Participants:
Series Code: DPM
Program Code: DPM000027A
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00:04 What if we're going to make the mission
00:07 of seeking and saving the lost, 00:09 the most important thing in the church today, 00:12 then something is going to have to change 00:16 because the way we do things now, 00:19 seeking and saving the lost is not the main priority. 00:24 We're gonna have to change something 00:25 about the way we structure things. 00:27 We're gonna have to change something 00:29 about the way we do mission. 00:31 We're gonna have to change things 00:32 even in our own individual lives 00:35 because if I say that my church exists 00:38 solely to seek and save the lost, 00:40 that's the highest priority. 00:42 That means that's where I spend my time. 00:45 That's where I spend my attention. 00:47 And that's where I spend my money. 00:49 I can say it, but time, attention, and money shows 00:54 whether I as an individual or as a church 00:56 I'm really living that in my life. 00:59 In fact to illustrate that, 01:00 let me ask you a question in a practical way. 01:04 How many of you have ever served 01:06 on a church board 01:07 at any time in your life at any particular, 01:09 could be this one or other church 01:11 you used to be part of? 01:12 Can I see your hand? 01:14 I mean, if any denomination for that matter, 01:16 how many people actually been on a church board? 01:18 Okay, now I'm gonna ask you something, 01:19 and don't answer it out loud. 01:21 You can just kind of nod your head 01:22 one way or the other, if you like. 01:25 Every church board that I know of 01:28 has an agenda for each meeting. 01:29 Is that correct? 01:31 And on that agenda, it has items, 01:33 which are the things you're gonna talk about, 01:36 and hopefully make a decision on. 01:38 If you think of all the agendas 01:40 that you have ever looked at on a church board meeting 01:43 or any committee meeting, 01:45 if we answered honestly, 01:47 how many of those items ever had anything to do 01:51 with seeking and saving the lost? 01:53 How many of those items 01:55 ever had anything to do with mission 01:58 and reaching people who don't know Jesus? 02:01 And what percent of those items 02:03 were basically inward focused on ourselves? 02:07 Things that dealt with what happens 02:09 inside the four walls of a church. 02:13 If we're brutally honest, 02:15 the vast majority of the items in our agenda 02:18 have little to do with mission 02:21 and seeking and saving lost people. 02:24 Now when I was a pastor in Pennsylvania, 02:26 I was the church board 02:28 or the church board chairperson. 02:30 So I was in charge of the agenda. 02:32 And so now when I look back at that time, 02:34 and I realized 02:35 how many things I allowed us to talk about 02:38 that had nothing to do with reaching lost people, 02:41 I'm almost ashamed of myself. 02:43 I remember one meeting in particular, 02:45 and I have a feeling 02:47 some of you can probably relate to this. 02:49 Every church board meeting 02:50 usually you have a couple of formalities. 02:53 You're supposed to do two reports and what are they? 02:56 Oh, come on. 02:58 If you served on a church board? 02:59 What are they? 03:01 Clerk's Report and the Treasurer's Report. 03:04 Those things are meant to be, you know, five, 03:06 maybe ten minutes long just to clarify 03:09 what's happened in the previous meeting, 03:11 just so everybody knows what's going on with finances. 03:14 Well, I remember one church board, 03:16 we got to the Treasurer's Report, 03:19 we spent the next hour to hour and a half 03:24 on the Treasurer's Report. 03:26 I wanted to cry. 03:29 Now it wouldn't have been so bad 03:31 if we were talking about 03:32 how we can find money to do evangelism 03:34 or to find some kind of outreach ministry 03:37 to people who don't know Jesus, 03:39 then I wouldn't have minded 03:40 if that's what we were talking about, 03:42 but you know what the hour and a half discussion 03:44 was concerning. 03:46 Whether we should move the money 03:47 from one CD fund to another 03:50 and get half a percent interest more 03:54 for an hour and a half, 03:57 a CD fund 03:58 that hadn't been touched in years. 04:00 That was probably going to sit there and burn 04:02 when Jesus comes anyway, 04:04 we spent 90 minutes talking about 04:07 whether to move it from one CD to another. 04:11 When I drove home that day, 04:13 I just wanted to pull out my hair. 04:15 And I asked myself 04:16 is this what mission is supposed to be? 04:20 Is this the things we talk about 04:22 in our church board and in our committee meetings? 04:26 And now that I look back, 04:28 it's as much my fault 04:29 because I should have stopped that 04:31 after about 15 minutes. 04:34 How much of our conversation has to do 04:37 with reaching lost people? 04:40 When I pastored in Pennsylvania, 04:43 the Pennsylvania Conference asked us to do some things 04:46 with the activities in our church. 04:48 They had done a survey of their conference, 04:51 and they realized 04:52 that there were 153 areas in Pennsylvania, 04:55 153 cities 04:58 that had a population of at least 50,000. 05:01 How many did I say? 05:02 Fifty thousand, no Adventist presence, 05:05 153 areas, no Adventist presence, 05:09 and the work had been going on in that conference 05:11 for over 100 years. 05:13 And they realized 05:14 we got to do something different 05:16 'cause what we're doing isn't working. 05:18 And so they asked us to look at each church 05:21 and ask that church to evaluate all of their activities 05:25 and all of our outreach ministries 05:27 with these two questions. 05:29 How is this activity 05:30 about seeking and saving the lost? 05:33 And how does this activity, this ministry, this outreach, 05:37 how is it fulfilling the gospel commission? 05:40 And if that activity had very little to do 05:43 with reaching the lost, 05:44 if it had little to do with our mission, 05:47 the opportunity was either change it 05:50 or get rid of it 05:52 because it's not fulfilling its purpose. 05:55 Try that sometime. 05:56 Go through all the activities you have as a church 06:00 or even as an individual 06:01 and ask how much of this has to do 06:04 with reaching lost people? 06:06 You might be surprised at some things 06:08 that have to be changed or maybe even reprioritize. 06:13 For example, 06:14 let's take a social committee, okay? 06:17 What is the purpose of a social committee? 06:19 Most churches have a social committee. 06:22 If the purpose of the social committee 06:24 is simply to create events 06:26 that church members can come to 06:29 and socialize with each other. 06:32 How much does that actually have to do 06:34 with seeking and saving the lost? 06:36 How much does that have to do 06:38 with actually fulfilling the gospel commission? 06:40 And if our answer 06:42 is probably not as much as it should, 06:45 then maybe we need to change 06:46 what the purpose of the social committee is. 06:49 Now I'm not saying get rid of a social committee, 06:51 I'm not saying that members 06:52 shouldn't fellowship with each other 06:53 because Acts said the early church did, 06:56 but they did more than that. 06:58 One of the social committee created events 07:01 that were specifically targeted 07:03 to where members could invite their friends to 07:07 something that people out in the community 07:10 might be interested in 07:12 and so then you have 07:13 a social committee creating things 07:15 that not only members can come and fellowship with each other, 07:18 but it's a chance for us 07:20 to invite our friends and guests 07:22 to just to simply build relationships. 