Participants: Jeffrey Rosario
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000991
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01:14 Lily of the Valley, let Your sweet aroma fill my life.
01:29 Rose of Sharon, show me how to 01:33 grow in beauty in God's sight. 01:44 And Fairest of Ten Thousand, 01:48 make me a reflection of Your light. 01:59 Daystar shine down on me, 02:02 let Your love shine thru me in the night. 02:13 Lead me Lord, I'll follow. 02:17 Anywhere you open up the door 02:28 Let your word speak to me, 02:31 show me what I've never seen before 02:42 Lord I want to be your witness, 02:47 you can take what's wrong and make it right 02:57 Daystar shine down on me, 03:01 let your love shine through me in the night. 03:11 Lord I see a world that's dying, 03:16 wounded by the Master of Deceit. 03:25 And it's Groping in the darkness, 03:31 haunted by the years of past defeat. 03:40 Then I see you standing near me Lord, 03:45 shining with compassion in Your eyes. 03:55 Daystar shine down on me, 03:59 let Your love shine through me in the night. 04:10 Lead me Lord, I'll follow. 04:14 Anywhere you open up the door 04:25 Let your word speak to me, 04:28 show me what I've never seen before 04:38 Oh Lord I want to be your witness; 04:43 you can take what's wrong and make it right 04:54 Daystar shine down on me, 04:57 let your love shine through me in the night. 05:09 Daystar shine down on me, 05:12 let your love shine through me in the night. 05:25 Jesus, shine down on me, 05:30 let Your love shine through me in the night. 06:01 Good evening. You know I am so blessed 06:06 by young people, and it's such a privilege 06:09 to have them in our church, 06:14 they're our future aren't they? Yes. 06:17 So let's make sure that we give them every 06:19 opportunity in our home churches to work. 06:23 Tonight, I have the very special privilege 06:27 of introducing our speaker, and he is a young man 06:32 and at the young of 17 he decided that he loved 06:37 Jesus more than world and that's rare isn't 06:44 it in this world. Jeffrey Rosario had an encounter 06:50 with the Bible when he was 17. It was really an 06:54 argument he needed to solve. He needed to win 06:58 an argument and its amazing how God uses 07:02 arguments even to bring us to him. 07:06 Well, his grandmother was a Sabbath-keeper 07:09 and he had to prove that she was right and through 07:12 that argument it brought him to the Lord. 07:15 He works today with Arise Ministries in 07:19 San Francisco Bay area, and he's reaching out 07:25 to more young people, and I know you're gonna 07:27 be blessed this evening listening to his message. 07:32 He's full of energy. He is excited to share 07:36 what's on his heart, and I just pray that 07:39 you'll be blessed, thank you. 11:48 Happy Sabbath. Happy Sabbath. 11:52 One of the things that is difficult about ASI 11:55 is you sit back there you look at the screen and 11:57 you see all these young people and they're pumped 11:59 up and they're excited about the Lord 12:01 and the one thing I hate about ASI is that when 12:03 you leave you know what I'm saying you go back 12:08 to the world, to the real world and you wish 12:10 that what you saw on stage here was represented 12:14 everywhere in the worldwide Church. 12:16 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 12:18 So I am sitting back, I'm listening to these 12:20 testimonies, and I am thinking 12:22 wow praise the Lord. But if only we can see 12:25 this stuff at a grand scale everywhere, 12:29 in every country, in every major city in this world 12:34 we wouldn't be here, amen. Amen. 12:36 We would be playing our harps in heaven. 12:39 We would be done, this thing would be over. 12:41 We would never have to come to another ASI 12:42 Convention again, amen. Amen. 12:45 Its kind of a weird amen right, 12:50 I would like to have a prayer with you before 12:51 we start and got some stuff boiling in my heart 12:55 and I wanna ask the Holy Spirit to make our time 12:57 together meaningful. I am gonna kneel; 13:00 I would like you folks to remain seated and just 13:01 bow your heads with me. Father in heaven, 13:05 thank you for this amazing privilege to witness 13:10 everything we witness here tonight. Father, 13:13 I just pray that some how some way through 13:17 the foolishness of preaching that you would 13:19 say something tonight that would open our eyes, 13:22 that would help us to see what you're seeing, 13:25 when you look down. Lord help us to see the 13:29 potential that you see in your church. 13:33 Help us to see the urgency, 13:35 the possibilities that you see with an entire 13:39 generation of young Seventh Day Adventists. 13:43 I pray for the Spirit to be with us here, 13:46 to interpret these words and we would all be 13:50 students and that you would be really the one who 13:53 is teaching us. We pray that you would lift 13:56 the curtain and give us a glimpse of our Lord. 13:59 In Jesus we thank you and we pray amen. 14:03 So our theme is inspired to finish strong and 14:07 as I was thinking about the theme, 14:09 I was looking at the picture, how many 14:11 of you seen the picture in that little brochure, 14:12 and it has a picture of a runner right running 14:15 a race and I was thinking of, oh thanks. 