GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Religious Liberty Teetering on the Edge

Joe Reeves

01 What Will Cause the Next Civil War?

02 Are Adventists Wrong about Revelation 13?

03 How Not to Debate a Christian Nationalist?

04 Should Adventists Accept Government Money?

05 Should There be Free Speech in the Church?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for safe travels to Orlando and that we can assemble here.

We want to seek Jesus and that our hearts would be open for you to speak into our minds, to reflect your character, to have your perspectives on the things that are troubling the world and perhaps even troubling the church and that you would anoint our minds and that we would be united together and moving forward together with the challenges that we face today.

The title for my first presentation is, What Will Cause the Next Civil War?

Now in America things are getting a little challenging Christians in America are Panicking a little bit because they feel like we're losing control in America and we've become a minority Perhaps later.

I'll show you on the screen that Recent surveys have shown that Christians in America are now, only 47% of Americans are church members.

And so we're feeling a little bit panicky because we're adjusting to becoming more of a minority and that is creating a wounded Christianity in America and As you hear the tone of American preachers They're becoming more and more angry and more and more desperate to reclaim something that we feel that we've lost and to regain our footing.

And so things are shaky in America and perhaps we feel like this snowboarder.

I have to throw this in you know because even though I live in Maryland I'm from Washington State and so this is from Mountain Baker.

All right yes I was born in Washington raised north of Spokane And are you a snowboarder or a skier?

And watch very closely what he sees as he's snowboarding through the trees.

So he tries to climb back up, but if you've ever been on a steep mountain with 6 or 8 feet of snow, you know how hard it is to climb.

And so he tries the sidestep, he eventually takes his skis off, and he tries desperately.

He's worn out by the time he gets back up to this snowboard.

I can hear some of you are stressed out already.

We're both going to catch our breath for a sec, and I'll dig you out, okay?

The guy with the yellow gloves is a snow skier.

By the way, he was a snow skier who saved a snowboarder's life.

And Ian was boarding along, and a bunch of snow collapsed behind him.

And just as the snow collapsed behind him, he fell back.

And just like that, his face was under 6 feet of snow, instantly.

And the more he tried to dig out, the deeper he went.

And he said he just resigned himself, that was it.

And you can last, you can breathe a little bit down there not very much you can last about 15 minutes and so he he knew that there was hope he felt Ian or Francis grabbed his board and so this is them right here on the left the snow skier and Ian on the right that was saved.

Well I think that represents a little bit Christians in America right now or maybe all Americans we're feeling snowed in and like we're in a hole, but perhaps the more we try to dig out, the deeper we get.

And that's the concern with the way Christians in America are framing themselves right now.

So we are looking at this topic of what will cause the next civil war.

Why would we ask this kind of a question?

We're asking this kind of a question because people in the world are asking this kind of a question.

Because Adventists need to know how to have a perspective on it.

And Adventists that have been in places of civil war have often been divided and fighting against each other.

That's happened in multiple places around the world.

In the last American Civil War, Adventists were solidly, we were just, Our church was established in 1863.

Our greatest criticisms of the North was that they compromised with the South too much.

We really didn't have any Adventists in the South at that time, or hardly any.

But things could look very different for Adventists if there's never civil war and Adventists falling on both sides.

The Bible speaks to wars in the last days and to some of the ways that we should relate it.

Prophecy points to certain parts of history and identifies ways that we should, or gives us lessons that we can learn from those chapters of history where there has been a civil war before.

So Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 24 and the disciples came to Jesus and they saw the reflections of the sunlight on the white marble of the temple and their heart just Surged with pride as they looked at the temple just like my heart does when I go down to Washington DC I live near Washington DC.

I'm in Maryland and so I take people friends or family down there to see the Capitol sometimes and I have a sense of awe when I when I see the white marble of Capitol building and others there and And maybe that's not even as much as what the disciples sensed with that temple it represented their national pride their history their culture and their religion and their faith the hope for Jerusalem and You know Jesus would have loved to I mean would that be nice if all Jesus ever talked about was beautiful marble?

By the way, do you think that's true for the marble in Washington, D.C.?

Do you think the time is coming when not 1 stone will be left upon another.

Do you think the time's coming when not 1 stone will be left upon another?

And so there's rough water ahead and the disciples asked Jesus, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming?

Jesus answered and said, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

See that you are not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet.

So it's 1 of the characteristics of the last days that there will be war, rumors of wars, the spirit of war will be spreading throughout the world.

Was there a lot of spirit of war in the world in 2025?

Just all you have to do is read the news 1 evening.

For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places.

So there's going to be fierce conflict between the nations.

We see it today, but perhaps we haven't seen nothing yet compared to what we will see in the future.

And when there are famines, it's worse when it's during war.

Series

Religious Liberty Teetering on the Edge

01 What Will Cause the Next Civil War?

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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ANCHOR School of Theology

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Stephen Bohr - Exonerating God: the Seventh-day Adventist View of Salvation

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Sound Doctrine