iShare 2014: Light

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Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Seminar: Live the Light: Personal Testimonies

Reed Webster

From Trials to Triumph, From Atheist to a Theist

Thank you everyone for coming to listen to my testimony and I'm reminded of Revelation 12 11 where it says that they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word their testimony so everyone here has a testimony, amen?

And the greatest testimony I think comes from those who don't believe they actually have 1 those who grew up in the church and are still in the church and are faithful to God.

My message is called From Trials to Triumph, From Atheist to Atheist.

Well, if you would have asked me in my youth, I would have said that I was an atheist.

Now that's a very strong statement itself, it's a concrete, absolute statement.

But looking back now, where I'm at, I don't think that that's a possible statement.

The reason I say that is because in order to be a true atheist, to truly be an atheist, you'd have to know all things, be in all places at all times.

Because in order to be an atheist, You have to make an absolute statement that there is no God.

So it's really just a belief that there's no God.

So the closest 1 can come to an atheist is an agnostic.

An atheist, really, you're struggling with just the idea of God and you really are probably angry with God.

So I would have said I was an atheist, but I wasn't truly an atheist.

I did have a hard life, which I'll get into a little bit.

Maybe not as hard as Tlaiq, But we all have our struggles and we all deal with those differently.

I don't want to spend a lot of time on that.

I wouldn't say that home was a place of refuge for me.

They feel like they can be themselves at home.

So even when you walked in, you could just feel the darkness.

And so, coming home was just not a place I would like to be.

When I was growing up, like I said, I wasn't raised in a Christian home.

The closest thing I came to it was what I watched on television.

And that's just kind of how I looked at religion.

Okay, well then I will get mic'd up I guess.

I try to avoid mics because I don't like to hear myself talk as much.

Yes, I wasn't raised in a Christian home.

Only thing I saw was what was on television.

My dad was not the easiest person to get along with.

She is a kind, gentle, loving person, patient, humble, meek, like every aspect of the fruit of the spirit, she exemplified and she wasn't in my mind a Christian.

And so she was the reason I was able to, I think, keep my sanity.

And my dad used to call her my defense attorney, which I believe she was.

But in Exodus 34 verse 7 it says that God would visit his sins to the third and fourth generation.

And you know when I first read that verse as I began reading the Bible I thought this is so strange, God is going to visit sins upon children that didn't actually do these things?

And as I thought about it, it made sense to me.

It wasn't because the children themselves were suffering from what their parents did.

It's not like necessarily the lifestyle issues where if your parents are a diabetic, you know, you may be pre-diabetic at an early age.

No, what I learned was that the reason the sins could carry down to the third and fourth generation is because typically you're raised up the way your parents were raised up, and they were raised the way their parents were raised.

You have this cycle of perpetual darkness that just keeps carrying down.

Your children are going to suffer the same things that you suffer with.

So if you don't nip it while you're young, when you get married and have children, you're going to end up passing those same things down to your kids.

He would tell me stories that I won't repeat that I just couldn't believe that he actually went through these things.

So in hindsight, my dad was much better than his dad, but he still had his own troubles.

And so I knew in his heart he didn't like who he was.

And There was times when light would shine through the dark clouds that surrounded him, but those weren't as often as I'd hoped.

But 1 thing I learned from that, and this is something that God showed me, is that even though my dad would have these streaks of anger, You know, he used to have something called the war face.

And I laugh at that now because it just sounds so ridiculous, but he could he could literally go from 0 to 60 in a heartbeat.

I mean, he had this face of terror and I don't know, he tried to teach it to me.

He said he avoided a lot of fights by having this war face.

He could just look someone square in the eye, they could be twice his size, and they would step down because he had just this fear in his eyes.

I'm like a nice person, you know, so it didn't work for me.

But what I noticed was is that when he would have these spouts of anger, he would come back and ask for forgiveness.

He would say, I'm sorry son, you know, this isn't who I, I didn't mean to do that, I'm sorry, you know, and this would happen time after time after time after time after time after time And I forgave him freely.

