WYC 2007: Be Like Jesus

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GYC West

WYC 2007 Breakout Sessions, Part 2

Eugene Prewitt

Unlike Jesus: Unbelief and Unworthiness

Let's bow our heads for a prayer and we'll begin.

Our Father in heaven, I ask for your own purposes that you would use the Holy Bible during this period, that you'd find a way to help us understand what is true and right.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 16.

Afterward, Jesus appeared unto the 11 as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen." I remember well when this verse settled into my mind.

Jesus had just been resurrected, he was meeting with his grieving disciples, he was about to leave them forever, and instead of a warm, loving caress, what did he do?

He rebuked them, the word is upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.

I have 2 professions, you don't need to know that, but it will help you understand where I'm coming from and what I say.

1 profession is I teach Bible and history.

But the other profession is I train call porters.

I do 1 during the breaks and 1 during the semesters.

And I think I understand something about this verse from the canvassing work that I would not have learned from looking at the verse itself.

According to your faith, so be it unto you.

Think about that passage for a minute, according to your faith, so be it unto you, and think about it in connection with griping or complaining or murmuring.

If I say something like, do I have to witness?

That kind of question, does that question say something about God?

It says something about God putting a burden on you that He has not given you sufficient equipment to fulfill.

It makes it sound like he was irresponsible in giving you the assignment.

It really is an unkind statement about God.

If I complain about my house or about my children, that's safe, I don't have any, if I murmur about some aspect of my life that it's not the way I want it to be, perhaps that I'm dying of cancer, for example, But didn't Jesus promise that all things in my life will work together for my good?

You know, it's unbelief If I speak as if God's Word isn't true.

And if righteousness is by faith, pray tell what is by unbelief.

Acts chapter 13, and we're looking at verse 46.

This should be a famous passage to Adventists because it's just a little ways up and around here that Gentiles end up hearing about the truth on the Sabbath.

Acts 13.46, Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, that is to the Jews, but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

Do you all remember what Brother Batchelor said is the most quoted verse in scripture?

Do you see in this verse that many people judge themselves.

We judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life when we do not receive with gladness the Word of God.

When we do not receive the word of God as it is.

Why did Jesus upbraid his disciples with their unbelief?

It is because, and this is like my big point for the next 15 minutes, then I'll go to something else.

Unbelief cuts us off from help from heaven.

So that often we have to choose between Pity from man or power from God?

I'll tell you my experience with canvassing and you can apply it to your own situation.

If a student gets into the van and if I'm leading a club or team, and he tells me there's no 1 home on these streets, what he would like for me would be pity.

He would like me to have a feeling like this, oh, the reason that you're not selling books is because there's no 1 to sell them to.

But he had a promise in the Bible that said that there's many of them, a few of them say things like, you'll hear a voice behind these saying, this is the way, walk ye in it.

That God will guide us continually, Isaiah 58.

The promise that if we acknowledge Him in all our ways that He will direct our paths.

You know that he could pray that God would put him on the right street and God would put him on the right street.

If he does pray that God will put him on the right street, and then he talks as if it's the wrong street, he has just cut himself off from heaven's help.

He needs heaven's help very badly to do a work like the canvassing work.

So that I train him to say something rather like this, that I know God is going to use me to reach someone in this area.

Would he like to get some sympathy and to feel excused for not having success?

You will often in life have to choose between pity from man and power from God and how do you get the pity from man?

It's by speaking about the unfortunate-ness of your situation.

Does this mean that we want to put on, like, just a fake life?

I've had lots of students who have thought that's exactly what I was teaching them, was to live a lie.

He would say something like this, that we are oppressed, but we're not destroyed.

He would say, I'm summarizing a long list of things he said, I have a problem, but there's plenty of hope.

There's a difficulty, but God will see me through it.

Did Jesus gave expression to when he felt sad.

Then he said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.

He gave expression to his sorrow, but never to anything like despair or hopelessness.

He said that God would presently send me 10, 000 angels if I asked for them.

Jesus talked as if God would support him and see him through.

He depended on God in the midst of his problems.

So that it would be appropriate for me to say something like, I'm having a hard time.

But if I stopped at that point, it would be inappropriate.

I would want to say, I'm having a hard time, but I know God will see me through it.

Maybe this all seems like just words to you, but it has everything to do with real Christian living.

Turn with me in your Bibles to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.

2 Corinthians chapter 4, and looking at verse 13, it says, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 13, it says, We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken.

Listen, we also believe and therefore speak.

