GYC 2009: unASHAMED

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Annie Morgan, Kevin Sears, & Wes Peppers: Unashamed in Your Neighborhood

Annie Morgan

Four Ways to Awaken Spiritual Interest

Good morning and welcome to Unashamed in the Neighborhood.

And we're going to take our Bibles for our first verse this morning, but before we do that I always want to have a prayer to begin.

I know you come from many parts of the country and what about the world?

The world's a big place but it's very small in the scope of eternity, isn't it?

Our loving Father in Heaven, I want to thank you this morning for coming to my neighborhood.

I want to thank you, Lord, that you have sought and saved each 1 of us.

May you offer us, Lord, such a wonderful gift.

I pray that we will appreciate that and that we will see in the eyes and the hearts of the people around us a longing desire to have the good news of the gospel.

Thank you, Jesus, that you've already sent us to our neighborhoods, and I pray now that you will equip us and empower us and that you will bless this time this morning Lord with the presence of your Holy Spirit that we will learn something that will make us more effective in sharing Jesus with the people that you love so much.

Lord, I pray that you will take my mind and my heart and that you'll speak through me.

I pray that it will be your words and not my words.

Take our minds, Lord, and open them to the things that you want us to learn.

If you'll turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 10 and verse 29, our theme this year for GYC is unashamed, and this particular class is unashamed in your neighborhood.

If you turn with me again to Luke 10 in verse 29, we'll be reading together here.

In Luke 10, verse 29, it says, But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

And you know, there are times in our life when we ask Jesus, Lord, what do you want me to do for you?

How do you want me to live my life while I'm on this earth so that it makes the most difference?

And Jesus says, I want you to go to your neighbor.

And then there are times when we say, well, surely my neighbor is not the person over there, right?

And surely my neighbor is not the person over there.

And surely my neighbor is not the person over there, right?

And surely my neighbor is not the person over there, and surely my neighbor is not the person sitting next to me, and surely my neighbor is not my enemy, right?

Well, surely my neighbor is not my family, it must be Somebody way over there.

And so there are times when we justify ourselves and say, you know, I think the pastor should visit that person, or I think somebody else should visit that person.

Well, the context of this story is the story about a man who needed help.

This was the man on the Jericho Road that had fallen among thieves, and he needed help.

So who does Jesus send us to, and how does he define our neighbor?

The person that's in our pathway who needs our help.

Well, this morning we're going to talk about a challenge in reaching our neighbors.

How many of you have taken a piece of literature, even maybe written a Bible study, and just been so excited because you are going to share something with your neighbor.

And you go to hand it to them or you go and ask them, would you like to do Bible studies?

Would you like to know about Jesus and study the Bible?

Anyone else have a reply that you've had as you've gone to share in your neighborhood?

I'm really interested in my career right now.

I want to study right now because then I might learn something I don't want to know.

I don't want to study right now because I might learn something that I don't want to know.

Okay, so there's a lot of fear and a lot of things to work through to reach a neighborhood.

Now what is our theme here at JYC this year in 2009?

Unashamed, and where should we be unashamed?

So now, what happens to you, honestly, when someone says, I'm not interested.

I really like my church, which means I really don't like yours, right?

What happens to us naturally, humanly, as we hear all these things?

We start to retreat a little bit, don't we, sometimes?

And we start to think, well, maybe my neighborhood really is a hard place to work.

I used to travel as a Bible worker and I loved the greeting I would get in every place.

I would walk into the new church where I was gonna be a Bible worker and meet everybody and then I'd get called aside.

So many times we see our neighborhood and we say, oh, It's so hard to reach this place and it makes us retreat a little bit, but what does it mean to be unashamed?

Anyone who is in your path who needs your help.

May I suggest that the person right next to you may be your neighbor right now.

Do you realize that right here in this auditorium there may be somebody who's losing hope?

There may be someone in this auditorium here who's wondering and looking for direction from God.

Could it be that your neighbor is right sitting next to you, or a couple of pews ahead or behind?

From Strangers to Bible Studies

I want to welcome you back, and those who are here for the first time, I want to welcome you to the second class of a six-part seminar on being unashamed in your neighborhood.

