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¤
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>> Good morning.
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Happy Sabbath, everyone.
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I want to invite you all to just
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worship and sing with us.
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Worship however you feel.
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If you want to stand,
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you can stand.
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If you want to lift your hands,
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lift your hands.
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But I invite you to worship
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with us this Easter Sabbath.
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¤
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>> Because He raised
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from the dead on the third day,
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let us lift this song together.
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>> If you have a Bible,
00:12:32.28\00:12:33.78
let's put it to good use.
00:12:33.88\00:12:35.12
Matthew 24:14, please.
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Matthew 24:14.
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It's on page 667
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in the red pew Bible
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that's somewhere nearby
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where you're at.
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Page 667, Matthew 24:14.
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We have been at this text
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before in this series.
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We're going to do so here
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now again
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and see it with some fresh eyes.
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Matthew 24:14.
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Jesus is talking about the very
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end of time, our day.
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And this is what He says.
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"And this gospel of the kingdom
00:13:05.78\00:13:07.45
will be preached
00:13:07.55\00:13:08.78
in the whole world
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as a testimony to all nations,
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and then the end will come."
00:13:12.95\00:13:18.36
In other words,
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what Jesus is saying here
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is that there will come
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one final revolution,
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not a revolution of blood
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or of bombs,
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but a revolution of the heart
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in Jesus Christ,
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a revival of true godliness
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among the people of God,
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leading to
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deep relationships with Jesus.
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And it won't just stop there
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on a personal level.
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As we've been talking about,
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revival will lead
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to reformation in great ways.
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There will be a massive work
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done by millions
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of church members
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around the world,
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including people right here
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at Pioneer, sharing the Gospel
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of Jesus Christ
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in the context
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of the three angels' messages
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in a last triumphal push,
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one final revolution,
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and then the end shall come,
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and we will go home.
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But...
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Conjunctions are important,
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aren't they?
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But if the global West
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is going to be a part
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of that one final revolution,
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there will have to be
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some changes in
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how we do church.
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Last week, in "ChurchWorks
00:14:35.24\00:14:36.81
Part 3," we looked at this idea
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of ministers rule.
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We looked at God's
00:14:40.14\00:14:40.88
Old Testament philosophy
00:14:40.98\00:14:41.91
of "come here"
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and that God had matched
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that philosophy with a simple
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three-part structure.
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We then looked at God's
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New Testament philosophy of
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not "come here,"
00:14:50.12\00:14:50.92
but "go there" and how it was
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also supported by a simple
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three-part structure.
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And to many of our surprise,
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it did not include that
00:14:57.36\00:14:58.79
structure, what are known today
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as settled pastors.
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Now, in case you weren't here
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last week,
00:15:03.50\00:15:04.10
let me define quickly what
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a settled pastor is.
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A settled pastor is essentially
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what we have in the West
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today in the Adventist church.
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And by West I mean places
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like Australia, North America,
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and Europe,
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and so like cultured places.
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That's the West.
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And Adventism in the West
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has essentially settled pastors.
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A settled pastor is one
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that stays over a church
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for fairly long periods of time.
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They're paid to do so.
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They're the chief leader,
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the primary caregiver.
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They preach, they teach,
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they marry, they bury,
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they chair committees,
00:15:32.39\00:15:33.09
they put out fires,
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et cetera, et cetera.
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And we pay them to do this.
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Every three to seven years,
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they move on to the next church,
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where they settle again and do
00:15:39.10\00:15:40.60
the whole thing all over again.
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And we found that role does
00:15:42.70\00:15:45.17
not exist in the Bible.
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It's not there.
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And as surprising as that is,
00:15:49.74\00:15:51.31
what is even more surprising
00:15:51.41\00:15:52.91
is how revolutionary
00:15:53.01\00:15:54.78
the Adventist church
00:15:54.88\00:15:55.78
has historically
00:15:55.88\00:15:56.79
been in this regard.
00:15:56.89\00:15:59.42
In fact,
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did you know so committed
00:16:00.46\00:16:02.46
was the Adventist church
00:16:02.56\00:16:03.63
to God's New Testament
00:16:03.73\00:16:05.13
"go there" kingdom structure
00:16:05.23\00:16:07.23
that by the power
00:16:07.36\00:16:08.16
of the Holy Spirit,
00:16:08.26\00:16:09.30
combined with that kingdom
00:16:09.40\00:16:10.60
structure, the way was paved
00:16:10.70\00:16:12.37
for the early Adventist church
00:16:12.47\00:16:13.90
to become the fastest growing
00:16:14.00\00:16:15.30
Protestant movement
00:16:15.40\00:16:16.50
that the world had ever seen?
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Wow, not a single "amen."
00:16:21.68\00:16:22.51
I thought maybe somebody might
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appreciate that.
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This is a good thing.
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Okay, this is a positive
00:16:25.85\00:16:26.92
development, right, in
00:16:27.02\00:16:28.12
the kingdom of God.
00:16:28.22\00:16:29.62
And this phenomenal growth was
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not something
00:16:31.62\00:16:32.25
that was noted merely
00:16:32.35\00:16:33.46
by historians today.
00:16:33.56\00:16:35.46
It instead thoroughly attracted
00:16:35.56\00:16:37.43
attention while it was happening
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inside the church and outside.
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In fact, let me show you
00:16:43.00\00:16:43.60
something.
00:16:43.70\00:16:46.53
Early Adventist leaders,
00:16:46.63\00:16:48.30
when our work was just
00:16:48.40\00:16:49.20
getting started in the
00:16:49.30\00:16:49.94
mid-1800s, they asked
00:16:50.04\00:16:51.34
an important question.
00:16:51.44\00:16:52.04
They said,
00:16:52.14\00:16:53.07
"How shall we organize
00:16:53.17\00:16:54.68
the ministry of this movement?
00:16:54.78\00:16:56.24
How shall we organize the
00:16:56.34\00:16:57.31
ministry of this church?"
00:16:57.41\00:16:58.98
And someone said, "Hey,
00:16:59.08\00:16:59.75
I've got an idea.
00:16:59.85\00:17:00.85
Let's read the Bible."
00:17:00.95\00:17:02.45
And so they did.
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And they found there,
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as we found last week,
00:17:05.02\00:17:05.99
that God's
00:17:06.09\00:17:06.89
New Testament kingdom structure
00:17:06.99\00:17:08.29
had no settled pastors.
00:17:08.39\00:17:10.36
And consequently,
00:17:10.46\00:17:11.26
the Adventist church
00:17:11.36\00:17:12.26
structure also didn't
00:17:12.36\00:17:13.86
have settled pastors.
00:17:13.96\00:17:15.53
And the results
00:17:15.63\00:17:16.80
were astonishing.
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Let me show you.
00:17:19.57\00:17:21.64
Wabash, Indiana,
00:17:21.74\00:17:22.70
Plain Dealer, that was
00:17:22.80\00:17:24.07
a newspaper back in the day.
00:17:24.17\00:17:26.01
Plain Dealer, October 1, 1886.
00:17:26.11\00:17:28.84
"The Seventh Day Adventists."
00:17:28.94\00:17:29.81
This is the title of the article
00:17:29.91\00:17:30.88
in that newspaper.
00:17:30.98\00:17:31.91
"The Seventh Day Adventists.
00:17:32.01\00:17:32.91
Some Facts and Figures
00:17:33.01\00:17:34.35
Gathered from Elder Starr --"
00:17:34.45\00:17:35.92
he was General Conference
00:17:36.02\00:17:36.99
president at the time --
00:17:37.09\00:17:38.35
"How They Have Grown in Forty
00:17:38.45\00:17:39.85
Years -- and What They Believe."
00:17:39.95\00:17:42.02
So this is outside
00:17:42.12\00:17:43.06
of the Adventist church.
00:17:43.16\00:17:44.19
People are looking at,
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"How do you guys do this?
00:17:45.16\00:17:45.83
How do you start with
00:17:45.93\00:17:46.56
just three people,
00:17:46.66\00:17:47.40
James and Ellen White
00:17:47.50\00:17:48.03
and Joseph Bates,
00:17:48.13\00:17:48.96
and now you guys are
00:17:49.06\00:17:49.63
all over the world?
00:17:49.73\00:17:50.77
How do you do that?"
00:17:50.87\00:17:52.30
That's the question.
00:17:52.40\00:17:54.87
"By what means have you carried
00:17:54.97\00:17:56.14
forward your work so rapidly?"
00:17:56.24\00:17:57.17
the reporter
00:17:57.27\00:17:57.87
says to Elder Starr.
00:17:57.97\00:17:59.21
Answer, "'Well, in the first
00:17:59.31\00:18:01.41
place,' the elder replied,
00:18:01.51\00:18:03.48
we have no settled pastors.'"
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How many?
00:18:05.18\00:18:06.38
No, not a one. Okay.
00:18:06.48\00:18:07.65
So no settled pastors.
00:18:07.75\00:18:08.58
Now, that's fascinating,
00:18:08.68\00:18:09.75
because this is
00:18:09.85\00:18:10.39
the General Conference
00:18:10.49\00:18:11.02
president, right?
00:18:11.12\00:18:11.69
He's a churchman, right,
00:18:11.79\00:18:13.79
steeped in the Bible
00:18:13.89\00:18:14.66
and ministry, et cetera.
00:18:14.76\00:18:15.86
If you asked him, "What's
00:18:15.96\00:18:16.99
the secret of your success?
00:18:17.09\00:18:18.19
How have you grown so swiftly?"
00:18:18.29\00:18:19.56
I mean, there's all kinds of
00:18:19.66\00:18:20.56
things that he could have said,
00:18:20.66\00:18:21.40
and they would have been true.
00:18:21.50\00:18:22.36
You know, "God has blessed us.
00:18:22.46\00:18:23.80
How about our name?
00:18:23.90\00:18:24.63
You know, Seventh-day Adventist,
00:18:24.73\00:18:25.70
we proclaim the Sabbath
00:18:25.80\00:18:26.94
and His soon return."
00:18:27.04\00:18:28.84
Instead, at the top of his list,
00:18:28.94\00:18:30.67
the reporter asked,
00:18:30.77\00:18:31.61
outside of the church,
00:18:31.71\00:18:32.47
"How did you guys do it?"
00:18:32.57\00:18:33.68
"No settled pastors." Hmm.
00:18:33.78\00:18:36.38
"Our churches are taught
00:18:36.48\00:18:37.68
to take care of themselves,
00:18:37.78\00:18:39.28
while nearly all of
00:18:39.38\00:18:40.05
our ministers work
00:18:40.15\00:18:41.08
as evangelists in new fields.
00:18:41.18\00:18:43.02
In the winter,
00:18:43.12\00:18:43.92
they go out into the churches,
00:18:44.02\00:18:44.95
halls, or school house
00:18:45.05\00:18:46.02
and raise up believers.
00:18:46.12\00:18:47.49
In the summer we use tents,
00:18:47.59\00:18:48.76
pitching them in the cities
00:18:48.86\00:18:49.56
and villages where we teach
00:18:49.66\00:18:50.93
the people these doctrines.
00:18:51.03\00:18:52.19
This year we shall run
00:18:52.29\00:18:53.43
about 100 tents in this way."
00:18:53.53\00:18:56.60
Even as late as 1909,
00:18:56.70\00:18:58.20
notice this -- the Seventh-day
00:18:58.30\00:18:59.23
Baptist Sabbath Recorder --
00:18:59.33\00:19:00.80
that was their official
00:19:00.90\00:19:01.50
publication.
00:19:01.60\00:19:02.14
December 28, 1909.
00:19:02.24\00:19:03.84
It says...
00:19:03.94\00:19:04.97
Wow.
00:19:12.48\00:19:14.68
No settled pastors.
00:19:14.78\00:19:16.65
And notice carefully what these
00:19:16.75\00:19:18.22
not-settled pastors are doing.
00:19:18.32\00:19:20.46
They are preaching, teaching,
00:19:20.56\00:19:22.62
and organizing churches.
00:19:22.72\00:19:24.29
This points to
00:19:24.39\00:19:25.23
an absolutely pivotal role
00:19:25.33\00:19:28.16
that non-settled pastors took in
00:19:28.26\00:19:30.57
the early Adventist church.
00:19:30.67\00:19:31.60
That was church planting.
00:19:31.70\00:19:33.60
Church planting --
00:19:33.70\00:19:34.44
starting new churches
00:19:34.54\00:19:35.70
in new places with new people.
00:19:35.80\00:19:38.21
Now, we're going to talk more
00:19:38.31\00:19:39.37
about this at a later date.
