Go Light Your World

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ASI Southwest

Plenary Sessions

Steve Wohlberg

666 Part 1

Dear Father in Heaven, Father, thank you so much for this weekend.

There's a lot of preparation that's gone on in this weekend.

Thank you for the students at Jefferson Academy who sang, and the people that work with these students.

Thank you for everybody that's had a part in making this weekend possible, preparing food and the broadcasting and so many details that have gone on behind the scenes.

And thank you that it's here, it's now here, we are here.

And thank you Lord that we prayed and now the computer works and the technology works.

We pray for the Holy Spirit to be here, dear God.

We can't be blessed just by trying to create a blessing.

We need the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to enter this room where we are and to help us to understand the subject.

And because of technology, there are many probably that are watching online right now, the live stream, and who knows where these messages will go.

And we just pray that you will help this to be a ripple effect that goes out around the world.

Well, the theme of this weekend, as you know, is Go Light Your World.

And so I want to tie in prophecy to light, to shedding and spreading the light.

Peter wrote this, he said, we have also a more sure word of what?

I've been a Christian for just about 43 years.

And for 43 years, I've not only been reading the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, learning more about Jesus, but I've also been studying prophecy.

And I've been deeply impressed that that prophecy is sure.

It's more sure even than the ground that we walk on.

I grew up in Southern California and I've been in many earthquakes.

I'm curious, how many of you have ever been in an earthquake?

Yeah, there's a lot of earthquakes that hit California.

We're right, at least where I lived, near the San Andreas Fault.

And I remember 1971, there was a big earthquake in Los Angeles.

In 1994, there was the Northridge earthquake.

I was in the area when that earthquake hit.

And earthquakes are happening around the world.

There's going to be more earthquakes in the days ahead.

And it's scary when the earthquakes and the ground that you're walking on begins to shake.

There's nothing that's sure in this world that's human or that's earthly.

But God has given us something sure, something we can rely on, something that we can depend on, That we can build our lives on.

And this verse tells us that part of that Word is the sure Word of prophecy.

Prophecy are predictions of things that are coming, things that have happened in the past, things that are happening now, and things that are going to be happening in the days ahead.

And I'm a firm believer in the sure word of prophecy.

And that's what we're gonna be studying about this weekend when we talk about 666, because this is all part of prophecy.

And then Peter continues and says, "'Whereto you do well, you do well that you take heed.'" In other words, it is a good thing for you.

It's good for you if you will listen and take heed to the sure word of prophecy, right?

It's good for us, just like exercise is good for us.

So it is good for us to take heed to the sure word of prophecy.

Prophecy is a light that shines in a dark place.

Somebody said that in a vision she was taken up into heaven and she saw the New Jerusalem and she saw Jesus and she had a you know an encounter with the Lord And then when she came back down to this world, she said, it's so dark down here.

And the theme of this whole event is called Go Light Your World.

And 1 of the ways that we can light the world is by sharing the Word of God, sharing Jesus Christ, and that includes sharing the sure Word of prophecy which is a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn, which is the big day, the great day, the glorious day.

And then it says, and the day star, some Bibles say the morning star, arise in your hearts.

In Revelation chapter 22, he said, I am the bright and the morning star.

So when you look at this verse, it's really telling us that the sure word of prophecy shines a light in a dark place, and that light is to shine in our hearts, and that is going to lead to the day star, to the morning star, to Jesus Christ, rising up in our hearts.

So prophecy is really centered in Christ.

Some people say, Well, we don't need to study prophecy, let's just study about Jesus.

And I believe that books like this 1, the 666 book and other good literature, that as we share these things with other people, we are lighting our world.

We are sharing the sure word of prophecy that is a light in this dark world.

So with that introduction, let's go to Revelation chapter 13, verse 18.

Revelation 13, 18, and I'm curious how many of you have ever really fought significantly and done some homework on the number 666.

Looks like a lot of room for more people to learn, right?

I tell you, this is a powerful subject and I'll show you that and I'll prove that to you by just showing you 1 verse.

