GYC 2015: Called. Chosen. Faithful.

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Plenary

Natasha Dysinger

Keynote Address

This message was presented at the GYC 2015 conference called Chosen Faithful in Louisville, Kentucky.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

You know, many people this weekend will probably come up here and call you GYC, but to me, this evening, you are my friend.

I know that there's a big stage up here, there's beautiful flowers, all the lights, but in many ways, in all ways, the people that you see up here are really very ordinary people, just like you.

I have the privilege of introducing you to our speaker this evening.

She's someone that I've known for a very, very long time, it actually struck me just today, that I've almost known her for half of my life.

Known her for a very long time, and she's someone that has grown very near and dear to my heart.

Near and dear to my heart because we share a heart passion to see the majesty and the glory of God return into the lives and the hearts of this generation, to return into my life and into my heart.

I simply want to share with you some of the heartbeat that I know pulses through her veins.

First of all, she has a heart, a deep sincerity, and a heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A heart for the work of God here in this world.

And a heart that is touched for the weak and the broken, for the orphan and for the trafficked.

It's a heart that pulses with the heart of Christ as he looks on to a broken world.

Many of you may not know, in fact probably most of you do not know, the sacrifice that she has gone through simply to stand on this stage in front of you.

She has a heart to lay everything on the altar to see our Savior lifted up.

And she also has a heart in a generation where there is so much confusion, in a generation where we have strayed so far from the image of God in humanity.

She has a heart for biblical femininity, to stand as a woman in an age where we hardly know what it means to truly be a woman and to be a man.

She caught this vision at a very young age, and I can truly tell you that I know no 1 that has the ability to honor and to respect and to build those in her life, especially the men in her life, and to lift up the cross of Jesus Christ.

She, As I've already mentioned, she's someone that is very near and dear to our hearts, and to be—to my heart, and to be very honest with you, we share this heart pulse, this passion.

Honestly, We are somewhat tired of stages and lights and pretty flowers and beautiful music.

Oh, that the glory of God would come into this place.

That the Spirit of God would fall on our hearts, that we would truly see him face to face.

And so this evening I introduce to you Not a president, but a princess.

And not just any princess, but my princess and my beloved fiancee, Natasha Neblett.

I'd like Natasha to come up onto the stage now.

Sweetheart, we share a passion for the vision of seeing God's majesty return to this world.

And I challenge you this morning, I mean this evening, as you speak, Be not afraid of their faces, for it is the Lord our God that goes with you.

We live in a generation that frankly, we're tired of politically correct speeches.

We want to hear the undiluted Word of God.

I challenge you to be bold and to stand and share the Word with strength and with power.

And I challenge you to humility, because ultimately, we are simply dust in His hands.

You and I are simply here to wash the feet of those we come in contact with.

Our Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Holy Spirit would come and wash over my beloved fiance as she shares your word this evening.

Father, I pray that you would take our minds off of any form of production and stages and lights, and that you would face, that we would see your face, that your Holy Spirit would enter this building and enter our hearts with power and with glory, that we would go from this place knowing that you are our almighty God and with a love that is built.

Father, I pray that you would put your words into Natasha's mouth, that You would give her boldness to speak your word, and that she would be given humility to forever stand humbly before your throne.

We pray that you would Take each 1 of our hearts and soften them this morning, this evening.

Soften them before You because all of us are simply dust in Your hands.

It is so good to see the work of a whole year coming to reality in the faces that are in this room, and GYC actually taking place.

It's such a blessing to know that how much we have leaned on God and prayed hours and hours worth of prayer is coming to reality and God will bless.

Something about my fiancé and his very kind introduction.

Something about GYC and my fiancé and myself, 2 years ago right before Orlando in 2013, the day before GYC Orlando began, he asked to court me.

So I was like all, you know, surprised and everything throughout Orlando.

And then 1 week before Phoenix, last year, he asked me to marry him.

And now in 45 days from today, we're gonna get married on Valentine's Day.

He has put a lot into supporting me and I'm so thankful and my family as well.

All of my family is here tonight, including my sister and brother-in-law and niece and nephew.

