Here Am I (Shelby Clark, 10/07/23)

So how many of you here know me?

Yeah, don't pretend like you don't know me.

All of my wonderful friends came from Southern today.

But the rest of you don't know me, right?

You've never seen my face.

You've probably never even heard the name Shelby

except for a Mustang or a Shelby Cobra or whatever, right?

Beautiful vehicle.

My mouth runs like it.

That's the joke that my family says.

It's not a good thing.

But Jesus is working on me.

So before we dive into another word of prayer,

I wanna share a little bit about myself

so that you're kind of comfortable.

Like why is this young girl here today?

Why is she speaking?

I guess I should say young woman.

I'm 23 now.

It's so weird being this age.

I've been used to being knee high for so long

and it feels like I finally have surpassed that

but I'm stuck at five foot.

So I still feel very childish because of my height.

But it's such an honor to be here at the Sabbath.

Like it's the Lord's day.

Isn't that amazing?

Amen.

Oh, people in the house of the Lord today.

They're speaking.

So because you don't know anything about me,

I'm gonna share just a tad bit here.

I am a theology major in the School of Religion

at Southern Adventist University.

Great school, wonderful school.

I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about it today.

I wasn't raised in the church.

My family and I, we had a basic knowledge and understanding

of Jesus but that was it.

We were Christian in title but not in any way

were we truly Christians.

We would have been a very bad example to the world

of what Christianity is supposed to be.

I received the Holy Spirit when I was at the age of nine.

My family and I, we were baptized by an Adventist friend

of my grandfather's in the year 2015

after I had just had severe back surgery.

My dad came to Southern Adventist University in 2018

where he took the SALT program.

Have any of you heard of the SALT program?

Awesome, okay, so we kinda know what I'm talking about here.

It is written School of Evangelism Program,

Soul Winning and Leadership Training.

Well, that program is so amazing

and so God-filled that it changed my dad.

It gave me the father figure I had always wanted growing up.

Remember, I came from the world, right?

I wasn't raised in the church

so that means home life was very toxic.

I never really had a loving fatherly figure.

He tried to love me to the best of his ability

but because he didn't know the author of love,

he couldn't love me with the love

that I as a child deserved to be shown.

But SALT changed that.

Dad had given up his ways of the world.

He was following Christ and this program came up

and he said, okay, Lord, I'll go where you want me to go.

Here I am, Lord, send me.

And the program forever changed him

and little did we know it would forever change our lives.

So, amen, yes.

So I said if that program can do that for my father,

how much more can it do for me?

I'm gonna go so I can become a better daughter

for my family but also a better steward for my parents.

Okay, so then I went to Southern in 2019

for the SALT program.

I was like, okay, Lord, if you can do that for my dad

in 2018, what are you gonna do for me now?

Best year of my life.

Best year of my life.

I attended Southern and I met,

hopefully the clicker will work, these people.

You can't really see us.

We were one of the largest SALT classes

to ever have taken place.

We broke history for It Is Written.

We had around 34 students.

Life was never the same.

Meeting these people changed me.

This program changed me.

I had already started to fall in love with the Lord

and learn how to serve the Lord

and what it meant to be his child

but I lacked one thing and it was the keys of evangelism.

I didn't have these keys in my back pocket

but after taking this program, I did.

So now wherever I go, to the grocery store,

to the hospital or wherever it may be,

I can say, hey, how are you doing today?

I can notice the downtrodden and come up to them

and love them and not be afraid

because I was trained on how to do it.

How to love them, how to be gentle, meek and lowly

in spirit, not saying, hey, have you heard of the Sabbath?

No, oh, you're not saved then.

Instead it was, hey, I see that you're having

a really hard day today.

Is there anything I can pray for you?

And with that, doors open and walls come down.

So like I said, my life began to change.

I gained the keys of evangelism.

It was now in my back pocket forever to be used.

And what's really cool is this group of people

that I was just telling you about, man, we're crazy.

We were crazy together.

That class, we worked together.

