After attending GYC (Generation Youth for Christ) in Phoenix, Arizona, I really wanted to do something in response to the overwhelming love of God. I decided to share my experience that week in a form of a sermon at my church. Below is the actual word for word script I said in the pulpit last January 13, 2018.
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Thank you, Quartet. That song was the theme song for this past GYC up on Phoenix. Did any of you guys go up for Pathways or GYC? I saw Eric and Winona, and a few others. Let me tell you what my experience has been that Christmas week. But before we do shall we pray. [pray]
First off was Your Best Pathway to Health. As you know it’s an SDA organization that provides free medical, dental, and vision services. As a whole we were able to serve more than 6k patients in two and a half days. It opened Monday that Christmas morning, but people were lining up and setting up their tents on Sunday afternoon. The lines were so long it went around the Phoenix Convention Center and across the street. One patient was in line with his family since 7am and they did not get to registration until 230pm. He really needed dental work, but dental was not seeing any more patients that day. They had closed admissions at noon. There were many others who powered through the cold night just to find out that services were no longer available, and they had to line back up the next morning.
Once you get through the doors, the patients go through two sets of downward escalators to the basement of the building. Inside, there were many things happening at once. People singing for patients in line, health lectures were being taught on various stages, free clothing and free lunch was given out to thousands of people. There was also haircutting, massage and hydrotherapy, X-ray, surgery, mental health and counseling, and all patients were given a wristband for a one on one talk about NEWSTART. My cousin volunteered at food services and he said by the end of the day he refused to look at another sandwich since he made as what he felt like was a thousand sandwiches. I volunteered with interpretive services. I did interpret for four deaf people. If I wasn’t with a patient I was at dispatch sending Spanish interpreters and French and Arabic and Kinyarwanda to whichever station is needed. I’ve learned new languages I never knew existed such as Trigrinya and Urdu. Sometimes we were desperately in need of interpreters, but none were found so we resorted to google translate to at least get some basic communication happening. Sometimes I would see a request from Primary Care and it was Justin who would make the request. Him and Ailee were both working at Primary Care. I was so busy that I didn’t have time to go visit them. The only time I saw them was when my patient was in line to see a medical doctor. The only time I got to see Kaloni was when she texted me asking what the sign for diabetes was. That’s when I knew there was a deaf patient at dental triage.
Anyway, amazing things were happening for the Lord. People were signing up for Bible studies, people were getting treated and were grateful for the services they got. One deaf patient of mine said he wanted to see a doctor because he fell off his bike a year ago and he thinks his clavicle is broken. He was never treated due to miscommunication. We put him through an X-ray and everything was fine. Then when we went to the therapist, she told him to lay down and asked if he could move his arm around his head and see how high he can bring his arm. It didn’t go very far. Then she pushed down on his shoulders and asked him to try moving it again. He could finally move his arm around his head and backwards! We found out that His shoulder has been dislocated this whole time. He has been walking hunchback to lessen the pain and I guess he just got used it. The therapist gave him muscle strengthening exercises and told him to walk with a straight back. The patient was beyond grateful that he finally got the medical attention he desperately needed.
Pathways was such a blessing, even though it was very tiring. Volunteers had to be at the venue by 6am and we didn’t get out until 7pm. We only had one meal which consisted of one sandwich and a few carrot and celery sticks. I was working 12 hour shifts with only 5 hours of sleep. It’s funny because that’s my mom’s normal schedule. I don’t know how you nurses survive such a busy life. But being there from start to finish was not only eye opening but spiritually refreshing. To be able to be God’s hands to help these people in our own personal way was a blessing for me.
We finished pathways around noon on Wednesday and then GYC was starting that evening. I think all of us took that time to catch up on sleep but sure enough Thursday at 8am we were back up and running. At least these sessions required more listening skills than physical skills. If you’ve never been to gyc, everyday there’s a morning devotional, and then breakout sessions where you get to choose what “class” you’d like to attend, or testimonies in the main hall, and then lunch, more classes then evening devotional and repeat the next day. On Friday however we go on an outreach. Everyone gets on a bus and is given a pack of glow tracts and people go out in pairs knocking on doors and taking surveys asking who is interested in bible study and then they pray with them and leave a glow tract.