They're missionaries to Africa and last year they were in Africa while we were at Phoenix, but this year, because of my wedding in 45 days, their schedule has changed and they're here at GYC.

And that means so much to me and my parents and my brothers and all those who have sacrificed so much to support me over this last term as being president of GYC.

And I'll have to be honest with you, the last several months, I have been thinking and a question has been going over and over again in my mind, and that is if I never had the chance to speak with any of you again, what would I want to be sure I had communicated to you tonight?

Because this is the opening night of GYC, but it is also, in many respects, my closing message to you because after a wonderful term of being president of GYC, I'm getting married and so I'm stepping down as president and being replaced by an extremely, extremely capable president and extremely capable team.

And I am so excited for where God will lead GYC under Moise's leadership.

But I'm stepping down and so this is my last opportunity to share with you as president of GYC.

And so I've been thinking about, you know, thinking about the last term, thinking about my years before that as VP of Logistics for GYC, thinking about this movement, which has become so special to me, so precious to me, thinking about our God.

What would be what I want to share with you if it's my last opportunity to share?

So that's what I want to talk to you about tonight.

Tonight's message is going to be quite a personal 1 for me.

And don't expect a big professional presentation, don't even expect a comprehensive treatise of the subject.

I'm just going to be sharing with you what has been going through my mind for the last couple months and what God has really been pressing on my heart as I've been coming to the very end of my presidency, but by no means coming to the end of my involvement in this movement and my belief in it and my prayers for it.

So before I get in and share, Let's have 1 more prayer.

Heavenly Father, You know I've not had as much quiet today as I would have liked to have had and as much time to reflect in my message as I like, but ultimately, Father, this does not need to be me.

It needs to be you, And you can use me whether I am feeling all collected or if I'm not.

So I pray that you would put your hand upon me and your words in my mouth and that I would just be seated in Christ's stead and that all of me would be put out of the way, and that all of you would come to the front.

Give me your spirit, I pray, and give your spirit to all those that are here.

So it's kind of anticlimactic technically to share the point of my message at the very beginning, you know, before I've even gotten into it, but I'm going to tonight because I don't have, I don't have time in my presentation to just kind of talk away before I get down to my real point.

So I'm just going to tell you the point of my message right now, and that's love.

And really actually tonight is kind of part 1 of my seminar because this has been on my mind so much.

Our unofficial condensed mission statement as GYC, because all of us in this room are GYC, is that we are a movement of young people on a mission to take the 3 angels' messages to the entire world in this generation.

And while, of course, we cannot actually measure a spiritual thing by earthly measures, yet at the same time it is a very defined goal.

The 3 angels' messages, entire world, this generation.

And so as I have been president of GYC, I have often spent a lot of time thinking about, are we accomplishing what we set out to do?

Are we taking the 3 Angels message to the entire world in this generation.

Elder Tricartan was up here talking earlier, and he's gonna have a seminar about the Middle East.

Has GYC done anything about the Middle East?

Have we done anything about India, the 1040 window?

I mean, it's like the need is so enormous and what we're actually saying is that every single person in all of those countries will hear the 3 angels messages and the messages that we have as Seventh-day Adventists in this generation, us.

So that we're not gonna get old and die and then our kids get, you know, whatever before Jesus comes.

We're actually saying, no, that's gonna happen before then.

And I think, what's it gonna take for that really to take place?

And of course, we can't always see the movement of God on people's hearts.

Sebastien Braxton

Come Back

I'm sure I love Jesus And why do you love Jesus?

That's why I love Jesus because he first loved me.

How many of you that's why you're here tonight?

I cannot tell you how excited I am right now.

We have the privilege of coming together from several countries, from several states, from several towns, from several spiritual experiences to seek Jesus at 1 time in 1 place through his word.

I want you to know that before we begin tonight I must ask for a few favors.

My first favor is we must be praying through the entire sermon.

I want you to be praying through the entire sermon, Lord, speak to me.

That's the first prayer and the second prayer is, Lord, give me courage to do what you want me to do.