00:19:39.47\00:19:40.38
So I'm just going to
00:19:40.48\00:19:41.11
kind of skim the tops
00:19:41.21\00:19:42.24
of the mountains here right now.
00:19:42.34\00:19:43.81
But I want you to understand
00:19:43.91\00:19:45.15
how closely connected this idea
00:19:45.25\00:19:48.15
of not having settled pastors
00:19:48.25\00:19:50.32
so that
00:19:50.42\00:19:51.82
what ministers you did employ
00:19:51.92\00:19:53.49
could be planting churches
00:19:53.59\00:19:54.72
in new places with new people.
00:19:54.82\00:19:56.36
This was absolutely integral.
00:19:56.46\00:19:58.39
The connection between
00:19:58.49\00:20:00.16
not having settled pastors
00:20:00.26\00:20:01.46
and church planting
00:20:01.56\00:20:02.50
cannot be emphasized enough.
00:20:02.60\00:20:04.73
I mean, just think about this
00:20:04.83\00:20:05.37
here.
00:20:05.47\00:20:06.20
This led
00:20:06.30\00:20:07.40
in the Adventist church --
00:20:07.50\00:20:08.34
This is not speculation.
00:20:08.44\00:20:09.30
This is history, okay?
00:20:09.40\00:20:10.71
It led to more churches
00:20:10.81\00:20:12.61
being started,
00:20:12.71\00:20:13.94
which led to -- going to be
00:20:14.04\00:20:14.94
very practical here --
00:20:15.04\00:20:15.88
more tithe coming in
00:20:15.98\00:20:17.95
to hire more church planters,
00:20:18.05\00:20:20.45
which led to more new members
00:20:20.55\00:20:22.05
being baptized who
00:20:22.15\00:20:23.25
could now assist in teaching
00:20:23.35\00:20:24.42
others locally for Christ.
00:20:24.52\00:20:26.35
And thus you can begin to see
00:20:26.45\00:20:27.69
how we experienced
00:20:27.79\00:20:28.96
exponential growth.
00:20:29.06\00:20:30.13
Do you understand what I'm
00:20:30.23\00:20:30.56
saying?
00:20:30.66\00:20:32.03
If you have one pastor
00:20:32.13\00:20:33.46
who only has one church,
00:20:33.56\00:20:35.30
then the growth will be limited
00:20:35.40\00:20:36.30
to the reapings
00:20:36.40\00:20:37.10
that take place there
00:20:37.20\00:20:37.77
in that community.
00:20:37.87\00:20:38.83
But if that pastor trains
00:20:38.93\00:20:40.27
that church so that he can go,
00:20:40.37\00:20:41.77
they carry on by themselves
00:20:41.87\00:20:43.07
now, he comes back every now
00:20:43.17\00:20:44.34
and then and visits them,
00:20:44.44\00:20:45.24
just like in the New Testament.
00:20:45.34\00:20:46.44
He now goes out and he plants
00:20:46.54\00:20:47.98
new churches, okay?
00:20:48.08\00:20:50.25
And now there's two churches.
00:20:50.35\00:20:51.41
And if he keeps going,
00:20:51.51\00:20:52.31
then there's going to be three,
00:20:52.41\00:20:52.85
and then there's
00:20:52.95\00:20:53.45
going to be four.
00:20:53.55\00:20:54.22
Can you see how we became,
00:20:54.32\00:20:56.02
in the first 60 to 70 years
00:20:56.12\00:20:57.22
of our existence,
00:20:57.32\00:20:58.22
the fastest growing
00:20:58.32\00:20:59.12
Protestant movement
00:20:59.22\00:21:00.26
that the world had ever seen?
00:21:00.36\00:21:03.39
Church planting is indispensable
00:21:03.49\00:21:05.16
in the New Testament.
00:21:05.26\00:21:06.09
If you take church planting
00:21:06.19\00:21:07.23
out of the New Testament,
00:21:07.30\00:21:07.96
there essentially is
00:21:08.06\00:21:08.80
no New Testament left,
00:21:08.90\00:21:10.53
because there would have been
00:21:10.63\00:21:11.00
no churches
00:21:11.10\00:21:11.67
to write the letters to.
00:21:11.77\00:21:13.67
All of those Christians
00:21:13.77\00:21:14.44
were put into
00:21:14.54\00:21:15.90
bodies of believers --
00:21:16.00\00:21:17.37
New Testament church planting.
00:21:17.47\00:21:18.87
Every church
00:21:18.97\00:21:19.71
that you've ever set foot
00:21:19.81\00:21:20.68
in at one time
00:21:20.78\00:21:21.48
was a planted church.
00:21:21.58\00:21:23.48
It's that crucial
00:21:23.58\00:21:24.91
to the movement continuing.
00:21:25.01\00:21:26.72
And I'm just going to tell
00:21:26.82\00:21:27.42
you a little secret here.
00:21:27.52\00:21:28.38
Unless we return in the West
00:21:28.48\00:21:30.19
to the seminal practice
00:21:30.29\00:21:31.55
of church planting,
00:21:31.65\00:21:32.72
the work will never be finished.
00:21:32.82\00:21:35.29
We don't plant
00:21:35.39\00:21:35.99
many churches anymore.
00:21:36.09\00:21:37.36
That must change.
00:21:37.46\00:21:39.23
And early Adventism did this
00:21:39.33\00:21:41.16
"no settled pastor" thing
00:21:41.26\00:21:42.40
precisely so that they could
00:21:42.50\00:21:43.70
plant more churches in
00:21:43.80\00:21:44.43
new areas.
00:21:44.53\00:21:45.30
Now, there were other benefits
00:21:45.40\00:21:47.80
of having no settled pastors,
00:21:47.90\00:21:49.74
because it helped them --
00:21:49.84\00:21:50.51
it helped the church
00:21:50.61\00:21:51.11
to avoid two
00:21:51.21\00:21:52.64
great evils -- spectatorship
00:21:52.74\00:21:55.34
and spiritual immaturity.
00:21:55.44\00:21:56.78
Spectatorship
00:21:56.88\00:21:57.91
and spiritual immaturity.
00:21:58.01\00:21:59.71
Let me share with you
00:21:59.81\00:22:00.58
just a few quotations
00:22:00.68\00:22:02.15
from Adventist history
00:22:02.25\00:22:03.02
in this regard.
00:22:03.12\00:22:04.65
Review and Herald,
00:22:04.75\00:22:05.22
May 7, 1889.
00:22:05.32\00:22:07.39
She says, "Do not depend on the
00:22:07.49\00:22:08.72
ministers to do all the work in
00:22:08.82\00:22:10.46
your church and neighborhood.
00:22:10.56\00:22:11.73
The pastors must seek
00:22:11.83\00:22:12.63
the lost sheep,
00:22:12.73\00:22:13.53
and you must help them,
00:22:13.63\00:22:14.83
and while the ministers
00:22:14.93\00:22:15.86
are called to labor --" where?
00:22:15.96\00:22:17.17
Where does it say?
00:22:17.27\00:22:18.90
"In other parts."
00:22:19.00\00:22:20.10
Okay, "in other parts
00:22:20.20\00:22:21.14
of the vineyard,
00:22:21.24\00:22:21.77
the people of God
00:22:21.87\00:22:22.77
must have light in themselves."
00:22:22.87\00:22:24.77
So let's wrap this up here.
00:22:24.87\00:22:27.28
The church-planting pastor is
00:22:27.38\00:22:28.51
to go to other portions
00:22:28.61\00:22:29.44
of the Lord's vineyard.
00:22:29.54\00:22:30.85
There's still a connection back
00:22:30.95\00:22:31.68
with the church
00:22:31.78\00:22:32.25
that they planted,
00:22:32.35\00:22:33.18
but most of their time
00:22:33.28\00:22:34.12
is spent out in the new places
00:22:34.22\00:22:35.58
trying to reach new people.
00:22:35.68\00:22:36.95
And while he is gone
00:22:37.05\00:22:38.02
planting, in those days,
00:22:38.12\00:22:39.19
sorry, ladies, it was all he.
00:22:39.29\00:22:39.99
We'll get to she
00:22:40.09\00:22:40.56
in just a moment.
00:22:40.66\00:22:41.69
All hes back then.
00:22:41.79\00:22:42.62
While he was out planting,
00:22:42.72\00:22:44.56
back home,
00:22:44.66\00:22:45.53
the members were to have
00:22:45.63\00:22:46.43
"light in themselves."
00:22:46.53\00:22:47.86
Well, we know from the Bible,
00:22:47.96\00:22:49.16
you know, hide it under a
00:22:49.26\00:22:49.76
bushel, no, right?
00:22:49.86\00:22:51.27
This means they had ministry
00:22:51.37\00:22:52.50
inside the church
00:22:52.60\00:22:53.60
and outside of the church
00:22:53.70\00:22:55.70
without a settled pastor.
00:22:55.80\00:22:58.71
Notice this.
00:22:58.81\00:23:00.51
"Testimonies for the Church,
00:23:00.61\00:23:01.61
volume seven, page 18,
00:23:01.71\00:23:03.14
"God has not given
00:23:03.24\00:23:04.11
his ministers the work
00:23:04.21\00:23:05.31
of setting the churches right.
00:23:05.41\00:23:07.12
No sooner is this work done,
00:23:07.22\00:23:08.45
apparently, than it has to
00:23:08.55\00:23:09.38
be done over again.
00:23:09.48\00:23:10.79
Church members
00:23:10.89\00:23:11.65
that are thus looked after
00:23:11.75\00:23:13.09
and labored for become --" what
00:23:13.19\00:23:14.49
are those last two words?
00:23:14.59\00:23:17.49
Wow, that's offensive, isn't it?
00:23:17.59\00:23:18.56
Yeah.
00:23:18.66\00:23:19.93
If the prophets are paid
00:23:20.03\00:23:20.80
to step on our toes,
00:23:20.90\00:23:22.63
you know, five stars, right?
00:23:22.73\00:23:23.73
Okay. Why would that be?
00:23:23.83\00:23:25.60
Why would members
00:23:25.70\00:23:27.07
thus labored after become
00:23:27.17\00:23:28.14
religious weaklings?
00:23:28.24\00:23:28.70
How come?
00:23:28.80\00:23:33.98
Because God has given
00:23:34.08\00:23:36.41
every member spiritual muscle.
00:23:36.51\00:23:38.88
If you don't use it,
00:23:38.98\00:23:40.08
you lose it.
00:23:40.18\00:23:42.08
Exactly.
00:23:42.18\00:23:43.69
If the minister is doing for you
00:23:43.79\00:23:45.45
what you ought to be doing
00:23:45.55\00:23:46.65
for yourself with Jesus Christ,
00:23:46.76\00:23:48.39
you become weaker, not stronger.
00:23:48.49\00:23:51.09
Now, here's the thing.
00:23:51.19\00:23:52.03
Do you understand how opposite
00:23:52.13\00:23:53.56
this is from how we do church
00:23:53.66\00:23:54.73
in the West in Adventism?
00:23:54.83\00:23:57.17
When we look at a church,
00:23:57.27\00:23:58.67
if the church doesn't have
00:23:58.77\00:24:00.04
a pastor,
00:24:00.14\00:24:00.84
we think it's going to be weak.
00:24:00.94\00:24:01.80
Oh, if you're going to make
00:24:01.90\00:24:02.60
that church strong, you need to
00:24:02.70\00:24:03.44
send in a good pastor, right?
00:24:03.54\00:24:04.84
That's how we think in the West.
00:24:04.94\00:24:05.71
And she says
00:24:05.81\00:24:06.37
exactly the opposite.
00:24:06.47\00:24:07.44
No, if you send in a settled
00:24:07.54\00:24:08.88
pastor, it will turn them into
00:24:08.98\00:24:09.71
religious weaklings.
00:24:09.81\00:24:12.25
She continues...
00:24:12.35\00:24:13.25
Now, pause here
00:24:31.47\00:24:32.13
for just a moment.
00:24:32.23\00:24:34.97
The greatest blessing of all,
00:24:35.07\00:24:36.44
and the spirit of prophecy
00:24:36.54\00:24:37.37
addresses this many times --
00:24:37.47\00:24:39.21
The greatest blessing of all
00:24:39.31\00:24:40.48
is the final one, the outpouring
00:24:40.58\00:24:41.74
of the latter rain
00:24:41.84\00:24:42.44
of the Holy Spirit.
00:24:42.54\00:24:43.04
We've talked about
00:24:43.14\00:24:43.68
this many times here.
