GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

David Wright

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Show Me Your Glory

I was 21, a theology major at Southern Adventist University.

My father was a senior pastor at the university church at the time.

I had returned from a year as a student missionary in Micronesia, and now apparently it was my mother's responsibility to arrange my marriage.

So on this particular Sabbath afternoon, they just so happened to invite some girls over for lunch.

When I got home from church, they just so happened to be in my parents' living room as my mother made the final preparations for lunch.

And it just so happened that I wasn't crazy about this idea.

So I successfully snuck upstairs to change clothes without even having to meet any of them.

I changed my clothes and distinctly remember just waiting upstairs, not wanting to go down and say hello.

I knew she'd be making faces and teasing and woo.

Nothing like a first date with the entire family.

I could only imagine my mother assigning me a place right in the middle of all these girls.

Well, for starters, you just don't go downstairs.

My little sister ran upstairs to tell me something I already knew.

Sure enough, the dining room table is spread out like it's Thanksgiving.

Fine china, the good silver, little name tags at every chair.

My older brother is there with his new wife.

They were married all of a year or so ago and I could hear my mother in my mind saying, now David, This is how you do it.

Connick is such a nice girl, and we think it would be nice if you could find somebody.

We just really worry about you being a single pastor." Mom, do you ever argue with your mom in your mind?

I go to class every day, I'm meeting people all the time, I'm not some monk living in some cave in the wilderness.

It just takes 1 and I'd rather be single my entire life than be married to the wrong one." I'm gonna pray for those of you who said amen really loudly.

There's still hope for your relationship.

Besides mom, I'm still arguing with her in my mind.

I don't think dating is the best way anyway.

It's there's all this pressure for the date and you put on your best and they put on their best.

And not to mention the fact that it's expensive just to figure out that, ugh, she's not the 1.

No, I'd rather just get to know them by hanging out in friend groups, getting to know them, observing them in various situations, how they respond to things, do they get upset easily, do they have a deep walk with God?

But I like to check the boxes more incognito.

That was the conversation in my mind as I came downstairs and and really what I was expecting Well, I have to admit I didn't have very high expectations.

I was thinking it was probably going to be nope, not likely, yikes, but you probably have a great personality.

But that wasn't what was waiting for me when I got downstairs.

They were all very nice, but there was 1 in particular that really caught my eye.

She had kind eyes, A sweet personality, a good sense of humor, and she appeared to be spiritual.

I mean, after all, this was just first impressions over a first lunch.

It's not easy to make a good first impression while having all these internal arguments with yourself.

Thankfully, it wasn't as awkward because of my brother that had it all together with his here's my wife to prove it there next to him.

But I knew I had to get to know this 1 girl better.

She had to run off to a concert that afternoon and to follow her seemed a bit desperate.

So off she went, but I just was thinking, how can I just bump into her somehow?

I was going to look for her in the cafeteria, maybe sit down next to her, maybe walk with her on the promenade, maybe try and hang out with her friend group, take a walk or go on a hike and just get to know her that way.

But time passed, week after week, month after month, And I never saw her at all.

Finally, near the end of my sophomore year, I saw her older sister, Emily.

And I sat with her group of friends for supper and I just said very casually, you know, after some conversation.

It's not the first thing out of your mouth, of course.

But my burning question was, where are your sisters?

I don't know if it's because our schedules were just too different.

She was in the nursing building and I was in the theology building.

They have since brought them closer together and then they built a new nursing building and put them far apart again I don't know I said well we should hang out let's get together okay and so we worked some things out we hung out a few times before the year ended I enjoyed my time with her I ended up getting her phone number I even tried to call her a few times over the summer, but we really hadn't established a very deep relationship before summer just messed everything up.

Addiction in the Last Days: Breaking the Invisible Chains on the Mind

Eric Walsh

01 A Generation Addicted: Drugs, Demons, and a Rising Death Toll

Let's pray and let's get right into this.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to talk on these sensitive, difficult issues, Lord.

