GYC Conference 2024: Wherever He Goes

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

The Greatest Battle Ever Fought: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

Harley Southwell

01 Claustrophobia: Journey to the Heart of the Earth

02 Resisting Unto Blood: Tempted Beyond What We Are

03 Sleeping or Weeping: Which Disciple Will You Be?

04 Why the Son Had to Die

05 What to Do If You Betray Jesus: Can You Be Restored?

Our final topic for tonight, for GYC is what to do when you fall away, how to be restored.

We've been looking at, We've already touched on this a little bit.

We're gonna go over a little bit of ground we've already covered in regards to the experience of Peter, which we looked at briefly in session number 3.

And in our final session now, we're gonna be looking at, specifically at Peter and his experience, his fall and his restoration, and what to do yourself when you fall away.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for being with us all the way and Lord I know I've been blessed to be, to have been able to put these together and to present them.

And we've really felt your presence here, opening the scriptures to our minds.

And we just pray that as we go into our last session now, after a nice big lunch, that you will help our minds to be alert and to be able to pay attention.

And that we will really be blessed by the message that you have put on my heart.

Peter had, I think we can say, some pretty incredible spiritual experiences in his 3 and a half years of following Christ.

He was 1 of Jesus' chosen 3, 1 of the inner circle.

And he in Matthew 16 was the 1 that confessed first and foremost that Jesus was the Messiah.

Peter boldly declares Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.

He was the 1 who witnessed the transfiguration in Matthew 17.

He experienced Jesus' divine glory alongside Moses and Elijah.

And when we look at Peter, I think we can see a lot of us and our experiences reflected in when we come to programs like GYC, or when we go to summer camps, or camp meeting, or any other kind of revival situation that we may attend, an event that we may attend where we step aside from our regular life and we spend some time Intensely getting to know the teachings of Christ.

And we make some commitments again, and we're on that mountaintop of spirituality.

But all too often, we come away from GYC after making a stand, after coming forward and being prayed for at an appeal, after making a decision even for baptism or some other great, that you're gonna make this some spiritual commitment.

It's easy to make 1 of those commitments here at GYC when 500 other people are already walking up to the front of the auditorium.

And Peter at the same time, with his experience, he's the 1 always making those commitments.

Though everyone else betray you, I will not, he says.

I've had in my experience amazing mountain top experiences.

I went to Arise Australia in 2014 and I was, you know, such an incredible transformational understanding of God's love and the message of Adventism and everything like that.

Even though I'd grown up in the church, even though I'd been a pastor's kid, I got re-baptized at the end of it just because it had all been made so real in many ways.

I've gone on canvassing programs, I've led canvassing programs, attended evangelistic meetings, revival meetings, all these kind of things.

And when you're working in a group with the gospel, it's easy to not sin as much.

It's easy to be righteous when everyone around you is being righteous and that's why it's good to have, that's why we have church, alright?

That's why we have church Because that peer pressure, I don't know if that's the right word, but that support that we get is so incredible.

We read in the Bible how The disciples, they go out and Jesus gives them authority.

They go out, they cast out demons in Christ's name.

They come back and they say, Master, even the demons are subject to us.

Jesus says to the disciples, He says, Hey, that's awesome.

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

But don't rejoice because the demons are subject to you.

Rejoice because your names are written in the book of life.

So these guys, they have their names written in the book of life as a result of these experiences.

They go out and they spend this time, they do service, they do Bible study, and all that kind of stuff.

And you go back to that same comfortable place where it's easy to go back to that sin because all of the pathways to it are right there in front of you as they've always been and haven't been removed.

Ellen White has this warning for us in First Selected Messages, page 314.

We are never to rest in a satisfied condition and cease to make advancement saying I am saved.

When this idea is entertained, the motives for watchfulness, for prayers, for earnest endeavor to press onward to higher attainments cease to exist.

We're going to read some statements later on where Ellen White says it's okay to say that you are saved.

Some people have misused this quotation to say Adventists can never say that they're saved.

She meant what she says here though, but it's balanced out with other things we're going to look at a little bit later on.

We should never cease to make advancement and say, it's okay, I am saved.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going?

Jesus answered him, where I am going, You cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterwards.

Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now?

It's easy to make a decision for Christ at GYC.

It's easy to make a decision for Christ when many others around you, when you're surrounded in a spiritual environment.

That doesn't make your decision, by the way, that doesn't make your decision insincere or weak or wrong.

I'm just saying it's easy to make that commitment here.

It's easy for Peter to make this commitment when he's with the other disciples and he's been on this great spiritual journey over the last 3 and a half years.

And that's the thing that ultimately matters if we actually mean the commitment that we make.

However, as we're gonna see, once that environment gets removed, the old habits can come back very easily.

Peter believed he was stronger than he was because he was surrounded by a spiritual environment.

Jesus answered him, will you lay down your life for my sake?

Most assuredly I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me 3 times." And so then they sing a hymn and they go out to the garden and the disciple who claimed he would die for Jesus can't even stay awake for Jesus.

And then he wakes up, as we've seen already.

He wakes up and he sees what's going down.

We have the episode with the sword in the ear.

And then Jesus is led away by the crowd and Peter, absolutely freaking out, tells the other disciples, hey, let's flee.

But after fleeing initially, he remembers that commitment that he made.

And so he doubles back, the Bible tells us.

He doubles back after initially fleeing and he sneaks into the courtyard of the high priest's residence.

He and John are the only 2 disciples that double back.

The rest of them, we don't know where they run off to and what they're doing.

Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came to him saying, you also are with Jesus of Galilee.

But he denied before them all saying, I do not know what you're saying.

So this girl comes and she's like, you know, hey, you're 1 of them.

And I, if I may be a little bit politically incorrect, a girl, Peter, you're afraid of a little girl?

When he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, this fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.

So this isn't a soldier, this isn't someone armed with a club, this is a girl.

But again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.

A little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, surely you also are 1 of them, for your speech betrays you.

Series

The Greatest Battle Ever Fought: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

05 What to Do If You Betray Jesus: Can You Be Restored?

Transcript

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