This message shares how God can take our mistakes and turn them into something beautiful when we surrender fully to Him. Through this personal journey from distraction to devotion, Oceana Munsey encourages young people to give God their whole heart - because He longs to use our lives for something greater. From ashes to beauty, He can write a powerful story through anyone who is willing.

AFY 2025: Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

<p>This message shares how God can take our mistakes and turn them into something beautiful when we surrender fully to Him. Through this personal journey from distraction to devotion, Oceana Munsey encourages young people to give God their whole heart - because He longs to use our lives for something greater. From ashes to beauty, He can write a powerful story through anyone who is willing.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Amazing Facts

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

Daniel Hudgens

Carlos Muñoz

01 The Vertigo Illusion

We're coming to you from Granite Bay Hilltop Church with speakers who are passionate about you and God's Word.

Together we'll tackle today's challenges, uncover real hope, and discover how faith can guide your journey.

Your Amazing Facts Youth Journey starts now.

Welcome everybody to this Amazing Facts Youth Summit.

Vertical vision, who's ready to be looking up during this weekend?

Daniel Hudgins is my right-hand man at AFCO.

He's the assistant director, and he's 1 of my best friends.

And this is Carlos Munoz, the director of Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism.

So let's get a word of prayer before we start our presentation.

Father, thank you for this blessing and this privilege.

As we come to open your word, we ask for the blessing that you have for those that come to seek you, those, Father, that want to live for your glory.

We ask for this blessing and this guidance and all things, and we ask this in Jesus' precious name.

I invite you guys to open up your Bibles if you have a Bible and for those of you that are watching at home grab your Bibles and let's take a look at what the Bible says in the book of Colossians this is our theme text for this whole entire conference it's a very special text Notice what it says in Colossians 3, verses 1 and 2.

It says, if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above.

And we're going to be thinking of vertical vision throughout this whole summit.

And it says, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Verse 2, set your mind on things, notice again, above, not on things on the earth.

Now you might be wondering about our title for this particular presentation, the Vertigo Illusion.

And I'm going to talk to you about that real quick and tell you what went on in our brains, Carlos and me, as we were discussing this and brainstorming and praying and pondering what is the relevance of this concept.

It made me think about when I went on my first cruise.

How many of you have been on a cruise before?

You've been on a cruise ship and I noticed there when I went on the cruise ship that there were people that they were getting acclimated to the ocean.

Some people were very seasick and they were grabbing onto the rails, and they were, you know, experiencing some nasty things.

Their food was leaving their body in a very unnatural and an unpleasant way.

And then there were other people that were fine.

We were going to Cozumel and the Cayman Islands.

And it was quite the experience seeing all of that.

And all of us today, we are on a journey as well.

We are on a journey to the Promised Land.

And sometimes along the way, the enemy, he wants for us to get nauseous.

He wants us to become confused with this vertigo situation.

And vertigo is actually a symptom, it's not a condition, it's a symptom dealing with a deeper condition which is dealing with your ear.

And Carlos and I were thinking about the ear concept all the way through the Bible and how It has deep implications.

And then with an illusion, the enemy has all these illusions.

Really, an illusion is a false perception of reality.

It may be something that causes us harm and can get us into things that will damage our relationship with God and cause us to sever from God.

So when we think of the vertigo illusion, that's what the enemy's plan is for all of us.

The Bible tells us in John chapter 10 and verse 10, It says, the thief comes not but for to steal, kill and destroy.

But the text goes on and says, I have come that you might have life and that you might have life more abundantly.

So Jesus wants to give us this abundant life, but the enemy wants to steal our identity and cause us to be in this vertigo illusion.

So we're going to look and do a case study over several different Bible characters, as many as we can do, time allowing.

But we're going to look at a few this evening.

And what we want to do is we want to encourage you to think about where are you in each of these stories?

As the great controversy is displayed in each of these stories, what character do you relate to?

So Carlos, who's our first Bible case that we're going to look at?

All right, so we're gonna look at a situation of a young woman that was not looking up, she was not looking up to God because she had a distorted understanding of who God was.

I know it applies to me in my testimony, and 1 of the reasons why I was an atheist, why I didn't believe in God and I converted 17 years ago, Is because I was also sold a distorted image or concept of who God was and you know That's the enemy's plan right the enemy from the very beginning when you look at Genesis chapter 3 What was the enemy's plan the enemy's plan was to?

