GYC 2012 Acts: The Revolution Continues

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

GYC 2012 Plenary Sessions

Israel Ramos

GYC 2012 Keynote Address

This message was presented at the GYC 2012 conference in Seattle, Washington.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

I'll invite you at this time to bow your heads with me in prayer as we begin the message for this evening.

Father in heaven, It is impossible for a human mind and a human tongue to communicate the things of God.

At the same time, it is impossible for the human ear to understand them.

And so, Lord, we are in a bit of a fix tonight, and we are in need of a miracle, that you would use me as an instrument today, and that you would somehow communicate the words from on high into the personal lives of each individual here tonight.

So Lord, we pray that you would give us your spirit tonight as we study your word.

We ask for these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Jesus has just risen again, and as he gathers together with his disciples for the final time before he goes back to begin his work for you and for me in the sanctuary in heaven, He tells his disciples that it will be their responsibility from that point forward to communicate to the entire world the message of a risen and soon coming Savior.

And so it is that his parting words are these to the disciples, you will receive power.

After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you will be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria, he says, and in the uttermost parts of the world.

And with those final words, the disciples are left with perhaps the largest responsibility ever given to humankind.

To be a testament, to be a testimony, to be a witness of Jesus Christ and of his soon return before an entire world and we find these words penned chapter 2 verse 1 and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with 1 accord in 1 place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men of every nation under heaven.

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

And they were all amazed and marveled, saying 1 to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?

And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

And they were all amazed and were in doubt, Saying 1 to another, What means this?

Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

But Peter, standing up with the 11, Lifted up his voice and said unto them, You men of Judea and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be it known unto you and hearken to my words for these are not drunken as you suppose seeing that it is but the third hour of the day but this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel and it shall come to pass he says and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall see dreams.

And on my servants and on my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy and I will show wonders in heaven above and a sign signs in the earth beneath blood and fire of vapor of smoke the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come and it shall come to pass and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Verse 37 is a response.

Now then when now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts And they said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every 1 of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.

And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to your children and unto all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord shall call.

Then they which gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day were added unto the church about 3000 souls.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers, and the fear, the Bible says, and fear came upon every soul.

And many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles, and all that believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and their goods, and they parted them to all men as every man had need.

And they, continuing daily in 1 accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favor with all people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." If there was ever a revolution, This is it.

As a matter of fact, the book of Acts is full of revolutions.

How is it possible that God takes men and women who were just previously, not in the distant past, afraid for their lives.

How does he take those people, fills them with courage and boldness in order to proclaim the message of a Christ that no longer is seen, that people think is dead?

If there is ever a revolution, this is a revolution.

How is it that God takes selfish individuals and causes them to come together in fellowship and in unity for a singleness of purpose if there is ever a revolution?

Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2 records for us that revolution.

I call it the revolution of power and there are lessons for us tonight.

Lesson number 1 is this, that the revolution of power recorded in Acts chapter 1 and 2 is a revolution that is not dependent on who we are, yet at the same time it is very dependent on who we are.

Not dependent on who we are in terms of gifts, not dependent on who we are in terms of talents, but it is, however, dependent on who we are in terms of whether those gifts are totally and 100% sacrificed and committed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you are not willing to be a fool for Jesus Christ, you are not ready for the revolution of power.

If you are not willing to be used, to be wasted for the service of Jesus Christ, then we cannot be ready for the revolution of power.

If we have not yet prepared ourselves to be used or unused For whatever cause or purpose Christ has in store for you and for me, then we are not ready for the revolution of power.

The revolution of power teaches us, first of all, that God is not bound by the talents that you possess or the talents that I do not possess.

What limits you and what limits me is our willingness to surrender what we do have to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The first lesson that we learn from the revolution of power is this, that it is not dependent upon the talents that we possess.

It is not dependent on who we are yet at the same time it is very dependent on who we are but there is another lesson that we learn and that is this that the revolution of power is a revolution that is totally dependent on the Word of God.

Just before Jesus leaves this earth, the final words to his disciples are this, you will receive power.

You will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and he says as a matter of fact you will be my witnesses in the entire world.

