Participants:
Series Code: SUES
Program Code: SUES000003A
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00:16 Hello once again, friends.
00:18 It's good to be here in Oahu 00:19 having a wonderful time together. 00:21 I hope you have been blessed with our series so far. 00:23 We're looking at a series of messages entitled 00:26 "Equipping the Saints," 00:28 the spirit of it being. 00:30 We not only want to have the three angels' messengers, 00:32 but we messages, 00:33 but we want to be the three angels' messengers 00:35 to give that message to the world. 00:37 So we want to learn from the Bible, 00:40 Christ's method for sharing the truth 00:43 with others and by God's grace, hastening the return of Jesus. 00:46 We've got a lot to cover in this message. 00:49 Our message this time is entitled 00:51 "Doing the wrong job well." 00:54 Doing the wrong job well. 00:57 It's a fascinating study, 00:58 so we're going to buckle our seatbelts 00:59 but before we dive into a study of God's Word, 01:01 what must we always do first? 01:03 Pray. 01:04 Let's bow our heads for word of prayer. 01:06 Heavenly Father, I thank You so much 01:08 for yet another day of life and the opportunity 01:11 to visit together, to fellowship, 01:13 and to study from Your Word. 01:15 Lord, we ask now, 01:17 humbly, yet confidently, in the name of Jesus, 01:20 that You would send the power of the Holy Spirit 01:21 to inform us 01:24 and transform us 01:26 that we may become like Jesus 01:29 and work in His cause hastening His soon return, 01:32 for we pray it in Jesus' name, 01:34 amen. 01:37 Please take your Bibles 01:38 to the Gospel of Luke Chapter 23. 01:43 Luke 23:43. 01:46 As we continue studying equipping the saints 01:49 now doing the wrong job well. 01:52 Luke 23:43 01:54 at first blush doesn't seem to have anything to do 01:56 with church work 01:58 and the technical term for that is ecclesiology, 02:00 how we go about doing the work of ministry. 02:03 But there's a principle, a hermeneutic principle 02:06 and how you read scripture concept 02:09 that's very important defined in Luke 23:43. 02:13 I'm going to read this passage 02:15 from the New King James Version, 02:17 you'll find it in the King James Version. 02:18 Every other version has this passage, 02:19 and it's rendered the same way. 02:21 And I'm gonna read it as the punctuation demands, 02:24 okay? 02:25 Luke 23:43 says, 02:27 "And Jesus said to him, 02:29 'Assuredly, I say to you, 02:33 today you will be with Me in paradise.' 02:37 " Now, my friends, let me ask you a question. 02:39 Is that what Jesus said? 02:43 Well, yes. 02:44 Those are the words Jesus used to say. 02:47 But is that what Jesus meant? 02:50 No. 02:52 How do we have the temerity, the audacity, 02:55 the boldness to say 02:56 though it's written in the Bible 02:58 it doesn't mean what it says? 03:01 Wow! 03:02 Well, because we understand that the punctuation marks 03:05 were not inspired. 03:06 They are not in the original manuscripts and autographed. 03:09 You don't have the Apostle Paul using commas, 03:11 they weren't such a punctuation issues 03:13 in the writing of the New Testament 03:15 or the Old Testament for that matter. 03:17 So they were inserted over time to give clarity 03:20 and help the readability of the text. 03:22 But sometimes punctuation 03:24 can change the meaning of the words, 03:28 that's the difference. 03:29 By the way between, 03:31 it's time to eat, Grandpa, 03:34 and it's time to eat Grandpa. 03:39 It's the exact same sentence, the same words, 03:41 but a drastically different meaning 03:44 and what made the difference was that comma. 03:47 If you say it's time to eat, comma, Grandpa, 03:49 you're addressing and informing grandpa, 03:53 but if it's, 03:54 it's time to eat Grandpa without a comma, 03:57 you are eating grandpa. 03:59 Grandpa would have an issue with your punctuation 04:02 in that scenario. 04:04 Now, what can we learn about that from Luke 23:43 04:06 where Jesus says, 04:08 "I say to you, 04:09 today you will be with Me in paradise." 04:10 The reason it's read that way is because of that comma 04:13 after the word you. 04:15 But if all you did, 04:16 you didn't change a single word of that declaration 04:19 and just shifted that comma one place to the right. 04:22 So it's after today, it would read this way. 04:25 "I say to you today, 04:28 you will be with Me in paradise." 04:30 Now is that better? 04:31 Of course, that's better. 04:33 It's not only better, it's right. 04:34 How do we know it's right? 04:36 Well, this is a hermeneutic principle 04:38 that we want to establish with you today, 04:40 and I call it the fence post principle. 04:42 If there is a loose fence post 04:44 that could lean one way or the other, 04:46 you don't just find the place that's most comfortable to you 04:49 and stick it down more firmly. 04:51 What do you do? 04:52 You look at all the other fence posts 04:53 that are lined up solidly and you lined that one up 04:56 that could be read either way 04:58 with all the ones that firmly established that trajectory. 05:02 Does that make sense? 05:03 So for instance, when you look at this text, 05:05 you always must look at their context, 05:07 the surrounding passage. 05:10 What happened with Jesus that weekend? 05:12 Did He die and immediately returned to heaven? 05:15 No. 05:16 In fact, in the Sunday morning, He was able to say, 05:18 "Don't touch Me, I have not yet ascended to My Father." 05:21 And in fact, what does the entire scripture say 05:23 about the state of the dead? 05:25 The living know that they will die, 05:26 but the dead know how much? 05:28 Nothing. 05:30 So clearly, Jesus is not saying today 05:34 you will be with Me in paradise. 05:35 He's saying to him today 05:37 that you will be with Me in paradise. 05:40 That punctuation makes a big difference. 05:42 And any evangelist worth his salt 05:43 has had to deal with this objection 05:45 from well intended 05:46 but misinformed individuals 05:48 who read the text according to that punctuation. 05:51 There's nothing wrong with the words 05:53 but the meaning imposed upon the words 05:55 by the punctuation has confused people 05:58 and given them a misconception about Bible truth. 06:01 Are we all together? 06:02 Now I'm guessing that most of us are familiar 06:06 with that problem comma of Luke 23:43. 06:09 Now I want to inform you about 06:11 one that you may not be so familiar 06:13 but gives the same amount of trouble. 06:15 Let's go down to the Book of Ephesians. 06:17 Go to the right in your Bible, 06:19 to the Book of Ephesians. 06:21 Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians 06:23 that little sandwich of books there. 06:26 What do we find from the Apostle Paul, 06:28 some important counsel about the work of ministry? 06:32 And in Ephesians Chapter 4, 06:33 he begins this statement in verse 11, 06:35 where he speaks of Jesus and he says, 06:37 "And he himself gave some to be apostles, 06:41 some prophets, some evangelists 06:44 and some pastors, and teachers." 06:46 Now from that reading already, 06:48 is everyone in the church called to be a pastor, 06:51 teacher or an evangelist? 