Participants:
Series Code: 16GYC
Program Code: 16GYC000011A
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01:54 Today is the best day of the week.
01:57 It is the Sabbath of the Lord. 02:00 And we ought to rejoice in it. 02:03 Happy Sabbath. 02:06 Feliz Sábado. 02:09 Bon Sabbat. 02:11 And this one is a tricky one. 02:14 Gesegneten Sabbat. 02:18 Magadang Sabado. 02:22 Happy Sabbath. Amen. 02:24 - God is good ~ all the time. 02:27 - And all the time ~ God is good. 02:29 Amen. 02:31 I want to tell you that God gave us a reminder 02:34 of what He wants to do today. 02:36 Outside, it's raining. 02:39 Or it was raining. 02:41 And that is a reminder of what God wants to do 02:44 in our lives today. 02:46 Amen? 02:47 The showers of the Holy Spirit, by God's grace, 02:50 will fall on this place, as it has already been. 02:55 I want to read the Scripture reading for today. 02:59 It's found in 1 Peter 1:3-5. 03:07 Three to five. 1 Peter 1:3-5 03:13 If you have found it, please stand up with me. 03:20 Amen. 03:22 1 Peter 1:3-5 03:28 God's good Word says, if you have the King James Version, 03:31 with me join, it says, "Blessed be the God 03:35 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 03:39 which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again 03:44 unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 03:48 from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, 03:54 and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you..." 04:01 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 04:03 And may God be in this place. 04:06 In the name of Jesus, amen. 04:09 You may now be seated. 04:10 Welcome to GYC. 04:13 Lead me, Lord. 04:20 Lead me in Thy righteousness. 04:27 Make Thy way plain 04:33 before my face. 04:42 For it is Thou, Lord, 04:50 Thou, Lord, only 04:56 that makest me dwell 05:02 in safety. 05:18 As we come to worship this morning, turn your Bibles 05:21 with me to Psalm 95. 05:25 As we come into the house of the Lord, 05:27 may we prepare by reading His Word. 05:29 Psalm 95:1, the Bible says, "Oh come, let us sing to the LORD. 05:34 Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation." 05:39 As you wander the halls of GYC, as you see the exhibits 05:43 and the seminars and the workshops, 05:46 worship is a time that is special. 05:51 "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; 05:53 Let us joyfully sing about Him and shout to Him with psalms." 05:58 May this worship experience, as we come today, 06:01 be something different, something unique, 06:03 something set apart. 06:05 As the Israelites came to worship God, they continued 06:08 in Psalm 95:3, "For the LORD is the great God, 06:12 the great King above all gods. 06:14 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; 06:17 the heights of the hills are His also. 06:20 The sea is His, for He made it; 06:22 and His hands formed the dry land." 06:27 Psalm 95:6 06:30 When all has been heard, "Oh come, let us worship 06:35 and bow down." 06:37 When all has been heard, "Let us kneel before 06:40 the LORD our Maker." 06:43 When all has been heard. 06:46 "For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture 06:50 and the sheep of His hand." 06:54 As we come into worship this Sabbath morning, 06:58 when all has been heard, "Today, if you will hear His voice: 07:05 'Do not harden your hearts...'" 07:10 Brothers and sisters, even as we come into the presence 07:13 of the Lord, Prophets and Kings, page 48, 07:18 "True reverence for God is inspired by a sense 07:22 of His infinite greatness and a realization of His presence." 07:29 As we come before Him this morning, 07:32 when all has been said and heard, 07:37 when the choir and the orchestra and the preacher goes, 07:40 and the lights are dim, may our hearts be open 07:46 to receive the Holy Spirit. 07:54 Let's sing this morning together a number of hymns 07:57 lifting up the name of our God. 07:58 We will start with, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, 08:02 the King of Creation. 08:04 Join us as we sing. 10:24 One of the most beautiful things about praise 10:26 is that we are given the opportunity as Christians, 10:29 not just to make praise an action or a choice that we make, 10:34 a thing that we do with our mouths, 10:38 but a thing we do with our lives. 