Create a false narrative in regards to who God is right and If you create a false narrative that God is selfish God is self-serving God is holding back God doesn't have your best interest at hand.

Then you're like, well, I don't want to serve a God like that And so we're gonna look at this first story, right?

We're gonna have we're gonna look at 4 people through the Bible That had issues looking up and we're gonna look at how God helped them solve the problem to then see the correct understanding the correct perception the correct character of God So that you can have the desire and the yearning to want to look up and not just look up but Stay looking up so our first character for today is a woman called Mary Magdalene right Mary Magdalene now She was not looking up again because of the distorted image it appears based off of the Bible story And we can also find this also in spirit of prophecy that Mary Magdalene was the Bible says in Luke chapter 7 that she was led into sin by her uncle Simon the Pharisee right and now it doesn't give us details spirit of prophecy doesn't go into a lot of details either but we then can assume that based because he was a Pharisee, whatever it did that he, whatever did, whatever he did that led her into sin, we can assume it was something that will create a distorted perception of God, right?

As you're growing up, you know, sometimes you look at certain people and you put them like in in a certain level of of almost godly, right?

Like these this is a like sometimes your father Depending on who the person is and then when that person messes up your distort your your Concept of that person Is kind of distorted and so a lot of things times that happens with God sometimes when you're not in my case But I've learned to do in cases of people that are in the church They look at certain people as this godly figure and then when that person falls They falsely assume or they falsely relate that oh if that was that person falling that God must be the same way right God maybe has maybe God is also a hypocrite maybe God is also a two-faced maybe God is also in the same context not that fatherly figure that I thought of that godly figure that I thought so I believe that it's fair to assume that Mary Magdalene had this Situation where she had a distorted concept or image of God through whatever her uncle did to her So for that, let's go to the story in John chapter 8 Please join me in the story of John chapter 8.

As we look at this story and we look at a woman, again, she did not have vertical vision, she was not looking up to God, but she was looking for something else.

John chapter 8, and when you're there say amen.

Why don't you read through it, John 8, verses 2-11, and then we'll have a little chat about it.

Okay, it says, Now early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them.

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery.

And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned.

This they said, testing him, that they might have something of which to accuse him.

But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear.

So when they continued asking him he raised himself up and said to them he who is without sin among you let him throw a stone at her first and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Then those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went out 1 by 1, beginning with the oldest, even to the last.

And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst when Jesus had raised himself up and saw no 1 but the woman.

He said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours?

Sebastien Braxton

02 Before and After

Together, we'll tackle today's challenges, uncover real hope, and discover how faith can guide your journey.

Your amazing facts youth journey starts now.

It's great to be here all the way from sunny North Carolina to sunny California.

It's a little less humid, which I enjoy, but it is ultimately a pleasure and a privilege to be with you all this particular week.

For our theme, being on vertical vision, I imagine that for many of you, when you come to an event like this, you usually have 3 types of people that come to an event like this.

The first type of person that comes to an event like this is someone who's here because they have to be.

It was not something they were excited about they weren't pestering their parents or their friends or their spouse Please register.

They're here because someone required them to be here I don't know if any of you are like that you want to raise your hand you said I'm here because I have to be Here, it's okay.

They're like I'm not raising my hand My parents are a few rows behind me So I'm not gonna admit to that but you know in your heart the second type of person that comes to an event like this are those who are here because their kids are here.

Or they want to go because their friends are coming.

So because of someone else, that's what brought them into this particular event.

And the third type of person is the person who is here because they want to be here, because they desire to connect with Jesus.

And so for whatever person you are, and whatever category that you fit in within those different types of mindsets that you've come to this event, I want to tell you from the very beginning that Jesus can work with every person in every category.

Regardless of the reason why you're here, the moment you come into the presence of Jesus and the word of God is opened, anything can happen.

Jesus can move and work on heart and hearts who are like, I had no intention of going to AFY and somehow Jesus changed my life.

You may be an individual who's like, I'm only here because of my friend, but somehow God got a hold of me, and my life was changed.

So with that being said, I want you guys to do me a couple of favors.

Are you guys willing to do me some favors?

Okay, so first of all, I want you to know it's okay to talk to the preacher.

