GYC West 2017 - REFLECT: The Daily Experience

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GYC West

Plenary

Andrew Carpenter

No Nonessentials

Gracious Lord, we're here, gathered this morning before You.

We pray, Lord, for the forgiveness of our sins.

We ask, Lord, that there will be nothing between You and us as we are together this morning.

We pray for the presence of your Holy Spirit and that He will speak to our hearts.

And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.

The title for this morning is No non-essentials.

What I've discovered as a teacher is 1 of the worst questions you can ask a senior in high school is, where are you going to college?

And it only gets worse when it's followed up with, what are you going to study?

And I found this to be a question that seniors dread because many of them don't know.

In fact, just yesterday I was talking to a young person here and I was asking, how old are you?

And they were telling me, they said they were going to be a senior.

And I said, have people started asking yet?

Where are you going to school and what are you going to study?" And he's like, yes.

And actually he had some ideas, but still it was kind of up in the air.

And when it comes to Christianity, a lot of times As Christian young people, we want to know what is God's will for my life?

And a lot of times we're waiting for the lightning bolt to come from heaven and to strike us and to reveal to us exactly what it is.

This morning, I'm here to share with you that the lightning bolt has come from heaven.

It's just a matter of accepting what it is that God has called us to do.

And it's interesting in the Christian world today, we have kind of compartmentalized life.

We have our spiritual life, and then we have our secular life.

And this started a long time ago as Christianity began to separate the clergy and the laity, right?

You have those who are in the ministry and then you have the lay people.

And we've begun to compartmentalize our lives because we have our spiritual activities and then we have our secular activities.

Not so much that the secular activities are immoral, but just that we've begun to separate how we understand how we live our life This is my spiritual life at this time.

And this is my secular life at this time the other thing we've begun to experience in today's culture is that if I'm going to be an intellectual if I'm going to be in the intellectual world, that is the secular part of the world.

My higher education sometimes takes place because of the courses that we want to study in the secular intellectual realm of the world.

And then I have the private sector of my life which is the spiritual part of what I do.

And so when we're trying to figure out what is God's call for my life, sometimes young people are like, I know I want to work for God, but a lot of times we think that means 1 of 3 things.

I need to be a teacher, I need to be a pastor, or I need to be a doctor.

And maybe that's not something that we're interested in, but man, what what does the Lord want me to do?

And so then we begin to face this struggle.

And then on top of that, we begin to wonder, is what I'm doing, is that really essential to what God has in store?

I want to share with you this morning, there are no non-essentials.

Every single 1 of us Has been called to do something for the Lord Every single 1 of us first Peter 2 9 says but you are a chosen 1, you know You are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation his own special what People That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous...

Something that had started to get lost in history and then we had the Reformation and it comes back.

We're all to be a part of this, but I think we've begun to lose it again.

So this morning there's 3 things I want us to realize.

First, I want us to realize God's will for our life, which is eternal life.

Second, to understand that His will for our life is to tell others about that.

And then Thirdly, that God, when we commit ourselves to Him, makes Himself responsible for the success of the work that He's called us to.

We'll start in verse 2 it says, Then a great multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he had performed on those who were diseased.

So first of all we see people are following Jesus because of what He's doing.

They're seeing these miraculous things and so they're following Him.

And 5, 000 have gathered and it comes to the time of day where the people are hungry and the disciples come to Jesus, what are we going to do?

Jesus feeds 5, 000 people with just a small lunch from a young boy.

But there's something interesting that happens.

The part of this story that really caught my attention was John chapter 6 verses 14 and 15.

After they had seen what had happened, it says, then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, this feeding of the 5, 000, this is what they said, this is truly the prophet who has come into the world.

So these guys said we recognize the signs.

We understand what is supposed to happen and this guy's got to be it.

But then something else interesting happens.

It says, therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone.

And this is the part of the story that caught my attention.

Why would somebody want to force Jesus to be king?

If you understand the prophecy, if you understand who the prophet is who's to come into the world, why are they forcing him to become king?

And I thought about this for a second, and then I thought about the context of the story.

You see, this is a group of people who've had a lot of trouble for the past 400 years.

Since leaving Babylon, they hadn't really been their own people.

They had always been ruled by someone else.

And currently, the Jews are being ruled by the Romans.

And so they studied the prophecies diligently of a Savior that was going to come, of a Savior that was going to set up a kingdom, of a Savior that was going to set up a kingdom, of a Savior that was going to free them from oppression, and Jesus fit their expectation perfectly.

No 1 better to free them from the Romans than someone who could lead a multitude of people, somebody who could feed an army, and someone who could heal an army.

I'll go into battle because if I get hurt guess what?

He's just coming on heal you heal you heal you heal you right other things that armies face What decimates an army food and water right when you move an army?

You got to go from food source to food source, water source to water source.

Hey man, this was just a little lunch and he fed 5, 000.

Sean Nebblett

No Lost Opportunity

Holy God, I stand before you small, small, and with a tongue that's tied and a heart that is that is open wide, but at the same time it realizes its deficiency, its insufficiency.

Once again, use a donkey to speak truth to your servants and do so in a way that incontrovertibly proves your magnificence and sets your servant aside.

Numbers 3 records a story, the history of a people group that I think we have a lot to learn from.

This people group was a privileged people group and in fact they had been given every reason in the world to stand out, to stand apart and above the generation in which they existed.

But Numbers chapter 13 records an interesting situation where they simply, in my view, don't live up to their calling.

This whole group of people, over a million in number, are, they have come through great tribulation, and here they are, camped at the very borders of the promised land.

