Participants:
Series Code: GYC
Program Code: GYC190005S
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00:33 Please stand with us
00:34 as we sing our theme song 00:36 Our Prince's Call. 00:48 There's a lost, lonely soul 00:51 Waiting silent at war 00:53 For a rescue To come to the door 00:59 Many could go but I only know 01:04 The name of that One lonely soul 01:09 Oh can you hear 01:11 Our Prince calling on before 01:14 "Let us go and restore 01:19 The broken hearted The wounded 01:22 The captives of war 01:26 Will you bear 01:27 My shield of faith once more?" 01:34 Many more are the souls 01:36 Who are bound up in fear 01:39 As they run through 01:41 The dark far and near 01:45 Though I will fight 01:47 Just one ends the night 01:50 Our Prince Who carries the light 01:55 Oh can you hear 01:56 Our Prince calling on before 02:00 "Let us go and restore 02:05 The broken hearted The wounded 02:08 The captives of war 02:11 Will you bear 02:13 My shield of faith once more?" 02:24 To that lost lonely soul 02:27 I will go and will share 02:29 All their cries, All their fears 02:32 All their prayers 02:35 For it's been told 02:37 My Prince he does hold 02:40 The tears of that One lonely soul 02:44 Oh can you hear 02:46 Our Prince calling on before 02:50 "Let us go and restore 02:55 The broken hearted The wounded 02:58 The captives of war 03:01 Will you bear 03:03 My shield of faith once more?" 03:05 Oh can you hear 03:08 Our Prince calling on before 03:12 "Let us go and restore 03:16 The broken hearted The wounded 03:20 The captives of war 03:23 Will you bear 03:25 My shield of faith once more?" 03:35 Good morning, GYC. 03:37 It's good to see all of your faces 03:39 this morning so early. 03:40 I know many of us are tired. 03:43 And one of my favorite scriptures 03:44 in the morning is in Psalm 1:43. 03:47 When I'm tired and I am waking up, 03:49 it says "Cause me to hear 03:51 Your loving kindness in the morning, 03:53 for in You do I trust. 03:54 Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, 03:57 for I lift up my soul to You. 03:59 And this morning that's what we're here for, 04:01 to lift up our souls to God and to seek Him for this day. 04:05 Our scripture reading is found in 1 Samuel 14:6-7, 04:10 it says, "Then Jonathan came to the young man 04:14 who bore his armor 04:15 'Come, let us go over to the garrison 04:18 of these uncircumcised, it may be 04:20 that the Lord will work for us. 04:22 For nothing restrains the Lord, from saving by many or by few.' 04:27 So his armor bearer said to him, 04:29 'Do all that is in your heart. 04:31 Go then, here I am with you according to your heart.'" 04:35 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 04:38 Father in heaven, I thank You so much 04:40 for blessing us with another day of life 04:42 for this fourth, third day of January 04:45 that You've given us. 04:47 As we seek Your face I just pray that Your Spirit 04:49 would be with us and lead us today 04:51 to be able to have open ears to hear Your voice 04:54 and I just thank You so much 04:56 for being with us the last few days. 04:58 I pray for our speaker Sikhu, 05:00 Lord, that You would speak through her this morning. 05:02 Thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 05:04 You may be seated. 08:50 Good morning, GYC. Good morning. 08:54 And good morning, Itai, if you're watching. 08:57 That's my son. 08:59 It's a blessing to be here. Amen? 09:02 We're going to do what we did yesterday 09:04 and read the Bible if that's okay. 09:07 Okay. 09:09 Hopefully some of you brought your Bibles 09:11 and those who didn't, 09:12 you can go into Google Play Store. 09:15 I don't know what the Apple version is, 09:16 and download the Bible and then you can follow along. 09:20 We're in 1 Samuel Chapter 14. 09:24 1 Samuel Chapter 14, and side note, 09:26 some people did approach me 09:28 for that phone number from yesterday. 09:29 So I got your back. 09:34 Okay. 09:35 1 Samuel Chapter 14. 09:38 Let's bow our heads and pray as we begin. 09:43 Loving, Father, we thank You for the gift of life. 09:47 We thank You because we know 09:48 we're not here because we are superhuman 09:51 or somehow more worthy than anyone else. 09:55 But in Your grace and Your mercy 09:56 You've seen fit for to give us life again today 09:58 and we're grateful for the opportunity 10:00 to be in this place, 10:02 this venue which is an opportunity 10:04 for the Holy Spirit to be poured out 10:06 without measure and, Father, 10:07 we pray that that would be our experience. 10:09 And, Lord, I ask right now 10:11 that You would hide me behind the cross, 10:13 that Jesus would shine through. 10:15 I know that You have spoken in the past through donkeys 10:18 and Jesus said, "If need be, 10:19 rocks themselves would cry out," 10:21 so just make me a willing vessel, Father. 