SWYC 2009: Watch and Pray

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GYC Southwest

SWYC 2009 Breakout Sessions

Adam Ramdin

How to Preach: Preparation and Delivery of the Message

Father in heaven, Lord, we pause for a moment.

Thank you for your presence, which is already here.

And pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit will be our guide and our teacher as we go throughout this presentation.

The presentation, as you can see, is called How to Preach, Preparation and Delivery of the Message.

Okay, How many of you have never preached?

You're in good company if you're scared of preaching.

Glossophobia is a fear of public speaking.

Now, you know what the biggest phobia in the world is glossophobia.

Which is higher than the fear of spiders, the fear of death.

Jerry Seinfeld once joked that at the average funeral, most people would rather be in the casket than they would be behind giving the eulogy.

Because they're more scared of giving the eulogy than they are of being dead.

But it's a, you know, how to preach, how to speak, how to speak in public, you know, whether you're a pastor, an evangelist, a Sabbath school teacher, whether you're someone in your local church who just stands up to say a prayer or give an announcement, public speaking comes into all of these things.

Specifically in this workshop, we're gonna look at preaching.

Romans 10, verse 17, the Bible tells us, so faith comes by hearing and hearing by the what?

It's something that when you're speaking the word, when you're delivering the word, the word of God has to be spoken, has to be preached, has to be delivered.

You could say 1 whose occupation is preaching the?

Webster's Dictionary from the Latin, to proclaim or to make known.

Preacher is someone who proclaims something.

He makes known something that he already knows and he wishes to share with a larger audience.

In the Greek, God's kind of a definition, an explanation is God's ambassador, herald, proclaimer of God's divine word.

Let me try and actually there's not much I can do.

Second Peter 2 verse 5, talking about Noah.

The Bible defines Noah as being a preacher of righteousness.

He was someone who preached and the Bible says he preached righteousness.

Now we are told that Noah was a preacher.

We are also told that the time that Noah lived in is going to be mirrored when?

The Bible says in Matthew 24 verse 37 that as the days of Noah were so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

You think he preached things that made people feel good?

Not really, that wasn't his primary intention.

He was a preacher of righteousness with a specific message for a specific time and we today must mirror the type of preacher that Noah was.

You think he was preaching to fulfill an obligation or just because he was getting paid?

He was someone that had a message to give for a specific time we are told as well that we will live in a similar time when that we need to live like Noah just before the days of the coming of the son of man so what are we to proclaim what should we proclaim the book of evangelism page 119 If you have a pen you want to take notes.

Ellen White says these words here very clearly.

She says, in a special sense, Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as what does she say watchmen and light bearers and to them meaning to the seven-day Adventist has been entrusted which warning the last warning for a perishing world on them is shining wonderful light from the word of God." This is a serious quotation.

Says we're living in a time when what has been entrusted to us will be the last warning that will go to the whole world.

So the preaching of the gospel is something very very serious if it's going to be the last message of warning to a perishing world.

Going on it says, they have been given a work of the most solemn import, the proclamation of which message?

You remember Peter Gregory this morning when he was giving in the Q&A time, he was asked the question, what is the identity and mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church?

And where did he say we got our identity from?

Revelation chapter 14 and verses 6 through 12 which is the 3 angels messages.

These are the messages God has entrusted to us as the last warning to the world.

You wonder what it is you are you have to preach?

There is no other work of so great importance they are to absorb nothing else.

They are sorry, they are allowed, they are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.

Third volume of the testimony is page 64.

If the truth we profess is of such infinite importance as to decide the destiny of souls, how careful should we be in its what?

Trying to impress upon your minds the seriousness of the preaching of the Adventist message.

It's not just something that you flippantly do, and it's not just something that you just kind of do if you're, you know, everyone else is doing it.

It's a serious message God has given to us for a serious time.

How are we to prepare as preachers, preachers of the word?

Listen to God before you speak to the people.

There's a quotation I don't believe is on the screen, which says this.

How to Study the Bible, Part 1

Father in heaven, Lord, we pray that as we spend these next few moments meditating and talking and discussing how to study the Bible, such an important subject, we ask, Lord, for your spirit to guide us.

We ask, Lord, for your spirit to speak to each and every 1 of our hearts.

And I pray, Lord, that you may instill within each and every 1 of us a deeper desire to study your word.

You know, yesterday, the message that I gave in the morning was entitled, Watch.

And I started the message and I said that today we live in a now generation and today we also live in a what other generation?

Now maybe generation now, a Google generation.

Meaning that we like to put a question in and we like an answer spat out right away.

Unfortunately, when you come to studying the Bible, it's not quite as simple as Google.

It's not just like, okay, look, here's how you study the Bible, just done.

And God just gives you an answer like this, this, this, and this, and this.

When you're studying the Bible and when you're committing to study the Bible, in a sense you have to view it as you're in it for the long haul.

That it may not just be a quick snappy answer, you have a question, you study, you get the answer, you read a passage of scripture, or let me read John chapter 5, oh boom, there we go, I understand the whole thing, done.

It's not always as straightforward, as simple as that.