But we thank you, Lord, because you have a remedy for sin and addiction.

And so, Lord, we are asking right now for Holy Ghost power.

We are asking Lord for angels to dwell with us in this room.

Angels that excel in wisdom and strength.

And I am praying right now Lord that chains begin to be broken just as we study this subject.

So Lord, there are some in here who have family members who are suffering from addiction or addictive behaviors, Lord, and there are others that may be suffering themselves.

What matters today is that you have the key that can unlock any chain and Set anyone free who's willing to come to you.

So Lord as we study this today Lord We're just asking again for Holy Spirit power that he would lead us into truth.

So the overall topic for the day is addiction in the last days And our first session is called A Generation Addicted, Drugs, Demons, and a Rising Death Toll.

Let me start with a story from my practice.

I was practicing in California, and a young man came in on a Thursday with a cold or flu symptoms.

I basically told him, you know, go home, drink fluids, get some rest.

And he asked me to take him off the Friday, so it's Thursday, so I took him out of work on Friday and seemed like no big deal.

And of course, I knew, because I'd seen him before, in his chart that he had overcome opiates.

He had been clean and sober for 6 months when I saw him.

But When he went home that day and had the day off, in his boredom, temptation snuck up on him and that Saturday he went and got Street drugs, heroin.

Now his addiction began when he played football in high school, hurt his knee, and they gave him Vicodin and Norcoz, which are pretty potent narcotic pain medicines.

And If you just take those medicines for 7 days, almost anyone will develop a habit or become dependent on it.

If you just take the narcotic pain medicines, the way they're prescribed, usually by day 7, you will have a dependence on those medicines.

And that's what happened to this young man.

Obviously, you all heard in the news how much trouble there is with opiates.

So all of us doctors and hospital assistants, everybody stopped prescribing.

And I'm going to talk to you about why we got into this opiate mess in the first place.

And so that Saturday, he actually goes back and finds heroin to take.

And because he had been clean and sober for 6 months, He goes back and takes the amount of heroin he took 6 months earlier.

So he just tried to jump right back in where he was, and he overdosed at home and he died.

When I came to work on Monday, I was blown away that the person I saw died.

Now let me tell you what really gave me pause.

And if you guys are in the back and you want to sit up front, there are seats up here.

So don't feel embarrassed, just come right on down.

What made me feel bad is that when I was seeing him, I had an, God impressed me that I should pray with him.

But I was so busy that day and I was like, well, I'll see him again, I'll talk to him again, and I didn't pray with him.

What hurt me that Monday morning when they told me what happened is that I missed the opportunity to pray over this brother before he went and overdosed.

I tell you that story because this thing, it's for real.

It doesn't take much for drugs and alcohol to actually take someone's life as we're going to see.

And so what I want us to do as we discuss this is I'm gonna really lay out the problem, how it happens, but we're also gonna lay out at the end of the day, kind of proactive steps to fighting addiction.

What can you do in your home, in your family, in your community, if you're trying to help someone or if you suffer yourself.

So let's let's get into this a little more and I want to read 1st Thessalonians 5 because tomorrow morning we're really going to look at this from a spiritual standpoint.

There is a reason the devil wants us all addicted to stuff.

1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 6 says, Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us do what?

Watch and be sober for they that sleep in the night and and they that be drunken are drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet what the hope of salvation this text really sums it all up and it speaks to this addicted generation.

Now, the talk is called Drugs, Demons, and a Rising Death Toe and to get to it, we really jump here.

2 Timothy 3, 1 says, This know also that in the last days, what?

There has never, for young people in the room, you must understand that in all of Earth's history, it has never been more difficult to be a young person and try and follow God than in 2026.

In all of human history it has never been as difficult because never in human history has the technology and availability of evil and wicked influences been so close.

So close that we go to an iPhone shop or a Galaxy phone shop, wherever you get your phone from and We buy a portal for the devil to influence us with.

