Dee shares how a Biblical approach to social media can supercharge our evangelism efforts, and lead many souls to Christ.

GYC Northwest 2018: Return. Receive. Run.

<p>Dee shares how a Biblical approach to social media can supercharge our evangelism efforts, and lead many souls to Christ.</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>

GYC Northwest

Stealing Lucifer's Playground

Dee Casper

1. Snapchat, Selfies, and Salvation

Okay So this first session out of 3 is called snapchat selfies and salvation and we're basically gonna be dealing with topic of social media and I'm excited about it.

I think it's relevant It's helpful and we're just going to be covering basic moral principles and overall principles of social media.

The second session will deal with people who are doing it well, principles for you to be able to do social media well evangelistically.

And then the third session is going to be kind of an exclusive opportunity.

I'm going to show a program that hasn't released yet through our ARTV platform called Animal Encounter Season 2.

Some episodes that haven't been released yet, probably a half segment because they're in 2, there's basically 2 episodes per half hour, so we're going to do 1 of those, some of our other programming, and just kind of explain what's coming in the future of digital media for the Adventist Church.

So, let's begin with a word of prayer, and then we'll start our time together.

God, thank you for the privilege to have this time together.

I thank you for the special music before the message.

But I also want to thank you for Chad's message.

I just pray that you'd bless us now with your presence, that you'd help us to manage our time wisely, and that what is shared would be helpful and relevant to those present.

So did you know that in Acts chapter 19, the Apostle Paul actually got the gospel to go viral in the first century.

I'm going to give kind of a biblical framework for why I think social media is important, and then we'll come back.

How many people have heard of a place called Ephesus?

The book of Ephesians was written to the church at Ephesus.

John died as the pastor of Ephesus in that area once he was released from Patmos.

Timothy was the pastor at Ephesus for a while when Paul was writing to him in 2 Timothy, I believe.

And in Acts chapter 19, my little subheading for the top of the chapter says Paul at Ephesus.

So he went into the synagogue in verse 8 and spoke boldly for How long?

For 3 months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

In Asia, heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." Now why is this interesting and relevant and so forth?

Well, Paul, this is kind of an artist depiction.

This is kind of an artist depiction of the school of Tyrannus, right?

It looks like a college lecture hall with a chalkboard.

And I know he certainly didn't have a ceiling fan, but you get the basic idea that if he's preaching in this school for 2 years and doesn't leave this school for 2 years, how is it that the entire Roman province of Asia hears the gospel?

You ever wonder, like, how is it that if he stays in 1 place, the entire Roman province of Asia hears the gospel, both Jews and Greeks?

Well, some people came, they heard Paul preach, they thought, man, that's amazing, and they go home and they share with the people they know.

Then other people come, they hear the gospel, and they go home and share with people that they know.

It's the equivalent of somebody says, hey, I like that, and they hit like and share on their profile, right?

And he literally gets the gospel to go viral in the span of 2 years while never leaving the location where he was.

Social media actually has very similar capabilities that you can be in 1 physical geographical location and impact people all over the world without leaving where you are.

This is the way the School of Tyrannus was designed.

The School of Tyrannus was basically this place that it was basically for the intelligentsia of his day that they were using this place as a lecture hall in the morning, but it wasn't used after that.

So from mid to late morning to the heat of the day it was too hot for people to be working in the fields.

So they would come to the School of Tyrannus and they were looking to hear new ideas, right?

And they were killing time, they had nothing else to do.

It was the place where people went to kill time and to hear new ideas.

So I believe that social media is the new school of tyrannous.

It's a place where people are killing time and looking for new ideas after school and after work.

Many people are doing this during school and during work, aren't they?

Some of us need to repent to our professors.

Google, the world population right now is 7.6 billion people.

3.8 billion, half of that figure, are on the Internet.

Literally, half of the world is on the internet right now.

So this is where I, I'm just gonna go into this immediately.

This is where I have a beef with people saying that, you know, there's all these bad things on the internet.

The problem is there's bad things in the mission field.

Does that mean that we're not gonna go to, does that mean that no one's gonna reach the people in these hostile places like Somalia and other places?

How are these people gonna hear the gospel?

Just because bad stuff happens there does not mean that these people are not valued by Jesus.

Now, are you responsible enough and strong enough to be able to handle being in that environment?

But there are people who will need to be there.

So to just cast off an entire mission field, because bad stuff happens to be in that area, if that's the position that J.N.

Andrews took, we would not be a global movement.

So we need to think through our statements.

This is where we fall into this Judean, this first century Jewish mindset that we just hate everything that isn't like us, right?

And if bad things are happening, that means all the people there are bad and aren't worthy of being saved.

We don't realize it, but that's what we're saying.

Stay away from those people because they do bad things.

The problem is there's still people that Jesus died for that are made in the image of God and need to be reminded of the fact that they're made in the image of God.

And we have to break this prejudice mentality that those people, There are people, all of them, amen?

Paul says that I'm a debtor both to Jews and to Greeks.

David Platt in his book Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, says that we owe Christ to the world.

