by, you know, 15:15 by very etymology of the word Christ IAN, 15:20 the suffix Christian, the Jesus people essentially. 15:24 All they can do is talk about Jesus, they're Christians. 15:29 Antioch in Syria 15:31 was the very center of what Christianity 15:34 were, that in Jerusalem 15:36 it was just the very center of how Christianity then spread 15:40 and went all over the world in one generation, incredible. 15:46 I have a passion 15:49 because Christianity is just about snuffed out of the nation 15:54 of Syria today. 15:55 We have no official Adventist presence in Syria, none. 16:02 Does that bother anyone besides me tonight? 16:04 No official presences in Syria, 16:07 the place where the term Christian was coined. 16:10 It was like the cutting edge of the hot bed of Christianity 16:13 and today there's no Adventist presence there. 16:15 But I'm gonna tell you a story tonight 16:17 that comes from Syria. 16:20 And what it means to be a Christian in Syria today. 16:26 This is as of a couple of months ago 16:28 there was a woman in Syria, she is a Christian, 16:30 non-Adventist again I said that 16:31 that there is no official presence of Adventism in Syria, 16:34 the entire nation. 16:36 She's a Christian woman 16:38 and when the unrest broke out in Syria, 16:41 probably all of us were aware of that 16:43 if we were keeping track of the news. 16:46 She and her husband had been praying for a revival 16:50 for Christianity to be revived in the nation of Syria. 16:55 And then the unrest broke out. 16:56 The killing was going rampant, and it was the most 17:00 unbelievable experience to there, 17:02 their Muslim neighbors started coming to them and saying, 17:06 "Why is this happening? 17:07 Why is God allowing this?" 17:08 Their Muslim neighbors knew that they were Christians. 17:11 One day she was on her knees 17:13 shortly after the war broke out. 17:16 And she said, she was praying 17:18 that God would make her a witness. 17:21 And the only thing she heard back from God 17:23 just in the stillness of her heart, 17:24 no inaudible voice but in the stillness 17:26 of her heart. 17:27 The question she heard back from God was, 17:28 "Will you give me your life?" 17:31 That question means something quite different in Syria 17:33 than it means here. 17:35 When we say here, you know, you give God your life. 17:39 We don't, we're not meaning the same thing 17:41 as it means in Syria where Christians 17:43 are dying left, right and center in very brutal ways 17:47 when God was saying, "Will you give me your life." 17:51 She prayed about it that day and she said, "Yes. 17:54 I'll give you my life." 17:56 The next day she was on her knees again, 17:58 she was praying that God would make her 18:00 a witness to her nation, 18:02 and the only thing she heard back from God was, 18:04 "Will you give me your husband's life?" 18:07 She said that was harder for her 18:09 but she went to her husband, they prayed about it together 18:12 and they said, "Yes, 18:13 Lord you can have the husband's life as well." 18:18 The third day she said, she was back on her knees 18:20 praying that God would make her a witness 18:22 and the only thing she heard back from God was, 18:25 "Will you give me your children's lives?" 18:29 Said that was the hardest of all. 18:31 It took her quite some time, she went to her husband, 18:35 the two of them fasted and prayed together 18:37 and they agreed that God himself 18:39 had given them their children 18:41 and it was only right for them to lay their children 18:43 on the altar for the sake of the Almighty, 18:45 I'm going to pick up and quote her directly. 18:48 "When we agreed to lay our children on the altar..." 18:50 This is her writing. 18:52 "I knew I had to tell them my children the truth, 18:56 I told them that it was possible 18:57 that men with swords would come through our door, 19:00 men who didn't know Jesus. 19:02 They may say bad things to us 19:03 and try to force us to convert to Islam 19:05 but no matter what they say, we should not answer them. 19:08 We should only tell them that Jesus loves them 19:10 and that we forgive them. 19:13 I told them that we might see some blood and have some pain, 19:16 but it would only be for a little while 19:18 that we should just close our eyes 19:19 and when we open them we would be with Jesus. 19:22 Then she says, "Am I a good mother 19:24 to have to tell my children such things." 19:27 I also told them that as long as God wants us to be safe, 19:31 we will be safe, 19:33 that he is in control even during the bloodshed, 19:36 during the killing, he is carrying our future... 19:40 "And then she ends by saying, 19:41 "This is what it means to be a Christian in Syria." 19:49 What does it mean to be a Christian? 19:52 Second story. 19:56 This is a gentleman in Nigeria, 19:57 he was under similar circumstances 20:00 were unrest had broken out in his region of the country 20:05 and he was a pastor. 20:06 He was pastoring in that area, ministering to people 20:09 and as many of his church members, 20:12 it's an underground church, 20:13 but as his church members were dying, 20:15 he was seeking to minister to them 20:17 and those that were doing the persecuting realize 20:19 that he was the pastor of this underground church. 