WYC 2008: Something Better

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GYC West

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

Ron du Preez

A Dozen Difficult Issues -- How Much do Motives Matter?

Before we have prayer, I'd like to share a song with you, a song that you can sing with me.

I'm glad to see our resident musician here.

I say resident Because you see, I actually teach part-time here at Weimar College.

As the folk come in, we're going to share with you a song, and it's an echo song.

There are still 2 seats over, 3 seats over this side.

And we're going to share with you this echo song.

All you have to do, well, I'll admit, it is hard.

Because there are a couple places I made it intentionally hard.

David wrote the words, David the psalmist.

And I made it intentionally difficult because most people think, ah, echo songs, they're easy.

So I thought I'd give you a little challenge and it's a good thing in the morning, it helps to wake you up.

Good, deep down in my heart, That I might not sin against Thee, my God.

Open Thine eyes that I may behold Great things in thy law, so shall I keep it.

I thought you'd get, I told you you're going to get lost.

Many people have learned to speak while they're listening.

Not a good habit, I know, but this time you have to sing while you're listening.

The best seats here, I don't know why nobody wants to get close.

I know I'm gonna step on toes, but not literally guys.

So there's 1 more seat here, and then those are full.

And please, this time, make sure that you sing while you listen.

Rainer, we could squeeze a couple in over here.

There are 2 seats there and some guys will bring some chairs in.

While they bring it in, let's try it again.

Thy word have I hid, Thy word have I hid, Deep down in my heart, That I might not sin Against Thee, my God.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold great things in thy law, so shall I keep it continually.

The law of thy mouth is better than gold.

I delight myself in Thy statutes, O Lord, and rejoice in Thy way.

I've got a feeling there might be a few of you who heard it before.

We're gonna do it at the beginning of every session, but I wanted to teach it to you.

For those of you interested, and I've got it here, we can make a photocopy, but you need to let me know that.

I've even got the chords written with it.

And by the end of the time we've sung it 3 more times, once at the beginning of each session, which will be the call for us to start.

Okay, when you hear the song, you'll know we're going to begin.

I like to give people a chance, what I call grace.

So we won't start on time the first session.

And then every other session, we'll do the song as the call for our time to worship together.

♪ Thy Word have I hid Thy Word have I hid Deep down in my heart Deep down in my heart That I might not sin that I might not sin against Thee, my God.

Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold great things in Thy law, so shall I keep it continually.

I delight myself in thy statutes, O Lord, and rejoice in thy way.

We did that song intentionally, not simply because it's a catchy tune, but because the words are so very vital and important.

Now, can 1 of you guys bring 1 of those chairs behind there, or from here?

You can put 1 that side, just in case somebody else comes.

And then split those 2, 1 on either side.

How to Search the Scriptures -- The Messiah’s Method

Thy word have I hid deep down in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee, my God.

Casey, you want to close the door, put it open on my eyes.

That I may behold great things in Thy law, so shall I keep it continually.

The law of Thy mouth is better than gold.

Okay, I'm going to ask if we have a volunteer.

If somebody would pray for us that the Lord would bless us, lead us, especially as we now open the word and look at a very, very important issue, the example of that Jesus will share, we'll see from the life of Jesus.

Okay, so we'll have, after lunch, who would like to pray now?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time, this opportunity to come and study your word.

Lord, we ask for your spirit of truth to be here.

Lord, we come and we're here, Lord, because we love you and we're here because we want to hear what you have to say.

Lord, please open our hearts and open our minds.

We're here because we want to do your will, your absolutely right.

Incidentally, as we hand out the sheet for you to write your names on, thank you so much for the legibility of your first sheet.

And If you need a pen, 1 more person, that 1 person did return a pen.

I still got a free pen here as that sheet goes around.

Eileen, are you going to be here to keep time for me?

And at the bottom, I'm looking for a verse of scripture to back up 1 of my preconceived notions.

I tell people when people correct me, and I've had a few kind Christians, some not so kind, but kind ones who've corrected me, and I've thanked them for it.

And then I've added, I hate correction, but I love it.

Because if you correct me, then I can grow and I can live better for God's glory.

