SDA Youth in the Last Days

“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” (John 15:2) We are in a decisive time in earth’s history.  The scenes of earth are drawing to a close.  Now, more than ever, is the time to build our character aright before God, because the test ahead will not be easy.  “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15) Gold, silver, and p...

We can all relate to feelings of sadness, grief and hurt as we experience loss and disappointment in our lives. I've gone through trials before. Friends have let me down, I've lost loved ones, people who I thought were true friends hurt me... We all have had trials of some sort in our lives. But one thing we can remember throughout all of our life, God is always there. He will be there for us whenever we need Him. When all seems to be against us, He is one of the only true friends that will be there for us.  “ I implore you to trust wholly in God. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” James 4:7, 8. The Christian life is a life of conflict, or self-denial and conquest. It is a continual battle and a march. Every act of obedience to Christ, every victory obtained over self, is a step in the march to glory and final victory. Take Christ for your Guide and He will lead you safely along. The pathway may be rough and t...

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” (John 15:1) The disciples had just participated in the last supper with their beloved Master.  Now they walked with Him to the garden of Gethsemane, where He often went to pray.  As they walked the dusty streets up to their destination, they passed a vineyard.  Christ was soon to have the weight of the world on Him, and to Him, this was a last opportunity to reveal to them the Christian experience before He would be crucified, and He saw a perfect example in the analogy of a vineyard.  It is true - basically the whole Christian experience is packed into the first eight verses of John 15.  This is the first of an eight-part series on Abiding in Christ, based on this analogy that He showed to His disciples right before the most critical period in the history of the universe.  Christ is the True Vine.  What is the purpose and function of a vine?  A vine is the source of everything tha...

Prayer. Communing with God. It’s talking to God as a friend. He wants to hear from us! When you talk to your friends, do you enjoy hearing from them? Or would you prefer if they never reached out to you, never spoke to you, and never made an effort to come and see you? Of course you’d choose the first option. You enjoy talking to friends! That’s how it is with God. He wants to talk to you as a friend. He’s a loving, kind God that wants to get to know you. “The soul that turns to God for its help, its support, its power, by daily, earnest prayer, will have noble aspirations, clear perceptions of truth and duty, lofty purposes of action, and a continual hungering and thirsting after righteousness. By maintaining a connection with God, we shall be enabled to diffuse to others, through our association with them, the light, the peace, the serenity, that rule in our hearts. The strength acquired in prayer to God, united with persevering effort in training the mind in thoughtfulness ...

Sitting on that rough wooden bench at Young Disciple Camp, conviction grabbed me, and I knew what I had to do.  It was decision time. Shifting into reverse, let's back up a bit to December, 2016.  Each Christmas, instead of giving gifts to each other, our family writes down a gift for Jesus, a resolution related to some struggle we're having, or anything God is calling us to do or surrender for the coming year.  For a while I had felt God calling me to publicly commit my life to Him through baptism.  So that's what I wrote down.   This year I will commit my life to God through baptism.   As the year progressed, I became more and more unsure of my commitment.  I didn't have the courage to make my stand.  That is, until YD.  At Young Disciple Camp, I was greatly blessed by all the campfire talks, Deep Bible Studies, etc.  Sabbath evening, the campers were given a chance to share what God had done for them at cam...

   “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  ~2 Timothy 2:15     Many times when we come to this verse, we freeze, feel convicted, and then brush it aside.   Why do we do this?     God has graciously and providentially given us His word, inspiring men of God to write, sometimes on the rolling hills, sometimes in His glorious temples, sometimes in the dusky dungeons.  The authors of this book were anywhere from mighty kings to lowly fishermen, but even though there was such a variety of authors and such a variety of circumstances for writing, the Bible says the same thing straight through.  It does not contradict itself; instead, it explains itself.  It has stood for millennia, and has never failed, once.  Its prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter.  By the Bible, we know what is truth and we understand God....

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35, 38, 39      "God is love" is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green - all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God and to His desire to make His children happy. SC 10.1      Everything God does is done in love toward us. No matter where we are or where we've been, God is love. H...