Generation. Youth. Christ.

“God Still Acts: Appointment”

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: GYC

Program Code: GYC180010A


00:01 Music...
00:33 My name is Seth Schaffer,
00:34 I'm the Vice President of Communications
00:36 and I'm glad that you all are here this morning.
00:37 If you have your Bibles with you,
00:40 if you wouldn't mind turning with me to Romans chapter 8,
00:45 we're going to be reading verses 31 and 32.
00:49 Pause...
00:51 more pause...
00:54 And it says,
00:57 "So what are we going to say about these things?
01:00 If God is for us, who is against us?
01:04 He didn't spare His own Son,
01:06 but gave Him up for us all,
01:08 won't He also freely give us all things with Him?"
01:13 Pause...
01:17 Let's go ahead and pray.
01:18 Pause...
01:22 "Dear God, thank you for getting us through another night...
01:25 for waking us up this morning.
01:27 I want to ask that You will be with each participant here.
01:31 Help them to continue to have a good time
01:35 and to learn the things that you want them to learn.
01:38 I want to ask that You will be with our Speaker, Michael Goetz,
01:41 this morning, give him the words to say
01:43 and be with us all throughout the rest of today
01:47 and help everything to run smoothly
01:50 with both what people see and behind the scenes
01:53 in Your name, amen. "
01:54 Piano...
02:09 Jesus, keep me near the cross,
02:16 There a precious fountain
02:22 Free to all, a healing stream,
02:28 Flows from Calvary's mountain.
02:34 In the cross, a trembling soul,
02:40 Love and mercy found me;
02:47 There the bright and Morning Star
02:53 Sheds its beams around me.
03:01 In the cross...
03:05 in the cross
03:09 in the cross,
03:13 in the cross
03:16 be my glory ever,
03:25 Jesus, keep me near the cross,
03:30 Till my ransomed soul shall find
03:37 it's at rest
03:41 Find rest beyond the river.
03:51 Piano...
03:54 Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
04:00 Bring its scenes before me;
04:06 Help me walk from day to day,
04:12 With its shadows o'er me.
04:18 In the cross, in the cross,
04:24 Be my glory ever,
04:31 Till my ransomed soul shall find
04:38 Rest beyond the river.
04:44 Near the cross I'll watch and wait
04:49 Hoping, trusting ever,
04:54 Till I reach the golden strand,
04:59 Just beyond the river.
05:08 In the cross
05:11 in the cross...
05:14 In the cross
05:16 in the cross...
05:19 In the cross
05:22 be my glory ever,
05:32 piano...
05:38 Jesus keep me near the cross
05:45 Till my ransomed soul shall find
05:51 piano...
05:56 Rest beyond
06:03 the river.
06:10 Near the
06:17 cross.
06:22 Pause...
06:27 "Jesus, thank you for the cross
06:32 and we pray that today...
06:37 today and today and today you would keep us near
06:45 that our lives like the Centurion...
06:48 we would recognize Who You are
06:51 because of our nearness... our proximity...
06:56 our focus on the cross.
06:58 May it be that you through the power of that moment
07:06 now speak to us... open Your Word...
07:10 have Your way
07:12 gentle arrow...
07:14 a gentle tap or an arrow to our heart,
07:16 in the name of Jesus, amen. "
07:20 Pause...
07:23 My friend, Craig Harding,
07:28 President of the Riverside Farm Institute in Zambia, Africa,
07:34 tells a story
07:37 and I've just got to tell you.
07:41 He said there along the river
07:46 one day a guy found a dead hippo
07:51 pause...
07:54 on the shore of the river and so he decided to cut it up
07:56 and sell the meat.
07:58 He didn't want anybody else to find his treasure
08:02 or interrupt him so he...
08:06 he went home quickly and got his...
08:08 his ox and his cows together
08:10 to pull this dead hippo home.
08:13 Took them down to the river,
08:16 latched on that that hippo corpse,
08:21 began to lead his oxen up the bank.
08:25 Pause...
08:27 well, as soon as all the slack was out of line,
08:30 and in fact the... the rope began to pull on the hippo,
08:34 the "dead" hippo woke up.
08:37 To his surprise, it was just a heavy sleeper.
08:44 Pause...
08:46 problem is... is now his cows are tied to a hippo.
08:50 Pause...
08:53 Tragedy unfolds before his eyes
08:59 as the hippo pulls his cows into the river
09:03 and the crocodiles finish them off.
09:09 Pause...
09:12 Moral of this story...
09:15 don't ever assume a hippo is dead.
09:20 Pause...
09:22 Grab your Bibles...
09:24 Pause...
09:26 you probably can't guess what book of the Bible
09:29 we're going to,
09:30 you should just leave... leave your marker...
09:35 leave your little ribbon right there in the book of Acts.