06:53 No, some are. 06:55 That means that others, most others in fact are not, 06:59 but some are. 07:01 These are responsibilities 07:02 that Christ established in His church 07:04 to forward His work. 07:07 Then it says what the job of these apostles, 07:09 and evangelists, and pastors, and teachers and whatnot, 07:12 what they're supposed to do? 07:13 And this is found in verse 12. 07:16 Now what I'm about to do is read Ephesians 4:12 07:20 from several different versions or translations of the Bible. 07:24 And I want you to see 07:25 if the punctuation makes any difference 07:27 in the meaning conveyed. 07:29 First from the King James Version. 07:31 Listen to this. 07:32 Ephesians 4:12 07:34 from the King James Version reads, 07:36 "For..." 07:37 Now this is the job description 07:39 of those pastors, teachers, evangelists 07:40 that he just listed out in verse 11. 07:42 What are they there for? 07:43 Verse 12 says, 07:45 "For the equipping of the saints, 07:49 for the work of ministry, 07:52 for the edifying of the body of Christ." 07:55 So let me ask you a question. 07:56 How many responsibilities do these pastors, 07:59 teachers, apostle, evangelists and prophets? 08:01 How do they have according to this scripture, 08:03 how many jobs do they have? 08:07 Three. 08:08 To perfect the saints, 08:10 then they're also to do the work of ministry, 08:13 and finally, they're supposed to edify the body of Christ, 08:15 three different jobs. 08:18 That's the King James Version. 08:19 And trust me, 08:20 this is not a symposium on Bible translations, 08:22 we're not going there. 08:24 But look at the New King James Version 08:26 of the exact same passage. 08:29 Word for word the same, 08:30 the only thing that's different is the punctuation 08:32 but see if you notice a different meaning. 08:35 Pastors and teachers are given for this purpose, 08:37 Verse 12, 08:39 "For the equipping of the saints 08:41 for the work of ministry, 08:43 for the edifying of the body of Christ." 08:47 They removed one comma, 08:48 and now apparently there's only two jobs. 08:51 For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, 08:57 for the edifying of the body of Christ. 09:01 So which is the pastors' job? 09:03 The teachers, the evangelists, the apostles, 09:05 are they supposed to do the work of ministry 09:07 and build up? 09:08 Or are they supposed to equip people 09:10 to do the work of ministry? 09:11 Which one is it? 09:14 Now I know it's gonna seem like heresy, 09:16 but calm down. 09:18 In Ephesians 4:12 09:20 I believe the New International Version 09:23 gives us the best meaning of the passage. 09:26 Here we go. 09:28 "To equip his people for works of service, 09:33 so that the body of Christ may be built up." 09:37 Now, how many jobs are there? 09:40 One. 09:44 So what do we do with this passage, 09:45 'cause we read three different ways? 09:47 Do we pick the one we're most comfortable with 09:48 and say, oh, this must be the meaning 09:49 because it fits what I'm currently doing? 09:52 No. 09:53 How do we interpret difficult passages 09:56 or could seem problematic, 09:58 who can have various interpretations, 10:00 what do we do? 10:01 We do the same thing we did with Luke 23:43, 10:03 we look at the context. 10:05 What does the apostle continue to say? 10:07 So we can understand which one he meant. 10:10 Let's continue reading. 10:12 Again, from the New King James Version, 10:13 "For the equipping of the saints 10:15 for the work of ministry, 10:16 for the edifying of the body of Christ, 10:18 till we all come to the knowledge 10:20 to the unity of the faith 10:21 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 10:23 to a perfect man, 10:24 to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 10:26 that we should no longer be children, 10:28 tossed to and fro and carried about 10:30 with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, 10:32 in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. 10:35 But, speaking the truth in love, 10:36 may grow up in all things into Him 10:38 who is the head Christ." 10:40 Now notice verse 16 is gonna be our answer. 10:43 "From whom," that is from Christ, 10:46 "the whole body, joined and knit together 10:49 by what every joint supplies, 10:53 by which every part does its share, 10:58 causes growth of the body 11:00 for the edifying of itself in love." 11:03 Notice His expectation is that, 11:06 every member of the church will do the work 11:08 and as a result, the body will be edified, 11:11 and the church will grow. 11:14 So does He expect that all the pastors, 11:16 and teachers, and evangelists 11:17 are supposed to perfect the saints 11:19 and also do the work of ministry 11:20 and build up the body of Christ? 11:22 That means the lay people's job 11:23 is to pray for them and support them 11:24 with their tithes and offerings. 11:28 Now there's nothing wrong with praying for your pastors, 11:29 please do that. 11:31 Pray for the evangelists, pray for those leaders, 11:33 those positions of responsibility 11:34 God has established. 11:36 And yes, support the church with your tithes and offerings, 11:37 no doubt, but is that the end of your Christian duty? 11:41 No, apparently the role of the pastor 11:44 is to train and equip the members, 11:45 so that they do ministry 11:47 and as a result, 11:48 the church will grow and be built up. 11:53 Notice this, 11:55 Paul gives this council over and over. 11:59 Paul view the work of full-time clergy 12:02 as primarily having two responsibilities. 12:05 Number one, 12:07 to win souls themselves 12:09 by personal and public evangelism 12:11 and number two, 12:13 to train local leaders to manage church families 12:16 and win souls in their sphere. 12:19 Where by the way do you think Paul got this notion? 12:22 From the model ministry of Christ. 12:24 Christ came to do ministry and to train ministers, right? 12:29 And now the church that is built in His name 12:31 is supposed to go forward in His methodology, 12:34 in His way of going about doing the work of ministry. 12:38 Let's take a look at this in practical terms. 12:40 Go to 2 Timothy. 12:42 If you go to the t-section of the Bible, 12:44 all the t-books are gathered together, 12:46 handily enough in alphabetical order. 12:48 So 2 Timothy, 12:50 Paul is giving counsel to his young protégé, Timothy. 12:55 And if you've ever been to an ordination service 12:57 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 12:59 how many of you ever attended one of those events? 13:01 It's a powerful thing, it's a prayerful thing. 13:02 They have the other elders 13:04 and they have ordained ministers come together. 13:05 It's a wonderful thing but I guarantee you, 13:08 at that event, 13:10 either the pastor has preached on this 13:12 or on the bulletin this passage is printed 13:14 but somehow 13:16 this piece of scripture is invoked 13:19 during the ordination charge 13:21 because this is Paul's charge to Timothy 13:23 as a gospel minister. 13:25 And notice what he tells him to do. 13:26 Verse 1, 13:27 "I charge you therefore before God 13:30 and the Lord Jesus Christ, 13:32 who will judge the living and the dead 13:34 at His appearing and His kingdom. 13:37 Preach the word!" 13:38 Amen? 13:39 Notice it does not say preach popular opinion, 13:41 preach psychology, 13:43 preach your favorites, preach your whatever. 13:44 He says preach the what? 13:46 The Word. 13:49 "Be ready in season and out of season. 