10:40 If we submit to live praise out, then by definition 10:46 our lives become an invitation to do what we believe in; 10:50 which is, lift up the name of our God. 10:54 It is my prayer that, GYC, each and every life represented here 10:58 in this room will be lived in such a way, 11:01 especially going from this place, that it is an invitation 11:04 to others; to those we love, to those who love us, 11:08 and to those we've never met, to worship the King. 11:11 Join us; O Worship the King, All Glorious Above. 13:43 Beautiful. 13:44 One last song together this morning as we raise our voices 13:48 in praise to God. 13:50 One last invitation to the world around us to come 13:54 and do as we desire to do with our hearts, with our mouths, 13:57 with our lives. 13:59 Come, Christians, Join to Sing; 14:01 Alleluia, Amen. 16:21 Amen. 16:24 Every year hundreds of hours go into planning GYC 16:30 by many volunteers who sacrifice their time and their resources. 16:34 And at the end of the day, sometimes we're tempted 16:36 to wonder, "Does it really make a difference 16:39 in the lives of people?" 16:42 I want to ask you, how many of you went on outreach last year? 16:46 Did you go on outreach last year in Louisville, Kentucky? 16:50 Well this year we have an interesting 16:51 testimony to share with you. 16:53 And I brought along Brittney Fletcher. 16:55 And Brittney, can you explain to us why it is that you're here 16:59 and why I'm holding a survey in my hand from last year's GYC? 17:04 Last year, actually New Year's, I stepped outside of my house 17:08 to take out the trash, and along the sidewalk 17:12 came up a young man. 17:13 He introduced himself, and I cannot remember his name, 17:16 but he just was like, "Why don't you fill out this survey, 17:20 you know, and kind of see if there's anything that 17:22 you would be interested in doing." 17:24 And so he handed me the survey and handed me a pen, 17:26 and I looked through it and filled it out. 17:28 So now as I look at this survey, which is the original survey 17:31 she filled out, it seems like you circled everything 17:34 to do with spiritual help. 17:36 What is it that led you to that point? 17:39 Well, throughout my entire life I know that I have been blessed. 17:42 I've been raised in a comfortable home, 17:45 I made great grades, I felt like I was a good person. 17:50 And so something was greatly missing. 17:52 And I was very active in my church. 17:54 I tried to do different things to kind of fill that hole. 17:58 You know, teach the youth, be a leader, whatever I could do. 18:01 But I didn't have that foundation with the Bible. 18:04 And in my heart, I think God put it on me 18:05 to know that's what I needed. 18:07 So you were leading in your church. 18:08 You went to an Episcopal church, you were saying. 18:10 You were active in it, but yet you still felt like 18:12 you needed more. - Yes. 18:14 So the Bible worker came back, and it took 18:16 a little bit of time. 18:18 How did that all work out? 18:20 Well the survey was handed to me on New Year's Day, 18:23 so January 1st, and I didn't hear anything 18:26 initially until about May. 18:28 And I was not at the door when this happened. 18:30 My mom told me that someone came to give me Bible studies. 18:35 And now as we look at the back of this survey, 18:37 we had a faithful Bible worker who tracked all of the times 18:40 that he came to her door. 18:42 And he came six times until he finally met you. 18:46 Yes. 18:47 Now this Bible worker came, he meets you, 18:50 you have the first study. 18:52 What did you think as you started studying the Bible? 18:54 Was there anything new? What was your experience like? 18:57 Wow, I didn't have a very good foundation, 19:00 and I was so hungry that, honestly, I soaked it all in. 19:03 So I might have had some questions, but it was 19:06 based in the Bible, I saw every piece of evidence right there. 19:10 I just held onto it and I just took faith. 19:12 Amen. 19:14 So here you are in your 20's, 19:16 and the Bible is still relevant to you today. 