GYC Africa 2024 Conference: ONE

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GYC Africa

Plenary

Viney Gisore

Mused and Kindled

I believe we have been blessed this far by the music and I'd like to specially welcome you all to Nairobi, Kenya.

It is a privilege to be hosting the very first GYC Africa right here at home.

I want to welcome you all to the presence of Christ Jesus, and I'd like us to invite the Holy Spirit to be amidst us.

And even as we continue settling, I have a question by a show of hand.

How many have attended a religious conference before?

A meeting, it can be small, it could be big.

I don't know about you, but Some of the most memorable moments that I have had, you know, of course food.

And I remember, you know, the good food that was served in these conferences, in these meetings.

You know, I remember the beautifully curated programs.

You know, I remember the wonderful networks, the people that I met.

And when I think about this, my heart is joyed.

You know, and I don't know if this has been your experience in the past, but, you know, I think about the number of meetings, the number of conventions I have gone to, and I pause for a moment and I think, can I really remember What was the essence of these meetings?

How many can remember at least 30% of someone they had in a recent conference?

30% of the content of a previous religious encounter?

How many can remember up to 90% of the things they had by a show of hand?

90%, like you can, if we gave you the pulpit now, you can with accuracy narrate to us what happened at that particular meeting by a show of hand.

You know, I have attended many conferences and I'm amazed by how God is able to use weak vessels to communicate a message of the time.

And today will be the beginning of yet another conference.

Today will be the start of yet another experience.

Today God is calling us to a deeper yet experience.

You know God is saying we attend conference after conference, we hear messages after messages, and we don't remember.

But yes, I have attended many conferences, but today in GYC Africa, and in the next 3 days, God is calling you and me to seek a deeper yet experience.

That enough with the amens, enough with the hallelujahs.

God is calling me and you today to have a deeper yet experience.

You know the reason we grow faint, you know the reason we often forget, it is written in Hebrews 12, verse 3, turn with me to your Bibles.

In Hebrews 12, verse 3, you know, Paul says in Hebrews 12, verse 3, that we forget, that we grow faint.

And the reason we do this is because our minds are not steadily fixed upon Jesus.

Let us read the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 3, and Paul says this, For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds." Let me read this again.

You know, Paul is telling us that Unless we consider, unless we think deeply upon the endurance of Christ Jesus, unless we fix our minds, we grow weary and we faint and the fire burns.

Today I want to tell us that unless we muse, we shall faint and be weary.

Our key text for this sermon comes from the book of Psalms chapter 39 verse 3.

Psalms chapter 39 verse 3, And David says, my heart was hot within me while I was musing.

My heart was hot within me while I was musing.

The fire burned, then spoke I with my tongue.

The title of our presentation today is, Mused, Kindled.

You know, this morning, David is telling us that unless we muse, the fire will not burn.

That unless we muse, we may not be able to speak.

Open our hearts, Lord, that we may hear and that we may see glimpses of truth that you have for us.

Place in our hands that wonderful key, then you shall unclasp us and set us free.

Lord, today we ask that you may open our ears, that we may hear voices of truth that you send clear, and while the wave notes fall on our ears, everything false will disappear.

Lord, I pray that you may open my mouth and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere.

Open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share.

Open our ears, illumine us spirit divine.

Open our hearts, illumine us Spirit Divine.

This is our prayer, make it our experience in Christ, we ask, amen.

We are reading from the book of Psalms chapter 39 verse 3 and David is saying his heart was hot within him.

That while he listened to the beautiful messages of God, the heart of David was hot within him.

You know, David is saying, as he was in the presence of Jesus, contemplating upon the things that God had revealed upon him, his heart, just like the disciples walking to a mouse, burnt within him, and he mused.

I know maybe some of us are asking, what is this muse?

Muse is a synonym for pray carefully, you know, behold, think, contemplate.

All these things are talking to us about musing.

You know, I look at Peter, and in 2 Peter 1, verse 12, read with me in your Bibles, in 2 Peter 1, verse 12, Peter is cognizant, Peter is cognizant, 2 Peter 1, verse 12, he says, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, Though you know them and be established in the present truth.

That Peter is cognizant of the fact that there is a possibility of those who know Jesus to go back.

There is a possibility of us sitting today at this GYC conference and leaving this conference empty.

Peter is cognizant and therefore he says, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance that though you know, that though these things are familiar, that though we are familiar with the present truth, Peter says he would have us continuously remember that we may be established.

