Dean Cullinane // The Great Gates of Hell

[Music] [Applause] [Music] hello and welcome to GYC in Louisville Kentucky I'm Jason Bradley and I am Tim Parton and we are so excited that you could join us here you know Tim one of the things that I love about GU I see is that there's so many young people that are dedicated to ministry to serving Christ to learning more about Christ and to just spreading the gospel I mean they're committed to being here that's what GYC is about it's all about the youth and they are truly on fire it's an overcast chilly night rainy but this place is hot and it's going to get hotter that's right the message is going to be hot tonight that's right how was it last night last night's message if you missed that you're going to want to go to three avians youtube channel coming up it's going to be posting pretty soon but it's a wonderful message on calling us to stand out be apart separated from cry from the world and when we blend in with the world we we look strange to heaven so so it's a really a dynamic speaker Dean : he is the host of the podcast why they did that and I was listening to some of the podcasts today if you don't know how to do the podcast thing I encourage you to ask your children or your grandchildren to help you with that but it's dynamic message and he's so relevant to the the youth it's a great message so tonight is going to be on the great gates of Hell so it's going to be good I'm sure it's gonna be another powerful powerful message definitely definitely it sounds like what were you gonna say I was going to say I hear music and i'm musically challenged they're musically gifted so what do you think we should I think there's power in the blood we encourage you to enjoy the evening and listen to the great singing great messages and enjoy it alright and in the midst of all the pain and suffering and hatred it's such a wrote a refreshment to know that there is a comforter that the Holy Spirit is there to comfort us to help us to be with us and to fill us with his love let's sing sweet sweet spirit sweet sweet spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do you believe Jesus is coming soon do you believe it with all of your heart you know in these times as as the world is growing increasingly secular and losing their hold on God now is the time more than ever to stay faithful to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to stay faithful amen join with us in singing oh brother be faithful oh brother be faithful [Music] Jesus we are Oh [Music] says she's such a man [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] amen let's stand for our theme song our Prince's call [Music] [Music] years on [Music] [Applause] [Music] and then you may be seated good evening how many of you have been blessed today a man from this morning in the prayer room with so many of you to the inspiring seminars and breakout sessions to meeting so many new friends throughout the day I have felt the Holy Spirit present here today and I am very thankful as we begin tonight's program I invite you to bow your heads with me for a word of Prayer father we thank you so much that you have brought us to another GYC and we praise you for the opportunity we've had to learn so much today and to see your love in a clearer way we pray now that as we begin our evening meeting that your Holy Spirit would be here and that you would speak to our hearts and that as we worship you you would teach us how to worship you in both spirit and in truth and that our praise would be acceptable in your sight we love you in Jesus name Amen good evening GYC so I know it kind of sounds like a broken record but I don't think we can say it enough how many of you have been blessed tonight amen it's been an incredible day and I am out here I want to share with you a verse it's second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7 and it says every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give not grudgingly or out of necessity for God loveth a cheerful Giver so let me ask you this does God need our money probably not right because by many or by few dollars God will still work amen so then why does he ask us to give and I posit to you I believe that when you experience something amazing when you experience something joyful you have to share it you want to share it with everybody with the people around you and God he knows exactly how much joy he receives from giving and isn't it amazing that he also wants us to experience that same joy with him that he wants us to partake in this act of giving that is so joyful and happy to him and so today I implore you that's out of and as we purpose in our heart to give to this idea this movement of GYC that God may work in a powerful way but that we may also experience this joy as well and so you might ask how do I give well you're in luck because there are several ways one you might notice that you have these envelopes on your seat or near you and so these can be used for cash or cheque we also live in 2020 amen we are blessed to live in the future and so we have this new app I'm sure many of you are familiar with it you've been using it yeah it's called a ten defy and if you look on the tab there at the very bottom there's a tab for donations and so you can go to donate and it will go there and additionally there's a there's a slide on the screen that I believe you guys have been seeing and if you text go give and the amount to the number 3 1 3 1 3 1 so that's 31 31 31 then you can also give in that way as well and so I'd like to invite the ushers to come forward and I also invite you to bow your heads with me for a quick word of Prayer Heavenly Father God we thank you for giving us this wonderful day Lord we thank you for giving us such amazing experiences and opportunities today and Lord we thank you for wanting to share the experience of giving with us lord I pray that as we give out of our heart and as we Lord give to this ministry father I pray that you will not let it come back to you void or that it will come back to you empty but Lord that you will take it and that you will use it in ways that we cannot even imagine lord I pray that you will take what little we have and Lord though we be me maybe though we may be many or we may be few father I pray that you will use us in an amazing way Lord we thank you for the things that you've given us for the blessings that you have already shown and the blessings that you will continue to give this you I see we thank you and we pray all these things in Jesus name Amen good evening everybody I'm so excited to share that well you may have arrived yesterday or the day before there was a group that came for pre GYC conference and we wanted to share a short message with you [Music] the first person I want to introduce to you is Maha Maha tell me where are you from and what do you currently do for work so I am syrian originally and I work as a caseworker and sponsorship developer at Kentucky refugee ministries as a caseworker what are you doing for Refugees so I outreach to churches faith community groups organizations to co-sponsor our families for the first three months of their resettlement so you help families get integrated and assimilated into the American culture especially for the refugees who recently arrived recently in the past year there's been five or so families from the Congo can you tell me a little bit more about what did you learn once