As I'm asking you, we should be interactive.

Worship is not supposed to be a lecture in college.

So in the Bible, that's why in the last words of the book of Revelation, it is Amen, which tells you John was not from a Southern Baptist Church.

He was not from a Southern Baptist Church.

So The fact that he wrote amen at the end of the book of Revelation is not because amen is a black word.

The word amen is a biblical word that is a response to a truth that you either want to agree with or you want to be true in your own life.

So if God speaks to you during this sermon, it is perfectly fine to say what?

Number 2, I want you to be praying in your heart that God speaks to you individually.

Sometimes we listen to sermons and we're like, man, I wish my mom was here to hear this, or I wish my best friend was here to hear this, but you're here because Jesus wants to speak to you individually.

So I want you to pray, God, speak to me and put your words in this man's mouth.

Teach him what he should say so that you can be blessed and Christ can be uplifted.

So with that being said, My time is running, so I need to pray and dive in.

Mighty God, everlasting Father, it is your time.

We are not here to listen to the words of a man, to hear political speeches or motivational talk.

We want to be able to walk away from this place and say that if God ever spoke by a man, it was this man at this time.

And so we pray for your sweet, sweet spirit to fall upon this place, to move from heart to heart and from mind to mind in pressing the truth upon the soul.

This is our prayer, and we trust that you will help this to be our experience as we offer this prayer from our hearts in Jesus' name.

How many of you have ever tried to read through the Bible from front to back in a year or something like that.

You said, I've tried to read through the Bible.

Now, for any of you who've been like me or someone else who's tried to read through the Bible, you usually find yourself stuck where?

Probably at a place like a genealogy, yes?

Where it's like such and such begat such and such begat such and such, super boring, super dry.

So you're like, I'm trying to read through the Bible, but then I get stuck.

And if I survive the genealogies of Genesis, which is at the very root of what the title of the book is, is why there would be genealogies there, but that's a sermon for another time.

You might survive and get to the book of Leviticus.

I don't need to know all the different parts of an animal that need to be sacrificed.

So all of a sudden you're like, man, this is difficult, and most of us die on the hill of Leviticus trying to read through the Bible.

But I wanna challenge you this morning to something you may not have realized is that anything in the word of God that is recorded, The Bible says in Romans 15 in verse 4, it was recorded for our learning and admonition.

There's something that God is trying to say.

It is inspired through the mind of the author to speak to us even at a young age.

Even when you're like, Lord, I don't see anything.

But as Jesus tells the parable of the seed and the sower, the problem is never the seed.

It is always the soil upon which it falls.

The reason why we struggle with the genealogies is not the genealogies fault, it's my own heart.

So when I'm trying to read the Bible and I'm like I don't get it, I'm bored, I'm disinterested, I don't want to keep doing this time with Jesus or my devotional life, the problem is not the Bible.

And so this is why I ask for that favor for you to pray in your heart that God speak to you.

I hope you're praying right now, silently in your heart.

So with that being said, I wanna share with you a sermon on a genealogy, and not the genealogy of Jesus, that's easy.

So if you have your Bibles, let me see your Bibles, You guys have your Bibles or maybe you have your phones?

All the amazing facts in the world come from the Word of God.

So in your Bibles, I want you to take them out because we are going to use them.

Okay, if you're not there, just say have mercy.

David Shin

03 Screens, Sleep and the Soul: Reclaiming Rest for a Focused Faith

And excuse me, I have a little thing in my throat.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this opportunity that we have to gather together to seek your face during this youth conference.

We pray that you would use me for your glory as we share spiritual themes, for we ask these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Back in 2015, I got the call to pastor in Alaska, and I thought, Lord, what have I done wrong?

You're placing me out of commission on ice.

And so I asked the Lord to give me a sign and I didn't want to go all the way up there if it wasn't the Lord's will.

If the Bible has made it clear, you don't need to ask for a sign.

You don't need to say, Lord, please show me something.

So I said, Lord, if it's your will for me to go to Alaska, please have my house sell this week.

The economy in Michigan was terrible and the house sold that week.

And we started packing up our things, went on the Alaska Highway, and I decided that in order to make my time there as enjoyable as possible, that I would get into photography.

And on the screen, I have a screenshot of the blog that we started.

It was called Shinaska, Shins in Alaska, where we would document our travel up there and our time in Alaska.