07:25 So you see, 07:26 when you ask those two questions, 07:28 you begin to identify things 07:30 that maybe you don't need to totally get rid of it, 07:32 maybe we just need to change 07:35 or reprioritize the things that they are targeted to. 07:39 If that makes sense, can you say amen? 07:41 Those are hard questions to ask 07:43 of when you go through these things, 07:45 but now we need to ask another question. 07:49 If the New Testament Church was focused 07:51 on its mission of seeking and saving the lost, 07:54 if it's described 07:56 as turning the world upside down, 07:57 not just from the Bible, 07:59 but even from the non-Christian history books, 08:03 then what did they practically do? 08:06 It's one thing to say how they are described, 08:10 but what did they actually do in ministry? 08:14 And what you're gonna find 08:16 is the New Testament highlights two major things 08:20 that the early church did. 08:22 One was church planting, 08:25 kind of hear somebody say, church planting. 08:28 Remember that early New Testament Church 08:30 recognized, 08:32 they weren't just to build 08:33 one large institution in Jerusalem. 08:37 The whole Book of Acts describes them, 08:40 as the apostles and even others, 08:42 going to all the towns and villages 08:45 that had no Christian presence, 08:48 had not heard the gospel message 08:50 and keep moving forward from one town to the other. 08:54 That's how they grew so fast. 08:56 In fact, doing a survey of just the Book of Acts, 08:59 let's just noticed something here. 09:01 Now we're not gonna look all these verses up, 09:03 but we're gonna go down the list, 09:05 I would invite you to write them down, 09:06 you can look them up later, 09:08 but in Acts Chapter 8, it says, 09:10 "The persecution drove them from Jerusalem." 09:13 Now when you read Acts Chapter 8 09:15 that talks about the persecution 09:17 that was led by, guess who? 09:19 Who? 09:21 The Jews, but who was the man who was at the head of it? 09:25 I hope you know 'cause he was converted later. 09:27 Yes, Saul, you know, Stephen, 09:29 they stoned Stephen and set him up. 09:32 Ellen White says 09:33 in the Book Acts of the Apostles, 09:35 that God actually allowed persecution 09:37 to break out against the church in Jerusalem 09:41 because they were in danger of staying in Jerusalem 09:45 because they were kind of happy 09:46 with their social club atmosphere 09:48 and just building a big church there. 09:51 God saw that danger. 09:53 And He said, "I'm going to allow 09:54 the fires of persecution to break out." 09:57 And so when they did, 09:59 it forced the church and the apostles 10:01 to flee from Jerusalem 10:03 and start going 10:04 to all the unentered towns and villages 10:07 because right after that, 10:09 in verse 5 of Acts Chapter 8, 10:11 you see Philip going to Samaria, 10:13 in Acts Chapter 10 10:15 Peter's going to Caesarea. 10:17 In Acts 11, 10:18 Paul and Barnabas are now going to Phoenicia 10:21 and Cyprus and Antioch. 10:24 You go to Acts 14, 10:25 now they're going to Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium. 10:29 Chapter 16 10:31 now they're on their way to Macedonia and Philippi. 10:34 You go to Chapter 17 and 18 and 19. 10:38 Now they're in Thessalonica, 10:40 Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, 10:45 and by the time you get 10:46 to one of the last chapters of the book, Chapter 27. 10:49 Now Paul has gone to the very seat of the Empire. 10:53 He has gone to Rome. Amen. 10:56 Do you see the forward movement here? 10:59 One unentered area to another planting a Christian church, 11:05 which were basically groups in people's homes, 11:08 establishing believers 11:10 in all these towns and villages, 11:12 some large and some small. 11:16 In their mind, there was no such thing 11:18 as just standing still, 11:20 but they were always in a forward movement 11:23 'cause they understood what their mission was. 11:27 That's why they turned the world 11:30 upside down. 11:31 If that is one of the major things 11:33 that they did, 11:34 that should tell us in the 21st century, 11:37 that the Adventist Movement, you know, 11:40 the final remnant movement of the end time 11:42 that we're gonna have to return 11:44 to a church planting movement ourselves. 11:47 We're gonna have to return to church planting mode, 11:50 where we're not just satisfied having a big church here 11:54 or a medium church here or a small church here, 11:57 but we have got to target the unentered areas. 12:00 Let's just think of our conference 12:02 Iowa, Missouri. 12:04 How many towns and villages 12:05 do you think there are in our two states 12:08 that have no Adventist presence? 12:11 No building. 12:12 No small group. 12:14 No branch Sabbath School. 12:17 No outreach ministry, 12:18 maybe even not a single Adventist lives 12:21 in some of those towns and villages. 12:24 Should we let them go simply because, 12:26 you know, they're not a metro area 12:28 like St. Louis is where I live? 12:30 Should we just say, 12:31 "Well, do I have to drive 30 miles or 45 miles 12:34 to where we are?" 12:36 Or should we take on 12:37 the attitude of the New Testament church 12:39 and say somehow, 12:40 even if we never get a building there, 12:42 we've got a plant some kind of presence 12:45 or some kind of ministry in those towns and villages. 12:48 Can you say amen? 12:49 We have to return 12:51 to being a forward looking movement, 12:55 not simply being satisfied just where we are. 12:59 Now someone may say, "But how can we do this? 13:03 Why would we want a bunch of small churches?" 13:07 I mean, we're already a small church, 13:09 you know, most Adventist Churches would be 13:11 within a small church range. 13:13 How can a small church plant another? 13:15 Why don't we want a bunch of small churches? 13:17 Should we make our church bigger 13:19 before we start planting churches? 13:22 And while that may seem logical, 13:24 the biblical answer is no 13:27 because that's not 13:29 what the New Testament Church did. 13:31 All those churches that they planted 13:33 were house groups. 13:34 Now how big do you think house groups are? 13:37 You think there's like 200 people 13:39 fitting into a first century house? 13:41 They're small house groups. 13:43 It was small churches 13:46 that turned the world upside down 13:48 when you think about it. 13:50 If that's what the New Testament Church did, 13:52 yeah, it defies logic, 13:54 but God says it's the foolishness of man, 13:57 that he will sometimes confound, 13:59 he can confound the wise. 14:01 God says, "Don't wait till your church is big." 14:04 How many areas around Springfield? 14:06 I don't know the population of Springfield. 14:08 How many areas around Springfield 14:10 within 30 minutes 14:11 maybe have no Adventist presence? 14:14 Are we content to say, "Well, this is good enough? 14:17 Or do we need to have some kind of ministry, 14:20 some kind of outreach planted there? 14:23 Now this may shock you, 14:24 but did you know 14:26 small churches are actually better 14:27 at winning people to Jesus? 14:28 Did you know that? 14:30 Oh, see, it can't be 14:31 they don't have as many resources. 