00:24:43.78\00:24:44.85
The Bible talks about
00:24:44.95\00:24:45.91
this, Revelation chapter 18,
00:24:46.01\00:24:47.25
this blessing that lights up the
00:24:47.35\00:24:48.08
whole planet, right?
00:24:48.18\00:24:49.32
And the reason
00:24:49.42\00:24:50.05
why this blessing is
00:24:50.15\00:24:51.02
so important is
00:24:51.12\00:24:52.02
because if we get this blessing,
00:24:52.12\00:24:53.76
all other blessings
00:24:53.86\00:24:54.82
come in its train.
00:24:54.92\00:24:56.32
You get this one right,
00:24:56.42\00:24:57.23
all the rest are going to fall
00:24:57.33\00:24:58.16
into place, to be filled
00:24:58.26\00:24:59.33
with the Holy Spirit of God
00:24:59.43\00:25:00.46
in the former
00:25:00.56\00:25:01.06
and the latter rains.
00:25:01.16\00:25:02.60
And yet she says here --
00:25:02.70\00:25:03.63
she says here,
00:25:03.73\00:25:04.90
one of the reasons
00:25:05.00\00:25:05.80
why even this great
00:25:05.90\00:25:07.07
blessing has not come,
00:25:07.17\00:25:08.97
I'm just going to be blunt,
00:25:09.07\00:25:09.74
ladies and gentlemen,
00:25:09.84\00:25:10.41
is because we depend
00:25:10.51\00:25:11.57
in the West on settled pastors.
00:25:11.67\00:25:15.18
We let other people do for us
00:25:15.28\00:25:16.58
what we ought to be doing
00:25:16.68\00:25:17.55
for ourselves with Jesus.
00:25:17.65\00:25:19.75
And she says
00:25:19.85\00:25:20.45
the blessings won't come.
00:25:20.55\00:25:21.32
God withholds them.
00:25:21.42\00:25:22.25
Why would He pour
00:25:22.35\00:25:23.18
out great power
00:25:23.28\00:25:24.12
on a broken machine?
00:25:24.22\00:25:27.22
It has to be in good shape
00:25:27.32\00:25:28.52
to handle that kind of power.
00:25:28.62\00:25:31.76
Now, sometimes today,
00:25:31.86\00:25:35.43
and sometimes even back
00:25:35.53\00:25:36.40
in those days,
00:25:36.50\00:25:38.00
a church plant would not thrive.
00:25:38.10\00:25:41.10
Most of them did.
00:25:41.20\00:25:41.94
Our church planters
00:25:42.04\00:25:42.67
did a good job.
00:25:42.77\00:25:43.77
That's how we grew
00:25:43.87\00:25:44.77
all over the world, right?
00:25:44.87\00:25:45.81
But not every plant survived.
00:25:45.91\00:25:47.24
Some of them got very sick.
00:25:47.34\00:25:47.84
Some of them
00:25:47.94\00:25:48.54
were on the edge of death.
00:25:48.64\00:25:50.05
And some people in the 1800s
00:25:50.15\00:25:52.31
said to Adventist church
00:25:52.41\00:25:53.52
leaders, "Hey, you need to
00:25:53.62\00:25:54.45
settle a pastor in that church,
00:25:54.55\00:25:55.78
'cause it's dying.
00:25:55.88\00:25:57.02
It needs a pastor
00:25:57.12\00:25:58.09
to prop it up."
00:25:58.19\00:25:59.22
Fascinating
00:25:59.32\00:26:00.26
response from Ellen White.
00:26:00.36\00:26:01.52
"Evangelism," page 381.
00:26:01.62\00:26:03.86
She says, "The churches are
00:26:03.96\00:26:04.79
dying," referring to
00:26:04.89\00:26:05.89
this handful that were,
00:26:05.99\00:26:07.30
"and they want a minister
00:26:07.40\00:26:08.60
to preach to them.
00:26:08.70\00:26:10.63
They should be taught,"
00:26:10.73\00:26:11.60
and probably should put
00:26:11.70\00:26:12.47
the word "instead" in here,
00:26:12.57\00:26:13.40
'cause that's certainly
00:26:13.50\00:26:13.87
the context.
00:26:13.97\00:26:14.57
"They should be taught instead
00:26:14.67\00:26:16.04
to bring a faithful tithe to God
00:26:16.14\00:26:18.74
that He may strengthen
00:26:18.84\00:26:19.77
and bless them.
00:26:19.87\00:26:21.28
They should be brought
00:26:21.38\00:26:22.18
into working order
00:26:22.28\00:26:23.68
that the breath of God
00:26:23.78\00:26:25.05
may come into them."
00:26:25.15\00:26:26.21
What's the breath of God?
00:26:26.31\00:26:28.48
The Holy Spirit. Exactly.
00:26:28.58\00:26:29.72
Once again, we have this
00:26:29.82\00:26:30.82
connection between settled
00:26:30.92\00:26:31.99
pastors and lay ministry
00:26:32.09\00:26:33.12
and the blessing
00:26:33.22\00:26:34.96
of the Holy Spirit.
00:26:35.06\00:26:36.12
You're going to see this again
00:26:36.22\00:26:37.16
before we finish here today.
00:26:37.26\00:26:39.49
"They should be taught that
00:26:39.59\00:26:41.10
unless they can stand alone,
00:26:41.20\00:26:43.53
without a minister,
00:26:43.63\00:26:45.17
they need to be converted anew
00:26:45.27\00:26:46.57
and baptized anew.
00:26:46.67\00:26:47.87
They need to be born again."
00:26:47.97\00:26:52.91
Now, I'm going to ask
00:26:53.01\00:26:53.74
a question of you, and this is
00:26:53.84\00:26:54.71
not a rhetorical question.
00:26:54.81\00:26:55.74
You don't have to answer
00:26:55.84\00:26:56.38
it out loud here.
00:26:56.48\00:26:57.01
But I'm telling you,
00:26:57.11\00:26:57.75
this is a genuine question,
00:26:57.85\00:26:58.75
and it has a right answer.
00:26:58.85\00:27:00.28
Okay?
00:27:00.38\00:27:02.05
Question is this -- Is she
00:27:02.15\00:27:03.69
saying that if an established
00:27:03.79\00:27:06.22
church with established
00:27:06.32\00:27:08.32
Christians requires a settled
00:27:08.42\00:27:11.49
pastor that that is a salvation
00:27:11.59\00:27:13.43
issue?
00:27:13.53\00:27:14.23
Is that what she's saying here?
00:27:14.36\00:27:15.73
Absolutely, yes.
00:27:22.60\00:27:26.44
That is exactly
00:27:26.54\00:27:27.84
what she is saying.
00:27:27.94\00:27:30.01
Because how else
00:27:30.11\00:27:30.98
do you interpret,
00:27:31.08\00:27:31.88
"Unless they can stand alone
00:27:31.98\00:27:32.75
without a minister,
00:27:32.85\00:27:33.58
they need to be converted anew"?
00:27:33.68\00:27:34.65
Well, that sounds like you're
00:27:34.75\00:27:35.18
lost without.
00:27:35.28\00:27:35.92
"And baptized anew."
00:27:36.02\00:27:36.82
Well, that's lost without.
00:27:36.92\00:27:37.85
"They need to be born again."
00:27:37.95\00:27:39.95
Absolutely, she is saying that.
00:27:40.06\00:27:41.86
Some people have thought wrongly
00:27:41.96\00:27:44.36
that when I talk about
00:27:44.46\00:27:45.16
this topic
00:27:45.26\00:27:46.70
that it's kind of this minor
00:27:46.80\00:27:47.83
bureaucratic point,
00:27:47.93\00:27:49.93
how we staff our churches.
00:27:50.03\00:27:51.77
Ladies and gentlemen,
00:27:51.87\00:27:52.77
this is a matter of salvation.
00:27:52.87\00:27:55.64
If you depend
00:27:55.74\00:27:56.81
upon a human being instead of
00:27:56.91\00:27:58.41
Jesus Christ, you will be lost.
00:27:58.51\00:28:01.41
That's a fact.
00:28:01.51\00:28:02.44
That's kind of the basic
00:28:02.54\00:28:03.24
biblical fact of
00:28:03.35\00:28:04.28
the New Testament, is it not?
00:28:04.38\00:28:06.05
That's what she is saying here.
00:28:06.15\00:28:07.15
She says, "Listen, if a church
00:28:07.25\00:28:08.68
that's been established
00:28:08.78\00:28:09.62
and there's a measure
00:28:09.72\00:28:10.45
of maturity in this group
00:28:10.55\00:28:11.49
and you still have to have
00:28:11.59\00:28:12.32
a settled pastor,
00:28:12.42\00:28:13.69
well, obviously it didn't
00:28:13.79\00:28:14.59
take the first time.
00:28:14.69\00:28:15.52
Fill the baptistery.
00:28:15.62\00:28:16.29
Dunk them again."
00:28:16.39\00:28:18.79
Because Jesus is clearly not the
00:28:18.89\00:28:20.13
head of this particular church
00:28:20.23\00:28:21.36
that she's talking about.
00:28:21.46\00:28:22.70
A human being is.
00:28:22.80\00:28:26.27
People who say Ellen White is
00:28:26.37\00:28:27.14
boring haven't read her
00:28:27.24\00:28:27.67
very much.
00:28:27.77\00:28:29.00
Perhaps one of
00:28:33.31\00:28:34.18
the most striking quotations
00:28:34.28\00:28:35.11
from Adventist history
00:28:35.21\00:28:36.11
in this regard of settled
00:28:36.21\00:28:37.25
pastors does indeed come from
00:28:37.35\00:28:38.98
the pen of Ellen White.
00:28:39.08\00:28:39.68
She wrote an article
00:28:39.78\00:28:41.02
in Signs of the Times
00:28:41.12\00:28:42.52
called "The Most
00:28:42.62\00:28:43.42
Effective Agent for God."
00:28:43.52\00:28:44.72
Signs of the Times,
00:28:44.82\00:28:45.35
January 27, 1890.
00:28:45.45\00:28:47.96
She says, "The success of a
00:28:48.06\00:28:49.02
church does not depend on the
00:28:49.12\00:28:50.16
efforts and labor
00:28:50.26\00:28:51.19
of the living preacher,
00:28:51.29\00:28:52.79
but it depends upon the piety
00:28:52.89\00:28:54.20
of the individual members."
00:28:54.30\00:28:55.36
Time-out again.
00:28:55.46\00:28:57.70
That's almost insulting
00:28:57.80\00:28:58.70
for settled pastors, isn't it?
00:28:58.80\00:29:00.60
"What do you mean
00:29:00.70\00:29:01.27
it doesn't depend on me?
00:29:01.37\00:29:02.64
This is my ball game, right?
00:29:02.74\00:29:04.44
It's supposed to be my thing.
00:29:04.54\00:29:05.27
I'm leading the charge.
00:29:05.37\00:29:06.54
All the success depends on me."
00:29:06.64\00:29:08.08
she says, no, it doesn't depend
00:29:08.18\00:29:08.88
upon the minister.
00:29:08.98\00:29:09.54
It depends on all of us.
00:29:09.64\00:29:11.28
All of us, our individual piety,
00:29:11.38\00:29:12.55
meaning our individual
00:29:12.65\00:29:13.82
commitment to Christ.
00:29:13.92\00:29:14.92
That's what makes the success
00:29:15.02\00:29:16.08
of a church or its failure.
00:29:16.18\00:29:17.99
She continues on,
00:29:18.09\00:29:19.05
"When the members depend
00:29:19.15\00:29:20.09
upon the minister
00:29:20.19\00:29:20.99
as their source of power and
00:29:21.09\00:29:21.86
efficiency,
00:29:21.96\00:29:23.02
they will be utterly powerless.
00:29:23.12\00:29:24.79
They will imbibe his impulses
00:29:24.89\00:29:26.03
and be stimulated by his ideas,
00:29:26.13\00:29:27.60
but when he leaves them,"
00:29:27.66\00:29:28.53
and in the Adventist system,
00:29:28.63\00:29:29.56
he always leaves,
00:29:29.66\00:29:31.30
"but when he leaves them,
00:29:31.40\00:29:32.17
they will find themselves in a
00:29:32.27\00:29:33.37
more hopeless condition than
00:29:33.47\00:29:34.60
before they had his labors."
00:29:34.70\00:29:36.40
And then comes what I think
00:29:36.50\00:29:37.64
is one of the most stunning
00:29:37.74\00:29:38.71
quotations in all of the spirit
00:29:38.81\00:29:40.11
of prophecy in our particular
00:29:40.21\00:29:42.24
context right now today.
