MTYC 2010: You Are My Witnesses

MTYC 2010 Breakout Seminar - Relationship

Justin Howard

Montana Youth Conference

Am I His Witness?

Father in heaven, we are finishing up our time together here, and I feel the topic that we're talking about today is very, very important.

And especially in the times that we're living in, Father, when it seems like Satan is throwing everything our way.

It's hard to understand everything that's happening and sometimes Satan's work is so elusive that we don't catch it until sometimes it's too late.

So I pray today, Father, for your spirit as we wrap up our time together, and I pray that you give us good dialogue, good conversation, and may you bless us with understanding from your spirit.

All right, what's the t-shirt say on the screen?

All right, so we want to put a little more in there at the bottom says I hear you God but I'm not listening.

You ever heard anybody say that I hear you but I'm not listening or talk to the hand because you know the face isn't here and there or however that goes.

I think that oftentimes we treat God that way and we don't realize it and especially as young people when we get it in our hearts that that we want something when counsel is just hitting us in the face when people are telling us what we need to do when God is speaking through godly people trying to help us stay away from that destructive path we always say we sometimes say I hear you God but I'm not listening maybe we're not saying with our words but maybe we're saying it with our actions when I was BC before Christ I was kind of saying those things I I was hearing God speak to me, but I turned him away.

I was asking him to be the center of my life, but in asking him to be the center of my life, I was still doing what I wanted to do in relationships.

I believe that he was listening, but ultimately he had to pull away because he couldn't bless that relationship that I was continuing to pursue.

And so I think about what God has done and being there for us and telling us he's listening even when we're not, But ultimately at some point in time if we keep rejecting and we keep rejecting he pulls away Because he's not in agreement with the things that we're doing And so if he's not in agreement with the things that we're doing he'll pull away and the thing that happens to us is that there's an increase of pain, an increase of suffering when the results finally set in from the bad decisions that we make.

And so, oftentimes we have this in our hearts, I hear you God, but I'm not listening.

And we're telling people we're listening and We want to listen to God.

We're telling God, yeah, I hear you, but our actions are saying something else.

Without the grace of God, there is no possible way to have a good relationship.

And the only way to have the grace of God is to say yes to Him and to continue to listen and follow the counsel that he gives.

I get people who ask me things all the time where I work and it's probably the same for Matt.

They always have questions for you as a teacher or as a leader and sometimes they'll come and ask you what should I do in this situation or what should I do in that situation And you tell them exactly what they need to do and what they need to consider and they hear you and they say yes but they'll go right out and not acknowledge anything that you just say to them.

And then the results of their bad decisions take place and they come back and say, oh this happened and I wish it wouldn't have happened and what do I do now?

And my thought at that time is why do I want to tell you anything more when you haven't listened initially to the things that I've said?

And it may seem kind of harsh, but at the same time if people aren't listening it's hard to continue to tell them things when they haven't taken those first few things and used what you've given to them.

And so God sometimes has to pull away to leave us to our own devices if you will.

We fall into bad relationships, we have difficult times in those relationships and then we're wondering why and it's because we haven't listened to the counsel of God.

In the Bible we find that it teaches us God will not bless a relationship we've presumptuously entered into without His counsel and without His guidance.

And we find this principle right here in Romans 6, verses 1 and 2.

Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound?

How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer in sin?

And I think Paul is basically telling us that God cannot bless a relationship that's not consecrated to Him.

If we're in a sinful relationship, Paul says, shall we continue in that relationship expecting God to bless us?

And if we're Christians, that means we've been delivered from a sinful lifestyle.

That means we've been delivered from maybe controlling, abusive, manipulative relationships.

We don't have to be a part of those anymore because we've been saved by the grace of God.

And if we've been saved by the grace of God and we continue to do the things that we know aren't right, God has to leave us to the consequences of those things that we choose.

And so in Romans 6, verses 3 and 4, Paul is basically telling us that we've been born again.

Why doesn't somebody read that for us actually?

I think my head's a little bit groggy from all that good food.

Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized?

So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared His death.

We were buried with Him so that we could live a new life just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father.

Okay, So what's Paul saying here with all these big words and these long sentences?

Number 1 he says, "...shall we continue to sin that grace may abound?" He says, God forbid, how shall we who have been delivered from sin continue any longer in it?

