GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Why am I a Seventh-Day Adventist

David Wright

01 Does the Truth Really Matter?

Why are you a seventh-day Adventist and we have a lot of things to cover so I'm just gonna jump in and People can continue to join that doesn't bother me ever so you can just keep on coming up You can come sit on the front row do whatever you want to do But I'm gonna have a word of prayer and then we're going to jump in with this first session.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness, for your grace, for your mercy.

We thank you for Pastor Kim's message this morning and pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit you will help us to balance the justification and the sanctification.

We don't want to over emphasize 1 over the other.

And so I pray that you will help us in that as well.

I'm not worthy to be up here, but I pray that your Holy Spirit will speak through me and tailor the message for what each individual here needs to hear.

Alright well very quickly, here's a picture of my family taken about a month ago.

We are visiting them up at Fountain View.

Lauren and Matthew are on the left-hand side, and they're there.

Mary Ann will probably join this next year.

But we got our little touch of snow, which is hard to find here in Orlando.

And we just love getting outside as much as we can.

So the question is, why are you a Seventh-day Adventist?

Is it something that you, over time, you studied yourself into?

Maybe probably not is it avenues education.

Are Saturdays more convenient than Sundays?

I saw a meme of somebody that said because of football I converted to Adventism.

Okay, maybe that's Somebody's reason but why are you a seventh-day Adventist?

And these are the 5 parts that we're going to go through and so today we're gonna bite off 4 I don't know if you can handle me for all 4 sessions if it's not what you're looking for There's plenty of good stuff out there But this first 1 is does the truth really matter is truth relative Or is there an absolute form of truth secondly isn't loving Jesus enough?

That's what we're going to delve into after our break this morning Some people say Jesus is all and I agree with that statement, but I think it's misused as well So we're going to delve into that.

And this is something that we see targeted especially in Revelation against the remnant church And what is it that makes him angry?

We're going to look at that in more depth and then number 5 What's wrong with being a cultural Adventist?

Is it just a buffet Adventism that I can pick and choose?

And I'll take a little of this and I'll leave that and I'll go around that, but then I want more of this.

Kind of what we heard this morning, emphasizing 1 thing at the expense of something else oftentimes leads to heresy.

So those first 2 this morning, the second 2 this afternoon, and then 5 will be tomorrow morning.

Ephesians 5 8 says, for you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

Have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

In this work, The Living Temple, published in 1903 by John Harvey Kellogg, you remember any of this history?

The temple was the human body, and that's where God lived, as well as roses, God lived in roses, or in meteorites, or in dolphins, I mean, God was in everything.

And this was this idea that he came up with, really this pantheism idea.

The earth and all its life forms and processes are sacred.

We belong to them and they to us we are kin Spirit prophecy and selected messages page 200 says in the book living temple There's presented the alpha of deadly heresies The Omega will follow and bill be received by those who are not willing to heed the warning God has given you know, she was presented a copy of Kellogg's book and she really didn't want to read it She said I know it's air.

Eventually, she was convinced by her son that she should read parts of it so she could refute it.

And so she read the preface, she read most of the first chapter and parts of the others.

And so then she was able to say, living temple contains the alpha of these theories.

I knew that the omega would follow in a little while, and I tremble for our people.

You know, alpha and omega is basically the A to Z, the beginning and the end.

The living temple was the beginning of this idea of really spiritualism, which is not brand new.

It's been all the way back to the times of Egypt and so on.

But this living temple, She says the Alpha and the Omega would fall and she trembled for our people and so I see within Christianity the melding of New Age practices into Christianity have you heard of churches doing yoga holy yoga, you're not alone reaching out undistracted worship, you know people having yoga in their homes.

Folks these are really mystical practices.

There's all kinds of books on centering prayer.

Sitting quietly in God's presence can change your life.

It's really this idea of taking thoughts captive, sending them away, trying to quiet your mind.

The Bible says my heart is deceitfully wicked.

And if I'm gonna try and remove everything and just let some spirit speak to me, centering prayer and inner awakening, I mean these books are just inlaid.

Rooted Soul, weaving sacred threads and conscious embodiment into oneness.

Contemplative prayer, a guide to Lectio Divina, centering prayer, mysticism and spirituality.

I really think this is an overextension of a religion that was so formal and cold and lifeless.

