Participants:
Series Code: TDYL
Program Code: TDYL210015A
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00:01 As you're well aware,
00:02 we're living in unprecedented times. 00:05 Join us now for Today special program. 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Mending broken people 00:23 I want to spend my life 00:29 Removing pain 00:34 Lord, let my words 00:39 Heal a heart that hurts 00:44 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 00:55 I want to spend my life 01:00 Mending broken people 01:15 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN Live. 01:19 Amen. 01:20 I'm Shelley Quinn. I'm JD Quinn. 01:22 I know you are and I love you, honey. 01:24 And I love you too, girl. 01:25 And let me just, without just even blinking, 01:29 I want to introduce our guest because I love him. 01:32 He's a brother in Christ, but he is an exciting person. 01:38 He knows the Word. 01:40 He knows the Spirit of Prophecy. 01:42 And tonight he is here to talk to us 01:45 about Sabbath School ALIVE! 01:49 And that's capital A capital L-I-V-E 01:53 with an exclamation point. 01:55 We're going to talk tonight 01:58 about how to revive 02:02 this unique ministry 02:05 and it is a special ministry. 02:07 So without further ado, Pastor Kameron DeVasher. 02:11 We're so glad you're here. 02:12 Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. 02:14 That was the best introduction I've seen in a long time. 02:16 Capital A, capital L, and you spelled it out. 02:19 And that's exactly we want to talk about 02:20 because Sabbath School 02:22 is one of those as you mentioned, 02:23 unique, powerful ministries 02:26 that in so many cases right now 02:28 is kinda sitting dormant 02:29 or just kind of dusty on a shelf. 02:31 And I believe the Lord has a burden, 02:34 at least he's put a burden on my heart, 02:35 and I think it's a growing one in our world today that 02:38 we need the dynamic small group fellowship 02:42 and study of God's Word 02:43 that's gonna breathe life into our churches. 02:46 So I'm excited to be here. 02:47 You know, I have a friend from a Latino country 02:50 and she says that 02:52 Sabbath School 02:53 is the main event at our church. 02:55 And they invite all of their friends 02:57 to Sabbath school. 02:58 Then say, "Hey, wanna stay for worship?" 03:00 But it is unique. 03:02 And we'll be talking about that, 03:03 but Kameron, let me go ahead and finish your introduction. 03:06 Please, go ahead. 03:07 You are now the director 03:08 of the Mission Conference Sabbath School 03:11 and Personal Ministries? 03:12 Yes. 03:14 Let me clear that, 03:15 the Michigan Conference of Seven-day Adventist, 03:16 I'm the director of the Sabbath School 03:18 and Personal Ministries department. 03:19 The Sabbath School 03:21 and Personal Ministries department 03:22 sounds like it's two different departments put together, 03:24 but it is a single department, 03:26 Sabbath School and Personal Ministries. 03:28 And if I can anticipate your next question, 03:30 why in the world are those shoved together? 03:32 Well, the reality is that 03:36 both Sabbath School and Personal Ministries 03:39 have counterparts in the local church. 03:41 So there should be a Sabbath School 03:42 in the local church 03:44 and there's be personal ministries in the local church. 03:45 And both of those are, 03:49 they are sourced. 03:50 They are, you know, staffed by lay people. 03:54 Like so there's oftentimes pastors will encourage people 03:57 involve with personal ministries, 03:58 but personal ministries 04:00 are supposed to be by the laypeople themselves 04:01 and Sabbath school, 04:03 nine times out of ten is run by the laypeople of the church. 04:05 And so these are lay driven, volunteer organizations 04:09 that have a massive influence in the local church. 04:12 So I like to talk about how the ministerial department 04:14 and they worked right down the hall 04:16 and I loved those brothers. 04:17 Okay. 04:18 They work with the ministers primarily, 04:20 and we work with the ministries, right? 04:21 And the laypeople. 04:23 So there's going to be in our Michigan Conference 04:24 there's 184 or so churches and companies. 04:27 And every one of those has a Sabbath School program, 04:30 has laypeople, 04:32 has a personal ministry outreach. 