GYC 2015: Called. Chosen. Faithful.

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Healing Broken Relationships

Keala Thompson

1. Soul Searching Our Emotions

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.

My name is Keala Thompson and you're in Healing Broken Relationships Seminar and I'm from Hawaii so let me here say a big warm Aloha.

Even though it's not warm here like Hawaii, but I'm glad to be here with you.

This seminar is entitled, Soul Searching Our Emotions.

And I've just been looking at, I guess my experience in Hawaii and pastoring in Hawaii.

It was an experience where I thought that if I just gave people the truth about our doctrines, our theology, our prophecies, and our standards, that everything would be okay with them.

But I realized there are deeper issues within people's hearts and how they deal with the root cause and we're just dealing with the symptoms and people are not really experiencing healing, emotional healing.

But in order to truly heal, you have to go to your past and you have to face it there.

And so there's going to be plenty of Bible and spirit of prophecy here.

But a model of 2 witnesses so every word be established, the Bible says.

So the Bible is my first witness I call and the second is a spirit of prophecy.

And so as we follow that, we're going to see that God has a lot to say about our characters in these last days.

I invite you to turn to me to John chapter 4 verse 6 and 7 is our opening text.

Okay, so, searching our emotions is our presentation.

So God has given us a message that deals with the practical inner workings of the Holy Spirit upon the character, right?

And in your handout, there's some quotation that we're going to go over.

But before we go on with our presentation, Let us pray.

Father, as your word is open, help us to see what you want us to see and to learn.

So look at your handout, it says here, the thoughts and the feelings combined make up the moral, what?

So what is the only thing we're going to take to heaven?

So in other words, defined by this definition by the spirit of prophecy, what's the only thing that we're going to take to heaven?

So that means that, so is thoughts and feelings important?

Do you think that sometimes feelings can be neglected because it's the, you know, the bad Christian F word, like feelings, right?

But inspiration says that our feelings need to be sanctified.

And there's a quotation here that really opened my eyes to all of this, that kind of pushed me in this direction.

So this may be new to a lot of you, but I want us to just take a new look to the Bible and let the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy just speak to you this morning.

So we're told in Inspiration that we must reason from cause to effect, right?

Let's not just deal with the effect over here, the symptoms, but let's discover what is the root cause and this, unfortunately the system of our educational system has us focusing just upon the symptoms and the effects and we're dealing with our external works.

But God wants to deal with the inner workings of the heart on the inside way back here first.

And when we experience healing here, then the effects will follow.

Feelings or emotions is half of our character, but in a Western culture of today, emotions are discouraged both in children and adults.

Boys especially learn quickly that emotions other than anger are quickly suppressed.

Even women in the workplace also know that crying is unlikely to be tolerated.

And recent medical research on emotion treats emotions as the enemy.

You know there was a, I got an email from a 25 year old young person and she said to me that you know I'm having problems with my relationships.

I have these men that I'm friends with, I have no problem being friends with these men, but as soon as there's some kind of romantic involvement where I like this person, they like me, something goes wrong and I just do everything possible subconsciously to actually chase that person away.

And so what we did was we went back to her past and we were talking about it and she said to me that while she was growing up she felt neglected by her dad and she had a hard time relating to him.

In fact She said that her dad only lived 30 minutes away from her and yet he never visited her.

And so because of that she said she saw her dad 1 time at the subway and she talked to him for at least a few minutes and she actually felt that she was talking to a stranger.

And said I didn't realize how much my relationship or no relationship with my dad had affected me so much that I actually have a hard time relating to people.

And that's I guess this whole 6 presentations that your past Because you are who you are based upon what has happened to you in the past, right?

Your environment, how you're raised has made you you.

But unfortunately we live in a sin-filled world, do we not, right?

So because of that, not only have we all sinned and We sinned against other people, but other people have also sinned against us.

And because of the sins in this world, and the more sins this world has been experiencing, the more we've been wounded.

And the more wounded we become, the more we're affected.

And the love of many has waxed or grown cold in this world.

Because of the sin we've been sinned against, and it has wounded us.

