The church is awash in talk of revival and reformation. Yet what is revival and reformation? Join Dr. Diop for an in-depth, comprehensive exploration of the biblical and theological foundations for revival and reformation.

GYC 2011: Fill Me

<p>The church is awash in talk of revival and reformation. Yet what is revival and reformation? Join Dr. Diop for an in-depth, comprehensive exploration of the biblical and theological foundations for revival and reformation.</p>

<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)

GYC 2011 Seminar: Revival & Reformation

Ganoune Diop

Revival & Reformation: God’s Way, Part 1

This message was presented at the GYC 2011 conference.

For other resources like this, visit us online at gycweb.org.

It's not very difficult, but I'm going to take this few minutes to share this with you because usually once you know the name, how to pronounce it, it makes it easier to relate to the person for some people.

Anyway, think about noon, afternoon, like noon, Ghanoum, so that's it, that's my name, you know, so Ghanoum.

Basically, I was born in a very small country in West Africa, Senegal.

Spent most of my life Welcome, good to see you again.

In France, I spent most of my life there basically and then became Adventist in France, moved to...

Well, went to Andrews University, studied there.

After Andrews I went back to France to teach, well maybe I didn't mention to you, I passed it also in Paris, basically in France, and I worked at the conference as the director for the Saab school.

Also, then I went to Andrews, went back to France to teach at Cologne, at our seminary there, basically.

So I taught 4 years at our seminary at Colonges.

Then I was called to come to Southern Adventist University.

And I think that's where I met this lady here.

I've been visiting our academic institutions.

So from Southern, 4 years, then I taught 3 years at Oakwood University.

And then after that, in 2007, I was called to go to the General Conference and there I was actually the director of what they call the Global Mission Study Centers.

So Global Mission Study Centers basically...

Do we have the markers already over there?

All right, so basically, I directed the study centers.

Each 1 of them was established to reach the unreached people groups.

And we have a center to reach the Hindus, the Jews, the Buddhists, Muslims and then finally another center to better understand and reach secular and postmodern basically.

So I did that for 4 years and then well no more than yeah 4 years basically and then in August I was asked to represent the church at the United Nations.

So basically now my work is to represent the Seventh-day Adventist Church as an ambassador, if you would like, to the United Nations in Geneva and then the United Nations in New York, basically both.

I will tell you a little more about that eventually a little bit later depending on the time we have but we have a I really think 1 of the most important topic today and the reason why I say that is very simple.

We're talking about revival and reformation.

God wants his people to be ready before Jesus comes again.

It's very clear, there's no question about it.

But the problem is the word revival and reformation is now used all over the place, and there is fuzziness, even confusion, or sometimes...

I mean, what is it that we are really talking about?

Before then I enter into really the topic.

We are going to pray, but let me just, before we pray, tell you this.

Now, we're going to talk about the foundations.

What is the ground upon which we are standing today as we wait for the second coming.

Why do we need, what is revival and reformation and then why do we need it?

But more importantly what is God's perspective on it?

Human beings have all kinds of ideas and wonderful ideas, good.

But what we need is not human thinking, it's God's thinking, God's perspective.

Each 1 of you should be able at the end of this seminar to say, oh, this is what God has in mind when he thinks about revival and reformation.

This is what we're going to do right now.

This afternoon I will talk about revival and reformation but from a different perspective.

Have you heard that we need to pray, right?

There are some people in the 8th century Israel, 8th century before Christ.

They prayed, they go through all the rituals, they used to pay their time they used to worship God but God said I hate your assembly how is that possible so it is in other words it is not enough to pray it is not enough to worship it is not enough even to be faithful in ritual in doing things there is something without which everything that we do is totally useless I'm going to take you to the book of Amos and see what is it that God expected of his people.

Now notice, the book of Amos was written just before the end.

Now listen to this, the end of the northern kingdom Israel.

We are living just before the end of the world.

So we will need to look a little bit closely into this.