And now we introduce mysticism that's all about experience and feeling and emotion and I'm sensing something I'm feeling so the praise service goes on for 45 minutes and I see it I experience it and I feel the drums and the smoke machines and I the presence of God and the sermon is like 10 minutes and 8 of that is a story and they tack on a Bible verse and I just felt the presence of God I was just weeping Was there any truth involved in that experience?

02 Isn’t Loving Jesus Enough?

I don't know if you like to travel, if you like the outdoors.

How many of you have been to Grand Canyon National Park?

But if you go to Grand Canyon, you have a lot of signs that say, what goes down must come up.

And there's lots of warnings and trying to talk about what can happen.

And do not attempt to hike from the canyon rim to the river and back in 1 day.

Each year, hikers suffer serious illness or death from exhaustion.

Apparently, this girl did run the Boston, which is not an easy task.

And then she went down to the bottom unprepared, and she became exhausted and died.

And so let's put this on a sign so other people won't die from the same thing.

Over the edge, death in the Grand Canyon.

2, 3 people a year die due to falls in the Grand Canyon.

Despite all the signs that they put out, do not enter, dangerous overlook.

Is 3000 feet to the bottom and no undertaker to meet you, take no chances.

There's a difference between bravery and just plain ordinary foolishness.

And there's the people sitting on the edge.

The signs are there as a safeguard to protect you and me from Danger.

And so we're looking at why am I a Seventh-day Adventist.

We just did the first 1, does the truth really matter?

What makes you so special will be this afternoon along with what makes the devil angry and then what's wrong with being a cultural avidness.

But today or for this section, part 2, isn't loving Jesus enough?

There was a group that had this tag that was just Jesus period, all period.

Aw, isn't that nice but then what if somebody said well what's your wife's favorite food oh no don't get into those specifics I don't want to know that what color eyes where she liked to go what makes her happy what what What really brings a smile to her face?

No, no, no, just Jesus all, just Elizabeth all.

So I mean it sounds good on the surface, but there are so many aspects of Jesus that can be fleshed out only as we read God's Word.

In fact, knowing God, I think, is the ultimate that God has called us to.

And all of these signs along the way are things to help us not to fall off the path, if you will, and get distracted to get tripped up and all these other things.

But the relationship that God wants to have with us is at the core, Right?

And at what point have we known enough about Jesus?

I mean, it's almost like, wasn't there a meme or commercial or something?

Honey, I finally came to the end of the internet.

Or the end of the social media thread or stream or whatever they're, I don't know, do you ever reach the bottom?

And how much more infinite is God, right?

The present truth, the special message given to our world, even the third angel's message, comprehends a vast field containing heavenly treasures.

No 1 can be excusable who says, I will no longer have anything to do with these special messages.

She says I won't have anything to do with our unique message.

No 1 can preach Christ and present the truth as it is in Jesus, unless he presents the truths that are to come before the people at the present time when such important developments are taking place.

To me, it's a very clear statement that just preaching Jesus only.

Somehow I'm getting some feedback from something.

I don't know what it is Maybe there's nothing to be done It's not okay.

Others would say the Seventh-day Adventist Church has too many doctrines Do you think that's the case?

And to that I would simply ask, what do you know about the will of God for your life that you wish you didn't.

Evangelicals have Jesus, but they're rejecting the truth as it is in Jesus.

They rejected the doctrines or teachings of Jesus oftentimes.

They reject the careful study of God's Word.

So the reality is, Protestants have Jesus long before Adventism came on the scene.

If Jesus is all you need, then why raise up another denomination?

What is it about Adventism that's so important if Jesus is all?

So here comes Adventism and says Jesus all I Submit to you and this isn't new either the 5 S's of Adventism I don't know if you've heard about them the sanctuary the state of the dead second coming the Sabbath and the spirit of prophecy It's not an exhaustive list, but those are really the 5 that make us unique, if you will.

And my question is, where you're attending church, do you hear those 5 S's spoken of regularly?

There was a study that came out within Adventism and on the state of the dead it was alarming to me how many people did not have a clear understanding of where grandma is.

And so do you hear those distinctives often enough?

I'm going to skip through some of these very quickly, but the 5 S's of Adventism, the first being the sanctuary.

Evangelicals look to the cross as the sole basis for salvation, But what model did God give us to understand salvation?

Justin Kim was talking about that earlier.

This is the model God gave and to just go to the cross and say everything was done at the cross is not complete.

You know, the sinner's guilt was symbolically transferred to that perfect lamb.

The perfect lamb was slain and his blood caught in a basin.

03 What Makes You So Special?

04 What Makes the Devil Angry?

Dear Heavenly Father, we pray you'll continue to be with us as we seek to look at some truths in your word.