04:34 And our job in that department 04:35 is to encourage, to train, to equip, 04:38 to give the resources and inspiration necessary 04:41 so that every member, 04:42 you know what I'm talking? 04:44 I'm on a roll here, but I tell you what I think, 04:46 I think the Seventh-day Adventist Church 04:47 has too many members and not enough missionaries. 04:50 There you go. You know what I'm saying? 04:51 So I think we got a lot of watchers 04:52 when the Lord is looking for workers 04:54 and our job is to help every one of those 04:56 be engaged as a soul winner for Jesus. 04:58 Amen. 04:59 And you can tell this is going to be 05:02 a lively conversation tonight. 05:05 And Pastor Kameron is bringing to us 05:08 some wonderful information that you don't want to miss. 05:12 Perhaps you used to be active in Sabbath school, 05:15 and COVID kind of dissolve 05:21 is what I wanna say. 05:22 It just kind of slowly dissolved. 05:24 If your church is really getting going again, 05:28 will you want to listen to the ideas, the concepts, 05:33 the methodologies 05:35 that can bring it back alive 05:38 through the small group Sabbath schools 05:41 that meet every Sabbath. 05:43 And the thing about it is, is that most of them are old. 05:47 They've just kind of lost their way, 05:49 some place along the way. 05:51 And so we're looking for that to be energized 05:55 so that we can get back 05:56 and have the favorite time again. 05:59 Amen. 06:01 A time of togetherness, a time of fellowship, 06:03 a time to be in the Word. 06:05 Yes, sir. 06:06 Yes. Amen. 06:07 That's what makes it precious. 06:09 So we're gonna have a good time tonight. 06:10 Yeah. All right. 06:11 So before we begin, we know how you love music. 06:13 We love music. 06:15 Honey, you want to tell us 06:16 who is playing the piano for us tonight. 06:19 Yes, Kendol Bacchus, 06:21 and we're gonna be listening to "Divine Redeemer." 06:25 Amen. 10:56 Wow. Thank you very much. 10:58 One of these days, 10:59 when I'm in heaven, I'm gonna play like that. 11:01 Amen. 11:03 This is a live program. 11:06 And if you have questions 11:08 and I think you will, as we go along, 11:10 because this is something that, 11:12 like I said, we're trying to revive, rejuvenate, 11:15 reenergize church members. 11:18 You even may be a pastor who's saying help, 11:21 but you can either email those questions 11:25 to live@3abn.tv 11:30 or you can text us your questions 11:33 at (618) 228-3975. 11:40 Right? Perfect. 11:41 Good. I'm glad I remembered that. 11:43 And it is on the screen, 11:45 but we will be taking your questions 11:47 in the second hour. 11:49 And we hope to, 11:50 we wanna make this interactive with you. 11:52 So please text the questions, 11:54 we'll put Kameron on the hot seat. 11:56 Do it and in this format, 11:58 kinda like it feels almost adversarial. 12:00 Like I'm sitting at the desk of the inquisition here 12:02 and you're gonna try, but this is fun. 12:03 I know we're being safe and everything, 12:05 but I like the interpersonal dynamics. 12:07 Amen. This is fun. 12:08 So first of all, let's talk about your family. 12:11 So Emily, Henry and Edward and Molly 12:13 are all here with you? 12:14 Yes, they are all here together. 12:16 Whenever possible, 12:17 we like to mix business with pleasure. 12:19 And I like to take the family with me. 12:21 So even though it takes, you know... 12:22 I saw your tank out parked in front. 12:23 Yes, It's not a tank, but it's a sprinter van 12:26 and I'm proud of that thing. 12:27 I'll tell you, we took that cargo van 12:29 and we kinda gutted it 12:30 and turned it into a little family adventure wagon, 12:32 you know, and we take it everywhere with us 12:34 when we have an opportunity 12:35 to go either for family vacation things, 12:37 or even for work things like this, 12:38 we get to be down here. 12:39 It's a blessing to be here. 12:41 So let's take the family along. 12:42 And so, it's a joy to be able to do that. 12:43 And our kids are of the age that it's just fits with us. 12:46 And Emily doesn't have a full-time job 12:47 outside the home. 12:49 So we've kind of built our life around the idea 12:51 that we're going to do ministry for the Lord. 12:52 And when we can, we go on the road together. 