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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Sebastien Braxton

The Man Behind the Armor

Today, I bring you greetings from Fayetteville, North Carolina, where I currently reside with my 1 wife and 3 children.

My wife and my children send their greetings.

I just had a baby girl on September 9th, my third child.

My baby girl was sleeping and they were heading out, and so they wanted me to know that she was sleeping in my position in the bed since I was not there, even though she takes up most of the bed anyway.

So anyway, they wanted me to let you know that they are praying for you, they're praying for me, and that God would visit us through these meetings this weekend.

And unfortunately, I couldn't be here to make some noise in the background and try to rush the stage when I see Papa is preaching.

But nevertheless, sometime in the future, we definitely hope to make a family trip out west.

We have family around and friends as well.

I also know that he's going to be putting the website on the screen.

So this is the R3 website, just so you know what it looks like, so you don't go to the wrong place.

There's a lot of organizations named R3 I found when I filed for the organization.

So if you can scroll down, you'll notice that it has about, the leadership, the different projects.

Tells you the different areas, service, media and technology.

And right there you go to different projects and this tells you some of the upcoming ones.

We update this about every 4 months as projects get solidified.

So you'll notice that Dubai is coming in 2016, India is in about 2 weeks, Calais is an ongoing project.

We also do a lot of journalism and we're also working on a learning management system.

For those who are software developers, they'll know what that means.

It also tells you, are you ready to serve?

And then you can go all the way to the bottom, and it gives you, sorry, just a little bit up, and it gives you the little contact us, very simple box, send an email, I'm interested in this, and it goes straight to my assistant, and we review those things on a daily basis, every 24 hours.

So we get a lot of invitations from non-Adventists as well as Adventists.

And so I want to kind of clue you in on something with R3 is that 1 of the things that we looked at R3 is R3 is not a typical organization.

When we were in Dubai, Haula, that you saw in the video, who was talking as the Executive Director of Census, she's like, you know, I want to come to see the headquarters of R3.

I don't have the big corner office overlooking the pier, you know, and the nice skyline.

But she was just shocked because we had so many volunteers from so many different countries.

She just assumed we're like this mammoth of an organization.

And somehow we figured out ways to pay for our expenses for 2 months to serve in Dubai.

That's really the intention of R3 is to sit down and to come up with ideas that are restoring, that are rational, and that are radical.

And 1 of the things that continues to happen in R3 is the reality that young people, you know, we talk about training, it's hard for you to take 4 months off, 6 months off, 9 months off to go get training.

And so you'll notice that there's been a trend towards this online training element.

And so this is something that we've been also working on as well, and are always recruiting new software developers, coders, as well as design, front end, back end.

I don't want to get into all the technical terms, but those are always the kind of things that we're doing, as well as the History of Redemption concert.

Recruiting new people and local talent to get involved and show that they can actually use their skills to be a blessing to wherever they go.

So definitely if you're interested, this is the website, very easy to contact us and we're very responsive as well, as much as we can be of course, because I'm here preaching to you so I won't be able to check those things.

And based on my message last night, I shouldn't be checking my email until the sun goes down.

So anyway, as those of you who were not here last night, you have no way of knowing that this weekend I've decided to come and speak on the theme of the heart.

The reality that the true place where we are really called to be Christians is in the inner life.

The part of the life that is most likely to be neglected and yet it is the most critical aspect of the Christian life.

It is not enough to have behavioral modification.

It is not enough to include a certain level of activities.

In fact, we are encouraged by the spirit of prophecy that we ought not to make a savior out of our activities because they are not our savior.

So because of that concept, if we are not to make a savior of our activities, then what are we to make a savior of?

And she's talking about the context of come apart and rest a while.

So these messages this weekend are designed to speak to the heart.

I don't want to talk to you about behavior.

I don't want to talk to you about are you listening to this music or that music.

I don't want to talk to you about dress, should women wear pants or dresses or whatever.

Oh yes, the last time I came to preach at Advent Hope, after my second presentation, this woman met me outside and she said, brother Sebastian, thank you for preaching the word.

She gave me a note and it said, next sermon, please hit soda, cheese, and something else.

If I had a fireplace, I would have thrown it in there.

And you're thinking, people think, oh, man, this guy's preaching, so yes, we need to use him to get these people off of cheese.

Cheese is not the greatest threat to the human soul.

My kids have never tasted dairy, never eaten meat, never even seen it cooked.

So I'm not saying I'm not support of the health message.

But what I'm saying is the fact that when we come to these places, we worry about the behavioral modification, and yet I remember years ago I was receiving a class from Pastor Skeet when I was a new Christian, and back then I was 1 of those, you know, righteous by veganism.

So Pastor Skeet came over, we made breakfast and we said, hey Pastor Skeet, these are vegan pancakes, you know, magnifique, you're gonna love these.

Pastor Skeet said, Brother Sebastian, I have 1 question for you.

He says, will there be any vegans in hell?

You're thinking to yourself, why is he asking me this question?

Like, Pastor Skeet, you know, we just talk about pancakes.

Like, we're not talking about righteousness.

There will be vegans in hell, unfortunately, because they didn't have to be there, because Christ died for them.

But it raises the point that the true issue, the true battle of the Christian life is in the heart.

There is no way to get around this issue.

And so I'm hoping that through these messages that I'm able to help draw your attention, your focus, back to where it ought to be.

Not only where your attention and my attention ought to be, but the place where Jesus' attention is.

To cooperate with Christ is to know where Christ is working.

It's to know what he's focusing on, and he's focusing on the heart, the inner life, not the 1 that is seen, because we can easily do things to be seen of men, because we're in an Adventist campus.

We know what is publicly acceptable, and we know what to keep in the dorm room and what to keep on the front.

You know, we have this theory in communication.

And they call it the front stage and the backstage.

So when you want to create a particular image of yourself or of your organization, I do consulting for organizations.

So you say, oh, we want to have this kind of image.

Then I have to analyze all their messages, their Facebook profiles, their Twitter accounts, and say, look, this message should be backstage.

Even though you're an angel investor group and your goal is to make rich people richer, that is really your goal, as an angel investment firm, You don't want that on your Facebook page.

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The Man Behind the Armor

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