This last week has been a flurry of passing miles, monumental moments and incredible inspiration. Not even sure where to begin on recounting my wonderful trip to GYC except to say it was well worth the time!!
I and my mom and brothers and a friend Anna, along with almost 5,000 other youth and young adults, traveled out to the East Coast for a unforgettable weekend of spiritual encouragement and inspiration. I drove out of OKC Dec 27th at 2am and picked up the rest of my travel partners in Arkansas about 6am. About 24 hours later, after traveling almost 1,400 miles, we arrived in Baltimore. Despite only a few hours of sleep, all of us were up and running at 6:30 that morning (Dec 28th) so as not to miss the morning devotional with Peter Gregory. And so went the weekend - packed with powerful devotionals, attending challenging seminars, talking with friends, and working at the booth. Our "Creator's Call Broadcasting Network" shared a booth with other Loma Linda Ministries, so that was a blessing. Over the weekend, we gave away over a thousand fliers and DVD's of our first two programs. And on Sabbath, Curtis (CCBN president) got interviewed by David Gates on the live 3ABN broadcast and got to share our vision for Creator's Call and what we are working towards. What a blessing!
My favorite part of the weekend though was the evening devotionals by David Assherick. He doesn't bow to popular opinions or comfort style preaching, but preaches like it is, straight from the Bible. And believe me, it nudges you out of your comfort zone!
The first evening his sermon was titled "What do you Expect?"
He talked about expectations in general and how we as a society always expect less than promised. Advertisers tell us one thing, but constantly deliver something less and lower quality. And now that same mentality is affecting our relationship with God. We don't really expect God to deliver like He says in His word. Maybe He did miracles in the past, and we believe He will do miracles in the futures, but we don't believe He'll do miracles today. We don't believe that He is God of the present.
He went on to share how real our unbelief is through the example of Gideon and the Woman at the Well (Judges 6 and John 4). They lived in Bible times, and at first, even they didn't believe. They believed that God had worked for their ancestors but would not come through for them. Thus their church and circle was stagnating. But the problem in the church (then and today) is not the church, it's us! We don't believe our God is alive today!!!
He talked about how satisfied we are when God helps us find our lost keys or wallet, but God longs to do soooo much more for us. Then He told the story of Lazarus and how even Mary and Martha (who knew Jesus well) didn't believe that He would raise Lazarus from the dead. They believed he was powerful enough to keep Lazarus from dying if Jesus had arrived on time, and they believed that He would raise Lazarus at the last day (2nd coming), but they didn't believe that Jesus could or would raise Lazarus that day here and now! And that is proved by their objections to Christ asking for the stone to be rolled away from the tomb. "Jesus, he's gonna stink! It's been too long since he was put away!" And as we all know, Jesus wept. But it wasn't sadness for Lazarus death, as David so clearly brought out. It was over the unbelief of his followers.
David then brought up a quote from Desire of Ages pg 535 that said "Whenever the Lord is about to do a great work, Satan always raises someone up to object..." In other words, "Been there, done that, can't work, wont work, don't even try..." But God is not just a God of the past or of the future, He is our God today! He wants to work today, to do miracles today! How can we be so comfortable resting back in our easy chairs...trusting and believing in a God that has worked, and someday will work again, but not in a God that is working in the here and now!!!??? God is not the God of "I was" or "I will be"....but the God "I AM."
As David spoke earnestly from the heart and with boldness from God's Holy Word, many hearts were touched, and many came forward to serve God with even greater committment.
The rest of his sermons were just as powerful, and for anyone who is seeking an even closer walk with God, I would highly HIGHLY reccommend you go listen to them. They can be found online in the GYC 2006 section at: http://www.hopevideo.com/
Let's act on the Words and Promises that God has given us, for He is ALIVE TODAY!!!!
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