GYC SE 2008: One

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GYC Southeast

John Chung - Walking with God: Practical Ways to Maintain a Vibrant Connection with Christ

John Chung

David Did Not Use Sling or Stone

The title this morning is called, David did not use sling or stone.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we can come together and study your word.

I pray that you be with us with your Holy Spirit.

Open our hearts and minds to receive your word.

We're going to read from verses 42 to 45.

This is a very familiar story, but we want to look at this from a different angle.

It says, When the Philistine, who was that Philistine?

The Goliath, looked about and saw David, He disdained him, for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of fair countenance.

And Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that you come to me with staves and the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

And Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field." Then, listen, look at this very carefully, okay?

Then David said to Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield.

But I come to you with sling and stone." Does it say that?

I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts.

This is what we're going to talk about this morning.

And how this is related to our daily walk with God.

David does not say, I come to you with stone and sling.

But he did come with the stone and sling, didn't he?

But he says, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.

Now, you know, we have 10 commandments, right?

You know which, for me, of the 10, which commandment is most confusing?

What is the most confusing commandment to you?

If you look at all the commandments, 10 commandments, for me it's the third commandment.

Okay, because if you ask 10 people, what does it mean by the third commandment?

You know what, you're going to probably get about 8, maybe 9, or maybe 10 answers, right?

I mean, it's easy, the other commandments are pretty straightforward.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me, no graven images, you know, Sabbath, Thou shalt not kill, all these are very straight forward.

But when it comes to the third commandment, I ask other people, what do you think the third commandment means?

Exodus Genesis 20, Verse 7, here it is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

I want to just have some people say what you think it means.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.

1 of your athletes wants to know, don't swear.

Don't use it unless you're talking to him or her.

Don't swear okay so okay what else okay what else 1 that says that if you're going to take his name as a Christian, then don't abuse it like this 1, Kamanak says.

Actually, that's very close to what I'm thinking about.

In other words, if you carry, like my last name, I carry a name, well then make sure that you honor that name.

So the same with Christianity, I carry that.

I'm not Brutus, what I'm thinking about Okay, let's close with prayer.

That was the best explanation I've heard from anybody so far.

But let's go into that a little bit more, okay?

First of all, if you study the name of the Lord, okay, in the Bible, you'll find something very significant.

First of all, name of the Lord killed the giant, didn't it?

Do you have any external problems that beset your life?

For example, if you have financial problems or something that's external.

But through the name of the Lord, if it can destroy this 12 foot giant, which weighed about 2, 000 pounds, Do you think God can, by using His name, destroy that?

Is there any external problem that you have that God cannot destroy?

Refuel to turn to Acts chapter 16 verse 18.

And it says this, And it says this, And this same day, and this did she many days.

But Paul being grieved, turned and said to the Spirit, Paul is talking to a demon possessed woman.

He said, I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her.

So here is a lady who was demon possessed.

Now you know, we may not be really just obviously demon possessed, but there are a lot of things that possess us, right?

We have some things that our heart tells us to do, you know, that is not really according to God's will.

I mean if it's TV, you know, should I study the Bible or watch this, you know, what's the most popular TV show right now?

I don't know what it is, because I don't have water.

Whatever, whatever that is, you know, you may choose to watch that more than study the Bible, right?

So, you know, when you look at this, we all have some demon that possesses us.

So, we can see that it's our external problems and our internal problems can be taken care of by the name of the Lord.

Now if you look at John chapter 20 verse 31, but it says this, But it says this, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life Through His name.

God’s Ecstasy, His Sorrow

The title is, Walking with God, Practical Ways to Maintain a Vibrant Connection with Christ.

And This will be the second session, God's Ecstasy and His Sorrow.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this weekend where you have fed us with so much spiritual food.

Help us to digest them well and Let it become strength to our souls.

I pray that you be with us this afternoon with your Holy Spirit.

This morning I spoke a little bit about about the Word of God, the importance of studying God's Word and kind of tied that in with what it means by name of the Lord.