20:22 And so they began to target him. 20:25 The try to get after him. 20:27 They were not really successful in catching up with him 20:29 to take his life, 20:30 but they one day surrounded his home 20:32 and his wife was very sick, 20:33 but they knew he was inside 20:35 but for some reason didn't break in 20:37 but they besieged his house for three days. 20:39 He was unable to get medical help for his wife 20:41 and she died there in the house. 20:44 He said he was so, so horrified so shocked by, 20:49 by being there with his wife when she died that he said, 20:53 he couldn't eat for days, couldn't eat, couldn't drink, 20:56 couldn't sleep, but he said, during that time 20:59 his communion with God was unlike anything 21:01 he had ever experienced before. 21:04 After that he continued, 21:05 he somehow escaped that situation. 21:07 He continued ministering a while later 21:09 the same people that were persecuting 21:11 found his brother and they killed him 21:12 because his brother was the pastor 21:15 of the underground church. 21:16 A while later they found his sister, 21:19 they captured her, raped her while later she escaped 21:23 but she's living with the repercussions of that. 21:26 A while later they found his other brother 21:28 and they also killed him, a while later, 21:30 several months later they found his father 21:32 and they also killed him. 21:34 All because this man would not give up his faith. 21:37 Some of us in here are like this man's crazy, 21:40 if he had some heart, his family is dying around 21:43 and if he had some heart, 21:45 he should do something about this, 21:46 "But he that loveth father or mother 21:48 more than me says Christ is not worthy of me." 21:56 They're interviewing him he's still, I mean, 21:59 I don't know if he's alive today, 22:00 but a couple months ago he was alive 22:02 and they asked him, 22:05 "How are you holding up to this now, 22:06 your whole family is dead." 22:08 He said, "Any time he counts not his life on earth 22:11 dear unto himself." 22:13 Anytime the insurgents go into a new location 22:16 and start killing Christians, 22:17 he makes a beeline for that location 22:19 and he ministers to the surviving family members 22:22 of Christians who have been killed. 22:24 They asked him, "How are you holding up under this strain." 22:27 And he said, "Oh, my inner joy is constant. 22:34 I serve Christ, my inner joy is constant." 22:38 What in the world, 22:41 how can it be that he has lost 22:43 everything precious to him on earth? 22:47 Why would life be even particularly important 22:49 anymore to him? 22:51 This man has suffered the most severe kind of persecution 22:55 that a person can experience, the loss of his entire family 22:59 because he will not give up his faith in Christ 23:02 and somehow through the hardship, 23:04 through the bloodshed, through the killing, 23:06 his inner joy is constant. 23:08 I tell you, we always say that we should pray 23:11 for the persecuted church and I think we should. 23:13 There is no question 23:14 we should be praying for the persecuted church. 23:15 But let me tell you the persecuted church 23:17 needs to be praying for us 23:18 because they have something that we don't have. 23:21 I envy that man's experience, my inner joy is not constant. 23:24 Now I experience drawing Christ, okay, 23:26 I'm not trying to say I don't. 23:28 But I don't have what that man has 23:30 and I want it. 23:31 I want it, there is something more to Christianity 23:34 than what we just have in our hands today. 23:37 And when the life of Christ comes down and lives 23:39 because, that man's reaction, that man's response 23:42 under persecution, affliction, death around him, 23:47 that is not a human response, 23:49 that response is the life of Christ 23:51 living in that man. 23:53 And I want the life of Christ living in me. 23:55 I am tired of futility of easy Christianity 23:58 that just goes along and, you know, 24:01 lives a good life and does some ministry just on the side. 24:07 I want the life of Christ to live in me 24:09 in a way that will shake the world. 24:11 Listen, the world is dying right now. 24:15 It is an indescribable agony, just didn't mention 24:18 that this is one of my soap boxes already, 24:20 but I'm going to say it again. 24:21 There are between 143 to 210 million orphans worldwide 24:28 between 143 to 210 million orphans worldwide. 24:34 This probably does not include street children, 24:38 trafficked children, 24:40 forced child labor, or child soldiers. 24:44 20 to 60 percent of children in all countries of the world 24:47 are experiencing domestic violence. 24:52 There are nearly 30 million slaves in the world today, 24:56 30 million that is more slaves than were ever in slaves 24:59 when William Wilberforce and Abraham Lincoln 25:01 freed the slaves in Great Britain and America. 25:05 More slaves on an earth today, 25:06 but we said that we don't have a slave trade, we do. 25:09 It is an unbelievable problem. 25:11 Most of those are sold into the sex trade. 25:14 Some of them are being sold for as little as $50 25:18 for a life long physical and sexual servitude. 