Lord, speak to me and Lord, give me courage to do what you're calling me to do.

My second favor is, is that if God speaks to you throughout the message or something resonates with your heart, we don't need to applause, we don't need to clap, we can just say, Amen.

And for some reason people think if you say amen, oh that that's the black church.

No, the Bible says that's going to be the last word when all is said and done.

But before we officially begin, I want you to bow your heads with me and you can kneel as much as possible.

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, we are here before you in Louisville.

We have not come to this place for more of the same.

We have not come to this place just to check off our list another GYC that we have attended.

We have come to experience something that will move the kingdom of God on earth forward.

And so we pray Lord that don't just speak to us in an average way.

Lord just don't give us the same old sermons.

We are praying that at this moment God would be in this place.

And because we sense that God is here, let every voice be hushed.

And that the world, when it has come to an end, and you take over the affairs of this planet, May the universe look back in Louisville and say that out of this little city, God had begun something that has started the domino effect of the final events of earth's history.

Revive us again and help us above all else to see, to know, and to love Jesus.

This is our prayer and we trust that you will help this to be our experience for we ask in the mighty name of Jesus let all of God's people say the title of my The title of my message is Come Back.

I want you to know tonight that as we begin this presentation that beliefs lead to behaviors.

You see there is a story about a young man.

Today was the day that this young man was going to finally approach the prettiest girl in his high school history class, Sandra, and invite her out in his new Honda Accord for some food and fun.

He believed that she was single and clearly waiting for the right guy to come along and treat her as she deserved, like a respectful, intelligent, young, seven-day-adventist young woman.

And he believed that he was the man for the job because beliefs lead to behaviors.

As the class bell rang, he hunted her down amidst the passing students as they left their classrooms for the last time that week.

As she turned around, startled by his hand, He politely apologized and began to start the small talk.

As he finally came to his well-crafted appeal for dinner and a movie, She smiled and said, well my boyfriend has a football game this weekend and I'll probably be spending it with him.

He plays for the rival school's football team but you're so cute for asking.

And I walked away devastated because beliefs lead to behaviors you see since the dawn of time this has always been true Eve believed that the tree was desirable to make 1 wise.

Her belief didn't make it true, and it didn't make it any less impactful on human history.

And so she ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Cain believed that he could be accepted by God through the sacrifice of his best fruits without blood And so he came boldly before the Lord without that which God had requested and expected to be accepted by God because beliefs lead to behaviors.

Even in the Dark Ages, Luther believed that painful penance was required for forgiveness.

So he crawled up the steps of an enormous cathedral upon his knees, begging for God's mercy on every single step because beliefs lead to behaviors.

There was a man inside the KKK that believed he was superior to a black man simply because of the color of his own skin.

So he hung the man and his family from the highest tree in town because beliefs lead to behaviors.

There is a man that believed that he was more worthy of voting because of his gender so he instituted laws preventing women from voting because beliefs lead to behaviors.

Hitler believed in the superiority of his people, so he systematically executed millions that were different because beliefs lead to behaviors.

Hutus believed that Tutsis were a scourge to be removed from the earth, so they hunted them down with machetes and killed them.

A million in 3 months because beliefs lead to behaviors.

The Japanese at 1 point believed that Koreans were beneath them, so they turned their women into comfort women, because beliefs lead to behaviors.

There was a young woman last year, sat on the phone, and she could not pray.

Why is it that these behaviors were so difficult?

Well, as the conversation went on, it also became clear that she believed that God hated her.

And she said, Sebastian, all I'm praying is that God doesn't hate me, that God has not cast me off, that God is no longer interested in my eternal well-being.

It makes perfect sense why you don't want to come to his house.

It makes perfect sense why you don't want to read his word.

It makes perfect sense why you don't want to fellowship with his people in his church.

It makes perfect sense you don't want to do things on his time and you definitely are not pursuing his will because beliefs lead to behaviors but you see among the most important beliefs in life is who you believe who you are.

But unfortunately for many of us, we are going through an identity crisis and in many ways our church is going through the Same thing.

Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, he gives an account of what happens to the human soul when it doubts its own purpose.

