GYCE Focus 2016: Coming to Christ

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GYC Europe

Craig Gooden

Closing Words


Dear Lord, I thank you, we thank you for your loving kindness, your mercy, and your strength. I pray that in these few closing words that I have to share, I pray that you will help me to express what's on my heart. The desires and the aims that we have for this weekend, these focus events, I pray that they will be fulfilled by what we see take place afterwards. Father, we know it's not easy. Even Jesus felt that the disciples left him, but he knew he would not be alone because he said you would remain with him.

Father, I pray that each person here will know and will be comforted by these words to know that you are always with us, and that we can continue and finish this work as long as we remain in connection with you. As we come closer to you, Christ, you will help us to come closer to others, bringing them to you. And we thank you. Hide me in you, Jesus. Holy Spirit, increase and move upon the hearts here in this church today.

In Jesus' name, amen. I want you to think with me just for a moment. The Apostle Paul, what's his name? Apostle Paul. He preached and sent letters.

This man wanted to persecute the church. In fact, he persecuted the church. He said amongst sinners he would be classed as the greatest 1. He was converted. He's made sure he spent time with Christ, not just over a few days, over many years.

His influence was so powerful that even when he was coming amongst the disciples for the first time, amongst those apostles, some of them were quite fearful. Even the 1 who Jesus asked to go and lay his hands on him said, but we've heard of this man. This man persecutes the church. And God told him that I have set him aside as a specific vessel to do my work and he will suffer much for me. You also continue reading about Paul that as he was converted to Christianity and his connection with Christ was going stronger and stronger, he could not but help himself to go and proclaim Christ in the synagogues and everywhere that he had access to people, to the point that they set watch guards all around Jerusalem so he wouldn't be able to get out.

But he did get out through a basket that they let down over the walls and Paul continued. Paul continued. But there came a time when an accusation was placed upon him and he was imprisoned. And as it reads in the book, Sketches from the Life of Paul, and if you haven't read that book, I would strongly encourage you to. In the book Sketches from the Life of Paul, you read that In his last letter to Timothy, Paul was in his prison house in a gloomy cell.

And these cells, they weren't like how they may be in the prisons today, where some people would commit crimes just to get back into prison. These cells did not have central heating. They did not have free access to wonderful water. They may have been kept in chains for many days. The privilege of washing may not have been allowed, and brushing your teeth may not have been possible every day.

I'm trying to let you know that Paul was in a very uncomfortable position. And I'm trying to imagine what Paul was going through while he was in the cell because for some reason he was still able to send letters. But it wasn't as people would have you think that Paul was standing in some place shouting out, preach the word. No, Paul was trying to encourage Timothy in his last letter to him. But before he wrote that last letter, the chapter before that, you read that Paul had to go before Nero, A man who was unparalleled by any other leader in the world.

A man whose flags were based all over the seas of the world. A man who when it came to wealth was unrivaled. He could be, he was unapproachable regarding his power. Yet the darkness and the depths of sin is in his own heart was in a huge contrast to Paul himself. And the moment had to come when Paul would go before Nero and give his last defense, and I'm trying to consider and think, what was Paul going through those days, knowing that at any moment when he would give his defense, he could be killed?

Many of us here may have probably thought, well, if I have to go and give my defense, what's the best argument I can give to defend myself? Do I have the best solicitors? Do I have the best advocate who can plead for me? And at those times, what they would normally do, They'd hire people who would cry for them, who would plead for them, who would advocate for them, who would be a public representation for them. But at this moment, Paul decided to stand for Christ and nobody else.

His aim was not to defend himself, but to give the people another opportunity to hear about Christ, because he already had a connection with him, because Paul came to Christ. And I'm trying to think, what was going through Paul's mind? What was he praying? What was God saying back to him when he'd be praying to him? Maybe God was always telling him that I'm with you always, even until the end of the world.

If you're with me, I will never leave you alone. Just stand for me." And Paul stands before Nero and as you read him standing before Nero, he says in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 that no 1 stood with me. He says he was all alone. Nevertheless, he knows that Christ was with him. And he knew that Christ was with him because he had already spent time with who?

With Christ. So Paul begins speaking and he shares with them and it states in the booklet, it says, as Paul stands before the emperor of the world, his words strike a chord which vibrates in the hearts of even the most hardened and which thrills in unison with the mission of angels. Paul's words were in unison with the mission of angels. Paul's words were in unison with the mission of angels, yet still working conviction on the hearts of the most hardened criminals that would be listening to him. Wouldn't you like to have that experience wherever you go?