Anyway, if you don't, if you haven't, if you weren't here this morning, then you can, I guess, hear it at the audio-verse?

Actually, this is kind of reversed because I was going to do the third seminar this time, but I'm going to just go by the order.

This afternoon, I want to kind of talk about what makes God extremely happy and what makes Him sad.

The parable of lost sheep, and the lost coin, and the prodigal son.

My son, Evan, several years several years ago, when he was maybe about 7 years old he came to our room where my wife and I were about to sleep and he said, Daddy can I sleep with you, you and Mommy?

And he said, no, you need to go sleep in your room.

About an hour later, my wife went to check on him.

And when she went there, he wasn't in his bed and so she said you know maybe he went to his sister's room, so at the sister's room he wasn't there, so at another room she went over there, wasn't there either and so she started searching the house and she came to me and said, I cannot find Evan.

Now at that time we were living in a small home in Rocky Face, Georgia.

And right Next to our house, there was a lake.

The bad thing about it is, beside the lake, there was a construction going on.

Now, the construction site, every night, we hear some bad things going on.

We knew there were people doing drugs and maybe doing other not so kosher behavior.

And we could actually hear some music and things like that.

And so I knew, you know, that was not a safe spot.

It was right next to our house, the building.

So that, you know, so first thing I did was I went to check the front door to see if the door was locked.

And then I started looking, searching the house for my son.

Every single room, every single closet, garage, I mean everywhere.

I was so desperate that I started opening up, I mean lifting up the bed and the box spring and mattress like this, you know?

And we've been searching for about, I don't know, maybe an hour and a half.

And you know, there was a picture of my son on the door of our refrigerator.

And my wife was going to the area and she started crying.

I mean I've never seen her cry wailing, just crying and wailing and here I am I was stunned, I was just kind of going, I can't believe it, I was sure that he was kidnapped, you know what I mean?

And he was about 7, and so we searched the house, he's not there, I mean nowhere and it was about midnight now and so I can call the police and the police said you know in case possible kidnapping we take it very seriously.

We're going to have 2 police go over there so okay we also called our brother-in-law and so he brought his car and this million candlelight flashlight and he was flashing that, I mean, this is after midnight now, you know and he was going all around the neighborhood shouting his name Evan, Evan, you know, I'm sure he woke up all the neighbors up.

And, and just thinking that I would never see him again, just made me really, really just, I mean, upset and sad and just, I just cannot describe to you that feeling.

And we're just waiting for the police to come because we searched everywhere.

I mean, he was not in the bed, under the bed, or between the bed.

And so, as I was downstairs thinking about my son, I heard the most wonderful words my brother-in-law said I found him I found him he said praise the Lord I ran up the upstairs where he was he was sleeping at the floor at the bottom foot of the bed of my daughter's room.

And I remember opening that up and I seen seen blankets but he was actually under the blanket okay and under the under the blankets and my brother-in-law had sense enough to take all the blanket out and he was under there and I saw him and he was just sweating I mean was so hot you know and I took him to his room and he he went to sleep I mean he was, he continued to sleep and in the morning I asked him Evan do you know what happened last night?

He said no You don't know what happened last night.

And all that time, he had no idea we're looking for him.

And if you look at the parables of Luke chapter 15.

You'll see what makes God ecstatic, joyous.

So glad, you know, I don't have to feed 1 anymore.

Or did I say when my son was lost, this is great, you know, Linda, talking, you know, I don't want to make it so loud, but we're really happy that he's gone, because we only have to feed 2 now.

And we're going to save on his clothes, food, car, college, I mean, did I say that?

Even if He had a million sheep, if He had lost 1, He would have gone after that, right?

And what happens after that is, if you look at verse 7, what does it say?

I say unto you that likewise, what shall be in heaven?

Did you know, Alan Wise says, when sinner returns to Christ, God sings.

Can you imagine hearing the choir of angels?