14:32 It's true. 14:34 They may not have as many people. 14:35 They may not have as much money, 14:37 but neither 14:38 did the first century Christian Church. 14:40 You think your budget is tough. 14:42 When you see the budget of first century Christianity? 14:45 They didn't have money, 14:46 but, you know, small churches win people 14:48 better than big churches normally. 14:51 For example, 14:52 let's say you have a church of 1,000 14:54 and they baptize about let's say 10 per year. 14:58 That's a growth rate of 1%. 15:00 Now you may say, "Boy, 15:02 I'd love to have 10 per year or more." 15:04 But you take a church of 15. 15:07 And they're baptizing one person a year. 15:09 And you may say, "Well, that's not much. 15:12 That's still a growth rate of 2%." 15:14 That is double that of a big church. 15:17 should be baptizing a lot more 15:20 than 10 people per year, 15:22 but many times they're not. 15:24 You see, God has gifted small churches 15:27 to be able to make a difference 15:30 because there was small churches 15:32 that impacted the first century world 15:35 with Christianity. 15:36 So we have to stop using that excuse 15:38 where our churches aren't large enough. 15:41 Neither were the first century church. 15:45 Well, let's go to another important question. 15:47 We know church planting is important. 15:49 In our division, 15:51 there's a movement called church plant, 15:53 the 1000 movement. 15:54 They wanna plant 1000 churches in North America 15:56 in the next five years, and I say, 15:58 "Amen. Praise the Lord." 15:59 And funding is being provided for it. 16:02 So we're already starting to make that turn, 16:05 but here's another question. 16:08 If the apostles were out planting churches, 16:12 who took care of the existing churches 16:14 that they planted? 16:16 If they would raise up a church or a group of believers, 16:20 and then go on to the next unentered town 16:22 and raise up another group, 16:25 who pastored and took care of the church, 16:27 they just raised up. 16:28 Have you ever wondered that? 16:30 Because apparently, from the Book of Acts, 16:33 the apostles didn't just stay there forever 16:35 and say, "Well, you know what? 16:37 I'm gonna pastor this church for a long-time, 16:39 and I'm going to do its work for it." 16:41 That's not what they did. 16:42 It says they move on to other unentered areas. 16:47 So the question would be, 16:49 who in the world took care of those churches 16:53 and pastored them. 16:55 And here's where the answer may be surprising, 16:58 challenging, 17:00 and maybe even irritating to some. 17:03 The first century church created and planted 17:07 lay-led churches. 17:11 There was no such thing anywhere in the Bible 17:15 of a pastor being paid 17:18 to watch over a congregation 17:20 and lead it and do its work for it. 17:24 If you doubt that, 17:25 I'm gonna issue you that same challenge 17:27 that we tend to do to others in a prophecy seminar, 17:31 you know, usually when it comes to the Sabbath, 17:33 and people are having a hard time, 17:35 "Oh, Sabbath and Sunday, you know, what do I choose? 17:37 I thought Sunday was the Sabbath." 17:39 What do we usually tell them to do? 17:41 We say, "Go to the Bible. 17:44 Find one verse there 17:46 that says the Sabbath was changed to Sunday." 17:49 And we feel pretty confident about that 17:51 because we know no such verse exists. 17:54 Well, let's flip it now. 17:57 I'm gonna challenge us Adventists. 18:00 Find one verse in the Bible 18:03 that says a pastor was paid to stay, 18:07 and pastor and shepherd and take care of a church for. 18:11 Show one example, where the apostles did that. 18:16 And you can search from Matthew to Revelation 18:20 I doubt that you will find even one. 18:24 You say how? 18:25 How in the world did they exist 18:26 that's so foreign to what we do today? 18:29 Because the first century church 18:31 discovered the power of lay ministry, 18:36 so then it was crazy for us to stay here 18:39 and pastor this church 18:40 when there's so many unentered areas, 18:42 we'll raise up lay leaders in the form of elders, 18:47 and deacons, and others. 18:50 In fact, the first place you see this, Acts 6:7, 18:54 I don't have this printed, 18:55 you're actually gonna have to look 18:56 this one off. 18:58 Acts Chapter 6 is where I can find 19:00 the basic beginning of lay ministry 19:03 in the early New Testament Church. 19:05 And in Acts 6:1-7, 19:10 I wanna read this to you, okay? 19:12 Acts 6:1, the Bible says, 19:16 "Now in those days, 19:18 when the number of the disciples 19:20 was multiplying, 19:21 there arose a complaint 19:23 against the Hebrews by the Hellenists," 19:25 that's the Greeks, 19:27 "because their widows were neglected 19:28 in the daily distribution. 19:30 Then the twelve apostles 19:33 summoned the multitude of the disciples 19:35 and said, 19:36 'It is not desirable 19:38 that we should leave the word of God 19:40 and that we should serve tables. 19:42 Therefore, brethren, 19:43 seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, 19:47 full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, 19:50 whom we may appoint over this business, 19:52 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer 19:56 and to the ministry of the word.'" 19:58 Now I wanna pause here. 20:00 First century church in Jerusalem, 20:02 they had a ministry of distributing to the widows. 20:05 And apparently there was a argument 20:07 that broke out that the Jewish widows 20:10 and the Greek widows, 20:12 the Jewish widows were getting more. 20:14 And so when this dispute arose, 20:16 it says that the apostles did not say, 20:18 you know what? 20:20 We're gonna have to take care of this business 20:21 'cause something's going wrong. 20:23 They said, "No, 20:24 we can't take ourselves away from prayer 20:27 and the ministry of the word 20:29 of moving Christianity forward." 20:32 So we're going to raise up capable Christian leaders, 20:36 lay people, not apostle, lay people, 20:40 and we're gonna put them in charge of this ministry. 20:43 And here in Chapter 6, 20:45 this is eventually what will become known 20:48 as deacons today, 20:50 not simply people who collect an offering 20:53 once a week, 20:54 but people who are actually in charge of ministry, 20:58 and then in verse 5, it says, 21:00 "Their saying please the whole multitude. 21:02 And they chose Stephen, and they chose six others." 21:05 These were the seven deacons. 21:07 And what was the response? 21:08 The result is verse 7. 21:10 "Then the Word of God," did what? 21:13 "Spread, 21:15 and the number of disciples 21:16 multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, 21:19 and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." 21:24 Those early apostles discovered the power of the lay ministry. 21:28 And when they turned that over to those seven men, 21:31 those deacons, it said, 21:33 the Word of God spread rapidly and grew, 21:38 and then from here on out, notice what you see. 21:41 Acts 14, 21:43 "Paul and Barnabas appointed 21:45 elders for them and each church 21:47 and, with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord, 21:50 in whom they put their trust." 21:53 What upon Barnabas do? 21:54 It was their practice to appoint elders. 21:58 When they planted a church or congregation 22:01 before they left, 22:03 they would train people who could pastor 22:06 or who would shepherd that particular group 22:09 they were known as elders. 