09:38 Pause...
09:40 Theme of this Conference
09:42 Acts chapter 8...
09:47 I re-read this book of Acts this fall.
09:54 read it and re-read it and just salivated on it.
09:59 Pause...
10:02 I discovered things I had not seen before
10:05 as is often the case when we read and re-read Scripture.
10:10 When we... when we meditate and allow prayerful study
10:15 and slow digestion
10:18 we'll discover things
10:20 so, in the center of this book...
10:25 in the center of the book of Acts,
10:28 the movements of the early church...
10:32 I was just amazed to discover there is...
10:37 there is a clear DNA of the early church...
10:41 there are characteristics of the early church,
10:45 of the movement that I had not seen
10:47 and I want to introduce one of them to you this morning.
10:51 We'll go to breakfast
10:53 but I'm going to give you three exhibits.
10:56 Pause...
10:58 The characteristic of the church
11:00 is that it was an "arise and go church"
11:05 it just... it arose and went,
11:07 it just got up... and got gone
11:10 pause...
11:12 more pause...
11:14 but how and where and to whom
11:17 I believe is of interest that has lessons for us
11:26 pause...
11:28 Exhibit A...
11:30 you want to go to the chapter 8... book of Acts...
11:35 pause...
11:39 I find myself often attempting to do the work of God
11:44 by assessing the receptiveness of the recipient.
11:49 That is... I find myself thinking,
11:53 "Would that would be productive or not
11:58 based on who is on the other end... "
12:02 I evaluate them...
12:05 pause...
12:08 moral of the story... never assume the hippo is dead
12:14 and Acts proves it.
12:19 Acts chapter 8 and verse 26.
12:24 "Now the angel...
12:26 or an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
12:28 saying, Arise and go... "
12:30 you're going to catch this over and over and over
12:34 and Beloved, the Bible didn't have...
12:36 didn't have "bold" "control b" or "control I"
12:41 or "control u"
12:43 or a highlighter to highlight the important points.
12:47 It used within the text tools
12:52 to communicate to us importance...
12:56 one of them is repetition
12:58 and you will find this line repeated
13:00 through the center of the book of Acts,
13:02 "Arise and go... arise and go. "
13:05 It seems to be the message of heaven.
13:07 Pause...
13:11 and you'll be interested to know
13:12 that while they're all heavenly messengers,
13:15 they are different...
13:17 one is the Lord... one is an angel...
13:19 the Holy Spirit...
13:21 but they're all saying the same thing.
13:23 Heaven is saying the same thing.
13:25 "Arise and go... "
13:28 Pause...
13:31 before we get ahead of ourselves,
13:33 let's look at these exhibits.
13:34 "Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
13:36 Arise and go toward the south along the road
13:39 which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. "
13:41 This is desert...
13:43 Luke always... he loves to tell us
13:48 what's... where stuff is...
13:51 and... and... and locations...
13:53 Luke is very careful in his... in his gospel
13:58 to tell us where the shepherds were
14:00 when Jesus was born,
14:01 where the thieves are when Jesus is crucified...
14:04 he's very careful,
14:06 so, he's saying to Philip, or about Philip...
14:09 "Go... and you're going to go into the desert. "
14:13 Now if there was a... a mission for the church,
14:17 it wouldn't be to the desert.
14:21 There's no one there, "but go... "
14:25 this is the desert...
14:27 "So, Philip arose and went.
14:30 And behold a man of Ethiopia,
14:32 a eunuch of great authority... "
14:35 an operative word there, "great authority
14:38 under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians,
14:41 who had charge of all her treasury,
14:42 and had come to Jerusalem to worship... "
14:45 verse 28... "was returning.
14:47 And sitting in his chariot,
14:49 he was reading Isaiah the prophet. "
14:51 Then the Spirit said to Philip,
14:54 'Go near and overtake this chariot. '"
14:57 Pause...
15:00 Verse 30, "... ran to him,
15:02 and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said,
15:05 'Do you understand what you are reading?'"
15:07 Verse 31... "How can I, unless someone guides me?
15:10 He asked Philip to come and sit with him.
15:12 The place in the Scripture which he read was this... "
15:16 and then it goes into the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah.
15:20 Pause...
15:22 Did you... did you just picture this?
15:25 "Philip, get up and go... go to the desert... "
15:32 "Oh God, this isn't good planning...
15:36 this isn't a good strategy... "
15:38 but Philip... Philip arose and went...
15:41 now he's standing in the desert
15:44 and the narrative invites us into this picture
15:48 that he was there when no one else was there.
15:52 In other words, Philip landed in the desert,
15:55 he took a one-way flight to the desert...
15:58 he lands in the desert and it is desert.
16:01 Pause...
16:03 nothing...
16:04 pause...
16:07 and then, came along a chariot
16:09 and this Eunuch of great authority...