We looked a few minutes ago in our first class at what our neighborhood is, and we saw the story of the Good Samaritan, and we saw that in that story the question is asked, who is my neighbor?

And Jesus answers that question by telling the story of the man who had fallen among thieves and was wounded and needed help.

And so as the Levite went down that pathway and as the priest went down that pathway and then the Good Samaritan went down that pathway, the Good Samaritan was the only 1 who recognized who his neighbor was.

The Levite passed by the man who needed his help.

The priest passed by the man who needed his help.

And you know we all have busy lives, we all have a lot of things that we're doing in our lives, but Jesus comes to us and he says, I want you to take care of your neighbor.

And your neighbor is the person who is in your pathway who needs your help.

And if you were here in the first class, you probably had your eyes opened a little bit or reminded at least that there are many people who need our help who don't know they need our help right and so God allows a couple crises if you're new you'll catch up in a few minutes I hope and if you're if you've been here for the first class what are these crises that God allows to awaken a person's spiritual need.

Getting, when people get to the top and it disappoints them, they start to look a little higher because they got everything they could get on their own and it didn't work, it didn't make them happy, it didn't make them feel more loved, it didn't give the peace that they wanted.

And so they start to look up to what's above this earth.

And this can answer the question for a lot of us who are surrounded by professional people, high achievers, people who have a lot going for them, and we think, how can I share the gospel with them?

You know, they don't need parenting classes.

They don't even need to be told to go to church.

But these very people are going to go through a series of high points and low points, high points and low points.

When they reach the top and they achieve something that they wanted, get something that they wanted, build a relationship that they really wanted, and then all of a sudden it begins to disappoint them.

As they get that disillusionment, that's a divine appointment for you to come close to them.

And then as they hit bottoms and things go wrong and problems happen in their life, then they start to say, where is God and why is this happening?

So these 2 crises awaken people's spiritual interest.

Now I want to remind you that if you show up when someone hits bottom you will not be welcome.

Now I know that's a categorical statement But if you show up for the first time when a person hits bottom, what will they feel like?

A charity case and all you care about is helping them, right?

And they won't know you, they won't trust you.

How did Jesus describe His earthly mission?

He used 1 word to describe Himself when He came to this earth to seek and save the lost, He took the word, Emmanuel.

In our DVD series we have a particular segment called, God's Way of Reaching People.

So we have to be with people if we want to be welcome at their low points.

We need to be with people if we want to be welcome at their high points when they start to go down and get disillusioned.

Now let's face it, it's embarrassing to people.

When they get it and they achieve something and they reach for something and they get there and all of a sudden they're even disappointed in themselves and you know don't like what they got.

Who do you share your embarrassing moments with?

You share your embarrassing moments with people that you trust, the people that are with you through the thick and thin.

And so remember that Jesus came to be with people.

When he came into the Garden of Eden on his first missionary trip, he said, Adam, where are you?

It was a longing desire to be with Adam and Eve.

And as he spent time with them face to face, they could see that he still loved them even though they had blown it, even though they had failed, even though they were naked, even though they were embarrassed.

Jesus still wanted to be with them and he could see that in his eyes.

Then it was that he was able to say to them, what did you do?

And then to walk them through the process of repentance and confession and hope and discovering a savior who loved them.

Our Heavenly Father, we just pause now to thank you for being such a wonderful Savior, such a wonderful Shepherd who seeks and saves those who are lost.

Lord, I think about so many times when I've been disillusioned and I've struggled, when I've reached high points in my life, Lord, that I thought would be so wonderful, and yet I was doing it without you, and I thank you for the kind words that you spoke to me at those moments.

Thank you for the patience you've had with me, Lord, to whisper in my ear, Annie, I'm here.

And Lord, I know you're talking to every 1 of us here.

And Lord, I think about the low points of my life and how I was blinded by tears, Lord, but you so patiently stood by until I could clear the mist and the fog from my life long enough to see that you were there all along.

And I pray, Lord, that you will take each 1 of us to our neighbors, Lord.

Take us to the people that are in our pathway who need our Help.