So this church right here, this is the Uduwah SDA Church.

This is in Tennessee.

This was my first ever evangelistic series

I was able to really help and serve with.

We filled this hall.

300 people, less than four months.

Door to door, evangelism works.

Meeting the needs in the community,

offering people prayer or Bible studies,

whatever the spirit led to.

We tried offering Bible studies because we wanted them

to learn of prophecy, to see that the end is coming,

that Christ is coming, and he's coming

to take his children home.

That's what we wanted to show these people,

to give them hope.

So this is kind of a part of me.

These people and I, we worked together,

we prayed together, we cried together, we worked together.

And like I said, we filled that meeting hall together

by God's power and his grace.

300 people in less than four months.

We, the ground workers, all took positions

during these meetings.

Some were in the upper room praying.

Some of them didn't have the gift and the talent

to speak with other people.

They were awkward, they made it awkward.

We're like, hey, go pray.

You're our prayer warriors, okay?

You're gonna go to the upper room, very biblical,

very biblical.

You're gonna go to the upper room and you're gonna pray

for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us

and upon the guests.

And so they did.

Oh, I'll have to tell you about one of those miracles

that actually happened during that time.

Oh, okay, I'll tell you now, it's so exciting.

Because I'm telling you about myself, right?

So I gotta share little experiences.

So we had people up there that spoke Spanish,

didn't speak a lick of English.

We had people that spoke English and not a lick of Spanish.

We had people that spoke other languages

and not any of the other two languages.

I forget what it was.

It was, some people were like from Thailand

and other countries and they spoke that language

and they always had to have an interpreter with them.

And yet all of them were praying.

And there were days where everyone understood

each other's prayers.

Chills, chills.

When God is in the room, boundaries come down.

Walls come down.

We can understand the heart of those

that are in unity of Christ.

That's exactly what would happen.

Speaking in tongues, biblical tongues,

took place, understanding, no confusion.

So like I said, we were working.

We were crying together, praying together, working together.

Some of us were in the upper room praying.

They were our prayer warriors.

Some of us were greeters, table leaders, singers,

and so forth.

We, a group of mere kids and adults

who acted like children, were able to come together

and lay aside our differences and become one people

under one God, under one mighty God.

Even though the trials of service were hard,

God still was able to unite us.

So now that you've learned a little bit about me,

and I've been able to reminisce

and get filled with some joy,

which is a gift and a fruit of the Spirit, by the way, right?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Joy is one of them, and I have been filled with joy

after being able to reminisce.

So let's pray and let's get to preaching.

Are y'all ready for the bread of life?

Amen, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you so very much for joy.

Thank you for memories.

Thank you for allowing our minds to be able

to where we can reminisce and remember the exact emotions

and the exact feelings, Father.

Thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness

and your gentleness to me.

Father, I need your Holy Spirit today

so that this message can be presented the way

you want it presented.

Let the people not see Shelby, but see Jesus.

Let them not hear a young lady,

but let them hear the author and finisher,

the God of gods, the Lord of lords,

and the King of kings today.

Fill us, we pray, in your precious son's name, amen.

Amen.

Okay, so I said are we ready for the bread of life,

and I got some nods.

Are we really ready?

Are you ready to come out of church today changed?

Now when I say changed, does that scare you a little bit?

Are you kind of like, oh, what do you mean by changed?

I'm comfortable, right?

I'm comfortable too, but change,

change draws us closer to Christ.

Complacency doesn't, but change does.

So I'm gonna talk to you, I'm gonna share little stories

because I'm a storyteller.

I love, I learn through storytelling.

I don't know if any of you, if you ever liked

when your teachers would stop teaching

and start telling stories, loved that.

Thank you for the mental break.

So I'm gonna tell you a little story before we die then

because when I like really get going, I can't stop.

And sometimes it's good to start slow, right?

So this is a little, this is a person camping.

They're in a sleeping bag, they're on the hard ground,

and they're in a tent.

How many of you have ever heard of Pathfinders?