10:26 Use me to communicate 10:27 what You want to communicate to Your people this morning. 10:30 I pray these things in Your name, amen. 10:33 1 Samuel Chapter 14. 10:36 We'll start in verse 1. 10:37 This is the chapter that our key theme 10:43 for this weekend is based. 10:45 And I'll admit that in preparation, 10:49 I was kind of nervous about preaching from this chapter. 10:52 'Cause I'm like, "Man, 10:53 everybody's gonna preach from this chapter. 10:54 And then it's going to be wack and everyone's gonna be like, 10:57 'Oh, we heard this sermon already.'" 10:58 So I was struggling 11:00 and I was trying to develop a different sermon. 11:02 And then my husband said, 11:03 "Why don't you just preach from the main chapter?" 11:05 And I was like "Because everybody's 11:06 gonna do that." 11:08 And then I prayed more about it and I realized, 11:11 "Well, if, if I should preach from the main chapter, 11:14 I'll preach from the same chapter." 11:15 And if somebody else preaches from it, 11:17 then maybe it's something we need to hear again. 11:20 So if you hear this chapter again and again, 11:25 don't get bored with it. 11:27 I guess it's my disclaimer. 11:28 That was also to make sure we're there. 11:30 Are we there? Amen? 11:33 1 Samuel 14:1. 11:36 "Now it came to pass upon a day 11:38 that Jonathan the son of Saul 11:40 said unto the young man that bear his armor, 11:43 'Come and let us go over to the Philistines garrison 11:47 that is on the other side.'" 11:50 And then it says, "But he told not his father." 11:56 That parenthetical statement "But he told not his father" 12:00 troubled me for a bit. 12:01 This is not the main crux of our sermon, 12:03 but it's an important thing to think about. 12:06 Jonathan was about to do something crazy. 12:09 And then it says, "But he told not his father," 12:11 it insinuates that maybe this was something 12:14 he would want to tell his father, 12:17 but he didn't tell his father. 12:20 And you're like, "Why, Jonathan, 12:22 why didn't you tell your father?" 12:23 Let's turn to Chapter 13. 12:26 We're not going to read through it. 12:27 but just have your eyes perusing 12:29 the chapter for reference. 12:31 In Chapter 13, 12:32 Saul had been reigning for one year, 12:34 and then he takes 3,000 men as part of his army. 12:38 He has 2,000 men with him, he gives Jonathan 1,000 men. 12:42 And what happens is Jonathan and his men, they go out 12:44 and they actually fight the Philistines. 12:46 That's why you have an army right, 12:47 it is to fight battles. 12:49 So Jonathan goes with his men and they fight 12:51 and defeat the Philistines in Geba. 12:53 And then word goes out that 12:54 the Israelites have defeated 12:56 some of the Philistines, the Philistines are irate. 12:59 They're like, "Oh, yeah! 13:01 Okay. It's on." 13:03 They amass all their armies, there're like 30,000 chariots 13:08 and gazillion horsemen 13:10 and gabazillion people, groundsmen. 13:13 And they're just... 13:15 they're ready to fight. 13:16 They gather themselves, they set the battle in array, 13:19 they're ready to go, it's go time. 13:23 Saul calls his people and they have this thing 13:27 where before they go out to fight, 13:28 they need to seek the will of the Lord. 13:34 And they're waiting for Samuel and Samuel is not coming. 13:36 And they wait and Samuel is not coming 13:38 and it's day seven and Samuel hasn't come. 13:41 The Israelites get so scared 13:43 by seeing the Philistines gathered around them 13:45 that they start running away 13:47 until Saul is left with only 600 people 13:49 from that 3,000 that he had initially. 13:51 He starts to panic. 13:53 He's like, "How are we gonna fight 13:55 these gabazillion Philistines with only 600 men? 14:01 And in a panic, he decides, even though he is not a priest, 14:06 that he is going to offer the sacrifice. 14:10 He fails to trust in God what we talked about yesterday. 14:13 Instead of trusting God's leading, 14:14 trusting that God's timing is perfect. 14:17 Instead of trusting in God, 14:19 he takes matters into his own hands 14:20 and he offers the sacrifice. 14:23 Now you remember the story 14:24 about Gideon and his 300, right? 14:27 Three hundred, right? Yeah? Yeah. 14:29 He started off with how many? 14:32 Thirty thousand, remember? 14:35 And even with 30,000 he's like, "How are we going to do this?" 14:40 And God dwindles his army 14:42 until he's got only 300 men left. 14:45 And one of the things that Gideon said to the Israelites 14:50 at that time for them for the numbers to dwindle 14:52 so much was if anybody is scared, 14:55 if anybody has something else on their mind, 14:57 if you're distracted, 14:58 if you can't focus on the work of the Lord, 15:00 you need to go home. 15:04 And the masses dissipate. 