WYC 2013: Always Ready

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GYC West

WYC 2013 Plenary Sessions

Chad Kreuzer

Did God Actually Say? Always Ready with the Word

Sean Nebblett

The Power of the Personal Gospel

Anil Kanda

Who is the Lord? Always Ready for the Greatest Minds

Natasha Dysinger

The Power of the Pure Faith

Subodh Pandit

Good News

The Power of the Pure Heart

Fadia Kreuzer

What Shall I Do? Always Ready to Face Materialism

The Supreme Transaction

May We Know? Always Ready for Scholars

Joshua Nebblett

The Power of the Word Driven Life

How Can God Know? Always Ready for the End

I'm moved by the thought, the reality of just how huge you are this morning.

I'm moved in my mind by Isaiah's descriptions of the temple that you call your home, where when you open your mouth and speak, the very air turns to smoke because the air itself must praise you.

And angels, seraphim, the cherubim, the burning ones, they cover their their faces, they cover their feet at the sound of the thunder of your word.

And here, miracle of miracles, those words, we hold them between 2 black leather covers of a book.

Father I ask you to implant in us such an awe, such a respect for you and your word this morning that we will cover our faces, cover our feet, even as the angels do.

And I ask that in our ears, your word would be the thunder of high heaven to us this morning.

And I ask that we, by hearing it, by embracing it, by making it our own, would be transformed thereby.

And more than that, it is our claim, because you've told us to claim it.

You've told us 2 or 3 can come together and ask, and we will never, never be denied.

So let the word of God speak this morning and set me aside.

All right, I don't know if the original title to this message is anywhere on your documentation, but the original title was a simple two-word title, The Gospel.

But this morning I'm upgrading the title to 6 words.

1, because I think that it more fitly represents the essence of what we're talking about this morning.

And also because that's the format the rest of the titles will follow for the rest of the week.

So the title this morning is The Power of the Personal Gospel.

And I'm going to give you a thesis statement, if you will, right off the bat.

Because the gospel is a theme of such beauty and such complexity that there is no way it can be rightly delineated or described in 30 minutes.

It can be done in 30 days, but we only have 30 minutes this morning.

Before I beat around the bush and establish a bunch of supportive material and try to prove my point before I've given you my point.

I'm just going to tell you what I'm going to tell you.

Until the gospel becomes the reason why you are alive, you haven't tasted life.

Until the gospel becomes the reason why you are alive, you have not tasted life.

And I believe it is the intention of God that we should all taste life.

So join me this morning as I go back in my own mind to my office where I'm pacing, lion-like, over a little passage in Romans which we will address shortly forthwith.

And the dawn is just coming to light outside the windows on the East Wall, and I'm wrestling on my knees, on my feet, on my face, and I finally end On my knees before God saying, Lord, we have got to understand this.

This gospel, this grace, this truth, who you are.

Do we not need to understand who you are?

And then as a flash, it's like the pieces flew together in my mind, pieces from the scripture that we're about to open and others, and I understood, I saw it.

I saw that when the people of God understand who He is, really, the great controversy will be over.

That's probably what all the angels in glory would like to know.

For after all, the gospel is the story of God with us, yes?

And if God before us, who can be against us?

This king arrives to a stable, fresh from a farewell party in heaven, where all of heaven was wonderingly worshipping the 1 who spoke, And it was, who commanded, and it stood fast, this God who was always for us, and now He is God with us, and before He leaves, He promises that He will be God dwelling in us through His Spirit.

So if the Gospel is really the promise, yea, the fulfillment of this God with us, my question is this, why do we ever find ourselves alone?

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

This is the Son that shares glory with the Father.

The stars run in their courses, the planets spin in synchrony, and lo, the plan goes on, sustained by the heartbeat of the life of God itself.

And so, the frailty of humanity is linked with the inestimable power of the deity, of divinity.

And when the tempter catches God with us at his weakest human moment, he finds that his sophistries are still insufficient because the Word has come down and the world is no match for it.

But really, if the gospel is the undiluted power of the omnipotent God, Then why do I keep falling?

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

All things work together for good to those who love God.

Love claims the victory and the advantage over and over through the centuries.

And it snatches the prey from the mighty.

Out of weakness, makes men strong, waxes valiant in fight, turns to flight armies of aliens, made reference to that chapter last night, and all for a highly, highly undeserving race.

But again I ask, if the gospel is really the secret weapon of a benevolent empire, if it is really heroism at its best, the giving of life, if it is really both an end and a means, which means, which I fully espouse and agree with, then Why do I sometimes in secret or not so secret cooperate with the conspiracies of the dark side?

Why do I ever fall for the stupidity of sin and stoop to be selfish or rude or lustful or proud or hateful?

I'm going to answer that question with 2 more questions.

And for the first 1, The first question of 2, what is this gospel really?

So to answer the first 1, what is this gospel really?

I want you to turn to the book of Romans.

But I went to a Bible study once where at the end of the Bible study there was discussion, what shall we study next?

Someone suggested, oh, let's study the Book of Romans.

And immediately the consensus was, wait, if you're going to study the Book of Romans, we need to agree on our commentaries.

Because pretty much you can't understand the Book of Romans without commentaries.

And I'm here, wait, is this a Bible study or a commentary study?

I happen to think that God hides some of the clearest and simplest statements about himself.

In places like the book of Romans, which people look at and they're like, 000.

I think it's because the carnal and the careless shouldn't know.

But I think those of us who understand the love of God, when we put these difficult Bible passages against the concept, The construct of the love of God, suddenly they become utterly simple.

And we see the deepest things about who God is.

And it reads this way, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

For it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

Alright, now by means of explanation, By means of digging into this first a little bit, I want to just define a few terms.

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Series

WYC 2013 Plenary Sessions

The Power of the Personal Gospel

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Jessica Trinh Weekend

The Desire of Ages

39m

How to Grow Spiritually

Knowing Better

47m

It Is Finished

50m

Sanctuary for the Final Generation

59m

Evening Devotional

The Practical Nature of Scripture

1h 34m

Faith and Works

42m

Words of Wisdom for Workhorses

46m

Throne Exchange

30m

Fight or Flight?

53m

Restoration 2025: Revelation Speaks Life

Give Him the Glory

51m

WYC 2013 Plenary Sessions

The Power of the Word Driven Life

34m

Abraham and the Ancient Blood Path

57m

Sound Doctrine