So he's saying we have a new life that we've started.

And baptism is basically just a testimony of that life.

Paul says that because we've been born again, and that's being testified by the baptism that we've entered into, he said we begin to walk in a whole different way of life.

Well, I think it's kind of like Jesus died on the cross and then He rose again.

And so in a sense, we were baptized and we go under the water, all our sins are washed away.

When we come up, we're resurrected a new person.

Exactly, We're new and different people completely.

So long as we continue to study and strive to be.

How many of you have been baptized in here today?

Now let me ask you, have you continued in that relationship with Jesus?

Yeah, the Bible teaches us and we know that we're going to have some challenges along the way.

We're going to do things that we probably shouldn't do, but there's forgiveness for that because Jesus gave His life for those specific situations so that we could continue on in our Christian experience.

But I'm thinking right now of a situation where we know better and we're continuing in a sinful situation that we shouldn't be in, and ultimately we're walking away from the experience that God has given to us and that the baptism testifies of.

And I wonder if anybody in here is like that today where you were baptized but maybe it just hasn't sunk in and you're off running and doing things and you're involved in a whole different life that you really shouldn't be involved in.

Because if you are, today is the day to return.

It's not just some situation where, alright, I've read the 28 fundamental beliefs and I've spent a lot of time in church and I go to juniors or whatever class it is that we go to, early teens or young adults, and I go there every single week and all these things makes me a good Adventist so I'm good to go, that's not it.

The Christian experience is way deeper than that.

It's more than the 28 fundamental beliefs, it's more than hanging out with Seventh-day Adventists, it's more than going to Sabbath school.

Like we've been talking every seminar, it's all about having a relationship with Christ and staying in that relationship and like the Bible says abiding in Him.

The Bible says, He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit.

And that fruit that he's talking about is the fruit of a life that's been changed and It hangs out there for all the people to see.

When you drive by an apple tree early in the season, how many apples do you see?

But when it starts coming on, season hits, it's maybe August or September, at least that's the way it is for us on the West Coast.

All of a sudden we start seeing all of this red fruit growing on the apple trees out there and then I know for sure what kind of tree that is.

Initially I may not know because there's no leaves on it, there's no fruit on it, I'm thinking that may be an apple tree but maybe it's a nut tree, maybe it's something else.

When the apples come out I know that it's an apple tree, amen?

And so when we're Christians and we're bearing fruit to God, people know that we're Christians.

And so if we can look at our lives objectively and we can say that there's fruit there, praise God, but if we look at our lives and we see that we're not bearing much fruit, then we need to really assess our experience with Him and kind of get back to where we need to be.

And so when we talk about fruit, spiritually speaking in our lives, What are some fruits that might be revealed in our life that might be hanging on our human tree, if you will, to tell other people that we're Christians?

What kind of things should people see hanging on our Christian tree or our life?

Norman McNulty

AudioVerse

Mental Health and Salvation for the Last Days

And it's good to fellowship with the Tomb Puna Church.

Thank you for coming over from the East to worship with us here at Community Hospital today.

I'm 1 of the physicians here at the Community Hospital.

I've been here for about 6 months, and my wife Joelle did the scripture reading, and we've really enjoyed our time here in Trinidad.

I think our favorite part has been the fellowship with other believers and it's been just a continuation of being part of the family of God, whether it was in the United States or now that we're here in Trinidad.

So we thank you for the warmth that you've given to us throughout our time here in Trinidad.

So It's nice for me to see a group of believers come over from the east to worship with us here in the west today.

Pastor George, who is the pastor here at the hospital, he asked me to give a presentation on mental health, sanctification, and salvation, and how they relate to each other.

So I hope that what we talk about this morning will be helpful to all of us.

I am a neurologist by training, so some of the things that I'm talking about today will relate to what I know from the medical side of things, but also we want to look at things from the spiritual, biblical side of things.

So that's what we're going to look at in the next few minutes.

Why don't we have a word of prayer and then we will get into our presentation here.

Father in heaven, we thank you so much for this beautiful Sabbath morning.

Thank you for the opportunity to worship you and I pray that you will be with us during this presentation.

I've entitled my talk Mental Health and Salvation.