Well since this is my 5th GYC, Justin and I decided to volunteer as bus leaders for the outreach. Actually, he signed us up without me knowing. But what bus leaders do is basically to be responsible for everyone who is on your bus. You bring everyone to drop off locations and then after an hour you pick them back up. We are also encouraged to sing with our bus mates. We were really blessed to have people who were enthusiastic. We sang so many songs like Allelu, Allelu, Praise ye the Lord, and it would be boys vs girls, and then we would sing Oh fill it up, and then we taught them the welcome table where D1- D4 meaning the different destinations had a line in the song, anyway it was amazing. Thank God, they were willing to sing coz I don’t know how Justin and I would have handled a duet on the bus for around 30min. Our bus was assigned to go to Chandler. What I learned that day was that people in Chandler were receptive to the truth! Our people were calling us asking to bring them more glow tracts. We were also giving out great controversy books and we ran out of those too. Never did I first-hand experience the phrase “the harvest is plenty.” I hope we can pray for all our leaders and pastors in the Arizona conference to follow up on all these Bible studies and visit these people who want to know more about God.
We don’t have to be in Phoenix or chandler to help out in the harvest. God placed us here, in Tucson, to be beacons of light starting in our own homes and then out to our coworkers and friends and to our circle of influence. This is the very reason why I responded to Gods calling to speak to you today. At GYC, they are very mission field minded. They have many altar calls for people who want to go overseas or to another state and be a missionary for 6 months to a year. I’m not one of those people who immediately get excited to hear an opportunity to go overseas. But I remember after one devotional while they were making altar calls for baptism and missionary work, I prayed and asked God where He wanted me to go. All I heard was the word “preach.” I am glad God has work for me to do right here at home.
So, to respond to God, I am going to share with you abridged and adapted versions of the sermons of Chris Holland, the director of It Is Written Canada. He was the main plenary speaker for the entire GYC session. Our topic is “Arise.”
Turn with me to Isaiah 60:1-3. “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Before you arise and shine, something must happen. Verse one says, “FOR your light…” Arising is a response to something that happened. Before we go we must wait for God. Before the Israelites went to the Promised Land they were first dedicated. Before the outburst of the Pentecost was the prayers and outpouring in the upper room. In other words, verse one says, “Arise and shine because…” we don’t have any light ourselves. We must wait for God’s light to be in us.
Did you know that I am afraid to share the gospel? One Sunday morning four of us went hiking, Jim, Justin, Genevieve and I. Afterwards we ate at Coyote Pause Cafe for breakfast, our favorite after hiking spot. I never told Jim or Justin about this but while we were waiting for our food we were talking about Eileen’s sermon about the ecumenical movement. There was a lady sitting at a table across and diagonal from us and she could hear everything we were saying. She was alone I believe. Yet when I realized that she could hear our conversation I suddenly froze and could not contribute to the topic. I was somehow ashamed and felt that we shouldn’t be talking this loudly, that we should be quiet and keep this to ourselves. I was afraid to offend this stranger and get in trouble. I wanted to tell them to stop but I caught myself and thought, why? Why am I afraid? So what if people can hear us? Don’t they deserve to know the truth?
While we were in outreach at GYC, my family stayed behind at the hotel. When I came back, I see a microwave sitting at the table that wasn’t there before. I asked my grandma where she got it, and she said the cleaning lady let them borrow it. She even gave us a lot of extra shampoo and fancy floor towels for our convenience. I asked grandma why she was so nice, and grandma said it’s because she asked the cleaning lady if she knew Jesus and offered her Bible studies. The cleaning lady was actually interested, and she gave her phone number to my grandma. And just like that she was able to share the love of God. Within minutes! Talk about being bold in the gospel.