you knew more about these families so I received the arrival information of five families who are seventh-day Adventists who were supposed to arrive to Louisville and then I looked and searched at the internet and I found some seventh-day Adventist churches here so I outreach to them by showing up on Sabbath unexpectedly to Middletown seventh-day Adventist Church and I talked to some members of the congregation who actually warmly welcomed me and I asked them to co-sponsor these one of these families so maja works for a nonprofit organization that helps refugees get resettled but she quickly learned that they were all seventh-day Adventist refugees so then you went and knocked on these church's doors by showing up on the Sabbath you did some research you connected with a local church and then they invited her to a board meeting in which they approved to sponsor a family praise the Lord and that's how I got connected to you because when I was praying about how can we reach vil I was talking to the local churches and one church said we have a contact we want to connect you with maja so this week what happened in the homes of three refugee families so I went with this amazing group of people who I'm really honored to know every one of them they've been to the houses of three Congolese family seven day Adventists they've been cleaning fixing stuff in the house buying things for them vacuum cleaners fans lamp light I'm so amazed by the enthusiasm the energy the honesty that I've experienced this is a rich experience for me more than for them and thank you so much for doing that you're really making this world a better place thank you so if you show this if you look at the screens we can show a few of the photos of what the young people did this is a photo of one single mother and this is some of the photos of what happened and we cleaned very practically it was it wasn't very difficult we just did the task at hand and then we also dropped 8,000 tote bags throughout the whole city of Louisville asking for donations to give to refugees that would benefit the refugees that you serve so these five Congolese refugees will greatly benefit by the outreach that we're doing tomorrow when you guys go pick up those tote bags back up now onto my next interview I just wanted to share about more about how we can serve using our hands and feet so who are you and how did you get involved my name's I'll stop and we have a ministry called building restore and we have something that we like to share with people it's called physical evangelism how we can work with our hands and feet in ethically coming to support our local churches our schools and places of community impact so if we can queue on some of the photos of the young people fixing a local church that needed a lot of TLC tender love and care this is a before and this is the after complete transformation what's been your experience when you transform churches we have seen that not only the building itself but the people that are involved the volunteers the staff at the church as well as the members they are impacted again and again as they come to a church building that's now fresh and clean and ready to receive the community as we build our local church it reminds us of our own task to reach out to the community thank you so much oh stop for the work that you're doing amen our last my last interviewee where are you from and how many G ycs have you been to hi so my name is Tiffany this is my very first GYC and I'm from Orlando Florida so it was your first time to GYC and you decided to come to a pre-conference um what have you learned in your experience coming here Wow well there's so much I have learned but I do want to say that out of all the years that I have been an adventist I never knew that there were young people such as these who cared so much and wanted to serve God so willingly so I just want to thank God for that and just service I was so humbled to be a part of this group each young person on this stage brought a special dynamic to our mission trip and we were able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time I see there is a hot pink trash bin next to you can you explain what that's all about yes okay so this trash bin will be placed at local seventh-day Adventist churches in the community and they will be placed there so families who are want to donate their tote bags can place them in these tote and these trash bins because we may not be able to reach all of the doors tomorrow yeah so tomorrow outreach is gonna be right Outreach Training is gonna start at 10:30 what time so that means you need to be here by 10:15 and before you come on on the outreach training right here please use the restroom first and um you also if you are not going on outreach you need to stay in the hall until everybody has left for outreach we hope to see you we're excited to go back into the community to serve it willingly and to benefit refugees in Louisville blessings so for a number of years we have been trying to stress the idea that geo IC is not just a conference so UIC is more than a conference do UIC is a generation of youth who are sold out to Christ amen hey man do you I see is you and so part of that this year is we're trying to do something new we're trying to encourage every single participant here to be involved in something that could be life-changing and so this year we thought we would print a little card which you're gonna see at the GIC booth and many of the exhibits and really what this is all about is it's a GUI see beyond card because when you come to GUI C you don't just come for a mountaintop experience you can to be propelled into the future doing something together with God and so on this card we have a number of commitments we encourage you to take a look at it but what's gonna happen is as you are here if you make any kind of commitment you're gonna get one of these cards you're either tomorrow or if you pick one up at the one of the exhibits and when you take one of these cards you fill it out and then we're gonna encourage you to go to the GUI see booth because we have a big wall that we've set up now you'll recognize this wall it's got a big map on the one side and and on the back it says my commitment and the whole idea is that you you take the stub that you fill out you tear it off and you pin it to that wall because we want to celebrate every single commitment for Jesus committing to Jesus is not a small thing committing to mission to dedicating your life for something more it's not a small thing and so one other thing that we've we've set up is is what we have right here you're probably asking the question what in the world is there a big gong on the stage for Caleb tell us a little bit more about what we're doing here if you fill out that card and you put it on the board you get to ring the gong is what I've been told okay so that correct so yes that's exactly right you decide that you want to give your life to Jesus or you want to go out and do missions a short-term long-term mission trip you get to come to the GIC booth plan up your commitment and then you get to come and hit the gong so I filled out one of those cards can I ring the gong oh absolutely alright then what to do this so we want to we want to carry this ringing throughout the evening tonight and tomorrow symbolizing the commitments made by each person it's really annoying yes all right amen thank you Eric so for