A revolution for Christ cannot exist outside of the power of the Word of God, for it is totally, 100% dependent on the Word of God to do what it says.

The 1 key ingredient, the match that sets aflame the entire world and the complete individual is the Word of God.

Jesus Christ said, you will be my witnesses, and so did the Prophet Joel.

The Prophet Joel said, your young men will see dreams.

My spirit shall fall upon all flesh upon the old and upon the young it will fall upon those who are a far off and those who are close He says it will fall upon you and upon your children.

My spirit, he says, my word, my power will fall not just on a few individuals but upon anyone that is called.

The next lesson that we learn, lesson number 3, is this, that the revolution is for those who are called.

The revolution is for those who are called.

It is not bound by what you don't have or by what you do have, but it is at the same time very much bound by what you don't have and what you are willing to do with what you do have.

And the third thing is that this revolution is for those who are called.

My friends, God has never, ever called the qualified.

God has never called the qualified but rather he always qualifies those that he calls.

In other words, the call itself is the qualification And if God wants a revolution to take place, it doesn't matter if you're old or young.

It doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl.

It doesn't matter if you're near or if you're far.

We need not ask ourselves if we are the descendants of Peter, but we need to ask ourselves, has the Lord Jesus Christ called me to be part of His revolution?

God never calls the qualified, He instead qualifies the called.

The desire of Ages 250 says this, In the common walks of life there is many a man patiently treading the round of daily toil, unconscious that he possesses powers which, if called into action, would raise him to an equality with the world's most honored men." The touch of a skillful hand is needed.

Leaders, church leaders, the touch of a skillful hand is needed to arouse those dormant faculties.

It was such men that Jesus called to be his co-labors and he gave them the advantage of association with himself.

Never had the world's great men such a leader.

When the disciples came forth from the Savior's training, they were no longer ignorant and uncultured.

They had become like Him in mind and character, and men took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

There is a supernatural yet certain phenomenon that takes place with the called.

They have the advantage of association with Christ and in this association, this association somehow transforms the called to become like Him in mind and character, and people take note that they have been with Jesus, the called are qualified because the call itself is the qualification.

Young person tonight, you need to understand that you do not need anything except the call of Jesus Christ upon your life to be successful in labor for Jesus Christ?

Is there a dream in your heart to do something for God?

The call is a qualification because it gives us the advantage of communion with Jesus and communion with Jesus transforms the life so that you and I become like Him in mind and character, so much so that the surrounding world takes note that we have been with Christ.

Lesson number 4 is that the revolution of power is always an outward manifestation of something greater that is within.

It is a manifestation of something greater that takes place within.

What you see on the outside no matter how big it is, is always smaller than what is on the inside.

Perhaps the best and most powerful words ever recorded in the book of Acts are found in Acts chapter 2, the very first words that we read.

And on the day of Pentecost, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, it says, they were all with 1 accord in 1 place.

Perhaps the greatest and most successful challenge that the disciples were able to overcome.

The greatest revolution that ever happened, even before you read the rest of Acts chapter 2, is the revolution that has already taken place in the hearts of each of the apostles.

And that is unity with Christ that leads to unity with 1 another.

This isn't some type of yoga or karate that the power comes from within.

GYC 2012 Sabbath School Panel

Our theme this year is Acts the Revolution Continues.

And what we want to do this morning is we want to look at the last book, or the last chapter of the Book of Acts, Acts 28.

And if our theme is Acts the Revolution continues, we want to pick up where it left off in the book of Axe.

So we're going to study the last book of Axe as a panel this morning.

Before we start though, I want to ask each member of our panel to briefly introduce themselves.

So tell us your name and where you're from.

My name is Valmy Karamera and I work as the assistant to the president of GYC and I'm from Michigan.

My name is Natasha Neblet and I work in logistics and I'm from New Mexico.

I'm Michelle Lee, and I serve as the Vice President of Resources, and I'm from California.

My name is Siku, and I am not on e-com, but I live in Michigan.

I'm originally from Zimbabwe, and I want to say hi to my family.

I'm from the great state of Mississippi, and I want to say hi to my family.