19:18 And it made a difference in your life just studying 19:21 the Bible truths, seeing Jesus in a clearer way. 19:24 Well now by God's grace, here it is, 19:26 after a little bit of time, December 17th of this year... 19:30 How many days ago was that? 19:31 ...fourteen days ago, Brittney, by the grace of God, 19:35 decided to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 19:37 - Can you say amen? ~ Amen. 19:39 So Brittney joins the Seventh-day Adventist Church 19:42 by the moving of the Holy Spirit and the cooperation 19:46 of people looking for souls. 19:49 Now fourteen days later here you are at GYC. 19:52 Now yesterday we did this interesting 19:53 thing called outreach. 19:55 I don't know if they've heard about it. 19:56 But during outreach, Brittney went out, 20:00 and by God's grace three to four people signed up 20:03 for Bible studies. 20:06 You know, as we're seeing the working of the Holy Spirit 20:09 through the moving of God on this earth, 20:11 it's without doubt that God's work is being successful. Amen? 20:16 God is leading people who didn't know Him 20:19 to be reached through GYC, and then go to reach others. 20:23 Brittany, we are so inspired to see what God is doing 20:25 in your life, and we know that He's going to 20:27 continue to move richly. 20:29 Now we also have one other person 20:31 here with us this morning. 20:33 His name is David Paño. 20:34 Now after outreach yesterday, I have to explain 20:37 something to you, we made an appeal 20:39 for you to go on outreach. 20:41 And the leadership of GYC wanted to go as well, 20:43 but were working logistics. 20:44 But we decided that we would get in a van 20:46 and go on outreach as well. 20:48 And David, being part of GYC, we all got together. 20:51 Can you explain what happened yesterday? 20:54 Well yesterday after everybody was gone, 20:57 we took a van; and there was the president of GYC, Moise, 21:02 president of Columbia Union, and Taylor and myself. 21:07 We went and we were trying to find a place, 21:10 because we didn't have maps. 21:12 And we were thinking, maybe we will go to the parks 21:16 around the area. 21:18 But somebody decided to go to another neighborhood. 21:22 And when we got there, I'll say that it was not 21:27 high class, nor middle class area; Hispanic community. 21:33 So we were divided. 21:35 Taylor and I, we were on the left side, 21:39 Moise Ratsara and the Union president was on the other side. 21:43 So we started passing GLOW tracts. 21:46 And as were were going, we started talking, Taylor, 21:49 like we are passing GLOW tracts here, pretty much in the ghetto, 21:53 and we are in suits and ties and trying to do outreach. 21:58 This looks weird. 22:00 And we were talking about that, like, "Oh, maybe nobody is 22:02 going to open the door to us." 22:04 So we kept going, and as we were knocking on the doors 22:09 we got to one door. 22:11 And I knocked on the door, nobody answered. 22:16 Left a tract. 22:17 And when I was leaving, a lady came in the back 22:21 and she says, "What's happening?" 22:23 I just turned back and I was like, I approached her, 22:25 "Hi, my name is David. This is a gift for you." 22:28 And she grabs this tract in Spanish, and she says, 22:33 "Is this the Jehovah Witnesses?" 22:34 I was like, "No Ma'am, this is Christian." 22:36 "Are you sure?" "Yes, it is Christian." 22:39 And she backs off and she says, "I have chills right now." 22:43 I was like, "What's happening?" 22:44 She said, "You don't understand. I have chills right now." 22:47 And I was like, "What is happening?" 22:49 And she says, "David, you know, I'm hearing voices, 22:52 I've been having dreams. 22:54 This must be from God. 22:55 This is from God. This is from God." 22:57 This is what happened. 22:58 When she came out she was not well dressed. 23:02 She was so busy in her home. 23:05 And when she was busy and doing certain things, 23:09 she heard voices. 23:11 And the voices were like, "Sshhh." 23:12 Like, "Come on, keep it quiet." 23:15 And she was like, "What's going on?" 23:18 And then she heard it again, like, "Sshhh." 23:20 And she could hear the knocking at the door. 23:24 And she came out. 23:25 And she said, "David, and not just that. 23:29 Not too long ago I had a dream. 