Tackle the big ideas of God, sex, relationships, the gospel and how to do life well! Grasp inspirational and relevant lessons from the incredible story of Abraham. These practical presentations will combine the most up-to-date Biblical and apologetic research o many hot topics in the world and church today.

GYC 2019: By Many Or By Few

<p>Tackle the big ideas of God, sex, relationships, the gospel and how to do life well! Grasp inspirational and relevant lessons from the incredible story of Abraham. These practical presentations will combine the most up-to-date Biblical and apologetic research o many hot topics in the world and church today.</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>

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Abraham, Apologetics, and the Big Ideas of Scripture

Anil Kanda

Abraham and the Heathen: Does God Actually Listen to the Prayers of Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims?

I can't speak as loud or sing as loud as Shana, but I'm glad I got this mic.

So I'm glad that you guys are here today.

I know that God has a very special blessing in store for us.

You know, I like to start off with just a time of Thanksgiving.

Because the Bible says, enter into His what?

That when we come into the presence of God regardless of why we're going there we need to come with thanksgiving in our hearts do you know the shortest verse in the Bible?

Wrong in John chapter 11 in the English translation it is Jesus wept but if you go to the Greek there's actually a verse shorter than Jesus wept it's found in first Thessalonians chapter 5 where Jesus wept is actually 2 words and 16 letters this word verse is 2 words and 14 letters it is first Thessalonians chapter 5 rejoice always amen We have much to be thankful for, right?

Why don't we bow our heads for another word of prayer?

Then we're gonna jump into this message right away.

Father in heaven, we just thank you again for this special time.

We pray and ask that you would speak to us, that you would enlighten us, that you would expand our understanding of the providences of God.

For this we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

So I don't know if somebody's in the back.

Maybe Shana, you can connect with somebody.

So I hope you guys appreciated that song father Abraham I was not actually born and raised a Christian I come from a Hindu and Sikh background we're from the Rather Swami sect and in the year 2000 I became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.

When I became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, the Seventh-day Adventist church was the first church I went to and when I was driving to church for 1 of the first times I turned on the radio and I thought to myself wait a minute it's the Sabbath I need to listen to something that is Christian so I turned to the Christian station and they were playing kids songs and no joke the very first kids song I have ever heard praise song was Father Abraham.

In fact the brother who brought me to the Lord his name was Abraham.

You know it's really interesting when you study out the scriptures it's really remarkable.

When you're opening up the Bible the Bible seems to be on this trajectory, this fast moving current.

You read Genesis chapter 1, it's creation.

Genesis chapter 2, God's favorite part of creation.

And then it gets into the multiplication a man eventually gets to the flood Then it gets to the Tower of Babel and as you're reading chapter by chapter It's like the Bible is fast-forwarding trying to get you somewhere and then all of a sudden it stops in Genesis chapter 12 and for about 12 chapters you learn about the day-to-day existence of a man named Abraham almost as if the spirit through the scripture is saying hey hurry up let's get through Genesis let's get to a very important part of the Bible and that is the life of who?

Abraham and when you study out the scriptures from the Old Testament to the New testament it's really powerful because you learn so much about this man named apraham the bible tells us this in genesis chapter 22 these remarkable words that god spoke to apraham your descendants shall be as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice Can you imagine that very moment where Abraham went outside, he looked upon the stars?

By the way, do you know how many stars you can see on a clear night?

Researchers have actually looked at this.

They say anywhere from 2, 000 stars to 10, 000 stars can be visible to the eye on a clear night.

Do you know how many stars there are suggested that are actually in our universe?

It's estimated 100 billion stars are in our universe.

So Abraham saw stars that he could see, but there were more stars than that.

So Abraham, as he looked out into the sky, saw these beautiful stars, saw this sort of numerous, just abundance of stars, and God spoke to him and said so shall your descendants be and Abraham was blessed to be a blessing to this world now let's go to this We live on a planet with a population of 7.8 billion people.

And the majority of those who are labeled as such subscribe to beliefs not in harmony with the trajectory of scripture, i.e.

So the question is then, in which way does God work to save the nations which such a missional dilemma dilemma With the omnipotent being who obviously loves every human being how our Adventist supposed to understand the divine care with unreached people groups does God work with them would God answer the prayers of sincere God-fearing Hindus Buddhists and Muslims you look in the world today and our world is full of lots of people and these people fall into various categories religious categories take a good look at this Christianity they're considered 2.4 billion Christians in the world and that also includes Catholics as well in that category Muslims 1.9 billion Hindus 1.15 billion Buddhists 521 million Sikhs 30 million and you look at all the religious groups out there it is so numerous Has anybody here ever been outside the United States before?