Ethan Weber

The Tipping Point

It's an honor, it's a privilege, and it's a blessing to be here at iShare with you guys.

I'm looking forward to sharing a little bit of my personal testimony with you, how the Lord has led me to escape death and how he's brought me to be here standing in front of you today.

I'd like to start to just tell you a little bit about myself.

I was born in a struggling middle-class family out in Houston.

My dad's a CPA, my mom's an Adventist schoolteacher.

They were very loving and very devout Christians.

I've got some great experiences that I'm looking forward to sharing with you and now that the doors are closed, let's start with a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for bringing each of us here today.

I ask that you would humble me Lord and allow me to share my experiences in a way that might touch somebody in this room.

We've learned this morning that it's a miracle that each of us are alive and living on this planet.

We thank you for that, Father, and we ask that you would be with us and help us to continue to live and follow your steps.

It was April 3rd, 2006, and it was a warm and humid spring evening in Houston, Texas.

All that could be heard was the whirring of birds and some cars driving by on a small road.

And as it was, as the night got later and later, it was just after dusk, then you heard it.

It was a heart sinking sound of bone crushing, metal against metal, and all of a sudden metal scraping against pavement.

A young boy was crossing the street on a motorcycle and a car was coming.

It was a Dodge Durango traveling at 45 miles an hour.

The woman did not have her lights on, so the boy couldn't see the car, and the car couldn't see the boy.

His leg was shattered on impact, and as he broke and went up onto the hood, the motorcycle went underneath the car and his leg followed.

The woman was so scared that she stepped on the gas and went forward, dragging this motorcycle, creating sparks showering all over the car.

The boy was riding on the hood, and as the road began to curve, She drove off into a ditch and the body slid off the hood and landed on the road in a pool of his own blood, unconscious and convulsing.

There is where the Lord reached down and saved his life.

I want to tell you that I was that boy and the life flight helicopter took me to the hospital in downtown Houston, Texas.

That night, from blood loss, from a mangled foot hanging off by a piece of meat, I flatlined on the table 3 times.

Once the doctors were able to stabilize me and pump blood back into me, shock me back to life, they went out and saw my my sobbing parents outside the operating room and they said, we're sorry to tell you but he's alive, but we're going to have to amputate his leg.

It's too bad and we won't be able to save it." And my parents begged these doctors, they said, please, he's only 15 years old, he's got such a long life ahead of him, what can you do doctors, please?

We're praying, we believe that God can give you the strength to make a difference.

And they came back and said, we think we'll be able to save the leg, but we'll have to fuse it at the knee and at the ankle.

And my parents cried and they begged and they said, please doctors, we know you can do it, please.

They went back in, continued to operate, and they came out with the great news and said, we were able to piece everything together, do reconstructive surgery, and we think he'll be all right.

He needs to be on bed rest for several months, but he will be alright.

As a 15 year old, this was a major disaster in my life, especially considering the circumstances right before.

At age 15, my passion was motocross racing, And I had just been accepted onto the best motocross race team in the Houston area.

We had an 18-wheeler that took us to the tracks, and we would ride out of.

I was on top of the world as far as a 15-year-old's life was concerned.

And then in just an instant, it was completely turned upside down, and I was left struggling to survive.

Through that time, the Lord really helped me.

He guided me, and through the mental breakdowns and through struggling to survive, he taught me that he was there looking out for me and that he would always provide a way out.

It was about a year before I began to walk and to run and began to be active again.

And I thought that I could do this, and I could make it back, and I would be the comeback king.

And it was a Friday before a race on Sunday.

And I went out for a 1 last lap to check out the track and you should never go for 1 last lap.

You're tired, it's at the end of the day, and you push yourself a little too hard.

I fell over and when I got up my leg was broken again and I couldn't walk on it.

And so I called my doctor and he cursed me out on the phone and said that this would be so difficult for him to fix.