I'm in Pathfinders.

Praise God, yes sir, I'm in Pathfinders too.

I'm a master TLT, do you know what that means?

Some of you know what that means.

It's a big deal.

I came into Pathfinders when I was 13.

That was when I actually entered into

the Seventh-day Adventist Church, by the way.

Was thrown into Pathfinders right away

and I was thrown into a TLT position,

had no idea what it was.

Teen leader in training, okay, here we go.

So I was being trained on how to better serve my church

and how to better serve myself and how to get to know God,

to keep the morning watch.

In this, I stayed in Pathfinders for various amount of years.

I helped, I volunteered, and they said,

hey, you meet the requirements, we notice you as a leader.

You've completed everything that a TLT is supposed to do,

and now you're of age, you've graduated.

Now you're allowed to lead, to teach, to preach,

and to help the other leaders that were conference officials.

So I got my black TLT shirt, I should have brought it.

It's got the big TLT badge, but it's black.

It's so cool.

So I love it.

So I'm a master TLT, I love Pathfinders.

I have dedicated my life to it.

Now, when you were in Pathfinders, any of you,

and some of you that are currently,

what's one of your favorite memories

from like a fall camperee or a spring camperee?

Oshkosh, okay, that's not those two,

but that's even better, right?

I've never been able to go to Oshkosh.

Why was Oshkosh so special?

I'm just, we never meet there.

So you loved seeing the masses?

Awesome, anyone else?

Any memory of like a fall camperee, a spring camperee,

or when you went to maybe Kahuta, is it Kahuta Springs?

Did any of you ever go there for, okay.

So you've got some memories with that.

It's a special place, go ahead, hun.

You went to Kahuta?

Oh, it's exciting.

So, Rhett, when you went to Kahuta, what was special?

Please keep it short, my friend.

Okay.

Amen, so it, okay, go ahead.

That's wonderful, I love that.

You guys gave such deep and meaningful things.

I just love the activities.

I just love being able to escape home

because camp was my safe place.

I come from the Iowa-Missouri Conference,

so camp heritage is my safe place.

It is my home away from home.

Same with Southern, but camp is different

because you spend so much of your life there

as a pathfinder.

So the point is, I loved it.

I developed experiences, same with all of you.

Different experiences, right?

We didn't attend the same things, the same years.

We didn't attend the same camping locations

and experience the same things because I wasn't there.

And you weren't with me when I had my experiences either.

But we had amazing experiences nonetheless.

So I went to an MAU TLT retreat.

It's a Mid-America Union TLT retreat.

Multiple people can come from all over.

It's great, it's wonderful.

And there I was able to be blessed

to help lead a young girl to Jesus.

She came from a troubled family.

Nobody liked this club.

And God had put on my heart,

this is the last time you're gonna be here for a while,

get to know the youth.

Be the example I've called you to be.

So I did.

And I met this young lady and her brother,

and by the last night, she came to me crying

and said, is there really hope?

Is there really hope?

How did you do it?

Can Jesus accept even somebody such as myself?

How can he love me after all I've done?

I've been baptized and yet I went and I was rebellious

and I did my things and my pleasures and my joys.

I was disobedient to my family.

I got into drugs, I got into sexual things.

I did things I shouldn't have done.

Can God really accept someone such as myself?

And then I gave her this message

that I'm giving all of you today.

So we're gonna get there and you're gonna figure out

what I told that young girl.

But nonetheless, I prayed with her

and she gave her heart to Jesus right then,

right there on the last night, the end of Sabbath.

God was able to spend time with his precious girl

and she was able to have assurance

that Jesus Christ loved even someone such as her.

So now I'm gonna ask you a question

and hopefully I get the response I'm hoping for.

So what was the show of hands of people

that have been in Pathfinders or heard of Pathfinders?

Okay, nice, nice, awesome, lovely, me too.

So when I went to the MAU TLT retreat

and I experienced all the fun activities,

caving, zip lining and all these other things,

were y'all there with me?

