3ABN On the Road

Friday Evening

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Justin Kim, Christian Berdahl

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000956


01:02 When you come to ASI you expect
01:04 to be thrilled and challenged and
01:07 stimulated and go home remembering
01:11 experiences where lives were changed.
01:13 Where God is using people just like you
01:16 and me to reach this dead and dying world.
01:21 Today you're not going to be
01:22 disappointed at all. Christian Berdahl over
01:26 ten years ago founded the Shepherd's
01:28 Call Ministry. Christian came from
01:31 a background of abuse and hardship
01:34 and heartache, but God used him in a
01:36 remarkable way, now in a ministry of
01:40 music and the spoken word in both
01:43 secular setting as well as in
01:44 spiritual settings. He's invited around
01:47 the world to ministering to cross
01:49 denominations in secular events and all kinds of
01:54 opportunities. Christian, how in the world did
01:56 you end up becoming a Christian?
01:58 Well my, I was raised in a
02:00 non-Christian home and my,
02:03 I was raised in non-Christian home
02:05 and my mother was a non-Christian
02:09 and she gave me the name Christian,
02:11 I don't know how, I've asked her that,
02:13 she said I don't know I just like the name.
02:15 She says now it was providential
02:17 praise the Lord. But I was raised in
02:19 an abusive home. My mother was a
02:22 17-year-old young girl when she had me.
02:26 My father was 19-years-old he was
02:28 a drug user and an alcoholic and an
02:32 adulterer, finally my mother after
02:34 having two different children decided
02:36 to divorce him and she was a single
02:40 mother taking care of three of us boys
02:43 and sent off to babysitters.
02:45 The babysitters unfortunately
02:48 the babysitter's son stole my innocence
02:51 as a young boy and then from there
02:55 my mother remarried and she remarried
02:58 to a man who became our worst
02:59 nightmare actually and he was
03:01 extremely abusive, very violent,
03:06 I've been whipped, I've been tied up,
03:08 I've been tortured, I've had open wounds
03:10 from the, from the top of my neck to my heels,
03:14 and so it was a tough, a tough life as a child.
03:18 I learned that you put on a face even
03:21 though your life is absolutely horrible
03:24 and terrible and you act like everything
03:26 is okay, and that was my
03:28 existence as a young child.
03:29 It seems that when we look at people
03:32 we don't know anything about
03:34 their background. We don't know what's
03:35 in their backpack, but even through
03:37 this heartache and tough time you
03:39 had growing up God still has chosen to use you.
03:43 Which amazes me because I,
03:45 how He got a hold of my life is absolute,
03:48 an absolute miracle because growing
03:50 up when you have father figures
03:53 abuse and then my biological father
03:56 molested all three of us boys and so
03:59 we just had so much baggage and so
04:00 much weight and so much hurt and pain
04:03 that I honestly couldn't believe that there
04:06 was a God in heaven that wanted to do
04:09 anything good to me. Because everyone I
04:12 had trusted had always hurt me so,
04:14 for God to take me from that to
04:19 singing and preaching for Him is a miracle.
04:21 Well just think how many kids are out
04:23 there that are going through this same
04:24 kind of heartache that you did.
04:25 I mean it's not that uncommon and here
04:28 we just look at people all cleaned up and
04:30 smiling and saying good morning and how
04:32 are you today as though nothing was wrong,
04:36 and yet there are people that are hurting
04:37 everywhere and you must have had
04:39 terrible pain as you went
04:41 through this experience.
04:42 Well it was true, you know there
04:43 were no answers, nobody ever shared
04:45 Jesus with me. I, in fact as I,
04:48 as I graduate, actually what
04:49 happened was I kept crying out and kept
04:52 crying out and there was no answer.
04:53 I cried out to God and there was no answer
04:55 and I said well if there is a devil out there
04:57 and you can help me, get me out of this
04:59 and of course God said, he doesn't know
05:01 what he's saying amen. So God has protected
05:05 me somehow someway I was,
05:07 I was violent as a child. I tried to take my
05:09 life a number of times. I was suicidal,
05:11 but it never went through.
05:12 God had always protected me even
05:14 though I didn't know him or acknowledge Him.
05:16 I was still His child. And then as a,
05:19 this abuse went on until I was a sophomore
05:22 high school when I went to child
05:23 protective services and I started telling
05:26 them a story. What if something
05:28 like this was happening. What if this was
05:30 happening. Not saying it is because I couldn't
05:32 trust anybody. My mother had
05:33 mentally and emotionally checked
05:35 out and my life was just a mess,
05:37 so my mother finally woke up and divorced
05:41 my step-father praise God and we left
05:45 actually with the police standby the day
05:47 we were moving out. We had police standing
05:49 there with their petrol cars in case he
05:51 went crazy because he was pretty
05:52 much crazy anyway. So what happened
05:55 was I got involved in theater,
05:57 I started finding escape in the theater arts
06:00 as a young person. I went to a Christian
06:03 retreat as a young person and all it was,
06:06 was if you don't worship God you
06:08 don't love God, you're gonna burn
06:09 forever and I thought well there you go.
06:11 It's just like the rest of the father figures
06:13 I've had in my life and so
06:14 I wasn't interested. This was high school?
06:17 This was in the high school.
06:18 And then right out of high school beginning
06:19 year of college I got involved in television
06:22 and video production and there I found
06:25 another escape, I stopped doing theater,
06:27 I started three, two business
06:29 which grew into three. We were successful
06:32 as young people. I was 21, 19 to 22
06:37 years old and I was making lots of money.
06:40 My, my career was expanding and audio
06:42 and video production and I was,
06:46 my business partner had embezzled from us.
06:48 Oh my. And, and totally ruined
06:50 our companies and I couldn't recover
06:52 them and so I was taking any job
06:54 I could to try to put my financial
06:56 life back together. And I was called by
06:59 a producer one and he asked me if I
07:01 would like to go and direct thing called
07:03 a camp meeting. I had no idea
07:05 what a camp meeting was and I grew up
07:07 camping and enjoying camping,
07:08 so I thought sure I like camping.
