Participants:
Series Code: RQRA
Program Code: RQRA000023A
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00:01 I don't understand.
00:04 Why did this have to happen to me? 00:08 I feel like I just can't make sense of things. 00:12 I need answers. 00:15 Where is God? 00:21 You know, it's a really cool truth 00:24 that throughout history, throughout biblical history, 00:28 God has had specific people 00:30 that he's given a specific message 00:32 for a specific time. 00:34 Welcome to Raw Questions Relevant Answers. 00:36 This is a program in which myself 00:39 and my two friends here, 00:41 Michelle Doucoumes and Dee Casper, 00:43 are endeavoring to give some relevant questions 00:46 to some very raw... 00:48 Relevant answers rather to some very raw questions 00:50 that we have. 00:51 And today, what we're going to be talking about 00:53 is the question of Adventism 00:56 and its place in history, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. 01:01 So basically, we believe that God has given 01:05 a special message to our church for a specific time, 01:09 and that's what we're going to deal with today. 01:11 And our first question comes from a young man 01:13 aged 21 in Tennessee, 01:15 and his question is, "Why does Adventism matter?" 01:20 I think that why Adventism matters 01:22 is that as you've mentioned, 01:24 God has had an intention of communicating a message 01:27 and a truth to the world, who He truly is, 01:30 what His ideal is for a man, and what God intends 01:34 His people to know and to share to ensure 01:36 that Christ can come again. 01:38 And from His early church until what we see now, 01:41 this is what we believe that God is intending 01:43 in this particular movement, 01:44 that there is a message given... 01:47 First of all, let's say that the movement 01:48 has prophetic origins, 01:50 that God, throughout the Bible, 01:53 I believe, has this implication 01:54 that there is this movement coming. 01:56 So we see it in Daniel 8:14 01:58 that there's a message of a judgment, 02:01 an investigative judgment that's to be given to the world 02:04 and a soon coming Savior that's going to be shared about 02:07 in Daniel as well. 02:08 We see this in Revelation 10 02:10 and we also see it in Revelation 12, 02:13 and the message that this movement 02:14 is giving in Revelation 14, 02:16 what we call the three angels' messages, 02:18 preparing the world for a soon coming Savior 02:20 by preaching the everlasting gospel, 02:22 the beauty of the character of God 02:24 that we're living in the context 02:25 of a current tense judgment 02:27 that perceives the second advent. 02:29 There is a system 02:31 that's causing great harm on earth 02:32 regarding the truths that they're sharing, 02:34 there are misrepresentations of who God actually is 02:37 and what's to come. 02:38 And lastly, there's a way that God wants to be worshiped 02:41 and He wants His people to be ready, 02:42 so God kind of has a blueprint here, 02:44 Revelation 14, and what that message is. 02:46 And Revelation 18 is something very similar. 02:49 The character of God needs to be known to the world 02:51 in contrast with a false picture 02:53 the character of God being shared 02:54 by a counterfeit system. 02:56 Revelation 12:17, 02:59 the Bible looks down prophetically 03:01 till the last days of earth's history, 03:03 and it says that "The Dragon or Satan 03:07 was enraged with the woman..." 03:09 Which if you study talks about the church 03:11 being analogized to woman, 03:13 "And went to make war with the rest 03:15 or the remnant of her offspring 03:17 who keep the commandments of God 03:18 and have the testimony of Jesus." 03:21 And it's that idea again that God has people 03:25 and Satan isn't happy about that. 03:27 Why does Adventism matter? I don't know. 03:30 Maybe we should ask Satan, it must matter somehow 03:33 because obviously, the devil is not happy 03:36 with God's church. 03:37 Now does this mean that Adventists 03:39 are the only ones that are God's people 03:41 or there is no one else? 03:43 In John 10, Jesus talks about the fact 03:45 that he has sheep in many different folds. 