13:51 Convince, rebuke, exhort, 13:54 with all longsuffering and teaching." 13:56 Why is it so important? 13:57 Verse 3 "For the time will come..." 14:00 Notice He doesn't say the time might come, 14:02 be ready, it could happen. 14:03 "For the time will come 14:05 when they will not endure sound doctrine, 14:09 but according to their own desires, 14:11 because they have itching ears, 14:13 they will heap up for themselves, 14:15 teachers." 14:16 Please notice also, 14:18 it does not say they will leave the church. 14:21 They like being taught, 14:23 they just want to hear the things taught 14:25 that they want to hear. 14:26 So they're not gonna leave the church, 14:27 they're just gonna leave your church. 14:30 They're gonna go across the street, 14:31 they're gonna go down the road, they're gonna go somewhere else 14:33 where a message is more pleasing 14:35 to their itching ears. 14:38 He says they're gonna get these itching ears, teachers. 14:41 Verse 4, 14:42 "And they will turn their ears away from the truth, 14:45 and be turned aside to fables." 14:49 So He said, look, 14:50 this is gonna be a tough ministry, 14:51 you're gonna preach the Word and you're gonna convince, 14:53 rebuke and exhort, 14:54 and not everybody's gonna like it. 14:56 In fact, a lot of people are gonna leave, 14:59 but you be faithful. 15:00 In fact, that's how He closes in verse 5, 15:02 "But you be watchful in all things, 15:06 endure afflictions," and then watch this, 15:08 "do the work of a," what? 15:11 "An evangelist, 15:14 fulfill your ministry." 15:16 Now oftentimes, especially in times 15:19 when the church seems to be drifting 15:20 from its original purpose, 15:22 and other people are preaching messages 15:23 that may not be as biblical as they should be, 15:26 the church members get little antsy, 15:27 a little anxious, and they say, 15:29 you know what, we should read this here 15:30 and this is what we need in our church. 15:31 We need a pastor to come and preach to us 15:34 to preach the Word, 15:36 which of course, we should preach the word. 15:38 But my question for you today is not what should He preach, 15:42 but to whom should He preach it? 15:46 It says, preach the Word. 15:47 And my question is to whom? 15:50 I think the answer is found in verse 5. 15:54 Do the work of an what? 15:57 An evangelist. 15:59 Friends, let me ask you. 16:01 Who do evangelists preach to? 16:04 Believers or non-believers? 16:07 Non-believers. 16:08 The purpose of evangelism is to make believers 16:11 out of people who don't already believe, right? 16:14 So He says, you're gonna go in and preach the Word 16:17 to these people who haven't been exposed 16:19 and many of them will not like it, 16:21 but you keep going 16:23 and keep doing that work of an evangelist. 16:26 Apparently, his job is to go not preach 16:29 to the members who are already established, 16:30 but to go win new member 16:32 through the work of preaching the Word 16:33 in an evangelistic context. 16:36 Do the work of an evangelist. 16:40 Listen to this, 16:42 The Upward Look, page 264. 16:44 Sister White writes, 16:45 speaking of the members in the pew, 16:47 "My brethren and sisters, 16:49 there is something more for you to do 16:52 than to sit in your churches Sabbath after Sabbath 16:55 and listen to the preaching of the Word. 17:00 You have a work to do 17:01 for your friends and neighbors." 17:03 She then explains, 17:05 "Our ministers 17:07 are not to be encouraged 17:09 to hover about the churches, to repeat to the believers 17:13 week after week, the same truths. 17:18 We have a truth that is saving and precious. 17:20 The Word of God must be planted in many hearts. 17:23 The bread of life must be dealt out 17:25 too many hungering souls. 17:28 She says, you should not come to church 17:30 and expect that same pastor to be there every week 17:32 teaching you again, and again, and again about the Sabbath, 17:35 and the state of the dead, and the sanctuary. 17:37 You've heard the message. 17:38 Now the responsibility, 17:39 you go share it with someone else. 17:44 But oftentimes, that's not how it works 17:45 these days in the church. 17:48 We hear preach the Word, we say yes. 17:50 We need to buy ourselves a pastor to have here 17:52 to preach to me. 17:54 In fact, that's a little tongue in cheek, 17:56 of course, but many people assume 17:57 that the reason they return tithes and offerings 17:59 is not to go win other souls, 18:01 it's to continue to minister to their soul. 18:05 That they pay it therefore, I'm owed it. 18:10 Friends, that's a dangerous deception. 18:13 Continuing in the t-section to the right, 18:15 go to The Book of Titus, just next door, 18:17 another protégé of the Apostle Paul, 18:20 who he taught how to do the work of ministry. 18:24 Notice in Titus 1:5. 18:27 It's a single sentence, but there's a lot in there, 18:29 and we need to break it down and understand it. 18:32 It says, 18:33 "For this reason I left you in Crete..." 18:38 So let's pause right there. 18:41 Let's dissect the sentence. 18:42 Apparently, 18:44 Paul and Titus were laboring together 18:47 as they entered Crete 18:50 and for some time, they were there, 18:51 but at some point, 18:53 Paul went on beyond Crete and left Titus there. 18:57 And now he explains, I hope 18:59 and I trust by the way that he explained 19:00 before he left what he was going to do. 19:02 I hope the letter to Titus wasn't the first time 19:04 he got an explanation 19:06 of why Paul was just gone one day. 19:07 But either way, 19:09 Paul writes and said, here's the reason 19:11 I left you in Crete, 19:13 that you should set in order the things 19:17 that are lacking, 19:19 and appoint elders in every city 19:21 as I commanded you. 19:24 So clearly, he already commanded him about this. 19:26 So he's writing to remind him of this instruction. 19:30 And he needed to put things in order that were lacking, 19:33 namely, to appoint elders, where? 19:36 In every city, 19:39 which tells us something about Crete. 19:41 Crete was not just a single city 19:42 with one church congregation, 19:44 it was a territory. 19:46 Crete is an island 19:48 and there are many cities on that island 19:51 or in that territory. 19:52 And so Paul did not leave Titus there 19:54 to be the pastor of the church in Crete. 19:58 He left him there to organize the work in that territory 20:01 by appointing elders in every city, 20:04 according to the teaching he already given him. 20:07 Does that make sense? 20:08 So Paul did not say, 20:10 now you are the pastor to the church in Crete, 20:12 go stay there for the rest of your life. 20:15 No, no, no. 20:16 He said, you have a work to do. 20:17 Apparently, they had done the work of evangelism 20:19 and many new believers have been raised up 20:21 in many different cities. 20:23 But they were scattered, they were disorganized, 20:25 and they needed to be brought into working order. 20:27 And he said, Titus, 20:29 now you go back around to these churches 20:30 in this territory, 20:32 and you appoint elders in each one 20:33 so that they can run themselves. 20:36 Now where did Paul go? 20:38 He went off to do the work of an evangelist, 20:42 he went to go, win more souls 20:43 and build up more churches 20:45 and then he would have follow up work 20:46 to do organizing the whatnot. 