This is the last verse in chapter 13, which is a mighty chapter.

It's about a beast that rises from the sea, and then a beast that rises from the earth, and then both beasts working together to enforce the mark of the beast.

And when you get to the very end, you have the last verse in verse 18 that says, here is, and what's that next word?

Let him who has understanding, let him count, some Bibles say calculate, the number of the beast.

And his number is, now the King James says 603 score, which a score is 20, so 3 score is 60.

600, 60, and 6, what you see on the screen here is from the new King James, and it simply says his number is 666.

Now I tell you, there's a lot of information packed into that verse.

666 Part 2

It's good to be here, good to be back in Texas.

The big state of Texas, beautiful state of Texas.

Last night I mentioned that my wife and I, right after we were married, we lived about 10 minutes from here and met a lot of people that I see here and just remember it very fondly.

We have just a lot of good times and the Lord has just been so good to my family, to us and to you and it's just great to be here back at ASI.

The state that I grew up in, I don't claim anymore.

I was really touched by that slide up there, that the previous slide, 555 and then 666.

And it was said that, you know, when you meet the needs of people then they're ready for spiritual information and that's good solid counsel.

We definitely want to help people to know Jesus.

I'm hoping that this weekend is also gonna help you spiritually.

I've been convicted that the Lord wants me to talk about this and to share about it.

And I guess before we pray, I'll tell you a little story.

Goes way back years ago when I was a little boy, or at least, I don't know how old I was, 14 or 15 years old.

My family had a cousin and his wife that lived on the, actually they had a house on the island of Catalina.

I don't know if any of you have been to Catalina off the coast of California?

In Idaho, you have to kind of say that under your breath.

Tell people where you're from because so many people are moving up there from California.

We actually moved in, I don't think it was 2008, out of California into North Idaho and I read a some statistic that said that there was a hundred and 44000 people that moved out of California that year and I thought wow praise the Lord we're part of the hundred 44000.

So anyway Catalina Island is just off the coast of California.

And when I was a boy, we had some cousins that had a house out there, kind of a summer house.

And the man's name was Bob and his wife's name was Joy.

And so he also had a boat and he called it Bob's Joy.

And I thought great name for a boat after the husband and the wife.

And they used to take us, my brother and me, when we were just little young kids, they used to take us water skiing right off the coast of Catalina being pulled by Bob's Joy.

And if any of you have ever been water skiing, you know that water skiers, they're on the surface of the water, that's what they do.

And then there's another group of people that go down under the water and those are the divers, the deep-sea divers.

And as I thought about this whole topic of 666, I think that's a good illustration that most people have no idea what 666 is all about.

They've never read the book of Revelation.

And even those who do read Revelation, many times they just skim the top of the book just like a water skier.

And then there's other groups, there's the deep sea divers that go down under the water and they look around and they see the fish and they, you know, they get some real depth.

And I've concluded from my study of the book of Revelation that it's deep.

And this evening, this is part 2, and I'm gonna go into, I'm gonna share a lot of information with you, and really, but the real focus of this weekend is going to be part 3.

So if there was, you know, you don't want to miss tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to go deep, deep, deep, deep, and it's going to end up going right inside your heart and right inside my heart.

And that's what this topic really is all about.

I've written a book on this called The 666 Beast Identified, What It Means to You and to Me.

And so as we are Entering the Sabbath hours, the sun is going down, or I can still see some sunlight out there, but we're entering the Sabbath soon.

Let's pray together that the Lord will really bless us and help us to understand some deep truths that are in the Word of God.

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for this weekend.

Thank you for all the people that have worked so hard to make this possible.

Thank you for the music we've heard and the testimonies and for every person that's here.

Lord help us to to realize that it is a great privilege just to even be alive in these final days of history.

We are being protected by holy angels every minute of every day or we would be dead.

