SWYC 2014: What We Believe: Back to Basics

Plenary

Taariq Patel

GYC Southwest

The First Angel’s Message

I'm still trying to figure out how I ended up here, but God is so good to me.

I remember standing here, and I gave my testimony from here in 2012, I believe.

And since then, God has really blessed me, and he's carried me all the way through.

If you have your Bibles turn with me to Revelation chapter 14.

Revelation chapter 14 And let's look at the famous verses in 6 and 7.

And when you have it, let me know by saying, Amen.

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God, give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.

And as I pray, I just ask that you all pray for yourselves in your minds as I pray out loud and also say a word of prayer for me.

Heavenly Father, Lord, I am so thankful that this is your Word and it's not mine.

I am thankful, Lord, that you are faithful and true.

I am thankful, Lord, that your mercy endureth forever.

I'm thankful, Lord, that you look at the poor and needy and you set them up on the path of the just, Lord.

I am thankful, God, that you are our Redeemer and our Creator and the Lord that sanctifies us, Father.

And Lord, this Sabbath day, Father, your people are assembled and we cannot go any further without your spirit here with us.

And so, Lord, I ask in the name of Jesus that you would forgive us for our sins, dispel distractions, Focus our minds and our attention on what we need to hear this morning, Lord, only from your Spirit.

Prick our hearts where we need to be pricked, Lord.

I can't do it, and I'm thankful, God, For you are alone, God, and we all await on you.

And I thank you, Lord, for hearing this weak, flimsy prayer, God, and for honoring it, Lord, because you're faithful.

When Jesus said those words on Calvary, the case was closed.

As he hung there and then gave up the ghost after those words, all of heaven was rejoicing.

All of the universe, all of the unfallen worlds were excited, they were happy.

Because the accuser of the brethren, Satan, since the very beginning, since the rebellion in heaven, had pointed his finger to God, but right there at Calvary, the character of God and the character of Satan was right there in bold display in the eyes of all the universe.

His accusations were proven false as he killed the Son of God, who loved man with the depths of love that still cannot be grasped.

Eternity is not enough to understand that.

And Satan's character was there on display at Calvary.

So all that awaited him in his future when Jesus said, it is finished, was for sure fire and brimstone.

There would be no future support, no future sympathy from all these unfallen worlds.

But do you remember Elijah at Mount Carmel?

Do you remember when Satan was defeated there?

Or did he come through with Jezebel afterwards?

But just as Calvary crushed his head, Satan became this wounded animal to the point of death.

But like an animal that's wounded and he or she is in its death throes, it becomes more feral, more ferocious, more dangerous.

In Great Controversy, page 623, we're told that the shorter Satan's time gets, the greater his wrath.

And the time was ticking when Jesus said, it is finished.

He couldn't get Jesus, he couldn't get him to sin, so he directed all his attention to the woman, to God's people, God's church.

And so Satan raised up this dragon to persecute the woman.

The dragon symbolizes the secular powers, the kings, the rulers of this earth, and the pagan institutions.

And so Satan raised up pagan Rome to persecute this woman.

The persecution started, remember the Acts of the Apostles?

And as the woman grew, as she got stronger, she spread out either to the north and then to the west.

But it seemed that the more that this dragon persecuted this woman, she got stronger.

Because the blood of the martyrs ended up increasing, was water to the seeds for Christianity.

He switched up his guise and he morphed into another beast.

The very place where the woman was, a sea, meaning that it's a populated area.

And this beast received its power from the dragon, had the semblance of the dragon, it looked like the dragon, but had the cloak or guise of Christianity.

And now this beast got a little in on the inside, if you will, and once again, the mission was resumed.

You see at Calvary, when Satan's head was crushed, his main objectives was these 2 things.

I'm gonna persecute this woman, take her off the face of this earth, and I'm gonna deceive all the nations.

Because if I gotta burn, I'm gonna take as much people as I can.

If I gotta go, I'm gonna steal the joy that I used to have away from you.

Persecute the woman and deceive all the nations.

And this woman was sorely tried and persecuted.

And this was the time of the Protestant Reformation.

Although she was sorely tried, she was preserved and kept and nurtured and God kept her.

She had to flee even further to the west, over the Atlantic, and landed on the shores where the earth swallowed up the flood of the persecution.

The earth is a place that is not so heavily unpopulated like the sea.

But not too long after the woman arrived on the earth, there were many Puritans and many other people fleeing religious persecution and landed on the shores of this nation.

But not too long after the woman landed to the earth, did Satan once again switch his forms and form and morphed into another beast.

And I saw another beast rise up out of the earth, having 2 horns like a lamb.

But he didn't have the semblance of the dragon.

He didn't look like the dragon, but he had the heart of the dragon.

Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth what?

He had 2 horns like a lamb and spake as a dragon.

His outward facade is like Christ, because Christ is the lamb, a lamb-like beast.

But inside, he has the heart of the dragon, the heart of Satan.

Beware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are what, everyone?