20:48 But he had a method of ministry 20:51 that made his mission so distinct and successful. 20:56 It wasn't just the message, 20:58 but it was his method of working 21:01 that made Paul such as accessible. 21:03 By the way, can you imagine the ministry of Paul, 21:05 if he viewed it another way? 21:07 All of those maps in the back of your Bible, 21:09 instead of having lines all over the place 21:11 with little dots along the way where he stopped, 21:13 what if it just had one stop? 21:16 And that was it. 21:17 And he just stayed there and in that one place 21:19 is the local church for the rest of his ministry? 21:21 Of course not. 21:23 He understood that the work of the pastor 21:24 was to do an evangelistic work, raise up new believers, 21:27 and then organize the ones that are there, 21:29 so they can take care of themselves 21:30 and we can move on and by God's grace, 21:32 give the gospel to the whole world. 21:36 Now I want to walk you through Adventist history. 21:41 You know, we got the message 21:43 of the Seventh-day Advent movement 21:44 directly from the Word of God. 21:46 Amen? 21:47 Everything that we believe 21:48 comes from the pages of Holy Scripture, 21:50 about the Sabbath, about the sanctuary, 21:52 about the state of the dead, 21:53 about the second coming, about the Spirit of Prophecy. 21:56 By the way, we keep the Spirit of Prophecy 21:58 as faithfully as we do, 21:59 not because we just like this individual, 22:01 but because the Word of God says 22:03 to listen to prophets, so we obey, right? 22:06 The message comes from the scriptures. 22:09 But I believe that 22:10 we're gonna see in this history outline here, 22:13 that the method of giving that message 22:15 also came from Scripture. 22:18 Notice this, 22:19 we're gonna start way back in 1886 22:21 and you realize, of course, 22:23 that the Seventh-day Adventist Church 22:24 was not organized officially until 1863. 22:27 Nearly 20 years after the great disappointment of 1844 22:30 and it took some time to get. 22:31 You know, in the first few years 22:33 they were having their understanding of gospel truth, 22:35 enlarge and then they would plant this truth, 22:38 and then they would organize the work, 22:39 and finally in 1863, 22:41 we had the official Seventh-day Adventist name 22:44 and organization established. 22:46 But from that time forward, 22:48 the church grew incredibly quickly. 22:51 In 1863, there were about 22:53 3,500 Seventh-day Adventists in the world 22:55 and they're all right there 22:56 in the northern part of North America, 22:58 okay, of the United States. 23:01 But as the work began to go, 23:04 and the message started to spread, 23:05 it went so quickly that even secular newspapers, 23:09 even secular journalists 23:11 noted the rapidity of the growth rate 23:14 of a Seventh-day Adventist movement. 23:16 And in 1886, 23:19 the Wabash Indiana Plain Dealer 23:21 interviewed one of our leading elders at the time, 23:24 Brother G.B Starr. 23:27 And here's what the question was. 23:30 They asked, "By what means 23:32 have you carried forward your work so rapidly?" 23:37 Here's the answer given. 23:39 "Well, in the first place, 23:42 we have no settled pastors." 23:48 The question was, 23:49 how does your church get the message out so quickly? 23:51 And his answer was, 23:52 the first thing he can think of, 23:54 we don't have any settled pastors. 23:57 What did he mean by that? He goes on to explain. 23:59 "Our church churches are taught to take care of themselves, 24:04 while nearly all of our ministers work 24:06 as," what do you think? 24:08 "Evangelists in new fields." 24:11 So he says, we have no settled pastors, 24:13 but nearly all work as evangelists. 24:16 That means the few others must have been administrators 24:18 organizing the work, 24:20 but there were no local settled pastors. 24:23 And he said, this is one of the keys 24:25 of our rapid expansion, that was 1886. 24:29 Let's move forward in time, 24:32 26 years later, in 1912. 24:36 Here the General Conference president was A. G. Daniells, 24:39 and he was speaking to a ministerial institute 24:41 in the city of Los Angeles, California. 24:43 So to organized group of ministers, 24:46 the General Conference President spoke these words. 24:49 He says, 24:51 "We have not settled our ministers over churches 24:54 as pastors 24:56 to any large extent." 25:00 Twenty six years earlier, no settled pastors. 25:03 By 1912, 25:05 not to any large extent, 25:08 that means that there must be by this time, 25:11 a few, there must be some. 25:14 By the way, 25:15 if there were just a few settled pastors, 25:17 where do you think 25:19 they would be landing at that time? 25:22 Over the small rural churches out in the country districts? 25:25 Nope. 25:26 In the large institute... This is what he said. 25:29 Again, "We have not settled our ministers over churches 25:32 as pastors to any large extent. 25:33 In some of the very large churches 25:35 we have elected pastors, but as a rule, 25:39 we have held ourselves ready for field service, 25:41 evangelistic work 25:43 and our brethren and sisters have held themselves 25:45 ready to maintain their church services 25:46 and carry forward their church work without settled pastors." 25:50 Then, A. G. Daniells is not a prophet, 25:53 but he was insightful in looking to the future. 25:55 He said this, 25:56 "And I hope this will never cease 25:59 to be the old of affairs in this denomination." 26:03 And here's why, 26:05 "For when we cease our forward movement work 26:08 and begin to settle over our churches, 26:10 to stay by them, 26:11 and do their thinking and their praying 26:13 and their work that is to be done, 26:16 then our churches will begin to weaken, 26:18 and to lose their life and spirit, 26:20 and become paralyzed and fossilized 26:22 and our work will be on a retreat." 26:26 Notice he says, 26:27 the more pastors we have in local churches, 26:29 the less advancement we're gonna have. 26:33 That was 1912. 26:36 Let's go 45 years forward to 1957. 26:39 In a lecture given at the Washington 26:41 Missionary College in SDA seminary, 26:43 HMS Richard Sr., 26:46 lamented what he saw as the current situation 26:49 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at that time. 26:53 "The time of too many of our preachers, 26:55 instead of being occupied with carrying the message 26:57 into new fields, 26:58 is taken up in settling church difficulties 27:02 and laboring for men and women 27:04 who should be towers of strength 27:05 instead of subjects for labor. 27:08 When I was baptized, 27:10 and later became a young preacher, 27:12 we looked upon churches 27:14 that had to have settled pastors 27:15 over every flock as being decadent. 27:19 Most of our preachers were out on the firing line, 27:22 holding meetings, winning men to Christ, 27:25 and raising up new churches." 27:28 Most of our preachers, he said. 27:30 Then he said, "Then every few months," 27:33 now keep that in mind. 27:34 "Every few months 27:35 they would come around and visit the churches 27:38 that had already been established. 27:41 This seemed to be according to our view of it, 27:45 the plan of the apostolic church." 27:48 They said, "Where did we get this model of ministry 27:50 with no settled pastors, 27:51 but emphasis on evangelism 27:53 and opening up new fields?" 