14:19 I was thinking in a sense the way that you finish 14:25 a race has a lot to do with the way that you, 14:27 what everybody start the race. 14:29 Recently I listened to my wife and I agreed 14:32 to run a 10 kilometer race and I noticed that 14:38 my attitude walking in to this race had a lot 14:42 to do with, with what happened after 14:44 the finish line, amen. So the way you finish 14:46 a race has a lot to do with the way that you 14:48 start a race and so as I was thinking about the 14:51 theme I was thinking well how can we be inspired 14:55 to finish strong. I mean you know what a raw, 14:58 raw sermon to pump everyone up and to 15:01 emotionally excite us is that gonna do it, 15:04 what is going to inspire an entire generation 15:07 of Adventists to finish strong, 15:10 and I thought to myself well what if that theory 15:14 were true then perhaps as we're thinking 15:17 of how this movement is going to finish strong 15:19 may be it might be helpful to think about how 15:22 this movement began the race in order to 15:26 illustrate and to demonstrate to us how 15:29 we should finish the race, does that make sense 15:30 amen. And so as I was thinking of that 15:33 I immediate thought of something very familiar 15:36 to everyone here. This movement began 15:38 with a certain caliber of young Adventists. 15:45 I was a lot more excited about that then you were. 15:49 When we read into the history books, 15:51 I'm kind of a new Adventist you guys are 15:53 older Adventists, so your excitement over this concept 15:56 should be greater than mine. When you look 15:58 at the books the way the movement began 16:01 was through a certain character of young people, 16:05 amen. That's how it began, it began strong, 16:09 we don't have time to get into all that 16:11 and many of you are more familiar with that 16:12 than I am, but it began strong. 16:14 It began with a certain caliber of young people. 16:18 And so if we're gonna finish strong. 16:23 You catch what I'm throwing. We should revisit, 16:25 we should remind ourselves of the attitude, 16:27 the mindset, the culture within the church 16:33 that was there when we began this race, 16:35 and I immediately thought of an amazing 16:37 generation of young people, and I'm sure it was a 16:40 lot smaller, it sort of a microcosm, 16:43 it was like the worldwide church in embryo 16:45 back in the early days. But what you saw there 16:48 has a powerful challenge for my generation 16:51 of young Adventists. So I am gonna be a party 16:53 pooper tonight and I'm gonna let you folks know 16:57 that we are living in a crises and you already 16:59 knew that can you say amen to that. Amen. 17:01 My generation of Adventists are living 17:05 in a very weird time in history. 17:09 For example there are some statistics that 17:12 I've being reading, and I wanna share them 17:14 with you in one book why our teenagers leave 17:17 the Church. Here's what I found, there is 17:20 50 percent chance that a teenager who gets 17:23 baptized in his or her mid teens will leave the 17:26 Adventist Church completely by the time 17:28 he or she is 25 years old. 50 percent chance, 17:35 here's another one from the Ministry International 17:37 Journal for Pastors. One in every five Adventist 17:40 Churches in North America doesn't have 17:43 a single child teenager or young adult. 17:47 In fact, the median age in these churches 17:49 is about 60 years old. Now that's 20 years 17:54 older than the average American. 17:59 Here's the last one because what we're seeing 18:01 in Adventism is reflected in what we're seeing 18:02 in broader sense evangelical Christianity 18:05 and this is an interesting survey. 18:08 It says according to the survey 7 in 10 young 18:10 people who attended the church regularly 18:13 in high school that's like what we saw up here 18:16 some of this young people. They stop attending by 18:19 age 23, 7 in 10 that is. Of that group 34 percent 18:27 said that they never returned to church even 18:30 occasionally by the age of 30. and now here's 18:32 a translation in English one in every four 18:35 Christian young person has left the church 18:37 for good, that's like 1, 2, 3 gone, 1, 2, 3 gone, 18:44 you with me. The Barna Research Group 18:50 has pumped out so many studies that basically 18:52 communicate this for the sake of time that 18:54 our generation of Christians and it applies 18:56 to our generation of Adventists read the Bible 18:59 less than any generation previous to us. 19:03 My generation of Adventists are less church 19:06 attenders than the previous generations before me. 19:09 My generation of Adventists spent time in prayer 19:13 less than the generations before me. 19:15 My generation of Adventists are less involved, 19:18 or my generation of Christians at large are less 19:21 involved in the Gospel missions to the generation 19:23 before me. We're living in a crises right now. 19:26 My generation of Adventists are basically 19:28 an endangered species and it's the true 19:33 is the same truth in the broader sense of 19:36 Christianity. And so there is something going 19:39 on that the norm in the church has changed 19:41 from what it used to be when we began the race. 19:44 For example here's a bit of a diagnoses from 19:47 my perspective and I think you would agree. 19:49 We are in an identity crises it's part of the problem, 19:52 that my generation of young people have lost 19:54 their sense of their identity and you see 19:57 the symptoms of that. And the pastor was 19:58 easier to make a distinction now, 20:01 my generation more or less blends in, 20:03 there's a less of the distinction, 20:05 it's harder to tell the difference. 