Morning Devotional

Martin Kim

The Devotional Life of Jesus

Dear Lord, thank you so much for bringing us together, Lord, this morning, because you long to draw near to us and you long to bless us.

I just once again pray that you would rain down your spirit upon us.

I just pray that you would minister to our hearts and our minds this morning.

I just pray that you'd keep me hidden behind the cross and that Jesus would be seen, heard, and known this morning.

Notice this amazing statement from the Desired Ages.

We are told, through continual communion, what kind of communion?

Through continual communion, he received life from God, that he might impart life to the world.

And then Ellen White goes on to say this.

She says, his experience is to be our experience.

You know, as I see the news these days, I no longer believe that we are headed for the last days, I believe that we are in the last days.

And if we are serious about fulfilling the mission of the Adventist church which God has given to us, of course, we must know the basics, friends, but we must also have the experience of Christ when it comes to devotions.

The devotional life of Christ must become our experience.

Now, I want to share with you 2 paragraphs that precede the words up on the screen.

But before we go there, turn with me and your Bibles to John chapter 14.

There's an amazing promise that Jesus gives to us.

Jesus says, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these, he will do because I go to my Father.

And did the disciples realize the fulfillment of this promise during their lifetime?

We read the book of Acts, and certainly we can see how this promise was fulfilled.

And in Desire of Ages, Ellen White makes it clear that that Jesus when he made this promise he's saying that their that their work would have wider extent and not that their work would be of a more exalted character she makes that very clear Who is Jesus speaking to this morning as we read this verse?

We too are his disciples and I believe that 1 day Jesus is gonna fulfill this promise through us.

I want to share with you a couple of statements from the Design of Ages that Ella White makes about this amazing promise in John 14, verse 12.

She writes, The Savior was deeply anxious for his disciples to understand for what purpose his divinity was united to humanity.

He came to the world to display the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power.

God was manifested in him, that he, that Christ, may be manifested in us.

Jesus revealed no qualities and exercise no powers that men may not have through faith in him.

Then she goes on to write, his perfect humanity is that which all his followers may possess if they will be in subjection to God as he was.

Is it your desire to be in subjection to God as Christ was.

Because if so, his perfect humanity is that which all his followers may possess.

The Savior's promise to his disciples is a promise to his church to the end of time.

God did not design that his wonderful plan to redeem men should achieve only insignificant results.

Are you seeing significant results or insignificant results?

You know, sadly in a lot of churches in the NAD, the North American division, the average church is adding 3 members per year.

God did not design that as a wonderful plan to redeem men, should we achieve only insignificant results.

She goes on to say, all who will go to work, trusting not in what they themselves can do, but in what God can do for and through them, will certainly realize the fulfillment of his promise.

Greater works in these shall ye do, he declares, because I go unto my father.

How many of you want to realize the fulfillment of this amazing promise?

If we went to work trusting not in what we ourselves can do But in what God can do for and through us, would we be following the example of Jesus?

All these texts come from the book of John.

Jesus, speaking of himself, said, "'The Son can do nothing of himself.'" John 5, 19.

And then John 5, verse 30, he says, "'I can of myself do nothing.

"'My judgment is righteous "'because I do not seek my own will but the will of the father who sent me John 638 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will.

So when you look at the life and ministry of Jesus, we see a life of utter dependence on the Father.

Jesus lived a life of entire submission to the Father's will.

Jesus was nothing and God was everything.

How many of you want to be nothing so that God can be everything?

Is Jesus calling us to live a life of utter dependence and to follow His example?

Because Jesus went to work trusting not in what he himself can do but in what what the Father could do for him and through him, it is for this reason that Jesus spent so much time in prayer.

So if we want to realize the fulfillment of this promise in John chapter 14, 12, it's only going to happen as the devotional experience of Christ becomes our devotional experience.

Now, I wanna share with you some words by Ian Balanz before we actually get to the 2 paragraphs that precede that statement that I put on at the very beginning of the message.

Ian Balanz has written many books on the subject of prayer.

He pretty much touches on every aspect of prayer.

In his book, Weapon of Prayer, he writes, prayer is the language of a person burdened with a sense of, what do you suppose goes into that blank?

Prayer is the language of a person burdened with a sense of need.

It is the voice of the beggar conscious of his poverty asking of another the things he needs.

It is not only the language of lack but a felt lack of lack consciously realized.

Prayer is the language of those who need something, something which they themselves cannot supply, but which God has promised them, and so they what?

In the end, poor praying and prayerlessness amount to the same thing.

For poor praying proceeds from a lack of the sense of need, while prayerlessness has its origin in the same soil.

Not to pray is to declare there's nothing needed and to admit there's no realization of a need.

This is what magnifies the sin of prayerlessness.

Did you know that prayerlessness was a sin?

It represents an attempt at instituting an independence of God, a self-sufficient ruling of God out of the life.

It is a declaration made to God that we do not need him and hence do not pray to him.

This is the state in which the Holy Spirit in his messages to the 7 churches in Asia found the Laodicean Church.