15:07 Ultimately, until he's left with only 300. 15:10 Now this waiting time for Saul, 15:13 the numbers dwindled until he had 600. 15:17 And Saul had remembered that story. 15:20 Maybe he'd have realized that he didn't need the other 15:23 2,400. 15:28 Yes. Okay. 15:31 Maybe he'd have realized that he didn't need those people. 15:34 That God doesn't need all those people. 15:39 That I could be attending a teeny tiny church. 15:42 Now I'm part of a small church plant in Maryland. 15:48 And my husband and I started attending there. 15:50 After they had planted the church 15:52 it is still a small church plant. 15:56 And, you know, the challenges, you know, 15:58 they don't have a kid's program, 15:59 so we go and we are growing 16:03 the children's program biologically. 16:09 I guess it's my calling right now. 16:12 And teaching the children 16:13 that we are contributing to the church, 16:15 but you know what? 16:18 People kind of like to go where people are, right? 16:21 So you go... 16:22 because we're there and there are children there, 16:25 when young families come 16:26 and then they're like, "Oh, there are children here 16:28 and there is a children's program." 16:30 But they will not be children and no children's program 16:32 if no parents with children go to the church, 16:34 does this make sense? 16:38 And sometimes we get caught up in men like... 16:40 and this is our struggle like, 16:42 could we go to this little church? 16:44 There isn't a children's program. 16:46 Like, we need to train our children in the Lord, 16:48 you know, and what are we going to do? 16:50 We need to go to a church 16:51 with an established children's program 16:53 that is well oiled, you know, 16:54 that runs beautifully and perfectly. 16:59 And we can get distracted by trying to be 17:04 where the numbers are because it's easier 17:07 where the numbers are, isn't it? 17:13 You're single, and you're going to this dinky little church. 17:18 And it's like, "Lord, there are no young people here. 17:22 It's my calling in life to be married. 17:26 But there are no young people here." 17:31 And so we're going looking for numbers, 17:32 looking for the masses. 17:35 And we get discouraged when it's just a few people. 17:38 I stopped going to Sabbath school 17:40 because there's only one other person 17:41 and she's old. 17:46 Saul got discouraged looking at the few numbers that he had. 17:51 And because of that, he disobeyed God. 17:58 By contrast, you heard in our scripture reading, 18:01 it's Jonathan and his armor bearer, 18:04 it's them too. 18:08 And he says, "Let's go and try this 18:10 because who knows, maybe God will do 18:13 something for us because you know what? 18:14 God is not restricted by how many people, 18:17 all He needs is one committed soul." 18:21 I was planning to share this quote tomorrow 18:22 but in Desire of Ages, Ellen White says 18:25 "There is no limit to the usefulness of one, 18:30 who by putting self aside makes room for the working 18:33 of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, 18:35 and live the life wholly consecrated to Him." 18:39 Desire of Ages, page 250, 18:40 "There is no limit to the usefulness of one." 18:47 But we're looking for masses. 18:50 And in part, that's why GYC, 18:53 it becomes like this awesome mountaintop experience, right? 18:56 'Cause you come here and you're surrounded 18:58 by young people singing hymns 19:00 and praising Jesus and you're like, 19:02 "Yes, I can be a vegan too 19:03 and you go home and it's like Papa Johnson. 19:09 Or who's the thing right now? This... 19:14 Popeyes, Popeyes, the other P, yeah. 19:17 It's like, Popeyes man. 19:20 Deviling that Popeyes. 19:24 At GYC we feel like we could conquer the world 19:27 because we're many. 19:30 Can God use many? 19:33 Yes. 19:35 And He wants to use many. 19:37 Last part what Dee was talking about last night, 19:40 God wants to use many, He wants to... 19:42 He wants as many of us to be converted and working for Him. 19:46 But you know what? 19:47 He doesn't need many because He's God. 19:52 And this was a fundamental difference 19:54 between Saul and Jonathan. 19:58 And you have the two chapters side by side, 20:00 it's like the Bible's trying to say, 'Look, 20:01 look at the characters of this men, 20:03 they're different." 20:06 But what's striking too 20:07 is in that parenthetical statement, 20:11 it says, 20:13 "But he told not his father." 20:19 Because we kind of expect that like father like... 20:25 But it wasn't the case here. 20:29 It was not like father like son. 20:35 This is important, especially in this generation. 