20:08 My generation has settled for low expectations 20:10 in our personal and public life for Christ. 20:13 My generations of Christians are experiencing 20:17 a lack of a sense of our personal calling. 20:21 We see it less as something that involves us 20:25 this whole thing with the Gospel and the norm 20:29 has changed. What was norm today is different 20:32 when I pick up my book and I read the book of Acts. 20:36 When I read in the book of Acts is very different 20:38 than what I see. How many of you would agree 20:39 with that. What was norm back in 20:41 early Christianity is weird today amen. 20:45 Amen. Well, I don't know what city you're from, 20:50 but I am over there in San Francisco San Jose 20:53 Bay area and let me say that again what 20:56 I read in the book of Acts is very 20:58 different then what I see, amen. Amen. 21:01 Something has changed, the norm has changed. 21:03 In my generation it is perfectly normal, 21:07 in my culture it's perfectly normal for a young 21:10 Adventist to have a weak knowledge of the Bible, 21:11 perfectly normal for a young Adventist to not be 21:14 able to defend their faith from scripture. 21:16 It's perfectly normal today for a young person 21:19 not to have prayer life, it's perfectly normal 21:21 for a young person today not to be involved 21:23 in missions, not to be evangelistically minded, 21:25 it's perfectly normal. So, if we were to rewind 21:28 time and go back to first century Christianity 21:31 and if you were to pull out a Christian from 21:33 the first century and fast forward and drop them 21:35 into our generation what would happen. 21:39 The person would freak out, amen. Amen. 21:42 They would think they're in another planet 21:45 and conversely if we were to take one of us 21:47 and rewind the time and drop us into 21:49 first century Christianity, what would happen? 21:52 We would freak out right, because we would 21:54 think we're in another planet why? 21:56 Because what was normal back, is not normal today. 21:58 What was normal back then, read the 21:59 book of Acts. It was normal for a Christian 22:01 to be walking down the side way and his shadow 22:04 touches someone and it heals them. Amen. 22:12 See you're not excited because this is not normal 22:13 to you, shame on you, it was normal back 22:18 then for Paul in Acts chapter 19 to go up 22:20 to a group of Christians and he essentially say 22:23 have you have been filled with the Holy Ghost, 22:25 and they're like what? And Paul is like huh, 22:30 in another words he's like what you mean by huh, 22:32 you haven't been filled with the Spirit. 22:35 In another words it reveals that to Paul to run 22:37 into an Adventist who has not been filled with the 22:40 Holy Spirit is weird thing. Are you following what 22:43 I'm saying? Yes. If I walked up to you after 22:45 this seminar said brother, sister, 22:46 have you been filled with the Holy Ghost. 22:49 What would you say? You would look at me 22:51 like I'm a nut, wouldn't you? Because they don't 22:53 normally ask you that type of stuff in church right, 22:56 it's weird, are you with me yes or no. Yes. 23:00 We are in a situation where the culture not only 23:05 in society but within the church is something 23:08 drastically different than what we see in 23:10 scripture okay. And this occasions a radical call, 23:16 a radical call to our generation and that call 23:21 is pretty simple. The Bible is calling us to be 23:25 rebellious and some of you parents are freaking out 23:30 right now because your kids are in here. 23:32 But listen to what I am saying. 23:33 The Bible is calling our generation to be rebellious, 23:38 okay. Open your Bible quickly to Romans chapter 12 23:40 because the clock is ticking really quick here. 23:42 Romans chapter 12 and when you get there 23:44 can you say Hallelujah for me. Hallelujah. 23:51 Or maybe you didn't bring your Bible because 23:52 you figured this was a youth night and maybe 23:54 we're not gonna need our Bibles. 23:57 Which means that to you it's not normal 23:58 for young people to use the Bible, shame on you, 24:02 I'm just kidding. Say Amen when you get 24:04 to Romans chapter 12. Amen. 24:06 Here I am, here I am verse 2. 24:10 And do not be what does your Bible say? 24:13 Conformed, okay. Don't be conformed to this what? 24:17 To this world. To this world, but what? 24:20 Be transformed by the renewing of your 24:22 mind that you may prove what is a good, 24:24 and acceptable, and perfect will of God, right. 24:26 So, here's the question the Bible there Paul 24:28 is writing to a group of Christian that lived where? 24:33 They live in Rome yeah and he's telling them 24:36 do not conform to this world. Now, 24:38 what does he mean by this world? 24:42 He's obviously not talking about the physical sphere 24:44 of the planet, right, don't be conformed to the. 24:47 No, he's talking about something else right. 24:49 Don't be conformed to this world, 24:51 what is he talking about? Don't be conformed with, 24:55 with, with, with the culture of your generation, 24:58 am I allowed to say that, don't be conformed with 25:00 mindset right of the world in which you live. 25:04 Don't be conformed with the standards, 25:06 with the philosophies, with the perspective of 25:10 the generation in which you live right. 