GYC Conference 2023: But If Not

<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)

I Know Something You Don't Know

Cody Francis

29 Failed Predictions from Adventists in 2008

Joe Reeves

Adventism According to CNN and Bill Maher

Sunday Law Rumor and Reality

Evil Surmising and Suspicion in the Church

Peter Chung

Mark Howard

Amy Ratsara

The Lure of Conspiracies Q&A Panel

Alright, if we can find our seats, we will begin our last seminar presentation of the day.

This 1 on evil surmising and suspicion in the church.

Now, you know, as I was listening to Pastor Cody there, I thought, it's too bad I'm not more sensational.

If I would have titled this seminar Jesuits in the Church, I'm sure the room would be packed right now, right?

But we'll be looking at some, we've been talking a lot about what we have to say about us, developments and situations in the government, and for our last session today we're talking about situations in the church.

And this topic is very dear to my heart because it matters a lot to Jesus.

When you just listen to how we talk about each other in the church sometimes, the evil surmising, the suspicion, the speculation, the venomous talk, the toxic dialogue, it really gets amped up.

And when you listen to the tone of it, Sometimes it's hard to tell a difference between the tone in the church and the tone in the world.

And there should be a big difference, shouldn't there?

So that's what we're going to be talking about this afternoon.

And it makes a big difference on our spiritual journey, how we relate to the body of Christ and how we relate to leaders in the church, how we relate to those in the church that are making mistakes, and how we react.

So let's have a...well first let me show you this.

A few people walking in and then you can, this is the number for the, you can text your questions.

So I'll be moderating this panel discussion tomorrow, morning at 9.40.

So I'm meeting with my panelists this evening.

And I highly recommend, if you really want your question included, to send it now.

And we always end up getting way more questions than we can fit so if you really want your question now's a good time to text that in.

You could take a picture of that if you want that's the number to send it to for the panel discussion.

Evil surmising and suspicion in the church.

When my 6 year old son, Hudson, saw this picture here, he said, he's trying to figure out if the news is right.

And I looked at that, yeah, he is trying to figure out if the news is right.

So we're gonna be unpacking some things that are very important for the spiritual condition of our personal journeys and our church.

And some things that make me very concerned about our spiritual condition.

If we were to do a health check on it, some things that we're talking about in this presentation are very alarming or something that we really need to seek for God to help us in.

So let's bow our heads as we begin as I kneel, if you'll seek the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you that we can be here this afternoon.

And for this final seminar session today, I pray that your spirit would hover in this room and brood over our hearts and minds and call to us.

And the attendees and participants here this afternoon will even hear words from you beyond what I say.

And we will rise up and follow where you lead.

The Grand Coulee Dam backs up the Columbia River, which is the river that you landed close to if you landed in the Portland Airport for GYC.

And it backs up the Columbia River for 150 miles.

It's a mile and a half wide in some places.

Millions of people visit there in the summer for water recreation and being in the mountains.

What would happen if the Grand Coulee Dam, if somebody shot the Grand Coulee Dam with a torpedo?

There would be a wall of water that would come down the Columbia River if that dam broke all of a sudden.

The Portland Airport would be wiped out, and very likely this convention center would also be flooded and it would do a lot of damage all throughout the Columbia Basin.

I wonder sometimes if this lake, if this water represents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of the Holy Spirit, what is it that's damning it up?

What is it that is preventing the Holy Spirit from being poured out and the latter rain to fall?

Latter rain power as we are promised and as we expect.

Well, there's 1 prayer in the Bible that unlocks the key to this question.

It's the prayer that follows Jesus discourse when for 3 chapters, he's talking about the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15 and 16.

He's in earnest that with these last hours with his disciples that this dam would be broke and that the Holy Spirit be unleashed in Pentecostal power so that they could continue the work that he began.

This could not happen unless the dam was broke, which Jesus prayed for in John 17 20 to 23.