I'm from the great state of Mississippi, and I want to say hi to my grandma.

Before we begin our study, why don't we open with a word of prayer.

Loving Father, we're so thankful for the gift of the Sabbath.

We're thankful for the gift of your word.

We're thankful for the many ways that you condescend to commune with us, as you did through Christ.

And after he left, you promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We ask that as we go through this study, the Holy Spirit would be our teacher, that he would guide our thoughts, guide our minds to understand, to comprehend the truths that you have for us today.

May they have a revolutionary effect in our lives so that we can go forth and spread the revolution that you began.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Before we dive into Chapter 28 of the Book of Acts, I just want to ask the panel, what do we know about the Book of Acts?

Because we want to set the context for our study.

We don't just study the chapter in isolation.

We want to know what the Book of Acts is all about.

So panel, tell us a little bit about what you know.

And it took place in the first century AD.

Where does the story begin geographically?

It begins in Israel, just outside of Jerusalem, when it first picks up and Christ is about to ascend.

He's just finished his ministry, which was recorded by Dr.

And then Luke kind of ends right after the crucifixion, and then Acts picks up, and Christ ascends to heaven and begins his ministry in heaven, and all these things transpire on earth, and it's beautiful.

Yeah, and the great promise that Jesus left us with is that the Holy Spirit would come.

And though it's titled the Acts of the Apostles, you could say it's the Acts of the Holy Spirit probably even more accurately.

But by the time we get to chapter 28, where are we geographically?

By the time, at the end of the book, we are in Rome.

So there is a progression of the book from Jerusalem, Samaria, all the way to Rome.

And I thought what we could do is we could just look at chunks of verses and ask the panel for their reflections on each chunk.

So let's start with verse 1 and let's read up until verse 6.

And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Merita.

And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a fire and received us, everyone, because of the present rain and because of the cold.

And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand.

And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he has escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffers not to leave.

And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm.

Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly.

But after they had looked a great a while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a God." What's happening here in these first 6 verses of chapter 28?

I think to begin this narrative here in chapter 28, it kind of does injustice to the whole story of what happened to Paul, because this is his journey to Rome.

And so I think it may be wise to just briefly touch on what was happening before because we see Paul going all the way to Jerusalem and going all the way to Rome and finally they have a shipwreck and what happens then is really interesting because Paul, as we recall the story, Paul tells everyone on the ship and says anyone who stays in the ship will leave.

And I think it has a lesson for us in the church that anyone who stays in the church, in a sense, anyone who stays in the church, anyone who works in the church, I mean, an organic faith and works in the church and lives in the church and also participates in the life of the church.

Okay, can I just, can I digress from what he was talking about a little bit?

But going back to where the story is leading up from, like he was saying, they're on the ship and the ship is about to have shipwreck and something that I noted reading the previous chapter is the role that Paul plays in that instance.

So they're on the ship, ship's about to have shipwreck, and the captain of the ship, there's constant looking to Paul for direction, like, okay, Paul, what do we do?

You know, and Paul gets up and says, you know, I had a dream, I had a vision, and if we stay on this ship, that we're gonna be saved, you know, stay on the boat.

And afterwards, you know, people want to jump off the boat.

And when we get now to Chapter 28, we see this miraculous occurrence with Paul again where they're starting a fire and the snake comes out and bites Paul and yet nothing happens to him.

And you see again this picture of first, the natives were looking at Paul with suspicion that, oh, he must be a really bad guy, you know, because the snake bit him, and he must be like a murderer.

But then afterwards when nothing happens to him, they start thinking, wow, he must be a god.

And so there's a shift in their mind in their attitude towards Paul.

And throughout Paul's story, at least up until this point, even though he's a prisoner in chains, you have those who are charged with taking care of him, looking to him for leadership.

And now you have him on this island and he's, they're thinking he's definitely a prisoner, he must be a murderer, and they go from thinking this guy is a murderer to thinking he must be a god.

So in spite of his physical circumstances, there's something in Paul, like some spirit about him that leads people to look up to him.

It's very telling too about human character, what you see here.

Because you see people that want to connect, they're hospitable, they're very kind, and then you see them go very quickly from damning someone to deifying someone.