What, why not?

Because life happens and maybe you didn't know about it

and maybe it was too far away or again, life happens.

We get busy, things go on and so we have to go on

but I got to have fun and I got to have the time of my life

but none of you got to experience it

because you weren't there.

And so it is for some of us here in the church today.

Some of you are not experiencing

what the others are experiencing

but how can that be, right?

We're all hearing the same message,

we're all coming to the same church for the most part,

let's just say the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we're here

and yet some of us don't wanna be here.

Some of us do not have peace in the house of the Lord today.

Some of you have been stuck in your head all week,

trapped in your mind all week

that you couldn't even enjoy it.

And out of all places you're here today

because you know you're supposed to be

but not necessarily because you want to be.

Some of you are so insecure

that even around your friends you're feeling alone

and maybe even overwhelmed or helpless.

So I'm sure you're starting to get to the point

of today's message, this isn't for those

that are doing okay and are saved and wonderful,

the message today is for those that need the physician.

All of us need him at some point,

all of us have a time of heartache

and if any of us are struggling

because of the ways the world is treating us right now,

struggling because of finances,

struggling because the family is divided,

struggling because of whatever life is throwing your way,

if this is you today or if you're the lost coin

and you don't even realize you're lost

or the lamb that has come home today

and to the Father's house through those doors

of the church today, if this is you

to the one that is silently hurting,

then this message is for you.

Okay, enough chit chat, let's open up the word of God.

Please grab your Bibles and turn with me

to Matthew chapter 11 verse 28

Matthew 11:28

and let's see what Jesus has to say today

in regards to those who are allowed to come

to the throne of grace.

Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

If you need time, please just say mercy

because I'm auditorial and if you're there,

just give me an amen.

Okay, I'm hearing some mercies, I'll grant mercy.

Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28, are we there?

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Okay, amen, no more mercy, it's closed.

Verse 28, let's get it on the screen for you too actually.

If it'll work, thank you Jesus.

And it reads, come to me all you who labor

and are heavy laden and I will give you what?

So what was the catch?

You have to come to Jesus, but only if you are,

somebody said broken, what does it first say?

The labor, labor, labor, that labor and are heavy laden,

there's the catch, is this going on in your life right now?

Is this you? Jesus says come to me, come to me.

And the promise is if you're going through this

and you come to me, then I will give you rest.

That's the catch, there's always a catch,

but it's always for our benefit,

it's never for our downfall.

So now continuing on, I'm actually,

I want us to be able to read this again,

this is from the Passion Translation,

have any of you heard of the Passion Translation Bible?

Neither have I, but I thought it was great.

Oh, you have, oh, look at you, you're ahead of us.

Okay, so it's a little hard to read here

because this is in red, but it says,

are you weary, carrying a heavy burden?

Come to me, I will refresh your life for I am your oasis.

Whoa, talk about relaxing, talk about peaceful,

talk about hope-filled, Jesus wants to be our oasis.

Now does it say that all those that are perfect come to me?

No, that's not what the verse said at all.

We were a little slow with that response,

that worries me a little bit.

Does Jesus says, all ye that are perfect,

come unto me and I will give you rest?

No, does he say all you that have it together in life

and are doing great come to me and I will give you rest?

No.

Instead, come to me, all ye that have broken families,

that are struggling with debt,

that are struggling with whatever it is

that is burdening you, come to me.

I've come for the broken, I didn't come for the healed,

I came for you.

So if you cling to me,

I will give you the rest that you desire.

Now we're gonna turn to Mark chapter 10,

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 10 and verse 14.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Mark chapter what?

Perfect, I didn't speak too fast.

Mark 10 and verse 14.

If you're there, give me some amens.

If you need time, please say mercy.

Oh, I hear page flipping.

I won't grant mercy, cause you didn't ask for it.

Mark 10, verse 14.

Mark 10:14

There we go, stop it.

But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased

and said to them, let the little children come to me.

Do not forbid them for as such is the kingdom of God.

