WYC 2007: Be Like Jesus

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GYC West

WYC 2007 Plenary Sessions

Doug Batchelor

Giving All Diligence

I don't know if we're gonna need this 1, so I'll just get that where I can see you.

It's good to, oh that really makes me feel good, They put a clock up there right when I start.

I want to thank everybody who's been involved in organizing our time.

I think that it's a good vision to have more of these youth conferences.

I've been very inspired by the GYC, and I think that the WYC will be part of that.

It's wonderful to see young people developing a passion for the message and for getting it out to the world.

This week our theme of course is about being like Jesus and That's what a Christian is.

The goal of a Christian is to be Christ-like, to be like Jesus.

And in harmony with that, a springboard for Our week is this verse in 2 Peter 1, verses 5-7.

And they have rationed different parts of this wonderful passage to the various speakers.

You may want to turn there with me, 2 Peter 1, verse 5.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue.

To virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

Those represent the attributes of the character of Jesus, And that is a very appropriate passage for us to focus on this week.

I have the privilege of speaking on giving all diligence.

And that is a happy task for me because I really believe that diligence And passion in Christianity is 1 of the greatest needs right now.

You know in the last days, 1 of the accusations that Jesus makes against the church, is you're just not hot or cold.

And there seems to be an absence of passion.

We also see that a large number of young people drift out of the church.

I believe part of the reason for that is going through The Christian experience growing up in the typical Seventh-day Adventist Church experience a lot of young people are exposed to Someone once put it this way just enough Christianity to inoculate them against catching the real thing And they need to see more zeal, more passion, more perseverance, more diligence in their faith.

Jesus was totally sold out about his mission in life.

Matter of fact, even 12 years old, he goes to the temple.

After his parents lose track of him, they come 3 days later, they say, Son, we have sought you sorrowing.

And he looked at them as though, why were you looking all over for me, wondering where I would be?

Wish you not I must be about my father's business.

It would be good for all of us to know the magnet to our souls is God and His work.

I thought it would be good to look at some words.

Diligence here in this passage, it represents earnest and persistent application to an undertaking, steady effort, attentive care, heedfulness.

There is a resolve, a determination, a tenacity, a passion, giving all diligence.

Not just diligence, but a giving of all diligence.

What do you think 1 of the most memorized passages in the Bible is?

You know what 1 of the most quoted passages in the Bible is?

A lot of people quote that, they don't even know where it is.

But the most memorized verse is John 3, 16.

Christianity first and foremost is about giving.

It's about what God gives which resonates in our souls.

We love Him because He first loved us and in turn we give.

When He gave Jesus, He turned heaven upside down, shook it and emptied it.

I mean when you give the Creator of all things, what more can you give than that?

Can you think of anything more than the Creator of everything that you could give?

So when God gave the 1 who made everything to save us, He gave all.

And then what does Jesus say it requires for us to follow Him?

He who would seek to save his life will lose it.

If you try to live for yourself, you're going to lose it.

But whoever will lose his life, that means you let go, you give it all.

For Christ's sake and the Gospel, that's when you get everything.

And I don't believe anyone is going to regret that.

Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 13, Jesus said to Peter, Peter said, Lord, look, we've forsaken everything to follow you.

And it's right, remember it says they forsook their nets and followed Him.

And Jesus said no man has forsaken father or mother or husband or wife or houses or lands for my sake and the gospel, but he shall receive..." Here's what you get.

"...a hundred times more in this life and eternal life in the world to come." It's going to cost you everything, but you get much more.

I mean, you can't even imagine how much more.

So this man is plowing a field that he's rented.

And while he's plowing the field that he's rented, he runs into what he thinks is a rock.

Well, that rock is going to be a problem in the future for his plow.

So he goes to remove this large stone, but as he digs away the dirt to get to the stone, he finds that it's not a rock, it's a chest.

And he digs a little more passionately now, because he thinks this is something...

You know, back then they didn't have banks and safety deposit boxes, and people used to bury their stuff in a field.

You read your Bibles you remember a story where Jehonadab said that he ran into 10 men that said don't kill us we've got treasure buried in the field.

So it wasn't that uncommon to find somebody, you know, up here's gold country, who knows, if you start doing farming around Weimar, you could find a treasure buried.

So he finds this box and he digs it up and he opens it and there's some sort of treasure.

It could be gold, it could be silver, but it's treasure.