25:23 What is going on in this world? 25:26 To put things in comparison, 25:27 the slaves back in Abraham Lincoln's day 25:30 were being sold for the purchasing power 25:32 in today's currency of 5 to $40, 000 a piece 25:37 and now they're being bartered off for $50 25:39 on the streets. 25:40 The world is in shambles, in shambles. 25:44 Every four seconds another person dies of starvation 25:49 or hunger related disease. 25:51 I mean that's one right now. 25:54 And another and another. 26:01 Many of whom have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. 26:10 Coming little bit closer to home. 26:13 Not too far from here, there are Native Americans 26:16 living on reservations 26:18 that have never heard the name of Jesus 26:19 either particularly that actually are living 26:23 in developing world conditions 26:25 with substance abuse and squalor around them. 26:30 People that regularly... 26:32 I live about an hour and a half 26:34 from a reservation in New Mexico. 26:36 And they regularly on that reservation encounter demons. 26:41 It is the every day life for them 26:44 coming a little bit closer to home, 26:46 the people that were doing the pre-conference outreach 26:48 here at GYC, I don't know how many of you know 26:50 but there were about 200 young people 26:52 that came here ahead of time and went door to door. 26:55 You'll hear more about it as we go through GYC, 26:57 went door to door here in Phoenix ministering, 27:00 giving out, you know, canvassing books and whatnot. 27:04 On several occasions they encountered people 27:06 perfectly secular people who have seen demons 27:09 in their home right here in the city of Phoenix. 27:14 Does the world have a problem? 27:16 What is it going to take 27:17 so that the life of God is born into us again, 27:21 in such a way that the world collides with it, 27:24 the way it collided with Christ? 27:27 What is it going to take so the world must finally stop 27:32 and take notice of Jesus like it did 27:35 when he was walking and breathing on this planet? 27:39 Turn with me in your Bibles. 27:44 Some of you're saying okay, this was... 27:46 maybe this is little more than I bargained for. 27:48 Some of you in this room have maybe never given your life 27:50 to Christ at all. 27:51 And you're saying are you telling me the story of, 27:53 you know, some guy whose inner joy is constant 27:55 when he is experiencing the most unbelievable, 27:58 I'm not even, I'm not remotely there. 28:00 That is impossible for me to reach. 28:02 Before you come to that conclusion, 28:05 let's go through this entire message 28:06 and what the Word of God has to say to us. 28:10 Open your Bibles to Galatians, 28:14 Galatians 2, Galatians 2:20. 28:19 What is it going to take for the life of God 28:22 to be born into us in such a way 28:24 that the world collides with it? 28:28 Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ, 28:31 nevertheless I live 28:36 yet not I but Christ liveth in me. 28:39 And the life which I now live in the flesh 28:41 I live by the faith of the Son of God 28:44 who loves me and gave Himself for me." 28:49 Who loved me and gave Himself for me. 28:53 What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? 29:02 A lay man there he's got like totally confused, 29:04 sorry about this. 29:07 What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? 29:09 I think that it is, most of us I think in this room 29:12 would probably agree, it's kind of a fundamental of, 29:14 you know, when you are around and you hear 29:17 sermons being preached in everything. 29:18 Most of us would agree 29:19 that we have to lay down our lives to receive true life. 29:22 It's taught in the Bible, it's taught, you know, 29:24 in nature we see it, 29:26 in the types and shadows of this, 29:27 the ceremonial system that God set up in the Old Testament. 29:32 We see them in the life of Jesus, 29:33 laid on your life to receive true life. 29:35 He has eternal life and he was the one in the universe 29:37 that was most willing to die. 29:39 What does it take for us to receive that true life? 29:44 Most of us would assent that we can't just do it on our own. 29:50 Can we just come and think, you know, 29:52 I want to be crucified with Christ, those Christians, 29:55 you know, that the persecuted church Christians 29:57 they got this triumph. 29:59 They've got this unconquered ability like it says, 30:02 it's the triumph of the Christian faith 30:03 that it enables its followers to suffer and be strong. 30:08 To submit and thus to conquer, to be killed 30:11 all the day long and that's to live 30:13 like "Okay, I want that." 30:14 So I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna read my Bible, 30:17 and I'm going to give half of my income 30:21 to the work of God, and I'm going to... 30:26 I'm going to do something. Does that work? 30:30 Okay, no I've tried it okay I've tried, I've tried, 30:35 I'm a very much a checklist black and white person. 30:37 I love, I love a little bullet point concept. 30:40 Just do this, do this, do this 30:42 and then a good process will come out, 30:44 I like that idea. 30:47 But in the Bible when you look at the way Christ died, 30:53 Bible says, "I'm crucified with Christ." 