22:12 So lay-led churches were created, 22:14 this freed the apostles to move on 22:17 to the next mission field. 22:19 Can you say amen? 22:20 Do you see what their strategy was? 22:23 You see why they turned the world upside down? 22:26 Again, you see in Titus 1, 22:28 Paul wrote, 22:30 "The reason I left you in Crete," Titus, 22:32 "was that you might straighten out 22:34 what was left unfinished 22:36 and appoint elders in every," 22:38 not just every church, but now, 22:40 "every town as I directed you. 22:43 Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, 22:47 he must be blameless." 22:49 Now notice this one. 22:51 Apparently, Paul wasn't able to finish 22:53 what he did in Crete. 22:54 And he told Titus, 22:56 I need you now to appoint lay leaders 22:58 to these groups that were raised up. 23:01 That was their strategy. 23:04 Paul didn't say Titus. 23:05 Hey, you know what, hold on. 23:07 I'll be back to be the shepherd of these groups. 23:09 He didn't say that. 23:11 He said, "I want you to raise up lay leaders." 23:14 Paul and the apostles 23:16 would not be taken out of the mission field. 23:20 Now if we're honest, 23:22 is that different from what we do today? 23:24 Yes or no? 23:25 It is. 1 Peter 5. 23:28 Even if Peter did this, he wrote, 23:29 "To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, 23:33 a witness of Christ's sufferings 23:35 and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed. 23:38 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, 23:42 serving as overseers not because you must, 23:45 but because you are willing." 23:48 Here's Peter saying, 23:50 "We've got to raise up elders, they are overseers." 23:53 You ever wonder why 23:55 when it came to every nominating committee, 23:56 you got to pick elders and deacons 23:58 and everybody turns to those verses 24:00 that describe what are the qualifications? 24:03 Do you ever wonder 24:04 why are those standards so high? 24:07 Why do the standards have to be high for someone 24:09 who's just going to sit on the platform 24:11 and do a couple of announcements? 24:13 Why their standard is so high 24:15 when someone's going to collect an offering once a week? 24:18 Because that wasn't the job description 24:19 of elders and deacons. 24:21 They were actually the pastors of the church. 24:24 See what I do today 24:26 as even though I'm an evangelist now, 24:28 what I do today as a pastor, 24:30 that's what the elders of the first century did. 24:33 That's why those standards were so high. 24:37 It wasn't 'cause they were just looked at 24:38 as the assistant of the pastor. 24:41 They were the pastors of the church. 24:45 I can see some of your faces you're like, 24:47 "Okay, this is too much for me." 24:50 But it's the biblical way that they did ministry, 24:53 elders were the overseers. 24:55 We need willing lay leaders today, 24:58 paid clergy did not pastor a church. 25:00 The people who were paid with the tithe 25:02 were the ones who were sent as itinerant evangelists 25:06 to raise up churches. 25:08 The pastors would say, 25:10 the apostles like why in the world 25:12 would we come here 25:13 and pastor and shepherd a church, 25:15 when there are already capable lay people here? 25:18 To them that was a crazy idea. 25:21 And so the New Testament Church 25:23 believed in the priesthood of all believers, 25:26 that God had gifted everyone for some type of ministry 25:31 that everyone was given a spiritual gift, 25:33 which is what we believe, 25:35 as an Adventist Church today. 25:37 That's why Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:9, 25:40 "But you are a chosen people, 25:42 a royal priesthood, a holy nation," 25:46 what do you call them? 25:48 "A royal, what? 25:49 "Priesthood." 25:51 Now in the Old Testament, 25:52 who did ministry in the Old Testament? 25:55 Priests. 25:56 Priests were your mediator, 25:58 only priests went into the sanctuary, 26:00 that's who you brought your sacrifices to. 26:03 In the New Testament, God says, 26:05 "No, everybody's a priest. 26:08 Everybody can go to God directly. 26:10 Everybody has been called to do ministry." 26:13 That's what the New Testament Church did. 26:16 So here's the two things 26:17 that we've learned this morning. 26:19 The two things that church did 26:21 that turned the world upside down 26:22 is number one, 26:24 the clergy or the apostles planted churches 26:26 in the unentered fields. 26:28 And when they did it, they created lay-lead churches. 26:32 That was the strategy 26:33 that turned the world upside down. 26:36 And so the question is, 26:38 why are we doing it differently today? 26:44 Now you're probably 26:46 one of the most biblical churches 26:47 in the Iowa Missouri Conference 26:49 because you're closer to that model 26:50 than just about all the others. 26:52 And I realize that 26:54 some of you probably have different opinions about that 26:56 because we have grown up in the last 70 years 26:59 within North American Division we have grown up thinking, 27:02 "Oh, every church has to have a paid pastor." 27:07 But then you look at the New Testament, 27:08 it's like, "Wow, 27:11 according to first century Christianity, 27:12 it's the exact opposite." 27:16 Before we end this morning, 27:18 there's a question we do have to answer. 27:21 You may wonder, 27:22 "Well, I see what the New Testament says." 27:25 But obviously, it didn't stay that way 27:27 throughout the Middle Ages. 27:29 Something happened 27:30 where the New Testament Church lost its sense of mission, 27:34 where it was seeking and saving the lost. 27:36 And in a brief summary, 27:37 I'm gonna show you how it happened 27:39 because when you understand how it happened, 27:42 it may become very, very shocking to you. 27:46 "After the apostles' died, 27:48 apostasy crept into the church." 27:51 You know, Paul wrote that when he left 27:52 ravenous wolves would come 27:54 and he knew false teachings would come 27:56 into the church. 27:57 That's why basically 27:58 all the books of the New Testament, 28:00 you know what they basically are? 28:02 By the way, how many books are there in the New Testament? 28:04 Little quiz here, 27. 28:06 Almost all of them are basically letters 28:10 that were written to Christian churches 28:12 that had been raised up 28:13 because false teachings were already going there. 28:15 And Paul and Peter and the others 28:17 had to deal with it. 28:18 Well, Peter and Paul knew that when they died, 28:21 more false teachings would come in, 28:24 but more than that, 28:26 false structures on mission would come into the church. 28:31 He said, "What are you talking about?" 28:33 In the second century, 28:34 a shift began to take place 28:37 where instead of the clergy going to the unentered fields, 28:42 they began, Rome began to take them 28:45 and settle them over churches 28:47 in things that would be called parishes. 28:52 You know what's another word for parishes, districts, 28:56 and mission die 28:59 because now they went 29:00 from planting churches in unentered areas 29:03 to being the primary caregivers and babysitters 29:07 of congregations and lay ministry die. 29:12 "By the council of Nicea in 325, 29:15 the clergy started gaining greater power and authority." 