WYC 2010:  In His Image

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GYC West

WYC 2010: Morning Devotions

Alan Parker

The Sand Reveals Its Secrets

Father God, we want to thank you for the privilege of meeting in your presence again.

We pray that you will pour out your Holy Spirit during the time of WIC.

May you do more than simply arouse our emotions, but may you transform our lives.

Lord, we are praying that we will not leave here the same, but that you will give us that Holy Spirit burning in our hearts so that we go back to become a generation of young people that finish the work.

Father, please bless us now with your presence.

We pray that you be not only with us but with those who have not yet arrived.

We pray for Heidi Happe who has had a heart attack.

We pray that you will be with that family.

And Lord, we pray indeed for every person that is planning on being here, that you will give them, whether they make it here or not, that you give them an outpouring of your spirit.

Well, I must admit, I am glad to finally be here.

We had planned to come on Tuesday evening to Weimar.

And we got to the airport, and we discovered there was a thunderstorm in Atlanta.

And so that ended up delaying our flight, and there were no flights in.

Every single flight was fully booked, and we were a family of 5.

So eventually, I got a first class ticket, and I said to my wife, honey, I may have to go ahead in that first class seat, and you may have to stay behind with the 3 kids.

But praise be to God, good common sense kicked in.

And so we waited for the evening flight last night, 24 hours later.

And we were watching as there was just 0 on the board and no seats.

And then we got down to the end, and I guess some other people missed their connections.

And we got ourselves in with 5 minutes to go.

And then when we got to sitting down, we discovered that actually they had miscounted.

We had 1 seat less than what they had thought.

And so my wife just put a kid on her lap and didn't say anything.

And then they walked through and they said, Hold on, you don't have a seat here.

And she says, believe you me, I'm willing to carry the kid the whole way to be at WIC, amen?

May you take this message and use it for your glory.

Well, what I've decided to talk about is a little change of topic.

Instead of ropes of sand, we're going to deal with today, the sand reveals its secrets.

And I'd like you to turn with me to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 2.

We're going to look at 1 of the well-known heroes of the Old Testament and just draw some lessons that I believe are helpful for every young person.

Exodus chapter 2 and reading from verse 11.

1 day when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens.

And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, 1 of his people.

Verse 12, he looked this way and that and seeing no 1, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Everywhere I go, I find that young people are making choices.

Anyone here facing choices in their life?

And so when you face choices, you have choice of where to go to university, you have a choice of what person to date and eventually marry, you have a choice of what kind of career to go into, you have to choose what kind of courses you're going to take during your time there.

And as you're facing those choices, any of you ever wondered, how am I going to go about making these choices?

Well, what we want to do today is take a look at what Moses did and not repeat his example.

So we want to look at Moses and say, how can we not do what Moses did?

And so as we look at Moses, of course, he made many good choices.

But this particular choice was not the best.

And what I found is we tend to make choices without considering the consequences.

Met a lady, and she told me, you know, when I got married, I always said, if it doesn't work out, I'll just get a divorce.

And she says, now I have paid for that choice my whole entire life.

The choices you make today will determine your destiny.

They will determine how you are shaped into the image of God.

And how you make your choice will ultimately affect how God's will is accomplished in your life.

So let's take a look at what happened to Moses.

First, we have to realize that Moses knew his destiny.

We find from the book, Patriarchs and Prophets, that God had told not only Moses, but the elders of Israel, that Moses was to be the deliverer.

So imagine growing up, and everyone believes that you're going to become the president of the United States.

Like your whole family, an angel appears to your father and to the elders in the church and says, Mark will become a president, the president of the United States.

Maybe not everybody knew, But it wasn't an uncommon thing.

The people knew that Moses was to be the deliverer.

They were watching him growing up in the palace.

And Moses knows that this is going around because his mother has taught him this.

Maybe through you, ultimately, God's purpose of releasing his people will be achieved.

And so as he's beginning to think about this, as that, as God's will has been revealed to him, he begins to think that he knows what must happen.

Have you ever been in that kind of situation?

Where time after time, you've been hearing, this is what God wants.

And then you begin to think that you know how it will happen.