And what we think is that if we can just intellectually ascend to a certain belief, magically it's going to make it all disappear.

But we're going to find from God's methodology in the Bible that's not true.

And you know, I think about, I love the health message.

And the physical health message that God has given to our church and I loved it and I graduated from Weimar and my wife went to meet ministry, you know, it's been a blessing.

But I realized that when Ellen White said that 9 tenths of illnesses have its foundation in the what?

Meaning now physical sickness, 9 tenths is 90% of our physical sickness has its foundation in the negative emotions of the mind.

So it says bitterness, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, guilt, shame, stress, all of these things actually killed not only the physical body but it destroys our emotional well-being of relationships and also our spiritual relationship with God.

You're going to be finding out in this series.

So it came to me, wait a minute, the true health message, if 90% is emotional, right?

True health message is really the emotional healing of the mind.

Because if you deal with the symptoms and you heal the physical well-being and you stop it, whatever illness or diabetes or whatever it is, guess what?

It's going to come back some other way in the body.

2. Emotional Pain Relievers

Oh, they're just requesting if maybe you have some room on the inside, you could scoot in a little bit because people are still coming in.

If you could move toward the walls and then there have more room.

So this presentation is entitled, thank you everyone, entitled Emotional Pain relievers, healing for addictions.

Emotional pain relievers, healing for addictions.

So turn with me in your Bible to Genesis chapter 1 verse 27.

Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 is our opening text.

Not only have we all been wounded through our sins, but we have all been wounded others, right?

And without the healing love of God, the pain will never go away.

For many Christians, the pain still remains even though they may suppress, ignore or deny it.

You may ask yourself, how do I know that I still have unhealed pain from my past?

You see, what people normally do is, you know when you have a headache, right?

People normally do, they take some type of pain reliever, right?

Like sometimes they take aspirin or Tylenol, right?

And what's the purpose of the Tylenol for?

So in the same way, in the spiritual realm, the emotional realm, What happens is that when people experience some kind of emotional pain from the past or brokenness, what people normally do is they take some type of pain reliever because it's just too painful to think about to numb their pain.

And that's what we'll be looking at today.

When I say narcotics, I'm not just talking about chemical drugs such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes that people use to numb the pain of living today.

I'm also talking about behavior narcotics such as food, sex, entertainment as pain relievers or drugs.

You see many people today, even Christians, turn to sinful habits as emotional vacations away from their pain.

But the problem is that when they come back from their emotional vacations that pain is still there, so they gotta continue on with the drug, and the drug gets stronger and stronger in their addictions, and finally the addictions become so strong they have to deal with it also.

So beloved, there's a hunger out there for healing and it's high time that we as God's people be healed from our wounds and thus be set free from our sinful habits.

So God can heal us and may God heal us with his healing power of love.

Father, thank you for your word and as we open it, we appreciate your sacred pages is our prayer in Jesus name.

So, we were created in the image of God and God is love.

That means that we were created in the image of love.

In other words, we were created to love and to be loved.

Because God is a, God, there's a Godhead, right?

In order for love to be love, you must not only be love, but you must give love.

That's why it's totally against what love is all about.

The father always said, this is my beloved son whom I love, my beloved, I love him, who I'm well pleased, right?

And then the son always says, I love my father and he loves me, right?

It's that relationship of loving and being love.

And being in the image of God, male or female, we are to love, that's why, to love and to be loved.

That's what we were created for, was actually love.

And so every single person who has ever been born in this world has been born with a need to love and to be loved.

And that's why the most dangerous thing is that it's not good for man to be alone, right?

And I'm just talking about marriage, but even to be up by yourself in a monastery all the way up in the mountain.

I kind of did that route and I lived off the grid for 10 years.

5 beautiful acres in Hawaii, all by myself.

You still have problems, did you know that?

And actually, I'll share my testimony later on, but I got sick.

But you know, it's when I'm with people that That is actually very healing for me, believe it or not.

Even though when I was a medical disability, I didn't want to be with people, but actually being with people was the very means that actually helps me to get better.