25:13 Do not be conformed, in another words he 25:16 is calling for nonconformists. 25:18 Now what's another word for a nonconformist, 25:22 a rebel, amen. Amen. It's not illegal to say 25:26 rebel in church is it? The Bible is calling for 25:29 a revolution right. He's calling for a generation 25:32 of people to rebel, right. And so I wanna say, 25:36 I wanna suggest the message we should be 25:39 communicating to our young people is a message 25:41 that says rebel, right. But obviously we're not asking 25:45 them to rebel. The Bible is not asking us to rebel 25:47 against authority, against institution per say, 25:50 it's asking us to rebel against a certain mindset 25:53 in our generation, are you with me yes or no. Yes. 25:56 And here's what the Phillips translation says: 25:57 Don't let the world around you squeeze you 25:59 into its mold, but let God mold your minds from 26:04 within, so that you may prove and practice the 26:06 plan of God for you that is good. That it meets 26:10 all his demands and it moves towards the goal 26:13 of true maturity. So here we have a concept 26:17 in scripture where early Christians were expected 26:22 to be rebellious against the certain culture 26:25 in their generation, are you with me yes or no? 26:28 Matter of fact if you are not convinced yet when 26:32 you look at the sermon into the Pentecost 26:35 when Peter is preaching. After he preaches his 26:38 fiery sermon and he gets to the end of his 26:40 sermon and remember he makes that amazing 26:42 appeal and before these people jump into the 26:44 baptismal tank. Peter says one last think 26:47 I don't know if you remember what he said 26:49 I just gonna quote here very quickly for the sake 26:51 of time but he says this in verse 40 chapter 26:53 2 of Acts. He says and with many other words 26:56 Peter testified and exhorted them saying save 26:59 yourselves from this perverse generation. 27:04 There was a week in standing between the 27:06 Baptismal candidate or the Baptismal tank and before 27:09 that guy jumped in, in early Christianity 27:11 he understood one thing when you get in there 27:13 you're making a statement that your life 27:15 will go counterculture, you with me. Yes. 27:19 Your life is going to have to go against the current 27:22 of your generation, so the current of our generation, 27:26 the flavor of Christianity in the modern world is 27:30 reflecting these statistics that we read. 27:34 The culture today expects very little from young 27:37 people, amen. The culture today stupefies young 27:42 people's progress to the maturity, okay. 27:46 I'm gonna sort of attempt to illustrate this here a 27:48 little more. Our generation has been identified 27:54 as a unique generation because we're the first 27:56 people ever in history to identify the group of people 28:01 from age about 12 to about 20 something 28:04 as adolescence, as teenagers. We're unique, 28:13 this is something new. When you look at history 28:16 there was no such thing. There's this segment 28:19 in society today that consists of these people 28:23 called adolescents, what is that? This is a new 28:29 modern concept. It is 20th century western inventions, 28:35 are you aware of that. And this myth that has 28:40 been introduced into our modern society 28:42 has directly effected the progress of Christianity 28:47 and specifically for tonight the progress of Adventism. 28:52 I believe this with all of my heart. 28:54 This segment of adolescence basically says that 28:56 an individual is not a child but that individual is not 29:00 an adult either, are you with me. 29:04 But in previous generations and in other cultures 29:07 there was always two, two periods into 29:10 development in a persons life. There was childhood, 29:13 and then there was adulthood. 29:15 But we have inserted an extra segment within 29:19 society and we called that adolescence. 29:23 Now two historians wrote this book called America 29:27 in so many words. I want you to listen with me 29:29 carefully, this sort of summary of what happened 29:34 "In the first part of the twentieth century, 29:38 we made a startling discovery. 29:42 There were teenagers among us! Until then, 29:47 we had thought of people in just two stages, 29:50 children and adults. And while childhood might 29:54 have its tender moments, the goal of the child 29:58 was to grow up as promptly as possible in order 30:00 to enjoy the opportunities and shoulder the 30:02 responsibilities of an adult. The girl became the 30:06 woman, the boy became the man. 30:08 It was as simple and significant as that. 30:11 But the reforms of the early twentieth century 30:13 with labor and mandating education through high 30:16 school, it lengthened the pre-adult years. 30:21 In earlier times, a person reaching adult size at age 30:24 thirteen or fourteen was ready to do adult work. 30:29 Now adult size was achieved as soon as ever, 30:32 but preparation for adult responsibilities was delayed. 30:37 Thus the years ending in teens became something 30:40 new and distinctive. The teenager remade our world. 30:46 The concept is subversive: why should any teenager 30:48 enjoying freedom submit to the authority of adults? 30:52 With the discovery of this new age, 30:54 ours has been the century of the teenager ever since. 