But he doesn't own the field and he's an honest man.

He says, look, it's not my field yet, so I don't have the mineral rights.

So he puts it back in the ground, he covers it up, he goes to the owner and he says, I'd like to buy your field.

Well, the price is higher than he thought.

He does some calculating, he realizes, I could buy that field, but it's going to take everything.

Don Mackintosh

Be Like Jesus: Faith

Father in Heaven, today we're thankful that you are a Father, that you are in Heaven.

And that we can call upon you and you have promised that if we ask without doubt, you can answer.

And we don't ask for doubting tonight, we ask for a blessing right now.

I ask specifically that you would take me out of the way and that you would speak to me and through me tonight.

And more importantly, this world needs a word from you.

So we think of the people that maybe are in our circle of influence, who desperately need a word.

Give us something from this weekend that we can take to feed your flock and that can awaken interest in those outside the fold.

And it looks like I may have lost 1 of my microphones here.

First Peter, let's look there together this evening.

And my subject to deal with is faith this evening.

Pastor Bantler talked about diligence, And now we look at faith.

So turn with me there in your Bibles to 2 Peter and we'll again remind ourselves of the text this evening.

I hope you can see as it's getting dark because we are going to be looking.

I hope you're planning to use those Bibles this evening.

2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a like precious faith.

You know, in my margin it says they've received a faith.

Are you thankful tonight that God in Christ has given us faith.

Are you thankful each of us are given a measure of faith?

And how many of you would like that measure to increase?

How many of you, like the disciples in Luke 17, would like to say tonight, Lord, just before we even begin, before we get into it, Lord, increase our faith.

So, they have obtained a like precious faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature." How many can say, amen to that?

Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, but also for this very reason.

Because of the promises, because of what He's given, and because of what He wants for us.

Because this very reason, what does it say?

Give all diligence, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and thusforth.

So The first thing I want to just notice this evening is the priority, if you will, of faith.

It says there in the text, adding to your faith.

So this whole idea is that faith is already there.

If you don't have faith, you don't have anything.

Everything in the Christian walk is predicated on faith.

Now, at Ohio State University, I was visiting some time ago, and they're into what's called post-modernism.

How many of you have ever heard this word?

And this particular philosophy leads to what they call deconstructionism and recreation of this and that.

They have a house there that's supposedly summarizing the postmodern mindset, that everything is deconstructed and reconstructed.

And it is kind of like a Ripley's Believe It or Not house.

I mean, when we're seeing 1 of these houses, it looks like it's going to fall over.

It's like the Leaning Tower of Pisa times 6.

And this supposedly is a metaphor for what the world really is.

There's nothing we really can place our faith in.

Now I'm trying to remember the apologist's name who visited this house.

A very famous author where I read the story and since I wasn't planning to talk about the story, I didn't put down the citation.

But this particular author visited the house, and as he walked around, the tour guide was waxing eloquent on how we can't know anything!

We can't have faith in anything, and all of the sciences and everybody is looking at every piece of truth and they're saying, well, maybe it's not true.

And this particular apologist said, you haven't shown us the foundation yet.

To which the tour guide said, well, it's just like any other normal foundation.

You see, you can't even be weird without faith.

You can't even be postmodern without faith.

And in the text here tonight It says adding to your faith virtue and thus forth.

In other words, it's the starting block Romans chapter 12 says Each of us is given a measure of faith.

Even with the most desperate soul here tonight, or the most desperate person you know, there still is this foundation of faith that God in Christ has given us.

And as we come to know Him, through the knowledge of him, it says, that faith will grow, it will flourish, and all of these things will come, mentioned here in Peter.

This passage was 1 of Ellen White's favorite passages.

In fact, recently I was visiting Elmshaven, and there in 1 of the bedrooms, I think where she saw an angel, there's a Bible, or I don't remember exactly what it was, And right there is this passage and it says there this was 1 of her most favorite passages.

She would talk about this again and again.

Notice what she says about it before we then look closer at the subject of faith.

The Apostles' words were written for the instruction of believers in every age and they have a special significance for those who live at the time when the end of all things is at hand.

His exhortations and warnings, his words of faith and courage are needed by every soul who would maintain his faith steadfast to the end.

So in other words, this particular passage is important not just back then, but here and now.

Tim Riesenberger

Morning Manna 1

1 for you guys and 1 to share with the rest of the world.