20:40 Our men are under attack, amen? 20:43 Our women too. 20:46 I think in a very special way 20:49 the devil has his sights on the men. 20:55 I'm a mother of three boys 20:57 and Lord have mercy. 21:01 And something that I pray about like, "Lord, 21:04 how do I raise godly men like make me a Hannah, 21:10 help me to raise, you know, mighty men of valor." 21:17 Because the devil has it out for the men. 21:23 And the sad thing is one of the ways 21:26 that he gets to our men is 21:29 if he can get to the father, 21:31 the sins of the father are passed on to the... 21:35 and to his... 21:37 So because daddy had a temper problem, 21:41 I have a temper problem. 21:43 And my sons have a temper... 21:44 Do you follow? 21:46 And it goes from one generation to the next. 21:50 My father was impatient, so I am impatient. 21:56 My father was emotionally distant, 21:59 so I am emotionally distant. 22:02 Understand, I'm not saying 22:03 this doesn't affect the daughters too, right? 22:05 It affects the daughters. 22:07 But I'm speaking about Saul and Jonathan, 22:10 father and a son. 22:13 And here you have a situation where Jonathan said, 22:16 "I do not have to be my father. 22:19 I am not my daddy." 22:22 My husband and I talk about 22:24 this often as we discuss how we parent our children. 22:28 And oftentimes, 22:30 and this is no disrespect to our parents, 22:31 we love our parents, and I can speak for my parents 22:35 who raised me. 22:36 I have a lot of respect for what they did. 22:38 I'm reading through Adventist home and I'm like, 22:41 "Man, did my mom read this?" 22:43 'Cause like, she did a lot of this stuff like, 22:45 she's awesome, right? 22:47 And I asked her, I'm like, "Mom, 22:48 did you like consult Adventism? 22:49 She's like, "No, I just prayed." 22:51 Oh, my God. Well, okay. 22:53 But you should have read it 22:55 'cause some of the stuff, you know... 23:00 And sometimes, you know, 23:01 we'll catch ourselves doing something and it's like... 23:06 My husband's like, "Why are you doing that?" 23:09 I'm like, "I don't know." 23:10 And then I have to go back and think and reflect. 23:12 And it's like, "Man, this is how I was raised." 23:17 And we have to have a conversation where it's like, 23:18 "Okay, this is how you were raised. 23:20 But is this how we want to raise our kids?" 23:25 And I'm like, "No." 23:29 And he'll say to me, "You're not your mother." 23:32 And I say to him often, "You are not your father." 23:36 Every generation, 23:37 every successive generation of Christians 23:39 should be better than the one before. 23:42 Amen? 23:43 So this is not dissing anybody's parents. 23:46 But it's saying that Jesus is coming soon. 23:49 And if I have the same Christianity 23:52 that my parents have, 23:55 and yet the times are worse now than they were then, 23:59 I'm not gonna make it. 24:03 As the world gets more and more evil, 24:07 God's people will shine even brighter. 24:10 Amen? 24:12 And here Jonathan refused 24:15 to be defined by his father's mistakes. 24:19 He is not his father and you are not your father. 24:23 You are not your mother. 24:26 Psalm 27:10 says, 24:30 "When father and my mother forsake me, 24:32 the Lord himself will take me up." 24:36 Whatever this tells me is, 24:37 I have a father, not an earthly father. 24:42 I have a father who does not err. 24:45 I have a father who gives me a hug 24:47 when I need it and who reproves me 24:49 when I need it. 24:52 I have a father who does not fail. 24:54 He doesn't fail to show up when He ought to be there. 24:59 I have a father who makes no mistakes. 25:04 That's who my father is. 25:06 And that's who I want to emulate 25:07 beyond my earthly parents. 25:14 But Jonathan did not tell his father, 25:16 he couldn't confide in his father 25:18 because his father 25:21 was not of the same spirit. 25:24 Yesterday, we kind of spoke about the marriage relationship 25:28 and we said that there are some things 25:30 that you won't be able to tell your spouse, 25:31 there are some struggles, 25:33 some spiritual things you're going through that 25:34 you have to deal with Jesus, just you and Jesus. 25:37 And what it's telling us today is there are some things 25:40 that you will go through that you cannot talk 25:42 to your mom or your dad about. 25:45 There are some things 25:46 that you need to wrestle with God, 25:48 and just you and Jesus. 25:53 I have to keep reiterating, 25:55 there's no disrespect to parents, okay? 25:56 Please, please, please do not think 25:58 I am not talking down to parents. 26:03 But I remember when God put a call on my heart 26:06 to go into full time ministry. 26:10 I talked to my parents, because my parents 26:13 have always been mentors for me. 26:16 I said, you know, I was in college, 26:17 and God called me to leave school 26:21 and go get trained to be 26:23 a missionary on public university campuses 26:26 in a program called Campus. 