07:10 I'll take the job, so I took the job
07:14 and I show up on location looking for
07:17 the man who is running the camp meeting
07:19 and I said I understand this is a camp
07:21 meeting and you know we'll setup our,
07:23 our establishing shot now,
07:24 our audience reaction shot,
07:26 do we need a handheld remote for
07:28 shooting like the tent and cooking
07:30 demonstrations you know. And he's like tent
07:33 demonstration, what are you talking about?
07:34 I said well this is a camp meeting right?
07:36 He said yes and I said I assume
07:38 you're gonna be demonstrating camping
07:39 equipment right and he says oh no,
07:43 no camp meeting. He said I've never
07:46 heard that that's good. And so I said,
07:51 oh what's a camp meeting?
07:54 And you know there is a bunch of RVs
07:56 out there in tents and people walking
07:57 around and hiking boots, so I'm thinking you
07:59 know it's a camp meeting. And he goes no,
08:02 no, no this is a religious meeting that
08:03 people camp at and I went oh! Great,
08:09 I'm gonna learn about the God that
08:10 never did anything for me.
08:14 So where did it go from there?
08:15 I mean here you're in a camp meeting
08:17 and you're expecting to be putting up
08:19 tents and have a bunch of
08:20 boycotts making fire.
08:21 Exactly, there were no fires,
08:24 there were no boycotts, there were a lot of
08:26 strange people and they were,
08:28 I learned they were called
08:29 Seventh-Day Adventists. And they talk different
08:32 and they walk different and they dress
08:33 different and the music was different,
08:36 but what happened as I sat there in the
08:38 control and we had a portable van
08:41 and as I sat there in that production van
08:43 and I was switching, I was being drawn
08:47 in to what was being presented.
08:50 I had seen now someone present
08:53 Jesus in a way I had never heard before.
08:58 Isn't that indeed how God works.
08:59 Amen, so here I'm the technical guy
09:01 which is where I'm very comfortable.
09:03 I'm petrified to be right here
09:04 right this moment. I'm not the front guy.
09:06 I'm much more accustomed to be behind the signs.
09:10 I like it back there with all the, all the crew.
09:14 So I'm being drawn in. I'm hearing,
09:17 America was in the, was foretold in
09:20 prophecy and I'm hearing about the health
09:22 message and this guy is up there eating
09:24 weeds off beside of the road saying God
09:26 has provided Daniel's diet,
09:29 and I'm like who is Daniel.
09:30 I knew nothing and I'm thinking these
09:33 people are so weird, but I like them.
09:35 This is really, this is really different.
09:39 Be encouraged dear ones.
09:40 Yeah, I'm just a heathen that knew
09:44 nothing you know. So here I'm listening
09:47 to all this and by the end of the,
09:49 the meeting the man that was running at,
09:51 he and I became friends and I was having
09:54 some serious health issues.
09:55 He helped me through those.
09:56 I became a vegetarian, I became a vegan
09:59 vegetable and my strength return.
10:01 I'm stronger now at 40 then I was at 25
10:05 or whatever it was at 24 and so what
10:09 happened overtime was God let my life
10:12 to spiral out of control and I couldn't
10:16 find a job in production, by this time I had
10:18 amassed wonderful skills, I was directing
10:22 and editing and shooting and writing.
10:24 I've been working with ESPN and PBS
10:26 and Nickelodeon and a lot of high end
10:28 corporate work and my career was really
10:31 taking off. And when we
10:33 moved actually here to Chandler,
10:36 Arizona in the record heat.
10:39 Do you think it's hot today,
10:41 no it was hot a number of years ago.
10:43 Record days over 115. The hottest day was
10:45 the 127 and I was selling cars without air
10:48 conditioning, my life had went all the
10:51 way down. So what happened was
10:54 I just decided I'm gonna take a trip,
10:56 went back to California and I had a desire to go
10:59 see that guy that ran that camp meeting.
11:02 Something inside of me was changing,
11:04 my girl and I had separated.
11:06 We've decided, got her pregnant,
11:08 we lost our baby at five and half months
11:11 and it was a traumatic event for us,
11:13 so we decided that we shouldn't be intimate
11:16 together as worldly heathen people because
11:19 there were consequences for that and we weren't
11:21 ready for marriage and so we were taking
11:25 steps backwards in the eyes of the world,
11:27 but we didn't realize that we were taking
11:29 steps forwards in God's eyes.
11:31 And so He separated the two of us.
11:34 I went and saw my friend and I told him
11:36 how my life was falling apart he just
11:37 started laughing. And I said what are you
11:39 laughing at? This is not funny.
11:40 He said, yes I told you a long time ago
11:43 God has a calling for your life,
11:45 amen, and I said I don't know what that means,
11:47 but maybe you're right. So at the end of that
11:49 conversation he says to me you know
11:53 I can really use a man like you in my ministry
11:56 and doing video and graphic design
11:58 and all this type of work and friends,
12:00 I wanna tell you this, I tell you this very
12:02 seriously I knew right then when he
12:05 said to me I could really use a man like you.
12:09 God put a picture like a movie
12:14 in front of my eyes. And I saw He showed
12:17 me right then. I think it happened
12:18 in a split second. I don't know how
12:20 he has this technology, but it's fascinating and
12:22 he played this movie in front of my eyes
12:25 and I saw where Jesus had been there
12:28 from my birth. He had been there,
12:30 I never took my life. He had been there
12:32 and He protected me when I prayed
12:34 the prayer even to the devil and He
12:36 showed me all of these things to my life
12:38 how He had trained me, how He allowed me
12:40 to be trained up to be used for Him
12:42 in a later day. And I just thought
12:44 what just went, right through mind
12:46 and how He separated me from my,
12:48 my fiancee and all these things because
12:50 He had to do something to me that I
12:53 needed more than anything and that
12:55 was to deliver me from my baggage,
12:58 to deliver me from my sin.
13:03 And when I said I'll take the job.
13:09 It sounds like the Shepherd's call?
13:11 It was the Shepherd's call,
13:12 that's the name of our ministry.
13:13 I heard the Shepherd calling amen.
13:16 And He said Christian, I want you to come,
13:18 all broken and messed up like you are.
13:20 I need you, I want you, I love you.
13:23 And I thought to myself what.