I was very thankful to meet a lot of you yesterday.

Can someone set this up for me while I'm talking?

And it's good for me to be back home, because this is, of course, where I graduated from school.

So I'm very thankful to be back at Weimar.

It holds a very special place in my heart.

And it was interesting because many of you know me, but I don't really know many of you.

Many of you would walk by and say, hi, Tim.

Not really remembering who you are, sorry.

So forgive me if I don't remember who you are.

I was very impressed with Pastor McIntosh.

He remembered me after, I think, almost 12 years we've seen each other.

We met at a colleague's house of mine, Neil Nedley, and he remembered, I think it was 1998 when I last saw him or 1999.

I was very, very impressed and thankful that he did remember.

1 of the things that many of you have asked me and I decided to kind of modify my presentation just slightly, you asked where I'm from.

And so, I answer just most of you as I normally would I said well I'm from Seattle oh something's not working here could someone who initially plugged in the video help me out yeah our projectors off yeah that's that's why Yeah, our projector is off.

So anyway, many of you asked me where I'm from, which is kind of a loaded question because I say Seattle, and I noticed that, you know, many of you aren't really happy with that answer.

You're not really wanting to know where I'm from, but really how I got my last name, which is Riesenberger.

And so, I know many of you look at me and of course think, oh, of course his last name must be Riesenberger.

So I decided to put a little slide showing up my family in it just to give you an idea of where I'm from, so to speak.

Before we do that, as we're getting set up, I would like to ask the Lord to be with us before we begin.

Loving Father in Heaven, what a joy it is to be here on your Sabbath day and I ask that you would abide with us, Lord.

I pray that I would be hidden and that Jesus would be seen and that everyone in this room may be forever changed by what you will do, not only this morning, but throughout this conference.

I'm going to tell grandma you said she was my mom.

And my grandmother was the third Seventh-day Adventist in my family.

And it was very amazing because Grandma became a Seventh-day Adventist before Grandpa did.

I visited Grandma and Grandpa every summer.

And when I became an Adventist, I would study every summer with Grandma and Grandpa.

And we would kind of go back and forth and I just asked them to do 1 thing.

I said, Grandma and Grandpa, you don't have to believe me.

Just pray and study the Bible together every day.

And they said, Tim, we will promise you that.

And you know, they have not missed in over 15 years.

And when Grown became an Adventist, Grandpa didn't want her to go to church.

So he said, no, you can't go to church, you can worship at home, but this going to church thing is just kind of crazy.

And eventually, to make a long story short, he ended up going with her at the end of a few months.

So she was very persistent and didn't give up.

And he actually just recently passed away in October.

And I was very thankful because the last thing we saw of him was there was a Bible actually right near his chair.

And he had been reading that the night before he passed away.

Now he had never opened that particular Bible.

He had opened the Bible before, but he had never become a baptized Seventh-day Adventist or made a strong profession of religion.

But I don't know what happened in those last moments, but he died just like that in his sleep.

His cardiologist said he was healthy as a horse, he had no pain, he had no disabilities, he just went.

Certainly a great way to go for most of us and my prayer is that he went in Christ in those final moments.

It was very interesting, in the last 3 weeks, he changed quite significantly in his philosophy.

Many of you know I do a mission trip every month, and his philosophy was, Tim, well, you should work more so you can give money to the mission field instead of going and doing it every month.

I think I'm going to keep doing it every month.

And near the end, I actually shared some letters with him from the weeks of prayers I had just recently done, 1 in Sweden and 1 in India.

And I shared those letters and he read through all of them and he said, these are the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

He said, you should do mission work full time.

So in the last 3 weeks of his life, the Lord made some significant changes.

And so I'm confident that the Lord did something in those last few moments.

This is my mom and she is not yet an Adventist, but she actually came to Weimar.

Interestingly enough, she was a part of my family that disowned me when I became a Christian and didn't speak to me for about 3 years.

And I was very pleased that last Thanksgiving she actually came as a patient to New Start and she I think dropped her cholesterol like 90 points.

It was amazing and had some wonderful spiritual blessings from Viola Kaiser who is the chaplain here.

He became an Adventist because someone invited my father and I to a revelation seminar.

So invite your friends to those evangelistic campaigns.

I was introduced to the Adventist church when I was a teenager, but I did not become an Adventist until many years later.

Justin Kim