16:14 the Treasurer of the Queen
16:16 and he's flying down this highway
16:23 with important business certainly to attend to
16:28 and the Spirit says to Philip,
16:30 "Philip, I want you to catch up to him... "
16:35 pause...
16:37 more pause...
16:41 I can picture myself back in high school
16:44 going door to door
16:46 doing literature evangelism.
16:49 Pause...
16:51 Unequivocally, one of the best and most powerful ministries
16:56 we can engage in.
16:58 Pause...
17:01 However, I will admit to you
17:03 that as I would look down the street
17:06 and see a car pulling out of the driveway,
17:11 I would think to myself,
17:14 "Hoo... they're not going to be home. "
17:18 Pause...
17:20 I was rebuked.
17:21 A colleague of mine working across the street
17:25 when he saw one on my side of the street pulling out,
17:29 began to run...
17:31 that's the case here...
17:35 pause...
17:37 come on, if ever there was a time
17:39 to just let them go... here's a man of great authority,
17:43 he's wealthy, well above the economic class
17:47 of... of Philip.
17:49 He's of great authority... he's a politician...
17:54 he's a wealthy businessman...
17:57 he's a celebrity
18:01 pause...
18:04 in the culture...
18:06 and Philip standing very awkwardly
18:10 in the desert beside the highway
18:14 has this Eunuch fly by him
18:17 and the Spirit says, "Run... "
18:21 pause...
18:26 Beloved, if there was ever a time to... to... to...
18:29 to... to dialog with God and to...
18:31 to say... "God, these rich... important... busy people...
18:36 they don't have time for... for me...
18:39 they're stuck up... stuck on themselves... "
18:43 but the Spirit knew what Philip didn't...
18:47 and at that exact moment,
18:51 this man is reflecting on a Messianic prophecy.
18:57 Pause...
19:00 Exhibit B...
19:02 one more chapter...
19:04 I'm telling you... these are rapid fire in the book of Acts,
19:06 Acts chapter 9,
19:08 Acts chapter 8... Philip...
19:10 Acts chapter 9 verse 10,
19:13 pause...
19:16 "Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus
19:18 named Ananias;
19:20 and to him the Lord said in a vision, 'Ananias. '
19:25 And Ananias said, 'Here I am, Lord. '"
19:29 It's funny... Ananias sets the example.
19:34 Pause...
19:36 Our question often is, "Where are you Lord?"
19:40 Pause...
19:41 when it should be, "Here am I... "
19:43 pause...
19:46 So, the Lord said to him, "Arise and go... "
19:49 did you catch that?
19:50 Last time it was an angel to Philip...
19:52 to Ananias...
19:53 now it is the Lord, He shows up,
19:55 they're all saying the same thing...
19:57 "Arise and go to the street called Straight,
20:00 and inquire at the house of Judas
20:04 for one called Saul of Tarsus,
20:07 for behold, he is praying.
20:10 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in
20:13 and putting his hand on him,
20:14 so that he might receive his sight. "
20:16 This time, Luke dials this incident to the conversation
20:20 and Ananias answered, "Lord, hold... hold the phone...
20:25 do you know who you're talking about?
20:27 I have heard many things about this man,
20:29 how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
20:32 And here he has authority from the chief priests
20:35 to bind all who call on Your name.
20:37 But the Lord said to him,
20:38 'Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine
20:41 to bear My name before the Gentiles, kings,
20:43 and the children of Israel. "
20:44 Pause...
20:47 "Here am I... "
20:50 pause...
20:52 William Barclay comments on this and says,
20:56 Ananias is really one of the forgotten heroes
21:00 of the New Testament.
21:02 He's the one that reached out...
21:05 pause...
21:08 it was his only convert, it was worth it, huh?
21:10 Pause...
21:12 But if ever there was one to whom you would not go,
21:18 it was Saul of Tarsus.
21:20 Pause...
21:22 more pause...
21:25 he was... he was destroying...
21:27 hurting families... destroying the church...
21:30 he was persecuting...
21:32 he was sarcastic against the movement,
21:35 it wasn't just that he was...
21:37 he was just on the other end of the spectrum
21:40 he was against it and everyone knew
21:44 he'll bind you...
21:46 he'll break up your family...
21:48 he will send you to... he will hurt you...
21:52 pause...
21:55 if ever there was an unlikely candidate to go to,
21:58 to arise and go to...
22:00 it would have been Saul of Tarsus,
22:02 but God said, "Go... "
22:06 and the only qualification that...
22:08 that the Lord gives Ananias is that he's praying...
22:12 pause...
22:14 he's praying...
22:16 that's enough evidence to move on.
22:19 Pause...
22:22 more pause...
22:25 Exhibit A...
22:26 pause...
22:28 rich, wealthy, important.
22:31 Exhibit B...