Wouldn't you want your heart beating in tune with God's heart? Everywhere that you go. Paul was alone in trial, but with Christ he was in an unseen majority. And as it says that as Paul left that opportunity, that moment in front of Nero, it said that as the door closed, and this was certain that Paul was going to die, as the door closed on him, the doors of probation closed on Nero. Your words have power.

And through your words, oftentimes, God is trying to bring to people another opportunity for them to come closer to him and allow them the choice to say yes or no. And Paul went back to that gloomy cell and I'm trying to think, what was he thinking when he was about to write this last letter to Timothy on his knees in that damn cold place? And I imagine that those memories of the letters he wrote to others would have come back to his mind. Maybe in Romans chapter, you know, when he wrote the letter to Romans, in chapter number 16, he's remembering that he also was never ashamed of Christ. But he saw that in the gospel there is power to all who would believe, to the Jews and also to the Greeks.

Maybe he had it come back to his mind with what he wrote to the Corinthians where he said to them that I don't want to know anything amongst you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Maybe in Galatians where he said, I am crucified with Christ and it's no more me who lives but Christ who lives in me and the life I am living is a life of faith. Maybe he was thinking about what he wrote to the Colossians when he said that Jesus Christ in you is the hope of glory. And then he begins to write to Timothy and in chapter 4, 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 to 2, he says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. He says, preach the word.

Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all unsuffering and doctrine. And my plea to you all is will you be willing to preach the Word? And I'm not on about standing behind a pulpit being willing to preach here. I mean in your life, in your homes, in your places of study, in your places of work, will you be willing to preach? I said to you at the beginning that I was excited about the weekend, but I'm anxious about what takes place afterwards.

And the aims of these focus events is simply this. We introduce the event to you in the first year and then between the first year and the second year, you're supposed to go away and in that time, You are supposed to implement an evangelism spiral personally or in your local church. Personally you can try and implement this spiral by starting small groups in your homes, by starting Bible studies in your churches or with people that you know, by reaching out to your neighbors in your neighborhood, in your churches by presenting this to the church board and offering them opportunities to get the church working together with the 1 aim of proclaiming the gospel in line with the 3 angels' messages. And then in the second year when we come back together, we should not be coming back together just for the event again, but coming back together to share the time that we've had throughout the whole year. So when we come back together, we are encouraging each other to continue.

And then it grows, because I read that when 1 person comes in contact with 2, then those 2 can come in contact with 4, and those 4 with 8 until it grows and grows and grows. But if you're looking for times of big majorities, then you will fail. Now it was introduced to you this weekend about this evangelism spiral. How many of you, let me see the hands of you that saw this. And there was a booklet that was given called the Evangelism Spiral Booklet, and in this booklet are instructions, guidelines, encouragements for sharing the gospel when you leave here.

On 1 of the pages it says that success in any line demands a definite aim. And we want to help you understand that definite aim by providing you these things so that you can make connection with the people and follow God's methods. He firstly mingled with men as 1 who desired their good. He sympathized with them. He seeked out what their needs were.

He won their confidence and then he said to them, Follow me. Now you all here have said that you have seen this evangelism spiral, but I want to see the hands of you who are saying you want to go back to your churches or your homes and you will do your utmost in Jesus' name to implement this. Can you guys who have raised your hands stand with me? Now this is no joke. When we held the event in Romania, Emails go forward and we send them out asking them, how are you getting on?

How is the work going forward with the implementation of the evangelism spiral? I want all of you to know now that you are not alone. I want you to know now that we from GYC Europe will be assisting you and supporting you to go forward in this, to implement this In your homes, in your places of study, in your places of work, in your local churches to implement this and go forward. I want you to know you are not alone. And whilst we are trying to figure out the best ways and the methods of communication to let you know that we are working together.

When we call out to you, we need to hear a reply. We don't want to hear it's not you, it's me. We need to hear that there's a change taking place. Amen. All of you who are standing, I believe your names are faithfully recorded in heaven to say that you made a pledge to implement evangelism where you go.

You may be seated, I don't want to keep you standing for too long, but you know who you all are. And as you go to implement this spiral, I want to let you know that there are times when you also will feel alone. And for me, there are times when I have felt alone. I've gone back to churches and I've tried to work in them and it's not easy. You have to go and present ideas to boards, and you have to try and persuade elders and the pastor to let them catch the vision that you have.

And that vision, if it's ordained with God, I can let you know that if your will is tied in with God's will, then that will becomes omnipotent, all-powerful. Nobody can stop it as long as you're doing it God's way and not your own. When we've tried to put things in place to train people to Bible studies and they've said no. We still do our best to continue. We will recruit people who are willing and at times when it just takes 2 people to begin, looking for opportunities that will be there.