Thank you Lord for protecting us and as we get into part 2 of this this series that I'm doing on 666 we pray that the Spirit of God will Impress us and help us as we go step by step by step to eventually realize some of the big things that are happening in this world and Above all what needs to happen in our lives To prepare for the coming of Jesus Please bless us now we pray in Jesus name.

The main Bible verse that we looked at last night, we're going to look at it again tonight, we're going to look at it again tomorrow, we've been going deep, deep, deep, deep into this verse, is right there on the screen.

Let him who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man and his number is 660 and 6.

Now for the benefit of those who were not here last night, I think most of you were here, but some of you might not.

I'm just going to go through this quickly, just a quick review of 10 facts that we find in the book of Revelation that ties in with 666.

Number 1, we learned that this is a Bible topic.

Number 2, the verse that I just read on the screen is at the end of Revelation chapter 13, which is the… 1 of the greatest chapters in the book of Revelation that takes you right down to the closing hours of history, when the mark of the beast is finally going to be enforced.

The mark of the beast is enforced in Revelation 13, verses 16 and 17, and then verse 18 talks about this mysterious, strange number, 666.

Point number 3, as we've read, God urges us and calls us to have wisdom and understanding about this topic.

And I don't believe that this means that he's expecting us to be super smart, you know, super intelligent.

He wants us to have wisdom that comes from Him.

And the wisdom that comes from Him is in the Bible.

So the closer we connect with the Word, the more wisdom we're going to have.

Point number 4 that we have to count and calculate to arrive at this number we read that verse 18.

Point number 5 it is also called the number of the beast which is the beast of Revelation 13.

It's the beast that's described in that chapter.

Point number 6, 666 is also the number of a man.

Number 7, the text says 660 and 6, not 3 sixes in a row.

Point number 8, it is also the number of his name, which verse 1 says is a blasphemous name, or a name of blasphemy.

So we're looking for a name that is blasphemous and that calculates out to 666.

We also read point number 9, that a name can be a title in the book of Revelation.

Name is used synonymously with title, and I showed you that in Revelation 19 where Jesus comes on the white horse and his name is called the Word of God in verse 13 and in verse 16 his name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords So a name can also be a title.

Point number 9, or point number 10, that we must overcome.

Revelation 15.2 says God wants us to be among his people who will eventually stand upon the sea of glass and that overcome the beast, his image, his mark and the number of his name.

And I mentioned last night that the power is in the list.

Philip Baptiste

Scott Griswold

Sean Harris

Oleg Lotca

Jose Rosado

Sabbath School

As we get into our topic for today, I would like to have our panel members introduce themselves.

And so I'd like you to just share your name, what you do, and where you're from.

Let's start at the end and we'll come all the way down.

Awesome, my name is Oleg and I'm coming from Central California and I work for Streams of Light International and also for Central California Conference.

My name is Jose Rosado, and I'm a local internal medicine and geriatric medicine physician at Best Way Clinic of Burleson.

I'm also the director of White Horse Media.

And I am with ASAP Ministries with the Reach the World Next Door project centered down in Houston.

Awesome and my name is Pastor Philip Batiste and I serve as a secretary treasurer and departmental director for ASI for the North American division of Seventh-day Adventist Church and it's a pleasure to be here.

I'm from Columbia, Maryland And it's a pleasure to be here.

And it's a pleasure to be here with you all today.

If you've been having a good time at this ASI convention, can we say amen?

Now today, just before we get started and jump into our panel discussion, I want to just say that it's always a challenge when you have a panel of mostly pastors.

This is pretty much all pastors except for our doctor, which I know is pretty much almost like a pastor too in terms of his preaching.

So we want to just encourage us as panelists today to, you know, we have a sermon that we're looking forward to later, and so let's not preach any sermons and I like to say let's not get into any philosophical argumentations and epistemological circle occlusions but let's focus on the topic at hand.

So our topic for today is sharing your faith in the end times.

So I actually just have 4 questions that I'm going to be asking our panel, and after the 4 questions, then we're going to open it up to the audience, to you, to ask questions.

So as we begin, you can even be thinking now of what questions you may have to ask our panel as we jump into our discussion for today.