22:34 one who is absolutely, totally against the Movement.
22:41 Pause...
22:43 more pause...
22:47 Exhibit C...
22:49 let's turn the page again in your Bibles to Acts chapter 10
22:53 pause...
22:57 here in the center of the book of Acts,
22:58 we find it repeated over and over and over...
23:03 almost as if God is trying to tell His church something.
23:08 Pause...
23:10 Acts chapter 10:
23:13 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius,
23:17 a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
23:22 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household,
23:25 who gave alms generously to the people,
23:28 and prayed to God always.
23:29 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision
23:32 an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius!"
23:36 And when he observed him,
23:38 he was afraid, and said, 'What is it Lord?'
23:40 So he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms
23:42 have come up as a memorial before God,
23:44 now send men to Joppa,
23:46 and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. "
23:49 And so they did...
23:52 they went to Joppa...
23:55 jump down now to verse 18,
23:59 "And they called and asked whether Simon,
24:03 whose surname was Peter, was lodging there.
24:06 While Peter thought about the vision... "
24:09 he had just been sleeping on the... the rooftop...
24:11 you remember the sheep... the crazy animals...
24:14 "Can't eat them Lord... "
24:15 gone... back down...
24:17 "Can't eat them... I still can't eat... "
24:19 now he's thinking about the vision...
24:22 the Spirit said to him...
24:24 so it was an angel with Philip...
24:26 it was the Lord with Ananias...
24:28 and now with Peter... "The Spirit says,
24:30 'Behold, three men are seeking you.
24:32 Arise therefore, and... '"
24:34 oh Beloved,
24:37 this is Exhibit C...
24:40 we got to start back at A.
24:42 "Arise and... " Audience: "Go... "
24:45 Arise and go...
24:48 pause...
24:50 that seems to be the message of heaven for the Church.
24:55 Listen, "Arise and go doubting nothing... "
25:01 pause...
25:06 God must have known
25:07 that Peter would have doubted.
25:11 "Wait a minute, wait a minute... wait a minute,
25:13 he's... he's... he leads this Italian regiment,
25:17 he's a Gentile. "
25:18 Pause...
25:19 God must have known that there were reasons
25:22 that Peter could have come up with
25:24 to not go...
25:25 "God, I have another assignment...
25:26 you have actually...
25:28 I was supposed to... "
25:29 there must have been reasons that God knew
25:32 would come to Peter's mind
25:33 and if not good reasons,
25:34 there would have been reasons from the devil.
25:36 If we are waiting for a time in which we no longer have hooks
25:41 to hang our downtime, that time will never come.
25:45 Pause...
25:46 "Arise and go...
25:51 doubting nothing... "
25:54 if ever there was a case
25:56 that these people would not be interested,
25:58 it would have been these cases,
26:02 a wealthy, important figure...
26:07 an individual who was publicly against this Christ
26:16 pause...
26:18 persecuting those who claimed Him.
26:21 Pause..
26:22 this would be paramount to... to a Communist dictator...
26:28 someone who said, "No, that is not of ours... "
26:31 a persecutor...
26:32 pause...
26:36 or a... a point person...
26:44 pause...
26:46 a soldier... a Gentile soldier...
26:49 if ever there was a case it would have been these...
26:54 these were improbable, impossible situations
26:58 for choosing Jesus.
27:00 Pause...
27:02 What were the results?
27:04 What were the results, Beloved,
27:06 of the most impossible situations
27:08 that Luke could record...
27:10 Philip was...
27:12 or the Ethiopian was baptized...
27:13 Paul was baptized...
27:15 Cornelius... and a whole circle of people were baptized
27:20 all because a disciple of Jesus decided to obey the command
27:25 to arise and go to the end
27:28 to what seemed impossible or improbable
27:31 or at least on their...
27:34 from their perspective they went...
27:38 this fact that Luke shares with us
27:43 is a signal testimony to the power and impartiality
27:47 of a gospel of Christ
27:48 which is still, today, the power of God
27:53 for the salvation of everyone...
27:55 everyone...
27:58 the impossible and the improbable...
28:01 red, yellow, rich, black, white, poor,
28:04 Islamic, Atheist...
28:05 pauper and politician...
28:07 it's for everyone...
28:09 pause...
28:11 more pause...
28:14 some more pause.
28:17 Three Exhibits...
28:21 back-to-back-to-back...
28:24 different messengers
28:27 but all repeating the same message...
28:30 "Arise and go... "
28:32 could it be that heaven dreams of a church
28:36 that has within its DNA
28:38 an approach that just gets up and goes
28:45 pause...
28:49 even to unlikely opportunities
28:53 where the gospel is sure to be the underdog,
28:55 pause...
28:58 but in every one of these underdog situations,
29:02 the gospel wins... there must be something to it.
