GYC SE Conference 2021: If Not Now, When? If Not I, Who?

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GYC Southeast

Plenary Sessions

David Wright

How to Know God’s Will for Your Life

Well, tonight I'm going to try to talk about something that I'm hoping will be practical for you, and that is how to determine God's will for your life.

Because the reality is, for many of you, grade school, your parents pretty much tell you what to do, and you start to get a little bit more independence, and then high school, a little bit more, but now you've left the parents pretty much absolutely completely behind.

I mean, they're still around, hopefully to pay some of that school bill, but the decisions are yours, largely, if not entirely.

What was the 1 about relationships in the end times?

I need to know what about my relationships in the end of time.

Before the world ends, we should get married tomorrow.

I don't know what he'll present, but maybe it'll be that.

So when I was here, I was on, they called it Second West.

I don't know if it's in the 100s because it's right on the corner of Towals, right by the promenade.

And my roommate and I had that room and we liked it because as an RA, I got to pick that room.

I had 2 windows on this side and then another 1 on this side.

And we had just the view of everything and as we are settling into our dorm room You know you kind of improve it over the year, and I happen to be in a pet shop I think it was pet smart or 1 of those and I was going past anybody going to the fish department there, And you just look at all these fish, and they're teeming with, and I go past the goldfish, and it says something like 3 cents for a goldfish.

Now, I don't know what I'm going to put it in, but goldfish, they don't need all the extra stuff, you know, the filter and the bubble maker and all that kind of, they probably would like it, but they can just have a bowl.

And so, I said, I got to go price out the bowl.

Sure enough, the bowl was like $10 and then a little bit of food and and I thought well if I'm gonna go to all this trouble and if the goldfish is only 3 cents I'm gonna get more than just 1 and so I said I'll take 4 goldfish oh okay and so you know I have to wait forever And they come with their little net, and they're totally, like, not enthusiastic at all.

Finally, I get all of them, all 4, and I have, I don't know, my goldfish bowl thing and my stuff in there and as I'm leaving I'm holding up my 4 bags of 4 goldfish, and somebody else comes by, and she kind of gives me this look that works there, and I'm wondering what the look's about, and I'm thinking, well, how many goldfish will survive in this 1 bowl?

I said, oh, Okay, and I just proceeded to check out So I get back to my dorm room there at Tiles, and I say, hey Michael, check this out, I'm gonna add something to the room, we got a goldfish, okay, where should we put it?

We put it there, you know, we dumped them all out, and guess what the lady at the store said?

Only 1 can survive in this bowl, There's not enough air in the bowl.

Let's name each of the goldfish after a different girl on campus.

And the 1 that survives, she's the 1 for you.

We have to make it even more interesting than that.

Well, you get to choose 2 girls that you're sort of interested in, and I get to choose the other 2 girls.

And his face was like that you're totally not interested in.

Yeah, they all have these markings, and so we actually wrote out on a little post-it note, okay, the 1 that had, because I don't want to end up marrying this girl that's the wrong 1 because we didn't take it, right?

So we're taking good notes here on our piece of paper, and then we just wait.

And already there's 2 goldfish I'm watching more closely and 2 other goldfish I'm hoping just maybe don't make it.

Not trying to be mean, you know, everybody's a child of God.

That just doesn't mean I want to marry them.

So the first day goes by, nothing seems to happen.

But then I think it's like the second day or into the second day, I come back from class and Michael says, guess what?

I have another story about goldfish that actually was years later.

We wanted to put them in a pond where we live back in North Carolina and it was a very shallow pond and we thought this would be a great idea with the kids and they all gathered.

And we let them out and they're all like And then they just all disappeared in this black hole and we discovered that bass love I'm telling you that not so you'll hate me as the fish killer, but as the fish saver.

And sure enough, and I don't even remember which 1 it was, but crossed off the list.

And then a few more days, another 1 crossed off the list, until now it's just down to 2.

A girl I'm kind of interested in, and a girl I'm not interested in at all.

You know, you have all these tests and quiz and no I'm thinking goldfish.

So sure enough it comes down to the last goldfish dies Guess which goldfish won Now this you're not going to believe this.

This is a true story The goldfish that 1 was named Elizabeth and she's right there.

So now man you know how to choose your wife.