So we need to break that prejudiced, bigoted mindset that is easy to get in reform-based movements.

And our reforms are a huge blessing, by the way.

We just need to be like Jesus when believing the reforms, and we need to be missional, right, in the way that we approach things.

2.8 billion people are active on social media.

1000000000 people are active on Facebook.

It's literally like the largest country in the world, if it were to be a country, Facebook is.

100 million people use Instagram every month.

2. How to Start a Viral Infection

God in heaven, I thank you that your love indeed knows no bounds, that you have afforded us a tool to bring the gospel to the world in a powerful way, and I just ask that you would guide us in how to do it well, and that you'd show us what lessons we need to learn.

0, we'll go ahead and actually keep this cracked.

Just so no 1 ends up feeling that they've encountered the closed door for any of those Adventist historians out there.

And you can actually leave it, yeah, just like that.

Okay, So 1 question that we get is, when do I get my kids involved?

Like when is it time for them to have access to these things?

Someone remind me of that at the end, and I'll come back to that.

I don't know why I don't put that slide at the end.

That would probably be the smart thing, but anyway.

So, the question then is, how do we engage in social media in a safe and responsible and evangelistic way?

So, what we should be doing is seeking to grow relationships and friendships by connecting with people, but not growing a love and a tolerance for the things that ensnare them.

So we wanna find as many common bridges as we can, but we also don't wanna endorse what they're doing.

I had someone who messaged me on Facebook this week.

Oh man, I had a powerful testimony to share to my sermon last night, and I forgot.

Someone sent me a message on Facebook a few days ago, asking me a question in harmony with this very thing.

So, they said, how do you respond to an old friend who left the church and wants my opinion on the music that they're making, right?

It's secular techno dubstep and I don't wanna be rude, but it doesn't sound good even from a worldly stance.

How do I encourage this person without encouraging the production of this type of music?

And my response to them was that that's a tough 1.

If I just stopped there, it's just a cop out, right?

But I told them that what you can do is show love and encouragement to someone without endorsing what they do.

And you can just tell them that you're probably not the best judge of it, right?

Find easy ways to, you know, I'm not a musician, that probably isn't the best thing for me, I'm not the best, you know, person.

But they, I have a similar relationship with my brother and I kind of explained that to some degree, but what I recommend is that we, as just Christians in general, but the more reforms we have built into a movement, the more prone we are to identify people with what they do.

So it's hard for us to distinguish the difference between someone doing something and that being who they are and that's a problem.

It's a really big problem because that's not the way that God deals with these people and Basically, it falls into 2 categories.

There's something called guilt and there's something called shame Guilt is that sense and they feel very similar on the inside.

Guilt is that I've done something wrong and the purpose of guilt is a godly redemptive 1 because it's to open your eyes to the fact that I've done wrong and that I need Jesus And Jesus is the very 1 who died to save me from my wrongdoing.

Shame on the other hand is that I am something wrong.

And what it does is it identifies you with the very thing that you do.

The problem is that's not the way that God intends to operate.

God does not define us based upon what we do.

He does not treat us as if that's all we'll ever be or all that we are.

But shame gets you, not only are you identifying yourself with what you've done, but you also feel so filled with self-hatred and unworthiness that you feel like you can't come to Christ.

So it's easy for people who have more conservative principles, and I'm 1 of those, by the way, don't freak out.

It's easy for us when we see people doing things that we don't like.

You know, like they eat abominable swine's flesh.

And we just feel as though these people are lepers, and I had to stay as far away from them as possible because X is bad, right?

And if so-and-so does this, then they're bad.

But that is the way that many times people of principle treat folks who struggle with X.

They're the ones we have to stay away from.

What Chad shared this morning was beautiful.

God is pursuing these people, and God intends to use human instrumentalities to awaken these folks to the fact that God loves them.

And the very people who are generally more prone to want to believe the Bible and the spirit of prophecy, right, who would be some of the best candidates to bring these people to Jesus will go nowhere near them, because they got cooties, because they do stuff that's bad.

And so in our minds, we just lump person doing bad with being bad.

And it's not the way that God views them.

So when we're having these interactions, we're seeking to grow relationships with people, but we have to have boundaries.

We have to have barriers in the sense that there's things that I just won't do.

Right, there's lines that I just won't cross.

There's places I'm just not gonna go, but I'm going to invest in them.

This is the way that our relationship should be working, and you can do that on social media.

Find the ways that you can build bridges, and don't do any form of endorsement of things that you're not in harmony with, that you don't feel are the right thing.

And I think we're so afraid of bad things and doing the wrong thing and making wrong decisions that it ends up causing us to have this analysis paralysis.

Like we end up doing nothing and even running from people that aren't like us.

And that's exactly what the Jews did, and that's why God couldn't use them to win the world.

We're repeating our history if we don't understand it.

So anyway, I would encourage us to kind of do some self-reflection.

Who are those people in my life that I saw providence in how they were brought into my seer of influence, but because they did stuff that I just...

And I kind of just defined them by what they did, I missed a blessing.