those opportunities for service for commitment we have a number of things in the exhibit hall I want to talk about two of them here this evening first of all glow now we all know what glow is amen have you shared glow with anyone today amen but Alex we have something new that you've been cooking up what is that actually we have created a new opportunity along with a glow to allow passionate Adventist to be engaged in full-time colporteur are canvassing as a career weight full isn't that just like a summer program thing usually you know you would think it's a summer program but it used to be that you would go to a church and you could probably point out the multiple canvases within that church but unfortunately we see that the work has sort of died and people sort of tend to think of it as well let me try everything else and if all else fails and I'll go ahead and just be a literature evangelist but the reality is that God desires to give us success in this work in fact we are told in the spirit of prophecy according to Ellen White she says I have been instructed that the canvassing work is to be revived and that is to be carried forward with increasing success and when we read this in the spirit of prophecy we can't help but get excited and did you use the word career earlier yes I did this is something you can act could you do this for like 30 years as a career is that even possible you could actually and I think the reason why you ask that is because you might be thinking that the paper happes is not the most ideal pay but interestingly enough we've actually had some of our first canvassers average around $600 a day in some cases and so we see that God is really using people and in fact the person who we asked to initiate this program decided to take a pay cut and instead of canvassing he decided that he would simply help out the initiation of this program there's purpose to that so doing this for 30 years as a career yes there's so much meaning in that now so you've started this already is there any testimonies yes in fact my friend was knocking on doors not too long ago and he actually came across a door and a woman opened up and she said I don't have time my family and I are watching a soccer game please come back another time so my friend said well let me go ahead and talk to your husband so the husband came out and he said hey man my wife already told you we're busy we're watching a soccer game my family's over and my friend said hey look do you think that the soccer game is more important than your health so the man sort of thought about that he sort of disarmed and then he told my friend all right come in so after my friend came in the man all of a sudden just shut off the TV and he told his family well this guy is here to present and the family was mad so they got up and left so in the living room was only my friend the man and his wife and so as he began to present these materials he actually began to present the health materials the health books the man said wow this is exactly what I need in fact just two weeks ago I had a stroke and I think I need to regain my health again but then when my friend actually began to show him the Bible books the man said but the spiritual the spirituality is what I really need and so then the man actually purchased four hundred and fifty dollars worth of books he signed up for personal Bible studies shortly after that my friend Oleg who knocked on that door followed up he began to attend church every Sabbath with his family and about a year and a half later he decided to make a commitment for baptism and to this day he is an active member in the Adventist Church a man so how do we get involved if you're interested in learning more about colporteur trade academy you can visit colporteur trade academy.com or you can visit us at the Glo booth which is the booth 110 call porter trade academy it's a direct comm and which booth 110 Amen thank you Alex pastor not so Adventist review you've been doing some interesting things now you always say that the admins review is the first up in the evidence Church why do you say that I wish James white could see what's happened to that little magazine that he founded a long time ago 170 years ago James White was at heart a spiritual entrepreneur always leaning toward the latest technology when that was a hand press he chose it when there was a steam press he chose it at every occasion he leaned forward to the newest and most progressive ways of getting the gospel out well that's what we've been doing Wow in the magazine he found it 170 years ago we've been adding people who have unusual sets of talents that can enrich God's ministry and serve God's church even if they don't look like a hundred and seventy year old magazine Wow now you've been doing a new initiative lately it's called the church I want to belong to what is that all about it's temptingly easy right now to point out the deficits of our church and there are a lot of people who spend a lot of time doing that they want to focus on that portion of Ellen White's statement in which she describes the God's endtime Church as enfeebled and defective but she goes on to say that it is still the apple of God's eye and and it's that testimony that we've been bringing forward in a series we call the church I want to belong to and every month across all our platforms Adventist review Adventist world videos social media podcasts we add a new adjective the church I want to belong to is healthy the church I want to belong to is courageous the church I want to belong to is safe the church I want to belong to is prophetic the church I want to belong to is founded on Scripture we want to raise the sights of young adults and God's people everywhere to the church God is calling us to be amen now you've got these postcards here tonight I was looking at it it says you're looking for young people with passion talent or interest that you can collaborate with them on what in the world is that all about every one of you probably has a cell phone right in front of you right now take it out text - the information listed there text the letters AR - the number there if you have a talent and interest to passion it may not fit in the traditional pastor teacher nurse doctor frame that we've been in you might be a web designer you might be a graphic designer you might be an author you might be a podcast developer you might be a videographer photographer all of these skills are needed by Adventist review ministry and needed by God's church I'm an engineer could you use me I could use you the last few hires we've made a former vice president of Turner Broadcasting a user experience manager from Delta Airlines and a real estate entrepreneur that's the kind of people with passion for God's work and God is bringing them into the ministry of this last day Church in order to stretch us and grow us for what he wants us to be amen thank you Pastor not Thank You friends last night we were reminded of how Christ does indeed understand and can relate to the experiences the trials temptations that we face amen when we think there is no way forward we can remember that he too knows what that feels like but he also went much further than that amen I've often wondered what Heath was thinking when he chose to throw himself in front of that death decree for me spotless was he born and spotless was he torn for me as he faced complete separation from his father the