And not only that, but we become very warped in our views and our relationships.

We can't get along with people because we isolate ourselves.

It's very unhealthy to isolate ourselves and we have a very strong Western individualism here in America which is very dangerous and very contrary to the Christian principle of Christian community found in the Bible.

Now, you look in the Bible, the patriarchs, you look at not just parents living with the children but what?

Grandparents living with the children and the grandchildren and great grandchildren and everyone else.

Unfortunately, there are many people today, including Christians, who have never experienced this love of God.

For they have seen it in their home from their parents, their lives have been filled with love rather than emptiness and pain.

Look at the handout here, Ministry of Healing, page 375 to 376.

Great is the honor and the responsibility placed upon what?

And look, I'm not here to bash parents, okay, because I am a parent.

But I can tell you this, that I thought I was the most perfect Christian in the world until I got married.

Then I had somebody telling me, hey, this is not such a good idea what you're doing.

I don't like this and that and okay, maybe I need to change, right?

And then when I thought everything was getting better, finally getting this thing, getting a hang of it, or I guess I thought it was, I'm still learning, then I had a daughter.

Which like, where did she learn that from?

And she's a reflection of all the the good and the bad and the bad that I see myself that I've forgotten about or don't want to think about and she reveals it to me how I Am knows what it says here, so I'm talking about myself here But we need to talk about parents and I agree I believe the greatest ministry in our church that we really need is not youth ministry Parent ministry you can hear you man event Because look I was in youth ministry and first started off so here.

I'm dealing with the youth I'm helping them out, and you know they're all down in the press and I we have a Bible study We talked about things and all happy and excited and they go back home and they're feeling good and the next day guess what?

3. My God, Where Were You?

Father, as your word is open, help us to see what you want us to learn this afternoon.

And may your spirit keep our minds alive and alert to what you want to say to us and help us to understand in Jesus name, Amen.

So Matthew chapter 22 verse 36 to 40 So the Bible says that in 1 John 4 verse 8 that God is love.

Now when the Bible says that God is love, what it really is saying that every motive and every purpose and the spirit of God is love.

In other words, everything that God does is because He loves.

Okay, so that's what God wants us to see is that everything that, so let me, there's a handout here and look at your handout and let me read this to you and you tell me if this is about your father and you tell me if this is a, is your father is a good dad or is a bad dad?

Your father drugs people to unconsciousness.

Then when they are helpless, he has them stretch out on a table in which he then cuts their bodies with knives.

Okay, already you guys think it's bad, right?

Okay, so what if I told you your father was a mass murderer who killed your mother?

Okay, what if I told you with the same statement, I said to you, your father was a surgeon.

Who had saved your mother's life, how would you now feel about your father?

So, is it the action that defines who someone is?

Can you just say, is it only the action that defines who someone is?

Some guy with a knife cutting your mom up on a table, right?

Is it the only, can you only rely upon the action to determine whether someone is good or bad?

And things that happened in the Old Testament, right?

So, the only conclusion is that we must come to the conclusion in our own minds that no matter what God does, whether we can explain it or we can or we cannot explain it, God has always got to be in your mind that God is love.

If that's clear, let me hear you say amen.

Otherwise, there's gonna be problem in your spiritual walk with God.

And it was we learned this morning, if you have problems in your spiritual walk with God and you don't love God, then there's gonna be issues in your life, right?

And you don't feel loved by God, then there's gonna be issues and then that's when addictions come in to numb the pain of not being loved.

So we have to look now we're going we're going back to 1 of the root causes of why we don't love God.

Why does addictions, okay, it's not that we need to stop just addictions and the symptoms, we got to go back, okay, we haven't been loved.

Or maybe we have been loved by God, but maybe we have not experienced that love of God, even though He loves us.

Do you always believe that God loves you?

But then sometimes there's issues that happen in our lives and bad things happen to good people and things can happen to Christian that cannot be explained, right?

And when you're asking those questions, Why did I go through this?

What happens, Satan starts to play with your mind.