3. Digital Media Success Stories

All right, so what I'm gonna do is give you guys an opportunity to see something, to the best of my understanding, has not been released on Hope Channel yet.

We have supplied, we created a program called Animal Encounters, and it's something that we have shot.

They had like lions and all kinds of other stuff.

So they got like tropical animals, they got toucans and butterflies and colorful frogs and all kinds of stuff.

So what I'm gonna do is show you an example of 1 of the programs we've made and then a couple of episodes of Vicki Free Kids, just to kind of give a feel for what we're looking to do.

ARTV is looking to create content that's missional, that's outward facing, that isn't just entertainment for the saints, right?

Something that would kind of get people's attention, meeting them where they are, right?

Even entertaining other worldviews, but injecting our worldview into theirs, right?

And kind of drawing them in, sharing the health message as a bridge, using nature programming as a bridge, and pulling them into an ecosystem, a platform that has missional content on it, right?

So I'm just gonna give you some examples of some missional content that we've made at Unseen Media Group, and also for ARTV, just to get a feel for it, of resources that exist in your own movement, right?

So we're just gonna watch the first half of this, of episode 3 of Animal Encounters season 2.

So let's begin with a word of prayer, then I'll show you this.

It'll be like 15 minutes, and then we'll go into some other stuff.

God in heaven, thank you again for a delicious meal, for the fellowship, for how you're working providentially in all of our lives.

And I just pray, Lord, by what we see and learn here today, that we would better be acquainted with resources that the Adventist Church is creating and the Adventist ministries are creating in finishing this work, because even if we aren't ones that can create this content, we can share it.

And so just help us in understanding these things now in Jesus' name.

All right, I think my speakers are working.

Rainforests produce 20% of the world's rain in the United States.

Rainforests produce 20% of the oxygen we breathe on our planet, and 80% of the foods we eat originally came from rainforests.

It's no wonder that humans are slowly but steadily realizing the need for drastic reforestation efforts before 1 of the world's greatest resources disappears.

Rainforests are in need of human help, but there is a bird that has been doing its part to plant new trees long before we were, albeit in a messy way.

Gubby, Custler and Coro are on their way to meet the magnificent toucan and learn about its intelligence and important role in the ecosystem.

Later, they enter a miniature rainforest and come face to face with the animal Kassler fears the most.

It's been a few years since we've traveled together.

There's still so much yet to be discovered.

Human beings can be so cruel towards so many animals.

When you have the opportunity to look into their eyes, to know their stories.

Animals that are rescued here can be released into the wild again where they're really meant to live.

I hope people get inspired and treat animals with more care and respect.

So I'm like totally dependent upon the internet for this.

I can do 1 from my computer, or from my phone I should say.

That's true, but not everyone's using D's iPhone.

That's exactly what Henry Stoker, 1 of our animal encounters photographers, gets to do every day.

There really is no way to describe the exact feeling I have to be able to go out in nature.

The animal kingdom has such an amazing effect on my life.

It's that same fascination with animals that drives some people to capture and keep exotic animals as pets.

Too often, it leads to animal abuse, suffering, and the threat of extinction.

So how can humans enjoy getting close to wildlife without hurting it?

La Paz Waterfall Gardens hopes to offer visitors 1 possible solution by introducing them to their rescue toucans.

Here, visitors can meet, observe, and even feed toucans in this spacious aviary these birds call home.

That's exactly what our 3 adventurers Gabi, Kassel and Kara have come to do today.

This toucan is called black-mandible toucan.

Black-mandible is the largest species of toucan.

I couldn't believe I would be able to be so close to a toucan.

We have the rainbow 1, the rainbow toucan, and also we have this 1.

Worldwide, there are 40 different species of toucans, and Costa Rica is home to 6 of them.

These beautiful birds come in a wide variety of sizes and colors.

They all possess large intimidating beaks, which are actually very lightweight and filled with air pockets.

When it gets very hot, toucans have the ability to allow more blood to circulate through their beak in order to cool it down.

And they also, yeah, like the little ones, pinky.

They catch the insects from the bromeliads and put the tongs inside the bromeliads, catch 1 or 2 froggies or little worms or something like that.

Series

Stealing Lucifer's Playground

1. Snapchat, Selfies, and Salvation

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

#Evangelism

#Evangelism- Part 2

54m

Becoming a Man

1h 12m

Seminars

How to Preach and Speak with Power

1h 42m

Healing From Bad Religion and Church Hurt

Case Studies and Q&A

1h 12m

The Kings

The Kings: Amaziah

40m

Stealing Lucifer's Playground

How to Start a Viral Infection

59m

A Strange Request

1h 2m

Put Your Sword in its Place

45m

Morning Devotional

The Faithfulness of God

23m

Reasons for Hope: The Case for Faith in a Secular Age

Reasons for Hope: The Case for Faith in a Secular Age - Part 3

1h 15m

Dave Fiedler: Thoughts on Thinking - A Brief History of Adventist Thought

Picking Up the Pieces: Learn the Lessons, Get it Right

1h

Sound Doctrine