00:29:42.34\00:29:43.95
She says, "I hope that none of
00:29:44.05\00:29:46.38
the churches in our land will
00:29:46.48\00:29:48.12
depend upon a minister for
00:29:48.22\00:29:49.65
support in spiritual things,
00:29:49.75\00:29:51.35
for this is dangerous."
00:29:51.45\00:29:56.39
I mean, do you understand
00:29:56.49\00:29:59.09
how opposite this is from
00:29:59.19\00:30:00.40
how we do church in the West?
00:30:00.50\00:30:02.83
Listen, no offense to anyone
00:30:02.93\00:30:04.63
who was my instructor
00:30:04.73\00:30:05.83
in the past, alright?
00:30:05.93\00:30:06.87
I've had some very good
00:30:06.97\00:30:07.80
instructors for ministry,
00:30:07.90\00:30:09.07
et cetera, over the years,
00:30:09.17\00:30:10.14
many years of training.
00:30:10.24\00:30:13.01
This is what they
00:30:13.11\00:30:13.88
trained me to do.
00:30:13.98\00:30:15.14
I was trained, almost
00:30:15.24\00:30:16.78
without exception --
00:30:16.88\00:30:17.51
there were some exceptions,
00:30:17.61\00:30:18.31
but generally I was trained
00:30:18.41\00:30:19.48
and all of my colleagues
00:30:19.58\00:30:20.28
were trained
00:30:20.38\00:30:21.62
so that people could depend
00:30:21.72\00:30:22.68
upon us for support
00:30:22.78\00:30:23.65
in spiritual things.
00:30:23.75\00:30:26.15
That's what we were called for.
00:30:26.25\00:30:27.42
That's what we thought.
00:30:27.52\00:30:28.49
That's what we were supposed
00:30:28.59\00:30:29.19
to be doing.
00:30:29.29\00:30:29.96
And here she says
00:30:30.06\00:30:30.76
exactly the opposite.
00:30:30.86\00:30:32.13
"I hope that none of the
00:30:32.23\00:30:33.33
churches in our land will depend
00:30:33.43\00:30:34.46
upon a minister for support
00:30:34.56\00:30:35.50
in spiritual things,
00:30:35.60\00:30:36.56
for this is dangerous.
00:30:36.67\00:30:37.97
When God gives you light,
00:30:38.07\00:30:39.37
you should praise Him for it.
00:30:39.47\00:30:40.90
If you extol the messenger,
00:30:41.00\00:30:42.17
you will be left
00:30:42.27\00:30:43.00
to barrenness of soul."
00:30:43.10\00:30:45.81
And just when you thought
00:30:45.91\00:30:46.47
she was going to slack
00:30:46.57\00:30:47.74
off a little bit,
00:30:47.84\00:30:48.54
she kicks it into high gear.
00:30:48.64\00:30:49.78
This is 180 degrees out from
00:31:07.23\00:31:09.10
how we do things in the West.
00:31:09.20\00:31:10.70
I mean, if a pastor is going to
00:31:10.80\00:31:11.67
be placed,
00:31:11.77\00:31:12.33
isn't this what we do?
00:31:12.43\00:31:13.47
I mean, we have interviews.
00:31:13.57\00:31:15.10
"Well, do you like him?
00:31:15.20\00:31:15.67
Do you like her?
00:31:15.77\00:31:16.60
You know, are they going
00:31:16.71\00:31:17.54
to be a good fit?
00:31:17.64\00:31:18.14
Well, I don't know.
00:31:18.24\00:31:18.84
Maybe they might not be.
00:31:18.94\00:31:19.57
Yeah, they're the one."
00:31:19.67\00:31:21.68
And she says, as soon
00:31:21.78\00:31:22.38
as that happens,
00:31:22.48\00:31:23.98
that person needs to be removed.
00:31:24.08\00:31:24.98
Send him back out to plant
00:31:25.08\00:31:25.98
more churches someplace else.
00:31:26.08\00:31:27.78
Because this particular church
00:31:27.88\00:31:28.88
needs to have exercise.
00:31:28.98\00:31:32.75
They need to grow.
00:31:32.85\00:31:34.16
They need to use what
00:31:34.26\00:31:35.16
they already have without
00:31:35.26\00:31:37.76
a settled pastor.
00:31:37.86\00:31:41.50
"Let the people go to work,"
00:31:41.60\00:31:42.53
she says.
00:31:42.63\00:31:43.70
"Let them thank God
00:31:43.80\00:31:44.73
for the encouragement they have
00:31:44.83\00:31:45.53
received and then make
00:31:45.63\00:31:46.40
it manifest that it has wrought
00:31:46.50\00:31:47.44
in them a good work.
00:31:47.54\00:31:48.74
Let each member of the church
00:31:48.84\00:31:50.51
be a living,
00:31:50.61\00:31:51.44
active agent for God,
00:31:51.54\00:31:52.94
both in the church
00:31:53.04\00:31:53.71
and out of it.
00:31:53.81\00:31:54.81
We must all be educated
00:31:54.91\00:31:55.91
to be independent,
00:31:56.01\00:31:56.88
not helpless and useless.
00:31:56.98\00:31:58.91
Let it be seen that Christ,
00:31:59.01\00:32:00.12
not the minister,
00:32:00.22\00:32:01.25
is the head of the church.
00:32:01.35\00:32:02.82
The members of the body of
00:32:02.92\00:32:03.92
Christ have a part to act,
00:32:04.02\00:32:05.25
and they will not be accounted
00:32:05.35\00:32:06.39
faithful unless they do
00:32:06.49\00:32:07.59
act their part.
00:32:07.69\00:32:09.26
Let a divine work be wrought
00:32:09.36\00:32:10.63
in every soul until,"
00:32:10.73\00:32:12.36
and notice this phrase,
00:32:12.46\00:32:13.53
"until Christ shall behold
00:32:13.63\00:32:15.10
his image reflected
00:32:15.20\00:32:16.30
in his followers."
00:32:16.40\00:32:18.27
I'm going to dive deep here
00:32:18.37\00:32:19.00
for just a moment.
00:32:19.10\00:32:20.04
Those of you that have spent a
00:32:20.14\00:32:21.00
lot of time in the spirit of
00:32:21.10\00:32:22.20
prophecy, that last phrase
00:32:22.30\00:32:23.47
should be familiar to you.
00:32:23.57\00:32:24.51
Christ beholding His image
00:32:24.61\00:32:26.41
reflected in His followers.
00:32:26.51\00:32:27.68
Tell me,
00:32:27.78\00:32:28.54
how is that usually applied?
00:32:28.64\00:32:29.98
What does it usually mean
00:32:30.08\00:32:31.71
when this quotation comes up
00:32:31.81\00:32:33.01
that Christ will see
00:32:33.11\00:32:33.88
His image reflected
00:32:33.98\00:32:34.85
in His followers?
00:32:34.95\00:32:35.68
How will He see that reflected?
00:32:35.78\00:32:39.49
Okay, I heard it -- character,
00:32:39.59\00:32:41.29
in the character of His people.
00:32:41.39\00:32:42.89
That's how this phrase
00:32:42.99\00:32:43.73
is usually used here.
00:32:43.83\00:32:44.76
And that's not a bad --
00:32:44.86\00:32:45.73
That's not a bad thing at all.
00:32:45.83\00:32:47.00
Christ wants to see us grow and
00:32:47.10\00:32:48.33
become more and more like Him.
00:32:48.43\00:32:49.20
Absolutely.
00:32:49.30\00:32:51.07
But that's not how she uses it
00:32:51.17\00:32:52.10
here.
00:32:52.20\00:32:53.64
She is saying very specifically
00:32:53.74\00:32:55.77
that if Christ is going to see
00:32:55.87\00:32:57.17
His image reflected
00:32:57.27\00:32:58.24
in His people,
00:32:58.34\00:32:59.17
they cannot depend
00:32:59.27\00:33:00.18
upon settled pastors.
00:33:00.28\00:33:01.54
That's what she is saying here.
00:33:01.64\00:33:03.88
Again, this is not a small deal.
00:33:03.98\00:33:05.21
This is a huge deal that goes to
00:33:05.31\00:33:08.32
the very root of our faith.
00:33:08.42\00:33:09.75
"Testimonies for the Church,"
00:33:14.76\00:33:15.42
volume 7, page 191...
00:33:15.52\00:33:16.86
A final quote for you,
00:33:27.30\00:33:29.07
and to me,
00:33:29.17\00:33:29.77
it is one of the most
00:33:29.87\00:33:30.74
telling quotations
00:33:30.84\00:33:31.84
from Adventist history.
00:33:31.94\00:33:33.07
And interestingly enough,
00:33:33.17\00:33:33.98
it's not from Ellen White.
00:33:34.08\00:33:35.91
It is instead from a man
00:33:36.01\00:33:37.45
by the name of A.G. Daniells.
00:33:37.55\00:33:39.15
This is from March of 1912
00:33:39.25\00:33:41.02
in Los Angeles.
00:33:41.12\00:33:42.42
There was a ministerial
00:33:42.52\00:33:43.52
institute, and if you don't know
00:33:43.62\00:33:44.75
what those are, ministerial
00:33:44.85\00:33:45.75
institutes in those days
00:33:45.85\00:33:46.79
were basically training seminars
00:33:46.89\00:33:48.72
for church planters.
00:33:48.82\00:33:50.33
Workers would gather
00:33:50.43\00:33:51.36
together in certain areas,
00:33:51.46\00:33:52.39
and they would learn new skills
00:33:52.49\00:33:53.43
or report about how things were
00:33:53.53\00:33:54.36
going out in the field,
00:33:54.46\00:33:55.10
et cetera, et cetera.
00:33:55.20\00:33:55.96
A.G. Daniells is the
00:33:56.06\00:33:57.27
General Conference
00:33:57.37\00:33:58.03
president at this time.
00:33:58.13\00:33:59.43
And so he's addressing
00:33:59.53\00:34:00.60
this institute there,
00:34:00.70\00:34:01.84
training session in Los Angeles.
00:34:01.94\00:34:04.01
To my knowledge, A.G. Daniells
00:34:04.11\00:34:06.07
never claimed to be a prophet,
00:34:06.17\00:34:09.18
but at least for one moment,
00:34:09.28\00:34:11.81
he prophesied very accurately.
00:34:11.91\00:34:15.52
Here's what he said...
00:34:15.62\00:34:16.85
That was 1912.
00:35:05.80\00:35:07.24
My words now.
00:35:07.34\00:35:09.14
In 1915, Ellen White died.
00:35:09.24\00:35:11.61
In 1920, A.G. Daniells was voted
00:35:11.71\00:35:13.51
out of office,
00:35:13.61\00:35:15.11
and the two loudest opponents
00:35:15.21\00:35:17.31
of settled pastors
00:35:17.41\00:35:18.58
were now silenced.
00:35:18.68\00:35:20.05
What do we do with this?
00:36:07.96\00:36:11.77
I mean, that's the question,
00:36:11.87\00:36:12.37
isn't it, right?
00:36:12.47\00:36:15.34
It's not a small question
00:36:15.44\00:36:16.94
at all.
00:36:17.04\00:36:18.71
What should we, Adventists
00:36:18.81\00:36:20.28
in the West,
00:36:20.38\00:36:21.44
do with this information?
00:36:21.54\00:36:24.55
I mean, think about it.
00:36:24.65\00:36:25.31
The dominant way of doing
00:36:25.41\00:36:26.61
church, the great portion of
00:36:26.72\00:36:27.85
how we spend our tithes and
00:36:27.95\00:36:29.28
offerings are steeped in a
00:36:29.38\00:36:30.42
structure that Scripture
00:36:30.52\00:36:32.09
implicitly condemns and that
00:36:32.19\00:36:33.86
the spirit of prophecy
00:36:33.96\00:36:34.96
explicitly and emphatically
00:36:35.06\00:36:36.42
and repeatedly condemns.
00:36:36.52\00:36:39.29
So what are we supposed to do?
00:36:39.39\00:36:44.73
Well, after wrestling
00:36:44.83\00:36:47.60
with this very question
00:36:47.70\00:36:48.60
for the last 25 years or so,
00:36:48.70\00:36:50.97
I believe the answer
00:36:51.07\00:36:52.17
to that question is very clear.
00:36:52.27\00:36:53.54
What should we do
00:36:53.64\00:36:54.38
about all of this?
00:36:54.48\00:36:57.88
The best we can.
00:36:57.98\00:37:01.45
The best we can.