29:19 You ever seen the Middle Ages, 29:20 who was all the focus on in the Middle Ages? 29:24 The clergy, the priest forgave sins, 29:27 the priests provided the sacraments, 29:30 the priest was the one who led the mass, 29:32 the priest was the one who taught the people, 29:35 lay people were supposed to just go to the mass, 29:39 receive sacraments, and give money to the church. 29:43 All the focus was on the priests. 29:45 That's why they didn't want the Bible 29:46 going out to the people. 29:48 So here's what you see, clergy are the educated ones, 29:51 only clergy can preach, only clergy performed ministry, 29:55 only clergy do sacraments, 29:57 they were called priests 29:58 and they were placed over parishes. 30:02 And you know who did that? 30:04 You know who was instrumental in doing that? 30:07 Rome. 30:08 The very power 30:10 that we as prophetic interpreters 30:13 call the beast. 30:15 Not only did false doctrines come from Rome, 30:18 but Rome was responsible 30:20 for the early Christian church losing its mission, 30:24 and then what happened? 30:25 "Constantine's was converted in 321." 30:27 You know, he was the emperor of the Roman Empire. 30:30 They ruled, you know, 30:31 a good part of the world at that time. 30:34 When Constantine converted to Christianity, 30:36 we would think that's great. 30:38 We're no longer being persecuted. 30:40 Christianity is not illegal anymore. 30:42 We've become the state religion, 30:44 we are accepted. 30:46 It was the worst thing that ever happened 30:49 because not only did Constantine bring 30:50 pagan teachings and here's what happened. 30:53 When the emperor becomes a Christian, 30:54 guess what everybody else does in the empire. 30:57 You wanna become a Christian. 30:58 They wanna get in good with the emperor. 31:00 So now it becomes a state religion. 31:02 The whole Roman Empire is now Christian. 31:05 So guess what? 31:07 There's no more mission field in their eyes 31:09 'cause everybody's a Christian now. 31:12 So take the clergy now 31:14 who don't need to plant any more churches. 31:16 And we will place them now in parishes or districts, 31:20 and they will be the primary caregivers 31:22 and all the focus will be on them 31:24 and the lay ministry doesn't need to do anything. 31:29 That sounds like Christianity today. 31:32 So I'm gonna ask you a hard question. 31:35 Today in the 21st century, who are we follow? 31:39 Rome strategy of settled parishes 31:43 or the New Testament Church creating lay-lead churches? 31:48 See as Adventists we say to other people, 31:49 and they learn about Sunday and the Sabbath 31:51 and all these other things. 31:52 We say, "Hey, don't follow the beast." 31:55 But when I as an Adventist say, "No, I want my own pastor. 31:58 No, I don't like this lay-led thing." 32:01 If I know that comes from Rome, 32:04 am I following the beast? 32:07 As much as someone 32:09 who chooses to ignore the Sabbath over Sunday. 32:13 When I learned where it came from, 32:16 to me that was shocking. 32:19 And what eventually changed it was the Protestant Reformation. 32:23 And I wanna basically end with this 32:25 'cause we'll move into part two in the afternoon. 32:28 It was Luther, who said, 32:31 he didn't believe 32:32 that the priest had power to forgive sins. 32:35 He said go directly to God. 32:37 He didn't believe the priest was the only one 32:38 who could understand the Bible. 32:40 He didn't believe the priest was the only one 32:42 who could do the sacraments and do ministry, 32:44 he began to turn towards lay people to say 32:47 anyone can go to God, anyone can read the Bible, 32:50 anybody can share the gospel with others. 32:53 That's why they hated him. 32:55 Now the reformation didn't totally change 32:57 the role of the clergy. 32:58 They didn't send them out to be church planters again 33:00 like they did before, but it started the process. 33:03 And it wasn't until the 1800s 33:05 when Revelation predicted 33:07 one more final remnant movement, 33:10 which will be the Advent Movement. 33:11 That would be the movement 33:13 that would send clergy to plant churches again, 33:16 create lay-led congregations, 33:18 and would fully restore 33:19 the priesthood of all believers. 33:22 And so this afternoon, I wanna show you 33:24 how the early Adventist Church began? 33:27 What did they do in ministry? 33:31 And what happened to change things 33:32 'cause something changed 33:34 because we're not doing today 33:35 what the early Adventist Church did in the 1800s. 33:38 So we're going to do the same thing 33:39 we did this morning, 33:40 except our focus is gonna be the early Adventist Church. 33:45 What I wanna leave you with is this. 33:48 In your heart, you may dream, 33:50 I wanna church that's centered on mission 33:53 that is seeking and saving the lost. 33:56 And the truth is 33:57 we could all look at our local churches and say, 33:59 "Oh, I see a problem here. I see a problem here." 34:02 But, friends, the truth is, we need a revival of mission. 34:06 And before revival of mission can happen in a church, 34:10 it's got to happen in individual heart. 34:13 Are you ready to say Lord Jesus, 34:16 create a revival of mission in me? 34:19 Ellen White wrote long ago, 34:21 those who would be overcomers 34:23 must be drawn out of themselves. 34:25 And the... 34:26 Oh, notice, the only thing 34:28 which will accomplish this great work, 34:30 and it's got nothing to do with diet 34:32 or any of our other pet peeves. 34:34 She said, 34:35 "The only thing to accomplish that work 34:38 is to become intensely interested 34:41 in the salvation of others." 34:43 Today, it is your part to say, Lord Jesus, 34:46 I am asking you to help me become intensely interested 34:51 in the salvation of others. 34:57 This morning we learned what it was 34:59 that the early New Testament did 35:01 that actually change the world and turned it upside down. 35:05 And one of the things that we learned 35:07 is they understood what their mission was. 35:10 They did not exist simply to be some social club 35:13 and build some great big institution 35:16 inside of Jerusalem, 35:17 but they actually went and the two things they did 35:20 is the clergy or the apostles 35:22 were sent to the unentered areas 35:24 to all these towns and villages to plant churches. 35:27 So they were always moving forward. 35:29 And the churches they planted were lay-led churches, 35:34 they raised up elders and deacons, 35:36 they took care of that local house church, 35:38 they evangelized their own territory 35:41 while the apostles went to new areas. 35:44 And that is how the first century church made 35:46 such a difference in the world in which they live, 35:50 but then we also saw that during the Middle Ages, 35:53 that emphasis, 35:54 that focus on mission stopped 35:57 because when a religious system 35:59 came out of the Roman Empire, 36:01 it would be a system that would then kill 36:04 the idea of mission. 36:05 And since the whole Roman Empire 36:07 became Christian, 36:08 it was no longer necessary to send clergies 36:10 to unentered towns because they were none left. 36:13 And so they took the clergy, 36:15 put them into parishes over churches, 36:19 where they became the primary caregivers 36:22 and babysitters of that congregation 36:24 and lay ministry die. 36:27 And it stayed that way for over 1000 years 36:30 of the Middle Ages, 36:31 until the 1800s came 36:33 and Revelation's final end time movement began 36:37 that we would know as the Advent movement. 36:40 And so this afternoon, 36:42 we're going to look at 36:43 how the early Adventist Church began? 