GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Last Day Events, The Remnant, and Church Organization

Mark Finley

01 Revelation’s Remnant

Father in heaven, thank you so much for the opportunity to work here in this seminar together, to study together really, to sense your spirit working among us, clearly outline the events that are coming so that we can be prepared for them.

Lead us to a deep abiding experience with Jesus.

Enable us to know your will and Father prepare us for what's coming in Christ's name.

Now let's suppose you are attending a concert in Carnegie Hall.

All right, Let's suppose you're attending a concert in Carnegie Hall.

And you have looked forward to this concert.

It's a special event that you've saved for, you've purchased tickets for.

And about in the middle of the concert, some guy jumps up and cries, fire, fire, fire.

First, the guy is an absolute lunatic, and you're hoping that some New York security guards will come and carry the guy out.

Second choice is the guy's a terrorist, and he wants people to jump up so he can pull out his guns and start shooting people.

The third possibility is that there is really a fire.

Would your attitude toward the guy who stands up be any different if it's 1 of those 3 scenes?

If the guy's a lunatic, you're thinking to yourself, this guy's absolutely crazy, he's interrupting my concert.

If the guy's a terrorist, your heart is filled with fear.

But if this is really a fire, at the end of that, when people are evacuated, everybody's safe, you're gonna throw your arms around the guy and say, thank you for saving my life.

When you look at coming events or last-day events, We are looking at something that comes to us from the heart of a loving God because there is a genuine crisis that's coming.

It's not some wild-eyed fanaticism, but it's rather a loving God shares with us a message in the last days to prepare people for the coming crisis.

Now when you study coming events there are 3 things to keep in mind.

First, Jesus makes clear what's most important.

There is no area that I know of that has greater speculation than the area of last day events.

You get all kind of speculation that takes place, but Jesus makes clear what is it, what's most important.

So if something is not real clear, It obviously is not real important.

So we're not going to look at speculation in this class.

We're not going to look at what might happen and because somebody's theory of 7 popes from Revelation 17 or all this kind of stuff.

We're not gonna look at these purported time periods that from this national Sunday law to the close of probation, it has to be.

We are gonna look at clear, lucid statements in the Bible and the spirit of prophecy.

That's where we are going to land in this class.

Secondly, there are 3 principles we're going to look at.

Second principle, Jesus is the center of all prophecy.

If you present prophecy without presenting a Christocentric Jesus center of prophecy, wherever you end up you're not going to end up right because what is the purpose of prophecy?

The purpose of prophecy is to prepare a people for the coming of whom?

And so Jesus must be the center of all prophecy.

The third thing is Jesus has given us last-day events not to scare us, not to frighten us, but to prepare us.

If you study last-day events and you come away frightened and scared, if you come away trembling, think, oh, I can never make it through that time, there's something wrong with that approach, because Jesus does not give us last day events to frighten us.

He doesn't give us last day events to scare us.

He gives us last day events to prepare us and to encourage us.

Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

Of course, to get the most out of this seminar, you're going to want to be bringing your Bibles.

Now, you'll remember in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul talks about the coming of Jesus.

He talks about Jesus coming in power and glory.

He talks about the reality of the resurrection, the resurrection of the righteous, the resurrection of the translation of the righteous.

Paul says, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God and the dead in Christ who rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

The Thessalonian Christians then need to understand something about the day of the Lord.

And if you look at First Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 5, 6 and 7, it says, but you, brethren, are not in darkness that that that this day, what's this day?

The second coming of Jesus should overtake you as a thief.

You are sons of light and not sons of day and our sons of the day.

Therefore, let us not sleep as others, but let us watch and be sober.

So Paul is saying, look, we can have clarity about the coming of Jesus.

We're not sons of the night, we are sons and daughters of the day.

God has given to us light on the road ahead.

In the eighth volume of the Testimonies, page 28, I read this important statement, transgression has almost reached its limit.

So here Ellen White says transgression has almost reached its limit.

We can see that in the world today, can't we?

Next sentence, confusion fills the world.

And then it says, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings.

That's what we're going to be studying about.

That Great Terror has to do with famine, fire, flood, conflict, war, Great Terror.

Then this important sentence, God's people should be preparing for what is to come upon our world, to break upon the world, as an overwhelming surprise.

God's people should be preparing for what is to come upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

Does the average person in the world today have any idea what's coming?

But we who know the truth should be doing what?

Preparing for what's to come upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

When we study coming events, all of those coming or last day events, are pointing forward to the glorious event of Christ's second coming.

In Scripture, Jesus' second coming, you're going to want to note this, is mentioned 1, 500 times.

For every prophecy in the Old Testament speaking about the first coming of Jesus, there are 8 that speak about the second coming of Jesus.