30:56 Crucifixion is the one death you can't do yourself. 30:59 If Christ had died via the firing squad 31:03 or maybe we could conjure up a death like that. 31:06 If Christ had died due to drowning well, 31:09 you could drown yourself. 31:11 Crucifixions the one death 31:13 that you can't inflict on yourself, 31:14 how would you do it. 31:16 The one arm nailed that in, nail, 31:18 you couldn't nail your own feet, 31:20 then the cross is still lying down. 31:22 How could you get the cross up and your one arm is still free. 31:24 You can't crucify yourself. 31:28 No more than we could crucify ourselves 31:31 could we of ourselves be crucified with Christ. 31:34 It's something that has to come from outside of ourselves, 31:37 something that someone else has to do 31:39 because we cannot just decide to be crucified with Christ 31:42 and now, you know, now I've died. 31:47 It's something that has to come from outside of ourselves. 31:52 Nothing we can do will work to get us there. 31:56 I cannot be inclined towards God, 31:59 I cannot conjure repentance, 32:01 I cannot conjure penitence within my own heart. 32:03 I cannot exercise faith or trust on my own, 32:07 I cannot whip up triumph out of un-renewed heart. 32:11 I cannot have my heart be renewed. 32:13 I cannot work out any of this in myself. 32:15 I cannot make it happen. 32:17 It just doesn't, it doesn't work and somehow, 32:20 somehow we want to be able to like, you know, 32:24 make it happen somehow ourselves 32:26 because we're like, you know, I esteem this, 32:28 I want it to happen. 32:29 How can I actually make it work, 32:30 but it doesn't work. 32:32 That's why we need Christ, 32:33 Jesus Christ to be the alpha and omega, 32:38 but the beginning of our faith. 32:40 Because we can't even conjure the inclination towards him 32:43 out of an un-renewed heart. 32:45 If we have the slightest inkling towards God, 32:49 if we have the slightest desire for the Christ's life. 32:52 If we want him to come and renew his joy, his triumph, 32:56 his life in our hearts, 32:59 it is proof that Christ is already at work. 33:02 He has already planted that desire in our hearts. 33:04 He has already given us the longing 33:06 for something better 33:07 because we can't come up with that longing ourselves. 33:09 We can't come up with the repentance. 33:11 We can't come up with the penitence. 33:12 We can't come up with even the desire 33:14 to turn away from the things of the world. 33:16 We can't come up with the willingness to see 33:18 that the world is actually, 33:22 it has leave something to be desired 33:25 that there is something greater. 33:27 If we have even the slightest inkling 33:30 towards Christ, 33:31 it is proof that Christ himself has already come 33:34 and already started renewing our heart 33:35 and already started to draw us to himself by his own life, 33:39 and by his own love, and by his own power. 33:44 Faith and Works, one of my favorite books, 33:49 Ellen White says this, "I ask, 33:52 how can I present this matter as it is, 33:56 the Lord Jesus imparts all the powers, all the grace, 34:01 all the penitents, all the inclination, 34:04 all the pardon of sins in presenting his righteousness 34:07 for man to graft by living faith. " 34:10 Which is also the gift of God. 34:14 We have a God 34:15 that has done something so complete on our behalf 34:18 in dying for us on the cross. 34:20 We can't conjure something better 34:21 than what he has already done. 34:23 He has saved, He has offered a salvation. 34:28 He has done a mighty work on our behalf and we say, 34:30 well, that that sounds a little bit too simple. 34:32 It's like God gives the inclination, 34:35 God works the penitence, God gives the repentance, 34:38 God gives the pardon, you know. 34:40 How does, how is that supposed to work, 34:42 that God gives the living faith, 34:44 that's also a gift from God. 34:45 How is that supposed to function? 34:48 Why is it, if God just does it, 34:49 why isn't my life look like those Christians 34:52 we were talking about at the beginning. 34:55 The challenges because we keep, we keep resisting him. 35:01 When he says, "Give that to me, " you say, "No". 35:08 When he says, "Are you willing to lay your pride down 35:11 and go make that right." 35:14 That's his spirit working in our heart you know like, 35:16 " That would be so awkward." 35:20 It would so awkward to call that person and tell them that, 35:22 you know, I didn't speak the truth then. 35:29 So no, but next time, next time God and right then, 35:34 we resist the drawing of his spirit, 35:38 and that's why we're being held back in the work, 35:43 in the Christian walk, it's why we're being limited 35:46 and limiting the holy one of Israel. 35:49 How do we stop exempting ourselves from the process? 35:51 How do we stop resisting him when he says, 35:54 "Go make that right." 35:55 Or when he says, "Come spend time with me, 35:57 " and we feel like doing something different right then. 36:00 When we don't feel like going and having prayer time 36:01 at that moment. 36:03 How do we stop resisting the process? 