13:24 And friends, I kind of joke about
13:26 this but I think a guardian angel grab,
13:28 my guardian angelgrab my jaw and
13:31 imitated my voice and said I'll take
13:33 the job because there is, there is no way
13:37 that I was gonna go and leave Arizona
13:39 where my girl was who I was still
13:40 in love with, and go work for a ministry.
13:43 I mean everything was not fitting,
13:46 so he said really you'll take the job
13:49 and right then I knew I was making
13:51 a decision that would change my whole life.
13:54 I said yes, I'll take the job
13:57 and I didn't know what that meant.
13:59 Eventually I stayed there and I worked
14:01 for that ministry for two and half years,
14:04 and we studied out the Sabbath
14:06 that next day. He said if you're gonna
14:07 work here, you got to understand
14:08 why I go church on Saturday.
14:09 He presented it to me right from the word
14:11 of God and I went wow is everything
14:13 that clear in the Bible? He said yes and I said
14:15 well I guess I'll be a Sabbath keeper.
14:17 And we started studying over and over
14:19 everything, every doctrine and I
14:21 fell in love with the Bible.
14:23 I fell in love with the spirit of prophecy,
14:25 amen, praise God for both.
14:26 Amen, amen where did you go from there Christian?
14:29 From there we went to my,
14:34 actually where I wen from there was a
14:35 really good thing. God brought Coby
14:37 back into my life. Praise the Lord.
14:39 And that was the miracle. I don't have time
14:40 to get into all of that, but God throug
14:42 a series of miracles brought her back into
14:43 my life as a, as a prayer to one
14:46 of my fleeces and by God's grace I was
14:49 this brand new Christian and God had did
14:52 something for me that I will be forever grateful.
14:57 He took away all of that baggage.
15:01 Amen. He took away all the pain and all
15:03 the molestation and all the anger and all
15:06 the rage and he just did, he performed some
15:09 sort of surgery that it no longer holds me
15:13 back and she saw that. She said,
15:15 what's going on with you and I didn't even
15:17 know what's happening. What's going on with you?
15:19 I said I don't know, she says but I like it
15:21 and I said well praise God,
15:22 and she says the good parts of you are gooder.
15:25 That's not a good word but or better.
15:27 And the bad parts of you are,
15:29 where are they? And I said I don't know,
15:31 and she said what's going on?
15:33 I said it's Jesus. It's Jesus Christ.
15:36 I said you haven't heard the Jesus that
15:38 I've learned about now. You and I were not taught
15:41 about Jesus when we were going up.
15:43 She was raised in an atheist home.
15:46 And so she just started breaking and crying
15:48 and I had the privilege over the next couple
15:50 of weeks to bring her to Jesus Christ.
15:53 Amen, amen, amen, and now you're actually
15:56 being called, how did the ministry
15:58 get started and you're being called into
16:00 remarkable places around the country
16:03 and really am anxious to know how he
16:07 made a difference in the various
16:09 places you're being invited to?
16:11 We'll leave out a large chunk of us getting
16:14 married and her believing everything
16:16 and my children being born which we're told
16:18 would never happen. And then God said Christian,
16:21 I want you to go out and I want you to
16:22 start singing and preaching.
16:24 Now friends I knew like, I don't know ten
16:27 songs that were Christian songs and I would
16:29 use special music. I'm not a trained vocalist.
16:31 I don't have any training. I don't know how to
16:34 sing professionally and so he said go
16:39 and sing and I said but father, me.
16:42 You're at the bottom of the barrel come on
16:44 there is other people surely they can do this.
16:46 And he says go out and preach.
16:47 I said preach, I had done one sermon
16:50 on the dangers of television and it got out
16:52 there somehow. You know that's how God is.
16:54 He takes your little humble efforts and says
16:56 wow and he just sheds them out there.
16:59 And all of a sudden I'm invited to a
17:00 camp meeting. We want you to come.
17:02 We want you to sing, we want you to do
17:04 a sermon and when I got to my location
17:08 I went to my room. I went to pull out my
17:10 notes because I was petrified as
17:12 I'm right this moment, and he says I went
17:14 to find him and guess what had happened.
17:16 I had left all my notes in the seat back
17:18 pocket of the airplane. Praise the God.
17:20 Praise the God. You see you're much,
17:24 much more senior in the faith my brother.
17:27 What I was like oh Lord, you called the
17:30 wrong person. And, and so that I went
17:34 the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy as
17:35 my custom had become and found Sister
17:39 White's first vision. I had, I had never
17:42 heard it before, I had heard about it
17:44 and you know the vision of heaven where
17:46 she is talking about the tree and the river
17:48 of life and all other things and as I was
17:51 reading it God said, put that song there.
17:53 Put that song there and in 35 minutes a
17:56 program entitled a vision of heaven was
17:58 born and that program we've done all around
18:01 this country and internationally.
18:03 And so he impressed my heart go out
18:07 and do this and the people were blessed
18:08 and they were blessed and I was blessed,
18:10 and God showed me I will give you a way
18:14 that you can go out and sing and preach
18:16 and it will not be about you.
18:18 It will be about me and my spirit of prophecy.
18:21 Amen, amen so you give this kind of
18:24 message even in evangelical
18:26 churches do you? Correct, yes,
18:27 we're really running long here but
18:30 I'm gonna have to cut our program short.
18:34 Not all, what happened is God put me,
18:35 I came in through this, to the truth,
18:37 through the independent movement
18:40 and God did something to me and what He
18:42 did was He put me in almost exclusively
18:45 in a Seventh-Day Adventist churches
18:47 when our ministry was started.
18:48 I said Lord if this is what you want me to do,
18:50 you need to make the phone ring,
18:52 because I'm not gonna call and go hi,
18:53 I can come sing at your church.
18:54 I didn't wanna do that, and so the phone
18:58 started ringing and they came,
19:00 I don't know how anybody knew about me,
19:02 but the word spread I think the angels
19:04 went around and said bring Christian,
19:05 because they needed to, you people needed to
19:09 teach me something and that was everywhere
19:12 that God's people are, no matter where they are,
19:15 no matter what church they're in.
19:17 There is a certain group of people
19:20 That has a flame of Jesus Christ burning
19:23 and God told me took these are my people
19:26 and I want you to be among them.