Breakout Session 5

Laurel Damsteegt

Gender Roles and Ordination

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you very much for your continuous care over your church.

We know that your church is the apple of your eye, that you are watching over it, but we also know that we have trouble as times ahead.

Oh Father we pray that anything said today will only glorify you so we go through your word please guard my mouth guard my thoughts and may everything be very clear and we pray that you will truly be our best friend always as we lean on you in Jesus name amen.

I have a lot of friends that are pro-ordination and I would feel very badly if I in any way I hurt their feelings today and so I just want to say that this is something that we have to be really really sensitive to There are many people who love the Lord with all their hearts and have differing opinions.

And so, 1 thing that I've really done sometimes is, When I am feeling a lot of turmoil inside, especially about issues and about situations, it really, really helps me if I spend time praying for each person individually.

People that I disagree with and maybe rightfully so or for whatever reason it doesn't mean that I need to personally feel upset towards them and I encourage you to be the same.

Jesus bled at his enemies hands and you and I can bleed.

It's okay to feel really really bad but always just like Jesus did always pray always pray by name for different people that you disagree with.

So for 2000 years men have been leaders and ministers and elders.

Women have been earnest believers, followers, workers, not ordained but just the same, working completely alongside husbands, pastors, and in situations.

With the French Revolution, society pretty much took a total different turn.

A lot of things were unleashed at the French Revolution.

That's why it has its own chapter in Revelation, chapter 11 in Revelation, because of all the important things that actually changed.

All of life changed after the French Revolution.

French Revolution had an impact on feminism.

At that time, atheism and agnosticism rose.

Not that there wasn't any before that, but it rose.

Humanism and a debunking of God's word happened.

Higher critical methodologies started coming out, but were later popularized by liberal Protestants.

Not too many years later, 1844, the Adventists came to the fore.

When the churches changed, when they rejected truth, we are told that they became Babylon.

1 aspect of their change was the way they interpreted scripture.

Because they had their hopes so set on the second coming, they earnestly longed for the second coming.

They were so disillusioned when the second coming didn't happen.

And when you have an extreme disillusion of that sort, you have to realign how you interpret everything.

Because if your sweetest spiritual experience has been tied up with the Advent movement, then how do you go back to the Bible again?

And If Jesus didn't keep his word and come, how do you figure that all out?

And so early Adventists had a real struggle trying to come through with all that.

And so historicism, The way you interpret prophecy with a historical methodology, like Seventh-day Adventists do, took a real hit.

And that's why historical critical methodologies came in.

Then you get your futuristic views, where everything goes to the future.

And so scripture took a real hit in the way it was interpreted.

So you get futurism and preterism and higher criticism coming in at that time.

Shortly after that were the first ordinations of women outside the Seventh-day Adventist church.

The spiritualists were among the first to introduce women ministers.

Women's liberation takes on the cause later on.

And later on, still, the thrust was to get rid of male leadership, not so much get rid of, but at least put it on an equal 50-50% plane and encourage and promote lesbianism.

In the SDA church, we began having a series of studies.

The first study was in 1973 called Mohaven.

This was a camp similar to this, only in Ohio.

And at this point, our church came to start to study the whole picture of whether elders, ministers were the same.

And a whole group of scholars from Andrews University went there and other scholars from around went to there.

I have a personal letter from her, which she explained some of the proceedings there and how she was very much against women's ordination of any type, but the chairman came to her personally and said, would you go along with trying, a trial basis of trying women's elders?

Would you be willing to try it and see how it works?

And she said, well, she would go with the committee if that's the way that they wanted her to.

And so she went ahead and didn't, it wasn't an official vote she gave, she just assented.

And up to this time, it has never been restudied.

It was not, never validated in general conference in session, only at annual council.

Okay, And so this is a true fact and I can supply you with the the facts there.

1975 the General Conference had Another commission to find out if ordination was biblical, 1985.

Again, another general conference discussion in 1989, Caheta Springs.

Because of tax issues, it was decided that all elders may marry and baptize.

Now you say, what does that have to do with the IRS?

IRS shouldn't be getting involved in our theological questions, but this is how it worked.

Because Seventh-day Adventist ministers get a benefit, a parsonage allowance, a benefit, the parsonage allowance.

If you don't have, if you are not baptizing and doing marriages, then you can't get this benefit.

And there were a lot of young elders that should be able to get this parsonage allowance.

And so because of the tax issue, all elders at that time were allowed to marry and baptize, which allowed women to marry and baptize.

They put forward a statement, which was actually voted in 1990 at the Indianapolis General Conference.

And the statement there was that women could essentially do all the things that pastors do, marry, baptize, and all, but not be ordained.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

The First Angel’s Message

59m

The Devotional Life of Jesus

33m

Gender Roles and Ordination

1h 12m

Women In Ministry

55m

The Dark Secrets of Feminism

1h

By Every Word

1h

Fire Drill

42m

My Kind of Malachi

46m

Entertaining Strangers

40m

Not What I Want

43m

Tell Them Now!

58m

No Greater Love- Communion Message

15m

Sound Doctrine