But yet, it's a wonderful thing to be corrected.

Incidentally, as we talk about correcting, I came across this story 1 day.

And as you pass it around, We're going to talk about getting into the Bibles, and you'll understand why I'm sharing this story to start with.

A husband and wife, somebody sent this to me by email, by the way, a husband and wife couple from cold Minneapolis decided to go to Florida to thaw out during 1 particularly icy winter.

They planned to stay at the very same hotel where they had spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic schedules, It was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules.

So the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, while his wife planned to fly down the following day, that is Friday.

So He decided to send an email to his wife.

However, he accidentally left out 1 letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, he sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, Texas, a widow had just returned from her husband's funeral.

He was a minister of many years who had died following a sudden heart attack.

Now, by the way, they were Protestants, not Seventh-day Adventists, expecting messages from relatives and friends.

After reading the first message, she fainted.

The widow's son rushed into the room and found his mother on the floor and saw the computer screen which read, to my loving wife, Subject, I've arrived.

They have computers here now, and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones.

I've just arrived and have been checked in.

I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow.

Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

But the reason I share that story, as a Seventh-day Adventist, you would not faint, am I right?

Somebody must have sent the email to the wrong person.

Mixed up by Moral Dilemmas? The Scriptural Solution

Thy word have I hid, deep down in my heart, that I might not sin against thee, my God.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold Great things in Thy law, so shall I keep it continually.

There was a young lady who was sitting here who said she'd pray for us after lunch.

Okay, do we have another volunteer then who will have prayer for us as we start here.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for bringing us back to this place again.

And it produces us in our life to put first those things we need, power and strength.

For some reason, I didn't sleep very well last night.

And 3 or 4 hours is all I got, so I need the power and strength.

Yes, it's just that I need a little more this time.

I have done the telling of all of those things.

But before we get that, let me hold you in suspense a few moments in the sense that it gives a few other people a chance to get here and we can start handing out that sign-up sheet for Session 4.

We had 56 people in the first 2 sessions.

In each 1 of those 2, session 3, we'll hand it out, sign it carefully.

We have here those books and just so that you are aware, as I said, this was a book that was produced by the Michigan Conference, and it's a book on prophetic principles.

I know you'll be blessed by it, which is the reason that the Review and Herald decided to distribute it.

It's what it looks like, prophetic principles, and it deals with how to interpret the Bible from the Bible itself.

And incidentally, did you know that there are 198 different biblical identifying marks of the little horn?

We look at 1 or 2 sometimes and in this book you'll find a list of 198 different identifying marks of the little horn beast power.

You've heard debates and discussions about 666, vicarious filial ideas.

There are some amongst us who are giving up on our old belief.

Here is a study in here, the final study, 1 of the very, very best Historical studies.

So these are serious studies by serious Bible-based, comprehensive historians.

I happen to be the guy who did the dirty work.

You know what that means, the editor, calling everybody, send your chapters in, and then working through them and making sure it is solid and so forth I happen to be the editor of the book But I promise that in order to encourage you to lure you to be here on a regular basis If you're here 4 times as I said, we will give you a free copy of this book, which is sold for $19.95 with taxes at the ABC.

But this will be your reward for faithful attendance, and I know you'll be blessed by it.

I had to read it probably 2 times through.

You know, as the editor, you read it theologically, You read it punctually, as in the punctuation and all that.

Fascinating, fun, difficult, spiritually uplifting work.

Now, besides that, because there are some people who ask.

By the way, somebody asked me for a copy of the music, Thy Word Have I Hid.

And I'm going to ask Rina if she can make a copy later on, you'll remind me of that.

But, in addition to that, I will make available and point out some other materials that you might be interested in.

If you are, because this is a Bible conference, we actually make it available at a reduced price for those of you who are interested.

Because it's a conference, the ABC, I've agreed with them, I will not undersell them.

Otherwise, you know, the ABC has materials, and if we undersell them, then the books get stuck on the shelf.

At a conference, we can have a reduced rate.

So we will do that here because this is a Bible conference.

Now sometimes, by the way, something better doesn't seem that way to us humans.

Especially children, whether it be spiritually or not.

