The way in which this planet is designed to support life is of such complexity and beauty that it provides a deeper appreciation for the days of Creation. This presentation will discuss how science can be used as a witnessing tool for the great Designer of the universe. As we see the design that was built into this world, it reduces the chances of “chance” being a viable explanation for our planetary home. 

ASI 2017: Called. Chosen. Committed.

<p>The way in which this planet is designed to support life is of such complexity and beauty that it provides a deeper appreciation for the days of Creation. This presentation will discuss how science can be used as a witnessing tool for the great Designer of the universe. As we see the design that was built into this world, it reduces the chances of “chance” being a viable explanation for our planetary home. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

3-Sharing the Faith

Vicki Griffin

Teaming Up Health and Gospel Evangelism: Touching Lives, Teaching Truth, and Gaining Decisions

You think the last person that comes in, we should make them sing a solo?

All right, we're thankful that you've chosen to come to this seminar this morning, and we hope that you are blessed.

There are a table full of handouts and some materials for you to check out.

We're the Michigan Health Temperance Leaders there, and we are also the Director and Associate Director of Lifestyle Matters.

And so that is what we are, that is what our mission is, and we thank the Lord for the Michigan Conference, which has commissioned us to prepare soul-winning tools for you to gain decisions for Jesus Christ.

Because if we just run around talking to people, that's really, is that really all there is?

But to put those tools in your hands, so that your home can become a home of hope.

Isn't that what we really want to do is empower you to be able to reach people this morning?

We're going to have a prayer in a moment, but Evelyn and I were having a heart, just a heart-rendering, heart-rending discussion this morning about the need in this world and how open people are if we just pay attention to them.

When we're so busy, most of Jesus' ministry took place when he was being interrupted.

We're in a hurry, we're on a mission, but when we actually start being right, I know this sounds new age, but in the present, when we start actually paying attention to the people around us, it is amazing how fast hearts will open up because people are so pressured.

And they're treated so unkindly by most of the general public.

So whether you're at the airport or in line at the grocery store or at the cleaners or the bank, Everybody around you will be so blessed by a kind word and an inquiry.

It's absolutely amazing how God is opening.

It's unbelievable, unbelievable how hearts are opening as never before.

Can you tell them to turn their mic down just a little bit, please?

Now that didn't sound like what I was just talking about, did it?

Okay, so you can see that This is something I work at.

You know, that's what people will remember, too.

As we begin this morning, Do we have an evangelist next door?

All right, Father in heaven, thank you for this time that we can have together.

We just want to ask your presence into our room and into our hearts and come and be our teacher during these precious hours of probation which are just closing in upon us.

We thank you for the privilege of being here and sharing together in Jesus name, amen.

Okay, so the question that we're asking this morning, and we're going to do this in several parts, we have several parts.

It's amazing what we say in these descriptions of what we're gonna accomplish in an hour and 15 minutes.

Bring your cars, we'll rotate your tires too.

We're gonna do everything that we can to fulfill what we said in that description today.

And so we're going to do this in several phases.

And probably some parts of this will resonate with what you're here for, maybe more than others.

But it's a big picture ministry, And so that's what we're here to share.

So the question that we're asking this morning is, how urgent is this message?

Did they tell you that they will turn this down a little bit?

I've been spending years trying to get over talking a little louder.

So the question we're asking this morning is, you know, how urgent is this message?

We're living in a world where little children are being trained by beheading dolls to behead Christians.

We're living in a world of complete chaos and decay of morals.

So why are we talking about healthful living in such an environment as this?

Have you ever asked yourself that question?

How is this health message going to resonate with the larger picture in this world?

I think it's a question worth addressing.

And so in the beginning of this work, In the early 1800s, 1844, we were given the message of Revelation chapter 14, the 3 angels' message coming out of the Reformation period, this beautiful new lamb-like beast, this government coming up with Republicanism and Protestantism, and a call out of doctrinal error.

Isn't that what the message of Revelation 14 is all about?

It's about the opening of the investigative judgment because when Jesus comes, his reward is what?

What an incredible message that God used the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the saber rattling of the Muslims, to signal the opening of the investigative judgment.

And I believe that he's using the saber rattling of those powers to signal the close of human probation.

And so, here we are, we have this angel in the midst of heaven, and the angel is a messenger, it's a worldwide message, he's crying with what kind of voice?

We have been given a confident message with an eternal gospel.

Vivian, have you ever felt misunderstood?

And so, think about how God has been misunderstood through doctrinal error.

Thinking that my precious little hairdresser, we were talking about this because she had a loss in her family and she was wondering what to tell her children about the grandma that died and where was grandma and was grandma in heaven or was grandma in hell and it gave me an opportunity to share with her.

God does not burn people forever and ever, and their very cursing prolongs their sentence.

And by second grade, I became an atheist and a runaway as a result of this belief.

I said, my dear friend, I wouldn't do that to a lizard.

And so there's a lot of rejecting of God that has nothing to do with rebellion.

It has a lot to do with misunderstanding the character of God.

And so we are called to restore the truth of God in people's hearts so that they can have hope in their hearts of a loving God.