Whoa, that's deep, that's deep.

Jesus saw the little children,

saw that they were casting the children away

and he said, leave them alone.

The kingdom belongs to such as these.

And there's another version, I can't remember what it is,

but I do have it here in my notes.

It says, do not hinder them.

That means get out of their way.

If you don't have anything nice to say

to the kids in the back or in the front,

if you don't have anything good to guide them

and help lead them to Jesus,

get out of their way and let God be God.

Let him teach them, let him direct them.

The spirit of God is the author, he is the teacher,

he is the guide, he is the director,

and he is the comforter.

So if we'll just get out of the youth's way,

oh, whoa, the things that God will be able to do with them.

To the ones in your church today,

I hear that most of them are out on vacation apparently.

I didn't know little kids got vacations.

But I see two in the church today,

and you guys are kingdom kids.

God's gonna use you to change this world

and shake this world.

Now, a lot of us here today, including myself though,

we're not little kids anymore.

I mean, I'm short, but I'm not a little kid anymore.

I'm 23, I'm a woman.

Whoa, some of you are up there.

You're not kids anymore.

So how can you have this with Jesus

when he says, come to me?

As, let me read it again.

But then Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased

and said to them, let the little children come to me

and do not forbid them, do not hinder them,

for of such is the kingdom of God.

Jesus told Nicodemus, Nicodemus would have

to be born again in order to enter into the kingdom of God.

If you haven't been born again

and become a little child in Jesus Christ,

then here's the catch, you can't come to him.

But if you long for change, if you long for rest

and you long for freedom and you say, Jesus, I need you,

he says, okay, you're mine, let's start anew.

You're my child, you're my babe, you've been adopted in,

you're my baby and I will hold you

with my righteous right hand and I will guide you

through the waters of life freely.

John 7 37 is the next verse that I will be headed to.

John chapter seven and verse 37.

Do we need more time?

No?

Okay, 7 37 and it reads, on the last day,

that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying,

if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

I'll put that on the screen for y'all too.

I don't know if any of you can even read it,

but it's there.

So who's allowed to come to Jesus according to this passage?

Anyone who's thirsty.

Whoa, we covered three things, right?

If you work and are heavy laden,

you can come to Jesus for rest.

If you're a child, you can come to Jesus and be received.

And then those that are thirsty can come to Jesus.

Do you see where I'm going here?

Some of you might.

How many of you have kids?

How many of you came out of your mother's womb?

I'm not seeing hands.

Oh, that's terrifying.

Okay, I don't know where you came from,

but God knows, that's okay.

He's, he got you.

He made you, he knitted you.

He knitted you.

Bible says so.

So we all have come from our mother's wombs.

That means all of us have been weary and heavy laden.

When a child comes out of their mother's womb,

what is the first thing that a healthy child does?

It cries so loud.

Oh my goodness.

Weary and heavy laden.

What is this world?

What is this light?

What is this cold?

What is this hot?

What is this I'm afraid?

Jesus says, come to me.

Your first meal, you come out hungry

and in need and comfort from your mother.

And your mother takes care of your thirst.

You come out hungry, you come out thirsty,

you come out stressed.

Jesus says, all who are thirsty,

let him come to me and drink.

Jesus says to the infant, come to me.

Come to me.

Guys, this is so cool.

That means the moment that you've come

out of your mother's womb,

you have been given the right to become heirs of salvation.

To join Jesus, to come to the throne freely of God

and ask and he will give it.

Isn't this amazing?

That means it is hard for any of us to be lost.

But now here's the other catch.

You can come into this world and say,

Jesus, I don't need you.

And he'll say, okay.

But once you call out to me like that prodigal son did,

I will come running and I will come and kiss your face.

I will hold you and draw you close to me

and no one will be able to take you from me

as long as you allow me in.

Genesis chapter three and verse nine.

If you can read the screen, then I guess don't turn there.

But it's so much better reading it straight from the pages.

Genesis chapter three and verse nine.

We're getting ready to close now.