But I went to the hospital and after a night of surgery he was able to remove the broken rods, replace it with a new rod, and fix my leg.

I spent about 10 weeks recovering and when I went back to the doctor for my very last checkup he said, Ethan I've got good news and I've got bad news.

He said the good news is that your leg is healed.

And I said, oh great, I'm running and walking, working out, what's the bad news?

And he said, it's it's crooked, it's 13 degrees off, so we'll have to rebreak it once more.

And I said, doctor, come on, I've been through so much, I don't want to do this again.

And he said, Ethan, if you're an old man and you just wanted to walk, that would be okay.

He said, but you're a young man, you're a young athlete, we need to re-break it so it's straight and you won't have back problems later in life.

So he re-broke my leg and I went through another 2 months of recovering.

And throughout that time I wondered why, why me Lord, why me?

It wasn't that bad looking back, but as a young man I thought that it was the end of the world.

And I look back and I'm happy I went through that.

I think of a verse, it's Jeremiah 29 11, it's 1 of my favorites.

And Lord says, for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." And if I want to read you something that the Patriarchs and Prophets says about this same verse.

This is a Patriarchs and Prophets page 129.

It says, God permits trials to assail his people, that by their constancy and obedience they themselves may be spiritually enriched, that their example may be a source of strength to others.

The very trials that task our faith most severely and make it seem that God has forsaken us are to lead us closer to Christ, that we may lay all our burdens at His feet and experience the peace which he will give us in exchange." I find it interesting that the Lord permits his people to go through trials as he permitted me to go through a trial.

He's permitted several people in the Bible to go through trials, but in those dark times when we come out, it is the strength that we've shown by relying on the Lord that will bring others to want to follow Christ.

I want to tell you guys another story about my life.

It was a bit of a trial and it was also 1 of the most important times in my life in which I learned the most.

I was in school, I was a sophomore in college.

My first year I had gone to La Sierra University, and I was studying business.

I was very motivated and doing everything I could to learn about business.

I was reading every business book I could find.

I quit my job and started my own business.

And after my freshman year, I started to feel that the Lord was calling me to do something different.

I said, Dear Lord, what is it that you want from me?

Where would you like me to go, and how can I live according to your will?

And the school year started again, and I was enrolled in school, and I still was feeling the same the same itch.

I said, Lord I want to do something for you, something different than just studying for myself.

And at that time I was praying, I got a phone call from my grandfather and he said, Ethan, I'm going to India on a mission trip.

I'll be there for 1 month with Maranath and I'd like you to come with me.

And I said, you know what, I'm in school but I am just dying here and I need something, a way to experience God in a new light.

And so I left school and I went to India and I remember being on the airplane.

We were on a 15-hour flight over to India from Houston, Texas.

And I remember I got out my journal and I couldn't understand the language people were speaking.

It smelled funny on the plane, and I just thought, what am I doing here?

I'm a college dropout, and I'm going out to India.

I don't know what to expect and I remember I wrote in my journal I said, you know what Lord, I don't know what you have planned for me but maybe it'll be a time that I can grow and experience something new for you.

We got to India and we built 4 one-day churches with Maranath.

It was a real blessing to be a part of those construction teams and working in those small villages.

I remember seeing women with waists this big around.

Their skin was black because they worked in the fields every day and were burnt by the sun.

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Series

Seminar: Live the Light: Personal Testimonies

The Tipping Point

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Plenary Sessions

How to Know God’s Will for Your Life

42m

How Do You Know God’s Will for Your Life

47m

Discerning Providence

54m

Why is the First Commandment First?

41m

The Word and the World

47m

GYC SE 2012 Seminar: Young Revival

Casting the Vision for Your Life and Your Church, Part 2

1h

The Power of Next Steps

38m

How To Study the Bible and Know God’s Will For Your Life

1h 25m

You Were Made Queen for Such a Time as This

10m

Plenary

Victory in the Final Crisis

1h 11m

Plenary

Walking Through the Storm

1h 28m

Sound Doctrine