GYC 2018: To The End

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Plenary

Moise Ratsara

Leave No Man Behind

This message was presented at the GYC to the end in Houston, Texas.

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

Thank you, Amaris and your team for that special music.

And once again, I want to welcome you to GYC, and Happy Sabbath.

It is such a privilege to be in this place, and I want to thank, Above all, our Lord and Savior for making sure that we made it through a year.

So many people started this year, began this year, and did not finish it.

And by God's grace, we thank him that we can be alive and still have a chance to take the gospel to the entire world in our generation.

I also want to thank you all, our participants, for traveling.

Some of you drove all the way from Canada for 24 hours straight.

Some of you came from all sorts of different places and if you notice we have flags on this stage.

These flags represent each country that is present at this GYC.

I don't know about you but I praise the Lord because as you look at this stage, this are nations from all over the world that are at this GYC in Houston.

We praise the Lord for that and God is good.

I also would like to tell you that I'm going to make a baptismal appeal at the end of my message today.

I always want to give you a heads up so that you can think about it.

I always want to give you an opportunity to respond to the gospel and to the Word of God.

But before we begin, why don't we have a word of prayer together?

Dear Heavenly Father, we are gathered here and we want you to be in this place.

My friends here have traveled from far, some from this Houston town, not to hear about man's ideas or what we think is good or bad, but to hear the Word of God.

So I pray that Word will be spoken in spite of me.

I grew up as a missionary kid, traveling all across the continent of Africa, and we had a wonderful time going to all sorts of different countries.

But for some of you who might have grown up as missionary kids, you know that some of the places that you go to are not safe.

We went to all sorts of different countries and for about 12 years of our lives either we were in conflict or running from war.

I remember this 1 time we were in the country called Congo.

The capital city of that country was Brazzaville.

We had just escaped from another country by the name of DRC, which at the time was named Zaire.

We had escaped from a dictator that was about to be overthrown and here we were, starting our life in this country of Congo, almost right in the center of Africa.

My family were there and we were starting to do our ministry when we heard that war was about to break.

We started to see gunfire and looking outside and bombs and the earth was shaking and we knew that if we did not get out of that place, either we were gonna be dead, kidnapped, or something worse that we did not wanna think about.

We decided we were going to go to a UN refugee camp on the other side of the country.

In order to go to that UN site, we had to go through a lot of back roads through the countryside.

We also knew that we'll be going through some rebel territory and that we could literally die any moment without knowing it.

But we knew that we wanted to make it out alive, so as we counted the cost, we decided to go by faith.

We went into the car and there we were driving 1 afternoon going through all sorts of different roads evading different things and seeing gunshots and all of those different things all around us.

And I cannot describe to you the feeling that I had in my heart.

It was even worse than, I don't think fear could describe it.

As we would travel and going to this UN campsite, this refugee campsite, I remember as we were going through this 1 road we saw in the sky helicopters that were coming in great number.

We also saw across in it we looked at the field and we saw people lining up boarding some of the helicopters that were coming.

I remember asking the guy who was driving us through the countryside.

And I said, why don't we just stop over there and escape this country?

Why don't we just take 1 of those helicopters and you know, instead of going to a refugee camp, Why don't we just go with this guys?

I remember he looked at me and he says, well you know these people are Americans and in their country wherever you are in the world if they know where you are they leave no man behind.

As a matter of fact, it's part of the creed of the US Army that they leave no man behind.

At the time, I didn't know even where the United States was.

But I knew that this nation left no man behind.

Today, my friends, we are living in a great controversy.

If you'll turn your Bibles with me to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7.

Today we are living in a war, the war of all wars, and It begins this way in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7.

If you're there, so I know you're there, if you could say good amen.

Revelation chapter 12, verse 7, this is what the Bible says.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

But they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer." So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives part of the world.

He was cast out to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength and 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.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the what, my friends?

They did not love their lives to the what?

Therefore rejoice, O heaven, and you who dwell in them.

But woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having what type of wrath?

Great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.

The devil is not happy about the church of God, even though he knows he's a defeated foe, but he's a sore loser.