father that he had been with for eternity have you been separated but something from someone you love a relationship broken a death Christ experienced that exponentially so much so that it broke his heart he died of a broken heart for me let's contemplate that as Shaina shares this song with us this evening [Music] what was he thinking that day throwing himself the way [Music] the dead it was meant for me I should have been on that tree [Music] my sins and who saved me by His grace he could have called thousands of angels but instead innocents died from me nailed to a cross on Calvary spotless was he boo and smartness was he torn for me he gave me his life despite the pain [Music] besides the coins and I am so scarred a countenance that's been so much his side because he died [Music] and toward the Christ Hill [Music] he thought of the reward he thought of you gave the power to choose [Music] thousands of angels but instead spotless why's he born in spotless white he taught for me he gave me [Music] besides the thorns and the ham so scarred a countenance that's been sold because he died the protein he knelt in you and me I want to bring my [Music] and spies [Music] it's no meemaw's but just reject me knowing my children would not accept me but knowing I'd be with my pride I chose to die innocence died from me no to my cross on Calvary spotless was he born and smartness why's he torn from me he gave me [Music] a countenance that's been so muddy water from inside because he dry of a broken because he died of a broken [Music] he chose to die of a broken [Music] Kanoe can we say aloud he meant that beautiful message in song amen one of the verses that we were claiming this morning as we gathered together in the prayer room at 5:45 was this beautiful verse in Luke 11 verse 13 if he then being evil knows how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit or than that ask him friends a lot of people's lives have been changed in the prayer room and one of those friends I call her not my friend right now but my sister his life has been changed in the prayer room is my sister Nestle how many times have you been in in GYC so this would be my third year here why do you keep on coming back to G why so what is your favorite part of GYC United prayer no doubt about it yes we might spare a couple of minutes in the morning but you come out of there feeling so blessed tell them about what you have told me how United prayer or help intercessory prayer change your life of course so three years ago I was a very lukewarm Christian I had made decisions that took me away from God so far away that when I came to my first UIC I didn't feel like I belong here I felt a hypocrite I felt a fake and soon on onward I started getting spiritual warfare everything that could go wrong went wrong it was so bad that I wasn't only ready to leave GYC but I was ready to leave the church I wanted to tap out but in those dark moments Jesus reached out to me and I was convicted and I realized that the only way that we could overcome Wester prayer so I ran them I bolted I bolted to the prayer room and at that moment I saw Jem and I begged for some prayer I just knew that that was something that I could not do alone soon on after intercessory prayer started and I can tell you after that day after that last I was reminded of who I belong to the King of Kings my father and he promised me that there was so much more in that that identity of being a hypocrite he could change amen so what happened to you afterwards yeah so a huge transformation I load a lot of thing go I had to be all-in for Jesus I soon started volunteering for the Pathfinders and adventurous group at my local church and not only that but recently we have a small movement going on with a young adults the seventh-day Adventist Church back in Milwaukee Wow so I know that some of the people here that the Lord has brought to GYC has the same situation like you were in three years ago by the way friends three years ago this is not the same person that I'm spending time with right now it's a totally different person so what is your message for them yes so if anyone is feeling in those same shoes if you have one foot in one foot out if you are doubting your faith if you feel like nope I shouldn't have come here at UIC let me tell you you are not alone I welcome you to open your hearts and let Jesus come in please come to prayer and it's okay for you to ask for help look around you look to the person next to you we can pray for you and we can intercede with you and I promise you not not only did God change me but he can change you as well amen from the person who needed prayer is now the one giving prayer amen so this time we'll spend only a few a few seconds of prayer while my sister Abigail and my brother Austin will lead us into a song please sing with us and let's spend a few seconds in prayer let's be on our knees please join us oh my god let me see your strength in moments I can't feel you oh my god let me know the length your parents ego to grant me the victory that's not in my hands I'll trust you to help me to stay [Music] you [Music] yes their father we cannot do it without you so lord I pray had you please pour your spirit upon us help us to cling upon you help us to run to you the way that woman ran to Jesus and touched the hem of His garment give us the courage give us the strength to reach out we ask this in the name of Jesus and me the victory that's not in my hands I'll trust you to help me amen [Music] I've tried to stand my ground I've tried to understand but I can't seem to find my favor again like water on the Sun or grasping at the wind I keep on falling short so please [Music] my strangeness I don't have anymore I don't have [Music] I'm looking for a place where I can plot my faith one thing I know for sure that I cannot create I cannot sustain it it's your love that's keeping me [Music] my strength [Music] I don't know [Music] and my final breath I hope that I can say I fought the good fight [Music] I pray your glory shines through this dancing heart of mine and that you [Music] you [Music] you [Music] my you you keep bringing me back [Music] [Applause] it's you [Music] you keeping me back [Music] [Applause] good evening GIC I hope that you had a major blessing at the seminars today and that you're ready for outreach tomorrow amen amen young people rightly trained can change the world amen do you believe this I believe that education is paramount to the success of our church the seventh-day Adventist Church has associations with over 8500 educational institutions with over 1.95 million students across the world you can believe in those statistics I got them straight from Wikipedia of all the churches in the world that we have the largest network of educational institutions behind only the Catholic Church but friends numbers are not enough we have a mission the true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul and working within education I see just how difficult this can be this is something that we cannot do in our own strength many months back in preparing for this message I came across a quotes by the great German reformer Martin Luther he says I am much afraid that the universities will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the hearts of the youth I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount every institution in which men are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God