So we're called that it's the hour of judgment.

It's a gospel of healing and restoration and the finishing of this work.

We're not at the beginning of this message anymore.

Ryan Hayes

Signature of the Designer: Seeing God Through the Creation

Father God in heaven, I just thank you for this amazing world that you've made, that we get to talk about and study and live in, and just be the benefactors of your grace that you have poured out to us, and help us to see it in more detail, and bless our time together and all the seminars that are going on this afternoon.

And we're gonna, well, there's a number of things that we're gonna do this afternoon.

I'm gonna talk to you about a project that's going on with Nathan Green.

You can see some paintings that are here.

And then I have some chemical demonstrations that I'm gonna do.

I wanna do a little teaching because that's what I do at Andrews University.

And we're gonna learn something about the way God made this world.

And I'll go into more detail when I get there.

So I try to hide behind them because they're much better looking than I am.

And so I've been at Andrews 8 years, and I'm starting my ninth year here, and things are going well.

And I can't do what I do without my family.

No, she's a wonderful scientist, and so she helps me with those things.

Before I was at Andrews though, I did work in industry for a total of 10 years.

So I come with some industrial experience, able to bring them to the classroom and see things a little differently.

So part of what I did was business development work in the chemical field.

I actually run a business in Andrews on top of trying to do research and some of the things that I'll be sharing with you today, which is I'm trying to figure out how to be a chemical missionary.

Because I kind of feel being an Andrews and being an Adventist, that how can I become a missionary for the Lord using the talents and my knowledge?

And it's easy to want to be a preacher or an evangelist, but what can I do as a chemist?

So I'm trying to think about how to be a chemical missionary, and you'll get to see some of that here today.

And so these are some of the things that I've been able to come up with.

In fact, this summer I've been a camp pastor a couple of times.

So I would do some demos and mainly object lessons, which is fun to do.

The thing that I really find important is how can I teach how God made this world and what can we learn about it?

I go around and do sermons locally in the area, I'll go wherever though, Vespers and children's stories and I've done some week of prayer.

And we did this really fun little thing I call the science camp.

Amos Church there near Berrien Springs that there was the evangelistic series the Lake Union was doing and trying to unlock revelation.

And so they said, you and your wife go do something with the kids.

And I said, all right, instead of just trying to entertain the kids and do stories, we're going to run a science camp for them.

And we're going to teach them about how God made this world.

And I'll share a little bit with that in a second.

And so we did a really fun science camp and then of course with my classes and everything try to integrate what I'm seeing how God made the world.

So I think there's some really cool things that we can do.

They're not that hard but we still need, I still feel like I need to train people wherever I go, cuz we just don't think like a chemist does.

She's able to do some of the experiments.

And This was our enrollment, this was our theme here.

You're an important element, and we did the elements of the periodic table.

And we just went through each element that we could over, I think it was 17 nights, and we did 15 different elements.

Some of them are exciting, so they had to go 2 nights.

And while the enrollment for the evangelistic series was going down, our enrollment to our program was going up.

So the kids are just having a great time.

I think there's so many things we can do with science to pull in students' interest.

And that's the fun part of it, but there's more to it.

And to me, I'm trying to lay a groundwork when I'm dealing with young children.

How can I get them excited about it, but train certain principles so that I've got some other information that I wanna give them later on?

So when it comes into thinking about faith and science, we hear a lot about how awesome this world is through biology.

There's amazing animals that are out there.

Things about the giraffe and their neck, the bombardier beetle, and there's animals that defy evolution.

But I'm not that person to talk about those, although I am getting into that a little bit more because they have some amazing chemistry that goes on in their systems.

Then we'll often get a perspective from physics.

Oh, how great the universe is and how big.

But we often don't hear from the chemist on how this world is made and put together.

And I feel like there's a missing link there that we can understand how God made this world and we'll appreciate what he's done and I think just live in this live in the blessing that our world is but we have to see it and sometimes I have to teach and help you to see there because we don't we just don't think like that we don't think but that's the connecting step because you can have all of the universe that you want, but all of the creatures in all of our world is made out of chemicals.

And that's, to me, a chemical is not a bad word.

That's just the molecules and stuff that we're made out of.

Some people think there's chemicals and then there's natural stuff.

No, there's just all chemicals and some are good and some are bad.

So in my looking of trying to see how God's put this world together, am I seeing a doorway there that leads into life like in a natural way, meaning without God's intervention, or do I see a lot of barriers there?

And I'm going to, I can't get into all of it because that would take too long, but at least I want to start laying some groundwork for you in the thinking, how I'm starting to see it.

And I actually see a lot of barriers for life happening spontaneously.

And this is in the area of origins and how did life get started.

And there's some real chemical barriers there.

And the scientific community knows that there's huge chemical barriers that exist for life to spontaneously happen.

And so they're throwing lots of money at it now.

And it's called, you can see that there's a Center for Chemical Evolution.

Nature is trying to have their own publications associated with Origin of Life.

The National Science Foundation is creating centers in conjunction with NASA to put money towards the chemistry of understanding how life can happen.