19:28 And not only that I want you to be
19:29 with them and ultimately God led me to become
19:32 by profession of faith to join the
19:34 Seventh-Day Adventist church,
19:35 praise the Lord, and now I'm an Ordained
19:37 Elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
19:40 and this is God's church my friends and we
19:42 can play games and say oh this is problems here,
19:44 problems there, friends, there are problems
19:46 everywhere. If there is a perfect
19:48 church I've decided I won't join it
19:49 because I'll ruin it.
19:52 You even get to go to
19:54 Pentecostal churches do you? Yes in fact
19:56 what happened was a friend of mine said
19:58 hey we want to invite you into a Sunday Church.
20:02 My uncle runs a Sunday church would
20:03 you do that. I had only done it in
20:05 my mother's Baptist church and I said sure
20:08 I love to do this program for any of
20:10 God's people. And it opened up my
20:12 mind to the fact that not only in the
20:16 Seventh-Day Adventist Churches but in the all
20:18 of the churches across the land.
20:20 There are the same people that have the
20:22 same flame burning my friends and Jesus said,
20:25 go and fan the flame. And so yes we go
20:29 and we do these program in public venues
20:32 at salvation armies, we do them at
20:34 food kitchens, we do these programs
20:37 in Pentecostal churches and church of
20:38 Christ and God and all these different churches.
20:41 They, they invite me and I don't go to do
20:42 a special music and support their service.
20:44 They give me the pulpit and I do
20:46 the service. Praise the Lord. So I introduce
20:48 them to the Spirit of Prophecy right under
20:49 own churches and they can't believe
20:51 how beautiful heaven is and they say where
20:53 did you get this and we say this I've got
20:55 plenty of more material you can
20:57 read if you like. And so praise God
21:00 for that and so they get introduced
21:02 to Desire of Ages, Steps to Christ right
21:04 in their own churches and they
21:05 invite us back. Praise the Lord.
21:26 Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
21:34 Oh, what words I hear Him say!
21:42 Oh happy place! So near, so precious!
21:51 May it find me there each day;
22:00 Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
22:09 I would look upon the past;
22:14 Oh for His love has been so gracious,
22:25 It has won my heart at last.
22:46 Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
22:55 Where can mortals be more blessed.
23:04 There I lay my sins and sorrows,
23:12 And, when weary, find sweet rest;
23:20 Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
23:29 There I love t weep and pray;
23:38 While I from His fullness gather
23:46 Grace and comfort every day.
23:54 Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus,
24:03 Make me holy as He is;
24:09 Oh may I prove I've been with Jesus,
24:20 Who is all my righteousness.
24:29 Who is all my righteousness.
24:46 Good morning. To those who are not here,
24:51 but good evening to you. Happy Sabbath.
24:58 Bit nervous, forgive me. We stand here amidst
25:04 many ministries, many presidents,
25:08 many deans and professors and important
25:11 people and I ask myself, why am I here
25:16 and I like to thank ASI for this opportunity
25:20 to be up there, to in many sense
25:23 and in many ways to make a fool of myself,
25:25 but that's my profession. The foolishness of
25:28 preaching for Jesus Christ.
25:32 As one who has witnessed many friends
25:34 and associates emerge out of the ASI
25:36 Youth for Jesus Program. I attest to its success
25:40 and necessary role in the Adventist church
25:42 especially in these last days,
25:44 I really they do. ASI has been a
25:46 wonderful parent to GYC a Generation of Youth
25:50 for Christ and it has provided structure,
25:53 wisdom, professionalism and a certain classiness
25:57 that ASI is known for. Is that true?
26:01 Look around you walk around and there is
26:02 a certain wow this is, this is ASI.
26:07 I don't know maybe you've been here
26:08 and waiting for 20 years passing on see it.
26:09 When I came here is this is ASI.
26:13 We say it that way ASI. GYC's other parents is
26:20 CAMPUS the Center for Adventist Ministry
26:22 to Public University Students.
26:24 With CAMPUS' unabashed characteristic
26:26 to tackle Biblical issues and to be uniquely
26:29 and unashamedly Seventh-Day Adventist
26:31 on difficult university settings GYC is
26:35 the if you will love child of these both,
26:38 these two sponsors. ASI has a special
26:41 commitment to evangelism and
26:43 has had a enormous cascade effect to youth
26:46 ministry as evidenced by GYC's desire
26:49 to connect young people with self
26:50 supporting and church ministries.
26:53 This evidence is not only in
26:54 North America friends. This is all over
26:56 the world and what you see here is ASI
26:59 and Jesus guys coming up. The effects are worldwide
27:05 and always jealous that they have the coolest
27:07 t-shirts. The affect of the smallest things,
27:12 these new answers, trickle down.
27:14 I just came back from Zambia.
27:16 And people there are watching this screen
27:19 and they are thinking wow what can we do
27:21 be like ASI Youth for Jesus.
27:23 What can we do like to be like CAMPUS,
27:25 what can we do to be like GYC.
27:30 The whole world looks to these three
27:31 organizations for the cutting edge trends
27:35 in Youth Ministry. So this morning
27:38 though this evening or somewhere
27:39 in the world's morning. I'd like to share with
27:44 you the importance of youth and its
27:47 ramifications for the large organizations
27:50 such as ASI. Before we do so I ask you
27:53 to bow your heads with me.
27:58 Father in heaven, we ask if we've
28:00 offended thee in anyway for the blood
28:04 of Jesus to cover each person in
28:06 this small hall. Father, be with the speaker,
28:11 cleanse the sins off his lips,
28:13 be with every person who uses,
28:15 cleanse the sins off their ears and may
28:16 Jesus be glorified tonight.
28:18 We pray this in Jesus name, amen.
28:20 Get you Bibles, please open to
28:21 Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2,
28:23 you still have your Bibles with you amen.
28:26 ASI still give them Bibles. Yes, yes, yes okay
28:29 Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2.
28:32 Luke is the third gospel, chapter 2 is the second
28:36 chapter of Luke, verse 40, verse 40 to the end.
28:43 This is a, this is a not a, this is a common
28:49 story that all of you know and tonight I
28:52 hope not to tire out but through the Holy Spirit
28:55 to have a full understanding of
28:57 this passage verse 40. The child grew and waxed
29:02 strong in Spirit and filled with wisdom,
29:04 and the grace of God was upon him.