36:46 What was their sense and focus of mission? 36:49 How did they operate? 36:50 What was their structure like, 36:52 and how is it that this small group of people 36:55 made up of folks 36:57 from all different denominations? 36:58 How in the world could they grow 37:01 in less than 200 years 37:03 faster than other denominations 37:04 that had been around for even thousands of years 37:07 from the latter part of the Middle Ages? 37:09 Because the Advent Movement did something different. 37:13 It was meant to be a lay-driven, 37:16 non-pastor dependent movement. 37:18 And they pretty much functioned and structured their church 37:22 almost exactly the same way 37:25 that the early New Testament Church did. 37:28 Clergy, the few Adventist ministers 37:30 that there were in the beginning, 37:31 they were sent to unentered areas 37:33 to raise up churches, 37:35 and the churches that were raised up 37:36 basically became lay-led. 37:39 And this happened for three basic reasons 37:41 that you can see in the screen. 37:43 One, was the early Adventist Church, 37:45 they understood why they existed. 37:49 They knew that they were not just to be 37:51 another denomination among hundreds of others. 37:55 They recognize 37:56 they were the last end time movement. 37:58 They recognize that Jesus said 38:00 to take the gospel to all the world, 38:02 and they realize that in Revelation 14, 38:05 when it came to the three angels' message, 38:07 it was the go to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people 38:11 and they understood 38:13 they were to be constantly moving forward 38:16 'cause this is going to be the final movement 38:18 for the gospel on the face of the earth. 38:21 The second reason 38:22 was the guidance of Ellen White. 38:24 You know, when this group of Advent people 38:27 began functioning 38:29 and wondered how can we take this message 38:31 to the world, 38:32 God blessed them with the gift of prophecy 38:34 through Ellen White. 38:35 And we're gonna find out this afternoon 38:38 is she said a lot of somewhat surprising things 38:42 of how the church, 38:44 early church was supposed to function. 38:46 Some things we've heard before, 38:48 and maybe some things that we've never heard 38:50 that might actually challenge us 38:52 because she was a great advocate 38:55 of church planting and having lay-led churches. 38:59 And a third and final reason 39:00 which may be new to some of us was their roots in Methodism. 39:05 Many of the early Adventist pioneers 39:07 came from a Methodist background. 39:10 And one of the things that the Methodists did 39:12 through John Wesley 39:14 is they had what was called class meetings, 39:17 which was basically small groups in people's homes. 39:20 That's one of the things Wesley had done. 39:23 And so what happened 39:24 is people who became Christians, 39:25 or were thinking of it, 39:27 they would meet in people's homes. 39:29 And in these class meetings, 39:30 they would learn what it meant to grow 39:32 as a Christian and in their spiritual journey. 39:35 And all of those class meetings were led by lay people. 39:39 So when many of them join the Advent movement, 39:42 the idea of Lay ministry was something 39:45 that was already ingrained within their psyche. 39:48 And so those are three of the reasons 39:50 the Adventist Church did what they did in the beginning. 39:53 Now what I wanna do is I'm gonna read to you 39:56 a quote that describes 39:58 what the early Adventist Church did 40:00 for the first 60 to 70 years of its existence, 40:04 just notice how their ministry is described. 40:06 It says, 40:08 "For the first 60-70 years of its existence 40:12 the Seventh-day Adventist Church 40:14 had an itinerant clergy." 40:16 You know, you know what itinerant means? 40:18 They didn't stay in one place. 40:20 They kept going from one city and town to another. 40:24 It goes on to say, 40:25 "Their main function was to raise up churches 40:29 and give oversight to many local congregations, 40:33 who primarily cared for themselves. 40:36 There were no," what? 40:39 "Settled pastors 40:40 who were the chief care givers for the local church. 40:43 In this sense the structure was very similar 40:47 to that of the first century church." 40:50 And that comes from a book called 40:52 "Recovering an Adventist Approach 40:53 to the Life and Mission of the Local Church." 40:56 I want us to notice a few things there, 40:58 it specifically says that the pastors, 41:01 the few ministers 41:02 there were in the beginning of the movement 41:04 'cause in the beginning there weren't that many. 41:06 They were itinerant evangelists. 41:08 They were sent to unentered areas 41:10 to raise up new groups of believers, 41:13 while churches basically functioned 41:15 being lay-led. 41:17 And so very purposely, 41:19 the early Adventist Church follow the pattern 41:22 that we learned this morning 41:24 from the early New Testament Church. 41:26 That was not by accident. 41:28 That was not by chance. 41:30 They did that on purpose 41:32 because isn't if the remnant movement, 41:34 supposed to be like the original. 41:37 Can you say amen? 41:38 And so they took mission very, very seriously. 41:41 They knew 41:43 they were not just another denomination, 41:47 that it was actually very rare 41:49 that a pastor would come and preach 41:51 to a local congregation in the first 60-70 years 41:55 because all the pastor's time was spent 41:57 planting churches and in evangelism. 42:00 Now they might see a pastor, maybe once a quarter, 42:04 you can imagine that. 42:06 A pastor once a quarter. 42:08 You say what, 42:09 how did they function like that? 42:11 What did they do for a church service? 42:14 They had what Ellen White called 42:16 the social meeting. 42:18 Now how many of you are familiar 42:19 with the term social meaning? 42:22 Get some Ellen White wrote about 42:23 even over 100 years ago, 42:25 what would happen is the early Adventist Church, 42:28 they would have a Sabbath school 42:29 just like we have today, 42:31 but when there was no minister 42:33 who had preached a sermon, 42:34 which was on most Sabbaths, 42:36 what they would do 42:37 is they would basically have a social meeting, 42:39 which was like a testimony time, 42:41 and that's where people would just stand up and share 42:44 how they were growing in the Lord 42:46 or share their trials. 42:48 And people would pray with them together. 42:50 They would share what they were learning 42:52 their Christian journey, 42:53 and it was a time just for fellowship and bonding 42:56 because the early church did not sense 42:59 that they had to have a sermon every single week, 43:03 people simply shared their testimonies. 43:06 And Ellen White speaks a lot 43:08 about how the Holy Spirit moved within those social meetings. 43:13 In fact, the most, 43:14 you know, when the most time was 43:16 that Adventist believers would actually hear 43:18 an Adventist minister, guess where it was? 43:21 You're right. It was at camp meeting. 43:23 It wasn't in the local churches 43:25 because even camp meetings in the early church 43:28 were totally different. 43:29 Today when we do camp meeting, 43:31 probably 90% of the people who are there are what? 43:35 They're Adventists, probably more than 90%. 43:38 Back in the early Adventist Church, 43:40 it was just the opposite 43:42 camp meeting was actually meant to be 43:44 an evangelistic endeavor. 