29:06 Think about it...
29:09 think about these situations, a desert highway...
29:12 Saul of Tarsus?
29:16 a Gentile's home...
29:19 pause...
29:21 Peter certainly could have told God, "Well, God...
29:24 if He was willing to send messengers, why...
29:26 why couldn't you have just sent him here?
29:29 Why do I have to go there into his home?"
29:32 Pause...
29:34 Why?
29:35 That doesn't seem very likely.
29:37 Pause...
29:40 Think about the creative God we serve,
29:42 pause...
29:44 Who made over 400,000 different types of plants
29:48 that produce flowers...
29:50 He made three million different species of animals
29:55 including 75 thousand different kinds of bugs.
30:01 Pause...
30:05 This creative God has an imagination
30:09 where doesn't it seem reasonable
30:12 that He would then actually create scenarios
30:16 in which the gospel seems like it would be unlikely
30:22 to be successful
30:24 and then it proves itself by being successful.
30:29 What if God is behind the scenes
30:33 orchestrating difficult situations
30:38 so that He can get the glory?
30:42 Pause...
30:44 What if God says, "I want to make this...
30:46 this... this so difficult...
30:48 I want to use a very secular or Atheistic
30:52 or combative culture
30:55 and I want my disciples to go into it... "
31:00 it's almost a 100% probable that it will fail
31:05 but He knows what we don't.
31:07 What if God delights in using the most unlikely circumstances
31:16 to bring about salvation?
31:19 He doesn't want just the... the regular...
31:21 regular where someone comes asks for Bible Study...
31:24 go through all 19 or 27 Bible Studies
31:27 then they say, on the bap...
31:29 on the study for baptism,
31:31 "Yes, I would like to be baptized. "
31:32 You set a date... the pastor...
31:34 what if... what if that's fine and well and exciting,
31:37 what if the Evangelistic Series is good?
31:40 But God says, "Hmmm... oh...
31:45 I'd like to... chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk,
31:50 watch this...
31:52 and all of heaven watches...
31:57 "Wow! another one... "
32:01 chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk,
32:03 pause...
32:05 what if heaven delights in creating unique, special,
32:10 exciting... but very improbable situations?
32:16 Pause...
32:19 God does...
32:22 consider this... God does not... in any one of these situations
32:27 go directly to the people.
32:29 Pause...
32:31 In every one of the situations, heaven goes to the messenger
32:36 and then the messenger has to go to the... to the recipient.
32:39 "Cut off the middle man, God...
32:42 just go straight there...
32:44 leave us in our happy, pappy sofas and just go tell them
32:50 there must be something else there. "
32:55 "No... " he says, "I need you to arise and go,
32:57 I'll come to you but then you go to them. "
33:00 I have a hunch...
33:02 I have a hunch, it comes from...
33:05 from 2nd Corinthians chapter 12.
33:08 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9.
33:12 He said to me, verse 9, 2nd Corinthians chapter 12,
33:17 "My grace is sufficient for you,
33:20 for My strength is made perfect in your weakness.
33:22 Therefore most gladly
33:24 I will rather boast in my infirmities,
33:26 that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
33:28 Therefore, I take pleasure in my infirmities.
33:30 in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses,
33:33 for Christ's sake.
33:34 For when I am weak, then I am strong. "
33:38 Pause...
33:39 God doesn't take away the weakness.
33:42 He doesn't take away the infirmity,
33:45 but through the weakness... through the infirmity...
33:48 He is strong.
33:49 So, I have a hunch that in every one of these Exhibits,
33:55 Peter and Ananias and Philip, they had a weakness
33:59 for that particular situation,
34:03 maybe Philip couldn't run very fast,
34:05 and so, when the Spirit said, "run"
34:07 Philip said, "Huh? I got to run?"
34:11 Maybe Ananias had a claustrophobia,
34:14 get in a small room...
34:16 "In a small room with a persecutor? Can't do it...
34:19 Can't do it,
34:20 send me to preach in front of crowds, God,
34:22 but I can't go into a small room.
34:24 I can't do one-on-one,
34:25 you know how I get with one-on-one. "
34:27 Every one of these... we know Peter... we know Peter,
34:31 he could never say the right thing
34:32 and especially to the Gentiles,
34:33 so don't send Peter who says the wrong things to Gentiles,
34:37 just don't do that...
34:39 we know... we know Peter is...
34:43 but... but... my hunch is that in every one of these,
34:46 Philip, Ananias and Peter... they all had a weakness
34:48 that somehow directly tied in
34:52 to the unique situation that God had created
34:55 for the gospel to win him.
34:57 That is... when God did His chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk,
35:01 pause...
35:04 the angels who know us very well must have said,
35:10 "Hoooo... but... but you know God... "
35:15 "Yes, I know, and that's why I'm going to use him
35:20 and I'm going to use her
35:21 because she can't speak up front
35:23 and he... he can't... he can't make...
