MTYC 2010: You Are My Witnesses

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Montana Youth Conference

MTYC 2010 Morning Devotional

Justin Howard

MTYC Morning Devotional

This morning I have something from my heart to share with you, and I think that whenever we share with each other or with anyone around the world, it should come from where?

The Bible tells us time and time again that God has called us to be His witnesses, and that's what this conference is all about, that we might be a witness for Jesus Christ.

And there's 1 thing that we need to have in order to be a faithful witness to Jesus Christ.

We need a personal relationship with Him.

Without question, without regard, that is what we need the most.

So when you think about sharing your testimony and you feel a little insecure, you're kind of doubting whether or not you have something to share, the thing that you need to ask yourself is this, do I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

Because if you do, and we're going to see this this morning, you have something to share with somebody else.

And you can be excited about it because it's your experience that you can share that you've had with Jesus Christ, and you can say without question that you know he's real.

Can you say without question that God is real?

I remember and I'll share my testimony with you I think it's Sabbath morning and I'm looking forward to hearing Wes' also.

I read that little blurb on the on the handbill and I thought man I can't wait to hear it.

But I'll be sharing mine with you on Sabbath morning.

But 1 thing I learned through my experience is that God is real.

That was 1 of the things that actually changed my mind and my thinking about God.

When I was first learning about Jesus, I first started reading the Bible, I was at that Y in the road and I was just questioning whether or not God was there.

I was reading the Bible, my family was Seventh-day Adventist for the most part, and as I was reading the Bible and I was looking at the church I saw that there was this huge discrepancy.

I was reading in the Bible about how God had given his church power and authority and they were supposed to go preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and they were just moving and shaking you know and I didn't see that in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And so I called my grandmother and I said, hey I'm looking forward to coming home.

I said, I can't wait to be a part of what I'm reading here in the Bible.

She says, I just want to let you know that it's not like that out here.

The Bible describes for me the experience that we're supposed to be having and you're telling me it's not there she says it's not here she says I'm just telling you because I don't want you to be disappointed as I continued to study more I had asked for someone to come visit me.

I was in prison and I was asking for a pastor to come and visit me.

And it took a year for a pastor to come and visit me.

And at the end of that year, 1 did come and visit me, but it didn't seem as though he had a relationship with Christ because when he came to see me he could convey nothing to me about who Jesus was.

All he did was ask me questions about my case.

And I don't know if you know anything about people in prison.

I've seen a couple driving out here, but you just don't ask those kinds of questions of prisoners that you don't know in that environment.

So needless to say it wasn't a good experience.

Then another pastor came to visit me and I was pessimistic.

I had my ideas about the church, I was comparing him to the Jews of Jesus' day.

When he came and when the pastor came to visit, I told him, Listen, I said, I'm looking at the church and I said, I'm looking at the Jews and I said, The Seventh-day Adventist Church are the Pharisees of the present day.

And I just started hammering him with all my thoughts and negative comments and you know he looked at me that day and all he said was brother you're right he says but I want to tell you 1 thing and he said it with this huge smile on his face and this gleam in his eye.

And those 3 words changed my entire thinking about who God was.

That day I had an encounter with God and it wasn't some huge epiphany from heaven, it was in the person of a man that is now 1 of my best friends and a pastor in the Washington Conference at 1 of the churches there.

That was his witness, that was his testimony.

And that day I was engaged by God that day and it began to wipe away the questions that I had in my mind.

We're gonna find that when we share our personal testimonies that's really what we might call the natural bridge.

It's the link between us and our link between Jesus and and and other people sometimes.

There are people in the world that don't know Jesus and they need to know Jesus and you are the link or the natural bridge that can bring them into connection with Jesus Christ.

I remember the first time I had to give my testimony I was shaking in my boots I'd gotten a phone call from Chattanooga Tennessee as a friend of mine who lived in the Collegedale area and she says listen we have a spot for you in our church we want to hear your testimony the pastor said it's okay I thought great I'm gonna come and share my testimony.

I was okay with it to begin with because I had a personal experience.

Gone through this whole transition and and here I was I have a life with Jesus, I don't know where I'm headed, all I know is that I'm headed there with him.