43:46 During the day, 43:48 the messages were for the Advent believers. 43:51 In the evenings and on the weekends, 43:53 there were actually evangelistic messages 43:56 for the community 43:57 that people were supposed to bring individuals too. 44:00 So even camp meeting function in a mission-centered 44:04 an evangelistic way 60-70 years ago. 44:09 In fact, when you do some research in 1903, 44:13 there was what's called the California Conference. 44:16 Now today, California is broke up 44:18 into four different conferences, 44:20 but back then there were all one conference. 44:22 And so in the California Conference 44:24 in 1903, 44:26 when they received a request from a group of believers 44:29 to send them a minister, this is what, what happened. 44:33 Instead of sending them a minister, 44:35 if they've learned that there was an area 44:37 where there was already 44:38 a significant number of Advent believers, 44:41 they would not send a pastor there. 44:44 They believe that the Advent believers there 44:46 were capable of handling their own church 44:50 and being able to work 44:51 in a mission-minded way in their locality. 44:54 They would send pastors to areas 44:56 where there were no Advent believers. 45:00 Now today, it's just the opposite. 45:03 We would send a pastor to a place, 45:04 a new place 45:06 where there's already Advent believers. 45:07 And we would say, 45:09 "Oh, we can't send them somewhere 45:10 where there's no one to work with." 45:12 But the early Adventist Church saw in a completely different, 45:16 and a completely opposite way. 45:18 What would happen 45:20 if we started looking at things 45:22 in that manner 45:23 when there's a place 45:25 where there's already believers? 45:26 Yes, give them some training. 45:27 Yes, give them some encouragement 45:29 have someone they can talk to when necessary 45:32 to help with certain issues, 45:33 but for the most part, 45:35 clergy are sent to the unentered areas 45:37 that have no Adventist presence. 45:40 That's how it functioned in the early years. 45:44 Do you see a difference thus far? 45:46 I would hope so. 45:47 In fact, James White, 45:49 at one of the Advent conferences 45:51 when he was asked to describe 45:53 how the early Adventist Church did ministry, 45:56 notice the statement he made 45:58 in the Review and Herald from 1859, 46:01 now this is more than 150 years ago. 46:04 This is what he said, quote, 46:07 "We have no settled pastors over our churches, 46:11 but our ministers are all missionaries, 46:14 as were the early ministers of Jesus Christ." 46:18 Now when he says early ministers, 46:19 he's talking about the apostles 46:21 of the early New Testament Church 46:23 in the first century, 46:25 but he said, "They must be sustained," 46:27 meaning the ministers, 46:28 "and God has made it 46:29 the duty of the church to support them, 46:32 as they go on their mission of love." 46:36 James White said 150 years ago, 46:38 we don't have settled pastors over our churches. 46:41 Our ministers are missionaries going to the unentered areas, 46:45 just like the early ministers of Jesus Christ, 46:48 just like those early apostles, 46:51 and they taught churches to be lay-led 46:54 so they can move on to the next town, 46:56 and so Adventism not only through James White, 46:59 but through the early pioneers, 47:01 they specifically followed the approach 47:04 of the early New Testament Church. 47:06 And see what struck me is 47:08 tithe was not used to pay clergy 47:13 to babysit churches. 47:15 Tithe was used to send people to the areas 47:19 that have no Advent believers. 47:22 Today, we do the opposite. 47:24 You know, we have certain formulas that say, 47:26 "Well, a church needs to have so much in tithe, 47:28 and then they can get a minister to themselves." 47:31 But early Adventist Churches 47:32 never looked at it in the sense, 47:34 "Boy, we got to give more tithe 47:36 so we can get a pastor for ourselves." 47:38 They return tithe 47:40 not because of what they could get 47:42 out of it, 47:44 but because they wanted to see the Advent message 47:46 go to the unentered areas. 47:48 They supported people they would probably never see 47:51 or maybe see perhaps once a quarter, 47:55 and what is the attitude of some churches today? 47:57 Well, if I don't have a minister, 47:59 I'm not gonna return my tithe. 48:01 And what we're really saying is, 48:03 I'll return tithe if I get something out of it, 48:07 but I'm not gonna return tithe 48:09 if it means supporting people 48:10 that I'm never gonna see in my life. 48:13 See, the whole mindset was completely different 48:16 in that early Adventist Church. 48:18 That's why they grew like wildfire 48:21 more than all these other denominations. 48:23 Now I don't say that in pride and arrogance, 48:26 but there was a very distinct difference 48:28 in the way the Adventist Church did ministry 48:31 as compared to the rest of the Christian world. 48:34 And actually, the secular world noticed this 48:38 because one of the premier evangelists 48:40 back in 1886, 48:41 was a man named GB Starr, he was an Adventist evangelist, 48:46 and he was asked to do a newspaper interview 48:49 because the world was noticing 48:51 how this Advent movement grew in 40 years, okay? 48:56 The Advent movement started, 48:57 you know, somewhere around the 1830s, 1840s 49:00 so by 1886, 49:02 they're noticing 49:03 how fast this small group of people 49:06 is growing 49:07 and how this message is spreading. 49:09 And so when a newspaper interview 49:11 was done with Elder Starr, 49:13 this was how he answered the reporter's questions. 49:17 The reporter said, 49:19 "By what means have you carried forward 49:21 your work so rapidly?" 49:24 And then Elder Starr said, "Well, in the first place, " 49:28 replied the Elder, 49:29 "we have no settled pastors." 49:33 Are you noticing that theme over and over again, 49:35 in these quotes? 49:37 "Our churches are taught to take care of themselves, 49:40 while nearly all of our ministers 49:42 work as evangelists in," 49:44 what kind of fields? 49:46 "New fields." 49:47 Remember the California Conference, 49:49 they wouldn't send a pastor to a place 49:51 where they're already believers. 49:52 Why? 49:53 Because they functioned as evangelists in new fields. 49:56 And so as the secular newspaper is noticing this in 1886, 50:01 Elder Starr is telling them, this is what we do different. 50:05 We don't send pastors to look over churches, 50:08 like other denominations do. 50:09 We teach, we raise up lay-leaders, 50:11 we teach them how to be lay-led 50:14 to take hold of the mission in their territory. 50:17 And we send the few clergy that we do have 50:20 into the unentered areas, 50:23 totally different 50:24 from the rest of the Christian world, 50:26 but totally in sync 50:28 with what the first century church 50:29 did 2000 years ago. 50:32 In fact, Seventh-day Baptists 50:35 were amazed at the growth of Seventh-day Adventists. 50:39 Now Seventh-day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists, 50:42 their movements basically came into being 50:45 around the same time, 50:46 but Seventh-day Adventists far outnumbered 50:49 Seventh-day Baptists. 50:51 And Seventh-day Baptists wanted to know why? 50:53 Because they both share the idea of the truth 50:56 of the seventh-day Sabbath. 50:58 So why would one group of Sabbath keepers 51:00 be growing so much faster 51:02 than another group of Sabbath keepers. 