Now, before we begin, I'd like us to pray.

And so I'd like to ask Pastor Scott, would you open us up with prayer this morning?

Father in heaven, our time is well past the coming of Jesus as it ought to be.

You are waiting on us, not we waiting on you.

And so today we come here with humble hearts, with confessing hearts, saying, Lord, please, please do the work inside of us so that you can finish the work in this world.

Show us the things we need to know this morning.

May this not just be a discussion, may it be a heart-changing, life-changing event for all of us, where we are more filled with the Spirit, where we are more clear on the strategies that you have for finishing the work, and where we love you more and are willing to go and even die for you, but especially to just live for you moment by moment, day by day.

Take our words, take our thoughts, and just rule this time that we have together and give us your words that we might glorify you and love you better and see Jesus face to face in our lifetime.

So our topic for today is sharing your faith in the end times, sharing your faith in the end times.

This is a very, very, very important topic and there's 2 aspects to this topic.

And number 2, the idea that we are living in the toes, in the very toenails, actually, of time, right?

Now let's say it differently, Jesus is coming soon.

We're living in the end of time and so as we think about this, I want to begin with our first question on really sharing your faith because we've got to establish first that foundation of sharing our faith and then move to the end time.

So you know this is ASI and our motto at ASI is sharing Christ in the marketplace.

So since that is our motto, our motto is sharing Christ in the marketplace, why is it important for us to be sharing our faith and to be sharing Christ in the marketplace?

I believe your life, my life, if we are here, it has been touched and changed by Jesus.

And when our life is touched by Jesus and transformed, you experience a different life.

I mean I have experienced my previous life of doing all the miserable things without God and when I accepted Jesus and I have seen how good life is with God.

But the perspective and the hope is just so nice that it doesn't matter what happens in the world.

In my life, in my family, there is joy and peace.

I want everybody to experience that joy and peace and not only that.

Us as Adventists, we also have a foresight.

God has given us prophecies and we know exactly what's coming.

You have to be so selfish, so selfish to experience something so good and not to share it with others.

Yes, I can think of several reasons why it is important to share Christ.

We know we have a life or death message at Seventh-day Adventist, and if we truly believe that, then withholding that message from others is truly something that we need to be thinking about seriously, the implications of that.

But also, we need to remember that as we share Christ, that will not only benefit those who receive that message, but it will actually transform us.

And if we want a vibrant experience with Jesus, then the sharing component has to be there.

I want to just pick up the part about in the marketplace.

You know, if you meet a pastor and he starts sharing with you about God, it's like, okay, that's his job.

And, you know, and so people just kind of write that part off.

But when they meet a doctor, when they meet a businessman, businessperson, whoever, who is just sharing out of their heart, who is just sharing because they love Jesus, because it's a part of their life, or who lives it in such a way they can see it.

And so that's why God has said pastors, teachers, evangelists, we are to be equipping the lay people for the work of ministry.

Because that's where people are at, and that's where they are most open is with their co-worker, with their boss, with who they're around.

I love what you just said, and the idea that it comes naturally.

People sometimes look at us as pastors and they're like, well, that's what you do.

But when an ordinary, you know, person does it, it's more natural.

666 Part 3

This event that I've been building up to, part 3, Decoding 666, we have a brand new book, the 666 Beast Identified, what it means to you.

We've got a lot of these in the back, we've actually got cases of them, the price is very just way down, just a few dollars.

And we're here to share the book, what's in the book, what's in Revelation, especially dealing with the closing scenes of this world's history.

I don't believe we're going to be here for a whole lot longer.

I think the day is coming sooner than we think when we are actually going to not go to any more ASI conventions.

We're going to look up and we're going to see Jesus come in the clouds.

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Series

Plenary Sessions

666 Part 1

Transcript

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Parent Conference

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Recorded

Parts

666 Part 1

1h 8m

666 Part 2

1h 51m

Sabbath School

1h 34m

666 Part 3

1h 50m

Sound Doctrine