00:37:01.55\00:37:05.35
Now, some of you
00:37:05.45\00:37:05.92
are disappointed
00:37:06.02\00:37:06.59
You expected a little
00:37:06.69\00:37:07.62
more thunder to that response.
00:37:07.72\00:37:08.42
Okay.
00:37:08.52\00:37:09.89
I'm not trying
00:37:09.99\00:37:11.06
to be coy or clever here.
00:37:11.16\00:37:12.69
I'm going to give you
00:37:12.79\00:37:13.33
some more details here
00:37:13.43\00:37:14.00
in just a moment.
00:37:14.10\00:37:14.73
The reason why I say this,
00:37:14.83\00:37:16.06
we need to do the best we can,
00:37:16.16\00:37:17.60
is because, you know, this is
00:37:17.70\00:37:18.73
not my first rodeo.
00:37:18.83\00:37:19.77
Having done this type
00:37:19.87\00:37:21.04
of presentation before
00:37:21.14\00:37:22.24
in many places, many times,
00:37:22.34\00:37:24.87
oftentimes when people see this
00:37:24.97\00:37:26.94
and they see the weight of
00:37:27.04\00:37:29.01
how far we have gotten from
00:37:29.11\00:37:30.81
where we need to be,
00:37:30.91\00:37:32.68
they look at it and say,
00:37:32.78\00:37:33.85
"Oh, it's impossible.
00:37:33.95\00:37:34.65
There's no way.
00:37:34.75\00:37:35.48
We're too far gone."
00:37:35.58\00:37:36.65
And they sit back and relax
00:37:36.75\00:37:37.69
and want to coast all the way to
00:37:37.79\00:37:38.59
the Second Coming, okay?
00:37:38.69\00:37:41.02
I want to suggest to you that's
00:37:41.12\00:37:42.06
not a God-honoring response.
00:37:42.16\00:37:45.06
If it's the right thing to do,
00:37:45.16\00:37:46.13
we ought to do it and do it
00:37:46.23\00:37:48.16
to the best of our ability.
00:37:48.26\00:37:49.76
We may not know how to
00:37:49.86\00:37:51.13
accomplish all of these things.
00:37:51.23\00:37:52.13
We may not know how exactly
00:37:52.23\00:37:53.47
everything is going to end up.
00:37:53.57\00:37:54.70
But we know what God has called
00:37:54.80\00:37:56.47
us to, and we need to do
00:37:56.57\00:37:58.77
the best that we can.
00:37:58.87\00:38:00.18
We may not always be
00:38:00.28\00:38:01.44
able to return to the ideal
00:38:01.54\00:38:02.71
in every single portion
00:38:02.81\00:38:03.78
of the world, but that we try,
00:38:03.88\00:38:05.28
that, to me,
00:38:05.38\00:38:05.91
seems non-negotiable.
00:38:06.01\00:38:08.28
And furthermore,
00:38:08.38\00:38:09.32
just because something is
00:38:09.42\00:38:10.29
difficult or seemingly
00:38:10.39\00:38:11.39
impossible doesn't mean
00:38:11.49\00:38:12.32
that Christians don't do it.
00:38:12.42\00:38:13.19
In fact,
00:38:13.29\00:38:14.32
Jesus put it something like this
00:38:14.42\00:38:15.49
in Matthew 19:26.
00:38:15.59\00:38:17.13
Absolutely.
00:38:23.47\00:38:24.60
If it's the right thing to do,
00:38:24.70\00:38:26.23
we are to do it to the best
00:38:26.33\00:38:27.44
of our ability,
00:38:27.54\00:38:28.20
and God will provide.
00:38:28.30\00:38:30.91
And just in case
00:38:31.01\00:38:31.91
you're missing the intensity
00:38:32.01\00:38:32.94
here, the facts are
00:38:33.04\00:38:34.58
that we in the West
00:38:34.68\00:38:35.94
must do something
00:38:36.04\00:38:38.98
before something is done to us.
00:38:39.08\00:38:41.62
Let me tell you
00:38:41.72\00:38:42.25
what I mean by that.
00:38:42.35\00:38:43.35
We in the West
00:38:43.45\00:38:44.12
must do something
00:38:44.22\00:38:45.32
because of the sheer fact
00:38:45.42\00:38:46.52
that the number of those
00:38:46.62\00:38:47.66
that are being physically born
00:38:47.76\00:38:49.46
are far more than those that are
00:38:49.56\00:38:50.83
being born again through
00:38:50.93\00:38:51.86
the Adventist church's ministry.
00:38:51.96\00:38:53.73
We are not keeping up
00:38:53.83\00:38:54.76
with the population by far.
00:38:54.86\00:38:57.33
We are losing precious ground
00:38:57.43\00:38:58.57
and precious time
00:38:58.67\00:38:59.67
every single day.
00:38:59.77\00:39:00.97
The devil is eating our lunch
00:39:01.07\00:39:02.54
on a daily basis.
00:39:02.64\00:39:04.11
If someone says to you,
00:39:04.21\00:39:05.24
"Hey, did you hear about
00:39:05.34\00:39:05.84
the 100,000 people
00:39:05.94\00:39:06.98
that were baptized last week?"
00:39:07.08\00:39:07.91
You tell me,
00:39:08.01\00:39:08.71
do you think it happened
00:39:08.81\00:39:09.54
in Los Angeles or Africa?
00:39:09.64\00:39:12.21
Yeah, you don't even have to
00:39:12.31\00:39:13.01
read the article, do you?
00:39:13.11\00:39:14.25
You know where that happened.
00:39:14.35\00:39:14.78
It wasn't L.A.
00:39:14.88\00:39:16.35
If someone says to you, "Hey,
00:39:16.45\00:39:17.42
did you hear about the 300,000
00:39:17.52\00:39:18.59
people baptized last year?"
00:39:18.69\00:39:19.95
which, by the way, did happen,
00:39:20.06\00:39:21.52
do you think it happened
00:39:21.62\00:39:22.19
in Chicago
00:39:22.29\00:39:23.09
or in Papua New Guinea?
00:39:23.19\00:39:25.23
Yeah, PNG for sure.
00:39:25.33\00:39:26.73
We didn't even question about
00:39:26.83\00:39:27.23
it, right?
00:39:27.36\00:39:28.53
And one of the major reasons
00:39:28.63\00:39:30.23
they get those kinds of numbers
00:39:30.33\00:39:31.83
and we in the West don't is
00:39:31.93\00:39:33.13
because we don't do
00:39:33.23\00:39:34.10
what they do, including
00:39:34.20\00:39:36.77
regarding how we structure
00:39:36.87\00:39:38.07
ministry in our churches.
00:39:38.17\00:39:39.84
So I believe the days
00:39:39.94\00:39:42.51
of the settled-pastor paradigm
00:39:42.61\00:39:44.28
are numbered in the West.
00:39:44.38\00:39:46.75
The money is
00:39:46.85\00:39:47.72
not going to last forever.
00:39:47.82\00:39:50.15
Settled pastors
00:39:50.25\00:39:51.02
are very expensive.
00:39:51.12\00:39:53.09
If you have one pastor
00:39:53.19\00:39:54.09
over 10 churches
00:39:54.19\00:39:55.76
versus one pastor over one
00:39:55.86\00:39:58.13
and then nine more over every
00:39:58.23\00:39:59.43
of those other nine churches,
00:39:59.53\00:40:00.23
I mean, you tell me.
00:40:00.33\00:40:00.86
I'm not a math whiz,
00:40:00.96\00:40:02.13
but my lack of math
00:40:02.23\00:40:03.97
wizardry still tells
00:40:04.07\00:40:05.23
me it's a better deal
00:40:05.33\00:40:06.23
to have the one pastor
00:40:06.33\00:40:07.14
over the 10, by far.
00:40:07.24\00:40:10.74
We cannot afford this habit
00:40:10.84\00:40:13.58
any longer,
00:40:13.68\00:40:15.64
and we can either choose now
00:40:15.74\00:40:17.35
to return to substantial
00:40:17.45\00:40:19.01
local lay ministry and pastors
00:40:19.11\00:40:20.58
as church planters
00:40:20.68\00:40:21.85
or we can be forced to later on
00:40:21.95\00:40:23.42
by financial reality.
00:40:23.52\00:40:25.52
And I suspect that it's
00:40:25.62\00:40:26.45
far easier to choose
00:40:26.55\00:40:27.56
such a transition than it is
00:40:27.66\00:40:28.49
to be forced to do it.
00:40:28.59\00:40:30.36
So why not be ahead of the game?
00:40:30.46\00:40:33.03
And without further ado,
00:40:33.13\00:40:35.00
let me suggest to you two paths
00:40:35.10\00:40:36.23
forward to reinstating God's
00:40:36.33\00:40:38.27
New Testament kingdom structure
00:40:38.37\00:40:39.57
in the Adventist West.
00:40:39.67\00:40:41.10
There's much more
00:40:41.20\00:40:41.97
could be said about this.
00:40:42.07\00:40:42.70
We're going to talk more
00:40:42.80\00:40:43.41
about this in future Sabbaths.
00:40:43.51\00:40:44.87
But just two things today.
00:40:44.97\00:40:46.71
Path number one,
00:40:46.81\00:40:48.21
1 Peter 2:4, please.
00:40:48.31\00:40:51.18
1 Peter 2:4.
00:40:51.28\00:40:54.12
And we're going to read
00:40:54.22\00:40:54.65
through verse 6.
00:40:54.75\00:40:55.45
It's page 815 in your red Bible.
00:40:55.55\00:40:57.52
Page 815.
00:40:57.62\00:40:59.05
1 Peter 2:4-6.
00:40:59.15\00:41:01.99
Peter here is speaking
00:41:02.09\00:41:02.96
about the foundation
00:41:03.06\00:41:03.96
for every Christian
00:41:04.06\00:41:05.06
and therefore
00:41:05.16\00:41:05.93
the only foundation
00:41:06.03\00:41:07.30
for every Christian church.
00:41:07.40\00:41:09.96
1 Peter 2:4.
00:41:10.07\00:41:11.23
It says, "As you come to him,"
00:41:11.33\00:41:12.27
and the him there is Jesus.
00:41:12.37\00:41:13.60
"As you come to Jesus,
00:41:13.70\00:41:14.67
the living Stone --
00:41:14.77\00:41:15.64
rejected by men
00:41:15.74\00:41:16.57
but chosen by God
00:41:16.67\00:41:17.67
and precious to him --
00:41:17.77\00:41:19.17
you also, like living stones,
00:41:19.27\00:41:20.84
are being built into
00:41:20.94\00:41:21.71
a spiritual house
00:41:21.81\00:41:23.04
to be a holy priesthood,
00:41:23.14\00:41:24.71
offering spiritual sacrifices
00:41:24.81\00:41:26.11
acceptable to God
00:41:26.21\00:41:27.25
through Jesus Christ.
00:41:27.35\00:41:28.78
For in Scripture it says:
00:41:28.88\00:41:30.12
'See, I lay a stone in Zion,
00:41:30.22\00:41:32.09
a chosen and precious
00:41:32.19\00:41:33.36
cornerstone, and the one
00:41:33.46\00:41:34.79
who trusts in him
00:41:34.89\00:41:36.26
will never be put to shame.'"
00:41:36.36\00:41:39.59
Let me add to that the words
00:41:39.69\00:41:40.56
of Paul here on the screen.
00:41:40.66\00:41:41.63
1 Corinthians 3:11...
00:41:41.73\00:41:43.33
The first path forward
00:41:52.04\00:41:53.54
to return to Christ's
00:41:53.64\00:41:54.91
New Testament kingdom
00:41:55.01\00:41:56.14
structure in the Adventist
00:41:56.24\00:41:57.18
West is very simple.
00:41:57.28\00:41:59.31
It's this...
00:41:59.41\00:42:00.55
Now, the words here
00:42:15.33\00:42:15.96
are chosen carefully.
00:42:16.06\00:42:16.77
Let me unpack them.
00:42:16.87\00:42:18.03
First of all, becoming
00:42:18.13\00:42:19.77
as Christ-dependent as possible.
00:42:19.87\00:42:21.30
Jesus Christ is
00:42:21.40\00:42:22.47
the chief shepherd.
00:42:22.57\00:42:24.04
He, not the local pastor,
00:42:24.14\00:42:25.61
is the rock in whom we trust.
00:42:25.71\00:42:27.04
Jesus is the foundation.
00:42:27.14\00:42:28.54
He is the source of
00:42:28.64\00:42:29.41
our power and strength.