We literally pay it and every month we make a payment so that in our pocket or in our purse, all day, every day, the devil has access to us.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves we'll go back over these verses again again later covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are what?

In the last days, if you are good, you will be despised.

Unfortunately, too many of us think we're gonna be good and the world still like us.

Paul then says, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than what?

In that statement, Paul, who is at this time writing to Timothy from a Roman dungeon about to be put to death by Nero he is warning Nero of end time addiction lovers of pleasures more than what more than lovers of God having a form of godliness but what denying the power thereof from such turn away Peer pressure is 1 of the reasons people sink into addiction so quickly and heavily.

What is it that's missing in that last group in that sentence?

There is another power at work in these people in the last days.

I want to submit to you that once you have sided with Satan and stepping into bad habits and addictions, you give him a control over you that he is not easily going to let go of.

You have walked yourself into this and by default you must deny the power of God because once you accept the power of God you can't stay in bondage.

All right so we talked about this 1 let me jump here.

So I wanted to put this up, this is a face of all the celebrity, well, not all of them.

Many of the celebrities who have died of overdose.

I do, 1 of my favorite people up there is the most talented singer I think in a generation maybe in many generations Whitney Houston.

Why do celebrities die from drug overdose like this and I mean you go all the way back to Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, Why does it happen?

When you make that kind of money, you run out of life before you run out of the means to continue your addiction.

The reason a lot of people actually sober up is they hit rock bottom.

But when you have all these resources, the other thing is the devil sets these folk up as people for us to imitate.

And what he does, he sets us up to imitate them and 1 of the behaviors they want us to imitate is their smoking and drinking drug using and sexual corruption right so he uses celebrity that I mean very sad slide when you look at all those lives lost too early.

It is a chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by compulsive behaviors and loss of control despite harmful consequences.

It encompasses substance related and behavioral addictions, gambling, social media.

Justin Kim

Refuse to Be Called

All scripture is breathed by God and is practical for teaching, for exposure of error, for correction, for instruction in godly living.

May we study scripture for if we do so, we shall be called by the Father, serve the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You finally made it to the weekend, amen?

We would like to give you a special gift.

You may see on your chairs a particular magazine.

I represent an organization called the Adventist Review.

It was an organization that started by young people who had no idea what they're doing.

At the Adventist Review today, we are comprised of not so younger people.

Welcome to GYC, an organization of young people who have no idea what we're doing.

And actually, the higher you go up in society, you realize no 1 really has any idea what we're doing.

And that's a great place to be because we rely on the Lord and We rely hard on the Lord.

In 1848, this group of people who, they loved the Bible, they knew Jesus was coming, they got together and they said, what can we do?

1 received the Spirit of Prophecy and 1 year later in 1849, James White started a magazine that Ellen White said should go as streams of light around the world.

The Evidence Review was a platform for the church before the church even existed.

And today we are privileged to be part of this 176-year-old ministry.

We have here, if you look at, if you can put the QR code, we want to encourage you guys to subscribe.

This is not just a magazine advertisement, it is a way to unite the world church.

And as I work at this general conference and I see as a worldwide movement, there are unfortunately very few things that unite our world church.

1 thing is Sabbath school, and praise the Lord we're going to have Sabbath school and we're going to study the Bible together and any place you go around the world, it unites the church.

But the Adventist Review is a, not just a magazine, but a publication that unites.

And if you've never heard of the Adventist Review, you're not a very good Seventh-day Adventist.

On this, You've got a QR code, there'll be a link tree there.

You can find out the latest in Adventism.

There's also a WhatsApp, a group where all of our articles are for free.

The content of our articles, it ends up being about 30 a month, meaning 1 new, fresh news feature, news piece, news analysis.

That's what's happening in the church a day.

We just endeavored in Swahili for our East African brothers and sisters, and I love the GYC map out there, and you just see all the clumping of the Filipinos.

That was the Filipinos just said all amen right there.

I know in Kenya you don't all speak Swahili, but East Africa is represented.