In Deuteronomy 4 verse 39, we see Moses speaking to the children of Israel.

You know, he tells them to consider in their hearts.

You see, Peter is telling them, remember in your heart.

You see, Moses is telling the Israelites, you need to muse a little longer.

You know, Moses is telling the Israelites that yes, knowing the truth is not enough.

It is not enough to understand the truth.

You know, what we are told by Moses is that we need to remember, is that we need to muse more and he tells the Israelites this.

You know, when David is saying he mused and his heart was hot within him, he is saying that especially when it relates to the matters of the gospel, we need to spend a little more time in the presence of Jesus.

You know, listening to someone at this GYC conference will not kindle that fire.

You know, attending seminars at this GYC conference will not do this.

Attending after-glow sessions, It will not do this.

Eating hot vegetarian meals at our cafeteria, it will not bring the fire.

Jongimpi Papu

Why We Must Love God

If you have your Bibles, I want us to reflect on a theme we're going to be running with for the next 3 days, today, tomorrow, and on Friday.

You are aware that my take, my assignment is to look at 1 in charity, and I'll soon be giving you a title and what we're going to be doing as we reflect together.

Right about this time, I think for the next 2 or 3 days, if you have your Bibles, can you turn with me the book of Mark?

And those of you who are studying your adult summer school lesson, you know that we are looking at the book of Mark.

That's not the reason why I'm doing that, all right, but just for you as to appreciate that.

Verse 28, that's where we're going to be starting to read.

And I read here in the New King James Version and I read in your hearing, then 1 of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together, perceived that he had answered them well, and he asked him, that is he asked Jesus, which is the first commandment of all?

29, Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandment is this, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.

This is the first commandment in verse 31 and the second 1, the second like it is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than this.

And then verse 32, so the scribe said to him, well, well said teacher, We have spoken the truth for there is 1 God and there is no other but He.

And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength.

And to love one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole bent offerings and sacrifices, and I add, put together.

And what we're gonna be doing and reflecting on together, studying more than anything, reflecting, is why we must love God.

We take it for granted that just because we are in church, that we are here because we love God.

There are many reasons you could be here.

And I'm not saying those are the reasons why you are here.

I'm saying there are many reasons you could, I'm not saying why you are here, I'm not a prophet, but I'm saying there are reasons that could make you to want to come here.

If you are not married, it could be whatever.

If you have nothing to do, it could be whatever.

But I just want us to focus on something that we take for granted, that Christianity is about loving God.

And of course, if we love God, there are other things that are attached to that.

When you love God genuinely, the rest of the things that we do when we love God are just commentary.

And so I'm gonna be asking that question under our sub-theme, 1 in charity, why we must love God.

And let me give you an answer for that question right now before we start for this session.

That's the first answer I'm gonna give you.

Tomorrow I'm gonna give you another 1 and on Friday I'm going to give you another 1.

Today we are saying we love God because he?

And you could answer that question, by the way, when I say to you, why must we love God?

You could say, wrongly, of course, you could say we must love God so that he can love us.

And I know, even as I say, some of you will say, no, it sounds not true, but practically, sometimes we love God so that we can motivate him to love us.

So we go to church, We sing, we do outreach so that God can love us.

It creates all kinds of challenges when God responds to our love.

But the biblical truth is that we love God because he first loved us.

The first 1 is to love God as I've explained, is to love God so that he can love us.

And it manifests itself in different ways.

It is in theological books, it is in sermons, it is in whatever that we do, we have this, as I've explained, this desire to love him so he can love us.

And then the second problem, which we will deal with tomorrow, but I must say it now so as not to create a balance, is to expect to be loved by others.

There are people here who think that they must be loved by others.

So when they are not loved, they feel disappointed and traumatized and depressed and suicidal because somebody's supposed to love them.

And yet there's not a single text that says you must expect to be loved.

I'm just bringing it here so that we can see.

The problem number 2 is to sit under a tree, under an African tree expecting to be loved.

And so our theme is 1 in charity and in this sub-theme we are focusing on relationship.

Relationship between us and God, relationship with ourselves and relationship with our fellow man or with our neighbor.

Now I believe with all my heart that the greatest, our greatest pain does not emanate from the bad weather.

It can be inconveniencing, it can be terrible, it can be awkward.

When it rains when you don't want it to rain, when it doesn't rain, when you want it to rain, when it's too hot, when you want it to be cool, when it's too cool, when you want it to be hot.

But our greatest problems do not emanate from weather.

It doesn't even emanate from governments.