shall become corrupt from the title for this evenings message is the great gates of hell let's pray father in heaven we pray for your presence for your spirit and for your power in Jesus name Amen I believe that Adventism is very identity can be found in the three angels message the everlasting gospel can you say Amen you cannot discuss the history nor the presents the present of our church without this chapter it is absolutely fundamental to who we are to what we are to when we are and why we are and I think that we would do our best at putting it to memory for it is in the first angels message when the words fear God and give him the glory for the hour of his judgment has come that Josiah Fitch was awakened that William Miller was given added impetus to preach the message of the Lord and at the hand that heralded the birth of the great Advent movement and the white stated that the theme of greatest importance is the third angel's message embracing the messages of the first and second angels all should understand the truths contained in these messages and demonstrate them in the daily life for they are listened to this essential to salvation what does this have to do with education friends sister white says that the true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul that is the gospel the third angel's message is not a complex one it is about receiving the seal of God in the mind it is about the mind being transformed into the very mind of Christ and that my friends is also the work of Education it was envisioned in 1872 that Ellen White wrote it comprehends speaking of Education the practice of temperance of godliness of brotherly kindness and love to God into one another and in order to attain this object the physical the mental the moral and religious education of children must have attention friends I hope that this is not new to you but I fear that it might be the purpose of Education and the purpose of school is to save souls your soul your friends soul your classmates all your teachers soul and your community so God can save by few or by many but he has blessed us with such educational institutions because his desire is to save by many this is why the very first Adventist schools were erected with this missionary focus yesterday offer language courses of course so that you could communicate the gospel effectively did they offer practical trade training yes so that you can support yourself in the gospel work Adventist education had a focus a mission a theme with such an army of workers as our youth rightly trained might furnish how soon the message of a crucified risen and soon coming Savior might be carried to the whole world friends I ask you does that exist today do our schools bear the name of this god-given movement do they still have the full this philosophy built into the dorms does it bring focus to the classroom doesn't unite the student body in mission I fear that at times it does not the quote that I just read concludes how soon might come the end the end of suffering and of sin but it seems to me that sometimes the goal of education looks like it's not to get rid of sin and bring this well to an end but rather to make our experience in it more comfortable as the great reformer melanchthon once said religion cannot be maintained without schools and if you're on the opinion that the church may be struggling then by default our educational institutions cannot be reaching the goals and standards that heaven desires a brief history mind you is littered with great schools that eventually lost their greatness some of which don't even exist anymore if you trace the lines through history if you look at places such as Battle Creek if you look at Madison if you go even before the advent movement and look at Bible schools such as Oberlin College and a little further back even Harvard you will see a pattern and a trend when these educational institutions ceased in making the Scriptures their core textbook God's blessing upon them also slowly ceased friends when sociology begins to Trump theology we are sliding down the slipperiest of slopes over time many of our great Protestant universities dispelled their Christian undertones in favor of funding and worldly acclamation in testimonies volume 5 we're told that the Lord never designed that our colleges should imitate other institutions of learning the religious element should be the controlling power friends a true Christian school not only has the Bible in its curriculum Bible principles of the guides of the students life and the Spirit of the Bible is the sole inspiration of the school the school must be more than a place for the distribution of information we're told that the world does not need so much men of great intellect as much noble character just why says that character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings what the world I believe needs to see today is the power of the gospel and that is most clearly seen when the character of Jesus Christ is reproduced in his people but to what end does our education work towards today very often I believe it is towards the uplifting of self we usually go to school not for law not for the Lord but for ourselves the focus shifts from salvation to success friends I believe that success in heaven looks very different to success on earth friends I believe that God wants to bless our institutions but heaven places no value in worldly success it cares not about our cars or our homes it cares not about our income our status it's agencies are move no more for those that have PhDs then those that have never been to school heaven places value in character that's why it's the only thing we're going to take with us Jesus Christ came to set us free from the bondage and slavery of sin but so often we enslave ourselves to wealth and material things when a fire is coming friends that is so hot that not even the purest gold will stand in his place and if you think that perhaps we do have the right focus let me ask you a question with all of the advances young people we have in schools how many Adventists businesses are we producing you tell me whether we are truly educating people to take forward the work of the Lord or whether we were just teaching them how to make money for the world character is to be the focus of our educational institutions character my fear though is that on many grounds academics is beginning to trump discipleship I remember being in church and witnessing the return of one of my friends after they had spent four years in school they come back with their degree pulled up to the front of the sanctuary and given a rousing applause because they have found success the problem though and I know this because they told me this is that in the same place they found success they lost Christ's friends it is no victory to achieve worldly status and miss out on a heavenly one what about the students that leave to secular universities and they drop out because they just see they can't maintain their faith their faith they're not strong enough yet and they come home and they sit at the back of the church where's their ofourse friends there are forces in heaven I believe it is the responsibility of our schools to place character building at the very epicenter of all that they do but for some what matters most is money that we need to keep the school of floats friends with all due respect those that have money are