30:57 You guys can look this up for yourself but many 31:00 authors are now discovering this, they are commenting 31:03 on what has happened in society. 31:06 This is a new invention and it has directly affected 31:10 the caliber of young people that exist in our generation. 31:14 They have been delayed in their progress and their 31:17 development because of certain assumptions 31:20 that have been placed upon them, 31:22 certain expectations that they are surrounded 31:24 with and these are the low expectations of the culture 31:28 in which we live, and though it didn't start 31:30 in the Church, these assumptions, 31:32 these convention that exist have penetrated 31:35 into the mindset in the church and we see it now 31:38 reflected among our young Adventist people. 31:44 German historian Friedrich Heer says this. 31:47 Around the year 1800 he is about to give the picture 31:49 of what was life like around 1800 for a young person. 31:54 Young people of both sexes could reckon on being 31:56 considered adults as soon as the outward signs 31:58 of puberty made their appearance. 32:01 Girls attained marriageable age around in their 32:03 teens 15, 16, boys could join the Prussian army 32:07 as officer cadets at the age of fifteen. 32:10 Among the upper classes entry to university or 32:12 to profession was possible at the age of fifteen 32:16 or sixteen. Now some of you must be freaking out. 32:21 How many you can imagine your 15 year old ready 32:23 for marriage. There's a radical father in the back 32:30 somewhere. How many of you can imagine your child 32:35 of 16 years old ready for university level schooling, 32:38 anybody. If you press rewind just little bit that 32:44 would have been, what's the word folks normal. 32:49 What has happened, something's happened 32:53 it's change radically the caliber of young people 32:57 in our world. You might say well our teenagers 32:59 are way too immature to marry and so forth, 33:01 you're crazy? Yeah, yeah it is crazy, it's nuts, 33:08 it's insane. But that's what, that's what, 33:11 that's what it is, that's what the book say. 33:16 And this concept is not biblical, 33:19 because when we look at scripture we see that 33:22 the perspective of scripture on the life of a young 33:25 person is different than our perspective, okay. 33:28 I'm gonna suggest to you that when you look at 33:30 the scripture you don't find this concept of adolescence. 33:35 You don't find this concept there. 33:37 You don't find the progress through life as a child 33:42 then there's like a period of like a decade when 33:46 they're not in childhood and they're not in adult 33:47 and they jumped into adulthood. I don't find that 33:50 there, I'm very interested if anybody out there does. 33:53 Someone has noted that there's really three 33:55 main sections. There's two really childhood and 33:58 adulthood, but you can break that down into 33:59 three steps. The three steps look like basically 34:02 childhood, young adulthood and then senior adulthood 34:06 and somebody pointed out that from infancy 34:09 to about age 12 is what biblically speaking we would 34:13 call a child. From about age 12, 13 to about age 30 34:19 we would call a young adult, 34:21 and from about age 30 onward we would call them 34:26 a senior adult, not in the senior sense that 34:29 we think today. But listen to this, 34:32 I don't know if someone here is already thinking 34:34 but does that sound familiar anyway to you, 34:38 because when you look at the book of Luke 34:39 that's exactly what you see and if Jesus isn't 34:42 anyway the example of what it's means to be 34:44 a complete human, does that principle applied 34:47 to in the development of a person from childhood 34:49 to adulthood, no. When I read the book of Luke 34:55 I see something interesting there is a 1, 2, 34:57 3 step yeah. In the book of Luke Jesus pops 35:01 his head in right, in chapter 2 he's born okay 35:07 he is in the stage of infancy there, 35:09 and then he pops back out, you don't hear from him. 35:12 Then he pops back in and how old is he 35:13 Bible students, he's 12 years old, 35:19 and then he pops back out, he disappears and then 35:23 pops back in Luke chapter 3 is it, how old he is now? 35:27 He's 30 now here's the interesting thing when 35:30 he pops in at age 12 he pops in for a specific 35:35 reason because the Bible seems to suggest to us 35:37 that when Jesus pops in at age 12 he's coming 35:40 to terms with some serious stuff in his life, amen. 35:44 He's realizing wait a second I get the impression 35:49 that I'm like the son of God remember that. 35:52 And we find him at 12 years old what 35:54 is he a crazy rebellious anti-authority, 35:59 anti-parents, young person of course not you see 36:02 him in the temple, what is he doing? 36:03 He's debating with the theologians and Ellen White 36:06 says that his questions are deeper than the 36:09 answers that they're giving him. 36:12 You find the caliber there, right and then he 36:13 pops back out he goes back home. 36:16 But he goes back home please not as an 36:19 adolescent immature little kid. He goes back home 36:21 as a young adult. Then when you pops back 36:23 in he launches into his senior adulthood, 36:27 into his ministry, you follow what I'm saying. 36:30 I see that in scripture and I wonder why is it that 36:34 the Bible didn't insert there another thing 36:37 another glimpse of Jesus in his teen years. 