We want to really have a big boost in East Africa because the way that the world is, or church is constructed, almost 90, more than 90 percent of the world church is found in the global south, and that includes South America, Africa, and in Asia.

Almost about 50% is found in Africa alone.

Only 8% is in North America, Europe, and Australia.

The new mission field is not Africa or Asia or South America.

The new mission field is now Europe and North America.

Before it used to be the West to the rest, but now it's we need to go everywhere from everywhere.

And the next language we also have in WhatsApp is Spanish.

And so we love our hermanos en español, and we want to provide that feature for free for all of you out there.

You can also subscribe to the email newsletter, and along with my 2 associate editors Siku Daco and Sean Boonstra and we also have Jonathan Walter who is our assistant editor and our staff of 12.

We want to provide you the best materials out there.

We choose the best each month and we print it into this magazine and that's what you have before you.

If you see another 1 lying around, please take that and give it to your grandmother.

If you see another 1, take that and give it to your neighbor or your church pastor.

Magazines, paper, and water are 1 of the most expensive things to transport in the world today.

So as you see, I know when you go to the Boots and you get all inundated with this paper, but you realize it took a lot of finances to transport that paper over to you.

In this issue of the Adventist Review, there is a spread, a centerfold spread of a map of the world church.

And I think this map is worth the magazine itself.

It shows you a real-time analysis, with its latest statistics, on how Adventism is doing in comparison with the rest of the population.

In some parts, we're doing wow, I didn't know Adventism was progressing that much.

And in other places, we are not doing well at all.

And there's many, this is a misunderstanding in Adventism, many think, hey, The world is basically Christian, right?

We just need to just preach a couple more messages and Jesus is coming tomorrow.

Now Jesus can do anything, the Holy Spirit's power, and anything can be done by tomorrow, but at least missiologically and analytically looking at it We have a huge work to do.

Especially in the Middle East, especially in China, especially in India.

India, we've been in India for a very long time, but we've barely scratched the surface in India.

So to say, you know what, you know, I don't care about those people, the Chinese, the Indians, oh, they're just going to go to hell.

I'm going to go to heaven and live eternally with Him.

And so we want to inject in our readers a revival of mission work that's needed, especially today.

We want to say thank you to Pastor Brad Mills, who's the president of AFM.

He wrote our lead article talking about how missions is important in 2026 more than ever.

And in this new year, we want to inject in you a special fervor for global missions.

Once again, I want to say thank you for your prayers, thank you for your encouragement.

Thank you for your attendance in the morning.

It's hard to get up in the morning and to walk 900 miles from the hotel to here.

I mean, it's like you're walking over from Texas to come here to Orlando.

And then you got to do everything, you know, like, man, should I go back to my room and take a little rest?

But that, man, I got to walk all the way to Texas and come back.

I know, it's a rough, rough, rough suffering experience that you have.

But coming out early in the morning, may the Lord bless you, on Thursday morning we talked about out of Egypt upon the mountain, about the importance of Christological balance.

Yesterday morning we talked about the 10 plagues, about eschatological embodiment, and this morning, the morning is entitled, Refuse, Refuse to be Called.

Gracious Father, may you bless this strange group here this morning.

We get up early and we walk to convene in this place.

To meet friends with our morning breath and our bushy hair?

So Father, empower, inject life into the preaching of the Word, into the medium of the foolishness of preaching.

And may you speak from your Word once again we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Trending TeachingsFilter

Show Me Your Glory

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01 A Generation Addicted: Drugs, Demons, and a Rising Death Toll

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Refuse to Be Called

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The Ten Plagues

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Nothing is Impossible with God!

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02 The Brain on Drugs: How the Devil Chains the Mind

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One Heart at a Time: Christ’s Mission Continues

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04 Unity Through Humility

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Not Home Yet

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The Antidote to Pain

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01 Revelation’s Remnant

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02 The Holy Spirit, Laodicea, and Revival

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