ECYC 2012

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Eastern Canada Youth Conference

ECYC 2012 Seminar: Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones

Jonathan Zita

Christ’s Method

Our Heavenly Father, we ask your Holy Spirit to be in our midst.

Father, we cannot do any good things without you, but with you, all things are possible.

And so we ask, O Lord, that you may create in us a clean heart, renew in us a right spirit.

As we share a little bit with each other on some principles, how to reach the community, please Father, teach us how to be more effective instruments for you.

The program says, 1 of the, oh, the program says Canvassing 101, but we change it to reaching your community for Christ.

Because I was telling them, well, if I'm just gonna train on canvassing, but we're not gonna go and canvas, then what's the point, right?

But the problem is that they weren't able to modify it on this.

So that's why there's not a lot of people.

So, but if you were coming for canvassing, I'm sorry.

But yeah, So that's why I said, well, OK, there'll be less people.

So I won't have to be so nervous or whatever when I talk with you.

And when I think of reaching the community, I guess I could use this Bible.

You know, lately I've been reading a little bit about a book called Acts for Christ by Ellen White, and reading the book Acts for Christ in the Bible.

And because in my mind it's like, that's like the top of Christian experience.

What they accomplished, I'm thinking that's kind of like what we want to get to, where I start speaking in Spanish, and I don't even know Spanish, because the Holy Spirit gives me power or people start being healed, the gospel is being preached, you know, that's, I'm thinking, wow, this is what I'd like, I'm thinking we need to aim for.

So I guess lately I've been reading a lot on how, How do I get to that point?

Meaning, how did these people get to that point where they were so filled with the Spirit and they were able to do great things for God, they're able to tell a guy, you lied and he falls dead.

Not that I want to kill anyone, but you know, it's just power.

And it's not power for me, but you're thinking, I want to do things for God.

I believe that the greatest purpose is to serve God.

You know, I think that's where we find the greatest fulfillment.

I think that's what we were created for, to serve others.

And even people that don't believe in God, they find some kind of fulfillment in that.

You know, by helping the poor, by donating, especially we see it at Christmas time, people are happy.

And I think it's not just because it's Christmas.

I think because people are giving, and that just reacts on us.

It's more blessed to give than to receive.

And I think the same applies for giving your time, giving your talents, your service.

Unfortunately, January 1 comes, and everything comes back to normal, right?

But I've been studying, I said, and I think it's a good thing to study if you have time, read the books Acts of the Apostle and to find out, look, what are the steps that these people took to get to the point where they were so surrendered to God, it's like I could hear God's voice talking to me, like Philip, and say, okay Philip, I want you to get up and to go down this road and I want you to, or like, is it Barnabas?

The 1 that Paul was blind, and then God just spoke to 1 of the guys and says, go and, I forget his name.

And then when he did, the scales fell out, and then Saul became Paul, right?

So I think sometimes it's like if I want to be a good basketball player, I study basketball techniques and whatever.

I think, but for some reason, we don't seem to transfer that to spiritual things.

We just think, well, I guess this guy's just naturally more spiritual, so that's his thing, and I'm not.

And I don't think that's the case, because all of the 120 people on the day of Pentecost, they received the Holy Spirit.

And then even later, we find out people that were baptized with the baptism of John, meaning they were just baptized like that.

And then someone came and says, have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit?

And they said, well, we don't even know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So they prayed, and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, meaning God gave them power to do great things for Him.

So I think that's what we want to aim towards.

The first text I want to look at is in Matthew.

It's 1 that you probably know by heart, but it's Matthew 6, verse 33.

It says, seek the kingdom of God, or seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

This 1 says, seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously above all else too and he will give you everything that you need.

I'm not the perfect example, but I have strived to live my life for God, and to seek His righteousness every day.

When I look at myself, and I see my wife, my 2 kids, they're healthy, we have a home, we have everything we need.

And I'm saying, you know, we don't deserve this.

I mean, God, the ministry is challenging, the literature evangelism, But every time I look at my wife, and we talk, and we say, you know, we're too blessed, there's something wrong.

And then, we're kinda scared, because we're thinking, something's gonna happen.

But it's amazing how, if you seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness all your needs he provides and I think it's not just Physical needs but emotional needs social needs and so forth in acts of the Apostle and This is I took it from testimonies volume 8 page 19, but it's also in Acts of the Apostle.

It says, it's talking about the people in Acts of the Apostle, the early Christian church.

It says, 1 interest prevailed, 1 subject of emulation swallowed up all others.

The only ambition of the believers was, number 1, to reveal the likeness of Christ, character, and number 2, to labor for the enlargement of his kingdom.

That was the only focus of these 2 individuals.

So Matthew 6.33 says, Seek first the kingdom of God and His what?

And then in 18, page 19, it says, look, those people at that time, they only had 2 things that they focused on.

1 was reveal the likeness of Christ, which is His righteousness.