Is that how you want to determine God's will for your life?

You know, there's 4 majors I'm considering, 4 goldfish or 4 reptiles.

So let's see if we can't figure out something from the Bible that makes a little more sense in how to determine God's will.

And if it wasn't convenient to carry your Bible around, maybe you have 1 in your phone, and if you do, I trust you'll be looking at the text and not texting.

But we're in Matthew chapter 14, and I'm going to begin this story in verse 22.

Jesus has just fed the 5, 000, And just prior to that we have the death of John the Baptist.

But as it relates to Jesus here, He's just fed the 5, 000 and this is a big success, if you will.

I mean this is incredible and the crowd is really excited about what's just happened The disciples are really excited about what just happened because they're thinking in advance.

Who Invented Sex?

We're going to talk about a serious topic today, and I'm going to start with this illustration.

He's a 32-year-old busboy who came across a Forbes 400 magazine, And in that magazine were some of the most wealthy people of America.

People like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Oprah Winfrey, Ted Turner, Warren Buffet, George Soros and others.

And everyone on that list, he found some way to have a personal grievance with and he started researching, researching, researching as best he could from every public source online, on his public library to find out details about each of these individuals.

And he had a journal, he had notes in his Forbes 400 magazine of all of these details and then he started making phone calls to their banking institutions.

And he would use these details to try to convince the person on the other side of the line, that he was their financial advisor, and he was the 1 that was supposed to shift certain things around.

And every time he was trying to just grab a little bit more information, a little bit more information, even if it was just, what is the bank balance?

He's being whisked away on his private jet.

He wants to know his balance so he can make this big purchase.

So bit by bit as he gets this information, he comes to the point where he has access to 80 million dollars that he has siphoned away into an offshore account.

When he was later interviewed in prison, when they caught him, it was back in 2002, he still didn't see himself as a criminal, he says, I'm just doing community service.

I'm redirecting these funds where they could be better used.

It was known as 1 of the biggest identity thefts in history.

Maybe it's been surpassed by now, I don't know.

But in a similar way, I believe the devil is making hundreds and hundreds and thousands and thousands of attempts each day to steal from every 1 of us something that God created that is so precious.

In fact it's so precious we have it before the Fall.

There we have creation in the Genesis account, we have the Sabbath, we have man and wife, and in that union we have this beautiful thing called sex.

So I'm asking the question today, who invented sex?

You know we live in a day and age when this world is so sex crazed and everywhere we go there's a screen, screen, screen, screen.

We live in a social media age and throughout social media is this, well counterfeit of what God's original design was.

Sometimes it's subtle, other times it's not so subtle at all.

And each time a seed is planted, and a seed is planted of what sex is, or, should we say, what it isn't.

I came across this article, it came out just in September of this year, how TikTok serves up sex and drug videos to minors.

And in this article they talk about, it's from the Wall Street Journal, they talk about how they set up an account for a 13 year old, underage, and very quickly this account starts getting feeds.

And you're not sure exactly where it comes from, but there's that scroll, and there's a, oh there's a cute puppy, and oh that looks delicious, and oh here's a new way to do your hair, or whatever it is.

And part of that feed was suggestions for sex, suggestions for drugs, maybe even just something as innocent, if we could say that, as a marijuana leaf on top of a birthday cake.

And so as they're going through this feed, as you're going through this feed, they have these algorithms in TikTok.

And don't be alarmed, or don't think for a moment that it's just TikTok that's doing this.

YouTube and all the others are doing it as well.

But as you go through the feed in TikTok, and as you hover, you say, huh, what is that?

And it's calculating how many seconds I look at that image, that video, as opposed to, I don't know, a picture of Tahiti or something.

And it doesn't necessarily matter if that's your interest or if it's just a curiosity or if you're just dumbfounded that this is a thing.

It's calculating the seconds that you spend there and it says, ah, they like this.

I will give them more and more and more and very quickly in a matter of days, this account they set up for a 13 year old was getting videos and pictures of pay for pornography.

But I tell you, the devil has never before had such a tool, such a device, that is with us at all times in our pockets, that's constantly begging for our attention, and not just begging for our attention but sowing seeds That are counter to everything the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life I'm so thankful that just this last year, where I come from, Fletcher Academy has decided to ban all smartphones except for the Gab phone.