23:31 And in my dream there were two ministers 23:34 of the Word of God coming to my house handing me literature 23:38 with the Word of God. 23:39 And I knew they were not Jehovah Witnesses." 23:43 And I was alone, by that time Taylor went ahead, 23:47 so it was just me with her. 23:49 And I was like, "Oh, she said two ministers. 23:52 So where's Taylor right now?" 23:53 So what happened is, like, Taylor runs out of tracts, 23:59 so he comes back to me. 24:01 So we approach, and she's like, "David, this is from God. 24:05 Because in my dream, I saw two ministers 24:08 with the Word of God handing hope to me. 24:11 And I heard the voice from heaven saying, 24:13 'This is your last chance.' 24:17 And then I had another dream, 24:19 where rivers of blood were running and running. 24:23 And I heard another voice saying, 'I'm coming back soon.'" 24:28 And then she broke down, and she said, "Please, please, 24:32 pray for me. 24:34 I need Jesus in my life." 24:36 In the middle of that, we were like so shocked, 24:39 we prayed for her. 24:40 She signed up for Bible studies, she's moving to San Antonio. 24:43 And I don't know if you noticed, the theme of this GYC is 24:47 in regards to the judgment. 24:49 And this is the last warning of this world. 24:52 And this is already happening. 24:54 My friends, by God's grace the Lord is working 24:58 in amazing ways. 24:59 - Amen? ~ Amen. 25:01 And we have an opportunity to continue 25:03 to be co-laborers with God. 25:07 Now as GYC runs, it's a volunteer organization. 25:11 No one gets paid. No one has a salary. 25:14 It's all run by donations and the support of young people 25:17 around the world. 25:18 This morning we have an opportunity. 25:20 There are offering envelopes on your seat or in your hands, 25:23 and we would invite you to take this and prayerfully consider 25:27 what the Lord is asking you to give 25:29 to continue to support the work of more Brittany's 25:32 being brought to the Lord, 25:33 of more ladies who are having visions of 25:36 Jesus' soon coming to be reached, by God's grace. 25:39 I pray that you would prayerfully consider 25:42 the offering that the Lord is asking you to give. 25:45 You can also donate online. 25:46 There is an option there at gycweb.org/give. 25:51 We ask that you would not give your tithes here, 25:53 but any offering that would go to support the work of the Lord 25:57 we pray that you would give it at this time. 26:21 Speak, O Lord, as we come to You 26:28 to receive the food of Your Holy Word. 26:36 Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; 26:42 shape and fashion us in Your likeness, 26:50 that the light of Christ may be seen today 26:57 in our acts of love and our deeds of faith. 27:05 Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us 27:12 all Your purposes for Your glory. 27:27 Teach us, Lord, full obedience, 27:33 holy reverence, true humility. 27:41 Test our thoughts and our attitudes 27:47 in the radiance of Your purity. 27:56 Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see 28:03 Your majestic love and authority. 28:13 Words of power that can never fail, 28:19 let their truth prevail over unbelief. 28:40 Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds. 28:46 Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us: 28:55 truths unchanged from the dawn of time 29:01 that will echo down through eternity. 29:13 And by grace we'll stand on Your promises, 29:21 and by faith we'll walk as You walk with us. 29:30 Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built 29:36 and the earth is filled with Your glory. 30:05 Speak, O Lord, as we come to You 30:12 to receive the truth 30:16 of Your Holy Word. 30:36 Amen. 30:38 Happy Sabbath, GYC. 30:41 There's just a trickle of blessings that have been 30:44 happening since the beginning of this conference. 30:47 And this morning something big is about to happen. 30:51 No, not this morning, but some day soon. 30:55 Christ is coming. 30:58 God is coming so soon. 31:00 You know why? 31:01 Because His people are taking Him seriously. 31:04 This morning when we had a prayer session, 31:08 at 5:05 I went to the prayer room. 31:11 I said, I was a bit late yesterday. 