00:42:29.51\00:42:30.58
Any good thing
00:42:30.68\00:42:31.85
that the Christian experiences,
00:42:31.95\00:42:32.75
it's from Jesus.
00:42:32.85\00:42:34.35
He is the only foundation on
00:42:34.45\00:42:36.08
which we are to build our lives.
00:42:36.18\00:42:39.62
So become as dependent
00:42:39.72\00:42:40.62
on Jesus Christ as possible,
00:42:40.72\00:42:42.49
and at the same time
00:42:42.59\00:42:43.63
become as non-dependent
00:42:43.73\00:42:45.93
as possible on the local pastor.
00:42:46.03\00:42:48.43
Notice carefully what
00:42:48.53\00:42:49.43
I didn't just say.
00:42:49.53\00:42:51.47
I didn't say become as
00:42:51.57\00:42:53.67
pastor-independent as possible.
00:42:53.77\00:42:56.97
I said become as pastor
00:42:57.07\00:42:58.67
non-dependent as possible.
00:42:58.77\00:43:01.04
And this is a key distinction.
00:43:01.14\00:43:04.45
You see, many people.
00:43:04.55\00:43:05.88
when they hear about God's
00:43:05.98\00:43:06.95
New Testament structure
00:43:07.05\00:43:08.22
not including settled pastors,
00:43:08.32\00:43:10.45
they immediately conclude
00:43:10.55\00:43:11.69
that no pastor is ever
00:43:11.79\00:43:13.15
to have any authority
00:43:13.25\00:43:14.02
in the local church.
00:43:14.12\00:43:16.49
But this is patently false
00:43:16.59\00:43:18.43
and for at least two reasons.
00:43:18.53\00:43:20.53
First, most settled pastors
00:43:20.63\00:43:22.93
that I know,
00:43:23.03\00:43:23.80
and there are hundreds of them,
00:43:23.90\00:43:25.40
and mostly we have settled
00:43:25.50\00:43:26.13
pastors in the West.
00:43:26.23\00:43:26.90
so if I know pastors,
00:43:27.00\00:43:27.97
most of them are settled,
00:43:28.07\00:43:29.50
they are very dedicated to
00:43:29.60\00:43:30.37
the Lord.
00:43:30.47\00:43:32.41
I have seen the Lord
00:43:32.51\00:43:33.61
at work in their personal lives
00:43:33.71\00:43:35.11
and in their public ministry.
00:43:35.21\00:43:37.75
Now, they may be mistaken as
00:43:37.85\00:43:39.98
to what their biblical role is.
00:43:40.08\00:43:41.85
They may not understand
00:43:41.95\00:43:42.88
the necessity of equipping
00:43:42.98\00:43:44.15
members or of church planting.
00:43:44.25\00:43:45.32
Perhaps they've never had
00:43:45.42\00:43:46.05
the opportunity to learn
00:43:46.15\00:43:47.09
these things that
00:43:47.19\00:43:47.76
we've talked about here
00:43:47.86\00:43:48.36
just this morning.
00:43:48.46\00:43:49.42
But they are dedicated to God,
00:43:49.52\00:43:50.86
and they want to do His will,
00:43:50.96\00:43:52.49
and Christian decency demands
00:43:52.59\00:43:54.10
that we treat them with respect.
00:43:54.20\00:43:57.13
Do not depend on them
00:43:57.23\00:43:59.50
for support in spiritual things
00:43:59.60\00:44:02.30
unless you're a baby believer.
00:44:02.40\00:44:03.10
Baby believers
00:44:03.20\00:44:04.07
need their parents.
00:44:04.17\00:44:04.94
But if you're an established
00:44:05.04\00:44:05.87
believer, do not depend on them
00:44:05.97\00:44:07.41
for support in spiritual things,
00:44:07.51\00:44:08.64
as we just saw the prophet say.
00:44:08.74\00:44:09.88
But do respect
00:44:09.98\00:44:11.31
them and their leadership
00:44:11.41\00:44:12.45
as workers for the Lord.
00:44:12.55\00:44:14.32
Anarchy will
00:44:14.42\00:44:15.15
not solve the problems
00:44:15.25\00:44:16.45
we have in the West.
00:44:16.55\00:44:19.42
Respect your local pastor,
00:44:19.52\00:44:20.89
settled or not.
00:44:20.99\00:44:23.99
And secondly,
00:44:24.09\00:44:25.66
the healthy reality is that
00:44:25.76\00:44:27.40
outside of the global West,
00:44:27.50\00:44:29.00
where settled pastors are few
00:44:29.10\00:44:30.00
and far between -- they're
00:44:30.10\00:44:30.83
mostly church planters --
00:44:30.93\00:44:32.07
the church-planting pastor is
00:44:32.17\00:44:33.90
to have genuine authority
00:44:34.00\00:44:35.40
in the local churches.
00:44:35.50\00:44:37.41
And the reason for this
00:44:37.51\00:44:38.31
is very clear -- It's biblical.
00:44:38.41\00:44:40.11
This is because the role
00:44:40.21\00:44:41.48
of the church-planting pastor
00:44:41.58\00:44:42.54
in Adventism,
00:44:42.64\00:44:43.58
at least historically,
00:44:43.68\00:44:44.38
is modeled
00:44:44.48\00:44:45.35
after the New Testament
00:44:45.45\00:44:46.51
ministry of the apostles.
00:44:46.61\00:44:50.25
Let that sink in.
00:44:50.35\00:44:51.15
Go back to part three
00:44:51.25\00:44:51.95
and watch it over again.
00:44:52.05\00:44:52.72
Then you'll understand.
00:44:52.82\00:44:53.39
Some lights are going to
00:44:53.49\00:44:53.89
come on.
00:44:53.99\00:44:55.12
In that New Testament structure
00:44:55.22\00:44:56.52
with apostles,
00:44:56.62\00:44:57.29
it was fully expected,
00:44:57.39\00:44:58.33
and indeed the norm,
00:44:58.43\00:44:59.39
that apostles had authority
00:44:59.49\00:45:00.83
in the local churches.
00:45:00.93\00:45:03.06
And I'll tell you what,
00:45:03.16\00:45:04.00
this is yet another piece
00:45:04.10\00:45:05.57
of astonishing reality
00:45:05.67\00:45:07.20
of the Adventist church.
00:45:07.30\00:45:10.27
Hear it and hear it well.
00:45:10.37\00:45:11.41
The Adventist church is
00:45:11.51\00:45:12.97
not a congregational church.
00:45:13.07\00:45:16.91
Do you know what
00:45:17.01\00:45:17.65
a congregational church is?
00:45:17.75\00:45:19.15
A congregational church is
00:45:19.25\00:45:20.05
where the congregation
00:45:20.15\00:45:20.98
is sovereign.
00:45:21.08\00:45:21.95
There is no outer connection.
00:45:22.05\00:45:22.95
If there is a connection
00:45:23.05\00:45:23.82
to any sort of other church
00:45:23.92\00:45:24.99
or organization,
00:45:25.09\00:45:25.99
it's very peripheral,
00:45:26.09\00:45:27.16
very kind of just suggestive
00:45:27.26\00:45:28.46
and tangential.
00:45:28.56\00:45:29.26
It's not direct, okay?
00:45:29.36\00:45:30.79
We are not
00:45:30.89\00:45:31.56
congregational churches.
00:45:31.66\00:45:32.63
We are not
00:45:32.73\00:45:33.50
a congregational church at all.
00:45:33.60\00:45:35.70
We were never intended
00:45:35.80\00:45:36.83
to be a congregational church,
00:45:36.93\00:45:37.87
and we never will be
00:45:37.97\00:45:39.00
a congregational church
00:45:39.10\00:45:40.14
unless it's over my dead body.
00:45:40.24\00:45:43.44
Instead, Adventism was built
00:45:43.54\00:45:46.61
on churches that -- Get this.
00:45:46.71\00:45:47.91
I mean, this boggles the mind.
00:45:48.01\00:45:49.34
Adventism was built on churches
00:45:49.44\00:45:50.91
that did not have settled
00:45:51.01\00:45:52.15
pastors locally,
00:45:52.25\00:45:53.75
yet those churches were fully
00:45:53.85\00:45:55.35
accountable to the wider church
00:45:55.45\00:45:56.85
through the planting.
00:45:56.95\00:45:57.82
Pastor, the apostle,
00:45:57.92\00:45:59.05
the local conference,
00:45:59.15\00:46:00.16
and the sisterhood of churches.
00:46:00.26\00:46:01.49
The result was
00:46:01.59\00:46:02.59
undoubtedly astonishing
00:46:02.69\00:46:04.06
to the rest of the world.
00:46:04.16\00:46:05.49
How, they must have wondered,
00:46:05.59\00:46:07.00
could we Adventists have
00:46:07.10\00:46:08.26
essentially no settled pastors
00:46:08.36\00:46:10.10
and yet have such unity
00:46:10.20\00:46:11.53
of message and mission among
00:46:11.63\00:46:12.97
our many thousands of churches?
00:46:13.07\00:46:14.70
Well, part of the answer was
00:46:14.80\00:46:15.40
because we're not
00:46:15.50\00:46:16.10
congregational.
00:46:16.20\00:46:17.31
We are a movement,
00:46:17.41\00:46:18.51
a global movement,
00:46:18.61\00:46:19.77
a denomination working together.
00:46:19.87\00:46:22.01
And we are clearly accountable
00:46:22.11\00:46:23.45
to one another in tangible ways.
00:46:23.55\00:46:25.28
And thus we were enabled
00:46:25.38\00:46:26.55
to be a worldwide movement
00:46:26.65\00:46:28.18
with a worldwide message,
00:46:28.28\00:46:30.19
the three angels' messages,
00:46:30.29\00:46:31.59
that could move as one body
00:46:31.69\00:46:32.95
united in Christ
00:46:33.05\00:46:34.02
to prepare the world
00:46:34.12\00:46:34.92
for His soon return.
00:46:35.02\00:46:37.09
I mean, it must have just
00:46:37.19\00:46:38.03
boggled people's mind
00:46:38.13\00:46:38.96
that they could do that,
00:46:39.06\00:46:39.76
because their organizations were
00:46:39.86\00:46:41.06
kind of, you know,
00:46:41.16\00:46:41.83
very independent, you know,
00:46:41.93\00:46:42.90
whole American spirit.
00:46:43.00\00:46:43.93
"We can do it ourselves.
00:46:44.03\00:46:44.90
Don't bother us" kind of thing.
00:46:45.00\00:46:46.03
And yet the Adventists had
00:46:46.13\00:46:47.30
this measure of independence,
00:46:47.40\00:46:48.40
and they were also all one
00:46:48.50\00:46:49.70
together, biblically
00:46:49.80\00:46:51.24
accountable to one another.
00:46:51.34\00:46:52.41
I mean, powerful stuff.
00:46:52.51\00:46:54.71
And most of the Adventist world
00:46:54.81\00:46:56.14
outside of the West
00:46:56.24\00:46:57.31
is still structured this way.
00:46:57.41\00:46:59.58
It is high time
00:46:59.68\00:47:01.15
that the West rejoined them.
00:47:01.25\00:47:04.05
And to that end,
00:47:04.15\00:47:04.82
each of us must become
00:47:04.92\00:47:05.82
as dependent on Christ
00:47:05.92\00:47:06.82
as possible,
00:47:06.92\00:47:08.06
while also becoming as pastor
00:47:08.16\00:47:09.62
non-dependent as possible.
00:47:09.72\00:47:12.76
Now, to be clear,
00:47:12.86\00:47:15.76
remember what I said
00:47:15.86\00:47:16.36
at the beginning.
00:47:16.46\00:47:17.77
We need to do the best
00:47:17.87\00:47:18.83
that we can with this.
00:47:18.93\00:47:20.64
That means
00:47:20.74\00:47:21.24
that some places are
00:47:21.34\00:47:22.07
going to have results
00:47:22.17\00:47:22.77
that look different
00:47:22.87\00:47:23.84
than other places.
00:47:23.94\00:47:24.41
Some places
00:47:24.51\00:47:25.14
are going to implement this
00:47:25.24\00:47:26.07
New Testament structure
00:47:26.17\00:47:26.94
a little bit differently.
00:47:27.04\00:47:28.14
For instance, here at Pioneer,
00:47:28.24\00:47:30.35
a return to God's
00:47:30.45\00:47:31.61
New Testament kingdom structure
00:47:31.71\00:47:33.21
will not include
00:47:33.31\00:47:34.08
the pastors leaving.
00:47:34.18\00:47:35.68
Some of you are disappointed,
00:47:41.76\00:47:42.32
aren't you?