And so I get to that church and I didn't realize how big it was.

It seems like every church in that little valley is huge.

And I walk in and I had the Sabbath school time and so I walked into the Sabbath school time and There I stood on the platform looking at about 500 people.

And I was excited, but I wasn't, you understand?

So I started sharing and sharing and sharing, and the Lord was just giving me words to say, and I forgot about all the people.

I just wanted them to know about the Jesus that I knew.

And as I stood there, I saw the pastor kind of leaning over and I looked at him and I said, how much time do I have?

Pastor stepped up and he says, if you want to hear more about Justin's testimony, come tonight at Vespers and he'll share the rest of the story with you.

That evening we got together and I began sharing the rest of my testimony and during probably actually within probably the latter third of the testimony when we were wrapping up 1 of the fellows of the church stands up and he says I just have to say something I don't know what have I said wrong have you ever felt that way what have I said wrong what have I done I wanted to run and hide The first time I'd ever really preached in a church, and here are some guys calling me on the carpet.

I just want to say that ever since this man has been here, and I thought here it comes, he has not stopped talking about Jesus.

He says a lot of guys in his situation that come from his experience talk about the things that they've done, the things that they've experienced in a negative way and he says all you hear about is them and them and them and their experience.

He says, but you very seldom hear about Jesus Christ.

He says, ever since we've been here that's all we've heard about and I just want to say praise the Lord.

It's not to share or glorify the things that we've experienced in the past and I've heard that time and time again that does nothing more than destroy the confidence of people in Jesus Christ and really exalt the sinfulness that Satan wants them to be involved with.

Our calling as Christians is to go and share our faith with other people.

You've read it time and again but open up with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew chapter 28 and we're going to be looking at verses 19 and 20.

It says, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, he says, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Verse 20 says, Teaching them to observe all things, how many things?

Whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I'm with you always, he says, even into the end of the world.

All power and all authority has been given to me.

And now I'm commissioning you and I'm giving you that power and that authority and what I want you to do is go tell others about the experience that you've had with me and he says here that you're going to continue to have with me until I come.

That's what he's saying here when he says, Lo, I'll be with you always.

He says it's not just a one-time situation where you meet me and that's it.

And a lot of times in our Christian experience, we run into people out there in the Christian world who have an experience maybe, and they live and base their entire life with Jesus on that 1 experience and I'm gonna tell you you cannot do that.

If you're in a relationship with someone how often do you communicate with them?

If I did not talk to my wife morning, noon, and night I'd be in trouble.

We won't be in trouble with Jesus by the way if we don't talk to him.

He wants to talk to us but we're not going to be in trouble necessarily.

But nonetheless we need to be talking with Jesus all the time, every day, developing that relationship.

And as you develop that relationship, you learn about Him and you get to know Him more and more and more.

And as you have that experience, that's what people need to hear about.

That's what's going to change their life because that's what the gospel is all about.

You know, we're told in the Bible that this gospel will be preached until the ends of the earth and then Jesus will come.

When you look at that, it's more than just preaching with your words, you understand?

It's about the power of God changing your life and by words and by deeds, living that experience before people in this world and they see that it's changed your life.

Realization of the Relationship

This morning I titled the message, Realization of the Relationship Promises, Prayers, and Overcoming Temptation.

Yesterday we talked about our personal witness and that God has called us to be a witness and we're to share the things that we've seen and heard and felt from our experience with Him.

And today we're talking about promises, prayers, and overcoming temptation.

When we have this experience with Christ, we're claiming promises, we're doing it in prayer, and we're overcoming the temptations, and we're facing them down in the name of Jesus.

When we're going through this experience right here we're going to have something to witness about, amen?

If we're dealing with the challenges in our life, not turning our backs on them, but facing them in the name of the Lord, we're going to have an experience that we can tell other people about, and I guarantee you that people out in the world want to hear about overcoming temptation dealing with those issues that are deep in the heart that they're ashamed of and actually having freedom from a sinful life.

There's a young man by the name of, well I won't say his name, you may hear this message at some point in time, but there's a young man I met a couple years ago and could you turn it down a little bit?

He was a military guy and he came to me 1 day and we began to talk about his life.