35:26 he can't... he can't do this,
35:28 but that's why I'm going to use him. "
35:31 My hunch is that God in His creative mind
35:34 specifically uses weaknesses we have
35:38 to create dynamic improbable situations...
35:40 it's not just the recipients that are improbable,
35:42 but it's us... on our end
35:45 we're improbable in that situation,
35:47 pause...
35:52 my dream as a high-school-age young person
35:56 was to go into Law Enforcement.
35:58 God asked me to give up that dream
36:00 to go into Pastoral Ministry.
36:03 Pause...
36:05 I made that decision... went into Pastoral Ministry...
36:08 graduated from the University of Mark Morales
36:12 came back to the States and within months
36:16 the local police department put out a message,
36:18 they needed someone that they could train
36:22 to work street patrol on a part-time basis
36:25 but then would... this is right after 9/11
36:28 so this is a few years ago,
36:29 but that would be available in crisis situations
36:31 bilingual... "We need someone bilingual...
36:36 we need someone that can deal with emotional support
36:39 that wants to work the street patrol... "
36:42 and God opened that door and said,
36:45 "Because you gave me your dream...
36:47 because you surrendered your dream to me...
36:50 I'm going to give it back to you. "
36:52 Pause...
36:54 I went to work for the Police Department...
36:55 still carry a badge...
36:57 they let me keep it...
36:59 pause...
37:03 one night, working with the Canine Unit,
37:07 it was about 11 o'clock,
37:09 we get a call of an active robbery in progress
37:13 at a convenient store,
37:14 the clerk was able to get the license plate on the car,
37:17 we are dispatched to the residence
37:20 that is connected with that registration,
37:23 the house is dark...
37:26 I still remember the Street name Factory Road...
37:29 house is dark...
37:31 there was an alleyway behind it,
37:34 we're... we're set up in the back...
37:36 there are officers that are set up in the front,
37:38 we're just going to sit on the house for a minute
37:40 to figure out what happened,
37:41 I have a... I call it a "healthy respect" of the dark,
37:47 let's just be honest, I'm afraid of the dark,
37:51 pause...
37:53 we're sitting there at 11 o'clock at night
37:55 with an armed robber somewhere in the vicinity
37:58 pause...
38:00 in the back we sit... myself and the... other officer
38:05 and this man exits the building
38:07 fits the description... he exits the house...
38:09 fits the description...
38:10 so we identify ourselves
38:12 and he takes off down the dark alleyway.
38:14 We begin a foot pursuit, we radioed in
38:17 but there... after we leave our car,
38:21 they're not able to receive our transmissions
38:22 so they lose contact with us,
38:24 we could still hear them, they couldn't hear us,
38:26 pause...
38:28 more pause...
38:30 in this dark alley... not my favorite place to be...
38:33 we find out later the... that the armed robber was...
38:36 was with a screw driver
38:38 but at that point, we didn't know...
38:39 could have been a gun... a knife...
38:41 pause...
38:45 I remember though hearing over the radio
38:47 the sergeant
38:50 as we're in this dark alley
38:53 looking for which direction the suspect went
38:57 I remember the sergeant coming over the radio,
39:00 having not heard back from us, our radios weren't transmitting
39:02 giving the most authoritative command
39:06 that can come over a radio,
39:09 "All units to the last-known location...
39:12 if you're off-duty if you're doing something else,
39:17 if you're engaged in some other activity,
39:18 you drop everything and go there,
39:21 and in a moment,
39:23 the night sky lit up with sirens...
39:26 and just it seemed like seconds later,
39:29 there converging on our location were men and dogs...
39:35 muscles and guns... and... and they were all there for us
39:40 pause...
39:43 and I felt invincible...
39:45 even in my weakness, standing in a...
39:48 it was still the dark alley, I still had a fear of the dark,
39:50 but I felt invincible.
39:53 Beloved, there is still a Commander in heaven
39:56 pause...
39:58 Who will send all units to our location, hallelujah...
40:03 so go... arise and go.
40:07 The Poet Edith Lillian Young says there's only one...
40:13 there's just one letter between disappointment
40:16 and His appointment,
40:17 "Change one letter, then I see
40:19 That the thwarting of my purpose
40:21 Is God's better choice for me.
40:23 His appointment must be a blessing,
40:25 Though it may come in disguise,
40:27 For the end from the beginning
40:28 Open to His wisdom lies.
40:30 Disappointment and His Appointment...
40:32 just change one letter... "
40:34 for you, your weaknesses might be a disappointment
40:37 but you change the letter and it becomes His appointment
40:39 hallelujah.
40:41 So, arise and go...
40:43 God is not interested in our ability
40:46 you know, He's interested in our availability.