And he will do whatever he can to distract us, because he has come down with what kind of wrath, my friends?

A great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.

We see it as well, my friends, in our schools, the great controversy.

In our schools today, you can either find Christ or you can find the devil.

The great controversy is alive in our schools, but also the great controversy, this war between good and evil, is very alive as well in our families.

More than anything that I have seen in my short life is the attack upon families.

Little children who maybe don't have a present don't have both sets of parents.

A little child who wants to study the Bible and learn more about God, but the parents have no time and are too busy to read or teach him about Jesus.

We see all sorts of conflicts in our family, the great controversy, but more than that we see it in ourselves.

The things we want to do but know we shouldn't do, we do them anyways.

We know what we should be doing, but we don't do those things because there's something in us called self.

In the midst of all of this great controversy, according to the Word of God, this war between good and evil, a war between life and death, In the midst of all of this, God has always had a creed, leave no man behind, no matter the cost.

Leave no man behind in this conflict, no matter the cost.

What makes it even hard for God to accomplish this mission here today in 2018 is that above all, the thing that he hates the most resides in the person that he loves the most and that is you he does not like sin but he loves you that is what makes it complicated What else makes it complicated is that the devil does not play fair.

Something else that makes it even more complicated is that Sin must be allowed to bear its fruits of death.

In the midst of this great conflict and all of this complication, God has 1 creed to leave no man behind, but here are his obstacles.

But the worst thing about our day today is that we feel that we are safe because we come to GYC.

Micheal Goetz

Power

This message was presented at the GYC To The End in Houston, Texas.

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

Father in heaven, would it be that this morning you have a word for us?

Let it be a gentle tap to our shoulder or an arrow to our heart, but Let us leave here changed from the inside out because of exposure to your word.

I have a little tradition, a little experience on Sabbath mornings for me.

I go to the pantry and get to choose my cereal.

I am NOT trying to sanctify these particular cereals, but there are 3 that I choose from on Sabbath morning.

The other cereals have their chance Sunday through Friday, but on Sabbath morning I choose from cornflakes, oat squares, or puffins.

And any 1 of the 3, in my opinion, work for a Sabbath morning breakfast.

Our theme is birthed out of this narrative.

Acts chapter 1 and verse 4 just read to us moments ago.

Acts chapter 1 and verse 4, and being assembled together with them, He, Jesus, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father." Did you hear the language Dr.

This is the same master that used his command to remove the demons from the demoniacs and throw them into the pigs.

This command, non-negotiable, cogent, and equivocal.

He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He, you've heard from Me, He says, You've heard it from Me.

For John truly baptized with water, verse 5, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Not an option, but a command from Jesus, you've got to stay here and wait for the promise of the Father.

Everything is going to be a result of this.

John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he sent Jesus and then Jesus is now saying look everything I've done is Now going to be poured out through this gift, so don't move without it It's not like my Sabbath morning practice of going to the pantry and choosing.

There are things, there are options that we can choose.

But when it comes to this, this was a command from Jesus.

You must wait and pray and work with the Holy Spirit.

This was not an option of different cereals.

Then they return to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey.

So they're coming off the higher plain there of Mount Olivet, about a Sabbath day's journey.

It's led some to wonder, could it have been that Jesus ascended on a Sabbath?

And when they entered, they went into the upper room where they were staying.

And then it begins to list off their names as they've come together.

Verse 14, these all continued with 1 accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.

It was the only way in which it could be effective.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was now all centered in this gift.

It was to be mobilized through its power.

Paul uses it in Romans chapter 15, but Luke uses it 10 times, this 1 accord, and it's a difficult word to express.

Thitamin, we're not so familiar with how to combine those 2.

We know it wasn't absolute agreement about everything because the next thing they do in the narrative is they elect a replacement for Judas.

And in that replacement they have options that apparently they disagree on.

Some thought, no, no, no, no, no, no, we've got to, we've got to look for someone else.

So between Joseph, Justice, and Matthias, they, they have to make this.