29:07 Verse 41. Now his parents went to Jerusalem
29:10 every year at the feast of the Passover.
29:13 When he was 12 years old, they went up to the
29:15 Jerusalem of the custom of the feast.
29:17 And when they had fulfilled the days as
29:18 returned the child Jesus stayed behind in
29:20 Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother
29:22 knew not of it. These is one of their
29:24 few passages we see of Jesus' childhood
29:26 in the scriptures. We don't see any other
29:28 stories of Jesus' childhood.
29:30 We don't see whether he was
29:31 dating in high school. We don't have any
29:33 teenage years, we don't know if
29:34 he was a bad kid. I'm assuming he was
29:36 a very good kid okay on Mary's knee.
29:40 But this one story is mentioned and
29:42 has importance to us today. Verse 40,
29:45 the child grew, isn't this amazing.
29:47 Jesus grew and what this passage
29:50 is saying is. This is not an isolated
29:54 event proclaiming the divinity of Jesus,
29:57 but this has merit for us as human beings.
30:00 That means there was a point in Jesus
30:02 when He wasn't doing something
30:04 or He didn't know something and then
30:06 after a certain period of time He grew into it.
30:10 And this gives us hope for as humans.
30:12 Verse 41, the feast of the Passover came
30:16 and his parents went to Jerusalem.
30:17 Now Passover was the big events of the year.
30:23 Joseph and Mary every year would
30:25 come to the feast of the Passover.
30:28 They get on feast of the Passover.org
30:31 and register for the Passover.
30:34 They'd meet relatives, friends, ex-coworkers.
30:37 They had registered for the annual
30:39 Passover convention in Phoenix, Arizona.
30:44 Every year they would pack their luggage
30:46 and load up their donkeys and go
30:48 through donkey port and go through
30:50 TSA and go through load their booth
30:53 and come to the airport, the donkey port
30:55 in Phoenix and just go through the,
30:59 the this of comings to Passover okay.
31:07 Every year they would meet other kinfolk
31:10 and acquaintances while waiting inline
31:12 for the registration at Passover.
31:16 Every year they would lineup for
31:17 registration, they get a print outs
31:20 of the program. They give them
31:22 the registration form in genealogy of
31:24 their background to make sure who they are.
31:25 They get a name tag a brochure
31:27 and they read through who the speakers
31:29 were and what seminars were being presented.
31:33 They look around for which hotels were
31:37 nearby Jerusalem. Place to stay,
31:41 to move in unpack and perhaps while
31:45 and during their stay there was a young
31:47 Asian Rabbi who spoke on Friday nights.
31:54 Verse 42, When Jesus was 12 years old,
31:57 they went to Jerusalem after the custom
31:59 of the feast. Meaning Jesus for
32:01 12 years did not get to go but finally
32:04 when He is 12 years old He gets to go
32:07 to Passover, Passover. Classy place,
32:15 prestigious place. The Hebrew culture
32:18 made 12 years old the year when one
32:20 became a son of the law. Son of the commandment
32:24 and we call this Bar what? Mitzvah,
32:28 this point on, this child was no longer
32:30 a child but became an adult and here
32:32 on Jesus' Bar Mitzvah he attends the feast
32:34 with his parents. Verse 43, when they had
32:36 fulfilled the day as they returned
32:37 the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem
32:40 and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
32:42 Do you know the story? This is famous yes.
32:45 As they returned Jesus tarried behind
32:48 Joseph and Mary did know that Jesus was
32:50 not with them. The fact that the parents
32:53 did not know gives evidence that the parents
32:56 trusted Jesus and that He was a good child,
32:59 however this also gives evidence that Jesus
33:02 left His parents intentionally.
33:06 He was making a point, He's a good kid and good
33:09 kids don't leave their parents and make
33:11 them sad for no reason. 44, but after they
33:17 supposing to Him to have been in the
33:19 company went a days journey and sought
33:22 him among their kinfolk and acquaintances.
33:25 Joseph and Mary became entrenched
33:27 in the annual humdrum of the convention.
33:31 How many of you have been here many years.
33:33 Don't raise, please don't raise your hands.
33:36 This is your 90th year being here.
33:40 Is ASI that old? I don't know,
33:42 don't answer that question.
33:44 But you know I'm talking,
33:45 I'm just talking about ASI,
33:46 I'm talking about GYC, I'm just talking
33:47 about GC which is anything that people
33:49 come to, do you ever get into the mode
33:51 that you like just go. Then you go home.
33:55 You're calm and you go home.
33:58 You know what I'm talking about.
33:59 And those of who you have red coats
34:00 this is your first ASI. This is,
34:02 this is a wonderful experience,
34:04 but I see the eyes of those who
34:05 wear black coats. Yes, we're here again.
34:09 Now don't get me wrong I love ASI,
34:11 this is a great occasion and the Lord
34:13 uses events like this to pour forth
34:16 this Holy Spirit amen. But there is a danger
34:20 when you come to events large such as this.
34:26 Joseph and Mary allowed other interest
34:28 to take up their attention.
34:31 It was the same speakers, the same schedule,
34:33 the same food, the same annoying
34:35 people and the same not annoying people
34:37 that came to talk to them.
34:40 Perhaps their parents were engaged
34:42 in idle talk. Mary was finding out
34:44 what happened to Elizabeth and her
34:46 other relatives. Joseph was trying to
34:48 find out what the politics was behind
34:50 the new high priest. Maybe others were
34:53 making fun of their carpentry for
34:55 Yahweh booth in the booth section
34:57 I don't know. Now these are
34:59 not all horribly bad things,
35:01 but the key word is this in verse 44
35:03 the Bible reads, but they what?
35:08 Suppose, they assumed Jesus
35:12 was with them the entire time.
35:14 Do you ever, do you ever feel that way?
35:17 You come to events such as this
35:18 and you assume Jesus is with you
35:21 somewhere in the background. But the,
35:23 but the excitement, the adrenaline rush
35:26 of being with other people you kind
35:28 of lose track of Jesus, but he's kind of
35:30 somewhere in the back of your mind.
35:34 They assumed Jesus was with them.
35:38 For a whole day in the large crowd
35:40 and in the Greek access of a caravan.