You have to kind of view it as a long haul that God may teach you over a period of hours, maybe weeks, maybe even months on a particular passage.

And the way that we study the Bible is not the same way that we would study Shakespeare.

It's not the same way that we would study a history book in your school, it's not the same way you would just study for a mathematic exam where you get the formula and now you can do it, done, answer, move on.

It's a little bit different, and so I'm gonna be sharing some principles of Bible study.

What, why, how, which is the most important word?

I think God is more interested often in teaching us the why's and the how's than He's always in giving us the what's.

God wants to teach us how, He wants to teach us why, hence how to study the Bible.

I just learned I can control my slide presentation from my phone.

So please don't get distracted and think I'm like sending text messages to my family.

I thought it was pretty cool, I found out yesterday.

It says, whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand?

Doctrine, them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, for precept must be upon precept, Precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, hear a little and what?

Those that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the?

Those that are no longer depending upon somebody else to be fed, but those that can now feed themselves will be those that God is able to teach.

We need to pray that we're in a spiritual condition, that we're not always depending on other people for our spiritual nourishment and strength, but we are moving on.

And that's why I believe you've come here to this workshop, to find out how you can feed yourself.

That all your spiritual food does not come to you via listening to a sermon you hear someone else preach.

But now you want to be able to dig for yourself and find some of the answers for yourself.

Notice what Daniel chapter 12 verse 10 says.

It says, many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall do what?

None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall do what?

Those that God is able to teach are those that have been weaned or drawn away from human dependence for their spiritual food.

Those the Bible says are those who are wise.

So as we approach the Bible, as we sit down, as we get ready to study the Bible, what should our mindset be as we are approaching and studying the Bible?

The Bible tells us, Ezra did certain things, says he did this.

For Ezra had, number 1, prepared his heart.

To Seek the law of God and to do it and to teach.

What are the key words in that verse, would you say?

The third word that is a key word in that verse is?

He prepared his heart to seek, then he wanted to do it, then he wanted to teach it.

4 principles you can glean that we can apply in our Bible study.

As we're opening the Bible to study it, we need to prepare our hearts that as we seek God's law and what is found in the scriptures, We are not just doing it for theoretical understanding to know something clever, but we're studying the Bible so that we can also then do what we study, and not only just so that we can do it and so we can know it for ourselves, but the final step is a key 1 that we can also teach other people.

It is by teaching other people that you really learn things the best for yourselves.

You've heard that you learn, you remember, I forget exactly.

If you teach somebody though, the percentage goes up to like 60 or 70%.

You remember what you've taught, about 60%.

On the best ways to study the Bible, to learn the Bible, to know the Bible, the final step is to teach it.

You know, how we study the Bible is very, very important.

Wrong method of studying the Bible gives us wrong conclusions.

If we have a wrong method, we're gonna have wrong conclusions and we're gonna have inconsistencies as we study the Bible.

If the Bible is inspired by God, should it therefore be consistent, yes or no?

If we're studying the Bible and we come to inconsistent conclusions, We do not conclude that the Bible is not inspired.

What I would suggest to you is if you come to inconsistent conclusions in your study, maybe the methods you're using for your study are not correct or consistent with each other.

Hence you're kind of firing in the wrong direction.

So, a fancy word for the study of the Bible, methodology, hermeneutics.

Maybe you heard people talk about that word before.

Hermeneutics, the hermeneutics, how to study the Bible, the study of the methodology definition of interpreting the Holy Scriptures.

In short, you could say it's the science and art of the correct interpretation of the Bible.

The basic task when you're studying the Bible is to do 2 things.

Number 1, to determine what God said in the Holy Scriptures, and number 2, to go on from that, what it means for us today.

Nelson Ernst

Seventh-day Activism

I'd like to just share with you really quickly what we're going to be talking about today.

And we're going to learn how we can become involved in practical outreach.

This is a seminar so that we can learn how to reach out to other people.

She says, the best help that ministers can give to the members of our churches is not sermonizing but planning work for them Give each 1 something to do for others and let all be taught how to work for God So as we think about what's the most important for our church today sermons have their place but what we need today is we need active laity.

We need all to be out there working for the people that we are surrounded with day by day.

You know, there's a story in the Old, in the New Testament about Jesus and how he went up to the Syrophoenician woman.

She said, I know I might be a dog, but at least dogs get the crumbs from their master's table, right?

So what we're going to do today is learn how to feed spiritual crumbs to those people who are around us, because we feast.

So, before we move on, why don't we open up with a quick word of prayer.

Lord, this afternoon we come before you just asking for your presence to be with us.

Lord, we want to come away from this seminar learning and knowing, Lord, how we can effectively reach out to the lost that are around us.

So Lord, be with us, teach us, guide us, and we ask for your presence in your name, amen.

Well I'd like to begin with a quick story.

Not too long ago I was at a school called Souls West, it's a 2 year Bible college in Arizona, And when I was there, there was a statewide fair that happened right there in Phoenix, Arizona.

A record million people showed up to the state fair.

Now at 1 of the exits to the state fair, there was a man who had a gigantic white beard.