51:05 And so when they interviewed Adventists 51:08 this is what Seventh-day Baptists wrote 51:10 in their own paper about Seventh-day Adventists. 51:13 Quote, this was from 1909. 51:16 They wrote, 51:18 "All Seventh-day Adventist clergymen are," what? 51:21 "Missionaries 51:23 not located pastors 51:25 and they are busy preaching and teaching 51:27 and organizing churches the world over." 51:31 So not only is the secular world 51:33 noticing this, 51:35 other denominations are realizing, 51:37 "Wow, this Advent movement is growing so fast 51:40 because they are doing something radically different 51:43 from the rest of the Christian world." 51:46 Now it wasn't radically different 51:48 in the sense that 51:49 that's what the first century church did, 51:51 but remember the Middle Ages, 51:53 all that was lost sight of 51:55 and Rome took their priests and made them over parishes 51:59 and that's the Protestantism did 52:01 even after the Reformation, 52:03 pastors were put into districts. 52:06 And the Advent movement, as far as I know, 52:09 was one of the first major movements 52:11 who rejected that 52:12 and went back to the New Testament model 52:15 of the first century. 52:17 That's why you read how they turned their world, 52:20 basically, upside down. 52:23 Now you may wonder 52:24 will did Ellen White have anything to say about this 52:27 because this was during the time 52:28 when she was alive. 52:30 God gave her many visions and dreams 52:32 about the direction 52:33 that this Advent movement should go. 52:35 And so you'll find 52:37 she said a lot of straightforward statements, 52:40 some of them very bold statements 52:42 about church planting, and lay-led churches. 52:46 I wanna share a few of them with you. 52:48 She wrote, 52:50 "My heart has been filled with sadness 52:53 as I've looked over the field and seen the barren places." 52:57 That mean places with no Adventist presence. 53:00 "What does this mean? 53:02 Who are standing 53:03 as representatives of Jesus Christ? 53:06 Who feels a burden for the souls 53:08 who cannot receive the truth till it is brought to them." 53:11 And then she says, 53:13 "Our ministers are hovering over the churches, 53:16 as though the angel of mercy was not making effort 53:19 to save souls. 53:21 God holds these ministers 53:23 responsible for the souls of those who are in darkness." 53:26 And then she writes, 53:27 and she's really talking to ministers now. 53:29 So this is really directed at me. 53:32 "He does not call you to go into fields 53:35 that need no physician. 53:37 Establish your churches with the understanding 53:40 that they need not expect the minister to wait upon them 53:44 and to be continually feeding them. 53:46 They have the truth, they know what truth is. 53:50 They should have root in themselves. 53:52 These should strike down deeply, 53:55 that they may reach up higher and still higher. 53:58 They must be rooted and grounded in the faith." 54:02 Wow! 54:03 That's 1901 she wrote that. 54:06 And so she was actually concerned 54:08 that there was so much energy 54:10 on churches, 54:11 people that already know the truth, 54:13 while the barren fields are being neglected. 54:16 See around 1901 54:18 what was happening is 54:20 now some of the churches were starting to demand 54:22 that they wanted to have their own minister. 54:25 They were starting to look out into the Christian world. 54:27 And even though they were growing, 54:29 they were starting to see wow, 54:31 you know, these other popular groups, 54:33 these other popular denominations, 54:35 they have their own settled minister, 54:37 well, we wanna be more like them 54:39 because then people will be more accepting of us. 54:42 And so when there was this call to be like the other churches, 54:46 and still in the early 1900s, 54:48 Ellen White started writing against that 54:51 because she knew the minute we took the clergy 54:54 out from being evangelists in unentered areas, 54:56 and settle them over churches. 54:58 She knew that the mission focus 55:01 of the Advent movement would die. 55:03 She knew that by the Spirit of Prophecy. 55:06 In fact, she felt so strongly about that 55:08 she puts it this way. 55:10 She said, 55:12 "There should not be a call 55:14 to have settled pastors over our churches, 55:17 but let the life-giving power of the truth 55:19 impress its individual members to act, 55:23 to carrying on an efficient missionary work 55:25 in that locality. 55:27 As the hand of God, 55:29 the church is to be educated and trained 55:32 to do effective work. 55:33 Its members are to be the Lord's devoted, 55:36 Christian workers. 55:38 The church is too one-sided." 55:41 That's pretty straightforward, isn't it? 55:43 I mean, she comes right out, 55:45 and she's answering this call 55:47 about we need to have pastors 55:48 in districts like other churches, 55:50 she said there should not be a call 55:53 to have settled pastors over churches 55:56 because she recognized 55:57 that when that happens not only will mission die, 56:01 but the spirituality of those churches 56:04 will also die 56:06 because what would happen if as a parent, 56:09 you did every single thing for your child, 56:12 and you never let them learn anything, 56:15 you never let them learn how to walk, 56:18 or how to feed themselves, or go to the bathroom, 56:21 or to make decisions about themselves 56:23 and you just totally hovered over them. 56:25 And you never taught them to do anything on their own. 56:28 What would happen to them when they became adults? 56:31 Well, mentally they would never become adults, 56:34 they would almost become, 56:35 you know, lifelong perpetual infants. 56:38 And God knew the same is true for the church. 56:41 And that's why He spoke through Ellen White, 56:43 "There should not be a call to have settled pastors." 56:46 He knew what would happen to the idea of mission. 56:51 You see how visionary Ellen White was, 56:54 always pointing to the lay-led churches 56:57 telling them we cannot be like other churches 57:00 because Christ's coming 57:02 is not 2000 years down the road, 57:04 this is the final movement, 57:06 we have to do things different. 57:09 And she didn't make any bones about saying that. 57:13 In fact, she made a quote 57:16 as to what ministers should do if they are in an area 57:19 where there are Advent believers? 57:20 This is what she said they should do. 57:23 She wrote, "Let the minister devote 57:25 more of his time to educating than to preaching. 57:29 Let him teach the people 57:31 how to give others the knowledge 57:33 they have received. 57:34 In laboring 57:36 where there are already some in the faith, 57:38 the minister should at first seek 57:41 not so much to convert unbelievers," 57:43 imagine that, 57:45 "as to train church members for acceptable co-operation." 57:50 Hi. This is David Klinedinst. 57:53 I hope you've been blessed by the presentation today. 57:56 If you would like more information 57:57 about our ministry 57:59 or about our other seminars and presentations, 58:02 visit our websites at DavidKlinedinst.org 58:07 or DiscoverBibleProphecy.org. 58:11 If you'd like to make a donation 58:13 to keep these sermons on the air, 58:15 you can contact us 58:16 at Discover Prophecy Ministries, 58:19 PO Box 850, 58:21 Columbia, Maryland 21044 58:25 or call toll free at 855-774-HOPE. |
Revised 2020-07-17