There is a camera on there, but there's no data, which means there's no apps.

Is that a silver bullet that solves everything?

No, but I talk to the deans there and they say, oh my goodness, it's so much better.

For the first time that I can remember having worked here, people are downstairs in the dorm playing board games, going out to recreation and exercising and mountain biking and on Saturday afternoons they want to go for hikes before, no we're just going to stay in our rooms.

We live in an age where this pipeline is coming so strong and so fast and so hard and we think, oh it doesn't affect me.

I think of this verse, 1 Peter 5, verse 8.

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil...

Walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

And folks, people are being devoured, I believe, at a faster rate today...

In the privacy of their own room, wherever they choose to be, as long as I have a connection.

I hear some people say, well, pastor, I have a good filter.

Now, I'm not talking about the filter on your phone, that's probably a good idea.

I'm not talking about going to a gab phone, that's probably a good idea.

I have something on my phone that keeps me accountable because as a male I don't feel that I am above or beyond any of this stuff.

But I hear people say well pastor I have a filter so I you know I know and I don't look at that kind of stuff, and I just kind of dismiss it.

And folks, let's think about a filter for a second.

We have air filters, oil filters, water filters, the whole thing.

But the reality is a filter is not a muscle that gets stronger with use.

So a filter is not necessarily the answer.

So let's get back to our question though.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall become 1 flesh." Leave and cleave and become 1.

That was a purpose that God invented sex for.

Perhaps not the only purpose, but certainly 1 of, if not 1 of the major purposes of sex and sexuality.

And they were both naked, and the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Oftentimes when I ask this question, why did God create sex?

First question I get back, or answer I get back, procreation, kids to populate the earth.

I went to school and had a teacher once that he had the understanding and the belief that that was the only reason God designed and invented sex.

And so he had 2 kids and he had sex 2 times.

If you read the book Song of Solomon there is no question That there is an element of pleasure that goes along with sex.

The Thing the Devil Hates

Tonight I'm going to ask a question, what makes you angry?

I'm going to ask that question a little bit on the lighter side to begin.

But 10 little things that might make you irrationally angry.

Number 1, when your internet connection drops.

Second 1 on the list that I found, when someone tries to talk to you when you're on the phone with someone, And you're trying to do 2 things at once and can you just wait and maybe you have the earbuds in they don't even know And they just keep talking and Stubbing your toe That one's never fun.

I always get very frustrated at that I always think my toe will fall off yet.

I still have all 10 number 4 forgetting your password Isn't this getting a little bit ridiculous?

I mean there's passwords for everything, everything, everything.

Number 5, people who tell you to calm down or cheer up when you're neither angry nor upset.

Anyone who puts empty cartons back in the fridge.

You thought there was more left until there's not.

Number 7, anyone pushes the elevator floor button after watching you just push it just 2 seconds ago.

Your elevator button push was not good enough Let me make sure it's pushed Number 8 people who are completely unprepared for situations that they know are going to happen Isn't there 1 of these in every class?

Yeah, it's called finals, like that's the whole week, dude.

Number 9, people who take up 2 parking spaces.

At number 10, I have to resonate with having kids at home stepping in something wet after just putting on a clean pair of socks.

I'm going to transition to this question.

I suppose we could answer that in a variety of ways, but probably there's a common theme or thread for all of these answers we could come up with, and that is whatever brings an individual closer to Jesus makes the devil angry right anytime a person is baptized it makes the devil angry the fact that you're here tonight makes him angry But there's 1 more specific thing I want to look at tonight that we find in scripture.

It says, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!

For the devil has come down to you having great wrath.

The devil's upset because he knows that he has a what?

Let me just ask, Do you get the sense with all the things happening around us that the devil is angry?

Do you get the sense that he knows he has but a short time?

Do you get the sense that this is not business as usual?

Skipping to verse 17, it says, And the dragon, the devil, that serpent of old, was enraged with the woman, which is God's church, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, or some versions say the remnant.

And here are the characteristics of the remnant, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ here the devil is upset he's enraged he's filled with wrath at God's church at end time.

They have these 2 things And it makes him so angry.

Keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

Those are 2 characteristics of God's last day people that are unique to Seventh Day Adventists.