not keeping our schools of float God is keeping our schools of floats if we have schools still standing in today's world it is not just because of the hard work of staff and it is not just because of the investment of some of our faithful members it stands because God holds it up it stands because he believes that they can still be effective training centers for our young people today but if all we look at our enrollment numbers and financial standings and grades friends we completely missed the point of Adventist education it is not the Lord's will that our schools be so academically rigorous that one cannot find time for prayer that one spiritual life is crowded out by textbook and papers that degrees and diplomas are put before devotion and dedication to the cause of Christ we must understand that wasis is admirable to have a large number of institutions across the world to have graduates becoming doctors and working for large firms if we have we have failed if we have not giving them everything in ensuring that when our young people leave our schools they do so with the strongest relationship with Jesus that is possible to them can we win every soul of course not but not even Jesus wins every soul that's not the goal the goal is to make an effort for every soul and so to my fellow educators I ask you do your students see Jesus in you are they encouraged to follow Christ not just because of how you teach but how you live - my principles of my head teachers do your staff members follow you because they know God is leading you or do they follow you because they're afraid if they stand up they'll lose their position to my presidents and my board members have you analyzed and scrutinized every single aspect of the institution's you oversee to ensure that this school is working towards training young people to not just work for God but to live for God now I don't believe that the finger need only be pointed at our schools I think that maybe we need to point it a little closer to home the Bible says in Proverbs train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart of it from it that is speaking about a child that is being trained before he goes to school Solomon is in a sense surmising that the success of the school first depends on the success of the home it's at home that we are taught to love God it is at home that these principles are applied on these young growing minds it's every parent's dream that a child would truly confess their love for God but oftentimes that confession of love comes because they have been taught to love friends I'm afraid to say that homeschooling your children is not enough I appreciate that some mothers and even some fathers have given up their jobs in their careers to educate their children at home but simply homeschooling is not enough simply having the child at home during hours of schooling is not enough they need attention they need training and they need the love of God and they need it when it is not just convenient for their parents homeschooling does not automatically equal righteousness some of us are so concerned with not sending our children to school yet they stay at home and all they witnesses mum and dad arguing and fighting if they even witness mum and dad at all in that case send them to school it is the responsibility I believe of every parent that bears the name of Christ to devote themselves to the training of their children listen to what I said the training of their children because a lot of parents are out there training other people's children and expecting the academies to train theirs the problem is that by the time your children get to our academies they're already 14 15 and 16 years old their characters their habits their beings are formed and I'm grateful for a platform such as GYC so that something like this only has to be said once Adventist education was never meant to combat Adventist homes our pioneers did not sacrifice everything in building these schools so that our parents could neglect their god-given duty of raising a child in the hope that an underpaid Adventist teacher would pick up the slack I've seen this I've witnessed it for years I've witnessed as the staff that I worked side-by-side with give their lives trying to correct the crippling habits that have been formed because of the negligence in the home the number of young men and women that eventually reach our schools that are already addicted to movies and music and video games is heartbreaking and oftentimes they arrive more worldly than the non Adventists how did it come to this how did we get to the point where we are allowing the internet to raise our children god forbid that it's because we're busy doing the Lord's work raising our children is the Lord's work there's no point being out there saving souls when the one soul that you're actually responsible for is at home addicted to movies and pornography friends God is not honored when we disown our children for the mission field how do we expect our children to grow up loving the Lord and his work if all we've shown them is that the work is more important to us than them how will they love the God that seemingly stole their parents and I say that knowing how easy it is to fall into that temptation because it's easy to be up here and preach and baptize but it's at home with the real work is friends let me give you some advices this is your problem leave the mission field the home is your mission field God will supply that mission fields needs but God has already supplied your children's new he supplied you children need their parents so much more than they need their teachers but so often their teachers are working two jobs the Bible says in the 127 Sun as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so children are of the youth arrows are young people are weapons if the Bible was written today might even call them bullets they were created listen to me they were created to do damage many new parents have recognized this already the children barely begin to walk and they're already doing damage in the home but it makes sense our children and our students are young people you young people are weapons this is why we're told that we have an army of youth because we're going to war and one needs weapons when we go to war and I love this analogy because I don't know how many of you have fired an arrow or shot a bullet but you would have realized that once it sets out it rarely changes course you don't see an arrow just shoot out of a bow and then eventually take a 90 degree turn because it felt like it arrows go where we aim them bullets go where we aim them and so do young people they hit whatever they're aimed at you don't aim them they go nowhere and it makes no sense to be pointing them towards secularism and then just be completely shocked when they turn out secular that's where we pointed them the harsh reality is that many of our young people have left the Lord because that's where we shot them they left oftentimes not because of the lack of spirituality in the church but because of the lack of spirituality at home the results of daddy always being at meetings and on visitations but no time for his sons or daughters the results of mummy being so concerned with cleanliness because someone told her that cleanliness is next to godliness and she hasn't realized that it's the hearts of her her children that are filthy it's the result of our parents being so