27:55 We didn't make this up, 27:56 we read the Bible, we saw the Apostle Paul, 27:58 we saw Titus, we saw Timothy, 28:00 we see all the apostolic church and we say, 28:01 well, that's how it was supposed 28:03 to go the early days, maybe in the last days, 28:04 it should move that way too. 28:07 And the Lord blessed because the church grew, 28:09 but by 1957, 28:11 HMS Richards, soon he was able to say, 28:13 you know what? 28:14 We're seeing a change, and it's not for the better. 28:19 1995, 28:21 Elder C. D. Brooks, 28:24 couple of years ago, by the way, we lost him. 28:27 He was a giant. 28:29 And he said these words, 28:32 "When I was a boy 28:34 we saw our pastor once every five weeks. 28:38 Today nearly every Sabbath there is a preacher 28:41 and still our members wonder 28:43 'What's happening to us? 28:45 Is the Holy Ghost still with us?' 28:50 " HMS Richards Sr., said, it used to be every few months. 28:53 C. D. Brook said, every five weeks, 28:55 but he says now every week. 28:57 If you go to a Seventh-day Adventist church 28:59 every single week, 29:00 you expect to have a preacher giving you a sermon. 29:04 Has it made the churches stronger? 29:07 Are we advancing faster? 29:09 Is our growth rate increasing 29:12 because we have such good preaching now? 29:15 Mercy. 29:18 In 1994, 29:21 the Seventh-day Adventist Church wrote a... 29:24 I assume the ministerial department 29:26 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 29:27 the General Conference, 29:28 wrote a handbook for elders, 29:31 local church elders 29:33 for how to operate the local church. 29:36 And on page 23, 29:37 we find this fascinating statement. 29:39 It's almost as though someone noted 29:40 that we had drifted from a biblical ideal 29:43 not in our message, but in our method. 29:46 And they wrote these words. 29:47 "During the Middle Ages, 29:49 the clergy largely took over the work of the church. 29:54 The Seventh-day Adventist Church still struggles 29:56 to overcome that Medieval tradition 29:59 and seeks to restore the biblical concept 30:02 that all believers are ministers. 30:05 Members in general, and elders in particular, 30:09 need a greater vision of their significance 30:11 and responsibility in the church 30:13 and its work." 30:15 So after some 100 years of this drift 30:17 towards settled pastors, 30:19 the Elder's Handbook of 1994 30:21 was able to say wait a minute, friends, 30:22 we've got a problem. 30:23 We need to reinvigorate the ministry potential 30:26 of every member 30:28 and have elders running the local churches. 30:31 This is the biblical model. And to add, I say, amen. 30:35 Now, I had the opportunity 30:37 to present this particular message 30:39 at one of our universities. 30:42 And I forgot to bring with me 30:44 the actual Elder's Handbook, 30:46 so I can hold it in my hand and say, 30:47 see it says here, we need to get back to this, 30:50 but it's okay, at the university campus 30:52 there's an Adventist book center nearby 30:53 and so I went down the street 30:55 and I got that copy of the Elder's Handbook. 30:57 And to my surprise, 31:01 it was not the little green book 31:03 I was used to. 31:04 They had changed the color of the cover, 31:06 and now it was blue. 31:09 I said, you know what? It's okay. 31:10 They've just modified the cover, 31:12 they've used a different font and a different, 31:14 you know, scheme of design or something like that is fine. 31:17 So I flipped and I looked for page 23 31:19 'cause I wanted to read the statement. 31:22 Well, I found page 23. 31:24 It does have a page 23 but that statement was gone. 31:28 Furthermore, that entire sentiment was gone. 31:32 But I did find this interesting statement 31:34 on page 28 of the revised Elder's Handbook. 31:39 This is the 2013 edition, says, 31:42 see if you can see, sense a change here, 31:46 "The Seventh-day Adventist Church is growing rapidly 31:50 and many churches are understaffed. 31:56 In such situations 31:58 there may be large multi-church districts 32:01 where a pastor is shared among several churches 32:04 and is able to visit each church 32:06 only once every two or three months. 32:10 It is the faithful service of local elders 32:13 that helps keep these churches strong and growing." 32:18 What were the problem apparently 32:20 that they're seeing with those poor churches? 32:22 That they are tragically understaffed. 32:26 What does that mean? 32:28 Those poor churches don't have their own pastor. 32:34 And in those rare situations, 32:36 that's where the elders are helpful 32:38 until we can get established to get a pastor. 32:47 Now we've got, studied the Bible. 32:51 We've looked at that methodology of church growth, 32:53 we've looked at Adventist history 32:57 and seeing the shift 32:59 and structure there. 33:02 But now I want to take you to the Spirit of Prophecy. 33:05 And this will be more Spirit of Prophecy passages 33:07 in one shot than you probably heard 33:09 in many other sermons. 33:11 I'm not apologizing, by the way, 33:12 I'm just telling you that's what's coming. 33:14 But I want to see you if you can develop 33:16 and see if you can sense 33:18 a recurring theme in her writings here, okay? 33:22 Listen to this, from Evangelism, page 381. 33:26 "If the proper instruction were given, 33:28 if the proper methods were followed, 33:30 every church member would do his work 33:32 as a member of the body. 33:34 He would do Christian missionary work. 33:36 But the churches are dying, 33:39 and they want a minister to preach to them. 33:43 They should be taught 33:44 that unless they can stand alone 33:46 without a minister, 33:48 they need to be converted anew, and baptized anew. 33:52 They need to be born again." 33:56 Now I don't know if she was speaking in large terms 33:58 or using hyperbole to make her point, 34:00 but she's saying that not that the dependence 34:03 upon a pastor for your spiritual life 34:06 is something that requires repentance, 34:09 conversion and re-baptism. 34:14 Whoo! 34:16 Listen to this, Ministry of Healing, page 149, 34:19 "Every church should be a training school 34:22 for Christian workers." 34:24 Think about that, church should be school. 34:29 You don't go there merely for inspiration, 34:32 you go there for information, 34:34 so you can go to work 34:35 and do a part as the body of Christ, right? 34:39 "Every church should be a training school 34:41 for Christian workers. 34:43 Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings, 34:45 how to conduct and teach Sabbath school classes, 34:47 how best to help the poor and to care for the sick, 34:50 how to work for the unconverted." 34:52 Here we are from the Atlantic Union Gleaner, January 8, 1902, 34:56 "There should not be a call 34:58 to have settled pastors over our churches, 35:00 but let the life-giving power of the truth 35:02 impress the individual members to act, 35:05 leading them to labor 35:06 interestedly to carry on efficient missionary work 35:08 in each locality, 35:10 as the hand of God the churches to be educated 35:13 and trained to do effective service. 35:15 Its members are to be the Lord's 35:18 devoted Christian workers." 35:21 That was the Atlantic Union Gleaner, 1902. 35:23 Let's go to the Pacific Union Recorder 35:25 in the same year 1902. 