GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

Faith Heroes Persevered as Though They Saw the Invisible

Erhard Gallos

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Jacob, Joseph, and Moses

Alright, so the next person that we are tackling here is is Isaac I think it is right.

So what else do we know about Isaac that we have not yet discussed?

As I got 2 sons namely Esau and Jacob, right?

So very good He was the older 1 right or the 1 who came first or who yeah who came out first so who was his favorite his mother's favorite was Jacob right although who prayed for the kids Isaac prayed for the 2 twins right and then he got his favorite in Esau and Rebecca got her favorite in Jacob right why why did why did I why did Isaac get his favorite in Esau what was he able to provide soup maybe it was a little bit of soup but a little bit more than soup right I love it I like I have my good student here so he tries to help me out.

What does the book of Hebrew not talk about?

By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future of Jacob and Esau.

And once again how did Rebekah try to help God?

Why is God, sometimes we are wondering Why is God not telling us what happens?

Why does He disclose to us what's going to happen?

Why does God not disclose to us the future?

Because whenever God discloses somebody the future, people think they need to help God.

And Rebecca says, hey, if the younger and the firstborn right is on Esau, so of course he must have been indoctrinated by his favorite mom to his favorite son.

So he steals that 1 because his mom has indoctrinated him, because God has disclosed the future to his mom.

And then, when the father is on his deathbed and he wants a little bit of meat because he was deficient in vitamin B12.

And she messes it so badly up that what happens?

He needs to go back where Abram came from to Haran.

But she doesn't see him again because she messed it up.

So do you understand why God sometimes doesn't disclose the future to us?

And the book of Hebrews nicely glosses over the whole tension.

Here the cheater grabs and steals and manipulates and da da da da da.

The book of Hebrews simply says by faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future of Jacob and Esau.

Let me tell Let me take you to chapter 12.

Who has a New King James or a King James Version Bible?

And listen to this story and then tell me what is the problem in this translation.

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, 14-17 and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for 1 morsel of meat sold his birthright.

For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

He seeks repentance with tears and could not find it!

So you, You see you put this together with the impossibility of repentance in Hebrews chapter 6.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened to be renewed to repentance.

Esau seeks repentance with tears but he could not Attain it.

What is the problem with the King James Version?

You get safe with the King James Version.

So don't think, Brother Gallus comes here and he destroys my beloved translation of the King James Version.

You keep that, but you need to understand that sometimes, some translations, like the King James Version, are based on the eclectic text.

New Revised Standard Version, American Standard Version, English Standard Version are built on the eclectic text.

The Texas Receptus on which the King James Version is built has manuscripts that are very late.

The Vice Standard Version has manuscripts that go early to the 5th, 6th century AD.

We have in some translations, all the manuscripts, the manuscripts on which the King James Version is built, are built on the Textus Receptus.

But you should understand that there is a difference between the Textus Receptus and the Eclectic Text.

Tischendorf, Westcott, Hort, Griesbach, all these scholars went and found old manuscripts on Mount Sinai.

I think last year there was a seminar at GYC, I think Dr.

Shepard gave it, on Bible translations, manuscripts.

Sometimes the New King James, or the King James Version, New King James is just an update from the archaic language of the KJV, is that it is not highly accurate.

Unless we read the story in the book of Genesis, if you just read that, and read once again verse 17, sir.

And listen to what the text says for you know that afterward when he would have inherited he is he saw he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears.

He found no place for it because he's although he sought repentance with tears.

So God doesn't grant you forgiveness of sin when you repent, right?

Conversations on Exodus

Thando Amankwah

Sikhu Daco

Esther Kim

Michel Lee

Amy Ratsara

Redeeming Egyptian Education for God’s Cause

I see a lot of head nodding, Tando, you've got something to say about scholarships.

So that was my reason for attending a secular university as well.

I mean, I was an international student, so growing up in SIT and having just finished my international baccalaureate diploma, I didn't consider Avenue Schools actually because of the financial sort of barrier.

So the schools I did apply to were schools that had financial aid and help and ended up getting into Harvard early and getting a full scholarship.

I think my parents were, you know, you don't even have, this is not a decision you even have to consider.

It's just, you have a full right to have it, just go.

I think what I didn't expect, though, was the ways in which I would both be a wilderness experience, but also where my faith grew the most.

And I think, I look back on that and I think, you know, God, I made the decision to go there preferably because God opened the door with the scholarship, but he really did send me there to grow my faith in ways I completely did not expect.

So I think it was such a blessing, getting involved in the campus ministry there, meeting some of these wonderful ladies, and it was just really the place where I grew personally and spiritually the most in my life.

We don't have pictures from when we first, first met, because Amy and I met in 2003, 434, well we were at that same GWA.

Yeah, February 2004, because as she said, she was part of a campus ministry, and they would do mission trips to other non-Aventist schools to be missionaries there, and I don't know, minister?

And so they came from University of Michigan to the Boston area and that's when I first met Amy as part of that mission trip.

Josephine who is not here was also there and that's when we first met.