What kind of people God want us to be before the end of the world?

Now remember these people were very religious even spiritual some people would say but God say I don't care about that.

We talk about revival and Reformation let's pray let's pray God say listen the way even the Prophet Amos puts it and I'll talk about that this afternoon is unique in the back God said I hate your assembly I cannot stand the noise of your songs of your hymns that's terrible right so what was the issue we will look into that and then finally tomorrow morning I you know people talk about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, wonderful all that.

And when usually people talk about the Holy Spirit, they are thinking, Oh, I need power.

But the Holy Spirit spoke very clearly in the letters to the 7 churches.

So we will be looking at that and then, you know, in that setting I will take you in the book in the context of the book of Revelation or the book of Revelation the reason this is the last book of the Bible this is the last testament of Jesus Christ so I will try to do my best by God's grace to help each 1 of us better enjoy and appreciate this book.

Ellen White says the day God's people will be better understanding this book there will be a great revival among us as never before.

This afternoon we look at what is it that is so important to God that without which nothing is important.

Righteousness, the book of Amos and then you will look at the prophetic aspect especially the book of Revelation.

That is our journey with these 3 seminars and I must tell you I am very ambitious about 1 thing.

I would like each 1 of you to be able to share with anyone everything that we'll be sharing here.

It is not impossible, and I will show you why.

Let's start with a word of prayer because we know that without God we can do nothing.

Our gracious Lord we thank you for this opportunity we have today to open your word to listen to you to help us see things the way you see them that's why as we begin this seminar about revival and reformation help us see clearly what you have in mind.

Revival & Reformation: God’s Way, Part 2

Well, ok, there is, what undergirds all this?

It's also because there's a great controversy.

The great controversy between Christ and Satan, between good and evil, okay?

The enemy has 1 goal, to separate us from Christ.

However he wants to achieve it, is secondary.

Now, remember when you read the book of Revelation, it is said, well Satan has, chapter 12, Satan has several titles there and 1 of which is the deceiver.

But interestingly the word that is used there in Greek conveys the idea that he wants to distract you so that you will leave another reality rather than having your eyes focused on Jesus Christ because that's really the antidote.

The Bible gives us, have your eyes fix on Jesus Christ.

Because when you have your eyes fix on Jesus Christ, then we are not distracted.

Now, this may be troubling, but she says, Satan even puts some pastors in the church.

So that when we look, we say, oh wow, you know, oh he's a successful pastor, see, but he may be used by the enemy to achieve a greater damage.

Okay, so this is the reason why we have to have discernment.

Now I will tell you about the Holy Spirit.

Okay so yes you can live in the church and be dead.

You see what I mentioned earlier Jesus said let the dead bury because there are some people who are spiritually dead, therefore this message of revival and reformation is so important.

Because where there is the Spirit, there is freedom.

You know, Spirit of Life and so forth and so on.

But sometimes we just limit ourselves to some, I mean, byproduct.

Actually, power is the most dangerous thing for human beings.

I have, maybe tomorrow I'll have to tell you about that.

You know, a presentation here that I entitled powerless, this is a paradox, powerless and fearless, powerful and fearful.

Now think about it, okay, so but we have sometimes an empire type style of mentality.

Oh, a powerful person, hierarchy, all those idolatry.

Where as God wants us at a different place.

Anyway, It's not very popular, you know, because, oh, it's a powerful picture, a powerful teacher, a powerful this, powerful that, you know, and then.

But Jesus came, embraced powerlessness, but fearless.

In some of your later lectures you're going to talk about several examples of the body and what about the body.

And actually this will be, you know, this afternoon I will, you know, especially in the latter part of the presentation, definitely, and I will even use Ellen White also as a template there, because she says something very specific about that.

These are loaded words, revival and reformation.

I don't need to go back to that, it's okay.

This is basically the idea of being revived from deceptions about and lies about God, about us who we are, about the church, about the last things, about the nature of the soul in the afterlife, about heaven.