Teach us, Lord, to be unashamed in our neighborhood, to proclaim the gospel, to bring a message of hope, and Lord, to be skillful in doing it, to actually recognize the high points and the low points in people's lives as divine appointments, And to be ready and willing to stand up at those times and to speak to people about Jesus.

Lord, I know it's hard sometimes when people are just down and out and they're saying, where is God and why does he allow this?

And they just have so much doubt and sometimes we wonder, how do you answer those questions?

But Lord, give us the power to just stand by and to be that handshake, to be the arm around their shoulder, to be the sparkle of hope that answers the question of where you are.

Even if we don't have the words, Lord, let us be there so that you can be there through us.

And at the high points, Lord, many of us are surrounded by successful people who are real high achievers, Lord.

Show us the moments of disillusionment in their lives so that we can give them something to achieve, something to strive for that's out of this world.

Thank you for placing us in our neighborhood.

We talked a lot about the things that God does to awaken a spiritual interest, and we also touched on the fact that we are the salt of the earth.

And salt's no good in the salt shaker, is it?

It needs to be out there in the world, out of the salt shaker.

And so we need to take the salt of God's Word in our life and go into our neighborhood and we need to share that.

So that means it's gotta get out of us and where?

Wes Peppers

Sharpening Your Sword: How to Give a Bible Study

Father in Heaven, we thank you so much today for this beautiful day that you've given to us, this wonderful convention where young people, old people, from all around the world, we can gather together and open your Word, we can learn how to do service for you, we can learn how to let you change our lives and then be used by you to change the lives of others.

We pray today that as we look at how to give Bible studies, how to write Bible studies, that you'll bless us with your spirit, you'll draw near to our hearts, and you'll be with us in a special way.

I want to, our first session is Sharpening Your Sword, Principles in Giving, Spirit-Filled Bible Studies.

I have to warn you, I've been sick, So if I'm coughing or I grunt or groan, don't be alarmed, okay?

Well, I wanna open with a proposal to you, or a warning, actually is what it is, a warning.

And this is the warning, that the things you have learned this morning from Annie, the things you're about to learn from me, the things you're gonna learn from Kevin tomorrow, you become responsible.

Responsible to not go back home and sit in your church and do nothing about what you learned in these seminars.

But this is a warning to you that you are becoming responsible, you are becoming accountable to God and your fellow man that you are gonna take what you learn here and you are gonna use it wherever you are, right?

Whether you're at college, whether you're on a Seventh-day Adventist campus, there are probably, I would say, the percentage-wise, almost as many lost students on any Seventh Avenue campus as there are public campuses.

To use it wherever you are, your workplace, your college room, wherever you are, to use these things to bring souls to Christ.

So if you don't want to be responsible, now's your opportunity to go out.

Now let me ask you, are you going to do something about it?

Okay, let's just imagine for a moment, you know, the biggest fear that people have about giving Bible studies or witnessing for the Lord is that they're afraid that they're gonna say what?

How many of you have been worried that you will say the wrong thing?

I don't know that I could witness for Jesus.

I don't know that I could give a Bible study because I might say something wrong and I'll blow it, right?

Well, how many of you know who Mark Finley is?

Do you suppose that sometime in his ministry, Mark Finley has blown it?

Now, he's not in here to defend himself, but I'm sure he would agree with me.

At some point in his ministry, he's blown it, wouldn't you say?

You think that Doug Batchelor has blown it a time or 2?

I need you guys to give me feedback, yes or no?

Well, I can promise you that I've blown it more than a few times, all right?

And so God does not expect, God does not call you because you're perfect.

He does not call you because you have all this knowledge and skill.

He calls us if we're willing to serve Him.

You've heard this saying over and over again.

And so we have this fear that maybe I shouldn't say anything simply because I'm afraid that I might blow it.

Well, let me just imagine with you for a moment.

Let's say I have 10 people, right, that I'm going to witness to.

So 10 people and 3, let's say 4 people out of the 10, I share something with them and they say, man, you must be crazy.

And so those people just blow you off and They don't want anything to do with the Bible.

So 4 people walk away and they say, forget it, don't talk to me about the Bible ever again.

Well, those people likely be lost if they don't change that attitude.