36:40 I am not a Prophet I can't tell you but I wonder 36:43 if it's probably trying to communicate 36:46 something there. Now you remember that text 36:47 in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 I need to move here. 36:50 In 1st Corinthians chapter 13 I won't you take you 36:52 there but you remember when Paul says this 36:54 thing in verse 11 he says, help me quote it, 36:56 when I was a child I spoke as a child, 37:00 I thought as a child, then I understood as a child. 37:04 But when I became a teenager, 37:08 when I become an adolescent what did he say? 37:13 When I became what? A man, I wish Paul was here 37:19 and I wish someone would walk him and say, 37:21 Paul, beautiful verse, beautiful poetic 37:23 and everything but what was it like when you were 37:26 an adolescent and Paul would be like huh! 37:31 You know like an adolescent, 37:32 like a teenager, an adolescent and 37:33 he'd be like what's that, he would look at 37:38 you like you're crazy. Are you guys, 37:40 are you guys picking up what I'm laying down. 37:43 He would look at you like you're crazy because 37:44 you are crazy, right. It's something is wrong with 37:49 what's going on in my generation, 37:52 something is wrong, right. Your child you become 37:57 a man, you become a woman and when someone 38:01 is told that, they began to scratch their head 38:04 and they think well maybe I should probably live 38:06 like a man or like a woman and not like a child, 38:11 are you with me. I just spend so much time 38:13 in this but I'm kind passionate about 38:15 this new discovery. If you go to booth, 38:17 go to booth 505, you talk to that pastor from 38:20 Jerusalem, and he'll tell you that to this day 38:23 the Jews in Jerusalem in the Adventist Church, 38:25 when a young man turns 12 they do the ceremony 38:29 what's this thing called, can someone tell me, 38:30 Bar Mitzvah or something like that. 38:34 Forgive me brother if I slaughtered that, 38:36 and he basically says that's the time in life when 38:39 this young man goes to the ceremony and it's a sort 38:41 of a like a subliminal message welcome to 38:44 manhood brother, welcome to manhood, amen, amen. 38:49 And you see it taking place in Jesus there's another 38:51 crazy verse in the Lamentations chapter 38:52 3 verse 27. It says something like this, 38:54 he says Jeremiah he says it is good for a man 39:00 that he bear the yoke, can anybody finish that 39:04 in his youth. Read it for yourself, Lamentations 39:07 3:27 it is good for a man to bear the yoke 39:10 in his youth and I read that early and I scratch 39:12 my head. Jeremiah, beautiful verse but make 39:16 up your mind, are you talking about manhood or 39:18 are you talking about youth, which one? 39:19 Jeremiah says I've made up my mind, 39:23 I'm talking about both because biblically speaking 39:26 when you look at a youth you're looking at what? 39:30 Looking at manhood, amen, but you're looking 39:32 at an young adult, a young man and that has 39:36 certain implications in it, that's packed, 39:40 it's pregnant with ingredients that when 39:42 someone of a young age receives that and 39:45 believes that, it will impact the way that 39:47 individual lives their life. And in turn it would 39:50 impact the caliber, the culture that we see in our 39:53 Church, okay. I need to close with this passage. 39:56 The Holy Spirit managed to slip into the 40:00 New Testament two documents that were 40:01 specifically addressed to a young man, 40:05 we have the letters to Timothy right. 40:08 Now here's what I, here's why I think those 40:10 letters are significant because the letters to 40:12 Timothy being addressed to a young man 40:15 contain information that is representative of how 40:19 God feels about young people, you with me. 40:23 So, what God tells through the Holy Spirit 40:24 via Paul to Timothy is representative of what God 40:28 would tell young people of my generation. 40:30 Can you give me that much yes or no. 40:32 Okay so First Timothy chapter 4 and you're 40:35 familiar with this passage but listen to what 40:36 it says. Verse 12 it says: Let no one despise 40:41 your youth. Don't let anybody underestimate 40:48 you because you're a young man or a young woman, 40:50 that's the translation for you. 40:53 Now here's the weird thing, before the sermon 40:56 I read through the two letters of Timothy 40:57 carefully and you know what I discovered 41:00 that Paul left something out in those letters. 41:03 You wanna know what he left out? 41:05 He left out excessive flattery for Timothy, 41:10 he forget to tell Timothy, Timothy, 41:12 this is amazing you're so young and you're so 41:15 devoted to Jesus this is amazing, 41:17 I'm so thankful for you. I'm like Paul you 41:21 left out kissing up to Timothy because 41:23 he's so young and yet so spiritual. 41:29 And I wonder if Timothy would say you know 41:30 Jeffery you're crazy because Timothy being 41:34 a young man is expected to be a great 41:37 young Christian. Amen. There is nothing 41:40 abnormal about that, that should be what's 41:44 my word everyone? Normal, amen. 41:47 Okay so anyways. So he says here Timothy, 41:52 don't let anyone despise your youth. 