And the other thing that really mattered was just enlarging God's kingdom, meaning helping more people to know Jesus, which is the same as Massie 633, right?

The snow still needs to be shoveled, meals prepared, children take care of, work, go to school, whatever.

I mean, they were living, so they had to eat, they had to cook, they had to shop.

But they were able to prioritize that anything and everything was centered about the 2 main things that mattered, which is the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, that's speaking about that specific group.

It says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

And so It shows here that the Holy Spirit gives us us power to be a witness.

And there's 2 ways that the Holy Spirit gives us power to be a witness.

We are witnesses through Matthew 6.33 says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And here I believe the 2 ways are the fruit of the Spirit.

And then you have the gifts of the Spirit.

So the fruit of the Spirit, the gift of the Spirit.

Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones, Part 1

What I'm going to share with you, I am not a PhD or anything in that field.

I can just share with you some of the principles that I've found helped in my life.

There's probably tons of other principles also, but I think the bottom line is we need to go to the Word of God and we need to go to the Word of God, the Spirit of Prophecy to discover the principles on how to guide our lives.

What I'll be doing, it's 2 sessions and so I'm just going to go as far as I can and then we'll cut and then I'll just be finishing up in the last section.

Yeah, I went to be a literature evangelist in the United States, a cold porter.

And that experience that summer changed my life completely.

When I came back, I started praying more.

Even though I'm a pastor's child, I started to be like getting more serious about God because when I went going out knocking on doors, selling books, Christian books, health books, just I had some amazing testimonies.

I won't go into them because I don't have time.

But I came back home and I was on fire and I went to a missionary training school and came back even more on fire.

And now I'm trying to reach my family, you know.

With all this amazing stuff I've discovered about health, about dress, about all kinds of stuff.

And I was very shocked to have this resistance.

I'm thinking, you know, like this is powerful stuff.

And they're saying, well, you're fanatical, you're this and that.

You know, am I, you know, and it's the same, I've experienced that I think with my family, but many individuals experience that with non-adventists.

It's the same kind of contrast I would say.

And I think many times I did not always have the right approach.

My concept was, if it says it's in the word of God, if it's in the spirit of prophecy, I mean, what's your problem?

And you're just being rebellious, and you're going to be lost.

And there may be some truth in when you reject light, you are lost, yes.

But I think there's methods to be able to reach individuals that are more tactful, should I say.

So we're going to focus on something called friendship evangelism.

And I want to start with a Bible verse in 1 Corinthians 9.

And we're going to base ourselves on that.

Just do a little discussion and try to draw some principles.

The first 1, 1 Corinthians 9, we're looking at verse 19.

This is Paul speaking, speaking to the Corinthians how he, you know, He could have taken their money because He was a preacher but He didn't.

He worked with His hands because He didn't want to have any reason for them to reject the gospel sake saying, you know, we made this guy rich or whatever.

First Corinthians 9 verse 19, this is Paul, he says, For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself, what?

I have made myself servant unto all that I might gain them more.

And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews.

To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law." Is it a good thing to be under the law?

To them that are without the law, as without the law.

So under the law is a sinner, someone that knows the law but doesn't do the law.

And someone that has no law is like an atheist, right?

To them that are without the law, I became as without law, being not without law to God, but unto the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak.

I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some.

And this I do for the gospel's sake that I might be partaker thereof with you." So Paul says here, look, to the Jew, I became a Jew.

To the guy who's under the law, I became like under the law, like a sinner.

And to the 1 that is without the law, like the atheist, I became like an atheist.

And I became, and so I want to discuss a little bit that later, but he says, I did these things, what is the goal?

If you read the verse this carefully, why would he become a Jew to the Jew?

So, here we see that the first principle in reaching the hearts of your loved ones is you must become a servant.

I think that's the first principle that at least in this context that Paul brings So Paul says look I am free I'm a free man, but I choose to be a servant.

And then he goes and describes what his definition of being a servant is and the purpose he's saying I am a servant is so that I can reach these people.

So he's saying, you want to reach people?

But he says, the way that I reach people is that I become a servant.

And for him to be a servant is to become all man to all man, meaning to become a Jew to the Jew, those that are weak to the weak, atheist to an atheist, and a sinner as a sinner to a sinner, to reach a sinner.

That's a little bit difficult to understand.

The first thing I want to focus on before we go, the concept of becoming a Jew to a Jew or becoming as an atheist to an atheist, I want to ask you, what's the concept of being a servant in Paul's day?

In Paul's day, I mean, here in Canada we don't really have servants, you know.

So the closest thing to here as a servant is maybe a waiter.

But you know, a waiter when they come to us, you know, they serve upon us.

So you tell me what you want and I will go and if it's not right, I will go and make it right.

And in Paul's day, I think it was a little bit more, it wasn't just a 9 to 5 job that I'm a waiter or a waitress.

Most servants were servants that lived in the household and they were servants for years.

He didn't say slave, I didn't look up the Greek word to find out exactly what it means.