Anybody here ever been to a third world country before, what's considered a third world country?

Anybody ever been to Thailand, place of Thailand?

And so You got the Baha'i faith, you got Jains, you got Universalism, and it's remarkable, right?

You have like all these people groups, so just very religious, very sincere.

And inevitable question comes up is, how in the world does God work with such people groups?

Especially in areas where there are very little to no Christians.

And by the way, we're not just Christians, but Seventh-day Adventist influence.

How are we supposed to understand the divine care with sort of a very strange dynamic with our planet you know when I went to Pakistan I went there to go speak at the Pakistan Adventist seminary there and India and Pakistan as you know used to be 1 country right when the English left a lot of the Muslims were fearful that when the English left, that the Hindus would take over and oppress them.

They began to flee towards the West, and a division took place in India, they call it the Great Partition, and Muslims formed their own country at a part of India.

The word Pakistan means pure, 95% of the country is actually Muslim and the other 5% are just all across the spectrum.

When I went to India, that was actually the place my dad was born before the partition took place.

When the partition took place, the Muslims fled to the east and a lot of the Sikhs and the Hindus had to go towards the west.

My dad and his family were part of the people that had to leave the Punjab part of Pakistan and go to the Punjab part of India.

And it was really interesting, when I went to Pakistan to speak my guide took me to the place of the birthplace of Sikhism which was in Pakistan an area called for Haslabad I went there with the country they had 95% Muslims here was a Sikh family still renovating the 1 of the only Sikh temples in all of Pakistan the birthplace of Sikhism right then and there they opened the door they let us in and the Sikh guru began to take us around show us the beautiful things that were in this temple and then at the end of it he said something to us he said, hey would you like some food?

And we're like, hey, you know, we're okay And he's like, would you like some chai tea?

He said this, in my culture, we have this belief where there is no food, there is no temple.

And essentially what he was implying was that people are welcome to come to seek temples and eat food because they consider it part of the worship experience let me tell you something this man was very sincere in his faith this is a man who was living in a country with 95% Muslims he was in a Sikh temple and Sikhs by the way didn't get the best treatment in that area and yet he was willing to live for his faith and serve all those that were willing to go into the temple when we left that place I thought to myself man here is a God fearing Sikh man he's very sincere in his religious faith You look all over the world and you probably have encountered many people who are sincere in their religious faith.

Whether they be Buddhist, whether they be Jews, whether they be Hindus, whether they be Sikhs.

All across the spectrum there are very sincere God fearing people.

In fact the Revelation 18 call God says come out of Babylon what?

Where is the majority of his people found?

Romance and Courtship: Who has a Better Love Story?

Why don't we bow our heads for another word of prayer.

Father, we just thank You so much again for this time.

We pray and ask that You would bless us, enlighten us.

God, we claim James chapter 1 verse 5 that says, If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who upbraid not, will give to all men liberally.

And so Jesus, we claim that promise that you would bless us with practical wisdom, spiritual wisdom, heavenly wisdom.

Thank you so much for hearing prayer in the name of Jesus.

Today's message is entitled, Who's Got the Better Love Story?

Adam and Eve, Abraham, Rachel, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, Ruth and Boaz.

I have some of you already come to me and attempt to tell me what you think is the best love story.

Some of you have said your own love story.

So we're going to be talking about romance today.

I want to tell you something right off the bat.

I don't want to come here as if I'm some kind of sage on dating and marriage.

But I do want to share with you what I believe is some things that are reasonable that are scriptural, biblical and spiritual and good for us to understand amen I do want to share with you there was actually this 1 time is about 3 years ago I'm somebody calls me up and says hey I'm there's this guy who's been hanging out with me.

And so I said to her, I said, this is what I want you to do.

I want you, next time he wants to spend time with you, to tell him no.

Just like, you just tell him, no, thank you.

And then she's like, okay, what's the reason?

I'm like, trust me, you'll understand why.

He came by and he's like, hey, let's hang out.

And she just walked off and did what she was doing.

Then he came by again and he's like, hey, I'm going to go biking, do you want to join us?

And she went on to do what she was doing.

So he calls me up and he's like, hey, I'm interested in this girl.

He's like, yeah, I've been hanging out with her.

And I said, this is what I want you to do.