In the New Testament, the second coming of Christ is mentioned once in every 25 verses.

So the second coming of Christ is mentioned once in every 25 verses.

So the second coming of Christ is the great mountain peak of the Bible.

02 The Holy Spirit, Laodicea, and Revival

Let's review a little bit about the purpose of our seminar.

You know, when you look at a seminar on coming events, I mentioned to you that there are 3 things that we want to keep in our mind.

1 is that God makes most clear what's most important.

So there may be some things in the book of Revelation or even in the writings of Ellen White that we're not 100 percent clear on, but God makes most clear what's most important.

God's great goal is to get you and to get me from here to heaven.

And if you had a child on a stormy, snowy night, roads are icy, snow's pounding down, wind is blowing, bridges are out, trees are falling, But there's 1 road that's been plowed by the county.

And you were telling your child, wouldn't you want to make that?

There, it, just a hair louder I think for the back.

If you were making a map for your children, wouldn't you make that map as clear as possible?

And so revelation is designed by God with clear anchor points to enable us to get home.

The second thing that we second principle we're operating on is that every prophecy reveals Jesus, his grace, his goodness, his love.

So when you study last-day events, if you're studying simply about dates and timelines as important as they are.

And thirdly, the study of Revelation's prophecy, the study of books like great controversy, early writings, Ellen White's writings, should not leave us in fear, but should fill us with hope.

And so when we look at last day events, The purpose is not so that we quake in fear.

The purpose is to bring deeper spirituality to our lives.

And in this session, we're going to look at true and false revivals.

We're going to look at the strategy of Satan to destroy God's people and destroy the world, and then we're going to see how God counteracts that with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Demonic activity from beneath calls for all God's power from above.

The power of the Holy Spirit is greater than the power of the evil 1.

Some people talk to me about the power of demons, I talk to them about the power of Jesus.

Some people talk to me about how strong Satan has a hold on them, I talk about how Jesus can set them free.

Some people talk about how they fail in temptations, and I talk about how Jesus can set them free.

Some people talk about how they fail in temptations and I talk about how Jesus can give us victory.

The power of Jesus is greater than the power of the evil 1.

But it's important to know the strategy of Satan in the last days.

Father in heaven, thank you that you are in control.

Thank you that your power is greater than the power of the evil 1.

Thank you also for truth that reveals the majesty of God's love, his grace, and his goodness.

I pray now that as we study true and counterfeit revivals, that you'd reveal the plans of God, unmask the plans of Satan, and clearly enable us to know what's on the road ahead.

A number of years ago in Miami, Florida, there were a number of burglaries and the police and the investigators couldn't figure out what was going on.

There was a burglary, and 1 home was burglarized, and they took a very expensive stereo set.

Another home, different part of town, burglarized.

They took some very, very exclusive artwork.

Another home burglarized, took electronic equipment like computers.

And The police are saying, what is going on here?

They just couldn't figure out what was happening.

There's 1 detective on the case, and he began to look very, very carefully.

And he saw that there was an interconnectedness between each of these robberies.

And he saw as well that these robberies most likely weren't the robberies of 1 person, or 2 people, or 3 people, or 4 people.

It wasn't like a gang that was working in different parts of the city, but that there was 1 person.

These were not separate, distinct robberies by different people, but there was 1 golden thread between each robbery, and it was likely 1 robber.

The robberies took place over a period of time.

And so the police studied them, and they said, wait a minute.

Based on this information, we think we can tell you where the robber is going to strike next.

They put together all the pieces in the puzzle.

Because there was somebody that had an idea of what was going to happen in the future.

When you look at the activities of Satan in the last days of Earth's history, and you put together the pieces in the puzzle, you can be prepared for where he's gonna strike next and what he's gonna do.

Now, if you look at our world, as we approach the final crisis, there's basically 3 classes of people.

If you were the devil and you were catapulting the whole world into a final crisis, what would you do?

What strategies would you use on unbelievers to harden them in their unbelief?

They have a certain measure of belief in Christ.

It may be a belief in Buddha, maybe Hinduism, but they're believers.

If you were the devil, what would you do for people that already believe but are embraced in false doctrines?

How would you crystallize those false doctrines?

And then There are Seventh-day Adventists.

What do you think the devil's strategy would be for them?

So in this class, we first want to take a look at these strategies.

We're going to look at first Satan's strategy for unbelievers.

I'd like you to take your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter 24.

This is the great chapter in the Bible on last day events as outlined by Jesus, the signs of the times.

We are told by Ellen White that it would be well for us to study carefully these signs of the times.

You remember Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives looking across the Kidron Valley at the temple.