I hope you can see what I'm about to tell you.

Justin Kim

Winsome: Living the Life with All Your Heart

Father in heaven, Lord, we ask of you once again to condescend into this chapel and to bless us in mind, spirit, body, heart, every aspect of our lives, Lord.

Father, we ask that you may inspire us and empower us and motivate us to a higher level.

Lord, get us out of our indifference, Lord.

Save us, Father, for we sink in this world.

Help us to understand the things that we need to understand and help us save our souls, souls of our friends, our loved ones, and to usher in your second coming, Lord.

Alright, by a show of hands, how many of you are tired?

For this portion of the seminar, this will be a lot more practical, and hopefully, the previous presentation was a little bit above your heads.

If you didn't understand it, that's okay.

There's some aspects you need to understand that you don't, That's okay too.

There are 15 points, so if you guys have notes, it'll help you a little pen and a paper or a PDA to help you keep awake also, but also retain what you have learned.

This is not a comprehensive list, but just a list that I put together for today.

Can we have everyone move up to the front as much as possible and squeeze into the center aisle?

Because there are some people in Babylonic confusion here.

Winsome, living the life with all your heart.

Atheists are finding strategic ways to implement and force, promulgate their ideas throughout society without being completely obvious.

Here's the thing, atheists are strategic thinkers.

They've implemented into educational curriculum since the 1960s and 70s to white out religion from the face of society.

Now, you realize, atheists have been doing this for centuries, but they realize, you know what?

It's impossible to erase religion from humanity.

So what they said, you know what, let's compromise.

If we can just have them worship in private and not bring it out to public, then we've won essentially.

So here we are today, we live in America, and It's almost illegal to bring out anything religious in public.

People, if they're gay, they come out openly gay.

You know, like this day, this fervor in them.

And the Christians are like, I'm a Christian.

You know, where did these attitudes come from?

And they've been implemented into our society.

We've got to become just as aggressive without being annoyingly aggressive in society.

Theists, especially biblical theists such as Adventists, must do the same.

We must impact society, culture, and every other field and discipline out there.

So friends, and there's a lot of young people here, and we promote this at public ministries, if you're going to be an anthropology major, go ahead, study anthropology your heart out, but bring God into it.

If you're going to study chemistry, become the best chemist out there.

But study how scripture comes into chemistry.

We need biblical chemists out there, biblical anthropologists.

If you're going to be an investment banker, show the world what a Christian banker can do.

If you're going to be a farmer, show what a Christian farmer can do.

We're going to enforce, we're going to go out through society as much as possible.

And I believe, and this may sound even radical for some of you, we need even Christian filmmakers.

Now, I don't believe we're there to entertain people, you know what I'm saying?

We have to take the gospel and to formulate it in a way that people who are visually oriented, they can believe the gospel that way.

And so projects such as final events, we can move beyond that.

That's a great resource, but we can do, we can expand more than that, just that's our limitation.

But you understand what I'm saying there.

This lecture will look at 15 suggestions.

Now I don't know why I have to emphasize this but today we refuse to read scripture.

We live in a society that does not want to read scripture.

Now, here's what Ellen has to say about scriptures.

She says, now the A, B, she didn't write A and B, those are my things there, okay?

Bible reading, the critical examination of Bible subjects, essays written upon topics which would improve the mind and impart knowledge, the study of prophecies or the precious lessons of Christ, these will have an influence to what?

Strengthen the mental powers and increase what?

So if someone says, Pastor Justin, how do I become a smarter person?

Pastor Justin, how do I become a more spiritual person?

Now I recommend you guys read King James or NASB or NIV, not so much NIV, but if you have it, I mean, it's not a great translation, but you can read it.

ESV, just get a good translation and read it.

Okay, now I know there's some people who are KJV only, that's my favorite, favorite translation, read that also.

But don't get tied down with, have you guys heard of today's English version?

I mean it's great for reading it to your first grade kids, but for as a devotional study.

And if you guys have it in this room, forgive me I'm not blasting you guys, I'm just, you know, I am blasting it, okay.

She continues to say, a familiar acquaintance with the scriptures sharpens the discerning powers, fortifies the soul against who?

Now this is elementary stuff, but this needs to be said.

How many want to start reading scripture on a consistent basis, friends?

Bible reading, the critical examination of Bible subjects.

Your objective is to find these points and study these.

Now if you think the Bible is easy, there are some hard things in the Scripture.

Series

WYC 2007 Breakout Sessions, Part 2

Winsome: Living the Life with All Your Heart

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

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