When she says no again, I said, I want you to say to her, hey, can we sit down and talk?

And I want you just to be just right out there and just say you're interested in her, and you'd like to know more and spend some time with her.

And she's like, Anil, this is what happened.

I told him no, and he told me, hey, he sat down with me, and he's like, hey, let's talk, let's spend time together.

And I said, tell him you will not give him an answer right now.

And then he calls me up a week later and he's, this is what happened, true story, and he's like, hey Anel, he's like I did what you asked me to do and she told me just to wait a week and I'm like, don't worry about it man.

And you know what I felt at the end of this, by the way, they end up dating, they got married, praise the Lord.

And I felt like I was dating myself the whole time.

I thought, what advice would I give to Anel?

A male Anel and then a female Anel, right?

Anyways, so today we're going to be talking about romance.

We're going to be very practical and we're going to talk about different things.

So right off before we start the actual presentation, I want to ask you a question.

My brother-in-law has an Indian name as well.

And here's the question I want to ask you.

What do you think is the most important trait that should be in another person that you potentially want to date or marry 1 day?

She has to be spiritual, she has to love the Lord, and she has to be a Seventh-day Adventist.

So besides that, you're just like, okay, they've got to have this trait.

All right, we've got some hands over there.

Sodom and Sexuality: God Created Sex!

I'm excited about presenting these messages.

I do want to say that none of these messages, by the way, are meant to be fully exhaustive.

I like doing seminars in which that sort of provokes new thinking and opens up sort of a greater light on the situation or understanding.

But you got a million questions after each 1 of these seminars.

I want you to think through things and I want you to feel like, man, I know what I believe in.

I can see the big picture of God in regards to this.

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer, then we'll jump into the message right away.

Father in heaven, we just thank you so much again for grace and mercy.

Thank you for the love that draws us to you.

We pray and ask that you would bless us with wisdom and understanding.

And God, as we grapple with this issue, we pray that your Word would speak.

Father in heaven, we want to tread upon this ground with humility and just the understanding, God, that Your ways are always greater than our ways.

The name of the sermon is called Sodom and Sexuality.

Today we're going to be talking about, guess what?

But it's sort of indicative, and that was actually a test, it's sort of indicative of our inability to want to actually express maybe a desire to learn about this subject or to understand more.

So whenever I say we're going to be talking about?

Still, you seem to be some apprehension here.

Hopefully by the end of this, that when I say God, we're going to be talking about?

Sex, alright that's a little too much I want some part of it.

Anyways but we're going to be talking about the beautiful biblical picture of sex.

1 of the degrees I have actually is a political science degree.

When I was pastoring, I was doing some campus ministry at a nearby college and university and I realized that I had to take a class to actually do the to do a public campus ministry.

So I took a class and then I realized I wasn't too far away from an AA.

I already had a bachelor's but I thought hey another AA I might as well work on that.

And so I finished up an AA in language and rationality.

I thought, wait a minute, why stop there?

And so I took another class and transferred to the nearby university and I finished up a political science degree.

1 of the classes that I had to take was a class on international relations.

And I never forgot 1 morning I woke up and I was studying out the book of Daniel.

And I came across something amazing in the spirit of prophecy where Ellen White talks about that it's extremely important to study the rise and fall of nations.

And you can see this bear out in the book of Daniel.

And I thought, wow, to study up the rise and fall of societies and nations is also meant to be a study for eternity as well.

When we, you know, millions of years in the future, we will still review some of the lessons and experiences of our world today.

That very morning when I thought about that, when I was excited about that, I went to class, and there right out of the blue, the teacher that very morning in international relations class said, hey, it's really interesting.

There are actually politicians and presidents who will put together committees on the rise and fall of nations.

So I started making a study of what are the factors that bring about the rise and fall of a nation.

I came across a study of a book by, on the book called Sex and Culture by J.D.

He examines data from 86 societies, And somebody's giant head is blocking the, your head is not giant by the way, it's a nice head.

Udman examines the data from 86 societies and civilizations to see if there's, notice this, A relationship between sexual freedom and the flourishing of cultures.

In other words, as sexuality becomes more open and something that has this sort of creative license and experimentation, they found that it affected the rise and fall of nations.

What makes the book especially interesting is that we in the West underwent a sexual revolution in the late 1960s, 70s, and 80s and now in a position to test the conclusions, he arrived out more than years earlier.

He discovered that with boring monotony, the results were this.