36:05 It only comes down to one thing, 36:08 casting ourselves at the feet of Jesus. 36:09 If we don't have the inclination, 36:11 we have to go to Jesus to get the inclination. 36:13 If we don't have the penitence, 36:14 we have to go to him for the penitence. 36:16 If we don't have the experience, 36:17 the walk with God, if we don't have the knowledge, 36:19 if we don't have the power, 36:21 we have to go to Jesus Christ for it. 36:22 If we need a surrendered heart 36:24 and we're not willing to surrender, 36:26 we can go to Christ and he'll give us, he'll help us, 36:28 he'll bring us to the point where we're willing, 36:30 it doesn't eliminate our own choice 36:31 to be willing to say yes to him. 36:36 But we're trying to do it on our own. 36:39 In Faith and Works it also says, 36:41 Ellen White says, "There's conscientious souls 36:45 that want to give their lives to God," she says, 36:50 "But they depend upon their own effort, 36:55 their own watchfulness against temptation, 36:58 their own righteousness in some way, 37:03 this performance of certain duties, 37:04 she says, I'm going to go pray for such an amount of time 37:08 to bring them into a right relationship with God, 37:11 " She says, "Such persons toil to no purpose. 37:15 There are no victories in that kind of faith." 37:20 I do not want a faith that has no victories. 37:24 Dependence on Jesus Christ, 37:25 my favorite quote in the Spirit of Prophecy 37:29 is actually a quote of words that Jesus said, 37:35 He said to Ellen White, 37:37 "Lean on me, lean hard." 37:42 Lean on me, lean hard. 37:45 If we look at the lives of these Christians 37:48 and we say look, I could never, I could never reach, 37:50 I could never reach that level. 37:52 I could never do that, 37:54 then we are beginning to get it right. 37:57 We're beginning to understand. Yeah, it is impossible. 38:00 It's an impossible life. 38:02 We can't do it 38:04 and that is like the beginning 38:06 of when the impossible can begin. 38:09 Just as much as it is impossible to have constant joy 38:13 when that man has been what he has been through 38:16 it is equally impossible for us 38:20 to feel repentance right where we are. 38:22 It is always the gift of God. 38:24 It is never something that we've worked out 38:26 within ourselves, I'm crucified with Christ. 38:30 Nevertheless I live. 38:33 "I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live." 38:38 This is not just some martyr thing, 38:41 this is vibrant life being handed to us 38:44 when the communists took over Romania. 38:49 There was a pastor there who is also, 38:51 the church had to go underground 38:53 obviously at that point and he was pastoring the church 38:56 and he was ministering to people 38:58 and the communists figured him out, 39:00 took him to prison, he was in prison for 14 years. 39:04 During that time commenting later on it 39:07 because he, he survived to tell the story he said, 39:10 he had been in prison for 14 years, he said, 39:13 he had forgotten that there was green or pink or blue, 39:16 his world was gray. 39:18 He had forgotten that there was such a thing 39:20 as trees or mountains or rivers, 39:24 he had never, he hadn't seen them for 14 years, 39:26 he had not seen a woman or a child. 39:28 He was in prison being tortured on a very consistent basis 39:32 living on one piece of bread a week 39:34 just on the verge of starvation 39:36 and he was in solitary confinement, 39:38 had been for quite some time and one evening he said, 39:41 as he was sitting there in solitary confinement 39:43 after 14 years in prison. 39:45 His comment later about it was he said, 39:47 "I began to feel tired." 39:51 And he said that he prayed that night 39:52 he said, "Lord, 39:57 I've been in prison for 14 years. 39:59 I don't have anyone who can speak to me, 40:03 would you speak with me tonight." 40:06 He said later 40:07 that in unusual circumstances God will do unusual things. 40:12 He said, that was the only time in his life 40:14 when actually God spoke to him 40:16 that night after 14 years of being in prison 40:19 most of those years in solitary confinement 40:21 with consistent torture in between. 40:23 And he said, he expected God 40:25 to give him some kind of reassurance 40:27 that he was doing, you know, 40:28 give him some kind of encouragement 40:30 for what he had, you know, 40:31 was, had been through and what not. 40:32 But he said, that he didn't actually hear 40:34 some kind of reassuring words, 40:38 the words that he heard were, "What is your name." 40:41 He said, he had always known 40:43 all his life that his name was Richard. 40:45 But he remembered right then that there was a Richard 40:49 back in Great Britain 40:50 in the early years of the church 40:52 who had been martyred for his faith 40:53 and he didn't want to say that his name was Richard 40:55 because he didn't want God to ask him. 40:57 "Are you like that Richard?" 41:01 And then he thought well I'm a Christian, 41:03 but then he remembered that in the early days of the church 41:06 Christians had been martyred in the streets of Rome right, 41:08 during the early persecution 41:10 so he didn't want to say I'm a Christian, 41:12 because he don't want God to say to him, 41:13 "Are you like those Christians." 