We pray they'll be applicable to our lives and that you will guide in this session in Jesus name.

Are there things that make you angry maybe even irrationally angry?

I Found this online 10 little things that make you irrationally angry Number 1 when your internet connection drops, that's a little frustrating in fact.

I was talking to a presenter that's just 1 down, and he was going to work on a lot of his stuff over Christmas.

They live way out in the boondocks, and their internet just went down.

So I was scrambling the airports and everything else on the way here.

Another 1, when someone tries to talk to you when you're on the phone with someone.

Like you're trying to listen to 2 people at once and if you're a guy, this is really outside the realm of possibility.

Forgetting your password, and now we have 1000000 passwords for everything under the sun.

Number 5, people who tell you to calm down or cheer up when you're neither angry or upset.

Number 6, anyone who puts empty cartons back in the fridge, who does that?

Number 7, anyone pushing the elevator floor button after watching you push it first?

Okay, number 8, people who are completely unprepared for situations that they know are going to happen.

Number 9, people who take up 2 parking spaces.

That happened to me yesterday, until I tried to squeeze in and I literally could not get out of the car.

And number 10, stepping in something wet just after putting on a clean pair of socks.

What makes you saddened at the Adventist?

These are the things we've already covered.

We're doing what makes the devil angry and then tomorrow, what's wrong with being a cultural Adventist?

Can I just pick and choose from the buffet?

Revelation 12, 12 again, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having what?

Or you could say very angry, because he knows that he has a short time.

And the dragon was enraged, another word for anger, with the woman.

And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, he who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." And we've talked about how the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We've talked about these 2 characteristics of God's last day people and how only the Seventh-day Adventist church has both of those.

Here is a picture of some of the Spirit of Prophecy books, some of the older versions.

This was actually taken at my wife's grandmother's house.

Just collected a bunch on the shelf and took that picture.

But the question is, if God has not restored the gift of prophecy in his last day church, then he would not be faithful to his own word.

People like to say, well, we're the people of the book.

Well then if we're the people of the book, what do you do with the verses that say the last day church will have the gift of prophecy?

God promised to restore the gift of prophecy and I think he's true to his word.

It says, Surely the Lord God does how much?

Nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets.

And then Jesus Himself said, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are Ravenous wolves.

I'm glad you have all of Scripture memorized.

If we know that God is going to restore the gift of prophecy in the end, then we have to be open to that idea.

But we don't want to just accept anybody that shows up and says, I'm a prophet.

So how can we tell the difference between the true and the false?

Well we do have some biblical tests of a true prophet.

I'm not going to try and do an exhaustive study of this, but I must confess that Jesus is the Son of God is 1 of those.

1 John 4 says, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Next verse, Hereby know ye that the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

Must confess that Jesus is the Son of God.

It says in Jeremiah 28, 9, the prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him.

If we had time we could look at another verse, Deuteronomy 18, 22, says something similar.

Now there are prophets that have made predictions that have come to pass.

Nostradamus is 1 that continually keeps coming up in the news from a long time ago, what 1600s or something.

Says Nostradamus predictions for 2025 revealed and there's all sorts of doom and disaster to prepare for.

And I'm sure there's another article that says something similar.

Let me ask you this, does the devil have access to conversations?

I don't think he can read our thoughts, but he can hear what we have to say.

Does that mean he has access to conversations in back rooms?

Between political leaders, between who knows whatever.

So you can essentially say that the devil has access to lots of information.

The more information you have, can you make some predictions?

And even with some accuracy on some of those predictions.

And if you Look at Nostradamus, 449 known major prophecies, 18 were wrong, 395 no known events, so it's just kind of an ambiguous something.

So there's only 9% accuracy, But somehow that 9% accuracy has won him the Prophet Hall of Fame that in 2026 there's going to be some Headline that's going to get clickbait on somebody that wants to know about what's going to happen to them will love come to you in 2026 what did Nostradamus have to say don't waste your time friends 9% accuracy is not near enough when God makes a prediction.

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Series

Why am I a Seventh-Day Adventist

03 What Makes You So Special?

Parent Series

Parent Conference

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Recorded

Parts

01 Does the Truth Really Matter?

45m

02 Isn’t Loving Jesus Enough?

1h 2m

03 What Makes You So Special?

50m

04 What Makes the Devil Angry?

57m

05 What’s Wrong with Being a Cultural Adventist?

1h

Sound Doctrine