35:27 "Oh, what a work there is before us! 35:30 Our ministers are not to hover over those 35:32 who have received the message. 35:35 Just as soon as a church is organized, 35:37 let the minister set the members to work. 35:40 The newly-formed churches will need to be educated. 35:43 The minister should devote more of his time 35:45 to educating than to preaching. 35:48 He should teach the people 35:50 how to extend the knowledge of the truth. 35:56 As a pastor, this is perhaps one of the most... 36:01 Well, I'll get to there in a minute. 36:03 Testimonies for the Church, volume 7, pages 19 and 20. 36:06 "The greatest help that can be given our people 36:09 is to teach them to work for God, 36:11 and to depend on Him, not on the ministers... 36:15 Let the minister devote more of his time 36:16 to educating than to preaching. 36:18 Let him teach the people 36:20 how to give to others 36:21 the knowledge they have received." 36:23 So notice the work of the pastors to do evangelism 36:25 and raise up new believers, 36:27 then train them so that they can teach 36:29 that to other people 36:30 and they can manage the local duties 36:32 while they go on and do the work 36:34 of the gospel evangelism. 36:36 This is one of my favorites, Evangelism, page 382. 36:38 It cuts right to the heart as a pastor. 36:41 "If the ministers would get out of the way, 36:45 if they would go forth into new fields, 36:48 the members would be obliged to bear responsibilities, 36:52 and their capabilities would increase by use." 36:56 Let's focus on this one a little bit. 36:58 She says that the ministers would just get out of the way 37:00 and go do evangelism. 37:02 The local members would be obliged 37:05 to start bearing some burdens, 37:06 and she adds their capabilities would increase by what? 37:10 By use. 37:12 Let's put it in the physical realm. 37:14 If you were to be in a terrible car accident, 37:16 and your leg was broken into many pieces, 37:18 and they had to do surgery and repair your limb. 37:21 They had to put rods in, and stitches, and bone-ups, 37:24 you know, knit up the bones and put you in a cast 37:26 and for weeks, and weeks, and weeks, 37:28 your body would be healing 37:29 and you'd be immobilized in this apparatus. 37:32 You would have this cast on 37:35 and after that time, 37:37 once the bones had healed well enough, 37:39 and they took that cast off, 37:41 would you notice any difference between this leg and that leg? 37:45 Yes, you would. 37:47 The one that's been in a cast is gonna look different. 37:49 Why? 37:51 Because the muscles have atrophied. 37:54 That's gonna be weaker, it's going to be paler, 37:56 it's gonna maybe, smell from the cast, 37:57 it's is gonna be a mess, right? 37:59 Now if you were to hop up on that leg. 38:03 Whoo! 38:05 And then go march a marathon, 38:07 how would you do? 38:09 It would be terrible, right? 38:12 But you would not stand up have your leg giveaway and say, 38:15 oh, my I must not have been given 38:17 the gift of walking. 38:21 No. 38:23 And no physical therapist 38:25 who sees you in that poor condition 38:26 would come into your room and say, 38:28 oh, my, look at that limb. 38:30 That is so bad. 38:32 I've never seen anything that bad. 38:33 You know what we need to do for you? 38:35 I'm gonna prescribe total bed rest. 38:40 What I want you to do is lift that leg up, 38:42 lay it on the bed and never move it again. 38:46 Of course, not. 38:48 Now are they gonna say go to the gym 38:49 and start really cranking out weights? 38:51 No. 38:52 They're gonna say what? 38:53 Stretch a little bit, 38:56 take a few little steps with a walker, 38:58 maybe just start to rehabilitated 39:00 a little bit more. 39:01 And guess what happens? 39:03 Your capabilities would increase by what? 39:05 By use. 39:07 Friends, the same is true 39:09 in the spiritual realm as the physical realm. 39:12 Many people 39:14 not only don't give Bible studies, 39:16 but if they did, they would do a bad job. 39:21 Does that mean that they have not been given the gift 39:24 of sharing their faith? 39:27 No. 39:28 It means they just haven't done it in a while 39:31 and they need to get better at it. 39:33 Let me ask you friends, 39:35 is the inability to do something 39:36 or the poor capacity added evidence 39:39 that you should therefore not do it ever again. 39:42 No, it is evidence 39:43 that you need to increase your practice at it, 39:46 so that you become proficient 39:48 and your capabilities will increase by use. 39:53 Friends, when we go out door to door 39:54 and knock on the homes of people 39:56 and ask them for Bible studies, 39:57 there are many people who are terrible at it. 40:01 And they'll say, "Pastor, it's just not my gift." 40:04 Let me tell you something, friends, 40:05 nowhere in the Bible do you find sharing your faith 40:08 and giving the gospel as a spiritual gift. 40:12 It is expected that every member 40:14 of the body of Christ is to be a missionary. 40:18 That is the expectation of God's work for us, 40:22 we're to be missionaries. 40:24 This idea that, oh, sharing my faith 40:27 and giving the Word of God 40:28 and giving the truth to my neighbor and my friends 40:31 and my co-workers and giving Bible studies, 40:34 leading people into the faith. 40:36 That's only for those well trained, 40:38 highly paid pastors, evangelists and... 40:43 It is a fatal deception to the growth of our church 40:46 and the salvation of souls to think 40:47 that it depends only on specialist 40:49 when every member supposed to be a missionary. 40:52 Let's continue, 40:55 October 22, 1889, in the Review and Herald, 40:58 we read, "If church members are educated to be silent 41:01 and useless members, 41:03 instead of benefiting the church, 41:05 they will be a hindrance to its advancement and growth. 41:08 If they are educated to lean upon the minister, 41:11 they will become only inefficient 41:13 and demoralized members 41:15 and the church will be powerless, 41:17 instead of active and efficient." 41:19 Now that sounds like a pretty negative comment. 41:21 But listen to the beginning again, 41:23 if church members are educated 41:25 to be silent and useless members. 41:28 I find a great lot of hope in that, why? 41:31 Because apparently, 41:32 when new people come unto this message, 41:34 they have to taught, be taught how to be quiet. 41:37 It doesn't come naturally. 41:39 Have any of you ever met, 41:40 or perhaps even been someone 41:42 who came into the Seventh-day Adventist message? 41:45 For those first few days, weeks and months, 41:47 you can't get them to be quiet. 41:50 Everywhere they go, 41:52 they're talking about the signs of the times, 41:53 and the mark of the beast and all these kind of truths 41:55 that they've just learned. 41:57 They'll go to the water cooler at work 41:58 and the neighbor wants to talk 41:59 about the sports event from the weekend 42:01 and they're like forget about the sports event, 42:02 let me tell you about the mark of the beast, do you know? 42:07 But what happens? 42:09 Apparently, they're educated to be silent 42:12 and useless members. 42:14 Now I don't know if you attended church 42:16 that puts on a seminar called, 42:18 how to be a silent and useless member? 