I met him 1 Sabbath afternoon at a park and as we began to talk he shared with me his own experience.

He felt like the Lord was trying to talk to him and he was scared to death.

He didn't know exactly what was going on and I praise God He gave me the wisdom to clarify for him that day.

When I met with him, he said he'd had this experience in his house.

He had felt this cold darkness, this presence that was there, and he didn't know what it was.

And as he spoke the story to me, I could see in his eyes that he was full of fear and he was full of questions and as he spoke more about it he told me about the experience in detail.

He said 1 evening he was in his bed and while he was in his bed he felt that presence again And he sat up in his bed, he says, it got cold in his house, he felt that dark presence and all of a sudden he felt something very close to his face.

And as he felt that something close to his face he became very scared and then he heard something growl at him and then it was gone.

And then not too long after that he was sharing with me another story about how he had had a dream and in this dream he was lying on the ground and while he was lying on the ground he couldn't move he was immobile but he looked at his body and his body was covered in sores and then he heard some noises in the background but because he couldn't move he didn't see it right away But as he continued to listen to the sounds and as he looked around in his dream, he realized that it was a dog licking his wounds.

And he said, another thing that I saw in that dream was this bright light shining down through the roof of my house.

He said, I looked up and I fell to my knees because I was so scared.

And he says, as I looked up, I realized that it was the Lord and He was coming.

And as I listened to these stories that Rick was telling me, I said his name, I realized that God was actually speaking to him.

And here's the good news, it doesn't matter how far away we are from God, God still wants to communicate with us.

He wants to take us out of the hand of the enemy.

And that's what he was communicating with Rick.

I said, Rick, what I'm gathering from the information you're sharing with me is this.

You are in a condition that you can't get out of.

God is telling you that your sins are destroying your life, and He's coming soon and He wants you to be ready.

And as I shared that with him, tears were running down his face, and I asked him at that point in time, Rick, do you mind if I pray?

And after that I said, I think that we should get together and begin to study the Bible.

We began studying together and not too long after we studied together he showed up at the church we were meeting at and I said, Rick how you doing?

And I felt impressed in my heart to share something with him.

I said, Rick I just want to tell you this week that God doesn't condemn you.

I said, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And I thought, well, this is good news to me.

He then began to tell me the story of his past week.

Even though he had heard from me that God was wanting to take him out of his lifestyle and lead him into a relationship with himself, He wanted Rick to be ready for his second coming.

Rick had fallen back into the same things that he was a part of before that were destroying his life.

You see, Rick was struggling with what we all struggle with, and that's temptation.

But Rick didn't have the answer for his temptation.

So he continued to fall time and time and time again into the sinful situation and more shame and more guilt and more doubt and more discouragement continued to be piled upon him and he felt like there was no way out.

Even though we may feel like that, Even though we may be struggling with the temptations, and even falling into sin, God has told us that if we will enter into relationship with Him, there's victory for you and for me.

The Bible says when we come into a relationship with Him, it's like putting on armor.

Let's turn there just quickly here and take a quick perusal of that passage.

Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10 it says, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

But against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness and high places.

Paul is telling us that we are wrestling with unseen forces, but those works of those unseen forces are revealed in the lives of every single person every single day.

Paul says there's no hope for us without putting on the armor of Christ.

He goes on to say wherefore then take unto you the whole armor of God, not just a piece, not just a part, but enter entirely and wholeheartedly into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

That is the only thing that will save you against the attacks of unseen enemies that surround us every single day.

Do you feel the influences of the enemy every day?

And if we don't put on the armor of God, we will not know how to fight the battle, nor can we ever win the battle that's being waged specifically against people like you and like me.

He's placing stumbling blocks in the path of every single person, but more importantly, more exclusively if you will, he's looking for every opportunity to cause you to stumble.

1, because he doesn't want you to be reconciled with God, and number 2, he doesn't want anybody else reconciled to God, so he must destroy your witness in the world, and he's doing it by personal attack.

Maybe you're wrestling with little white lies to make life convenient for everybody.

What area is it that you're compromising in in your own life?

Are you in a relationship that you shouldn't be in?

Are you taking God's promises, are you taking Him for granted?