41:15 And then he thought well, I could say I'm a pastor. 41:17 But then he remembered 41:18 the pastors are supposed to watch 41:20 over their flock tirelessly day and night 41:21 and he hadn't done that and he didn't want to tell God 41:24 I'm a pastor, 41:27 and so he said in that moment, 41:35 what he said was, "God, I have no name. 41:36 Allow me to bear your name." 41:40 That's it, that is the essence of Christianity. 41:44 "I have no name. Allow me to bear your name." 41:47 I have no righteousness, 41:48 allow me to bear your righteousness. 41:50 I have no penitence, give me penitence 41:53 I have nothing my own works, 41:55 my own righteousness that I can conjure up. 41:57 Give me what you have, I need it God, 42:00 I need to renounce my own life. 42:02 I want what you have, 42:04 I'm tired of the futility of what the world has to offer. 42:08 I'm tired of the Laodicean sort of Christianity. 42:11 I'm tired of the children dying every... 42:15 children every 10 seconds, 42:16 people every 4 seconds of starvation. 42:18 I'm tired of 30 million slaves being there 42:21 and, and just standing back 42:23 and acting like that Bill and Melinda Gates can do more 42:25 for the world than Jesus Christ can. 42:29 I want your name. 42:31 I have no name. 42:34 That kind of Christianity is a miracle. 42:40 But no matter where we are in the Christian walk, 42:42 if you have never given your life to Christ 42:44 or if you have given your life to Christ 42:46 over and over and over again for 40 years, 42:49 it is the same thing right now 42:51 at the beginning of GYC it will always be a miracle. 42:54 Humanity cannot be a Christian. 42:57 A human cannot be a Christian 42:58 because a human cannot be like Christ. 43:02 But Christ can be like Himself 43:05 in us. 43:09 Christ can be like Himself in us. 43:14 The beginning of GYC if we want to get the most out of it, 43:19 we must lean on Him and lean hard. 43:24 We must recognize that Christianity 43:26 is not something we have to conjure up. 43:29 It is the gift of God 43:32 into our lives when we lay our lives down, 43:35 give ourselves up which is the gift of God 43:38 to be able to do that 43:39 and be willing to accept His work into our own lives. 43:47 I want to, 43:51 I want to wrap up this evening. 43:54 What shall we say to these things, 43:57 "If God is for us, who can be against us, 44:01 he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us 44:05 all how will he not also with him 44:09 freely give us all things." 44:14 Do we believe our God? 44:17 Do we believe on Him enough 44:19 to lean on Him, to lean hard? 44:24 This week we're gonna be learning about the cross. 44:26 We're going to be learning many things in the breakouts. 44:28 And if at any time you're tempted to think 44:30 this is impossible, 44:33 I'll never be able to reach that. 44:35 At that moment say, praise the Lord. 44:40 Finally, my feet are on the way to triumph. 44:42 Because Christianity is not a requirement, it's a promise. 44:46 Victory is not something that we have to conjure up, 44:49 it's the byproduct of having a triumphant 44:51 God living in our lives. 44:53 It's a gift and God is willing to give it to us. 44:57 I want to close by reading of one other life. 45:03 David Livingston and we have to read this quickly okay, 45:06 because we're running out of time. 45:10 An impossible life, 45:12 from childhood up an impossible life 45:15 the work of God, all the way through. 45:18 "David Livingston, listen up, 45:20 was born in Blantyre, Scotland 1813. 45:23 He was born into a home 45:24 where his father used to put him on his knee 45:26 and read him stories of great missionary exploits 45:29 one particularly, Karl GA 1/4tzlaff, 45:31 the Dutch missionary who doubled up 45:32 as a medical missionary too. 45:34 And young David used to look at his father's eyes 45:36 and say, "You know daddy, 45:37 one day I'm going to be a man like that" 45:40 I want to be a missionary, I want to be a doctor. 45:43 I want to serve God. 45:45 So David Livingston in his young life 45:47 got on his knees one day and prayed this prayer, 45:49 "Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. 45:55 Lay any burden on me only sustain me, sever any ties 45:58 but the ties that bind me to your service 46:00 and to your heart, I want that, I want that." 46:04 And he said, "Through it all the words of God came to me, 46:06 "Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the age." 46:09 He packed his bags and went off to Africa 46:11 and when he took one glimpse of Africa 46:13 in the distance from the ship deck, 46:14 he penned in his journals these words, 46:16 "The haunting specter of the smoke 46:18 of a thousand villages in the morning sun 46:20 has burned into my heart." 46:22 He married a woman of the famous Moffatt family, 46:24 Mary was her name, her father had been a great missionary. 46:27 But David Livingston's life was one of an explorer. 