When he says, I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they all may be 1 as you father are in me and I in you that they also may be 1 in us that the world may believe that you sent me now what is it that will cause the world to believe it's if these rogue rugged disciples that are the most unlikely disciples to ever be united and ever love 1 another, if the world could see that the miracle of love could hold these disciples then that would be evidence to the world that these are Jesus' disciples and that they have Jesus' message.

The world is looking for a place such as the church Where the things that are dividing people in the world will not divide people in the church.

Now Jesus, when he called his disciples, he did not call the ones that would likely stick together.

He called disciples from all kinds of political, economic, cultural backgrounds.

And so this is a very unlikely prayer when Jesus continues, And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be 1 just as we are 1 I and them you and me that they may be perfect in 1 and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved me as you have loved me have loved them as you have loved me Is this prayer going to be answered again, yes or no?

This prayer is going to be answered again.

Jesus' final prayer, the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in the Bible.

On Jesus' discipleship team there was all kinds of thorny relationships.

I mean you got Simon the Zealot on 1 side, the ultra-nationalist, the protester, the 1 who is defending for the honor of Israel.

And most of the disciples were closer to him politically.

Go read Desire of Ages on the call of Matthew.

When Jesus called a globalist, a Roman collaborator, and a Jewish betrayer, the tax collector, Matthew.

The things that they love to talk about, Now how are they going to talk about it now because they have Matthew on their side.

Now if Jesus back then called people from all across the political spectrum to be his disciples, to make it harder than ever for them to stick together so that He could show His power in keeping them together.

Do you think He works any different in the world in the church today?

This is why on your church board you've got globalists and you've got nationalists and you got people of every different persuasion.

God has put us all in the church together, coming from different angles, having different interests, to see if there's something higher than politics that will unite us.

And so, you know, national honor, there's nothing that people will be quicker to die for than national honor.

I mean, look at the millions and millions and millions and millions of soldiers that have died because of national pride throughout the ages.

People will die for national pride so fast.

But Jesus says, well I'm gonna bring together ones that are at variance with their ideas to show that there's something higher than national pride.

Something that people will die for in their love for Jesus.

And there's several chapters on this in a publication we just came out.

I'm the editor for Inverse Young Adult Sabbath School Quarterly.

General Conference publishes a Sabbath school quarterly specifically designed for young adults, 18 to 35.

And it's against the rules for anybody over 18 to 35 to read these or to use them.

We do have a few Sabbath schools that break those rules, but that's okay.

But this quarter, January through March this year, is called Jesus and Liberty.

And we have several chapters on this topic of how Jesus related to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the disciples and the Romans and the Jews and all these different things.

There's a lot of instruction for us today.

And so when Jesus says in his prayer, by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for 1 another.

The world is still hungry for something higher than national pride and something higher than politics that will bring us together.

And so we have a scenario today much like that of the ancient time of the nation of Israel when there was much jostling, when the Romans were trying to create and did create a global empire, and these back and forth.

Today, here we are, And we're worried about all the things that are happening with Black Lives Matter and the global elites and MAGA Republicans and Christian nationalists.

And we're waiting for 1 of them to do something because it's going to trigger the in-time events.

But while We think that the big enemy is out there, it's this group, and we spend all of our time hating on this group, or all of our time hating on that group, all of our time blaming this group or that group.

Back to Menu

Series

I Know Something You Don't Know

Evil Surmising and Suspicion in the Church

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Spiritual Formation, Ellen G. White, and Daniel 11:30-36

1h 22m

The Future of Adventism: Will Our Biblical Foundation Give Way to Culture?

2. The Future of the Everlasting Gospel

1h 16m

ASI 2013 Plenary Sessions

Look a Little Higher

1h 58m

Unlock Revelation

16. US in Bible Prophecy

1h 14m

Music and Worship: The Chief Battleground of Satan, Part 2

1h

1 John: The Church of the Last Hour

04 Studies in 1 John: The Church of the Last Hour

59m

ECYC 2011 Plenary Meetings

Possessing the Land: The Empowerment of Destiny

49m

The Book of Revelation

03 And There are Seven Kings

1h

0 + 0 = 0

57m

God is Love?

19-The Mark of the Beast

1h

Sound Doctrine