Genesis chapter three and what verse?

Verse nine.

Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him,

where are you?

So I want us to read that together this time.

It's okay if you have different Bible translations.

I would assume most of us here are KJV only people,

which is fine.

Oh, oh, you got the clear word.

Oh, that's nice.

I've got the NKJV.

Eventually I'll have my Hebrew Bible here

because I'm learning to read Hebrew.

Amen, brothers, right?

Amen, amen.

Okay, so we're gonna read Genesis chapter three

and verse nine together.

But this time remove Adam's name from the scripture

and put your name there.

We're gonna read it out loud.

So when it says, then the Lord God called to Adam,

I'm gonna say called the Shelby.

And you're gonna put your name there.

And we're gonna read it all out loud together

and we're gonna be slow with it, okay?

So we're gonna go ahead and start now

from the beginning right now.

Then the Lord God called to Shelby and said to her,

where are you?

Where are you?

What is that intel?

What is that intel?

Why do you call out for your children

when all of you, almost all of you said you have kids?

So when you say, hey, Jennifer, where are you?

Why are you saying that?

What is the point?

To find them because they're not

where they're supposed to be.

They're somewhere else and you can't find them.

So you say, where are you?

Adam was scared.

Eve was scared.

And yet Adam came out and said, I was afraid.

And God loved him and comforted him.

He did not condemn him or slay him.

And said he asked him questions.

Who has done this to you?

What has happened?

And so it is, God is calling to you today.

To the hurting.

To you who are hurting, Jesus is calling.

You may be afraid just like Adam was,

but let us not live in fear any longer.

Jesus has come to reconcile us unto himself.

This was prophesied in Daniel chapter nine

that God would send his son to reconcile us to God.

Jacob's ladder is for us.

Anyone that's come out of the womb

and is laboring and heavy laden

that is stressed and depressed and anxious,

he says, come to me.

Those that are thirsty,

every human has experienced thirst.

Jesus says, come to me.

Jesus is calling out to you today.

The imperfect person that you are,

in spite of who you are, he is calling to you.

Will you answer the call like Isaiah did?

In Isaiah chapter six and verse eight.

I'm gonna go ahead and read it straight from here.

I don't think I put it on the screen for y'all today.

Let's see.

No, I didn't put it on the screen today.

I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

whom shall I send and who will go for us?

Then I said, here am I, send me.

To the wanderer, you no longer have to wander

for you are home.

Jesus has come to seek and to save that which is lost.

He has come to be your physician

and he has come to call us onto himself.

Jesus is calling, oh sinner, come home.

Abide with me and I will make you free indeed.

So after the message, I don't know if this is possible,

but if any of the elders would like to stay behind,

for anyone that would like to lay down what it is

that they're carrying, any burdens, any stress,

and you wanna just allow the spirit of God

to come into you today, to change you, to remake you,

and to make you heirs of salvation.

If this is what you want, then elders,

if you're able to stay behind, that would be great.

Whoever feels that need, feels that draw,

come speak to your elders.

They'll pray over you and for you and with you.

Or if you just need prayers of strength,

prayers of strength, your elders are also here to help you.

And I'm also here if you're comfortable with that

and I can pray over you as well.

Okay.

So now, how many of you do wanna be set free

from the sins and the burdens that you're carrying

in your life today?

Amen.

Amen.

Let's stand and let's pray.

Heavenly Father, I thank you and I praise you

for this opportunity today to stand before your people,

before your children, both the healed and the hurting.

Father, thank you for bringing the guests in today

that came through the back door.

I know that your spirit is here

and your spirit is working, Father,

and we ask and we give you permission

to knock on our hearts, to cleanse us and make us new.

Father, some of us do not feel worthy

to be able to be loved by you.

But Father, we know that it is your desire and your mission

to restore us to your glory.

It is not your desire that any should be lost.

That's why you sent us your son, Jesus.

Please help us to learn what that truly means for ourselves

so that we can love others with the unconditional love

that you've given us.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.