Civilizations with more sexual restraint ascended and flourished and less restrained civilizations became inner or dead.

86 nations were studied in regard to this.

Number 2, when the thriving nations or civilizations adopted looser sexual practices, it took about 3 generations, a hundred years before they became a dead culture, meaning no longer flourishing.

Number 3, the 2 greatest markers of loss of sexual restraint were the abandonment of prenuptial chastity, sex before marriage, and modified monogamy rampant divorce.

There's a very strong correlation between sexuality and the prosperity of a nation.

Continues, in summary, the author says this, God's moral laws are not simply a bunch of arbitrary rules given to restrict mankind's freedom.

Instead, they are like operating instructions designed to spare people from suffering while maximizing human flourishing.

Unwin also discovered that when a highly developed culture undergoes an increase in sexual freedom, notice this, a collapse of that culture falls within 3 generations.

The historical data reveals this pattern with monotonous regularity.

In other words, it happens every single time.

Every single time the pattern is clear, it cannot be denied.

Here's what other commentators said about his book.

In human records there is no instance of society retaining its energy, its vitality, its prosperity after a complete new generation has inherited notice this, a tradition which does not insist on pre-nuptial and post-nuptial continents.

Unwin is correct in his assessment of society, this is mind-blowing right here, This present generation in the Westernist world may be the last 1.

Build Your House: How to Die Like Abraham

This message was presented at the GYC conference by many or by few in Louisville, Kentucky.

For other resources like this, visit us online at GYCweb.org.

I'm like, I must be the only 1 feeling sleepy.

I was like, as soon as I was done with lunch, I went into the evangelism room.

I was like, I'm just gonna take a quick nap.

And then all of a sudden I was getting a call.

But we will pray for the Spirit of God to be here.

Believe it or not, but it happened to me.

Are there like crazy, you know, people around?

I have a weapon around my bed because it is a weapon that God has given to me.

I actually had to teach a Bible class 1 time.

I had to go about an hour away to teach a Bible class to a program called Team Bible Academy program, teach them how to study the Word, how to love the Word of God, how to go deep into the Scriptures, how to have a devotional experience with God.

And the very morning I was to take off, I was thinking to myself, man, it would be amazing if I had this like sermon illustration in the form of a sword.

And the reason I thought about this is because I had a friend who was really into Japanese history and he told me about this story of samurai who before going into battle would spend time, you know, meditating on their sword, studying out every detail of their sword, understanding the weapon that was before them.

And so I thought, man, if I just had a sword, this is going to be an amazing illustration.

So I went on to Craigslist, and it was about like 8 a.m.

I was trying to call people and I was like, hey, I need a sword, I need a sword, I need a sword.

And some people who answered were like, yeah, I got a sword.

I thought, that's too expensive a sermon illustration for me so I thought forget this forget this idea of a sword I'm just gonna go to the office pick up a couple books from the church and then head over an hour away I get to the church it was Sunday morning at this time, and I was picking up a couple books when all of a sudden I get this like knock on the door and I'm like who's here Sunday morning it's a Seventh-day Adventist Church we don't rent out the church to anybody.

I opened up the office door and it was the school janitor that's connected to, school's connected to the church.

And he's like, hey, the alarm went off at the school and I was just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And while I was talking to him, all of a sudden I looked down And in his hand he was holding a sword.

And while we were talking, all of a sudden I stopped talking and I looked at him and I'm like, what are you doing with this sword?

It was in 1 of the old buildings that no 1 has been to in our school.

It had Japanese writing all along the sword.

And I got it translated, it's kind of a loose translation, but it says these words, God is with the man who is full of ambition and honor.

I mean, how many people can say the Lord gave them a weapon?

Like I plan to sanctimoniously give it to my son under a waterfall 1 day.

But, anyways, it's just a symbol of just the Word of God.

And when I shared it with all those teenagers, their minds were blown away.

And then I said to them, but you want to know something?

There is a weapon far more powerful than any man-made weapon, and that is the Word of God.

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer and let's jump into this message.

Father in heaven, we just thank You so much again for the Word that speaks life.

We thank You for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

God, we come humbly asking for Your blessing, encouragement, guidance, direction, and Lord, most of all, that we would see Jesus.

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Series

Abraham, Apologetics, and the Big Ideas of Scripture

Abraham and the Heathen: Does God Actually Listen to the Prayers of Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims?

Transcript

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Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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#Evangelism- Part 1

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A Heart Reaching For Hearts

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Sound Doctrine