00:47:42.42\00:47:42.69
Yes.
00:47:42.79\00:47:45.66
After second service last week
00:47:45.76\00:47:46.96
at the door,
00:47:47.03\00:47:47.76
someone came over and greeted me
00:47:47.86\00:47:48.86
and said, "It's been wonderful
00:47:48.96\00:47:49.80
having you as our pastor.
00:47:49.90\00:47:50.70
We're going to miss you."
00:47:50.80\00:47:51.47
Okay.
00:47:51.57\00:47:55.30
Now, we chuckle, and I
00:47:55.40\00:47:57.14
understand.
00:47:57.24\00:47:58.74
It's actually a quite important
00:47:58.84\00:48:00.48
point, because, again,
00:48:00.58\00:48:02.01
having presented on this topic
00:48:02.11\00:48:03.11
in a number of places,
00:48:03.21\00:48:03.91
a number of people and times,
00:48:04.01\00:48:05.61
often what comes up
00:48:05.71\00:48:06.41
immediately is, "Oh,
00:48:06.51\00:48:07.42
Pastor Shane,
00:48:07.52\00:48:08.18
you're a settled pastor.
00:48:08.28\00:48:10.59
Here you're telling us
00:48:10.69\00:48:11.42
all this stuff from history,
00:48:11.52\00:48:12.25
settled pastors are bad,
00:48:12.35\00:48:12.89
but you're one.
00:48:12.99\00:48:14.49
How do you deal with that?"
00:48:14.59\00:48:16.29
They always
00:48:16.39\00:48:17.03
think they've got me, okay?
00:48:17.13\00:48:18.56
And probably for the first two
00:48:18.66\00:48:19.46
or three years, they did.
00:48:19.56\00:48:20.56
I didn't have a good answer,
00:48:20.66\00:48:21.80
but that was 20 years ago.
00:48:21.90\00:48:22.53
So let me tell you
00:48:22.63\00:48:23.16
what I tell them now.
00:48:23.26\00:48:25.10
The truth is that
00:48:25.20\00:48:26.07
early Adventism
00:48:26.17\00:48:27.04
in the late 19th century
00:48:27.14\00:48:28.37
did make some provision
00:48:28.47\00:48:29.90
for settled pastors in
00:48:30.01\00:48:31.07
a handful of very specific
00:48:31.17\00:48:32.64
contexts, namely large
00:48:32.74\00:48:35.04
institutional churches.
00:48:35.14\00:48:37.55
A.G. Daniells, did you catch
00:48:37.65\00:48:38.51
that in his quotation?
00:48:38.61\00:48:39.61
He says, you know, "As a general
00:48:39.71\00:48:40.38
rule, we've held ourselves
00:48:40.48\00:48:41.12
ready for field service,
00:48:41.22\00:48:42.15
but we have appointed pastors.
00:48:42.25\00:48:43.82
We have elected pastors
00:48:43.92\00:48:44.92
in certain places."
00:48:45.02\00:48:46.32
Those certain places were
00:48:46.42\00:48:47.79
large institutional churches.
00:48:47.89\00:48:48.76
This is places
00:48:48.86\00:48:49.46
like San Francisco.
00:48:49.56\00:48:50.46
This is places
00:48:50.56\00:48:51.16
like Battle Creek.
00:48:51.26\00:48:52.29
Eventually the Los Angeles
00:48:52.39\00:48:53.43
area had a couple of them.
00:48:53.53\00:48:55.26
This was a conscious,
00:48:55.36\00:48:56.33
calculated decision,
00:48:56.43\00:48:57.63
an exception based on,
00:48:57.73\00:48:59.63
to the best of my research,
00:48:59.73\00:49:00.97
on two needs needing to be met.
00:49:01.07\00:49:02.94
Number one,
00:49:03.04\00:49:04.27
in this unique environment
00:49:04.37\00:49:05.71
of large institutions,
00:49:05.81\00:49:07.11
there is a need for continuity.
00:49:07.21\00:49:09.48
Turnover is high, right,
00:49:09.58\00:49:11.01
by definition.
00:49:11.11\00:49:11.88
We have students, you know, come
00:49:11.98\00:49:12.51
for a semester
00:49:12.61\00:49:13.18
or come for six years.
00:49:13.28\00:49:14.08
You know, graduation's
00:49:14.18\00:49:15.22
happening regularly.
00:49:15.32\00:49:16.18
There's all kinds of turnover,
00:49:16.28\00:49:16.82
right?
00:49:16.92\00:49:17.55
We have staff and faculty
00:49:17.65\00:49:18.95
and workers that are here.
00:49:19.05\00:49:19.59
There's turnover
00:49:19.69\00:49:20.36
amongst them, too.
00:49:20.46\00:49:21.42
If there's going to be
00:49:21.52\00:49:22.26
continuity in the church of
00:49:22.36\00:49:23.73
mission and worship,
00:49:23.83\00:49:25.29
they decided, we need to settle
00:49:25.39\00:49:26.46
pastors over those places.
00:49:26.56\00:49:28.20
A second need
00:49:28.30\00:49:29.56
that these large institutional
00:49:29.66\00:49:30.73
settings brought that
00:49:30.83\00:49:31.93
had to be met was complexity.
00:49:32.03\00:49:34.14
There was a need to deal with
00:49:34.24\00:49:35.00
complexity.
00:49:35.10\00:49:36.34
Our large institutional settings
00:49:36.44\00:49:38.07
had literally thousands
00:49:38.17\00:49:39.07
of people at them --
00:49:39.17\00:49:39.87
they still do today --
00:49:39.97\00:49:41.08
leading to organizational
00:49:41.18\00:49:42.58
challenges far more complex than
00:49:42.68\00:49:44.75
the average non-institutional
00:49:44.85\00:49:46.08
church would ever face.
00:49:46.18\00:49:47.72
And so we made an exception.
00:49:47.82\00:49:49.08
We said, okay,
00:49:49.18\00:49:50.25
we're going to take the risk
00:49:50.35\00:49:51.15
and we're going to settle
00:49:51.25\00:49:52.02
pastors over these churches.
00:49:52.12\00:49:55.22
But notice this carefully.
00:49:55.32\00:49:57.36
Which churches
00:49:57.46\00:49:59.23
received the most heat
00:49:59.33\00:50:01.23
from Ellen White's pen?
00:50:01.33\00:50:05.03
What's at the top of the list?
00:50:05.13\00:50:07.00
Battle Creek. Exactly.
00:50:07.10\00:50:09.20
The locus of the work for
00:50:09.30\00:50:10.31
many, many years.
00:50:10.41\00:50:11.74
Coincidence? I think not.
00:50:11.84\00:50:15.38
In fact, this calculated risk --
00:50:15.48\00:50:19.21
Let me just address my
00:50:19.31\00:50:20.38
fellow institutional pastors
00:50:20.48\00:50:21.78
as one of your own, if you
00:50:21.88\00:50:22.95
happen to be watching right now.
00:50:23.05\00:50:24.69
To my fellow
00:50:24.79\00:50:25.42
institutional pastors,
00:50:25.52\00:50:26.72
every day we play with fire.
00:50:26.82\00:50:29.79
Every day we run the risk
00:50:29.89\00:50:31.29
of making our members
00:50:31.39\00:50:32.36
more dependent on us
00:50:32.46\00:50:33.66
and less dependent
00:50:33.76\00:50:34.73
on Jesus Christ by the simple
00:50:34.83\00:50:36.16
fact that we are there day
00:50:36.26\00:50:37.50
after day after day.
00:50:37.60\00:50:39.13
And in the final judgment,
00:50:39.23\00:50:40.20
God will ask we
00:50:40.30\00:50:41.90
institutional pastors this --
00:50:42.00\00:50:43.84
"Did you equip your people
00:50:43.94\00:50:45.17
to depend on Jesus
00:50:45.27\00:50:46.47
as much as possible
00:50:46.57\00:50:47.64
and to do the ministry
00:50:47.74\00:50:48.71
I called them to do?
00:50:48.81\00:50:49.94
Or did you just entertain
00:50:50.05\00:50:51.21
them week after week
00:50:51.31\00:50:52.25
and then sent them home
00:50:52.35\00:50:53.31
as if they had nothing further
00:50:53.42\00:50:54.32
to do for the kingdom?"
00:50:54.42\00:50:57.12
That's what He's going to ask
00:50:57.22\00:50:57.49
us.
00:50:57.59\00:50:58.95
So be careful.
00:50:59.05\00:51:00.82
You're playing with fire.
00:51:00.92\00:51:03.69
So, no, we Pioneer
00:51:03.79\00:51:04.76
pastors are not leaving.
00:51:04.86\00:51:05.93
And I'm very grateful
00:51:06.03\00:51:06.63
for the pastoral staff
00:51:06.73\00:51:07.66
that we have here and many,
00:51:07.76\00:51:09.30
many good things that they do,
00:51:09.40\00:51:10.53
often under
00:51:10.63\00:51:11.33
very difficult circumstances.
00:51:11.43\00:51:13.57
And you should know
00:51:13.67\00:51:14.90
that every one of our
00:51:15.00\00:51:15.50
pastoral staff
00:51:15.60\00:51:16.77
is fully committed to doing all
00:51:16.87\00:51:17.87
that we can
00:51:17.97\00:51:18.84
to help you know Christ
00:51:18.94\00:51:19.87
as deeply as possible
00:51:19.97\00:51:21.04
and to depend on Him
00:51:21.14\00:51:22.78
while doing all the ministry
00:51:22.88\00:51:23.98
that He has called you to do.
00:51:24.08\00:51:28.55
What about churches that
00:51:28.65\00:51:29.52
aren't institutional churches?
00:51:29.62\00:51:31.59
What about those
00:51:31.69\00:51:32.32
that are smaller than this?
00:51:32.42\00:51:34.42
Well, in some places,
00:51:34.52\00:51:35.29
the settled pastor might have
00:51:35.39\00:51:36.36
the skills to go church
00:51:36.46\00:51:37.09
planting.
00:51:37.19\00:51:38.19
He or she might at least have
00:51:38.29\00:51:39.36
some of the gifts of an apostle.
00:51:39.46\00:51:41.40
Such churches
00:51:41.50\00:51:42.23
should meet together.
00:51:42.33\00:51:43.00
They should pray together
00:51:43.10\00:51:43.67
with one another,
00:51:43.77\00:51:44.53
seeking the guidance of God
00:51:44.63\00:51:46.10
to see if God would have
00:51:46.20\00:51:47.10
them send their pastor
00:51:47.20\00:51:48.17
as a missionary
00:51:48.27\00:51:49.30
to plant a new church
00:51:49.40\00:51:50.31
somewhere else
00:51:50.41\00:51:51.07
in their conference.
00:51:51.17\00:51:52.67
Now, the church
00:51:52.77\00:51:53.68
will probably need training
00:51:53.78\00:51:54.74
to be sufficiently healthy
00:51:54.84\00:51:55.94
for this, to do ministry
00:51:56.04\00:51:57.18
in the pastor's absence.
00:51:57.28\00:51:58.28
Remember, we've had settled
00:51:58.38\00:51:59.48
pastors for a long time now
00:51:59.58\00:52:00.72
in the Adventist church
00:52:00.82\00:52:01.32
in the West.
00:52:01.42\00:52:02.15
There's going to be some
00:52:02.25\00:52:02.85
training, some changes
00:52:02.95\00:52:03.62
that have to take place
00:52:03.72\00:52:04.65
so that ministry depends
00:52:04.75\00:52:05.79
upon the laity rather than
00:52:05.89\00:52:07.02
on the settled pastor.
00:52:07.12\00:52:08.59
Local programming and committees
00:52:08.69\00:52:09.86
will probably have to be revised
00:52:09.96\00:52:11.29
some to accommodate this change.
00:52:11.39\00:52:13.83
As you're praying and talking
00:52:13.93\00:52:15.00
and planning and doing these
00:52:15.10\00:52:15.90
things, meet with your
00:52:16.00\00:52:16.90
conference leadership
00:52:17.00\00:52:18.03
and see what plans can be made.
00:52:18.13\00:52:19.73
Work together with
00:52:19.83\00:52:20.67
your local conference.
00:52:20.77\00:52:22.04
I followed this plan myself
00:52:22.14\00:52:23.71
in my second district,
00:52:23.81\00:52:24.87
and I still deeply admire
00:52:24.97\00:52:26.21
the good people there
00:52:26.31\00:52:27.14
who took leadership
00:52:27.24\00:52:28.71
to new levels and in new ways
00:52:28.81\00:52:30.45
so that I could take a group
00:52:30.55\00:52:31.38
of people from that mother
00:52:31.48\00:52:32.31
church and plant my first
00:52:32.41\00:52:33.25
new church elsewhere.