But sometimes when you feel like you know God's will, you also assume that you know God's method and God's timing.

And so I want to encourage you as we go throughout this weekend to really get on your knees and say, God, how do I not just fall into the same trap that Moses did?

The Four Laws of Marriage

Father God, we want to thank you again for a beautiful morning.

Thank you for the opportunity to pray together, to study together.

As we enter upon this morning, devotional Lord, we pray that that spirit of worship that was begun in the singing will continue, that you will be present here, that we will experience anew the joy of your love as it is shed abroad in our hearts.

And now be with us as we consider your plan for marriage.

I must say I feel a little more awake this morning.

Yesterday I felt like I was sleepwalking, but some of you seem like you felt that way too.

So I hope we've all had a little more sleep, although I know if you're living in a dormitory kind of situations that that can be more challenging.

This morning what we're dealing with is marriage.

Because it is my sincere prayer that 1 day, those of you who are not married will indeed get married.

And this God has given you the gift of celibacy, and most people do not claim that gift.

And so I feel that God has a plan for marriage.

And often when we get to youth retreats, we talk about dating.

But we skip a very important aspect, and that is what is marriage all about?

Because eventually, when you finish dating, what do you hope to have?

So marriage is what we're going to be dealing with this morning, and the 4 laws of marriage.

We're going to begin in Genesis 1 verse 27.

And I'm going to, this is kind of a preliminary to the fall loss, but it's foundational.

Now it's very interesting, it begins with yes God makes a man and then He goes on and He makes male and female.

And in case you haven't noticed, men and women are different.

And I once dated a young lady who was very frustrated at the fact that I was not able to understand her.

To which the response was, yes, but I've no idea which page you're on.

So I needed an index to be able to read that book.

God created us differently, and yet we will see a plan.

Now of course, it's not quite that simple.

But there are differences, and I've spoken in the past, my wife has spoken about differences of being like waffles and spaghetti.

Men are like waffles, you know, they have little boxes.

And we have these little boxes that we have.

And the Boxes, when you're working in that box, that's the only place you're working.

So when you're dealing with something, that's what you're dealing.

And I'm like, yes, honey, what do you want?

And then I have to realize, no, she's a woman.

Everything is connected in her life, much like spaghetti.

Have you ever tried to follow a piece of spaghetti all the way through a plate of spaghetti?

It doesn't work because every piece of spaghetti touches every other piece of spaghetti.

And so men and women, God created us differently because a woman's brain is hardwired to be very interconnected.

Everything is connected to everything else.

I mean, what's happening at work is connected to what's happening at home.

And what's happening at home is what's happening in your spiritual life.

And the emotions connect all these different things.

And it's like this buzzing network of wires.

And God has created us differently for a purpose.

So He can put the 2 together because it says in the image of God He created them.

Both of us reflect God's image in different ways.

And so sometimes people are a little afraid.

How can you not have, You know, why are you saying that men have to be this way and women have to be this way?

But God has created us to be uniquely male and female.

And in a world of sin we don't know how to relate to our unique maleness and femaleness.

And God wants to do something special with marriage.

Now I found Ellen White giving a marriage sermon, isn't that a wonderful thing, to her granddaughter who was getting married.

And notice what she says in her sermon to her granddaughter.

But in that identity, there must be a unity.

God wants to take different identities and blend them into a unity.

There is constantly to be a development of the faculties that God has given you that you may, Notice what she says twice, improve, improve and you may indeed be looked upon by the heavenly angels with commendation.

George Jackson

Revelation’s 411 Foundation

Father in heaven, it's good to be here on a Sabbath morning at a special meeting here of people that are committed to doing your will.

We pray that as we usher in the meetings today on your holy Sabbath day that we will all gain a blessing, that your angels will be here, that your Holy Spirit's presence will be felt here in a mighty way.

We just pray that as we contemplate of your creative power, if we contemplate about you as our creator and your creative power, may our hearts be lifted up to heavenly things.

May we be determined to serve you and be faithful to you.

Bless every participant here, each 1 of us that face struggles and the attacks of the devil, we just pray that we'll be empowered by your grace and your power to resist and stand for you.