40:50 pause...
40:52 But the book of Acts argues very clearly and cogently
40:56 that there must be embedded in the Christian DNA
40:59 and a church that's Spirit-led must have the modus operandi
41:07 to rise and to go
41:10 even to unexpected, out-of-the-box, unheard of,
41:13 impossible, beyond-our-comfort-zone ways...
41:16 we must go...
41:17 pause...
41:19 and I believe heaven delights in the unique...
41:22 in the unusual...
41:24 in the unexpected...
41:25 come on, we're going to have eternity to tell stories...
41:29 heaven doesn't want every story to be the same,
41:31 it wants unique stories,
41:33 "Hey, come this Friday night for a Sabbath vespers,
41:35 we've got a story you've never heard of before"
41:38 pause...
41:41 God is creative enough to create scenarios
41:45 and situations that are absolutely unheard of
41:49 and He'll pull it off.
41:51 One of my favorites...
41:53 a young lady I have never met, she attended Andrews University,
41:57 I pastored there at Andrews University,
41:59 but we never crossed paths, I read her story though,
42:02 and I'll forever keep it.
42:04 Her name is April, this is her story:
42:09 "It was 12:30 a. m.
42:11 and I intended to sprawl out on the empty seats beside me
42:14 on the way from LA to D.C."
42:16 so she was taking a red-eye flight,
42:18 "As soon as I saw him fumbling down the aisle
42:20 bumping passengers along the way,
42:22 I knew he was my seatmate... " we've all been there,
42:24 "sat down...
42:26 'name's Billy, I'm on my way to a Conference,' he said,
42:30 as he continued to chatter,
42:32 I wondered if he would ever come up for air,
42:34 this guy's crazy... yet he had a strange joy about him.
42:38 He turned to me, he said, 'What was your name again?'
42:42 "April, I replied... April Groobe. "
42:44 'Excuse me... ' he stuttered... 'I didn't quite catch that. '
42:48 I repeated my name more clearly
42:50 emphasizing the 'B' in the Groobe
42:52 that most mistake for a 'V' he looked puzzled...
42:55 puzzled... as if I was lying.
42:56 Pause...
42:58 'I can't believe it' he muttered,
43:00 'you don't know me, but I know you,
43:01 I know how you think and I know how you feel,
43:04 and if it weren't for you,
43:05 I don't know what would have become of me,
43:07 April, it is a pleasure to meet you. '"
43:08 Pause...
43:11 April says: "Here's the story,
43:13 as I had stepped off a plane from Chile to Panama,
43:17 three years earlier,
43:20 it would only be a short time until I realized
43:23 my precious book was missing.
43:24 I had been reading, 'Search for God Knows What'
43:27 it had changed my life
43:28 and when I'd come...
43:30 when I had come close to giving up on Christianity...
43:32 so I had written many notes in that book
43:35 about my thoughts and reflections
43:37 there weren't even margins anymore,
43:40 little did I know,
43:42 as I was standing now off the plane,
43:45 that very moment,
43:46 a man named Billy was taking my seat I had recently vacated.
43:50 Billy was coming home a year earlier,
43:52 he had enough of his parents and work
43:54 so he took off... headed to Brazil and later to Peru,
43:56 on his journeys he realized the similarity everywhere he went,
43:59 there was always pain... there was suffering...
44:01 Billy had long ago given up on God and His loving nature,
44:05 'No God would allow such pain,' he thought,
44:07 pause...
44:10 when there was nowhere else to go,
44:11 Billy hiked to the nearest airport in Chile...
44:13 bought a ticket back to the States,
44:15 he had become an Atheist
44:16 and wanted everyone in America to know.
44:18 Pause...
44:21 As Billy searched for the earphones in the pouch
44:23 in front of him, he discovered, instead, a book
44:25 filled with notes and devotions.
44:27 His first instinct was to laugh at the sincerity of the reader,
44:31 but was drawn to the written words inside.
44:33 Billy had never known what he truly wanted
44:35 but somehow he knew he wanted the same things
44:37 the note writer had wanted.
44:39 He returned to the beginning of the book
44:41 and began to read cover to cover.
44:43 Billy finished the book early the next morning,
44:46 as he turned the last page,
44:48 he saw my name scrawled in a hurried cursive.
44:52 Slowly he closed the book... stared at the worn cover
44:55 and put it back exactly where he found it.
44:57 He closed his eyes and began to think.
44:58 Billy had no idea what he was going to do with his life
45:01 once he stepped off that plane but he had hope.
45:04 I couldn't help but cry when Billy finally explained to me
45:08 how he knew me...
45:09 I made an impact on a person without evening knowing it,
45:13 somehow, God used a 15-year-old girl
45:16 with a little help from her favorite author
45:19 to bring Billy back to God
45:20 who loves him more than anything,
45:22 God works in the most outrageous ways!"