And very soon after that, what's Adam doing?

Adam Ramdin

Revolution. Revelation. Transformation.

It's a privilege to be here with you at GYC 2012 here in Seattle, Washington.

I believe we've been blessed already thus far today.

Wes Peppers, Pastor Wes Peppers, I believe, gave us a strong word this morning.

I had the privilege to attend Avco with Wes.

We sat together in class and then we became outreach partners and it's a privilege to be able to speak here at the same event with Pastor Wes Peppers amongst many others.

As we gather together for this service, Acts the Revolution continues.

It's my prayer that we will have a true revolution in our hearts and in our lives this morning and throughout this conference.

I want to thank those of you who have stopped me in the hallway or in the lifts or in the corridors and said, brother, I'm praying for you.

I appreciate each and every 1 of those prayers, for I believe it's through prayer that the Holy Spirit's power will come down upon us this morning.

And I would like to invite you to bow your heads for another word of prayer.

Father in heaven, Lord, we pause for a moment to thank you for bringing each and every 1 of us here at this point in our lives to worship you.

Whether we are here in person or scattered around this globe, we thank you Lord that life is in our body and We can praise you this Sabbath morning as We do so We ask and pray that your Holy Spirit would come into our hearts Lord, I pray that you would speak through me at this time that you would take hold of me, that the words that are spoken would be your words, that your name would be uplifted and glorified, and that the character of And that the character of Jesus, our loving Savior, may be seen.

How many of you think it is a privilege to be here at GYC?

I believe God has raised up this movement and it's a privilege for me to be here.

It's my ninth GYC that I've been to in a row.

The first 1 I went to was in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

And I've been to each and every 1 since then and it's amazing to see how this movement has grown from what it was back then in the second 1, I think it was 6 or 7 or 800, to being what it is today.

Thousands of people on site and around the world.

I believe God is behind the movement of GYC.

And you heard earlier that this local movement that began in California and was just really for the United States of America has now blossomed and grown and it's now a worldwide movement.

GYC Europe, I had the privilege to be there this year in July where we had over 1, 200 young people from around Europe.

30 countries, and not just Europe but the Middle East and Africa and Asia, 30 countries coming together to hear the Word of God preached.

And it was encouraging to see young people going forward for appeals and outreach taking place in the city as God's Word was preached.

I believe we are living in exciting times.

How many of you believe it's a privilege to be a Seventh-day Adventist?

You are a member this morning of the fastest-growing Protestant Church in the world and the most widespread Protestant church as well.

It is a privilege to be called a Seventh-day Adventist.

When people ask, you know, I was just in the lift this morning and coming down and someone said, oh, are you part of the Generation Youth Christ?

I said, oh, it's a Seventh-day Adventist Youth Conference.

But it was a privilege to be able to stand there and say, I am part of the Adventist church.

You may have heard of the old evangelist, the late Joe Cruz.

And I heard 1 story about him where it was once said that when he would be asked, what religion are you?

That he would sometimes, you know, straighten his tie and adjust his belt and say, I don't mean to boast.

I don't mean to boast, but I am a Seventh-day Adventist.

We're blessed to be part of a church where we have the writings of Mrs.

White, where we have a prophet who wrote things pertinent directly to our time.

We are blessed to be living in a time when prophecy is fulfilling before our eyes.

You know, when you read the Bible and you read about Daniel and Ezekiel and John the Revelator, you read about men that wrote things in the Bible that are taking place during our day and age.

And I believe if those men and women could have lived in another age they would have said I want to live in the year 2012 or the year 2013 I would like to live at a time when the events I prophesied are taking place We are living in exciting times and in this day and age God has given us a particular message that we are to preach.

I've worked in our church as an evangelist.

And it's always a privilege to baptize people into the Seventh-day Adventist church.

And we're called To preach the 3 angels message.

It is a very distinctive message that we are called to preach in this day and age It's not a soft message so to speak but it points out Jesus Christ and it points out what we need to preach today First angels Message fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has what?

Series

GYC 2012 Plenary Sessions

Revolution. Revelation. Transformation.

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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