35:45 There were some of the things that were
35:47 going wrong. One, in large groups such
35:50 as this there is ambition that's being
35:52 showed off. In large groups,
35:56 people are finding golden opportunities
35:58 and everyone wants that golden
36:00 conversation to find that golden businessman
36:03 or golden businesswoman to provide gold.
36:09 Am I making sense here? Ambition and
36:13 they're looking across to the other
36:14 side of the booth and like who is he talking,
36:16 oh he's talking with, I got to get in
36:19 that action. There is pride,
36:22 there is showing off, there is display,
36:24 there is throwing around weights.
36:27 My booth is larger than your booth.
36:31 I have tracks, I've key chains,
36:34 I've highlighters. There is a level of
36:41 gossip and the joviality happening here.
36:42 They're talking about everything and it's
36:45 just making sense. I'm being very real here.
36:48 I'm 28 years old, I don't know what
36:50 to categorize myself. I'm not an adult,
36:53 but I'm not a young person.
36:55 And we are very sensitive to see
36:57 what's happening. And this is the reality of it.
37:02 An additional thing is people are traveling.
37:04 You ever come on Wednesday evening, go
37:06 to registration, all of us are grumpy.
37:10 People are mad, they are tired,
37:12 the time change. The last thing they
37:16 wanna do is wait in line for registration
37:18 for another 30 minutes. We find you're A through
37:21 L and K through C or whatever it is.
37:27 This is part of the experience.
37:30 And during the whole time you think
37:32 Jesus is with you, but he is what.
37:35 He is not, he's tarried behind.
37:38 For a whole day they lost their child.
37:39 They spent the whole day assuming that
37:41 such a good child as Jesus was with them
37:43 and after all these were their family
37:45 members all hanging around.
37:46 This is, this is the in house,
37:48 there are the saints surely we're okay here.
37:52 This is the okay ground, Jesus should be okay
37:55 and these are my, our family members.
37:57 How many days have we been here
37:59 without Jesus. How many days have
38:04 we been here without intimate contact
38:08 with Jesus. Not about Jesus,
38:11 not hearing about Jesus, not seeing Jesus
38:13 in pictures and making green paintings,
38:16 but intimate contact with the Lord
38:18 and savior of the universe.
38:21 We have assumed that Jesus has
38:23 been with us. Verse 45, when Mary and
38:26 Joseph found him not, they turned their
38:28 back again to Jerusalem seeing him.
38:30 They came to pass, that after three days
38:32 they find him in the temple sitting in
38:33 the midst of the doctors both hearing him
38:35 or hearing them and asking them questions.
38:38 For three days and we don't know how
38:40 these three days work if it's additional
38:41 three days or it's one day they went back
38:43 and then they went back you know
38:44 I don't know, but three days later,
38:46 they haven't seen their child.
38:48 Now you understand, this is Mary.
38:50 Now how many of you are wives and mothers.
38:54 Wives and mothers when they lose
38:55 something they go into red alert mode.
38:59 How many women have lost keys,
39:02 handbags, passports, check books,
39:06 cell phones, children? Now you understand,
39:12 Mary was given the sacred trust
39:14 of the Son of God. She lost the Son of God.
39:24 Now you understand this was her own,
39:26 this was her child, a miracle birth.
39:30 In addition while she was giving birth
39:33 to this child there was a whole Egyptian,
39:35 the persecution had to go to Egypt.
39:37 So this child was someone that she
39:39 just treasured a little bit more then
39:41 anything else. Do you think that she
39:45 is gonna lose this child again.
39:47 The possibility, she is freaking out.
39:52 Mothers, you identify. She had nightmares
39:58 of harried. She was thinking, what will I do.
40:04 My mother lost her cell phone once
40:08 and for about a couple of hours she's gone around
40:11 looking for things and after a couple of hours
40:12 passage goes in panic mode.
40:14 Do you know what I'm talking about?
40:15 Once you're in the panic mode,
40:16 you go into crazy mode,
40:17 once you go into crazy mode,
40:18 you go into insane mode,
40:19 once you go into insane mode,
40:20 you go into irrational mode.
40:22 She's looking for her cell phone everywhere.
40:23 Now men do this absolutely,
40:26 but it's all internal we don't say it out loud.
40:29 We search for the whole house
40:34 and guess where it was.
40:36 It was in the refrigerator.
40:41 Sometimes life is hectic isn't it friends.
40:45 Get a sandwich and put your cell phone.
40:47 Here they finally come after three days
40:51 and they find him in the temple sitting in the
40:53 midst of seminary professors.
40:56 In my imagination Jesus is wearing a night robe,
41:00 I don't know why all the uncles after stories
41:01 having the night robe. He's in a night robe
41:03 and he has a Jackie Onassis's haircut.
41:05 He's surrounded by these
41:06 theological professors of his day.
41:07 And these doctors should have received
41:10 the message of Jesus. With a certain humility
41:13 or the certain divinity he's asking them
41:15 questions and then answering questions
41:17 on his wonderful beautiful dialogue.
41:19 I would have chopped my left hand
41:21 for a transcript of this discussion.
41:23 If these professors would have ushered
41:27 this message they would welcome the Messiah.
41:30 But 18 years later some of them are planning
41:35 to kill Jesus. Verse 47, all that heard him
41:40 were astonished at his understanding
41:42 and answers. And I'm telling you this,
41:43 as you see these little Munchkins
41:45 and little kids up here.
41:46 The ones who are 12 years-old are capable
41:49 of deep theological ideologies.
41:53 If Jesus could do it,
41:55 and if Jesus was someone who grew,
41:57 then the potential for our young people
42:00 is just the same amen.
42:02 Today young people are not sufficiently
42:06 challenged enough. This generation
42:09 that's coming has had the world
42:11 handed to them and they do not want the world
42:13 unless a challenge that is given to them
42:16 is beyond them, and there is only
42:19 one challenge that it meets to dignity
42:21 of the youth today.
42:22 And that is spreading the gospel,
42:25 the Three Angels Message not just
42:27 in North America, but the entire world.
42:29 The world is at their finger tips
42:32 and the previous generation must hand this
42:37 baton wisely, gently and forcefully
42:41 to this next generation.