46:30 He would move from place to place, 46:31 his only goal was Jesus in the lives of men and women 46:34 thousands of them. 46:37 Finally, his wife and his young family 46:38 couldn't keep up with him anymore, 46:39 some of his children were dying of sickness disease he said, 46:41 "Mary why don't you to take them back home. 46:43 I will see you shortly. 46:44 I'll spend some time with you, it's too dangerous here. 46:47 So she went took them back home 46:48 and he continued on his travels. 46:49 And you know when he saw her again the next time. 46:52 Not five days, not five months but five years. 46:57 Five years later, when he set his eyes upon his wife 46:59 she could not recognize him, 47:01 because at one stage in his jungle travels 47:03 going to preach he had walked into the branch of a tree 47:06 that had completely blinded him in one eye 47:07 and marred the other. 47:09 His face had been burnt 47:10 under the African sun to a crisp of leather 47:12 and his skin wasn't pigmented for it 47:14 so he had roasted his skin to the point 47:16 where his body almost couldn't handle it any longer. 47:18 At one time, he had been, attacked by a lion 47:20 and he had torn his shoulder 47:21 and he just miraculously escaped. 47:23 When Mary saw her husband again, 47:25 hobbling in with a marred face and physical, 47:28 disfigured physical countenance 47:31 only hours before Livingston arrived 47:34 back in England they buried his father. 47:36 And Livingston when he got there wept 47:38 because he had missed his father's by a few hours 47:41 and he had wanted to tell him stories firsthand 47:43 that his father had told him third hand. 47:46 Biographical sketches tell us that when David Livingston 47:48 walked into every university in the British aisles, 47:50 students and faculty would rise to their feet 47:52 in a standing ovation. 47:54 They knew they were standing in the presence 47:56 of a giant of a man. 47:59 Finally, Livingston went back to his wife one day and said, 48:01 "Honey, the haunting specter 48:03 of the smoke of a thousand villages 48:05 is still burning in my heart, I have to go back." 48:07 They agreed that he would go back 48:09 they said that the Mary would stay back with the children 48:11 because they could not handle it again. 48:15 Several a while later Mary finally joined, 48:18 joined Livingston again 48:19 and the day she stepped foot on African soil, 48:22 that day she contracted a disease 48:24 that they so dreaded she would contract 48:25 and a few days later Livingston was burying her. 48:29 An eye witness said, David Livingston 48:30 knelt by the grave and was weeping his heart out 48:34 and they overheard him praying, "My Jesus, my king, 48:38 my life, my all again, 48:41 consecrate my life to thee 48:42 I shall place no value in anything I possess 48:46 or in anything I may do except in relation to thy Kingdom 48:49 and thy service and through it all he said, 48:52 "There came the words of God into my heart, 48:55 "Lo, I'm with you always even unto the end of the age." 48:59 He packed his belongings 49:01 and went back to his home town of Ujiji. 49:02 When he arrived there to his little home 49:04 he found someone had played a cruel trick on him 49:07 and had stolen the medication he so needed 49:09 because his body was racked with unbearable pain. 49:12 Those were the few times in his life 49:14 that he prayed for himself 49:16 he said, "God, you promised 49:17 that you would always be with me, 49:19 I need that medication 49:20 if I am to continue to preach the gospel." 49:23 And as he prayed he heard steps and as the story goes 49:25 he saw a pair of feet planted in front of him 49:27 and as his countenance lifted for the first time 49:29 he was looking into the face of a white man 49:31 who did not live in Africa who said the famous line. 49:35 "Dr Livingston I presume." 49:39 he said, "Yes, I feel thankful I'm here to welcome you." 49:42 He said, "Dr Livingston, I'm press reporter 49:44 consigned to do a story on your life 49:45 and I want you know two things about me. 49:48 The first, I'm the biggest 49:50 swaggering atheist on the planet. 49:52 Please don't try to convert me. 49:54 The second someone sent medication for you 49:58 he said, "Give me the medication please." 50:01 Mr. Henry M. Stanley started to travel with David Livingston 50:04 and four months later the biggest swaggering atheist 50:06 on the face of the earth melt down on African soil 50:09 and gave his life to Christ. 50:11 He said, "The power of that Christ life was awesome. 50:13 I had to buckle in 50:15 I could not hold out any longer." 50:18 Finally, with Livingston with his body began to shrivel 50:20 with the high temperatures and the pain 50:21 they used to carry him from village 50:23 to village on a stretcher 50:24 because he could not, 50:25 he could not stand or walk anymore. 50:28 One day as he was preaching 50:29 he was, he was feeling so badly, 50:30 he said to his African brothers 50:32 please take me home I'm very ill, 50:35 I need some sleep. 50:36 They took him back and as he got there, 50:37 they would put him in his bed and he said, 50:39 "Don't, don't put me in my bed 50:40 I want to help me on to my knees, 50:42 I want to pray." 50:43 So they put him on his knees and he began to pray, 50:46 his prayers were so profound, 50:48 his sanctuary with God so unique 50:49 that the African brothers thought it would be blasphemy 50:51 to stay in the presence of the single union 50:54 and communion with God. 50:55 They stepped out of the room. 50:56 Someone came running a little bit later, 50:58 said I need to see Dr Livingston 50:59 they said, "Quiet please, he's praying." 