I was telling you earlier, we are servants the Adventists.

Now, I'm not absolutely talking about we're better than others, comparison, no, no, no, no.

But I'm talking about a church determined to be faithful to the biblical truth.

To base every aspect of what we believe in the scriptures.

Now we have our brothers and sisters of other faiths, I mean from other denominations, same faith in Christ, Christian, you know, but we have some differences and the differences usually, you know, is about this thing.

Now usually on the nature of God we share the same basic foundations.

We share that with other Christians okay but when it comes to the nature about I mean human nature there are differences Some people think you are just a soul and then a body.

So, revive to truth is also to embrace the biblical view of what a human person is.

But, this is not just something theoretical, I must add.

Some of us when we ask us what is a human being?

Oh we will say well a human being is of course matter, God put the spirit, his spirit, you know, I mean he creates the breath and then that person or that, you know, this intermingling between matter and spirit makes what is called a living being or what we call a human soul.

But there is something more there, that can completely change the way we relate to other people.

For example, we are created in God's image.

That's part of our understanding of who we are, right?

Revival & Reformation: God’s Perspective, Part 1

Thank you, our gracious Lord, for the wonders of your Word.

Thank you that you love us so much, that you are willing to do anything to save us for an everlasting fellowship with you.

Be with us this afternoon and as we just ate and many would be challenged, struggling to stay awake and so forth, by your grace, keep our attention focused and help us to really receive what you have in store for us as blessing.

Okay, now, just briefly, so that we be a little clearer about this idea of revival and reformation.

Oh, we need to be revived, and we need the Holy Spirit so that we may be experiencing revival and reformation.

Good, all that, but let us look a little closely what we are talking about in terms of definition.

Now, I'm quoting Ellen White and this is a very well-known book, Prophets and Kings.

She says, Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

And this preparation they should make by diligently studying the word of God and striving to conform their lives to its precepts.

God, she says, called for a revival and a reformation.

This is not something that we say, oh yeah, it's optional, that's the new fashion of the day, you know, people talk about revival.

But notice, she connects all this with the second coming of Christ, with the signs of the time, with a time of tribulation.

You know, there are 2 things that characterize this end times, and I will talk about that more in detail tomorrow.

1 is persecution, the other 1 is seduction, temptation.

Either he is trying to persecute the church to discourage, or he deceives the church.

Now in this setting, Ellen White says Christians should be preparing.

Now when you say preparing, meaning this is something that you are mindful about.

It's not just, you know, okay, alright, Why don't we pray every once in a while?

No, this is being intentional about living in the time of the end.

Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world.

Now you ought to know, I work with the United Nations as the liaison for the church.

They seek for peace, they, I mean there are a lot of things that people try to look for, but surprise is going to come.

And she says overwhelming surprise, meaning people did not expect that, unexpected in other words.

And then she says, we should be diligently, notice, she is already giving here an antidote or solution.

By the way, this is what we tried to do this morning, briefly.

And then striving to conform their lives.

Studying and conforming our lives to its precepts and then she says very clearly, God calls for a revival and a reformation.

It's not the Seventh-day Adventist world president's calling.

Do you know that what is happening in this world is not just by chance?

The fact that at this time the Seventh-day Adventist Church is called to give heed to revival and reformation, it is not by chance.

And as we will see a little later, Satan would like also to bring counterfeit, unquestionably.

And we will read some of the statements that are surprising.

Interestingly, I was thinking about you, our brother here, because he asked the question, I'm expanding a little bit on revival and reformation, you wanted definitions and so forth, so I thought I would share this with you.

I have several presentations on this, so I'm just taking a snapshot here and there to at least help before we get into our topic really today.

So let me just read it because last time and then we move on.

Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

And this preparation they should make by diligently studying the Word of God and striving to conform their life to its precepts.

And then I was just commenting on the fact that God calls for a revival and reformation.