26:28 And I sensed this call, I was in my first year. 26:33 No, I was in my sophomore year, 26:34 I was going into my junior year. 26:37 So my sophomore year, 26:38 I'm like, you know, I talked to my parents. 26:39 I'm like, "Man, there's this program 26:41 and I feel like I should do it." 26:43 And my parents said the wise thing. 26:46 They said, "You're on scholarship. 26:50 We don't know if your scholarship 26:51 will still be there if you go do this thing. 26:54 God gave you the scholarship, so you need to honor Him 26:57 by finishing your studies." 27:00 What they said made logical sense. 27:02 They said, you know, "When you finish your degree, 27:06 then you can go and be a missionary." 27:10 It made sense. 27:12 But it wasn't what God was calling me to. 27:15 And you know what I did? 27:19 I obeyed my parents. 27:22 And you know what? 27:25 That's probably the worst decision 27:26 I've ever made in my life. 27:29 Because Ephesians 6:1, 27:32 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, 27:38 for this is right." 27:41 That next year, I went on to get into the worst 27:44 possible relationship with a brother 27:48 who looked like gold, but was not. 27:53 He was a badventist. 27:57 He introduced me to canvassing, to colporteuring. 28:01 I didn't know about ASI until I met this guy. 28:04 I mean, he checked all the boxes. 28:09 But it was the worst relation... 28:11 I was in the wrong place... 28:12 You know, David, 28:13 when he should have been in battle, 28:15 and he ended up with Bathsheba, 28:16 'cause he was in the wrong place. 28:18 You know that story? 28:20 Every time in my life 28:21 when I have not done what God was calling me to do, 28:24 I end up doing something shady, to say the least. 28:31 It took me... Let me see, how many years. 28:34 From that relationship to... 28:35 It took me 10 years after God saved me 28:39 from that horrible decision. 28:43 And here I'm not trashing the guy, 28:45 I'm trashing me like, I shouldn't have been there 28:47 and I shouldn't have been in that relationship. 28:50 It took me 10 years before 28:51 I was willing to even pray about a relationship again. 28:55 Because I was so broken 28:58 and God doesn't want that for you. 29:01 He's not trying to take you from heartbreak to heartbreak. 29:07 And it could have been all avoided 29:08 if I just listened to Jesus. 29:12 So when I was graduating, 29:18 I felt the call again, 29:20 I got a call from the program and they said, 29:22 "Hey, we want you to come to this program. 29:25 I think you'll be a blessing here 29:26 and maybe God is calling you." 29:28 And I sensed God was calling me and guess what I did? 29:30 I talked to my parents. 29:34 And they said, "Well, we hear what you're saying, 29:37 but God has given you this degree. 29:40 And, you know, He wants you to work for Him 29:45 and make money for Him. 29:48 You know, missionaries don't really make money, right? 29:50 He wants you to work for Him, make money for Him. 29:53 Maybe just apply for jobs. 29:57 If God gives you a job, 29:59 then you take it to mean that He's not calling you here." 30:02 I applied for jobs, and I got my dream job. 30:05 It combined everything. 30:07 My biochemistry major, my French major, 30:11 my focus on public health, it was like the dream. 30:15 And I'll be working with these awesome professors 30:17 from Harvard and Stanford 30:18 and like all these like top universities, 30:20 it was a dream job. 30:22 They said, "Oh, all of the students 30:24 who go through our... 30:26 who work for us as research assistants, 30:28 they get into whatever medical school they want, 30:29 because we're well connected." 30:31 I'm like, "Dude, this is the dream," 30:32 'cause I was pre med. 30:36 But I had no peace. 30:38 And you know what the Lord did for me? 30:40 The God is so kind to me. Jesus loves me, guys. 30:42 My favorite hymn, 30:44 and because it's true in my life. 30:46 The Lord withheld my permission to work 30:49 'cause I was on a student visa. 30:51 I did not get my permission to work. 30:53 I was one of the first to apply and I did not get it. 30:56 My classmates got it, 30:59 my colleagues got it, 31:00 I did not get my permission to work. 31:02 I went to this conference, not this conference, 31:05 a different conference, 31:06 a student conference training students 31:07 to be missionaries on public university campuses. 31:10 I went there 'cause I was bringing other students, 31:12 but while we were they the Lord spoke to my heart 31:13 and He said, 31:15 "You need to give Me your time now." 31:20 And I resisted, resisted, I got an email from 31:23 one of the organizers and he said, 31:25 "I just feel impressed to approach you once again. 