42:43 Young people at age 12 are capable of
42:46 this kind of mission amen.
42:47 But they're not sufficiently
42:50 challenged enough. The largest problem is
42:52 church is that young people are sheltered
42:54 in the church, but they're not converted
42:57 and they know the world is bad.
42:58 And they know they should stay here,
43:00 but because they're converted,
43:01 so they're stuck in this trap.
43:03 They hate being here,
43:04 they know they shouldn't be there,
43:06 so they're in between.
43:08 And finally one day they'll crack
43:09 and they'll go out into the world
43:11 and never comeback.
43:12 A high enough challenge will keep
43:16 the young people involved.
43:18 Once converted youth can be one of most
43:21 powerful forces however they need expertise,
43:25 wisdom and experience of their elders
43:27 with this bond the results
43:28 can be catastrophic. Verse 48,
43:31 when the parents saw him,
43:33 they were amazed and his mother said unto him son,
43:36 why has thou thus dealt with us,
43:39 behold thy father and I have sought
43:42 these sorrowing. And now the translation is,
43:44 you have caused us pain.
43:46 Verse 49 He said unto them,
43:50 How is it that ye sought me?
43:52 Wish thee not that I must be about my
43:54 Father's business? And they understood
43:56 not the same which he spake unto them.
43:58 Meaning, the parents didn't get it
44:01 and I tell you as a young person that
44:03 there is nothing more frustrating
44:04 when your mom and dad don't get you.
44:06 I told my mom, mom,
44:09 I'm going to Arizona, Phoenix.
44:10 I'm speaking at ASI. Oh that's nice honey,
44:13 make sure you wear a coat.
44:14 Oh it's a 117 degrees out there.
44:18 Oh you wanna bring some sun block.
44:20 Joseph and Mary did not know what Jesus'
44:27 mission was. When a 12-year-old boy is lost.
44:30 Where do you go? Do you go the seminary building.
44:33 Is that your first choice that you go to?
44:35 For three days they probably went to the
44:38 bakery, they probably went to the
44:39 children's museum. They probably went to the zoo,
44:42 they probably went to the school,
44:44 they probably went to the summer school
44:45 education. I don't, I don't know.
44:47 You go where kids go, amen.
44:49 And the seminary was the last place they
44:52 thought Jesus would be.
44:53 They were trying to know where would Jesus be.
44:58 They were trying to know, think inside his brain
45:01 if I were a 12-year-old boy where would I be?
45:03 Would I be at the felafel station,
45:05 would I be going over there
45:06 getting sweets from the,
45:07 from the sugar guy or where,
45:09 where would he be? Many people today think
45:12 they know young people.
45:13 They think young people want rock and roll,
45:17 drums, dancing, the Macarena
45:19 and macaroni Sabbath schools.
45:21 They wanna play sesame street puppets
45:23 in Sabbath school. They want Holy piercing
45:25 and tattoos. They wanna hang out at coffee shops,
45:28 have music, chill sessions,
45:30 they gonna have playgrounds
45:31 inside the church, disco balls, bakeries,
45:34 candy shops and zoos inside church.
45:36 Now the thing is as a young person
45:38 do you know how awkward that is?
45:40 If you wanna go to those things,
45:43 you go to those things,
45:44 you don't go to church to do those things.
45:47 You go to church, you go to church.
45:49 But there is a generation of youth for Christ today
45:56 who want to be about the father's business,
46:00 who want to be in the father's house.
46:03 Starting at age 12. Do you understand ASI
46:08 we are at an important sociological cloisters
46:12 in the church. For one generation
46:14 we swung rights. We went into traditionalism,
46:17 we went to legalism, we abused some of
46:19 those principles. The next generation
46:21 that came swung all the way to the which side?
46:23 To the left, and they went to the other side
46:25 and they said hey, lets do away with this
46:26 and do away with this. And now here we are
46:29 in the third generation with a blank slate.
46:31 We can see the mistakes of what one generation did
46:34 and the abuses of another generation.
46:36 And we have an historical prospective,
46:38 right now the youth are at crucial point
46:44 where we need the experience
46:46 of the previous generation.
46:48 And what I'm tell you is this,
46:49 ASI is on the cutting edge of providing
46:53 that kind of support. This generation is radical,
46:58 they wanna be nuns and monks for Jesus.
47:02 They want to be David Livingstons,
47:04 they want to be Martin Luther Kings,
47:06 they wanna be John Wesleys,
47:07 George Whitefields, John Wycliffes.
47:08 Despite the all these good things
47:11 there is a generation
47:12 who wants to take this social justice
47:14 and they want to help humanity on the next level
47:17 in making the Three Angels Message a reality.
47:21 Not just some mantra
47:22 we shout out from the pulpit.
47:24 Now Jesus interesting He says,
47:30 My father's business. This was not their child.
47:34 This was the Father's child.
47:37 Too often we think the things
47:40 that are in our care are ours.
47:42 Joseph and Mary were given a special sacred
47:45 trust and in essence they abused it.
47:48 They didn't abuse it by disobedience.
47:50 They didn't abuse, they didn't lose it
47:53 by some kind of huge sin.
47:54 They just assumed that the status quo
47:58 would be the status quo.
48:00 Our resources are not ours.
48:03 Often we become indifferent,
48:06 and completion in North America
48:07 because of our riches and resources.
48:10 We start thinking that action results
48:12 and projects initiated by us bring forth results.
48:16 The reality is that our projects
48:21 and our ideas are too low
48:23 and too common placed.
48:24 We have to start saying what does
48:26 my father wants. My father is a big God,
48:30 a big God has big projects,
48:31 big projects need big money.
48:33 In North America despite the economy
48:38 we have a lot of money.
48:39 We still play golf in this economy don't we?
48:42 We still have people who get $90 haircuts
48:46 don't we? We still have movies,
48:49 they're still surviving aren't they?
48:51 Big projects need big money
48:55 and we should not be ashamed of our
48:57 financial resources. There is a sentiment
49:01 the Adventist church that to be Holy
49:03 is to be poor. To be ashamed of our talents,
49:07 to be ashamed of our resources,
49:09 our intelligence and I'll say this, even our age.