conservative that we as young people are far more concerned with not sinning than we are was having a relationship with Christ it's the result of our parents being so liberal that we think we can just come to him whenever and however we like and then the cherry on this horrible cake is the parental pressure to achieve academic success this could be a whole sermon and parents please don't think this is for someone else it might be for you and young people it might be for how you're going to grow up I appreciate the parental desire for our children to do well in life to prosper and be in good good health that's the Lord's will also but when we are extinguishing our children's missionary zeal so that we can vicariously live through them and take glory and their academic achievements to make it feel as though we have just rendered some success we have rubbed the Lord of a gospel worker I might not make too many friends for this statement but young people your life is not your own but it is also not your parents obey your parents in the Lord it is your duty to first and foremost follow the voice of your God friends if we get the home wrong we get the school's wrong if we get the schools wrong we get the church wrong and I know that there are parents out there giving their all giving every ounce of their being to do all they can to raise children in the fear of the Lord God is with you there are single parents out there some divorced some widowed God is with you this is not an attack this is an alarm it is an alarm that we cannot keep pressing the snooze button on and I am pleading with our parents and with our educators please take the time to love your young people because in my history of being in education that's the one thing that I've seen the most broken young people because they have not really experienced love friends it's my greatest desire to see revival and Reformation on our Adventist campuses we have some institutions that have thousands of students imagine the work that can be done but friends revival does not just happen revival is not random we do not believe in a random we are creationists we believe in purpose and we believe in design we believe in intentionality and I believe that something has institutionalized as education needs not just revival from the bottom down but from the top up friends it's not easy being a leader especially in the realms of Education you are surrounded by vastly intelligent people with great ideas and philosophies and sometimes their own agendas I pray daily for revival and Reformation among the leaders of our Institute's but allow me to interject this on the slight chance that school principals board members and department heads might catch this message our schools do not belong to you they belong to God it is your responsibility to sit down with the scriptures with your staff members with the spirit of prophecy and ask yourself the hard questions ask yourself if the institution's you are a part of or leading are following the light that God has given us is the Bible the main textbook and I don't mean is it just in the classroom I mean is it being taught in the classes and not just Bible classes are you using the Bible to teach your math classes to teach your science classes to teach your English classes is the education that we give our young people actually practical will it benefit their lives because most students are ever learning but never come to a true learning of truth friends I fear for our young people because I see them all the time I see the stress I see the pain I see the struggle sometimes our courses and our curriculum are so challenging and rigorous academically that we leave no vital energy left for the students to spend in places like the garden the greatest travesty that we see agricultural studies slowly being weeded out of our curriculum we have rubbed our students of a vastly practical education and told them that the most merit is found in how much information they can memorize and regurgitate from their professors PowerPoint slides what happened to not just reflecting another man's thoughts what happened to teaching our young people to think for themselves friends are we producing gospel workers are we producing medical missionaries or are we just producing pastors and doctors because there's a difference I challenge those of you that sit atop of these educational institutions to come down a little analyze from the bottom up and not just the top-down revival as possible in our campuses if that's what all of us desire collectively I spoke earlier of the missionary zeal that wants the company the early days of our schools friends I believe that this is truly what we need and oftentimes to bring revival on to our campuses maybe where we should shift our focus is revival in our communities what do I mean by this for the past two years the school that I have attended we might Institute decided that we were going to take our shift and our focus off of ourselves and onto our surrounding neighborhoods and communities we came up with a program called T C I total community involvement it's a great premise catch this for one half day of the week every Wednesday afternoon school stops everything stops work stops and we go out into the community and we work for them in whatever realm they want for free imagine an opportunity to be like Jesus for half a day and it is on the campus I believe directly as a result of the of the extraneous outreach work that has been done that we have experienced revival inwardly is there room for growth of course but as Ellen White said the early church often times forgot that strength to resist evil is best gained through aggressive service friends I know that not all of you are students and all of you students in advances institutions but wherever you are this is for you strength to resist evil is best gained through aggressive service and so I employee to serve God with all of your heart and to my friends and fellow young people holding up the banner in secular universities God is with you do not forget that the man whose prophecies our church is built upon gain his higher education in a secular university but please do not believe that your calling is any less than the rest of the people in Adventist universities Daniel changed the world from inside the holes and Wars of Babylon through making wise choices in social situations and spending time in prayer with like-minded friends friends we cannot be satisfied with where we are we must go forward we must work for change and as I said last night and I repeat again you can make a difference your student associations and student leaders can make a difference your small groups and your youth retreats they can make a difference your conversations in the dorm halls and in the cafeteria in the classrooms they can make a difference and I praise God because I know so many out there that are making a difference I know so many that are keeping that banner high and there are great examples and witnesses in the schools in which they study and work friends you are doing the Lord's work and we praise God for your faithfulness for your commitment and for your dedication you are changing lives your sacrifices are recorded in the books of heaven and in the change lives of the young people who have come across your past but we need more and so students we must look at ourselves we must look within revival will not take place on