If you don't believe in the foundation of God is love, Satan plays with your mind and now he's making you question, is God really love?

Yes, you know, and you may know intellectually, but something has happened in your past where you haven't really dealt with it in your heart, where really you don't really love God, though which amount you do, say you do.

And that's what we'll be looking at this afternoon.

You're going to get a more clear picture as you go through this.

It may not be so clear right now, but as you go through it, you're going to see a little bit more of what I'm trying to share.

A pastor shared his experience of himself, and he shared a story when he was a heartbroken 13-year-old boy.

His parents were getting a divorce and he remembers this look, his tears streaming down his cheeks as he stood on the front porch watching his father drive away from home for the very last time.

And He said, and I quote, all these years I've been angry at God for that.

I was mad at God for not keeping my parents together.

Now I see how it's been affecting my ability to trust and receive God's love.

How can you trust and love someone you're angry at?

Notice the Bible says here, it says, Jesus asked the question, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your, what?

Heart and with all your soul, with all your mind.

And the second is likened to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as yourself.

On these 2 commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

You see, the 10 Commandments reveal God's what?

So in other words, the 10 Commandments was given to us to show to us how to love God, right?

In other words, if you love God, you want to spend time with Him on His holy Sabbath day, right?

If you love God, you're not going to take His name in vain.

If you love someone, your wife, you're not going to cheat on her, right?

4. Never Good Enough

Father, thank you for your words of wisdom.

Luke chapter 18, verse 9 is the opening text.

Now we learn today that we were created to be loved, right?

Our heart longs for this and craves for it.

But this love and worth we crave for was meant to be filled by God.

And also by a parent to stand in the place of God, right?

Until we have the conscious choice to choose God.

But the problem happens when we don't receive this love and acceptance and value from our parents and God and thus seek to get it some other way.

So it says comparing ourselves with others or criticizing other people.

This is the main reason why we become judgmental and critical of others.

So I met a young lady who was going through a divorce and she suffered from a depression, low self-worth, low self-respect and she said her husband always compared her and judged her and very critical and not only that but her in-laws they were always putting her down and she always felt that she was never good enough and because of that that drove her to depression and deep sadness and whenever this happens, then people's spirits are crushed.

So let's look at the story of Jesus and how he actually dealt with this.

Look at who did Jesus tell this story to.

Look at Luke chapter 18 verse 9 and look at it and what God can share with us this afternoon.

The Bible says, so who did Jesus tell this story to?

The Bible says, and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

So here's a people who thought that they were righteous but who is the only 1 that is truly righteous?

So in other words they had a self-righteousness about them And the thing happens when you do that, people who have a self-righteousness or they have a righteousness of themselves, they don't need the righteousness of Jesus.

When you have your own righteousness, you don't feel you need Jesus, right?

Because you have everything within yourself.

So they are self-righteous and they are critical.

Series

Healing Broken Relationships

5. A Safe Place

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Attachments

Adventist Apologetics: Complex Issues, Adventist Answers

3. The God Under Your Rug: Why the Old Testament God Appears So Mean?

1h

Talking Points Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2025: God's Love and Justice

13 Love is the Fulfillment of the Law

28m

Recharged: Finding Your Safe Place

04 Longing for More

44m

Keys of Revelation

20. The Testimony of Jesus- Part A&B

1h 23m

Cosmic Conflict

Cosmic Conflict- Part 2

37m

Being Adventist

The Terrifying Tyranny of Adventist Eschatology

1h 7m

Getting Through to God

04-Sincere Sinners

28m

GYC 2013 Seminar: Daniel: Defining Adventism's Role in the Great Controversy

03-Daniel 8 & 9: The Shadow and the Cross

1h

GYC 2013 Seminar: The Neophyte and the Great Controversy

01-The Mystery

40m

Righteousness By Faith: The Rest of the Story

03 Righteousness by Faith and Sanctification

1h 1m

Connect

01 Know Him, Show Him

40m

Alan Parker - Truth or Hoax: Validity of Ellen White

Was Ellen White a Hoax?

59m

Sound Doctrine