Speak through me as we look at words of truth this morning in the scriptures and the spirit of prophecy.

And we just pray that our minds will be focused on heaven today in Jesus' name, amen.

It's a little early in the morning, but at least it's cool.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm George Jackson.

I work here at Weimar College, chair of the Health Sciences Department.

Some of you may have been in my breakout session.

For those that have been in my earlier sessions, there'll be a little bit of a review.

We've covered some of these points in the other sessions.

But I've got to admit, I don't think I've ever sung that hymn that we just sang.

Well today is a day dedicated, it appears, to creation.

And we're looking at the talks that will be occurring today.

And that's a good thing, because this is the Sabbath.

It's a good day to talk about creation on the Sabbath, the very day that commemorates and culminated, well, basically the culmination of creation and commemorates God's creative works.

And it's a time that we all need to be fortified in our minds when we face other things that want to take us away from what God has taught.

When people ask me what I believe, I like to say, well, go to Patriarchs and Prophets, read chapter 2, the creation, and read chapter 9, The Literal Week, and that's what I believe.

If you want some, if you want to protect your mind and just fill your mind with the correct perspective on things.

But then go on and read chapter 2 and chapter 9 in Patriarchs and Prophets.

And read it a number of times, because the information there is unequivocal how we got here, how God did it, and how He is our creator.

Creation is a reoccurring theme in the Bible, and We'll just hit a few of those as we look today at our short presentation.

And if you start reading the chapter, the creation, chapter 2 in Patriarchs and Prophets, this will be the first sentences that you get in.

She starts with scripture right from the beginning.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

He laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed forever.

And that's how she starts, right from the start, talking about scripture and how God is our creator.

Now, I have spent more of my life overseas in Australia.

When I was a teenager, I went to Australia.

And I thought I was never coming back, because that was my new home.

So I've spent more of my life in Australia than I have in the US.

And my wife and my children are Australians.

But I was told, and I didn't know this, that if you dial 411, it's kind of an information hotline in this country.

Well, you can dial 411 hotline in Revelation as well and find out some important information.

But let's just look at Revelation 4.10 first.

And we got this vision in heaven where it says, "...the 4 and 20 elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, " now what did they say?

"'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, ' why?

"'For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

I might just mention that I'm a biologist.

I've spent most of my career as a scientist, as a researcher, as a marine biologist.

So issues of creation are kind of close to my heart.

And I faced, of course, issues of pagan and Greek philosophies being taught to me as I was doing my learning.

So when I'm looking at creation, I'm looking at it from a perspective of a biologist.

And that was my work, has been a biologist prior to coming here to Weimar, but I'm still a marine biologist, although it's the first time in many, many years that I haven't lived near the ocean.

But I like the mountains too, so that's okay.

6 literal days, we can turn, if you have your Bibles, you can just glance through your Bible in Genesis chapter 1.

And as you glance through those, you look at your eye comes to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 5, and it says, and the evening and the morning were the first day.

And then you glance down to verse 8 and it says, the second day.

And then you get to verse 31, and it says, and God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.

So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

So Genesis can't be any clearer how God, where we came from and how it started.

But then of course we get to the seventh day, and we're commemorating that today, the culmination of creation.

Or it was all brought together at the end by the Sabbath.

And in Genesis 2, 2 and 3, it sort of says, thus, so thus, now that we've done, now that God has done all this, thus, the heavens and the earth and all the host of them, everything, were finished.

And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done.

And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done.

It's even repeating it, so you don't miss the point.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.

Because in it, he rests from all his work, which God had created and made.

The Bible keeps telling us over and over.

God rested because he created all things.

That's why we're here on this Sabbath, to worship our creator and commemorate the Sabbath, because that's what he asked us to do.

And so creation in Genesis commemorates the Sabbath.

And then as we go through the theme of the Bible, we come to the time when God hands down the 10 Commandments there on Mount Sinai.

And God tells specifically and writes it down what those 10 Commandments are to the children of Israel.

And we find that in Exodus 28 to 11, and it's in fact a reminder of what God did.

Now, We all know Exodus 28 to 11, but it's nice to read it because it makes a point.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Nicole Parker