31:13 I went at 5:30 and there was already 31:15 one person who was there. 31:17 Two persons who were there. 31:18 But this time was the same thing. 31:21 Two persons were there. 31:22 And when we were praying, at 6:00 the room was almost filled. 31:29 And before we even began, the room was filled up. 31:33 My dear friends, the room overflowed. 31:36 People were kneeling outside. 31:40 And the Spirit of the Lord descended. 31:43 My dear friends, if we take God seriously 31:47 He will take us seriously. 31:49 And He is coming soon. 31:52 Aren't you excited? 31:54 And I know, if you have that thought, 31:55 you cannot stop smiling either. 31:59 We know that a lot of you have not visited the prayer room yet. 32:04 So we will have another prayer session. 32:05 If you'll see in your schedule, it's 1:30. 32:08 We moved it to 2:00 this afternoon until 2:45. 32:12 So for those of you who have missed it, 32:14 don't miss this chance. 32:16 And I guess if there is one thing that we would request 32:19 of the next GYC, if we still have another GYC next year, 32:24 we will request for a bigger prayer room. 32:26 ~ Amen. 32:28 Maybe this size. 32:32 And one person approached me after the prayer. 32:36 He stood beside a door, 32:38 he was waiting for people to finish talking. 32:41 And then when I approached him, he just hugged me. 32:44 He hugged me so tight. 32:46 And then later on, I could sense that he was crying. 32:50 And when I let go, he said, "And to think that 32:54 I was not planning to come here." 32:58 My dear friends, if the Spirit is asking you to go, 33:02 do not hold back. 33:04 Do not hold back. 33:05 Do not miss out on this wonderful opportunity 33:09 to be closer with God. 33:11 This particular time, we will be spending time in prayer. 33:15 And as we have done in the previous nights, 33:18 we were grouping into two's and three's. 33:20 This time, no. 33:21 This time is going to be you and the Lord. 33:23 We'll be having four prayer leaders here. 33:26 Brother Jonathan will be praying the praise. 33:29 Pastor Sebastian will be praying the confession. 33:32 Sister Melody will be doing the supplication. 33:35 And sister Melissa will be doing the thanksgiving. 33:38 After each and every prayer leader has prayed, 33:42 you have 30 seconds one on one with God. 33:46 Speak to Him directly. 33:49 Take Him seriously. 33:51 But before that, I'd like to read this wonderful quote, 33:54 one of my favorite quotes. 33:55 It's found in, Desire of Ages, page 688. 33:59 It says, "He is well pleased when we make the very highest 34:04 demands upon Him, that we may glorify His name. 34:08 They may expect large things if they have 34:12 faith in His promises." 34:14 My dear friends, this is the time to ask for more. 34:18 Praise Him for more. 34:20 Confess deeper. 34:23 Pray more and thank Him for more. 34:27 Let us spend that time in prayer. 34:39 Father, we come before You with praise in our hearts 34:43 and our lives. 34:44 You are our God. 34:46 You're the God of creation, the God of salvation, 34:50 the God of re-creation, the God of glory. 34:53 We praise You for Your beauty, Your truth, and Your life. 34:58 You are the one we adore. 35:00 We love You, Lord. 35:02 You are truly our God. 35:06 You are our righteousness. 35:09 You're our great High Priest. 35:11 God, we praise You with all of our hearts. 35:28 Our Father, we confess this morning 35:34 that we were not worthy to receive another day of life. 35:38 But because of what Jesus has done, 35:41 You extended Your mercies to us one more time. 35:45 Father, we have not known You as we ought. 35:49 We've neglected the time in prayer and in Your Word. 35:53 We fail to open our hearts to God as to a friend. 35:58 We fail to invite Jesus into every aspect of our experience 36:02 and to make His Word our counselor. 36:05 Father, we haven't feared You as we ought to have feared You, 36:09 to have a sense of Your presence in all places 36:12 and at all times. 36:13 Forgive us, Lord, for our lack of reverence, 36:15 to approach a Holy God with a casual nature. 36:20 Father, we pray that You would forgive us, 36:22 for we have not loved and served as we ought. 