03:47 Yes. 03:48 So it's not an exclusive thing in that regard. 03:52 At the same time, 03:53 God has always used a special people 03:55 for a certain purpose throughout history. 03:58 You know, there were the Jews, before that, there was Abraham 04:01 and the patriarchs going down through history 04:04 after the life of Christ, there were the disciples, 04:07 there are people like the Waldensians 04:09 who kept the Bible alive during a very corrupt period 04:12 of Christian history, the dark ages, 04:15 there were the reformers 04:17 that we've talked about in some episodes 04:18 like Wycliffe and Hus and Jerome and Martin Luther, 04:22 God has always been working with the people 04:25 just for a certain purpose. 04:27 Not because they were better 04:28 but because God needed them at that time. 04:30 Well, and one point in this is that, 04:33 you know, the Jews were the special people of God, right? 04:35 Right. 04:37 But God never intended them to be a secluded little people 04:40 away from everybody else that would never interact 04:42 and that they were the only ones saved 04:43 and that the Gentiles weren't saved, 04:45 that was what the perverted God's 04:48 instruction to them into, 04:50 but God never intended that, and I think it's the same way. 04:52 You know, the other thing too 04:54 that I want to speak to this question, 04:56 you know, I was raised in the church, 04:58 you know, I'd been, most of my life, in the church, 05:01 I spent some time away from it, but in all this, 05:05 it's easy as an Adventist young person to, 05:10 I guess, not really understand the real importance 05:13 of the message that God has given us, 05:15 you know. 05:17 I know, for me sometimes, it's easy to just, 05:19 you know, tune out of it, think it's just normal. 05:23 But the beauty in the power 05:25 of the message that God has given us is that 05:27 it's specifically to prepare us for Christ's coming. 05:30 You know, of all generations, 05:32 God has specifically given to this generation 05:36 a message that He's coming soon. 05:37 Biblically speaking, 05:39 we're living in the investigative judgment, 05:41 the thing that's happening immediately 05:44 before Christ's second coming. 05:46 And that's powerful. 05:47 I mean, Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Adam and Eve 05:50 all looked forward to the day that, 05:52 you know, we have the opportunity of seeing 05:55 of Jesus' second coming. 05:56 So why does Adventism matter? 05:59 It matters because Adventists, the advent of Christ 06:03 is specifically a movement all about preparing the people 06:07 for the second coming of Christ. 06:09 And what's the purpose of the second coming? 06:10 It's not a "I'm coming, and you better get it right." 06:13 The whole purpose of the second coming 06:14 is a wedding. 06:15 Yup. 06:17 The whole reason why Jesus is coming a second time 06:18 is because of what He did the first time. 06:20 He came and bore the sin of the world and died, 06:23 placing a value on you that you cannot deny, 06:27 that He values you beyond His own existence 06:29 if that's what it takes. 06:31 And the reason He's coming a second time 06:33 is to redeem what He's paid for. 06:35 If you paid $1,000 for a fancy television 06:37 at a store, 06:39 you're going to come back and pick that thing up. 06:41 You don't pay that high a price for something 06:43 and not desire to be with it. 06:45 And Jesus even implies this in John 14, 06:48 when He is using the second coming language, 06:50 He says, "I'm leaving." 06:51 He says, "Let not your heart be troubled. 06:53 You believe in God, believe also in Me." 06:55 And He says, "In My Father's house 06:56 are many mansions. 06:57 If this were not so, I would have told you. 06:59 But I'm going to prepare a place for you. 07:01 And if I go and prepare a place for you, 07:03 I will come again and receive you to Myself 07:06 so that where I am there you may be also." 07:09 So as Seventh-day Adventists, 07:11 one of our message to the world is 07:12 there's a God in heaven who longs to commune with you. 07:15 Yeah. 07:17 The reason why Jesus is coming back 07:18 is not to catch people off guard, 07:19 it's to bring them home. 07:21 Right. 