45:25 Audience: Amen.
45:28 Arise and go GYC...
45:30 wh... what are we waiting for?
45:33 For all of our doubts to be dispelled,
45:36 for a clear path of certainty before us,
45:38 that time will never come,
45:42 so, to the rich businessman or to the celebrity
45:47 that everyone thinks is untouchable,
45:50 to the Saul of Tarsus who was persecuting your faith...
45:55 pause...
45:58 to the Gentile...
46:00 who clearly would have no interest in Christianity,
46:04 pause...
46:07 arise and go.
46:10 It was the DNA of the original church
46:13 and it will be the DNA of the final church.
46:16 Pause...
46:19 Young and old... men and women
46:22 who will arise and go to the end.
46:25 Pause...
46:28 Coincidently,
46:29 that's exactly where God said He would be with us till,
46:31 especially, he said... "I'll be with you always"
46:36 and especially when you go to the end.
46:39 Pause...
46:41 So, to those who are too busy... to important...
46:45 too agnostic... too different...
46:47 would we quit assuming the hippo is dead?
46:51 Pause...
46:54 There is life in the hippo...
46:57 Ellen White makes it very plain,
47:01 Acts of the Apostles...
47:03 "The greatest men of this earth are not beyond the power
47:07 of a wonder-working God. "
47:09 There are, in our world, many who are near the kingdom
47:15 than we suppose.
47:18 You look at them...
47:21 they're too indifferent, too agnostic...
47:24 too sarcastic... too busy... too rich... too...
47:27 There are those in our world... many that are in our world...
47:33 many who are near the kingdom of God than we suppose.
47:36 Arise and go... the hippo is not dead.
47:41 Don't assume...
47:43 don't assume because of their position...
47:45 because of their wealth...
47:47 because of their... of what you've heard them write
47:50 or heard them say, don't assume they're dead...
47:53 pause...
47:55 and that's where Romans...
47:56 Paul in Romans 8:31 just raises his hand and says,
48:00 "Ah um... ah um... what shall we say to those things?
48:06 If God is for us,
48:09 who can be against us?"
48:15 Piano...
48:18 Do you have a hippo in your life?
48:20 A neighbor... a family member...
48:24 a country...
48:25 a co-worker...
48:27 a classmate...
48:28 a people group...
48:30 is there a hippo that you can think of
48:34 that the Holy Spirit is putting on your mind, right now?
48:36 It's your hippo...
48:38 and you have always assumed
48:41 or you are assuming right now that it is dead...
48:43 there's no way...
48:45 is there a hippo that you are assuming is dead?
48:50 The Holy Spirit is just saying, "Tsk... tsk... tsk... tsk...
48:52 not so quick, Michael, not so quick...
48:55 I want you to arise and go... "
48:57 it's unlikely... it's improbable...
48:59 it's actually impossible but hallelujah...
49:03 is there a hippo in your life?
49:06 Someone... somewhere... some place...
49:09 and today you've heard the Spirit say to you,
49:15 "Arise and go. "
49:17 GYC, let's do it again,
49:19 let's do it again... but here's your moment...
49:24 between you and God... you know the hippo...
49:27 you know the person that you've written off...
49:33 assumed they were impossible,
49:35 it's out of your comfort zone,
49:37 it's a weakness you can't... you can't do...
49:39 somebody else has got to go there,
49:41 but God wants to use your weakness to show His strength,
49:45 He wants to use your weakness to...
49:47 your infirmity to show how strong and how creative
49:50 and how... how He can do the impossible.
49:54 Is there a hippo?
49:56 You'd like to stand today and say to God,
50:01 "I'm no longer going to assume my hippo is dead,
50:04 I'm going to arise and go... "
50:06 is there a hippo?
50:09 Do you have a hippo that you know about?
50:11 You don't have to share it but you know,
50:14 "This is my hippo... it's my children...
50:17 it's my parents...
50:19 it's that classmate...
50:20 it's that neighbor...
50:22 I've always assumed that they're dead... "
50:25 but that's not the message of the...
50:27 that's not the message of Acts,
50:28 the invitation from heaven is, "Arise and go... "
50:32 so go...
50:35 go to your hippo...
50:38 and in consecration this morning of our decision,
50:43 Caleb, lead us in this commitment to Him,
50:49 "I... I will go...
50:51 I will arise and go wherever you want me to go, O God. "
50:56 Let us sing together.
50:58 Song.
53:49 "And it shall come to pass in those last days, says God,
53:53 I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
53:55 your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
53:57 your young men shall see visions
53:59 and your old men will dream dreams.
54:01 And on my menservants and on My maidservants
54:03 I will pour out My Spirit in those days... "
54:07 let it be, O God, in our generation, amen.


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Revised 2019-05-22