Now what does mental health have to do with salvation?

Well, first of all, good mental health is very important.

If we expect to have a good relationship with Jesus, would you agree with that?

And having a relationship with Jesus enables us to live stable lives here on this earth, amen?

So therefore having good mental health is a key component to having a good walk with God.

Now, obviously mental health is that which pertains to the health of our minds.

And the physical structure of our mind is contained in the brain, and that's what I've spent some extra years of my life studying.

And so this is fascinating personally to me in my line of work as a neurologist, mental health and our minds and how God communicates with us.

God communicates with us directly in our minds, so we want to have clear minds for God to speak to us, amen?

Now, specifically, the part of the brain that God speaks to us is found in the frontal lobe.

And the frontal lobe is right behind the forehead here.

And the back of the brain, the occipital lobe, helps you to see.

The top of the middle of the brain is the parietal lobe.

Gives you the ability to calculate and do other things, determine what's the right side, what's the left side.

The temporal lobes, which are deeper down, give you memory.

It's the frontal lobe, which has a number of functions.

It controls the strength in your body, but more importantly, this is the part of the brain where our spirituality, our morality, and our will are located.

So all things considered, this is the most important part of the brain.

I mean, if you're able to see clearly, but not think clearly, what good's that going to do you?

Now obviously we want the entire brain, all 4 lobes, to be functioning well.

We don't want to minimize 1 at the expense of the other.

But the frontal lobe, for purposes of our Christian experience, that is clearly the most important part.

Now it's interesting, in human beings, this is the largest lobe in the brain.

Now, it's interesting though, if you compare the frontal lobe in human beings to other mammals, for example, in cats, it's about 3 1⁄2% the size of the volume of the brain.

So if you notice, if you have pets at home, dogs seem to be a little bit smarter than cats.

They, now, maybe not in all cases, but typically dogs are smarter than cats and they're able to somehow communicate with humans a little bit better.

That's because they have a larger frontal lobe.

Now, it's not very large, but it is larger than cats.

Human beings, our frontal lobes are 5 times as large, proportionally speaking, compared to dogs, so God has given us minds to reason from cause to effect.

And in the frontal lobe, this is where we make our decisions with respect to our walk with God.

So this is what we are going to be talking about today when we talk about the mind and making good choices and allowing God to speak with us.

Certainly God communicates to us through our entire brain, but it's especially the frontal lobe where that communication takes place.

Now what I want to look at this morning are the spiritual aspects of mental health in the mind, as found in the Bible and the writings of Ellen White.

So let's take a look at a few passages of scripture.

Turn in your Bibles with me to 2 Timothy 1 verse 7.

What does the Bible say about mental health and the mind?

Let's see what Second Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 says.

Here it says, for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Of course, He's also given us power and love and He hasn't given us the spirit of fear.

But here we see God has given us a sound mind.

Are you thankful for having a sound mind?

If we did not have sound minds, we would not be able to function normally.

And unfortunately there are people in this world who lose their reasoning abilities and they do not have sound minds and do not function normally.

Now, I want to show you another passage of scripture in Philippians chapter 4 verse 7.

So turn to Philippians chapter 4 verse 7.

Philippians chapter 4 verse 7 says, "...and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." So notice this, the peace of God which passes all understanding, the promises, this peace will keep our hearts and minds.

So we can trust the keeping of our minds, of having a sound mind to Jesus Christ.

He promises to keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Now, unfortunately, God is not the only 1 that's contending for our minds.

Notice what Romans chapter 8, verses 6 and 7 says about the battle in our mind.

Romans 8, verses 6 and 7 says, For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." So notice what the battle is that is taking place.

Now do you believe that when the Bible speaks of a sound mind, that it is speaking of a carnal mind that has an enmity with the law of God?

The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God.

And so God is trying to give us sound minds, and yet the devil is trying to control our minds so that we will be carnal and not be subject to the law of God.

Now there is another verse in the book of Romans, this is found in Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, which is in this week's Sabbath School quarterly lesson, which shows us that we do not need to stay having a carnal mind.

Notice what Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 say, "...I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of what?

Randy Skeete

University SDA Church of Los Angeles

The Opposites

I'm delighted to see those of you who are here for the final presentation on this weekend's spiritual revival, entitled The Line of Distinction.