Governments can make our lives difficult.

We're struggling with a government in South Africa called the government of national unity and it's a challenge and we're praying for our government.

Our pain, our traumas come from our friends, from our relatives, from our parents, from our siblings, from our children, from our church members, from our colleagues, from God.

There are people who leave the church because they've been disappointed by God.

Somehow they read that if you believe in God you will get married at 30 or 28, so they are 36 now, they are not yet married.

So they say, God you have disappointed me, I'm dropping you.

Their relationship with God has traumatized them.

Of course, others don't drop him, they go and look for another church that promises and guarantees that they will get certain blessings that God is supposed to give.

So we have institutions and it's growing, depression, suicidal by many of our young people.

And this, in most cases, and I'm not a doctor, in most cases it is caused by our failure to deal with the way people treat us.

I think we need to get to a point where we are equipped to deal with people who are terrible.

It's like everybody, I don't know, I'm getting old, but it's like everybody expects to be loved.

So when you don't love me, I'm traumatized.

I need to go see a doctor, I must go for counseling.

Because somebody's supposed to love me, doesn't love me.

And the reason you do that is when people love you, whom you expect to do so, you don't even appreciate that because you think they're supposed to do that.

Some people leave church because you didn't greet them.

You didn't greet me, you didn't greet me, I'm leaving.

Others are in the hospital because they're supposed to be sick, but then they're sitting there, they've got a list of people who visit them.

He doesn't want to be discharged until so-and-so comes.

Instead of focusing on your illness, you're focusing on who comes to visit you.

Steven Conway

My Testimony

Bow your heads with me Father Help your people In Jesus name.

We began with a question on yesterday How does God get people who are so very different to sing 1 song together?

Yesterday we suggested we experience oneness through Scripture, the Word of God, reading and studying, using the correct interpretive lenses, we meet in surrender at the feet of Jesus as 1 people.

Today, the second thing that I would like to share with you as to how we can experience being 1 comes in the form of testimony.

How can God get so many people from different corners of the world to be 1?

I want us to take a look at a familiar passage of scripture.

If you have your Bibles, you can join me there.

The Bible says, beginning with verse 1, then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him.

And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

So he spoke this parable to them saying, would man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses 1 of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the 1 which is lost until he finds it.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep, which was lost.

I say to you that likewise, there will be more joy in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

Or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses 1 coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it.

And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 sinner who repents.

Then he said a certain man had 2 sons and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.

So he divided to them his livelihood, and not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want.

Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no 1 gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, He said, how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare and I perished with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, father I have sinned against heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry For this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found and they began to be merry.

Now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

So he called 1 of the servants and asked what these things meant.

And he said to him, your brother has come and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.

Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

So he answered and said to his father, lo these many years I've been serving you.

I never transgressed your commandment at any time and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make Mary with my friends but as soon as this son of yours came who has devoured your livelihood with harlots you killed the fatted calf for him?

And he said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found.

You know, I love the word of God and I love especially the teachings of Jesus.

If the teachings of Jesus don't make you uncomfortable, then I would suggest you are really not reading the teachings of Jesus.

Or perhaps you're not understanding the teachings of Jesus.

I love Jesus's way of setting up his hearers.

He understands us better than we understand ourselves.

He understands when our defense mechanisms are activated And so Jesus, like the master storyteller that he is, navigates through all of the defenses of his hearers and his target is the heart.

In the first parable, everyone said amen.

In the second parable everyone said amen.

But this third parable there was something that was uncomfortable about it.

There was something that made all of the listeners, all of the hearers, feel some kind of way.

Not only does the father honor the younger son, but he seemingly dishonors the elder son, the 1 who has done everything right, The 1 who has seemingly sacrificed and stayed home with mom and dad.

In order for us to get the gist of what Jesus is getting at here, we have to understand why he shares the parables.

We read it in the first verses, "'Then all the tax collectors and the sinners "'drew near to him to hear him, "'and the Pharisees and scribes complained, "'saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them.

The religious, the most religious, apparently religious that is, amongst them were uncomfortable with the idea that Jesus would receive sinners.

Let me ask you today, are you uncomfortable with the idea that Jesus received sinners?

We're here because we love the message, we love the Lord, and we want to see the work of God finished here on this earth.

No, no, no, I'm comfortable with God receiving sinners.

What if they don't do all the stuff you do?

What if they don't see things the way you see things?

What if they've done things, listen to me friends, that make you uncomfortable socializing with them?

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