He was walking around with this on his t-shirt, my best buddy.

And I said, hey Cliff, what is that on your t-shirt?

And I know some of you already know what it is.

Now by the way, let's not make that an excuse to be lazy, to be negligent, to be rebellious, okay?

But let's recognize that each 1 of us is still growing as a Christian.

So let's be patient with each other, all right?

Because I thank God that I've had people who are patient with me.

I've had friends who've corrected me, sometimes enemies.

You know, sometimes the best people to correct you are your enemies.

The people who don't like you and they point at certain character growth areas.

And thank God for those people, don't we?

Don't we all want to grow to become more like Jesus?

Let me tell you a story about a man who went through that.

His name was Boris Nikolayevich Kornfeldt.

Scripture Stories Can be Confusing -- Six Strategies

You know what, sometimes we use words loosely, isn't it?

I remember I've heard people, when they talk about political issues, they say, man, I got a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain, and I have to choose the lesser of 2 evils.

That's a rather loose use of that term, the lesser of 2 evils.

Now I'm not saying they're evil, but we use the word very loosely nowadays.

And so sometimes it confuses people when we use terminology very loosely.

Or for example, you go through the cafeteria line.

And then some people come through the line and they say, oh no, I hate sloppy joes and I hate those veggies and I have to choose the lesser of 2 evils.

My wife Linda says, my wife Linda says, that's not a moral dilemma.

So sometimes our words are just, we create our own problems.

Go out, get some lots of water, get some lots of fresh air, and enjoy the day.

So anyway, I want to spend a little time here on stories and contemporary issues.

I know this is a hot topic, but the reality we have to look at it, folks.

We are facing all kinds of problems nowadays, and the standards are going down, are slipping.

What is most interesting is to see how people out there are addressing these issues.

For example, how many of you have heard of Melinda Gates?

How many of you have heard of Melinda Gates?

How many of you have heard of Bill Gates?

And what's interesting, I want to show you, they talk about Melinda Gates.

And so we're going to come to that in a minute.

Before we get to Melinda, just keep her in mind.

She is the wife of the richest man in the world.

He's been considered the richest man for the last 10 to 15 years straight.

This was in Entertainment Weekly and in Entertainment Weekly, talking about standards and styles, November 16, 2007, notice what it says.

After years of waistlines so low, they verged on pornographic.

That is interesting for Entertainment Weekly to recognize that the styles, gentlemen, I'm coming to you in a minute, don't get too on your high horse yet, guys.

Entertainment Weekly admits that the style that the women have been wearing borders on pornography.

After years of waistlines so low they verge on pornographic, fashion has turned to the other extreme.

But fashion always goes to extremes, as you know.

They recognize that the clothing that has been promoted borders on pornography.

If you're in Louisiana, Del Cambera I think it is, the town passed an ordinance that carries a fine up to $500 or 6 months in jail for exposing underwear in public.

Several other municipalities in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

Where does the style of saggy pants come from?

It comes from prison, where inmates aren't given belts with baggy pants to prevent them from hanging themselves and from beating each other.

So people who wear saggy pants, guess who their models are?

You don't want to have a prisoner as your model.

We've been talking about who is our model.

Now, we're not saying don't go visit the prisoners and Bring them to Jesus.

These are the people we need to reach for the Lord.

And the saggy pants, show your bottoms or your underwear is a prison issue.

There are some people that are not converted.

I had the opportunity to become a friend of a Muslim.

Eventually, he was almost persuaded to become a Christian.

However, I'm quoting, he could not bring himself, the Muslim, to enter a Christian church because of the irreverence and indecent dress he saw among Christians in church.

He believed that church is a house of God and that he could not escape God's judgment if he allowed himself among people who showed such disrespect in God's presence.

How we dress is a positive or a negative witness.

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Series

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

How to Search the Scriptures -- The Messiah’s Method

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

A Dozen Difficult Issues -- How Much do Motives Matter?

1h

How to Search the Scriptures -- The Messiah’s Method

1h

Mixed up by Moral Dilemmas? The Scriptural Solution

1h

Scripture Stories Can be Confusing -- Six Strategies

49m

Sound Doctrine