I mean you go through the phone book and how many are worshiping on the seventh-day Sabbath?

And of the few that might be some seventh-day Baptist or something, how many have the testimony of Jesus?

Let's flesh that out a little bit further.

Revelation 19 10 tells us, for the testimony of Jesus is, we could put an equal sign there, the spirit of prophecy.

Sometimes people say, well, you know, I'm not sure how I feel about the spirit of prophecy.

But we have throughout the Bible prophets.

And we are told that God's end time church will keep the 10 Commandments all 10 and Have the testimony of Jesus and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy So the idea of having a prophet is a biblical idea, especially for God's last day church.

Amos 3 verse 7 says, Surely the Lord God does how much?

Nada or nothing unless He 19 Nada, or nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets.

God wants us to be prepared for what's coming.

Matthew 7 15 says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

We have true prophets at the end of time.

There is a true genuine if you will, but then there's also going to be counterfeits.

So how are we to know Which is the true and which is the false?

Accepting the counterfeit is certainly a danger, but rejecting the genuine is a danger too, right?

I mean, if we have money up here and I have, I don't know, I've never seen a thousand dollar bill But maybe I have a bunch of hundred dollar bills And I pass them all out and I say 1 is real and 1 is false you certainly want to know which 1 is real And you'll probably stay up late tonight trying to figure it out so you can spend it.

So how do we know what the genuine is and not reject that?

How can we tell the difference between the true and the false?

I put together these are biblical tests of a prophet.

This is not unique to me and if you want to go back and study this I would encourage you to take a picture of this and this would be a great study.

We have the verses there but for the sake of time I'm gonna make some assumptions that perhaps you're aware of the tests of a prophet.

If not, take a picture and go back and study, that's fine.

But prophetic accuracy, Jeremiah 8 verse 9 says, if a prophet makes a prediction, it's gonna become true, it will come to pass 100% of the time.

Why, Because a true prophet doesn't guess at the future.

God tells him what's going to happen and sure enough, it happens.

There is a thing called conditional prophecies.

Remember Jonah and he went and he preached and then they repented and so the thing didn't happen.

That was 1 of those if you don't do such and such then but they did and so it didn't.

But unless it's a conditional prophecy it's a hundred percent accuracy.

There's all kinds of people, Gene Dixon and all these others that have made predictions, Nostradamus and all the rest, and they tout, oh, 60% accuracy.

You and I can guess at 50% accuracy sometimes, And if I have the devil in my back pocket who has access to every conversation on the planet You don't think he can guess more accurately So who cares about 60% accuracy?

Prophet of God's 100% the second 1 on the list biblical faithfulness in Deuteronomy 13 1 to 4 it says if a prophet makes a prediction and then it comes true and then he says now that I have you all on my side let's go after other gods and the verse says have nothing to do with that prophet.

1 John 4, 1 and 2 it says test the spirits.

There's many false prophets but a true prophet will confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

If they're saying no Jesus isn't who you need.

He doesn't do anything for you false prophet The fourth Commandment keeping or keeping the commandments of God Isaiah 8 20 says To the law and the testimony they speak not according to this word, how much light is in them?

A Father’s Love

I've oftentimes wondered, what is my story?

I don't know, some of you may be familiar with him.

He was a professional hip-hop dancer and once got into a bar fight with another well-known hip-hop singer.

Doug Batchelor, well, he lived in a cave, naked.

David Ashwick, who I understand was just here, used to have pink hair and was a punk rocker.

Clifford Goldstein used to be, used to heckle Christians actually in the street and lived in a kibbutz.

Sebastian Braxton, well, he went to prison.

Me, on the other hand, my story is a little different.

Yeah, that's me in the left-hand side of the screen, holding my Easter basket.

And that's the family when we came to College Dale.

Now this is the picture that I found of Happy Valley, and usually I point to the screen, but I don't think I can successfully point to that 1, so I'll try and point to this 1.

I went to an Adventist grade school right about here on the map.

After grade school, I walked across the field to this Adventist church where my dad was the pastor.

When I was maybe in third or fourth grade, I was taken down this road and back here behind the village market, which was our Adventist health store, food store, we would shop there and then of course we'd get our mail here and this was my first bank.

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