42:24 I don't think I've ever seen a church 42:25 teach people intentionally, 42:27 how to be quiet and useless 42:32 but apparently they are taught. 42:36 Is it possible that they're learning from our example? 42:42 You take that new believer who's excited about the truth. 42:44 Six weeks in, 42:46 they're burning flame of fire for the Lord. 42:50 Six months in, 42:52 there's still a flame 42:55 but they've calmed down a little bit. 42:58 Six years in, 43:00 if they're still there at all. 43:03 All they've done is found their place, 43:05 their pew, their routine, 43:08 and they've lost that missionary zeal 43:10 and now they're just another member. 43:18 Review and Herald, July 16, 1908, 43:21 "There are many who have never heard from the Word 43:24 the reasons for our faith, 43:26 and yet some of our ministers feel a burden 43:28 to hover over little companies of believers 43:31 in an effort to hold them together. 43:33 The best way to hold them together 43:35 is to induce them to maintain a living connection with God, 43:39 and to exert their influence 43:40 in seeking to draw others to Him." 43:43 Help them see that they have a job to do, 43:45 they have a work to do, 43:47 they have a ministry of their own, 43:48 maybe they're not ordained, 43:50 maybe they're not paid, 43:51 maybe they don't have a title or a position, 43:53 but they still have this gospel message. 43:55 And there should be a fire in our bones 43:57 to reach the lost. 44:00 New members have to be educated to be silent. 44:04 You know, I used to think it was such a powerful thing 44:05 to quote that statement from Mrs. White 44:07 where she said every church should be a training center. 44:10 And then it dawned on me one day 44:12 as I was preaching this message 44:13 that every church already is a training center. 44:22 Every Seventh-day Adventist Church 44:24 is already a training center. 44:26 The question is, what are we teaching people to do? 44:32 Friends, we're either teaching them to be workers, 44:36 or we're training them to be mere watchers. 44:44 You know, it was only a few years ago, 44:45 and I've been in ministry now for some 18 years, 44:48 that I actually figured out what my job description is. 44:50 You know, when you go to meet the local church, 44:52 and they wanted, the conference wants to see 44:53 if you'd be a good fit there and whatnot, 44:55 they go around the room, 44:56 they'll have 20 or 30 people there. 44:58 And this has happened more time than once in my ministry, 45:00 they'll go around the room for a couple of hours, 45:02 ask you every question, do you do this, 45:03 do you do this, can you do this, 45:05 does your wife do this? 45:06 Well, and they want to know all the things that you can do. 45:09 And what positions you hold 45:10 and what you do, what you do, what you do. 45:12 And after one such meeting, 45:13 one of the conference leaders 45:15 put his arm around me. 45:17 As we were going to the parking lot and he said, 45:18 did you hear their questions? 45:20 He said every question they ask you 45:22 is what you can do for them. 45:25 He said, now let me tell you what your job is. 45:28 Your job is to get them to ask better questions. 45:33 You need to help them see 45:35 that you are not there to minister for them, 45:38 that you are there to train them 45:39 to minister for others. 45:42 You have to reframe the whole concept 45:46 or we're gonna to be sitting here 45:47 dependent on pastors, 45:49 relying less on the Lord 45:51 and doing less of His work. 45:53 Listen to this, from Gospel Workers, page 197, 45:55 Mrs. White gives a little parable. 45:57 She says, "In some respects 46:00 the pastor occupies the position 46:02 similar to that of the foreman of a gang of laboring men 46:05 or the captain of a ship's crew. 46:08 They are expected to see 46:09 that the men over whom they are set, 46:11 do the work assigned to them correctly and promptly, 46:14 and only in case of emergency are they to execute in detail." 46:20 And here comes the parable, 46:22 "The owner of a large mill 46:24 once found his superintendent in a wheel-pit, 46:28 making some simple repairs, 46:30 while a half-dozen workmen in the line 46:32 were standing by, idly looking on." 46:35 So you get the picture. 46:36 There's an owner of the mill, 46:38 he comes in and finds the superintendent 46:40 that he has hired, 46:42 doing work in the wheel-pit, 46:43 some simple repair 46:45 while six other workmen are watching. 46:52 The proprietor, that is the owner 46:55 after learning the facts, 46:56 so as to be sure that no injustice was done, 46:59 called the foreman to his office 47:01 and handed him his discharge with full pay. 47:05 What's that code for? 47:07 Hi, can you come by my office? 47:09 Sure, just a minute. Let me finish this up. 47:10 And when he comes in, then he says, 47:12 I see you're doing a lot of work down there. 47:13 Yeah, I'm sweating away. 47:15 I'm doing all the work, in fact, I need to get back. 47:16 He said, "All right, real quick before you go, you're fired." 47:21 You can imagine he's like, "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. 47:23 Did you say I'm fired? 47:25 Didn't you hear me say I'm working my tail up. 47:28 I'm the one down in the pit helping out. 47:29 I'm the only one down there working 47:31 and you're gonna fire me." 47:37 "In surprise, 47:38 the foreman asked for the explanation. 47:41 And it was given in these words, 47:45 'I employed you to keep six men at work. 47:50 I found the six idle, 47:53 and you doing the work of but one." 47:58 Now listen to this, 47:59 "Your work 48:01 could have been done just as well by any one of the six. 48:07 One of the reasons people don't give Bible studies, 48:09 they'll say, well, I mean, let me introduce my pastor. 48:11 My pastor will do that, he's trained, he's better, 48:13 he's proficient, he's more capable. 48:16 We have this mentality that giving the gospel 48:20 to the lost is a specialty for just a few, 48:24 when in reality it's the responsibility of us all. 48:28 Your work could have been well done 48:29 just as well by any one of the six. 48:32 She then makes a financial argument in the parable. 48:34 She says, "I cannot afford 48:38 to pay the wages of seven 48:41 for you to teach the six how to be idle." 48:48 That thought struck me 48:51 as a revolutionary idea. 48:55 That not only is it too much work for the one guy, 48:59 but his hard work 49:02 is teaching laziness to the other six. 49:06 We would call that in today's nomenclature 49:08 an enabler. 49:11 Instead of getting them to do, 49:12 he just does for them 49:13 and they're learning idleness from his industry. 49:20 Now think about the financial argument. 49:22 The proprietor, the owner is now paying seven salaries 49:27 for one man to work. 49:31 That's just a bad business model. 49:33 That's poor stewardship in the house of God. 49:37 Friends, how many Seventh-day Adventist Churches today 49:40 have that model 49:41 where you have 100 people watching one person working? 49:46 When that person's job, 49:48 they're getting paid by the tithe 49:51 to go train 100 people to be soul winners for Jesus. 49:56 "I cannot afford to pay the wages of seven for you 49:59 to teach the six how to be idle." 50:03 She then makes the application. 