So Let's suppose there's 3 more people that I speak to, and they show interest, right?

They're interested, they're following you, but then guess what?

I say something so stupid, so dumb, and I completely blow it, right?

And I get out of that Bible study, and I think, man, why in the world did I say that?

Or I'm on the plane or whatever, and I lose that Bible study.

And that person becomes not interested, right?

So can God still reach those 3 people, yes or no?

He can still reach those 3 people, right?

The 4 people said no, 3 people I blew it, but God can still reach them.

But let's suppose there are 3 more people that say yes to a Bible study, and I continue to study with those people, and they make a decision to follow Jesus and they say I want to surrender my life to him and then they say I'd like to keep the Sabbath then they say you know I want to follow Christ through baptism I want to join God's church how many people out of the 10 did I save or did God use me rather 3 right And God can still reach those other 3, and 4 have rejected.

So out of 10 people, how many potentially, because I said something for Christ, could be 1 out of the 10?

But let's suppose I have another group of 10 people, and I don't say anything to any of them because I'm afraid that I might say something wrong.

How many of those 10 people are probably going to be lost if God doesn't reach them another way?

See, the devil's lie is that he doesn't want you to witness, and he plagues you with this fear of saying the wrong thing or being rejected because He doesn't want you to say anything because He knows that even in our feeble weak state, if we say something, God can use it in a miraculous way.

See, He knows that we don't know what we're doing.

He knows that we're not perfect, but he knows how powerful God is, you see.

He knows what God can do through you, and that's what he's afraid of.

And if we're surrendered to Christ, if we're surrendered to God, if we let God use us, then God can take our mistakes and turn them into miracles.

Your Sword Unleashed: Three Easy Ways to Write a Bible Study

Father in heaven, we just thank you once again that we can be with you, that you can teach us Lord and we pray that your spirit would lead and guide our next study together and that you would draw us near to you and that you would open our minds, keep us awake, keep us alert, and may the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts and ingrain these principles into our minds.

All right, 3 easy ways to write and give Bible studies.

Before we jump into those 3 ways, I just want to briefly go over a few characteristics that you need to really observe, that you need to really pay attention to when you're thinking about writing your own Bible studies.

And these things apply to any type of study that you're going to be doing.

The first 1 is that the study must be relevant to the hearer in their personal life.

In other words, the study that you study with them, whether it's the Sabbath, whether it's, you know, what happens when you die, whether it's, is heaven real?

That study itself, the information that you give, may not always seem relevant to the person you're studying with.

And so I'm going to teach you how to do that.

I need to, we need to make those Bible studies personal for that person.

So, in other words, if you go and you, let's say you go to a welding shop and you don't know anything about welding, and that guy is standing there talking to you about welding for 8 hours, is that gonna bore you, yes or no?

Are you gonna be tired of that by the time you get to the end?

Are you going to find anything that applies to your life personally?

But what if that welder was sitting there and he was telling you all kinds of stories and he made parallels between welding and your life.

So you can take any Bible subject and it can be as boring and as irrelevant as all get out to a person, or it can be as powerful and as personal to a person.

It all depends upon how you do the study.

Okay, number 2, the foundation and main idea must be based on what?

We should not take a statement from some famous preacher and use that as the basis for a Bible study.

We shouldn't open our Bible and point to a text and try to do a Bible study on it.

We shouldn't do a Bible study based on some new philosophical idea, but our Bible study should be exactly what the title is, a what?

Some people will take the latest great idea and try to just talk about that in a Bible study.

That is not going to help people make decisions for Christ.

It is not going to help people, it's not going to be relevant to them.

The Bible is what changes people's lives, not famous preachers, not great thoughts, not Chinese Proverbs, but the Bible.

And so we need to keep the Bible as the focus.

Christ should be the center of every thought.

He should be the core, the shell, the inner, the outer circumference of every ideal you present.

For it is only when Christ is lifted up that people are drawn to Him.

How do we make the Sabbath Christ-centered if we write a Bible study?

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Series

Annie Morgan, Kevin Sears, & Wes Peppers: Unashamed in Your Neighborhood

From Strangers to Bible Studies

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

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