I sincerely hope you had a very pleasant evening.

I was contemplating this morning as I was preparing to come that many telephone calls went out, either late last night or very early this morning to funeral homes or undertakers to come and collect the bodies of people who passed away during the night.

That happened all over the world, but no calls were made to come and get you.

Then you ask yourself, if around the world, multiplied thousands of people died last night, why am I alive?

God gave you life 1 more day, for his business, not yours.

God could have taken your life last night because the life is his.

First Chronicles 29 14, all things come of God and of thine own come of him and of thine own have we given him so that life is his to take as he chooses what I am asking you to dwell upon briefly if God allowed you to live 1 more day, why?

And it has to do with his business, not yours or mine.

And so I just want you to accept this day as a gift from God, and to make up your mind to serve him, glorify him in whatsoever you and I choose to do today.

And it is my purpose to glorify him through this message by the help of his Holy Spirit.

Favor number 1, you have a cell phone, please turn them off.

Favor number 2, while I'm speaking I would like you to pray for me and I mean that from my heart, I'm not joking.

Say, Lord put your words in that man's mouth.

And favor number 3, I very much would like you to think as you listen to the words of God.

Loving Father in Heaven, we come to you, Father, asking you to be merciful to us.

We make this request in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and your Son.

Father, we do not possess the natural ability to understand truth.

And so we pray that your sweet Spirit, who inspired the writing of the Bible, will open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of thy word.

Remember your words in 2 Samuel 23, verse 2, where David said, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.

Father, put your words in the very organ of my speech, my tongue, and I'll be careful to give you all the glory, the praise, and the honor which are due to your holy name.

I told you a couple of times this weekend that the Bible is a book of opposites.

Proverbs 8, 36, the last clause of that verse, the Bible says, all they that hate me love death.

And in that chapter, wisdom is a reference really to Christ.

All those who hate Christ Love death because Christ is life.

Jesus said in Matthew 12, verse 30, he that is not with me is against me that's it and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad Romans chapter 5 verse 18 the Apostle Paul says therefore as by the offense of 1 judgment came upon all men to condemnation.

Even so, by the righteousness of 1, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

We have condemnation, we have justification, that's it.

And in verse 19, therefore as by 1 man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of 1 shall many be made righteous.

John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life those are the only 2 options there's heaven and there's hell When Abraham was negotiating with God in Genesis 18 verse 23 the Bible says, and Abraham drew near and said, will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

As I told you yesterday, Christ's object lessons, page 283, paragraph 3, Elowite writes, there are only 2 classes in the world today, and only 2 classes will be recognized in the judgment, those who violate God's law and those who obey it.

And on this quotation, I want to continue my remarks.

There are only 2 classes in the world today, Those who violate the law of God and those who obey it, question for you, do not answer me, to which of the 2 classes do you belong?

To which of the 2 classes does your church belong?

On the basis of the principle of opposites, I want you to listen to a verse all Seventh-day Adventists should know.

And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Now we want to apply the principle or the law or the rule of opposites and see what light flashes into your mind.

Now the Bible doesn't say the dragon was wroth with the world.

John chapter 1 John chapter 5 verse 19 inspiration tells us and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness or darkness.

If overwhelmingly the world is in darkness and wickedness, the world is in the condition Satan desires and so he is not angry.

I repeat, the dragon is not angry with the world.

And that church is identified which keep the commandments of God.

And let me pause on that item of identification.

If Satan hates a commandment-keeping church, Let's flip it.

Now let's use the word commandment-keeping.

Let's keep the word commandment in the response.

If Satan hates the commandment-keeping woman, what woman does he love?

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Am I His Witness?

48m

Mental Health and Salvation for the Last Days

50m

The Opposites

54m

There IS a God in Heaven

38m

Crystal Fountains and Slimy Cisterns - Part 1

54m

Crystal Fountains and Slimy Cisterns - Part 2

51m

Water Lily White in a Sewer Pond World

1h

Chasing the Knight in Tarnished Tinfoil

50m

Jesus’ Work -- and Yours

50m

The Holy Spirit’s Work -- and Yours

55m

A Dream Called Freedom

50m

Standing In the Midst of Pain

1h 11m

Sound Doctrine