50:04 "This incident may be applicable in some cases, 50:06 and in others not. 50:08 But many pastors fail in not knowing how, 50:11 or in not trying to get 50:12 the full membership of the church 50:14 actively engaged in the various departments 50:15 of church work. 50:17 If pastors would give more attention to getting 50:19 and keeping their flock actively engaged at work, 50:24 they would accomplish more good, 50:27 have more time for study 50:29 and for religious visiting 50:31 and also avoid many causes of friction. 50:35 Is it possible that one of the reasons 50:37 there's always squabbles 50:38 and little problems in the church 50:39 is that people are sitting there 50:41 twiddling their thumbs 50:42 and they just get in little pecking fights with each other? 50:44 Have you ever been in the experience 50:45 where the whole church is galvanized for mission 50:47 and you're doing an evangelistic campaign 50:48 or you're doing a Bible study endeavor of some sort, 50:51 and everybody's on the same page, 50:52 you got to building something, something's going on 50:54 and there's a spirit of cooperation, 50:56 and the thing is moving and it's exciting. 50:58 No one cares about the carpet color 51:00 in that scenario. 51:03 But when we stop our main mission, 51:07 we start looking around just like in Acts Chapter 6, 51:09 and start disputing and fighting with each other 51:14 because we're not doing what God has called us to do. 51:19 Listen to Gospel Workers, page 352, 51:21 the most solemn of the statements, 51:23 "The work of God in the earth can never be finished 51:29 until 51:32 the men and women comprising our church membership 51:36 rally to the work 51:37 and unite their efforts 51:39 with those of ministers and church officers." 51:46 I'm so glad that sentence doesn't stop 51:48 when it says the work of God in the earth 51:49 can never be finished. 51:53 Apparently, it can be finished, 51:55 but only when members 51:59 become missionaries once again. 52:05 Now let's make one more argument in favor 52:08 of reorganizing, rethinking 52:10 how we operate in the local church. 52:14 You can take a look at the statistics 52:16 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 52:18 They're available online. 52:20 And you take any two comparably sized entities, 52:23 whether it's a union, a conference, a division, 52:25 whatever, and compare it 52:27 if they have about the same number of members 52:28 and look at one variable and that is simply this. 52:33 How many churches is each pastor responsible for? 52:38 How many churches per pastor? 52:41 And what you're going to find 52:43 and I'm going to say almost 100% 52:46 because I haven't looked at everyone, 52:47 and maybe there's some little anomaly off to the side. 52:50 But every single one I've seen personally, 52:53 is it the fewer pastors there are per church, 52:58 that is the more churches each pastor is responsible for, 53:03 the higher the growth rate 53:05 is in that territory. 53:08 Counterintuitive as it may seem, 53:11 statistically, 53:12 territories with fewer pastors 53:15 almost always grow faster. 53:20 Now, a reasonable argument could be made 53:23 and I want to be clear, I am not making this argument. 53:27 But somebody could. 53:28 If they were to look at that statistics, they could say, 53:31 well, that's obvious then, 53:32 pastors kill church growth. 53:35 Let's get rid of pastors. 53:37 No. 53:38 Does the Bible say that some are to be pastors and teachers? 53:40 Yes. 53:44 The problem is not that pastors are doing a bad job. 53:50 The problem is that the pastors are merely doing the wrong job 53:54 very well. 53:56 Many times the pastors are doing your job 54:01 and the members aren't doing any job. 54:07 Our big problem isn't poor pastors, 54:09 our big problem is poor expectations of pastors 54:14 held by both lay people and pastors themselves. 54:18 It isn't that pastors aren't doing their job well, 54:20 they're just doing the wrong job. 54:24 This is my appeal today 54:26 to truly be a people of the book. 54:30 We should work the way the book directs. 54:35 Inspiration has warned 54:37 and history has demonstrated 54:40 that settled pastors 54:42 lead to settled elders, 54:44 and settled deacons, 54:46 and settled members. 54:50 And we all just kind of settle in 54:54 to this world that is not our home. 55:00 Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, 55:02 the harvest truly is great, 55:04 but the laborers are few." 55:10 Friends, I beseech you today 55:14 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 55:16 we could say yes, 55:17 globally and division wide and union conference wide 55:20 but in your Seventh-day Adventist Church, 55:23 you can't control all other things 55:25 but for you and your house. 55:28 Reclaim the word member 55:31 and make it mean missionary once again. 55:38 We have far too many watchers 55:41 and not nearly enough workers. 55:46 We have plenty of members, we have over 20 million members 55:50 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today. 55:53 What if we reframe that to say 55:55 we in the Seventh-day Adventist Church 55:56 have 20 million missionaries, 55:59 each one giving Bible studies, 56:01 one at a time, two this time? 56:03 They don't have to be public evangelist. 56:04 They don't have to be on the stage, 56:06 don't be traveling the world 56:07 but everywhere where someone is in darkness, 56:09 they spread the light. 56:11 Everywhere where someone needs Jesus, 56:13 they give them the Word. 56:15 They're a missionary for Jesus. 56:18 You know, I believe it's Brother Mark Finley who said, 56:20 coined the phrase. 56:22 "God hasn't called you to be a missionary 56:24 where you aren't 56:25 until you're a missionary where you are." 56:30 We've taken this even the idea of a missionary, 56:31 oh, you have to go far, far away 56:33 and have sponsorship and this and this. 56:34 When friends, there are people yes across the sea. 56:36 But there are also people across the street 56:38 who need Jesus. 56:40 And who's gonna reach them. 56:42 Don't just pray for the Holy Spirit to do it 56:44 or hope that the pastor will do it 56:46 or yell at the conference, someone needs to go. 56:49 Friends, you need to go. 56:51 The Great Commission is for you too. 56:55 Every member should be a missionary, 56:56 we need a revitalization 56:59 of lay driven personal ministry 57:03 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 57:05 Let me ask you a question. 57:06 Has our presentation today been clear? 57:09 Hopefully it's been convincing 57:10 but by God's grace, 57:11 we want to be convicted 57:14 and be converted to work like Jesus asked. 57:17 Let's bow our heads. 57:18 Heavenly Father, 57:19 I thank You so much, 57:21 that in Your divine plan, 57:26 You have somehow seen fit to entrust us 57:30 to be Your co-laborers. 57:33 Lord, please forgive any apathy 57:37 or ignorance 57:38 that might have led us to drift away 57:40 from being missionaries 57:43 to being merely members in the local church. 57:48 Help us to reclaim that title again. 57:51 Help us to not do the wrong job 57:53 but help us to do the job 57:55 that you've given each of us to do that 57:56 is to win souls and lead others into the truth. 57:59 So forgive us, empower us, lead us, 58:02 guide us, encourage us, and bless us, 58:05 for we ask it in Jesus' name. 58:07 Amen. |
Revised 2019-07-05