51:02 Shortly thereafter that they looked in, 51:04 he was still on his knees. 51:07 Five minutes after that they looked in, 51:08 he was still on his knees. 51:09 A while later they looked in again, 51:11 he was still on his knees and they were like 51:12 we just need to go put him to bed, he need sleep. 51:15 They went over one of them shook his shoulders said... 51:17 Livingston fell over. 51:23 He was dead. 51:25 He died exactly the way he had lived 51:26 in the presence of his Lord, he didn't run from God's voice, 51:29 he didn't wave a lamp that had no lighting. 51:31 He didn't sell out his soul to some earthly pleasure. 51:34 The haunting specter of the smoke 51:35 of a thousand villages had burned itself 51:37 within his heart until he could say, 51:39 "My Jesus, my King, my life, 51:42 my all I again consecrate myself to you." 51:47 By the way that life was impossible. 51:50 And we all may as well accept it right now. 51:52 It was impossible, it would be impossible for us 51:54 to live that life and it was impossible 51:56 also for David Livingston. 51:59 The only way is if the power of Christ 52:01 comes and dwells within us. 52:04 That's why we need a Savior, 52:07 that's why we have a theme, At the Cross. 52:11 Don't take what anybody says to you 52:12 at this conference for... don't take their word for it. 52:15 Go back and study the Word of God 52:17 and see if it is true. 52:20 We want the Almighty Jesus, we want the right Jesus, 52:23 we want the Jesus of the Bible, not Jesus of our own invention. 52:28 Because he stands ready and willing to pour his life 52:32 into the heart of anyone 52:34 who will lean on him and lean hard. 52:38 When the life of God is unleashed 52:41 in his people again the world will take note. 52:43 God does not stand back and say, 52:45 only once every half a century I will do, 52:48 I will live through someone like I lived 52:50 through David Livingston. 52:51 No, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro 52:54 throughout the whole earth 52:55 to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts 52:58 are perfect towards him. 53:02 We're going to sing a song as a family tonight. 53:06 My appeal to you is this, 53:09 where at the very beginning of GYC, 53:11 if you hear something that's impossible say, 53:13 "Praise the Lord" because it's his life not ours. 53:20 The only way we'll be able to live a life 53:22 that glorifies God is if we pour ourselves down 53:27 and lean on him, 53:29 if it's all him living in us. 53:34 I just want you to bow your heads 53:37 and pray through this 53:40 and right now lean on him, 53:44 lean hard even if you don't have the inclination, 53:47 if you don't know how ask him to show you and he will, 53:49 some, he will this weekend. 53:52 We're gonna sing a song called, "God Alone" 53:57 and just meditate on the words as we sing it. 54:24 God alone! 54:29 God alone! 54:35 In your courts, O my Lord, 54:41 is my home! 54:46 You are my treasure, 54:49 my portion Delight 54:52 of my soul! 54:57 My life, my salvation, 55:00 my fortress My God 55:04 and my all! 55:10 O my soul, 55:14 claim nothing as your own! 55:19 For you, 55:22 there is God And God alone! 55:33 God alone! 55:39 God alone! 55:46 In your courts, O my Lord, 55:51 is my home! 55:57 You are my treasure, my portion, 56:02 Delight of my soul! 56:09 My life, my salvation, 56:12 my fortress, 56:14 My God and my all! 56:22 O my soul, 56:26 claim nothing as your own! 56:31 For you, there is God, 56:37 And God alone! 56:45 O my soul, 56:49 claim nothing as your own! 56:55 For you, there is God, 57:02 And God alone! 57:10 Shall we kneel as which is possible 57:12 for prayer. 57:20 O Lord, most holy you know 57:25 how often I try in my own strength. 57:29 You know how often, 57:35 how often that amounts to futility. 57:40 Oh Jesus, let us see your preciousness. 57:45 This GYC, let us see who you are. 57:49 Let us see the possibilities 57:51 of what it means to have Christ dwell in us 57:54 the hope of glory. 57:57 Help us to be willing to renounce 58:00 the pleasures of Earth the pleasures of sin, 58:04 the pleasure of being self-satisfied. 58:07 Help us to learn to differentiate 58:09 between your call drawing us towards repentance 58:14 VS the condemnation of the enemy. 58:18 Oh Lord, please drive evil Angels 58:21 away from this place 58:23 and give us your spirit help us to lean on you. 58:30 Sweet Jesus help us to lean hard. 58:33 Please give me and give everyone here 58:37 the experience that these Christians have. 58:45 Your eyes are running to, and fro 58:47 throughout this room 58:51 make our hearts perfect toward you we pray, 58:56 be with us as we go into this conference. 58:59 Please give us your spirit and this night 59:03 help us to cast ourselves 59:05 helpless upon you be our great Savior. 59:10 We love you in Jesus name, amen. |
Revised 2020-09-15