31:29 What would keep you from coming and being a missionary?" 31:31 And I got that email, I broke down crying. 31:36 I had car payments, I had an apartment I'm renting, 31:41 I had my family looking forward 31:44 to me being able to help out financially, 31:47 I had my goals and my dreams in front of me. 31:50 And yet I knew that God 31:51 was calling me to something else. 31:52 I'm speaking to somebody that God is calling 31:55 and maybe your parents don't get it. 31:59 And finally, I responded. 32:04 And I said, I listed the things 32:06 and you know He responded and He said, 32:08 "God can take care of all of this. 32:11 You just need to make a decision." 32:13 So I made my decision, 32:15 I called the job, I said, "I'm not coming." 32:17 And I called them before I talked to my parents, 32:20 because I knew if I talk to my parents first 32:22 I'm gonna back out. 32:23 So I called the job and I was like, 32:25 "I'm not coming anymore." 32:26 And they said, "Okay." 32:28 And then I called my parents 32:30 and had that tearful conversation. 32:34 Worst conversation of my life. 32:43 I'll spare you the details. 32:45 But after that, you know, 32:47 the next day, the very next day, 32:51 guess what came in the mail? 32:53 My permission to work. 32:57 And I was like, "Okay, Jesus. 33:00 I don't know if You're holding up 33:01 at the post office or immigration." 33:05 But the moment I made the decision 33:07 to follow the conviction that God had put on my heart, 33:11 even though I knew that 33:12 my parents did not understand, 33:15 look, I did not understand. 33:20 But I knew that God was calling me. 33:25 My brothers and my sisters, 33:26 there's a world that is dying out there. 33:30 There are souls that need to be reached. 33:33 We talk about Jesus is coming soon. 33:34 Is He coming soon? Yes, He is. 33:37 But how much more wicked can the world get? 33:43 And we're busy living lives of respectable conventionality 33:48 as Ellen White puts it. 33:51 Parents were raising our kids 33:53 for lives of respectable conventionality. 33:56 We're looking for the nicest school, 33:59 the easiest situation. 34:03 I'm going to homeschool my kids 34:04 'cause I need to shield them from the evil world, 34:06 but who's going to be a missionary to the evil world? 34:12 And yes, we need to shield our children, 34:14 we need to train our children, 34:16 but the reason we do that is so that 34:17 we can send them out to work for Jesus. 34:22 When are we going to have the Waldensians again? 34:28 When is a young person going to get up 34:31 and go to a public school not 34:32 because they're running away from Adventism, 34:34 not because they're looking for a good major, 34:37 not because they're trying to make money and network, 34:39 but because God called them to be a missionary? 34:42 When is that going to happen again? 34:46 And parents, when are we going to let go 34:48 and allow our children to do this? 34:52 Young people, when are we going to realize 34:54 that my faith, my Christian experience 34:57 has to be far beyond the experience of my parents, 35:01 not because I disrespect them but because the times 35:05 we're living in demanded. 35:10 And as parents, when am I going to realize that 35:12 my parenting has to be different 35:14 from my parents parenting? 35:16 They didn't live in 2020. 35:18 And here we are. 35:21 Jonathan couldn't tell his father 35:24 what he was about to do. 35:28 I want my children to be able to tell me 35:34 because we're on the same page. 35:37 And I may not fully understand what God is calling them to, 35:39 but I want them to be able to trust my heart. 35:41 Listen to what the armor bearer said 35:43 when Jonathan told him, verse 7, 35:46 "And his armor bearer said unto him, 35:49 'Do all that is in thine heart, turn thee. 35:52 Behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.'" 35:57 The armor bearer was Jonathan's support system. 36:02 He said, "Look, you've searched your heart. 36:07 And you've seen that God is calling you to this. 36:10 I'm with you. I'm here to support you. 36:14 I'm here to encourage you." 36:18 This is not the seminar I had planned to preach 36:21 or not to the tee. 36:24 But I believe it's the sermon that we need to hear. 36:29 Somebody needs to be an armor bearer for somebody. 36:34 Somebody here at GYC is going to sense a call 36:38 that they will not understand. 36:42 God's gonna call you to give up the things 36:44 that make logical sense. 36:49 When God closed the womb of Hannah 36:53 in 1 Samuel Chapter 1, 36:56 they couldn't have understood why He was doing this, 36:59 what was going on. 37:01 But Hannah trusted God. 37:04 When God leads you to straight places, 37:06 when God leads you to desert lands, 37:08 when God leads you to places where it's hard, 37:14 where the things that, you know, 37:16 even God has intended for you are not happening. 