00:52:33.35\00:52:35.45
In other words,
00:52:35.55\00:52:36.08
I've done this before.
00:52:36.18\00:52:37.72
It's not rocket science,
00:52:37.82\00:52:38.75
ladies and gentlemen.
00:52:38.85\00:52:39.99
Most of the Adventist world
00:52:40.09\00:52:41.39
already does this,
00:52:41.49\00:52:42.29
just a secret.
00:52:42.39\00:52:43.69
You know, sometimes --
00:52:43.79\00:52:45.39
Nobody else is listening.
00:52:45.49\00:52:46.66
It's just us, alright?
00:52:46.76\00:52:48.16
Sometimes I think in the West
00:52:48.26\00:52:50.27
that we have a nasty habit
00:52:50.37\00:52:51.70
of looking down our noses
00:52:51.80\00:52:53.10
at other portions of the world
00:52:53.20\00:52:55.00
because we think they're
00:52:55.10\00:52:55.80
more primitive than we are.
00:52:55.90\00:52:57.97
Ladies and gentlemen,
00:52:58.07\00:52:58.94
they are outstripping us by far
00:52:59.04\00:53:00.74
when it comes to kingdom growth.
00:53:00.84\00:53:02.48
They are way ahead of us.
00:53:02.58\00:53:04.45
Don't brag.
00:53:04.55\00:53:06.28
Let's roll up our sleeves
00:53:06.38\00:53:06.95
and get to work
00:53:07.05\00:53:08.08
and do the things
00:53:08.18\00:53:08.82
that God has asked us to do.
00:53:08.92\00:53:12.15
On the other hand,
00:53:12.25\00:53:13.72
if the pastor of a local church
00:53:13.82\00:53:14.96
is not gifted as an apostle
00:53:15.06\00:53:16.09
or church planter,
00:53:16.19\00:53:17.29
nonetheless do the best that you
00:53:17.39\00:53:19.13
can.
00:53:19.23\00:53:20.30
Meet together as a church.
00:53:20.40\00:53:21.43
See how you can free
00:53:21.53\00:53:22.30
up your pastor as much
00:53:22.40\00:53:23.06
as possible
00:53:23.16\00:53:24.10
to do local evangelistic work,
00:53:24.20\00:53:25.97
while training church
00:53:26.07\00:53:26.77
members to do the same.
00:53:26.87\00:53:27.60
Remember, do
00:53:27.70\00:53:28.47
the best that we can.
00:53:28.57\00:53:30.61
Whatever the case,
00:53:30.71\00:53:31.91
every church should seek
00:53:32.01\00:53:33.51
to become as Christ-dependent as
00:53:33.61\00:53:35.31
possible and as pastor
00:53:35.41\00:53:36.68
non-dependent as possible.
00:53:36.78\00:53:38.85
This is a first
00:53:38.95\00:53:39.88
and very fruitful
00:53:39.98\00:53:41.38
path forward to reinstating
00:53:41.48\00:53:43.35
God's New Testament kingdom
00:53:43.45\00:53:44.55
structure in the West.
00:53:44.65\00:53:46.45
There is a second path.
00:53:49.62\00:53:52.36
But as I look at my enemy on the
00:53:52.46\00:53:53.66
wall -- that's the clock, by the
00:53:53.76\00:53:56.16
way, right there -- this next
00:53:56.26\00:53:59.90
path deserves an entire
00:54:00.07\00:54:01.24
installment on its own.
00:54:01.34\00:54:02.70
So I'm not going to tell you
00:54:02.80\00:54:03.44
what it is until next week.
00:54:03.54\00:54:05.27
So you need to come back, okay?
00:54:05.37\00:54:06.84
But I will say
00:54:06.94\00:54:07.94
at least this much, though.
00:54:08.04\00:54:09.28
This second path is
00:54:09.38\00:54:10.85
crucial to seeing a return
00:54:10.95\00:54:13.35
to God's New Testament structure
00:54:13.45\00:54:14.55
become effective.
00:54:14.65\00:54:15.75
If you were to take outside
00:54:15.85\00:54:17.22
today all the settled pastors in
00:54:17.32\00:54:19.79
the West and just fire them all,
00:54:19.89\00:54:21.16
right, it would not lead
00:54:21.26\00:54:24.66
immediately to health amongst
00:54:24.76\00:54:25.53
our churches.
00:54:25.63\00:54:26.56
Why? Because we have bad habits.
00:54:26.66\00:54:28.90
You know, if someone has been
00:54:29.00\00:54:29.80
using cocaine consistently
00:54:29.90\00:54:31.20
and you take all the cocaine
00:54:31.30\00:54:32.37
away, they might die, okay?
00:54:32.47\00:54:36.10
We have an addiction
00:54:36.20\00:54:37.24
in the Adventist church.
00:54:37.34\00:54:38.14
It's the settled pastors, right?
00:54:38.24\00:54:40.48
The structure of
00:54:40.58\00:54:41.28
the local church in
00:54:41.38\00:54:42.04
most Adventist churches
00:54:42.14\00:54:42.78
in the West
00:54:42.88\00:54:43.65
more closely resembles
00:54:43.75\00:54:44.78
Catholicism than it does
00:54:44.88\00:54:45.71
the New Testament,
00:54:45.81\00:54:48.35
because Catholicism,
00:54:48.45\00:54:49.52
our friends the Catholics,
00:54:49.62\00:54:50.89
never left the Old Testament
00:54:50.99\00:54:51.79
priesthood.
00:54:51.89\00:54:52.39
They still have it.
00:54:52.49\00:54:53.92
That transition to the
00:54:54.02\00:54:55.02
New Testament has not been made.
00:54:55.12\00:54:56.76
We had the New Testament,
00:54:56.86\00:54:57.73
but we regressed.
00:54:57.83\00:55:00.70
If we're going to make the
00:55:00.80\00:55:02.26
transition, there's a couple of
00:55:02.36\00:55:03.40
key things that have to be in
00:55:03.50\00:55:04.47
place in order for pastor
00:55:04.57\00:55:05.77
non-dependency to come to pass.
00:55:05.87\00:55:07.00
One of those
00:55:07.10\00:55:08.20
is absolutely crucial.
00:55:08.30\00:55:09.74
I hope by now you're asking
00:55:09.84\00:55:10.67
yourself some questions.
00:55:10.77\00:55:12.51
How is it
00:55:12.61\00:55:14.54
that the early Adventist church,
00:55:14.64\00:55:16.68
in the absence
00:55:16.78\00:55:17.58
of settled pastors,
00:55:17.68\00:55:19.05
still managed to become
00:55:19.15\00:55:21.25
the most prolific,
00:55:21.35\00:55:22.68
the fastest growing
00:55:22.78\00:55:23.69
Protestant movement
00:55:23.79\00:55:24.82
that the world had ever seen?
00:55:24.92\00:55:26.12
How did they do that
00:55:26.22\00:55:28.12
without settled pastors,
00:55:28.22\00:55:29.26
you know, urging them on
00:55:29.36\00:55:30.16
or keeping them corralled
00:55:30.26\00:55:30.69
or whatever?
00:55:30.79\00:55:31.96
I'll tell you next week.
00:55:32.06\00:55:33.19
I hope you can be here,
00:55:33.29\00:55:34.50
'cause it's good stuff.
00:55:34.60\00:55:37.47
I leave you
00:55:37.57\00:55:38.17
with the words of Jesus.
00:55:38.27\00:55:40.04
Jesus said, Matthew 24:14...
00:55:40.14\00:55:41.87
Ladies and gentlemen,
00:55:48.74\00:55:49.54
that's not just a prophecy.
00:55:49.64\00:55:50.85
It's a promise.
00:55:50.95\00:55:52.88
It is going to happen.
00:55:52.98\00:55:55.02
It doesn't matter if you or I
00:55:55.12\00:55:56.48
can sit down and imagine, well,
00:55:56.58\00:55:57.42
how can the Laodicean
00:55:57.52\00:55:58.85
nature of the church in the West
00:55:58.95\00:55:59.82
possibly be resurrected?
00:55:59.92\00:56:01.16
That's not our concern.
00:56:01.26\00:56:02.32
We are to do the best
00:56:02.42\00:56:03.73
that we can with what we know
00:56:03.83\00:56:04.96
of God's will for us.
00:56:05.06\00:56:06.33
He will provide.
00:56:06.43\00:56:07.46
Our God is the God of truth.
00:56:07.56\00:56:09.23
And if He has said
00:56:09.33\00:56:11.00
there's going to be a revival,
00:56:11.10\00:56:12.37
there's going to be
00:56:12.47\00:56:12.93
reformation,
00:56:13.03\00:56:14.00
the Gospel is going to go
00:56:14.10\00:56:15.30
to all the world,
00:56:15.40\00:56:16.24
then I want to be there,
00:56:16.34\00:56:17.44
'cause it's going to happen.
00:56:17.54\00:56:18.94
I don't want to have to die
00:56:19.04\00:56:19.91
first and watch the video
00:56:20.01\00:56:21.01
during the millennium.
00:56:21.11\00:56:21.84
I want to be a part of it
00:56:21.94\00:56:22.54
right now, okay?
00:56:22.64\00:56:23.91
And I want you to join me.
00:56:24.01\00:56:24.98
Let's go together
00:56:25.08\00:56:26.35
into this final revolution.
00:56:26.45\00:56:30.69
May the final revolution
00:56:30.79\00:56:31.95
soon become our reality
00:56:32.05\00:56:34.39
by the grace and
00:56:34.49\00:56:35.56
power of Jesus Christ.
00:56:35.66\00:56:37.49
>> Have you ever wondered what
00:56:43.40\00:56:44.20
Jesus was like when He walked
00:56:44.30\00:56:45.80
on this planet 2,000 years ago?
00:56:45.90\00:56:48.20
Have you ever wondered
00:56:48.30\00:56:49.27
where He traveled,
00:56:49.37\00:56:50.44
who He talked to,
00:56:50.54\00:56:51.61
who His friends were,
00:56:51.71\00:56:52.64
what His family was like?
00:56:52.74\00:56:54.48
Or have you heard about the
00:56:54.58\00:56:55.44
astonishing miracles that
00:56:55.54\00:56:56.81
Jesus did, like feeding 5,000
00:56:56.91\00:56:59.21
people with just five loaves of
00:56:59.31\00:57:00.62
bread and a couple of fish
00:57:00.72\00:57:02.08
or giving sight back
00:57:02.18\00:57:03.32
to a man born blind?
00:57:03.42\00:57:05.52
What would it have been like
00:57:05.62\00:57:07.26
to be there with Jesus
00:57:07.36\00:57:08.86
in those unprecedented days?
00:57:08.96\00:57:11.69
I hold in my hands a free book
00:57:11.79\00:57:13.36
that I'd like to give to you.
00:57:13.46\00:57:14.56
It's called "The Desire of
00:57:14.63\00:57:16.00
Ages," and it's one
00:57:16.10\00:57:17.33
of the finest biographies
00:57:17.43\00:57:18.50
of Christ ever produced.
00:57:18.60\00:57:20.44
It goes into incredible detail
00:57:20.54\00:57:21.87
of who Jesus was,
00:57:21.97\00:57:23.24
what His life was like,
00:57:23.34\00:57:24.87
who His enemies were, and what
00:57:24.97\00:57:26.14
His followers were like,
00:57:26.24\00:57:27.71
and, of course, ultimately
00:57:27.81\00:57:29.24
how He died on the cross
00:57:29.34\00:57:30.61
and rose from the grave
00:57:30.71\00:57:32.11
to give freedom to people
00:57:32.21\00:57:33.48
just like you and me.
00:57:33.58\00:57:35.68
"The Desire of Ages" can be
00:57:35.78\00:57:36.89
yours for free by calling
00:57:36.99\00:57:38.55
877-HIS-WILL.
00:57:38.65\00:57:40.52
That's 877-HIS-WILL.
00:57:40.62\00:57:43.86
Jesus is the most influential
00:57:43.96\00:57:45.76
person in all of human history.
00:57:45.86\00:57:48.10
You owe it to yourself
00:57:48.20\00:57:49.43
and those you love
00:57:49.53\00:57:50.83
to find out who He really was.
00:57:50.93\00:57:52.73
¤
00:57:59.47\00:58:09.45
¤
00:58:09.55\00:58:19.46
¤
00:58:19.56\00:58:27.97