GYC 2014: At The Cross

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Raising the Remnant

Scott Ritsema

1. Schooled and Media-Addicted: The Out-Sourcing of Parenting and Its Tragic Results

2. What Successful Parents Do Differently: Spirit of Prophecy and Recent Research Meet Again – Part 1

3. What Successful Parents Do Differently: Spirit of Prophecy and Recent Research Meet Again – Part 2

4. How to Raise a Happy Unspoiled, Confident, Obedient, Thinking Child

5. Epigenetics, Courtship, Lust, Intimacy, Marriage, Sexuality… and Successful Parenting

6. The Trueprint: A Radical Vision for Training and Educating Your Children

This message was presented at the GYC 2014 conference at the Cross in Phoenix, Arizona.

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

Father in heaven, we thank you so much for the presence of your Holy Spirit.

We do ask for the presence of Jesus to be with us, that we might be learners, that we might gain insights and wisdom for our future and our present.

And Lord, as we deal with these sensitive issues, these important issues with regard to how they affect our families, we just ask for your Holy Spirit to do the teaching, that all of our thoughts and opinions would be set aside, and we would hear from you this morning.

They were about to cross the borders of the banks of the Jordan into Canaan.

And Balak tried to get Balaam to curse the Israelites, right?

Balaam did not curse the Israelites, he blessed them, right?

So what was Satan's next strategy and tactic to get the Israelites off their aim and goal of the promised land?

And now you read that just as in the days of ancient Canaan, it will be the same in the last days.

Listen to this statement from Review and Herald.

It says, the very same Satan is now working to weaken and destroy the people who are just on the borders of the what?

He has but little time left now in which to work and he will work with tremendous power to ensnare the people of God upon their weak points of character.

There will be women who will become tempters and who will do their best to attract and win the attention of men to themselves.

And so we have a prediction that in the very last days, right before the close of time, right where we're about to head into the heavenly Canaan, that the lust issue, the sexuality issue, will be coming in and derailing God's people.

Is this being fulfilled before our very eyes, literally, as we are assaulted day in and day out with sexual images, particularly preying upon men as the men of Israel were destroyed by this great temptation of Satan.

Now when you go back to the 10 Commandments, you find a very interesting statement that has actually a lot of skeptics have really made a big deal out of this.

And at a first glance, it's sort of puzzling.

It says that the Lord is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation.

And when you first read that, you wait, Wait a minute, that doesn't seem to, at first glance, harmonize with the statements in the Torah that say children should not be punished for their father's sins.

Or Ezekiel 18, which teaches the same thing, and you're going, wait a minute, scratching my head.

That the Lord knows what He's talking about, something is going on here, and my sense of justice is going to be ultimately weak compared to God's.

So I take it on faith that this is valid.

We now know from the science how that statement is valid.

Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.

Have you heard of the field of epigenetics?

Fascinating field of study, showing that your genetics that you received as an inheritance from your parents are not fixed.

You have a genetic code, but those genes express in different ways depending on various factors.

Choices, thoughts, diet, lifestyle, healthy living, all of these things change gene expression.

They don't actually change the code, but they change which genes turn on and which turn off.

So your genetic code is passed along to your children, but get this, these changes in your gene expression are passed on to your children and then subsequently grandchildren and great grandchildren.

What we've known from the Bible for thousands of years, now finally science is confirming.

And what does this have to do with parenting?

What does this have to do with the issues we're talking about today?

We read in child guidance, parents stamp their faults upon their children.

To the third and fourth generation, stamp their faults upon their children.

By the way, there's a good side to this too.

The flip side of the coin is when I overcome sin, when I gain victories in my life, when I have the joy of the Lord, and I have a healthy lifestyle, I pass those positive gene expression changes also along to my children.

And so as parents, it's not just our modeling that we talked about yesterday by living the life of Christ.

It's not just our parenting strategies that we talked about that will mold our children's character.

And this is why I really want to talk with those who haven't had children yet on this.

Because you guys and those folks who've had children are going, man, I already missed that boat.

The Lord will still do miraculous work in changing your children.

But those who have not had children yet, you guys have the opportunity to say, I'm going to gain those victories in my life now, before I have children.

White also wrote some things regarding this issue of passing along tendencies to our children that have puzzled people.

Back before we knew the field of epigenetics, she talked about the issue of self-abuse and these sorts of things and how they were going to be passed along to children.

And we, a lot of people have really questioned, you know, really all of these 19th century morals about self abuse and it's going to cause all of these ailments and physical deformities and deficiencies.

And people really made fun of her and other 19th century writers who were saying some of the same things.

But really what we now know from the science is that we know addictions run in families, first of all, but we also know that what the science is saying about the issue of masturbation in particular is really confirming everything that people have scoffed at for generations that you find in the spirit of prophecy.

I don't have time to go through them all.

In the full seminar called A Greater Lust, I have a whole session on this topic.

And I go point by point through all of the seemingly obscure things she says will result from this practice.

And point by point, they're all confirmed by modern science.

But how about just this 1 study by Cooper and Carnes, masturbating as little as 2 times per week has been shown to increase depression, memory problems, lack of focus, concentration problems, fatigue, back pain, and pelvic or testicular pain.

So if you're looking at A Solemn Appeal to Mothers by LNG.

White, if you've read that, you've seen many of these things coming up in spirit of prophecy writings that are also being confirmed just in recent research, 2001 and 2004.

You read in the book Wired for Intimacy by Dr.

William Struthers, masturbation is playing with neurochemical fire.

It affects 1 emotionally and neurologically.

So when we talk about the issue of lust, a lot of times we just leave it in the realm of pornography and what you're viewing with your eyes.

What we're reading here is that it's doing things in the brain physiologically regardless of what you're viewing.

We will be talking about pornography, but just the act in itself, we're hearing from, This is not an Adventist scholar.

This is a secular Christian, semi-Christian writer on the topic.

But here we see Satan tells the young that there is time enough yet, that they may indulge in sin and vice this once and never again.

This is the last time I'm gonna eat this.

How many times have we said things like that?

But that 1 indulgence will poison their whole life.

In this perilous day of evil, when allurements to vice and corruption are on every hand, let the earnest heartfelt cry of the young be raised to heaven.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?

And may his ears be open and his heart inclined to obey the instruction given in the answer by taking heed thereunto according to thy word.

If you want victory, if you want to cleanse your way, study Psalm 119.

Series

Raising the Remnant

5. Epigenetics, Courtship, Lust, Intimacy, Marriage, Sexuality… and Successful Parenting

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Biblically Correct: How to be Male in the 21st Century

6. Review and Your Questions/Testimonies

1h 10m

03 The Last Party: Judgment Must Come

56m

Bible Weekend

04 Cursing the Culture

54m

GLOW Rally 2010: Let There Be Light

Atmospheric Pressure

53m

Raising the Remnant

4. How to Raise a Happy Unspoiled, Confident, Obedient, Thinking Child

53m

Satan’s Not So Secret Weapon

55m

WYC 2012 Breakout Sessions

Overcoming As Christ Overcame, Part 1

1h

Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

2. Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

58m

Health & Family

The (Epi)genetics of Sin and Salvation: The 3rd and 4th Generation Effect

1h 28m

Jesus Friend of My Wounded Heart

Sexual Purity and Prophecy

1h 15m

Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

1h

For Women Only: Living a Life of Significance

3. Startlingly Clean in a Grimy World

1h

Sound Doctrine