Sharing has honestly been a struggle for me for many years. I always believed in the concept of living out my faith, that I don’t need to preach it. There’s other people who could do that. There are plenty of evangelists and pastors out there. My job was just to live out my life in Christ and hope others would see through me. Yet since I’ve moved to Tucson and have made many secular friends, (because I’ve always grown up in an Adventist environment), no one has responded to the lifestyle that I try to portray. I feel like I’ve somehow failed because no one has accepted my invite to come to church, no one has ever asked me for Bible studies, no one has ever been curious enough about my religion to actually test it out. Not until this past GYC did it finally click. I wait for people to ask me about Christ and I don’t take initiative to tell them. I need to assume that they don’t know who Jesus is and be excited to tell them all about Him, just like my grandma. I have been trying so hard to convert people my way. I have not let God arise in my life and let His light shine through me in order to touch others. I figured I’m a good enough Christian, I have a light to shine, and it is my Christian duty to collect souls. NO, first of all it isn’t my light at all, it is God’s. My duty is to empty myself and let God live through me and let Him collect souls through me. I am to be His vessel, so His light may shine through me.
Let’s move to verse two. It says, “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.”
Notice that there is darkness and deep darkness. Darkness equals lawlessness and lovelessness, it is an obstruction to our relationships with other people. Deep darkness is what veils God’s glory. It is an obstruction to our relationship with God. The world is darkened to the character and love of God. We need to show the world the glory of God which is the character of God. God’s counteract to darkness is His gospel which will be revealed through us. God’s solution to the dark world is that He must arise. For us to rise and shine, God must arise in us. However, the only way for God to arise in you is for you to first die to self. In other words, die to self-reliance. The call to arise is to die to old ways and God will arise a covenant established in us. We are to cast out anything that hinders us from living a new life in Christ.
Let’s go to Ephesians 5:8-14. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” This is how you arise from the dead, you expose the darkness. You have the fruits of the spirit and you walk in the light. Isaiah 60 is not an invitation for you to try to shine. The passage simply says, “shine.” It is a promise because God is present in our lives, and if He is in us we will shine. If you are not shining, have you really laid everything down?
Let’s now go to Romans 13:11 “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” This is actually a reminder of Isaiah 60:1. It is a call to action. Arise and shine for your light has come. Our role is to announce that Jesus is coming again. Isaiah 60 is truly a last day altar call.
Jump back to the third verse of chapter 60 in Isaiah. “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Because God has arisen, we are to empty ourselves of our old ways and let God’s light shine through us. And then verse three says that Gentiles will come to our light, meaning we now have the attention of the world around us, our sphere of influence, we can no longer stay silent but carry the responsibility of ministering unto them who do not know our loving Savior. We are to arise and shine.
2 Cor 2:14,15 describes shining as having an aroma that leads people to life. Our problem is, we are Laodecean. We don’t have the aroma. Have you ever wondered what you smell like? Spiritually? The stench of death is like living with pigs where we get used to the smell and you become one with them. Once we immerse ourselves into the stench of this world we don’t realize that our souls are actually rotting, we are senseless to the sweet aroma of the Holy Spirit. But praise God He can change that. Pavel Goia says that the more we walk among flowers, the more we smell like flowers. The more we spend time in God’s glory, the more we become glorious.
The Bible says that God wishes that we Laodeceans were either hot or cold. Hot obviously means being on fire for God. Hot can be used to soothe and to heal. But cold water revitalizes and refreshes the soul. We are to reveal to people that there is hope, that there is a Savior that loves them. We are to recharge their spirits to look forward to His second coming. Ailee even explains and says we can be so cold, so far away from God that cold should make us realize we are in dire need of a Savior. God wishes we were either hot or cold.
We have been called to arise and shine and reach out. Maybe our calling here is to stop converting people and start searching and connecting with those who are already converted. Let us work together to bring the gospel to the world. If we wait for our church board to do something about it, we will be waiting forever. Change doesn’t start with leaders, change starts within ourselves.
As we enter this new year, think of the calling God has entrusted to you. Will you be the extension of Jesus to someone today?
“Have you ever avoided witnessing to a person who would likely not fit well in your church? What would it take for you and your church to find sufficient grace to embrace those ‘sinners’? ”
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I think... 