So we don't go that far back to 2004, but we have, that is on the left, left is that side.

So that's me and Tondo right at the end of that picture when we were involved with a ministry called Alive.

And she was still a student and I had graduated.

And then the 1 on the right is, you see, if you look closely, you'll find me, all the way on the end in the blue, Tando in the back with a black shirt.

And you'll see Josephine is 2 people away from me.

And Michelle, no, Michelle, aren't you here?

OK, and then we went canvassing together.

These are just some shots from how we know each other.

All the way on the left, we went canvassing together in 2007.

Summer 2007 for the epic canvassing trip.

If any of you know Sebastian, that's him right in the center.

And you see Amy with the pose, and then I'm behind her, and Josephine is all the way at the front over here.

And then the picture down at the bottom, if you heard the morning devotional speaker, that's the guy right there.

And that's me hiding in the back, Josephine in the front, Amy over there, and then Tando next to Justin's lookalike, Albert.

Amy, Josephine, And Tando took a gap, took a year off of school to do a missionary training program where they train to be more effective missionaries on university campuses.

It's a program called Campus Missionary Training Program.

And the former leader of that program is sitting all the way in the back, Israel Ramos.

And if anyone has an interest in getting more training, I think they're still doing training, amen, Israel?

Amen, all right, see, I plugged you guys.

Michelle did the program as well, different years.

And that's them on a mission trip to California, where she was a student.

And they did the same thing they did when they came to Massachusetts.

0, okay, because we've got to bring Esther in.

I served on the board on the E-Com for GYC with Amy, and she stayed on and served with Tando and Josephine, I mean Tando and Michelle, and then we're fast forwarding a bunch of years, and that is I spoke at a new conference, a new is kind of a campus ministry network of students on the East Coast, and Esther here is in that picture somewhere, as am I.

But Esther, like, I couldn't find you, but I know you're there.

She's there in the masses, And she's the president of ANU, currently.

Yes, she's currently the president of ANU.

So we're kind of, we're connected through public campus ministry.

God has used this in our lives for spiritual benefit.

Scan the QR code if you'd like and you can type any questions or comments in there to be part of our conversation.

You said something, Amy, about a sermon you heard just before you went to University of Michigan about being a light.

And I'm curious if anyone here also had a sense of mission as they were going to their non-adventist school.

I know that I did, like I had a very distinct, it was for money that I went there, But in the process, before I got there, I remember I was on the flight from Zim to Massachusetts, and I journaled about the Waldensians, because I'd just read The Great Controversy the previous year.

And I journaled how God sent the Waldensians.

They would go out into these universities as missionaries.

And I remember journaling, no, I just, I reread the journal entry.

It was like, God, you're sending me to Wellesley to be a missionary on this campus.

Make me a Weldensian on this university campus.

And God abundantly answered that question, that request.

Yeah, I also felt that way going to Stanford.

I also wanted to go to Andrews and didn't.

So I guess we have that in common with each other.

But I also, you know, I felt that sense of mission.

I read those passages about the Waldensians in Alan White's writings, and in some ways it felt very true experientially to be alone in a secular setting, and that was 1 of the things that I probably struggled with the most.

And so looking back, I think 1 of the biggest lessons that I take away from that time is that mission needs to happen in community.

And the reason I decided to go to a school like Stanford is actually because I met Tondo and you and Josephine.

I was taking summer classes at Harvard when I was a high school junior or senior, and I'd never really been outside of my little village as it were and got to Boston and met these brilliant godly woman and I was like wow you can be godly and smart and look at what they're doing Like I went to some of the campus ministry meetings at Harvard and thought this is incredible.

Like Adventists actually can be in a non-Adventist space.

And so when I started applying for colleges the following year, I thought well, I was also doing the international baccalaureate program like Siku, like Tondo, and I thought, well, if I can apply, I will apply to these non-adventist schools.

And it really was my experience in Boston that summer before that inspired me to even consider that as an option.

Because I knew I wanted to grow spiritually in college.

I knew that I wanted to evolve and that I wanted to dedicate my life to God's work.

Like sometimes we think of being in secular spaces as being quite alone and lonely, and that is very true, and I think we should talk about how to address that.

At the same time, I think the inspiration for things like that and what really keeps us afloat is our network, even if we have friends who are far away and not in our immediate vicinity.

I'm gonna ask something that also coming out of your comedy.

Grace for the Broken: Finding Healing and Restoration Through God

Ann Hamel

Loren Hamel

Love as a Strategy

Take just in review of our sessions so far.

We started off this morning with Life is Beautiful.

There's more good in our world than there is bad.

I was so moved by it, even though I know his story and I've heard his testimony.

But even in Chad there's more beautiful than there is bad.

Our Father in Heaven's love permeates our world.

Life is beautiful, but in spite of that, bad things still happen.

And that impact can last a long, long time.

When bad things happen to a child, it impacts the developing brain of a child.

And that impact can last throughout their life.

It can cause long-term mental and physical health problems, chronic diseases.

If a person has experienced 4 or more ACEs, 4 adverse childhood experiences, It increases the rates of suicide attempts astronomically.