There's times when We've been in churches and we've seen after AYS and sunset does not come till 9.30 in summertime. And we've seen the youth leave AYS and still stay by the side of the church and we saw there's a need. The church, the youth would be willing to have Bible studies and then they've said we've opened the opportunity for them and we saw Bible studies grow from 2 to 4 to 60 and then all of those people would begin calling others from other churches around the country and they came to the Bible studies And then when the time came for it to be passed on for somebody else to lead and those people may not get the vision straight away or they may not fully understand or other people try to get involved and try to dampen it down and then those things stop, we need to continue. And there are times when you will feel all alone. There are times when there are those who you may be with and Satan will try to put you at odds against each other, but you need to continue.

You need to pray together. You need to be willing to say to each other, what have I done to offend you? You need to love each other so much more. And that love can only be found as you first love Jesus Christ, because he first loved you. You need to be willing to continue.

You need to be willing to continue. You need to be willing to have a heart that can be molded and formed by God alone and not by people around you. The people you need to place around you need to be people who are willing to follow God also with their whole hearts, denying self daily. If you ever come in contact with people who will be against what you're trying to do. What you need to do is have an attitude to know that from their coldness, I will gain strength.

Because I know that he who is with me would never do that to me. So the more cold that people will be is the warmer you should find yourself with Christ. From people's cowardice, you need to gain the strength to continue. And all of you who have stood up, you need to be willing to say that from their coldness I will gain warmth. When everybody seems to be against me, I will continue.

I will continue. We're going to implement this thing. You're going to make changes in your homes, in your churches. You're going to help your pastors. You're going to let them know that I am here to assist you.

I'm here to help you and to work with you. You're going to let the other departments know I'm here to support you. Those postcards that we've given you that can be sent out to friends. If there's any more free available, take some and post them to your pastors. Send 1 to Pastor Adam Ramden at the conference as well and let him know that you love him.

We'll give Adam some to send back to you. Let them know that the work is going on and it will be finished because he who has begun a good work in you will finish it. The Spirit and the bride say come, so let's tell the people come. Let's make a difference. So next year, we don't just come to an event, we come with stories, we come with experiences, we come with people, we come with those who have been coming to our groups in our homes, those who we have been studying within our churches, those church members who have been influenced by what you saw here, those people will see that this can grow and it can grow bigger and bigger and bigger, but it starts small.

It starts with you. So all of you who stood to say that you want to implement this, I will ask you again, can you stand with me as I pray for you? Dear Lord, you see each and every person who's standing here. Father, I often hear of the stories When many go to the front for appeals to say that they will give their hearts to mission But only 1 or 2 will come back and say I actually did it Sometimes we're moved by the feeling and the emotions of the time and I'm praying that we will begin to look past feelings and we'll look to faith. That we will not walk by physical sight but we will walk by faith.

That our faith and feelings will be known to be separate as the east is from the west, and that we will walk by faith. I pray that tomorrow, when that temptation comes for all of these who are standing to not continue praying at the times that they've started, that you will help them to realize that it's not about feelings, but they need to get out the bed and go by faith and go to that secret place and pray to you and I pray that you will give them the strength to continue through the day and as that strength begins to feel as if it's waning that they will find themselves back in that closet of prayer praying to you asking for more and more and more. And that they will take these prayers and they will not just pray, but they will work. And that they will not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word. They will share this gospel because they have found you.

Father, we pray that at times when it feels that we're all alone, that again we will walk by faith, and we will know that with you we are always in the majority. I pray that the evangelism spiral will be received into the churches. I pray that opportunities and ways that we can have small groups and ways that we can have Bible studies with young people and old people, whoever it may be, ways that we can reach out to our neighbors, that these doors will be open to us and we will come back next year with huge blessings to share with others because of the blessings you've given to us. And Lord, we thank you who is the author of our faith. I pray that each person standing will stand on your word and your word alone.

And we praise you. We know you're coming back soon, Jesus. Time is running out, but while we have the time, I pray that 1 day that each person here will begin praying, just hold back, I have another soul to reach out to. Please move on their hearts, I pray that we'll just start praying just for 1 person, that they will be converted and changed and we will see the power of your love. I pray that they will leave changed, I pray everybody here goes back to homes with a reignited passion for you.

And we thank you, because you are God. And when all things impossible to us, we can know that they are possible with you. In Jesus's precious, holy, and worthy name, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon audio and much more. If you

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