This is not you know as the Ted Wilson or you know some of the and I was just telling you something that is of interest.

I open a parenthesis you know last year last year 2010 that is we still in 2011 they were you know everything that is happening in the Sunday after well everything that is happening in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

When we call people to do something in the church, guess what?

The same thing is happening in the world.

We focus actually, even the word revival and reformation, you have a slogan we use now, revival for mission.

In 2010, there were 4 major conferences on mission in the evangelical, in the Christian world.

The first 1 was in Tokyo, called Tokyo 2010.

Then, followed by Edinburgh 2010, actually I represented the church at Edinburgh 2010 as an, you know, observer.

I also represented the church in Cape Town.

Now Cape Town was organized by the Lausanne 3 movement Baptist.

Do you know what is their logo or their motto?

Their motto is the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.

Now, then you have another major meeting, this time Boston, the fourth 1.

More forth, you know, scholarly work, centered on mission.

And again, this year, now notice, you have Asia, Tokyo, you have Edinburgh, Scotland, in Europe, then you have Africa, Cape Town, Then you have Boston.

The next meeting is going to be organized, on mission, is going to be organized by Pentecostals.

So Anyway, now that is for revival and reformation, right?

Last year, at the general conference, you remember that?

I think it was about June 25, somewhere around there.

June 25, when the new president was elected, Ed Wilson, he mentioned revival and reformation as a major thrust in the Seventh-day Adventist Church for this quinquennium.

Now I read a lot and you know I try to find out what's going on in the world and that's part of my work somewhat but June 10, June 10 a study Bible came out and guess what was the name of that study Bible?

Revival & Reformation: God’s Perspective, Part 2

Take for example, clearly in the Old Testament there were some laws given That God gave only to accommodate the people because they were not at the level where God wanted them to be.

Jesus very clearly in Mark chapter 10 when you know someone come and say well Lord Moses say that if you divorce your wife you give your wife a letter of repudiation and then that's it.

Moses gave you that law because of the, what?

In other words that's really accommodation.

Anyway, so clearly then, Moses gave that law and allowed by God, unquestionably, because of the hardness of their heart.

Meaning we ought to be clear to make a difference than in the Old Testament between God's absolute will and God's permissive, temporal, circumstantial will.

So this is the reason why, by the way, we don't just believe a doctrine because it is found just 1.

We take the whole Bible including what Jesus said about it to settle and so on.

Another example in the Old Testament God did not want Israel to have a king clearly I mean he even told you know Samuel they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting me.

God wanted a theocracy where he would be the king.

But the people wanted to have, oh no we want to have a king like the other nations.

God even helped them in choosing the first 1.

And God even warned them, you know what the king will do?

They will do this, you know, so is this really what you, yeah, yeah, yeah, we want to have a king like the other nations.

So, Then I have to make a difference between God's absolute and that's okay now More specifically to your question about the wars violence God did not want Israel to be involved in any war of fighting whatsoever if Israel was faithful.

1 of the most beautiful verses in the Old Testament is when God said to his people, You don't have to fight on this 1.

So, in other words, Old Testament was a kind of theocracy.

God leading his people, gradually educating them, this was pedagogy, right?

Even the sanctuary, all those things are object lessons.

Because God wanted to take his people, I mean from a lack of knowledge of who he was to a point where they could finally be mature.

So when Jesus came, he came to restore God's absolute will, God's absolute intent.

See, so this is the, and violence the same thing Jesus told his disciples, put off your sword, violence no way, you would rather be hurt than to hurt people.

How can, okay now let me open a parenthesis just to show how Jesus teaching is so profound okay but I'm not going to go into those details except to say this.

When you ask Buddhists, now I talked to you about the problem for Buddhism, they would say suffering, hatred and greed.

But if you ask Buddhists what are the solutions, They will talk about 3 things.

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Series

GYC 2011 Seminar: Revival & Reformation

Revival & Reformation: God’s Way, Part 2

Transcript

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