37:18 You know God is the one 37:20 who created us to be fruitful and multiply, right? 37:22 Then why would He close someone's womb? 37:24 And it doesn't make sense, 37:25 but, God, why would You do this? 37:27 When God does 37:29 those kind of things in your life, 37:31 will You trust Him and obey? 37:36 Will you trust and obey when it seems to make no sense? 37:43 Well, Jonathan had a friend in that armor bearer, 37:47 because that armor bearer said not just go and do it, 37:51 go ahead. 37:52 He said, "I'm going to be with you as you go." 37:59 And that's where he had said in verse 6, 38:01 "There is no restraint to the Lord to save 38:02 by many or by few." 38:05 And the story goes that they go ahead and they say, 38:07 "Well, you know, we've read the story before. 38:09 If we approach, you know, 38:12 and we show ourselves and they say come up to us 38:14 and then we know that God is going to fight for us. 38:16 If they don't, 38:17 then we're gonna leave it alone." 38:19 They go there, the Philistines are like, 38:20 "Oh, little Israelites come up here. 38:23 We're gonna show you a little some some." 38:24 And Jonathan and his armor bearer are like, 38:26 "Yeah, this is go time. 38:28 God's got this." 38:29 And so they go by a secret passage 38:31 and they get up there, 38:33 and they are just slaying. 38:36 Now the picture that emerges... 38:39 It says in verse 13, 38:44 "Jonathan climbed up upon his hands, 38:46 and upon his feet and his armor bearer after him, 38:49 and they fell before Jonathan, 38:51 and his armor bearer, flew after him." 38:55 It took me several readings to get this verse. 38:59 It says that Jonathan was in the front, right? 39:01 And he's... I don't know what... 39:04 I don't know what the, you know, 39:06 whatever stance he had, right? 39:08 And they're falling before him 39:09 like he's going one after another, dish, dish. 39:13 And like dish, dish, dish. 39:14 And the picture that emerges 39:16 is the armor bearer's behind him 39:17 so armor bearer carries the armor, right? 39:19 So he is behind him and that one fell, slays him. 39:23 That one fell, slays him. That one fell... 39:26 And it says 20 men, 39:32 Jonathan with his bare hands, 39:36 and the armor bearer behind him, 39:37 making sure that nobody's going to get up 39:39 behind Jonathan 39:40 and attack him from behind because... 39:45 And then God steps in and He does the rest. 39:47 There's such a turmoil that arises, 39:49 the Philistines are killing each other. 39:51 It's all crazy, and then we don't have time 39:54 to go into the rest of that story. 39:58 It was an impossible mission 40:03 that God put on Jonathan's heart. 40:07 It was a mission that Jonathan's own family 40:11 could not understand. 40:13 It was a mission that his father, 40:15 his own father could not get. 40:19 But he went ahead because God had called him. 40:23 And God's gonna call somebody and it's important though, 40:26 that Jonathan had an armor bearer. 40:31 Maybe you are Jonathan, 40:35 but maybe you are the armor bearer. 40:38 Maybe the person sitting next to you is sensing a call, 40:41 we'll sense a call, maybe your brother, 40:43 your sister, your roommate in your hotel, 40:47 and you are that person who needs to be 40:49 like, "Yo, God's calling, you got to do this." 40:52 And I'm right behind you slaying with you, right? 40:57 Yeah. 41:04 Are you going to obey when God calls you? 41:09 Because of the times we're living in... 41:13 the times being the end of time, 41:16 because of where we are in the history of the world, 41:19 I know that God is going to call 41:20 each and every one of us to an unlikely mission, 41:25 each of us. 41:27 You know, when I talk with my husband about this, 41:29 like he says, "Lord, I surrender. 41:33 Call me to be a millionaire 41:35 to give money to all your workers." 41:41 And some of us will be called to that. 41:44 God doesn't need a lot of millionaires. 41:47 So most of us, sorry. 41:52 And if you're praying to be the millionaire, 41:54 you're probably not going to make it. 41:55 Sorry, my husband... 41:59 but God's gonna call all of us to an unlikely mission. 42:07 I hate to say this because I'm married now with kids. 42:10 When I used to say this as a single person, 42:12 it had more weight it felt like 42:14 and then when I would, as a single person 42:16 when I'd hear it from married people, 42:17 I'll be like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, 42:18 they say that because they're married." 42:20 But I'm gonna say it anyway 42:22 and you take it how you take it 42:24 and I pray the Holy Spirit 42:25 will bring it to the hearts of those who need to hear it. 42:27 Some of you, God is gonna call to be single. 