And as he was sitting there, he said, not 1 stone will be left on the temple.

As he made that statement, the disciples thought that an event as cataclysmic as the destruction of the temple must be the end of the world.

So they said to Jesus, tell us when these things shall be and what shall be the sign of your coming in the end of the world.

He describes false Christs and false prophets, but then he says in verse 6, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

See that though you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there'll be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in different places.

Wars do not occur simply because some human despotic authoritarian leader motivates their army to invade another country.

Wars occur precisely because Satan is behind those wars and when the wars occur, Satan wants to sweep thousands who don't know Christ into death.

03 The Rise of a Prophetic Movement

Father, thank you for your love and your grace.

Thank you for the opportunity to study your word.

The same Holy Spirit that inspired the word is with us as we study it.

So I pray that you would be with us this afternoon.

Give us attentive minds, alert thoughts, and prepare us for the overwhelming events that are coming.

And we know that in Jesus, we need not fear that his love and grace are sufficient to get us through the crisis in Christ's name, Amen.

Well let's suppose you were taking your dream vacation in Europe And let's suppose that you had bought a Eurorail pass which enables you to travel any place you want by train.

And you're on the train traveling across Europe.

And as you're going, you've never gone this way before and you get a little bit concerned.

And you begin to think, did I get on the right train?

If I'm on the right train, Does this train go to the city that I want to go to?

And am I gonna have to walk the last 7 miles with my 3 suitcases?

Now, I know you're fit, but I don't know if you're that fit.

And so you begin thinking, I'm a little confused here, does the train stop short?

Or maybe the train veers off the track, veers off in a different direction, and maybe we go in the absolute wrong direction.

Or maybe there's a calamity up ahead and there's a bridge out and we're never gonna make it there.

But then you get out your Eurorail map and you say, wait a minute, as I look at this map, the train is exactly on the right track.

There may be a little bump in the road here or there.

Maybe some mountains we have to climb, but the train is going to make it.

If you understand that there may be some mountains, there may be some valleys, but the train's going to go to the final destination, you're staying on.

But if you think that the train's not going to make it to the final destination, You may jump off.

If you think that the train's gonna be in a big wreck, you may jump off.

Will God's church make it through to the final destination?

Or is it necessary sometime before the end to jump off?

What are the writings of Ellen White teach?

How indeed is God gonna purify his church at the end?

Well, let's start out by looking at a couple passages that are quite significant in Scripture.

And you'll notice there Jesus leads his disciples to Caesarea Philippi.

Capernaum is in Galilee in the north, Caesarea Philippi is further north than that.

Why would Jesus lead his disciples from Jerusalem to the Galilee, to Capernaum, and up to Caesarea Philippi?

Caesarea Philippi was an interesting city.

What 2 names do you see in the name of the city, Caesarea Philippi?

So 1 thing we know immediately are those, what nationality would those names be?

Caesarea Philippi, Caesar and Philip, what the nationality?

So immediately we know this is a Roman city.

There is a large Roman military garrison here.

The second thing we know about Caesarea Philippi is that was the center of Judaism.

The third thing we know about it, it was the center of pagan religions.

There was a temple dedicated to Pan there, the pagan god of nature.

So Jesus sets himself in the context or in the background of Roman military might.

He sets himself in the background of Jewish formalistic religion.

He sets himself in the background of Greek philosophy.

And it's in that context, what's going to change the world?

So Jesus leads his disciples there and he come.

He says to them, who do you say that I am?

Sidon and Peter says, you are Christ, the son of the living God.

And Jesus answers and says to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.

When you and I come to Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God, flesh and blood doesn't reveal it to us.

It's the Holy Spirit that reveals that to us deep within our own hearts, and it's the Holy Spirit that reveals the living Christ that changes our lives.

Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father which is in heaven and I say to you that you're Peter that is to say that your name is Peter but upon this rock this solid rock that I am Christ the Son of the Living God in fact Jesus makes a play on words your Peter Cephas that's the rolling or movable stone that name means, but on this rock, this solid rock.

Notice what he says, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

1 thing we know for certain, and that is the church is not man-made, it's God-made.

And he says the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Isn't that incredibly good news that the gates of hell are not going to triumph against God's church or God's people?

At times do we see apostasy in the church?

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Series

Last Day Events, The Remnant, and Church Organization

02 The Holy Spirit, Laodicea, and Revival

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

01 Revelation’s Remnant

54m

02 The Holy Spirit, Laodicea, and Revival

52m

03 The Rise of a Prophetic Movement

1h 2m

04 The Shaking, the Sifting, and the Remnant Church

45m

05 The Triumph of God’s End Time Church

45m

Sound Doctrine