I mean, I can't imagine how beautiful that is.

You know, 1 of the music that I like to hear is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

But now, not the choir of angels, but the voice, the singing of God Himself.

He sings every time a sinner returns to Christ.

Eyes Wide Open But Not Seeing

We will continue our seminar, Walking with God, Practical Ways to Maintain a Vibrant Connection with Christ.

And the title this time will be, Eyes Wide open but not seeing.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much once again that you've given us this opportunity to study your word.

I pray that you will continue to bless us and open our eyes so we can see.

Now this morning we talked about Al Capone.

We're going to talk about David a little bit more.

But this time I want to talk about… start with the story of Elijah.

The first 1 that we talked about this morning was about the importance of Bible study, right?

Second 1 was about the importance of witnessing.

And you'll see what we're going to talk about as we study our third session.

If you look at 2 Kings 6, there's a story that is very familiar to all of us.

Verse 8, it says, 2 Kings 6, verse 8, Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.' And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, "'Beware that thou pass not such a place, for thither the Syrians are come down." And who is this man of God?

And the King of Israel sent to the place The man of God told him, and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.

Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing.

And he called his servants and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?

And 1 of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elijah the prophet that is in Israel.

Telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber." Can you imagine this king of Syria so frustrated every time he plans something?

Because whatever he says in his bedchamber, Elijah could hear.

So he tells, listen, the Syrians are planning this, so get ready.

You know in your bedchamber, did you know God hears everything that is going on?

True Christianity is found in your bed chamber, by yourself.

We can be, we can act like Christians here, or in the church, Right?

Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

You may be just sitting here, but you may be thinking about dinner plans you know I don't know but God knows anyway so this king is frustrated so he said there's a spy here So tell me who the spy is.

And so, and he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him.

And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

Therefore sent he there horses and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed the city about.

And when the servant of the man of God, " this is the servant of Elijah, Was risen early, gone forth, behold, and host encompassed the city both with horses and chariots.

And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do?

Can you imagine, 1 Sunday morning, you get up, and you look outside, There are these Al-Qaeda, maybe 400 of them, with tanks around your house.

I don't think you're going to go, Well, I'm going to go back to bed.

Or I'm going to go, what am I going to have for breakfast?

So he goes to Elijah and says, Master, what are we going to do?

He answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they be with them.

But this is the verse that I want you to focus on, verse 17.

It says this, and Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see.

And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw.

And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elijah." Now this is something that you have to understand.

And Elijah prayed and said, tell me where I'm misreading this place, okay?

Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open our eyes that we may see.

Why didn't he say, open our eyes so we can see?

Because Elijah, his eyes are already opened.

And you know, most of us live with our physical eyes, and most of us decide using our physical eyes.

Eyes of faith is seeing through the eyes of God.

You know, when Saul, he went around killing the Jews, I mean killing the Christians, right?

With his eyes open, but when did he really see the truth?

When he became blind, that's why this is so significant here Godly men, Godly people they live with their spiritual eyes That's why He said, open the eyes of my servant.

He didn't have to, He didn't say, open my eyes so I can see.

Lawrence River, going at a very, very fast speed.

And the problem was, there was a very, very dense fog.

Because, you know, we're going to get killed.

And they saw all the, I guess, the crewmen.

And they were just calm and greeting people and so these passengers were saying why are you...

Don't you feel like your captain is reckless?

And they said, no, because where captain is, where he sits, is high above.

Series

John Chung - Walking with God: Practical Ways to Maintain a Vibrant Connection with Christ

Eyes Wide Open But Not Seeing

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

No Trial Wasted

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Living the Word

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Keys of Revelation

19. The Last Faithful Daughter

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Trust God Through the Uncertainties of Life

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The Legacy of Greatness

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Ron du Preez: NO FEAR! Something to Die for: Making Decisions in a Confusing World

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The Anchor Holds

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Personal Testimony: Vera Onkoba

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In Search of Inner Peace

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