But the concept of servanthood means I'm here to do the will of the 1 that is superior to me.

So the first principle, I think, or the first concept under principle 1 is that a servant, and all this is going to make sense I think when we start tying in to how to reach our loved ones.

The first principle under Principle 1, the purpose of a servant, purpose of existence, is to wait upon their superior.

So Paul is trying to reach a drug addict.

Paul is trying to reach a drug addict and right now what he says is that he's putting that drug addict in a certain context as his superior.

Purpose of existence is to wait upon their superior.

The second point under principle 1 is a servant has very limited rights.

Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones, Part 2

Our Father in heaven, once again, there are certain principles you've outlined in your word.

But more importantly, may these principles become part of us to influence or to be used to influence those that don't know you, to get to know you around us.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

So we'll just review some of the principles we've learned.

The first principle is to reach your loved ones, you must become what?

The purpose of existence is just to wait upon superiors.

Unless you're asked, you don't judge or share it.

And that's hard because if Christ has done something for you, so you, you know, the reason you're like that is because you're not, you know, It's very difficult because they need Christ.

Christ is a solution if they can just believe in Christ, but it's to be able to hold back, you know, and allow the Spirit to open up opportunities for you to be able to share.

And friends, I'm not the 1 to tell you when to speak, not to speak.

You know, some people will tell you, well, you need to do that.

Sometimes, the spirit will use shock treatment and will allow you just to tell him, you know, you need to keep the Sabbath.

And that may be exactly what they need at that point, you know, but make sure that it's the Spirit of God that is moving you and not something else, right?

Another principle number 2, never separate what 2 things?

Apart from each other, they can be very detrimental, right?

Then we talked about how the just shall live by faith, how faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and inspires faith and brings about sanctification in people's lives.

So if we really want people to be changed, the focus should not be just to invite them to church.

Some people think that the goal is just if I can get them into church, I'm doing good.

Do you know that if you get a person into church too early or too late that, well, too early that could be a bad thing?

I don't know if you could get them too late, but...

So, just to get people into church should not be our motive, number 1.

Number 2, your motive should not be just to get people baptized.

Because if someone has not had an encounter with Jesus, and the encounter with Jesus is brought about by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit, then what's the point of getting them baptized?

Point number 2, let's not separate friendship from evangelism.

Principle number 3 is that people are changed by what 2 instrumentalities?

So the spirit of God uses the word of God to be able to bring about conviction, to bring about sanctification, to bring about a change in people's lives.

So if you study the Word of God with someone, I'll be honest with you, friends, many times when you read, it's boring.

You read and you may not fully understand, but there is still power in God's Word.

So you should study the Word of God with people.

And as you study, it may be boring for you, it may be boring for them, but keep studying.

There is something that happens with the Word of God.

It inspires faith, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, right?

People are changed by the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

My role is to be filled with His spirit every day and be available, waiting, watching, praying for opportunities like a dog, like a servant, just waiting for opportunities to be able to show myself kind and compassionate that the door of opportunity may be open so that we can become good friends and bring them to church?

That the door of opportunity may be open for me to be able to connect that individual with the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

Number 4, friendship is a means to an end, right?

Friendship is what allows me to get close enough in this person's life so that I, through the Spirit of God working in me and the Word of God, whether verbal or written, can bring about a change in his life.

Whistle how, how, how, His name is Sifle, which means whistle in French, right?

Brother, I don't remember what I was sharing with you, but that's all right.

It allows a door of opportunity to get close to people to be able to do something in their lives.

People, you know, there are people that are, even in my church, I've realized, there was people that have come to church for 5 years, 6 years, and nobody has asked them if they want to study the Bible.

I was in Ottawa, and there was a lady just across the church.

And I decided I'm just going to talk to her.

So I went over to the gate, and I started chatting with her.

Her property ended at a gate that overlooked the parking lot to the church.

And I just started talking with her, and then I invited her to come.

She says, you know, I've been here for 20 years, and you're the first person that has ever invited me to come to this church.

So it just struck me because I was saying, you know, some people, you just need to ask and you'd be amazed what will be the result.

So letting the Spirit do the impressions.

Sometimes we don't feel adequate to study the Bible with individuals.

Sometimes we take Bible study to formally also.

There are many resources out there if you go to your local ABC, just of like 20 Bible verses on salvation.

You don't need to know how to connect them.

So you can just, you and the person can just read the Bible verses and you'll be amazed.

You can start writing the questions and say, you know, I'm sorry, I'm not able to answer that right now, but when we'll meet again, and then you have a reason to meet with them again, right?

Revival is brought about not by emotions, not by people coming to church or keeping the Sabbath, but by the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

You must be willing to lose a friend when reaching out.

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Series

ECYC 2012 Seminar: Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones

Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones, Part 2

Transcript

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Parts

Christ’s Method

48m

Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones, Part 1

52m

Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones, Part 2

50m

Sound Doctrine