42:34 I'm saying an unlikely mission. 42:37 Not because marriage is bad, not because it's not desirable, 42:40 not because we don't need 42:42 that kind of companionship but these are strange times. 42:50 Consider that maybe 42:52 if that person is not coming around, 42:54 that maybe God's calling you to something else, consider. 43:02 And some of the married folk in here... 43:06 like again, I say I'm... 43:08 I don't know why the Lord did this to me, 43:10 like I got married and had kids. 43:12 It was not my plan in life, right? 43:15 So I'm like, "It must be God's calling on my life." 43:20 But it makes it hard to say 43:21 that some married folk will get married 43:24 and not be able to have kids. 43:29 Before you lose your faith over it, 43:32 before you step outside of God's will 43:34 consider that maybe, 43:36 maybe God is calling you to something. 43:45 You have plans for those millions. 43:48 You have plans to establish yourself, 43:49 buy a house and... 43:51 And it's not coming together, 43:53 consider that maybe God has a different plan. 43:59 Maybe God is looking for that person 44:00 who's gonna go reach 44:02 those unreached people in the Middle East. 44:05 Maybe your job isn't in America, 44:07 maybe your job is in Dubai. 44:09 Oh, that'd be nice actually. 44:14 But maybe your job isn't here. 44:18 Because God wants you to step outside of here 44:20 and go over there 44:23 to the garrison of the Philistines, 44:25 because maybe He wants to use you 44:30 as small as you are, as few as you are, 44:34 He wants to use you to save the many. 44:38 Just consider before choosing to break the Sabbath, 44:43 that God has a different plan 44:46 before choosing to withhold your time, 44:48 that God has a different plan, before obeying your parents 44:54 instead of obeying God, 44:56 consider that God may have a different plan. 45:05 They asked me before I came up here 45:08 because like I said, this was not exactly 45:11 what I had planned to say. 45:13 And they asked me, 45:15 "Are you going to have an appeal? 45:17 A specific appeal, like permissions or, you know, 45:21 for baptism, so that they could be ready 45:23 to receive you in the front?' 45:25 And I said, "No. 45:27 But I'm sorry, Michael." 45:31 Because I do have an appeal that is specific. 45:40 God is calling someone. 45:43 And you already know what He's calling you to, 45:46 and you're wrestling with Him. 45:49 And you're fighting because it doesn't make sense, 45:51 it doesn't fit your plans. 45:54 You're fighting because it's not 45:55 how you were raised per se, you're fighting 45:58 because the way society will view you. 46:00 You're fighting for whatever reason, 46:02 you know that God is calling you 46:03 to a different kind of life and you're struggling. 46:09 And you're here at GYC and God brought you here 46:12 and He put these words in my mouth for you 46:16 because God wants you to surrender today. 46:22 He wants you to say, "Lord, you can save 46:25 by many or by few, use me." 46:34 That somebody is here. 46:35 I'm not calling the masses, 46:37 it says, "By many or by few," 46:38 I think this one is for "By few." 46:40 I'm not calling the masses, 46:42 I'm not looking for a massive number of people 46:44 coming up here, I'm looking for that one person 46:46 that God has spoken to you already. 46:48 God spoke to you. 46:53 Maybe you don't know specifically 46:54 what exactly He's calling you to 46:56 but you sense a calling on your life 46:59 to do something unusual, 47:01 and it's not bad to do the usual, 47:03 it's okay to go be a doctor, 47:05 and go be a nurse, 47:08 and play piano as a pastor's wife, 47:09 that's okay. 47:12 But God is calling somebody 47:14 to do something out of the ordinary. 47:17 Are you understanding that this is not a general appeal? 47:20 This is specific to that person that God is calling today. 47:25 I want you to come up. 47:27 Come up front here so we can pray together. 47:32 You're coming up because God 47:33 is calling you to a specific mission, 47:37 you sensed the call on your life, 47:39 and you need to surrender to Jesus, 47:41 come up front. 47:45 Souls are dying, Jesus is coming soon. 47:48 We need to finish this work, 47:50 there's strange times and call for strange measures. 47:58 We have to live for Jesus in a way 47:59 that we've never lived for Him before. 48:02 Come up. 48:11 If God hasn't called you, you are that armor bearer. 48:13 You need to be praying for these people. 48:17 You need to be that armor bearer. 48:20 But if God has placed a call on your heart, come. 48:30 I'm incapable of making long appeals, 48:33 'cause I'd run out of words, so just come. |
Revised 2020-08-14