our campuses if it does not first take place in our hearts we must ask ourselves why are we even choosing to become students because some of our priorities are really messed up there's more to life than a degree there's more to life than a 4.0 as the glossy as it may look don't let your 4.0 stand for four years of studies and zero souls brought to the Lord even when you were in school work for Jesus because once you're in school Jesus is working for you so many of our young people are out here spending their health on achieving wealth just to spend their wealth on riah cheating health or wasting our time to what end so that we can have careers so that we can have cars and houses so that our cars can drive themselves give me a break you can have more than that you can have more than silver and gold you can have more than glossy paper in a frame friends there's openings in the Lord's army students I hope you listen to last night's message it only takes one one young soul filled with the Holy Spirit to the brim to enact the greatest of changes and so I implore you win your school back don't just say well I'm in the third year of my fourth in studies that I'm gonna leave eventually what does it matter it matters the legacy you leave behind it matters that the school that you're in is better for you being in it if you feel like your school has strayed from the educational blueprint that this school has been gifted then do something about it it's too easy to sit there under the proverbial pomegranate trees and blame everyone else one thing I've learnt is simple if you're not willing to do something about it and keep this closed because your lackadaisical attitude surrenders your right to be critical friends we're not alone in our desires I believe that the Lord wants to transform our educational institutions a complete transformation God will fight for us so I encourage you to pray for your schools get together with your friends that are like-minded and put together strategic plans to implement change dialogue with your leaders your presidents your student leadership your pastors your board members work together to make a difference to put mission-focused Adventist schools back on the map and Friends if you cannot find a school that is following God's plan build it it was once an outlandish dream that Andrews University campus would exist that Southern University campus would exist that long Melinda that awkward that Walla Walla that you nasty that Spicer would exist that NC you that held a burg and Bo can Hoffman and colognes a new bold and Berman and Avondale would exist they were pipe dreams but the Lord made them happen maybe we need more schools sister White says it for worldly influences the best sway in our school then sell it all to the world lanes and let them have the entire control and those that have invested their means in those institutions will establish another school to be conducted not upon the plan of popular schools nor according to the desires of principals and teachers but upon the plan which God has specified I'm not giving up on our schools but I'm also not willing to sit down and watch as we become like other schools Adventist education should be having a marked difference in the world and in some places it is but we need to turn that dial up friends don't give up on our schools don't stop praying for them don't stop supporting and don't stop supporting those students we have educators all over the world that are giving their lives for the gospel through our schools I encourage you to support them and so tonight I have but two a one appeal but for two completely different groups of people the first is for our leaders our teachers our presidents our board members our pastors our parents our student leaders all of our educators show tonight that you to desire revival and Reformation on your campuses and in your homes I don't know what that means for you I don't know whether that means revising curriculum and I know whether that means instituting family worship at home I don't know whether that means reevaluating your staff members I don't know whether that means completely changing your school but if today you're in one of those categories if today you sit here as a leader and I know there may not be many this is a Youth Conference but if you're here my appeal goes to you if the Spirit of God is speaking to you to be a part of a movement of revival and Reformation in our schools I encourage you to step forward this evening I encourage you to stand here at the front and let your presence testify to those that are underneath you that we are in this work together I stand with you I know the high calling that God places on parents and on educators I want you to know that your work is not in vain I believe that if our focus is on revival within our schools and within our homes we will be home in no time our homes and our schools will instead be in heaven a foretaste of Eden a retest of Eden young people I want you to look up because as much as we as young people need to be held accountable so do our leaders that is not to say if they mess up because they'll mess up we all mess up we need grace but be there for them pray for them encourage them in the work that they do because very often it is a thankless position they're the ones that we notice when everything is falling apart when everything is going smoothly we just kind of turn a blind eye well they're just doing the work that they're supposed to do encourage encourage your educators encourage your leaders friends encourage your parents and for our students and our young people I believe you can make all the difference if you want to respond to this message I encourage you to give God your education if you want to be a missionary in your school if you want to be a part of helping your school our schools get back on track maybe you see the revival as needed in your dormitory maybe it's needed in your cafeteria maybe it's needed in your classrooms friends you can make the difference you can be more than just a number God can work in you there will be bumps in the road and mistakes will be made but young people I encourage you I encourage all of you stand stand not just for yourself stand not just for your own success but stand for the success of the gospel stand for the success of the gospel being used and worked through our academic institutions stand so that we can experience the revival that we should have experienced a hundred years ago but don't you dare stand and then revert the type don't you stand and wait for someone else to do it communication communication communication let's work together to make the difference can you say Amen father in heaven Lord we put these things in your hands because we have no strength we have no power we have no ability to bring effective and effectual change long lasting change true revival and Reformation but lords I've seen it with my own eyes I've seen that our schools can experience those things I've seen that we can send out medical missionaries I've seen that we can send out gospel workers that are willing to lay down their lives as the martyrs of old for the put that missionary zeal back in our hearts father may we live and may we learn for your glory we pray in Jesus name Amen [Music] you

Channel: GYC

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Length: 90min 42sec (5442 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 03 2020