Whatever it is, take time in the morning, take time in the afternoon, like the Bible says, take time in the evening to assess your personal life.

You know, there's a prayer in the Bible that says, search me, O God, and know me.

See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

And David says, I can't search my own heart without the light of the Spirit of God coming into me and revealing to me my own condition.

And if I don't know my own condition, I can't deal with it honestly and openly with God.

You see, temptation and sin can be dealt with appropriately if we're willing to put on the armor of God.

If we're willing to step into that relationship and fight against the unseen powers with the weapons that Jesus has given.

Verse 13, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Drug Dealer Finds God

And all of us, the Bible says, has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And I realize every time I share my testimony that we do not think enough about the condition of our own soul.

We don't think enough about where we were before Christ.

We don't think about maybe where we're at right now even without Christ.

And sometimes we presume about where we are when we're with Him.

And when I think about the story that we have to tell in heaven, it won't be about what we've done.

It will be about where we were at and what Christ was able to do.

And when I think about Jesus' love for the sinner, I think about the story that Wes shared with us earlier this week about the demoniac, and how a man's life was completely out of control.

And I don't believe he got that way by just being born into the world, do you?

I don't think that he was born in a condition where he was filled with thousand plus demons.

I believe that he made decisions that led him to the condition that he was in, where he was completely outside of Jesus Christ.

And I believe that that man at that point in his life even though he was so low and he had made decisions that led him to that point in his life Somewhere down in there Jesus saw that he had a desire to be free from that and to know the God of heaven.

We read in Mark chapter 5 that when Jesus had come out of the ship in verse 2, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs and no man could bind him, no not even with chains, because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him.

And always night and day the Bible goes on to say in verse 5, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.

Here is a man who made decisions that led him to a complete and total lack of control in his own life.

And the Bible tells us that God created us to have life.

God created us to live forever, but because of sin, it turned upon us, and now we're trying to destroy ourselves, and this man was on the brink of destruction.

But yet we have good news at the point in this man's life where he's about to destroy himself.

It says in verse 6, but when Jesus saw him afar off, he ran and worshipped him.

When Jesus comes on the scene, things change, amen?

We often think that demon possession was something in the past, Or it's some weird thing that we see in the sci-fi movies now.

And it doesn't happen in today's world, but I want to let you know that it happens on a very large scale in today's world.

Maybe it doesn't happen like this necessarily.

Maybe we don't have Graveyards full of crazy men cutting themselves with stones and running around naked, screaming and yelling.

But if you look in the world today, you have young people getting in relationships that are destroying themselves.

You have young people that are getting involved with drugs that are killing themselves.

You have young people doing things that shouldn't even be named among Christians and they're destroying themselves.

But the good news is that Jesus comes on the scene, He can change things.

And you see the demoniac, there must have been something in his heart like I mentioned that God saw, because God doesn't coerce a person to be changed.

The Bible says that God looks on the inward heart.

Man only sees things that are going on in the outside.

The man was longing for something better.

And Jesus was watching with a loving eye, and He says, I see it.

It's time to strike because the iron is hot.

And He came, and the man's life was completely and totally changed.

He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jesus.

Is your desire now not to live for the world and live with all the dying folk that don't know the Lord, but is your desire now to spend the days that you have left in this earth, whether it be 1 or many, with Jesus Christ.

I love the picture that we have of the demoniac.

And I don't know if you know this, but there was more than 1 up there.

But we see that he's clothed and in his right mind, and all he can think about is spending the rest of his life with Jesus.

He's had a conversion experience, and he's ready to go, and Jesus says, You know what?

And when I first read that, I thought, man, He's a disciple.

Why can't He spend the rest of His life with Jesus?

And the mission was to go tell other people what Jesus had done for Him.

And every time I read this story, I realize that maybe it's not just me that has a story, maybe it's you.

But this morning I want to share a little bit about where I've been and what Jesus has done for me.

I grew up like many of you in a Christian home somewhat.

My mother was a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, kind of, growing as a Seventh-day Adventist.

I think I'm about a fourth-generation Adventist, to be honest with you, but it wasn't passed down in its purity.

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MTYC 2010 Morning Devotional

Realization of the Relationship

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