We know that they think this through so they're not in just total Agreement about everything, but they are there is a sense of mission missional agreement that that draws them together Jump down to verse 15 And those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples all together, this is a parenthetical statement in our Bibles, all together the names were as about a hundred and 20.

Interesting note, according to Jewish law in order to start a new community, you had to have 120 people together.

Luke says, hey, parenthetically, I just wanna let you know that they met the requirement to start a new movement.

Peter stood up and now begins this conversation of an election, church and business.

Jumping down to verse 24, they prayed about it.

They said, Lord, you know the hearts of all, which implies that we don't.

Let me just add as an aside here that we ought to be very beloved, very careful on how we interpret and decide what someone else's motive or heart is.

Church, Be very careful in interpreting the hearts of someone else.

The implied, though, is we don't know their hearts.

You alone, O God, know the hearts of men, And so we've got to leave this choice in your hands, but we will use the practical methods we know to follow your lead.

That would get you cast out of the church today.

But that birthed in prayer and couched in prayer, they understood, would lead them to understand God's guiding.

Otherwise, Joseph Justice wouldn't have been on the docket.

And some theologians say, hey, look at where Paul shows up just a short while later.

Paul shows up, it's almost as if God had him in the wings that he was...

He's not distracted by the fact that the church had to do business, that they came together and made some elections and made some decisions.

That was okay, but what they could not disagree on was coming together in a missional movement of prayer for the Holy Spirit.

But the church, as it came together and did business, And then as it came together and prayed for the Holy Spirit, as those 2 things came together in a community, John Stott says, the stage was then set for the Holy Spirit.

Church, beloved, these 2 elements, the church coming together to do business, making decisions, it can be distracting.

Ron Kelly

Still Being Developed

It's a beautiful opportunity to be in the South when you live in the North, and enjoy some of what, even though it might be a cool day for Texas, is a warm day for Berrien Springs, Michigan.

Thank You, Lord, for the privilege of Christian convocations.

Thank You for the blessings that You've already poured out, and I pray now, Lord, continue to prepare our hearts, anoint the presentation.

We know your word is spirit-filled and spirit-breathed, so now Lord I pray may we do nothing to short-circuit its power.

Bless us as we worship you through this day set a watch before my lips and a guard before the door of my mouth and give me holy boldness as well I pray and readiness of heart myself and those who have gathered here to search the scriptures in Jesus name Amen you have your Bibles open them if you would to the book of 1 Corinthians.

I have a challenging topic this morning, but we've gathered as Bereans seeking to discern truth.

As Christians, as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, we have allowed God's Spirit to be the guiding beacon of our lives through his word, through the Spirit of prophecy, in communion and community with each other.

The book of 1st Corinthians is 1 that I like to call the postmodern gospel.

It's resplendent with a variety of challenges, some that would make your church look like the healthiest church on the face of the planet.

But it's not a stellar beginning even though it's a beautiful ending.

Paul finds himself dealing with a fractured church.

A group of people that are celebratizing their allegiance to people instead of to Christ.

He's gotten word back from 1 of the notable and trustworthy women of the church that there's a problem, and he's confident that it is so.

Now Paul does not practice the modern forms of pastoral esteemism.

He speaks with love, the truth as it is in Jesus, and he speaks directly.

I'm reading from the New American Standard Bible.

It says, And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive, and indeed even now you are not yet able.

For you are still fleshly, for since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking?" I like this supplied phrase in the New American Standard, are you not walking as mere men?

The implied directive is that the indwelling presence of Christ, the friendship of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the direction of the Father raises us up above what regular humanity would allow us to achieve.

So this morning, I want to talk about something very challenging to every human being.

I want to talk to you about authority, and I want to talk to you about accountability.

The first thing I want to ask you is are you subject to the lawful legal God appointed authorities in your life?

Are you infected with the spirit of this age that deifies your own opinion and your own experience and turns it into reality This morning we find ourselves in a larger picture as a world body of believers stressing and struggling over how to conduct our business, but I wanna come back to the individual experience this morning.

I wanna come back to the experience of your home.

I wanna come back to the experience of your church, your workplace.