It lowers life expectancy, my reading is by 20 years, if it's 4 or more ACEs.

So the long-term impact of bad things happening can be huge.

But the best thing, the best news is that the long-term impact of a traumatic event is determined more by the level of care that 1 receives in the aftermath of the trauma than it is by the severity of the trauma itself.

And that is where we, as the body of Christ, have a role to play.

We can have an impact on how people's lives turn out when they go through bad things Things can hurt a long time but God created the mind to heal just as he created the body to heal.

And just as doctors do things to position bones, for example, to heal properly, there are things that we can do to help the mind to heal properly.

And I think it's important to remember that there are things that we can do as a church, as individuals, for ourselves and for others, but there are also times that we need to see a professional.

After our accident in Rwanda and when we came back to the States, well, even before, when I was in Belgium and I was crying all the time, they referred a psychiatrist to me to help me because I was so overwhelmed.

So I saw a psychiatrist in the hospital in Belgium, and then I saw a psychiatrist in the hospital in South Carolina.

Then I saw a psychiatrist in Atlanta, and then I moved to Andrews.

But in those 3 places, I didn't see a psychiatrist that had a faith and trust in God.

And the help that they offered was limited.

But when I went to Andrews, God arranged for me to meet with a Christian psychologist that helped me work through not only the emotional crisis I was in, but the spiritual crisis that I was facing.

And that's where my life calling came into place, where I saw a new mission field, not somewhere far away, but in the hearts and lives of hurting individuals.

And it is a sacred calling to enter into someone's private pain.

It's a sacred trust to be able to do that.

Today we're going to talk about what we can do as individuals and as a church to help people heal.

But keep in mind, it's also very, very valuable to work with a Christian mental health professional because Sometimes you need professional help.

I'm grateful for physicians and surgeons who can help us when we need physical help.

And don't be ashamed to seek mental health care when it's needed.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit.

Or do you know someone who is brokenhearted?

The Lord is close and he saves those who are crushed in spirit.

For I will restore health to you and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, physically and mentally.

What a treasure as Christians we have to have this verse.

Okay, trauma-informed care has 2 basic principles that we, as Christians, can use and acknowledge.

Recognition, it acknowledges and understands how trauma affects people's bodies, emotions, behaviors, and relationships.

So if somebody tells you their experience, the worst thing you can do is not believe it or to minimize it or discount it.

You know, the woman I told you about in the finance office in the hospital in Atlanta who said, God knows best, that was painful because it wasn't a good example of God knowing best.

We need to acknowledge the pain, acknowledge what happened, and the impact that it has on them.

And then the response, use that understanding to shape services in ways that create safety, build trust, support choice, and empower individuals in healing.

And we're going to talk more about that today.

And Anne mentioned the things in trauma-informed care that you should never do.

And we've emphasized this a couple of times.

You can do this with absolutely the best intent.

But it's incredibly important not to blame the individual.

If you hadn't gone there, if you'd have just been more careful, if you'd have dressed in a different way.

Those are all ways that transfer blame to the victim.

Anything that shames them, that minimizes their pain, that silences them.

It's very common, you just tell me the story, you need to tell me the story.

They'll tell you the story if they're comfortable, once they trust you, when they're ready and not before.

And even as health professionals, We're incredibly careful not to coerce a story.

But I will tell you, when they trust you, that story will flow almost always.

You know, if you're a safe place and a confidential, they know that you're there to listen and not to advise.

Often that helps make that story much easier to tell.

So those are some of the things you would not do in trauma-informed care.

By the way, the Trauma-informed care, this is just secular literature.

But I believe long before trauma-informed care, there was Jesus-informed care.

Long before we figured out the right way to take care of trauma victims, Jesus had it all correct.

There are another dozen or so in the New Testament where Christ ministered to folks that were in pain, folks that were suffering.

Now you just heard and described how, you know, recognizing that trauma and Responding to that trauma is kind of the principles of trauma-informed care, and you don't shame and blame and silence and coerce and minimize.

You probably can find 1 that is your favorite, 1 or 2 that's your favorite, and think about how Jesus interact with those who are suffering.

Think of the story and think, how did Jesus respond in a trauma-informed way?

So we would like you to divide into groups to do this.

And maybe it's not, choose 1 that's maybe not your favorite, but the 1 that you can relate to.

Because I remember when I was in Berrien Springs and I would deal with the pain of what had happened, I would go to the scriptures and I would personalize every trauma story I could.

The story of Joseph, you know, I saw 1 bad thing happen to him after another, but ultimately God was always there.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Jacob, Joseph, and Moses

40m

Redeeming Egyptian Education for God’s Cause

46m

Love as a Strategy

44m

04 What Are These Genealogies in the Bible There For?

43m

Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac

56m

It Still Hurts

48m

03 The Sanctuary and Prophecy

48m

07 A Heavenly Citizenship

30m

07 A Heavenly Citizenship

28m

Abel, Enoch, and Noah

56m

We All Have a Story

48m

02 Contemplating the Glory of God

1h 8m

Sound Doctrine