41:54 In another words, don't let anyone underestimate 41:55 you because of your age, don't buy in 42:00 to the culture around you that has low expectations 42:03 about what you're capable of. 42:07 I don't know that, that's what I see and then 42:09 he adds another thing to it. He has another edge 42:11 another blade to it, he says but be an example, 42:15 so here's the thing with that. In order to be an 42:18 example towards other people, the implication 42:22 there is that I have to be at a higher level than who? 42:26 The other people if someone's gonna look up 42:29 to me I kind of have to be up there right. 42:34 To be look up to, you follow what I'm saying, 42:36 so there's assumptions here in Paul's letter 42:40 to Timothy that are representative and 42:41 that to me communicate to my generation wow. 42:45 God expects greatness from our young people 42:51 and God's message to us is if you wanna finish 42:54 these things strong, then you better rewind 42:57 the tape and figure out how this whole thing 42:59 started and the way that it started was a stuff 43:02 we saw here tonight being normal, amen. 43:07 There's these two lovely ladies here from Portugal. 43:12 These two ladies from Portugal 43:13 I don't know where they are, 43:15 and they are probably tuning radio now. 43:16 But I met them in Spain and I talked to them 43:18 the other day up in the room and I said what do 43:20 you think and they said it yeah it's very different 43:23 and said what do you mean. 43:26 All these young people excited about the Bible, 43:29 and in my heart I thought oh man I'm gonna have 43:30 to break the news to her. I am gonna have to 43:33 tell you look this is not normal. 43:38 Welcome to America and I'm flattered but this 43:41 is not normal, you are with me. 43:43 Yes, yes, but it should be normal, amen, 43:46 it should be absolutely normal. 43:49 Brothers and sisters, my burden tonight 43:51 is Jesus will not come back unless we expect 43:56 greatness from our young people because of 43:57 that if that quote means anything to you at all, 44:00 remember that when an such an army 44:03 of how soon the and Jesus will come back, 44:13 if that stuff means anything at all. 44:17 Then I reckon that something radical has to 44:20 change and I am basically submitting to you 44:23 that God is calling for a radical culture revolution 44:27 within Adventism today, and that has a lot to 44:30 do with expectations that we have for them. 44:34 I'm reading this book, I have a few minutes left 44:37 I'm reading this book call The Dumbest Generation. 44:42 I am flattering you want to know what the subtitle 44:44 is or don't trust anyone under 30, that's a subtitle. 44:50 Blew me away, you know what the thesis is, 44:55 very flattering thesis. My generation is the 44:59 dumbest generation ever, since the days of like 45:05 you know Augustus and those guys. 45:10 Even the secular folks are like something's 45:15 not right here, it's a piece of the puzzle missing 45:20 here there's an ingredient, the secular people 45:22 are like what is going on and in that book there's 45:27 this pretty interesting statement I like 45:28 to read to you, and he says in page 186 45:30 of the book The Dumbest Generation he says, 45:33 "Freedom is never more than one generation 45:38 away from extinction." Ronald Reagan and then 45:42 he says, he adds to that, "a more elemental 45:46 rule maybe knowledge is never more than 45:48 one generation away from oblivion." 45:52 And we're gonna take one extra step tonight 45:54 and say Adventism is never more than one 45:58 generation away from extinction, amen. 46:03 Have you thought about that if that generation 46:05 right here if that generation is in crises 46:08 then it's kind a like a dominate there's nothing, 46:11 nothing will come after it, never is, is, is, 46:14 is Adventism more than one generation away 46:17 from extinction. Listen to these words from pen 46:20 of Ellen White. I'm gonna share two statements 46:23 with you and then we're gonna close this thing. 46:24 This first statement to me is amazing. 46:31 Here's what she says in fundamentals of Christian 46:33 education 281 I would write that down FE281 listen 46:36 to what she says. If we wish to do good to souls, 46:44 how many of you wish to do good to souls. 46:46 Okay you're with me then, our success with 46:50 these souls, how many you're wish to be 46:52 successful reaching souls? Okay, you're with me. 46:55 Our success with these souls will be in proportion 46:59 to their belief in our belief in them. 47:09 Let me do that one more time, 47:12 if we wish to do good to souls our success 47:15 with these souls, i.e., tonight our young people 47:18 will be in proportion to their belief in our belief 47:23 in them. Notice what she didn't say our proportion 47:28 that our success will be in proportion to how 47:30 much we believe in our young people. 47:32 Now why didn't she say that because that's was 47:34 nowhere near as good as what she did say, 47:37 she said our success in inspiring and motivating 47:41 and educating and leading and directing and 47:43 disciplining and everything else to our young people 47:45 will be in proportion to their belief in 47:50 our belief in them. Translation, here it is: 47:55 Are they picking up on the impression that 48:00 it's a something like wait a second, 48:04 I think my mom expects me to be an amazing Christian. 48:08 I think my dad expect me to change the world for Jesus. 48:15 I'm getting the impression Sabbath by Sabbath 48:17 that my Pastor actually thinks that I could be 48:20 instrumental in ministry. I'm getting a subtle 48:24 hint that my elders think that I have what 48:28 it takes to be in the church board. 