God has said in this very same epistle, "'Let all things be done decently and in order it is impossible to do things decently and in order with individuals who are nurturing cherishing fertilizing a spirit of independence or rebellion So my story is just a little bit unique because I'm the child of a rebellious woman.

Now my mother is highly esteemed in my life and if she had the link perhaps this morning she'd be watching.

Instead, she's probably watched the pastor at the church where I'm usually at.

But my mother is the middle of 3 girls whose life was difficult.

And the stories that I can recall from my own experience, as well as the ones she told, like she and her 2 sisters fleeing from their drunken father, hiding with their mother, my dear grandmother, who prayed me into this church, locking themselves in the bathroom because grandpa was drunk with a butcher knife and was chasing them around the house.

I can remember as probably a 10 or 12 year old boy sitting in the car looking up onto the porch and saying, dad Grandpa is hitting Mom.

He had her by the hair and he was beating on her.

Now my father is, at least was, before he became aged, a larger man than myself.

And to watch my dad go deliver my mother from the hands of someone that was supposed to create security Was a strange thing So you could say my mother had excuse a reason She was expelled from her academy 6 weeks before she graduated.

The Spirit of God is moving on her heart and she is submitting step by step to Jesus Christ in her older age.

Now, it's a strange thing that my mother in her younger years should make some of the decisions she made.

I learned early on in my home what authority was.

By the way, this is 1 of the first things to be achieved by human parents is the loving direction of proper authority and control.

Children who don't learn it become a blight to society, to their own homes, to the churches, and the institutions they attempt to work for.

My mother taught me she meant what she said.

I can remember when I was in the sixth grade attending that little public school in Market Heights, Illinois getting Emissive from the principal who had appeared at the door of my sixth grade Classroom and had directed the teacher to send me out, I was being sent home.

You don't leave school to go home unless there's an emergency.

Well, in her point of view, there was a problem sizable enough to call me home.

When I got home, what I found out was that the problem was that I had not cleaned my room the way she had told me to clean my room.

Now this wasn't terribly surprising to me to be called home to do what she had told me to do.

But what was more troubling was when my room was cleaned and my mother said to me, now you're going back to school.

And I thought I'm going to face a thousand questions and they're all going to be about why I left school.

My mother taught me that she meant what she said.

That was important, because a year or 2 later at the end of a little summer vacation at my aunt and uncle's house, she called me out on the porch and she said, Ronnie, some things are going to change for you.

Now you have to remember by the time I was 13, 14 years old, I was taller than my mother and I was looking down at her, and she said to me, you are going to church school in a few days.

Now you have to remember, for me, church was a bad association.

When I was a little boy, my grandmother had tried over and over again to make this church thing stick.

And I can remember going into the primary room.

It's still fairly vivid in my 54-year-old mind.

And I'm sitting in a circle with all these primaries in the basement of the Peoria Church and they had handed out books of the Bible.

Series

Plenary

2. Can I Be Certain God Exists? Does It Matter?

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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

02-Daniel 7: The Investigative Judgment, Men Before Angels

57m

Creation and Evolution - Which Faith Will You Choose?

1. Thinking Skeptics and Ignorant Christians

58m

Egypt, the Exodus & Moses' Quest for God's Destiny

4. The Deliverance, the Escape, & the Power of the Word

1h

Atheism, Apatheism, or Adventism

1. Do We Need to Win Arguments to Win Souls?

1h 9m

OYC 2012 Seminars

In a Godless World: The Worldview of Atheism

1h

The Art of End Time Preaching

6. Tools of Creative Language and Speech

1h 20m

Kingly Power

3. Kingly Power: Bright Lights, And the Morning Star

57m

The Great Controversies: Relativism's Beauty and Fundamentalism's Beast

On What Basis: The Beginning of Controversy

1h

How to Interpret Scripture

How to Interpret Scripture: Do Historical Matters Really Matter? Reconciling the Bible with Science

1h 10m

OYC 2012 Seminars

Standing Up: Winsome and Rational Apologetics

47m

Adventist Apologetics: Complex Issues, Adventist Answers

6. The Final Generation (Panel Discussion)

1h 14m

The Remnant Restores

1h

Sound Doctrine