49:13 I support and I encourage those of the
49:18 previous generations if you are old then say
49:21 you are old with all confidence in
49:23 Jesus Christ. We need some
49:25 old generation people who have the faith,
49:28 who have marriages of like 60 years
49:30 and they are still married together.
49:31 We need those of who have gone before us
49:33 need that experience, we need that confidence.
49:36 But today we have older people
49:39 who are ashamed of their age.
49:40 We've rich people who are ashamed
49:41 of their riches. We've intelligent people
49:43 who are ashamed of their intelligence.
49:45 What kind of father do they have?
49:47 Who is their father?
49:50 In the Adventist church you have people
49:53 who love sanctified poverty and ignorance,
49:55 they say I have no education,
49:56 I have no degrees, I've no money,
49:58 I subsist on barley green and activated charcoal
50:00 and I live in a cave somewhere.
50:01 I'm holier than everyone here.
50:04 Where did that come from?
50:07 Who is your father?
50:08 I'm about my father's business.
50:13 I have a big God. My father is a rich man.
50:17 And we should not be ashamed of
50:19 these resources, amen. Amen. 51,
50:23 he went down with them
50:25 and came to Nazareth a subject unto them
50:27 but his mother kept all these things
50:28 in her heart. Jesus increased with stature
50:31 and wisdom and in favor with God and man.
50:33 Conclusion, Jesus was doing his work.
50:36 He went outside of the box
50:38 and he was even willing to offend His mom
50:40 and dad to do His Father's work.
50:41 Joseph and Mary were not doing their work.
50:44 They thought they were and this is what
50:45 the dangerous, dangerous. ASI,
50:47 if you think you're doing God's work
50:49 be very careful. Because we can assume
50:52 that Jesus is with us the entire time.
50:54 God has shown them such great honor
50:57 in choosing them as Holy parents
50:58 they had position, they had honor,
51:01 but they wasted it on camp meeting, on ASI,
51:06 on GYC, on a big event. The issue is not whether
51:12 you know God or whether you trust God.
51:14 The issue is does God know you
51:16 and does God trust you.
51:17 If God has given you Jesus,
51:20 will you take care of this precious gift
51:23 with all your mighty and power and energy
51:25 and finances and everything
51:26 that who you are. Assumption is the
51:29 enemy of the sacred. We want to stop assuming
51:32 that Jesus is with us. We must take up
51:34 and re-consecrate our secrete responsibilities
51:37 even if it causes our moms and dads
51:39 to be hurt if you will. We need aggressive
51:42 university deans who are willing to take them
51:44 an ideological and a theological
51:46 stand according to the Bible and uphold
51:48 the sacred trust. Amen.
51:50 We need aggressive businessmen and women
51:51 who are going to build schools investing youth,
51:54 finance technologies and move those that
51:57 they can influence toward heaven
51:58 as fast as possible. We need aggressive
52:01 artists and musicians and professors,
52:03 we need aggressive church leaders to manifest
52:05 the character of Christ on an administrative
52:07 level making the church more dependent
52:09 on cross not on evangelical ideas,
52:12 not on historical issues that are from the past,
52:14 not progressive propaganda
52:16 and not conservative traditionalism.
52:18 We need to move forward,
52:20 because Jesus is coming soon.
52:22 Now young people are tired of that mantra.
52:25 We say Jesus coming soon over and over again,
52:28 but we need action here.
52:29 What is the sacred work of ASI?
52:34 What is the sacred trust given to GYC?
52:37 What is the function of youth for Jesus
52:39 in these last days? What is the function
52:42 of your booth? What is the sacred trust given
52:46 to your individual ministry?
52:48 What is the function and the trust of
52:50 the Seventh-Day Adventist Church?
52:52 Have we assumed that Jesus has been with us?
52:55 Do we just assume that His hands
52:58 are upon our shoulders? Do we just assume
53:01 He is in this hall. Right now as I look upon
53:07 this group I fear that if we assume Jesus is here,
53:11 competition will set in to this organization.
53:14 We've hospitals fighting against those who believe
53:18 in natural medicine. We've self supporting
53:20 schools who are fighting against universities.
53:22 We've media organization against
53:24 other media companies.
53:25 We've publishers against publishers
53:27 and we have booths against booths.
53:29 This is not an appropriate environment
53:34 for Jesus to work in. How will you terry
53:38 behind in Jerusalem to do the father's business.
53:41 How will you breakout of the mold
53:46 and start doing the father's business
53:49 even it offends those around you.
53:52 We need a certain kind of I don't careness
53:58 in our ranks and the only thing we care about
54:02 is one person and guess who that is?
54:04 My Father, my Father. This sacredness,
54:12 this understand of the sacred task will cause
54:16 us to empty our wallets for Jesus.
54:18 This sacred trust will cause us to take a
54:22 creationist stance on science discussions.
54:26 This sacredness will cause us to find purpose,
54:29 meaning, passion. And it will cause us to know
54:34 our savior deeply. By knowing Him,
54:38 is this your desire? I speak frank
54:44 to all of you. I don't know you,
54:45 but I'm saying how many more ASIs do we need.
54:49 Now don't get me wrong, I love ASI.
54:53 There is a classiness here that I aspire to be.
54:55 But I pray we don't have a GYC ever again.
55:00 I pray we never have an ASI again.
55:02 I pray we have the camp meeting of all
55:05 camp meetings where upstairs in heaven.
55:08 Do you want to be about your father's business?
55:11 Do you wanna stop just playing around
55:15 and assuming and stupid competition?
55:17 Do you wanna not care about anything else,
55:20 is that your desire ASI. Amen.
55:22 If that is your sincere desire please stand
55:26 and pray with me now.
55:34 Father in heaven, Lord,
55:37 forgive us for assumptions.
55:42 Forgive us for supposing that Jesus is here
55:45 with us. Forgive us for playing around
55:48 and doing what we want to do,
55:50 thinking we're doing ministry.
55:51 Lord, every person in this room help us
55:57 to be about your business.
55:59 We maybe doing the same things,
56:02 but may our hearts be in the right place.
56:04 And may we be like the 12-year-old Jesus
56:08 with His innocence, with His direction,
56:13 this humility and his focus.
56:16 We ask that you change us anew again.
56:20 We pray this in Jesus name, amen.


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Revised 2014-12-17