07:22 And the message in the investigative judgment 07:23 is basically trying to prepare our people 07:25 to be ready for the second coming, 07:27 not to scare people away from God, 07:29 the judgment's actually good news. 07:30 Yeah. 07:32 God is so desperate to be understood 07:35 that He's making it clear to the all-looking universe 07:36 that He's investigating 07:38 before he renders a final judgment. 07:40 And that final judgment, at the end of time, 07:42 is God literally recognizing and honoring the decisions 07:44 that you made and that I made. 07:46 Yeah. 07:47 And I have one quick thing to that too. 07:50 We're preparing for Jesus to come, 07:52 we want Jesus to come, 07:54 but sometimes I think, as Adventist young people, 07:57 we still think, "Well, don't lots of churches believe 08:01 that Jesus is going to come?" 08:02 And that's true, and God needs all of us 08:04 to work together for that purpose. 08:06 But it's also the case 08:08 that God wants to be seen for who He is, 08:11 and there's been a lot of confusion 08:12 about God through the ages. 08:14 It's true. 08:15 I mean, not that many centuries ago, 08:16 they believed that you could pay for remission of sins. 08:19 Yeah. 08:20 And all sorts of crazy things where God has been working, 08:23 and I believe through the advent movement, 08:24 to help people see who God is. 08:26 It's not just scattered doctrines 08:28 being right or wrong. 08:29 Right. 08:30 But how that system goes together 08:32 to paint a God who cares, who loves, and who comes. 08:35 Well, even on that note, I don't want a God that roasts 08:38 and toasts people for all eternity. 08:40 Right. I don't want a... 08:42 How can I love a God 08:43 that is going to sit up in heaven 08:46 in His high and holy state while, down on earth, 08:49 throughout ceaseless ages of eternity, 08:51 for the sins of a small lifetime, 08:55 He's going to roast and toast them for all eternity? 08:57 And it's not a biblical doctrine. 08:58 No, it's not, and that's the beauty of Adventism 09:00 is that as a movement, 09:02 it has a harmonious system of doctrine 09:04 that puts the character of God 09:06 in its true sense, like you were saying, 09:08 and it shows the beauty of biblical doctrine. 09:10 Yes. 09:11 I think that this is the reason 09:12 the Seventh-day Adventist church exists. 09:14 Yeah. 09:15 To vindicate the beautiful picture 09:17 of the character of God 09:18 and to prepare our people to be ready 09:19 for the second coming of Jesus, 09:21 that's the whole point of all the things 09:22 that we believe. 09:23 It's not isolated, you know, 09:26 don't have anything to do with each other, 09:28 every single one of the things that we believe 09:29 as a Seventh-day Adventist church 09:31 are individual components of the big picture, 09:33 the character of God. 09:34 I kind of refer to it like those... 09:36 You ever had to do paint by numbers as a kid? 09:38 Yup. 09:39 So we believe there's about 28 colors we need to use 09:41 to paint the most beautiful picture of Jesus imaginable, 09:44 and that's what we believe what we believe 09:46 and what our intention is 09:47 that Christ is the central pillar 09:49 to everything we ever have believed 09:51 and want to believe as a movement. 09:53 And that we want Him to be the grand central truth. 09:56 Coming from outside of Adventism, 09:57 both of you were raised within the movement, 10:00 from coming outside of Adventism, 10:01 what brought me in was recognizing 10:03 that this picture of God makes sense to me. 10:06 Yeah. 10:07 Now I grew up in a cultural Baptist sense, 10:08 but I wasn't really rooted in any doctrine. 10:10 But I remember whenever I would hear 10:12 what was being shared, 10:13 I would look into my Bible and I'd recognize, 10:15 "I've never heard that before, but that's what the text says." 10:19 "And I've never heard that before, 10:21 but that's what the text says." 10:22 And it began to be clear to me that the things of God 10:26 do not always harmonize with the things of men, 10:28 in fact, a majority of the time, they don't. 10:30 Yeah. 10:32 But it does harmonize with logic, with reason, 10:34 and with the longings of the human heart. 