I mean this guy looked like 1 of those ancient prophets of old who would stand on a rock and just rebuke people.

So I exited 1 day and I found this guy and he was standing at the exit and guess what he was doing?

He was passing out these books called National Sunday Law.

He passed out 7, 000 of those books that year.

1 of these books ended up landing in the hands of a man who hopped into his car and he rode miles and miles into the city of Phoenix.

For whatever reason he got disinterested in the book, He rolled down his window, threw the book out of the window, and it landed in front of a house of a man named Aaron.

He walked out to his front yard, and he noticed this little white book laying on the ground.

He bent down, he picked it up, he began to read it, and come to find out that Aaron just absolutely loved this book.

And he read it from cover almost to cover, and just as he was getting to the end, he lost it.

He told me later that He searched through his whole house.

I hate it when you read, you know, and you get very close to the end of the book, right?

And then if you lose it, you're just anxious to finish it off, right?

Well, anyway, a few months later, I come by and I'm knocking on doors, I'm cold portering.

So I knock on Aaron's door, he comes out, I hand him a great controversy, I start telling him about the book, and Aaron is looking at me kind of like this.

You know, kind of like a cucumber could be more interested in what I'm saying, right?

And so, as I'm talking to Aaron, I realize I'm not getting anywhere with him.

So I stop selling him on the book and I just start making friends with him.

Now Aaron, all of a sudden he opens up, he starts sharing with me his spiritual life.

He says, you know, I was raised Catholic and, you know, it's just a bunch of rounds and ceremonies.

I've tried Protestantism a little bit, but they're just a bunch of hypocrites over there.

He has a scowl on his face the whole time.

But then he gets kind of quiet and he gets tense and he says, but you gotta watch out for these, these Seventh Day Activists.

Aaron said, yeah, yeah, yeah, those are the ones, those are the ones, man you gotta watch out for those guys." And I said, oh, okay, what's their, you know, what's their deal?

Because they didn't know I was an Adventist.

Knocking on his door, and he says, oh man, these guys are intense.

He says, I got this little white book from them, it talks about the Pope, Mark the Beast, 666, all these prophecies.

I'm like, wow, wow, this guy got the hardcore stuff from Adventism, you know.

He didn't get the fluffy, you know, anything beforehand.

And I said, so what did you think about it?

He said, no, man, everything was backed up by the scriptures.

I said, wow, well Aaron, I'm here for a special reason today because I'm a Seventh-day Adventist.

And his eyes almost popped out of his head.

But I have the book that's better than it, and the book that that 1 is based off of.

And I put the great controversy back in his hands.

And this time, he was looking at it like this.

And I said, well, you know, just this much.

And he traded 10 bucks like he was trading pocket lint for gold.

Now I knew that Aaron was going to go back into his home that day and he was going to read that book.

How many of you though would like to have our church mistaken for Seventh-day activists?

Would you like it if our church was known for all being active?

Whenever we go out door-to-door, people don't just say, are you Mormon or Jehovah's Witness?

So the question is though, how can we get involved?

This is from Review and Herald, July 21, 1896.

White says, The great outpouring of the Spirit of God, which lightens the whole earth with His glory, will not come until we have an enlightened people that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God.

When we have an entire wholehearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of His Spirit without measure.

But this will not be While the largest portion of the church are not laborers together with God So let me ask you a question Will the Holy Spirit be poured out if we're not active?

No, so then the next question is how can we activate the majority of God's church?

I mean there's about 16 million Seventh-day Adventists.

Does everybody have to be flown over from Africa and Thailand and all these different places to go to AFCO or Mission College or Souls West?

How to Study the Bible, Part 2

Father in heaven, Lord, we once again pause and invite your Holy Spirit to be our teacher and our guide at this time.

In the Bible we are promised that your Holy Spirit will guide and teach us into all things.

I'm gonna share about 5 or 6 steps, The basic steps that we can use as we approach a passage of Scripture, as you're studying it, as you're trying to find out what the passage of Scripture is saying, be it a chapter, be it a section of verses, A few steps that you can use to try as you go through a passage of Scripture to see what the meaning in the Bible is and what God is trying to say through the Scriptures to you.

As you approach the Scriptures, you want to try to be in a spiritual mindset.

The mind uncluttered from, you know, I don't know, What maybe you were studying in school the day before, but have your mind uncluttered by how much your boss is going to pay you for the next 2 weeks of work.

Your mind uncluttered by whether the LA Lakers just won the whatever it is, the playoffs or whatever?

Confess your sins Before you open the Bible, before you study.

And a key thing is to be humble, teachable, and ready to obey.

If you're approaching the Scriptures in a proud way, let me see what I can make the Bible do for me.

You're not gonna get much out of your Bible study.

As opposed to let me see what God is going to say and speak to me as I open the Bible.

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Series

SWYC 2009 Breakout Sessions

How to Study the Bible, Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

How to Preach: Preparation and Delivery of the Message

45m

How to Study the Bible, Part 1

38m

Seventh-day Activism

42m

How to Study the Bible, Part 2

45m

Sound Doctrine