48:31 You follow what I'm saying, our proportion, 48:35 our success will be in proportion to their belief 48:37 and our belief in them. In another words are we 48:39 convincing our generation of Adventist that they 48:42 could literally, literally usher in the second coming 48:45 of Jesus. So, I'm just, it's a simple suggestion, 48:49 let's begin to expect greatness from our 48:52 young people. I told you had two quotes for you right, 49:01 I had two quotes that was one, 49:02 here's the last one. Messages to young people 49:09 page 192, lengthier, so listen closely 49:15 "God desires us to make use of every opportunity 49:20 for securing a preparation for His work." 49:23 Now this is addressed to young people, okay. 49:26 God expects, God what everybody? Expects. 49:30 God expects us, us me my generation, 49:33 God expects us to put all our energies into its 49:37 performance and to keep our hearts alive to its 49:41 sacredness and its fearful responsibilities. 49:46 Many who are qualified to do excellent work, 49:48 accomplish little because they attempt little. 49:53 Thousands pass through life as if they had no 49:55 great object for which to live, no high standard 49:59 to reach, that sounds exactly like San Francisco, 50:02 California. One reason of this is the low estimate, 50:07 the low whatever everyone, 50:08 the low expectations you can say which 50:12 they place upon themselves. 50:16 Christ paid an infinite price for us. 50:20 And according to the price paid He desires us 50:22 to value ourselves. Our young people are worth 50:28 eternity, yes, sky is the limit and she continues 50:33 be not satisfied with reaching a low standard, 50:36 I mean this is drill over and over here. 50:39 We are not what we might be, or what it is God's 50:42 words that we should be or not. 50:45 God has given us reasoning powers, 50:46 not to remain inactive, or to be perverted to earthly 50:50 inserted persuades, but that they maybe develop 50:52 to the outmost, refined, sanctified, ennobled, 50:56 and used in advancing the interest of His kingdom. 51:00 Last line, expect what everyone expect that the 51:05 Lord will work in and by and through you. 51:11 What a message to young people, amen. 51:14 Here's a two fold expect that God expects the world 51:17 from you, or believe that God expects the world 51:20 from you and expect the world of yourself. 51:25 Now someone might be thinking wait a second 51:26 Jeffrey this doesn't not make any sense, 51:27 you got the sequence wrong, how can we expect 51:29 greatness from our young people when our young 51:31 are unconverted, and I'm with you on that. 51:34 But I wonder in many cases if they had concept 51:39 that wait a second, this is the potential 51:42 I wonder if that huge picture of God's view 51:48 of their potential would send them to their knees 51:51 and say there is no way I can pull this off. 51:53 Why are they bored, because when the expectation 51:56 is down here hey you can pull that up with your 51:58 own guts you don't need Jesus for that, 51:59 are you with me. But when you let them know 52:01 what God's thinks of them I wonder if that 52:04 won't send them to their knees and say Lord, 52:06 I need help. Brothers and sisters, my time is up, 52:10 here's the simple message. 52:12 The principle is the same with our relationship 52:14 with God. My success as a Christian in my personal 52:17 life will be in proportion to how much I believe 52:20 that God believes in me. All God is asking 52:23 for is for us to treat others as he is treating us. 52:26 So, my message is simple as I appeal to you folks 52:28 who are leaders in your churches, 52:31 you're members of the board and some 52:32 pastors here, there are people here in business, 52:37 my message is simple join me to rebel against 52:39 the low expectations that our culture has 52:42 towards our young people. Join me in this culture 52:45 revolution where we refuse to expect this notions 52:49 and we return to the biblical pattern and when 52:52 we look at our young people they get the hint, 52:56 they're expected to be great and when that takes 52:58 place I think Jesus will come, 53:00 here's a simple formula. Expect greatness 53:03 from our young people, 53:05 I'll see you in heaven, amen. Amen. 53:22 The blood of men and nations is upon us, 53:28 As the church remains distracted from the call. 53:34 The Savior's great commission still unheeded, 53:38 To take His Word of redemption unto all. 53:49 To every creature I'll preach the gospel, 53:55 In season out of season I would faithful be 54:01 This was our Savior's consuming passion 54:07 In every hour, it's still God's power, 54:13 Unto salvation for the world, 54:18 Unto all who will believe. 54:29 Oh, how then shall they hear without a preacher, 54:35 That our gracious Lord is ready to forgive? 54:40 To us it's been committed as His stewards, 54:45 That light to shine every moment that we live! 54:57 To every creature I'll preach the gospel, 55:02 In season out of season I would faithful be 55:08 This was our Savior's consuming passion 55:14 In every hour, it's still God's power, 55:21 Unto salvation for the world. 55:25 to forgive? 55:26 To us it's been committed as His stewards, 55:27 That light to shine every moment that we live! 55:28 To every creature I'll preach the gospel, |
Revised 2014-12-17