You don't need to be a good photographer in Alaska.

And I began to invest in lenses and cameras.

And My social media engagement went, compared to what I was doing before, it went through the roof.

People started liking and commenting, and every like and comment was a dopamine hit.

I'd be like, oh, give me another 1 of those.

And I bought this lens, it's the 50 millimeter 1.2L aperture.

And this camera just blows out the background.

Turns it into just Swiss cheese, creamy, bokeh.

And there's something that always gets engagement on Instagram.

So I posted that and then all the engagement started to get up into an area that I was not familiar with.

And I'm ashamed to say it, but in the course of about 5 years, these are the lenses and cameras that I bought.

I have a very good rating by the way, 100%.

And I began to recognize, and the Holy Spirit brought it to my self-awareness that I was starting to develop this media dopamine addiction.

It seems like it's night a good part of the day.

The sun would come up during winter in Anchorage around 10 a.m.

And it only kisses the horizon and it goes down.

So I spent a good portion of my time online.

To be clear, I believe that social media has its place.

It can be used for ministry, 3ABN, Amazing Facts.

All have social media platforms, and it's a wonderful thing to be able to connect with family and friends.

And this is from a Facebook executive, and he says that he feels tremendous guilt for what he helped make.

The dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works.

And he talks about how him and Mark Zuckerberg got together in this crisis moment because Facebook's user base had plateaued at a mere 90 million users.

And they decided that they needed their user base to grow.

So they decided that it was time to exploit these dopamine feedback loops.

There's 3 primary dopamine pathways and the related cognitive processes.

Most of your dopamine is generated deep in the midbrain.

And there's 3 different types of dopamine feedback reward pathways.

You have the unexpected reward, you have the expected reward, and then you have the negative prediction error.

And what they have found is that the 1 that is the most addictive is the unexpected reward learning.

Hopefully, you've never participated in gambling.

But what happens is someone is there and they keep on working the slot machine, no reward, no reward, and suddenly jackpot.

And that unexpected reward is what makes you addicted.

Now this is from the Harvard Business Review.

It indicates that Instagram's notification algorithms will sometimes withhold likes on your photos to deliver them in larger bursts.

So when you make your post, you may be disappointed to find less responses than you expected, only to receive them in a larger bunch later on.

Your dopamine centers have been primed by those initial negative outcomes to respond robustly to the sudden influx of social appraisal.

For instance, this is a photo I took of my 2 golden retrievers.

I climbed up to this place that has an epic panoramic view over Anchorage.

Climbed up, the lighting was perfect, overcast sky.

I took the photo with my 24 millimeter 1.4 aperture.

Did a little bit of color correction, not too much, so it doesn't look like you did it, posted on Instagram, and I'm checking and I'm checking and I'm checking and I know dog posts always get good engagement.

But I'm like, something is wrong, because the comments and the engagement is not there.

It's like 3 likes, 1 piddly comment, whoa.

And I'm thinking to myself, is it the wrong time of day?

Is there traffic in a certain part of town?

Maybe my dogs didn't look as cute as before, and so I'm checking and I'm checking and I'm checking and I'm checking and finally at 1 a.m., unbeknownst to me, Instagram has held back with its algorithms all the comments and likes, and at 1 a.m.

I'm doom scrolling and I'm checking and I'm like, what is wrong?

Series

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

05 From Screen Time to God Time

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

08 From Scrolling to Stillness: Reclaiming Solitude for a Life That Connects

54m

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

11 Lift Up Your Eyes

45m

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

07 None of These Things Move Me

51m

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

02 Before and After

48m

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

04 Chemical Chains: How Satan Uses Drugs and Alcohol To Bind the Mind

53m

Plenary

For Such a Time as This

1h

GYC SE 2013 Plenary Sessions

Sin is a Four Letter Word

55m

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

09 Salvation or Seduction: How the Enemy Uses False Intimacy and Romance To Destroy Relationships With God

52m

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

10 Not Bewitched: Avoiding Hollywood’s Spells

48m

Vertical Vision: Learn to Look Up

14 Dead Man Walking

58m

Certainty in Uncertain Times

10. Where Do I Find Power to Overcome?

59m

Jesus on Prophecy

01 Prophecy Unfolds Today

48m

Sound Doctrine