He says, for The secret of man's being is not only to live, but to live for something definite.

Without a firm notion of what he is living for, man will not accept life and will rather destroy himself than remain on earth.

You see, some people believe that we are constrained to be who we are by the categories by which they separate us.

So Marxists believe that we are interpreted by categories of class.

Freudians believe that we are separated by childhood neuroses, feminists by gender, pop commentators by your generation.

These are the baby boomers, these are the Gen Xers, these are the Millennials, this is the helicopter generation.

So therefore we believe that, oh I'm constrained to be this way.

So we explain our behaviors, we explain what we like and what we don't like because I'm a Millennial.

Because I'm a Gen Xer, I'm all about family life.

When the Bible is all about family life it doesn't matter your generation but you see other people believe that we must have the courage to be in other words we must decide who we want to be.

I remember growing up, my father used to tell me that 1 of his favorite poems was the poem about Invictus, captain of my own soul.

Don’t Doubt in the Darkness What God Shows You in the Light

I'm sure I love Jesus And why do you love Jesus, because He first loved me.

How many of you guys, that's why you're here tonight, because you love Jesus?

The devil trying to give me a little cold, so that means it's got to get a little hotter in the sermon.

I want you to take your Bibles and go with me to Revelation chapter 12.

And we're going to have a word of prayer together.

Father in heaven, just want to thank you, Lord, that we have come safely through another week.

Here we are on the very edges of this holy day.

Father, We just pray that this would afford sweet hours of communion.

We just pray that as we bring in the new year, almost upon a Sabbath, We pray that we would learn to rest in you, Lord.

We ask tonight that as we look at your word, that you would speak through this man who is but dust in your sight.

We pray, Lord, that you would not only speak through me, that you would speak to me.

And we are praying that Jesus would be seen and he would be high and lifted up and we pray that in his name that you would banish all things that are not of his kingdom from this place.

And Lord that you would allow us to be revived by that Spirit that is coming in the name that is above every name.

That is coming in a name that is the only name given among men whereby we must be saved.

And that is the same name we offer this prayer.

Prayer in Jesus name amen brothers and sisters I think I found the devil's least favorite chapter in the Bible.

In Revelation 12, the Bible says, beginning in verse 3, And another sign appeared in heaven.

Behold, a great fiery red dragon, having 7 heads and 10 horns and 7 diadems on his heads.

And his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born.

She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was not consumed by the dragon, but the child was caught up to God and to his throne.

I think I've found the devil's least favorite chapter.

You see, the Bible says in verse 6, then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by who?

By God, that they should feed her there 1, 260 days.

I think I found the devil's least favorite chapter in verse 7 The Bible says and war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought But the Bible says but they did not prevail.

Nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

I think I found the devil's least favorite chapter.

But it goes on to tell us, it says, Then I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down.

I think I found the devil's least favorite chapter and the Bible says in the next verse, and they overcame him, singular, the devil, the dragon, that old serpent, Satan.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death.

I think I found the devil's least favorite chapter in the Bible.

It goes on to say, Therefore rejoice, O heavens!

It's not only that the brother is defeated, people are rejoicing in your defeat.

And you who dwell on them, woe unto the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.

The Bible says in verse 13, that when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

But the woman was given 2 wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

But as if that wasn't enough, verse 15 says, So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

But, the Bible says, the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

Time and time again the devil has been getting it, whether it be on heaven or whether it be on earth.

Every single time the devil has a plan, Revelation 12 reminds us the devil's plans have always failed.

Time and time again, the devil doesn't want you reading this chapter to remind you how many times Christ has sent him away with his tail between his legs.

This is the devil's least favorite chapter, but there's 1 last verse.

You know, when I was growing up, I recently went to my uncle's funeral, and 1 of my youngest uncles, he used to babysit me as a kid.

And he said, Sebastian, you know, of course, you know, your family always wants to bring up the embarrassing stories at these gatherings.

That's all they remember are the things that make you look bad.

So my uncle looked at my family And we were all sitting there talking at the table at the repast and he said, you know What I used to call you when you were younger.

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