All that lies between them is 1 little, pinsley Jordan River.

And Jordan River, you know, a river might seem like a big deal, but remember this is the same group of people that just crossed the Red Sea.

So Jordan River is is not a problem for them.

Numbers 13 records the instruction given by God.

Hey, take from the tribes 1 man from each tribe, a leader, 1 man to represent, if you will, the best, the bravest, the brightest of all these 12 tribes, send them into the land and see what they find.

Have them look it over and see whether the promise given is in fact good.

12 men set out, they're anointed, They're sent on their journey, and they do.

They find in that land, sure enough, a land flowing with milk and honey.

A land where the livestock are prospering, where the crops are enormous.

And they spend quite some time, spies that they are, they spend quite some time dodging the inhabitants and looking the land over and they return.

My Bible says that when they showed up, they said, It's true.

This bunch of grapes that it took 2 of us to haul back out here.

It's true the pasture is incredible, the livestock is incredible, but something else is true too.

They went and came to Moses, This is verse 26 of Numbers 13.

They went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, and to Kadesh, and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

And they told them and said, We came into the land with it thou sent us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey.

Nevertheless, The people are strong that dwell in this land.

And the cities are walled and very great, and moreover, we saw the children of Anak there, and the Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites, they dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of the Jordan.

Basically everywhere you turn there's another enemy.

And they lifted up their voices and wept.

Those 2 among 12, Caleb and Joshua by name, lifted up their voices.

First their jaws dropped open and and because they'd seen the same thing that these other 10 had seen and their Response is Caleb stills the people before Moses.

This is verse 30 and said Let us go up at once and possess it.

But the men that were with him, verse 31, said, We'd be not able to go up against these people, for they are stronger than we.

And we brought an evil report into the land.

And they brought an evil report into the land, which they had searched under the children of Israel, saying, this land, though we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.

They're contradicting themselves majorly.

It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof and all the people that we saw are men of great stature And we saw giants the sons of Anak which come of giants and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers And so were worthy we so were we in their sight too Here we have the best of the best, the brightest, the bravest, the greatest, the representatives of the children of Israel.

The sons of Anak live there, and in their sight we're grasshoppers, and indeed, in our sight too.

And Caleb and Joshua rent their clothes and ran in among the people who let up this great whale because they've toiled all this way.

They've spent all this faith to come to this point and now it's all gonna be for nothing.

Caleb and Joshua were told ran in and out among the people trying to cheer them, trying to bring them back to their senses, but the people were completely disconsolate.

And in fact, so beside themselves that as Caleb and Joshua went in and out among them, trying to remind them, you guys, you guys, remember, we are Israel.

We are the ones who God just brought over the, do you remember the Red Sea?

We were just right back there and remember the whole Egyptian army They were there and in fact before we even cut back up you guys before we even crossed the Red Sea when it was only sea in front of us and only army behind us, do you remember the wall of fire?

Does no 1 remember how Moses lifted up his staff and suddenly The sea just kind of bubbled and blew up and suddenly there's dry, not muddy ground, dry ground through the middle of the sea and the whole of them walked right through.

Does anyone remember that when we got out the far end, Pharaoh's chariots were coming and then suddenly the dry ground turned to muddy ground and the chariots all were pulled right the wheels if I read my Bible correctly they were just driving their chariots right done and done and done and the wheels fell off the chariots all at once I would have loved to see that would have been really like a bit of tragic thing to see but can you I want you to try to picture this.

Like this whole, it would be like, you know, major traffic jam in New York City.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr, well actually major traffic jam, so they're not moving, but anyways, this traffic jam was moving, And all of a sudden, all the wheels on all the cars at the same moment, bink, and all the cars just, pfft.

This is what—are you remembering, you guys?

Are you remembering when all the chariot wheels fell off at the same moment, and they were dragging through the mud, and then they abandoned and cut the harnesses loose and the whole army was drowned.

Are you remembering how we were hungry, thirsty, we got out on the far side and suddenly we woke up in the morning and there was this this bread on the ground.

Are you remembering that every morning it's been there?

Are you remembering that when we were thirsty Moses took his staff, tapped on the rock, And out of the rock came water.

I'm talking millions of people and all of their cattle and sheep and goats drank of that water and it was not used up.

Are you remembering that we the people showed up at that spring called Mara and the whole thing was bitter when we were dying of thirst Then to the whole thing was bitter and he cut down this little Thorny branch of a tree and he threw it in and suddenly instantly something happened to the water and it was good to drink Are you remembering?

Are you remembering that every time it's been time to go, this pillar of fire or this pillar of cloud has mysteriously lifted off of the sanctuary and the Levites have gotten right on, and they've packed the whole thing up, and the next day we're off.

And a few days later it stops, and it just hovers.

And the Levites quick set up their sanctuary, and it settles down again.

Are you remembering that Holy God has been with us every step of this way?

And the 10 spies and the children of Israel were so upset, they wanted to stone them.

They would have killed those 2 men had there not been some divine intervention.

Turns out Caleb and Joshua lived in a generation When giving 90 was normal And when giving 99% was exemplary.

But turns out to give 100% in the generation of Caleb and Joshua was idiot extremism.

Now you and I all know how this story ended.

Those children, those Israelites who'd come all this way who'd sacrificed all these things who had seen God work in so many signal ways Got all the way to the threshold of the promised land and they turned around They looped back and set their sights for Egypt Now they didn't make it all the way back to Egypt but they got partway back and then they turned around and they looped back towards the Promised Land.

Series

Plenary

No Lost Opportunity

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

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Sponsor

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