10:36 Yeah. 10:37 And the picture of God that Adventism communicated 10:40 the more that I learned 10:41 resonated with the love for God I had in my heart. 10:44 I could find a system of belief and doctrine that resonated 10:48 with the gorgeous picture of God 10:50 that saved my soul in the first place, 10:52 and I realized not only can I believe that, 10:55 I want to believe that. 10:57 And if I had to be in a situation 10:59 to talk to someone else about what I believed, 11:01 I could do it in a way that I wasn't ashamed, right? 11:03 Like I don't have to feel like, "Man, I really hope 11:05 someone doesn't ask me about this particular component 11:07 of what my church believes." 11:09 Like I'm actually okay with what my church believes, 11:11 and that's why I'm here, and I think it's been a gift. 11:14 So actually, that kind of segues us 11:16 into our next question which comes from... 11:20 I have to find it here on the page. Oh, man. 11:22 Okay, this question is, 11:26 "How can we learn to lovingly take a stand 11:29 for Biblical truth in a society 11:31 where the concept of truth has become so relative?" 11:33 And I just want to say, first off, 11:35 it's really true that our society has become 11:38 so relative in its thinking 11:40 that we place all things in the realm of opinion 11:44 and then judge all opinions as equal to one another. 11:47 But I just want to first say, there is truth, there is... 11:51 It is so, can I say, relaxing and restful to the soul 11:57 to know that there's truth and that we can ascertain it? 12:00 Yes. Right? 12:01 John 14:6, Jesus says, 12:03 "I am the way, the truth, and the life." 12:06 Not just a truth or one of many truths but the truth. 12:10 And that's huge, 12:12 and in the context of Adventism, 12:13 it doesn't mean that we're saying 12:15 that only Adventists will be saved 12:16 or anything like that, but we are saying 12:18 that there's only one way to salvation, 12:20 and that's Jesus Christ, that's what He said, 12:22 and knowing that gives something to stand on 12:26 in a very relative and shaky world 12:28 where everything is shifting and changing. 12:30 Yeah. 12:31 And I think one of the reasons why relativism sounds appealing 12:34 is because accountability is something 12:35 we're not a fan of, 12:37 and two, in our attempts 12:39 to meet a standard that was given to us 12:42 while failing, it's better to just not have a standard. 12:44 Yeah. 12:46 And there are many people even in our own movement 12:47 who we realize that God expects a lot, 12:49 we believe the Ten Commandments are relevant and necessary, 12:52 but if we haven't done a good job of communicating, 12:54 that the power of God is available to us 12:56 through the Holy Spirit to keep the law, 12:59 then it just seems hopeless 13:01 and relativism sounds pretty exciting to me 13:03 because I don't have to worry about accountability 13:06 'cause I tried to be right with God 13:07 and I failed on my own. 13:09 Not knowing that the Holy Spirit's power 13:12 was an alternative. 13:13 Where I could actually be getting the very things 13:15 that God asks of me, 13:16 God is willing to provide power to walk in. 13:18 Yeah. 13:20 You know, another point with that too is... 13:22 I'm blanking on what book I've read this in, 13:25 but it was a statement that said 13:27 the leading cause of skepticism in the world 13:30 is the love of sin. 13:33 We shy away from the truth because we love sin. 13:35 So the question is 13:37 how do we share the message of truth 13:39 in a culture that kind of rejects the idea of truth? 13:43 I think the biggest thing is to give it in a way... 13:46 show it in its true beauty. 13:48 You know, go to people 13:49 and win their hearts to the love of God, 13:51 and when somebody's heart loves God, 13:53 they will want to prove the truth, 13:55 but if all they see is a vengeful God, maybe not. 13:59 Well, unfortunately, 14:00 this is all the time we have left. 14:03 But I just want to thank you for tuning in. 14:04 If you have more questions, 14:06 please feel free to reach out to us on Facebook, 14:08 Raw Questions Relevant Answers. 14:10 God bless. Take care. |
Revised 2018-09-24