If you're getting funding, what do you have to do to keep getting that funding?

You got to hang on to your worldview, but you got to do something with all that money.

Whether it's right or wrong, you have to publish.

And they are going to be, so we should be expecting it's happening, that there'll be a lot of publications that are happening on the origins of life.

Whether they're realistic or not, it doesn't matter, they have to publish in order to keep getting this funding.

So there's millions of dollars being thrown at this initiative because it is a huge barrier to an evolutionistic worldview.

And the textbooks just gloss over it because there is no good explanation for it.

And so I'm gonna share a little bit, but not too much in that.

Bill Krick

Witnessing Cold Turkey

Father, thank you for the chance we have to spend time thinking about how to reach people for Jesus.

And most of all, we want to walk with Jesus.

Please bless us today, bless our time, and I pray that we'll leave here ready to smile at people and initiate witnessing toward them.

A young man was at a parking lot, and he had glow tracts with him, and he sees a man, and he says to himself, I'm going to glow this guy, and he had 3 tracts.

And he chose 3 tracts and handed them to the man and said, here's something for you to read.

And you can look at the free offer later.

And as he turned to go, the man says, wait.

He said, I've seen you before 2 months ago I had a dream.

That that you came to me and there was a really tall strong good looking guy with you." And the guy's like, well, there's nobody with me.

He says, but the tall guy said to me, take what he has.

And the young man who was working with us said, whoa.

And the guy says, and he said there were 4, 4 titles that the guy told me I needed.

And he proceeded to list 2 of the tracks that he had just given him, which were, why I go to church on Saturday and where is God when I'm hurting.

And the other ones were something about myths about hell and mental health.

And the young man's eyes got really big and he's like, he says, whoa, he's like, I think I have those in my bag in just a second.

And he checks And sure enough he finds those 2 tracks and hands the man those 2 tracks.

The man knew the titles before he had given them to him.

If you came to this seminar hoping for some training and some methods, you'll get some of that.

A tract that stays in my purse or my wallet or my pocket cannot meet a divine appointment that God has for me.

Witnessing a divine appointment, an amazing witnessing story cannot happen unless I step out and do it.

And that we found in our experience and in the history of 20 some years of doing this, God uses people who are shy, God uses people who are untrained, he prefers trained people, But God uses anybody to meet the divine appointments He has set up for them.

And we're going to be talking about that as well.

We're going to talk about several things, but please remember this main point.

Witnessing cold turkey is meeting the appointments that God has set up for you.

And that was using tracts as the introductory contact.

There are lots of things you can do besides using tracts.

So in this seminar, we'll be answering the question, what do you do if you don't have a relationship with someone but want to try something to reach him or her anyway?

There was a lady named Jeanette sitting in her car.

Actually, she was walking toward her car.

And she was approached by a boy and a man.

And they handed her some glow tracts and the glow tracts she received, 1 of them was on the Sabbath.

They didn't know that she had already read a different tract on the Sabbath.

They didn't know that she was convicted about the Sabbath already.

They didn't know that she had said, God, do you really want me to keep this Sabbath?

If so, please give me some sort of sign or evidence.

They just saw some lady in the parking lot and they walked up to her and handed her some tracts.

We don't know what God has set up for us.

That's part of the fun, is we don't know what's gonna happen.

So today, I'm gonna look at 4 main points witnessing a cold turkey.

The first 1 of the 4, the first point, number 1, is be genuine.

Personal efforts for others should be preceded by much secret prayer, for it requires great wisdom to understand the science of saving souls before communicating with men, commune with Christ.

People can sense or even smell, as it were, if we are not genuine or if we have our own agenda or we are pushing our own thing.

You know, there's a lot of suspicion today.

I'm gonna give you a quote from him if you don't know who he is.

He teaches at Southern Adventist University and he wrote a book called Christ's Way of Reaching People.

The Christian's sincere interest and love startles people.

Because most of us are so caught up in promoting ourselves, loving things, and using people, that it comes as a pleasant surprise that someone genuinely cares without any ulterior motives.

So even when we have communion with Christ and we speak in sincerity and in genuineness, people are still wondering, is that really legit?

But people, you know, there are people who have practiced eyes.

They've seen religious abuse and they've had their arm twisted.

I had some folks come to my door once, and they said, hello, word, et cetera, et cetera, and they handed me a piece of literature, And I immediately thought about saying some things that we had in common.

So I immediately said 2 or 3 things that I knew we would have in common.

And the guy looked at me like this, and he immediately went for something he figured out we didn't have in common.

So those are the kinds of experiences people have had.

They've had this abrasiveness or salesmanship so to speak.

But the Christian's sincere interest in love startles people.

I'm going to show you now excerpts from a letter that I received about 1 of the young people who goes out and goes witnessing for us, okay?

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Series

3-Sharing the Faith

Signature of the Designer: Seeing God Through the Creation

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

Teaming Up Health and Gospel Evangelism: Touching Lives, Teaching Truth, and Gaining Decisions

1h

Signature of the Designer: Seeing God Through the Creation

1h 11m

Witnessing Cold Turkey

1h 14m

Sound Doctrine