36:27 And Lord, we pray that You would forgive us 36:30 for not seeking corporately, for not coming together 36:34 more often as we see the day of Jesus drawing nearer. 36:38 Forgive us, Lord, for being caught up in the things 36:40 of this world and forgetting the next. 36:43 Forgive us, Father, for mixing up our priorities 36:47 and putting last things first, and leaving Him who has 36:50 given all for us as last. 36:54 Father, forgive us for being afraid to be radical, 36:59 and being willing to surrender everything on the 37:01 altar of Jesus' love and to bear our cross in this generation. 37:07 Father, we pray that You'll forgive us for our sins 37:12 that have grieved Your heart. 37:21 Dear heavenly Father, we just praise You for Your forgiveness. 37:24 And You tell us now to come boldly to Your throne of grace. 37:28 And Father, we want to come. 37:30 You tell us in Your Word in James 4:2 that we don't have 37:33 because we don't ask. 37:35 Father, please forgive us for not asking. 37:37 Right now, Father, we want to make big requests. 37:41 We've seen and we've heard the messages today 37:44 and over the last few days, and our hearts have been pricked. 37:47 We've been convicted. 37:48 And Father, may we not leave this place 37:51 with these convictions, but may we act upon them. 37:56 Father, You tell us in Psalm 2:8, "Ask of Me 38:00 and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance, 38:03 and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." 38:07 You tell us, Father, to ask. 38:09 It seems impossible, Father. 38:11 How can we do what You've called us to do? 38:13 But You say You will work through us. 38:15 You say You will give us Your Spirit. 38:17 And that's what we desperately need. 38:19 You even tell us in Joshua 23:10, 38:21 "One man of you shall chase a thousand: 38:23 for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, 38:26 as he hath promised you." 38:29 Father, we desperately need increased faith. 38:33 We need You to break our hearts with the things that 38:35 break Your hearts. 38:37 And Father, we're asking today that You would do 38:40 what we cannot do for ourselves. 38:42 And that is, help us to truly die to self and to surrender. 38:46 We cannot crucify self, Father. 38:49 Only You can do this for us. 38:51 But You promise, You told us through the words of inspiration 38:54 that, "The Lord can do more in one hour than we can 38:56 do in a whole lifetime. 38:58 And when He sees that His people are fully consecrated, 39:01 let me tell you, a great work will be done in a short time, 39:05 and the message of truth will be carried into the dark places 39:08 of the earth, where it has never been proclaimed." 39:11 So Father, we are asking for big things today. 39:14 And we thank You. 39:16 As You tell us in Jeremiah 33, "Call upon Me and I will 39:19 answer thee and show thee great and mighty things 39:22 which thou knowest not." 39:24 Right now, as we take a few seconds to pray, 39:26 convict us of what You are asking us to do. 39:36 Father, we want to thank You, Lord, for Your word 39:40 that says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. 39:43 And again I say rejoice." 39:44 Father, we lack giving You thanksgiving. 39:47 We lack giving You the credit of the things in our lives. 39:53 Father, Your Word says it is good to give 39:56 thanks to the Lord. 39:57 Oh Father, please, may there be thanksgiving 40:01 that is on our tongues at all times. 40:04 Especially when we go through trials, Father. 40:06 We want to thank You for the roof over our head, 40:10 we thank You for the family, the friends, 40:12 we thank You for bringing us here at GYC. 40:15 We thank You, Father, that You are working in our hearts. 40:19 But Father, we thank You mostly that You sent 40:22 Your only Son to die for us. 40:25 And so, Father, we just want to take the last few seconds 40:30 just giving You thanksgiving. 40:32 Place upon our hearts thanksgiving. 40:46 Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, 40:53 pure and holy, tried and true. 41:02 With thanksgiving I'll be a living 41:11 sanctuary for You. 41:19 For we pray this in the loving name of Your Son Jesus. 41:23 Amen. |
Revised 2017-11-21