12:56 Our little Instagram handles, we van when we can. 12:59 So that's what we do. 13:00 We have a good time with that. 13:02 And so we're down here at 3ABN right now. Yeah. 13:04 I'm glad you added that qualifier outside the home. 13:07 Emily doesn't have a full-time job 13:10 outside the home, 13:11 but she's got a full-time job in. 13:13 We just have to ask about Edward. 13:15 We know your son. 13:17 We had people around the world praying for Edward, 13:20 he had cancer. 13:22 Tell us how is Edward? 13:23 Yes, Edward. 13:24 Well, let me just cut to the end. 13:26 Edward is just fine now. 13:27 So praise the Lord for that. 13:29 For those of you don't remember exactly 13:30 what was going on, Edward, when he was 16 months old, 13:33 had a neuroblastoma, a cancer cell, a cancer nodule, 13:37 or whatever growth in him, 13:39 but it was up on his brachial plexus. 13:41 And that's the nerve bundle up in the shoulders area. 13:44 And with this type of cancer, 13:45 if they catch it and they're able to operate on it, 13:47 it's very good outcomes. 13:48 Okay. 13:50 And so they were able to do 13:51 the cancer treatment surgically, 13:53 but the problem was that his body's autoimmune response 13:57 started attacking, even the way, 13:59 the only way we even knew he had cancer 14:01 is because his autoimmune system 14:02 was starting to affect the system 14:04 that cancer was attached to, which is his nervous system. 14:07 And so it was making his muscles and his eyes 14:09 do some very strange things. 14:11 And so that's what tipped us off 14:12 that he had a problem. 14:14 They diagnosed it, 14:15 they surgically removed it, praise the Lord. 14:17 So he's cancer-free and he has been for years, 14:19 but the course is 14:20 how do you get the autoimmune system 14:22 to stop attacking the nervous system 14:23 thinking there's a problem there. 14:25 So we had treated through the oncology department 14:27 and a lot of just great course of treatment. 14:29 And we're just praising the Lord 14:31 and the prayers that people gave 14:33 and perhaps are even still giving. 14:34 I know we get updates every now and then, 14:35 and we've been terribly neglectful 14:39 of being appropriately appreciative 14:41 and sharing updates and reports. 14:42 But I want to let the world know 14:44 he is doing great by God's grace. 14:46 And we're so thankful. 14:48 We're so blessed to have a praying church family. 14:52 And it's just, it's been a godsend truly. 14:54 Well, I know grandma Nancy, what do they call Nancy? 14:57 Okay. 14:59 On my wife's family side, it's poppy and nanny. 15:02 Poppy and nanny. 15:03 And on my parents' side, it's granny and granddaddy. 15:06 Yes. 15:08 They're all very, very relieved and praising the Lord as well. 15:11 Amen and amen. 15:12 And I just want to tell you, you know, Kameron, 15:16 I've heard from people who you used to pastor... 15:19 How long did you pastor? 15:21 Well, I guess I was in local church ministry 15:24 for about 18, 19 years. 15:26 You know, I've heard from people 15:28 what a fabulous preacher pastor you were. 15:31 And you've probably seen Kameron 15:33 at past camp meetings 15:35 and he is going to be here for our camp meeting 15:40 this June 8th through the 12th, 15:45 mark your calendars, 15:47 June 8th through 12, 15:48 the overarching theme is who is Jesus 15:53 and we're doing 12 specific topics. 15:57 And then Danny has a sermon, wonderful music, 16:00 but Kameron is preaching on Sabbath 16:03 and yours will be airing at 2 o'clock, 16:08 no 3 o'clock on our High Priest. 16:10 I can't wait to hear that. 16:12 Well, I know this isn't about this, 16:14 but I'm going to tell you that 16:15 the high priestly ministry of Jesus is crucial 16:17 and it's this distinctive message of Christ 16:19 in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary 16:21 doing that judgment work before He returns. 16:23 And oftentimes we don't want to talk about judgment 16:25 and says, ugh, but let me tell you 16:28 if there's one place in the world, I want to be, 16:30 it's where Jesus is at the present moment. 16:33 So Jesus is alive 16:34 and He's working on our behalf today 16:36 and soon we're going to see Him again. 16:37 So that's exciting. Amen and amen. 16:39 We're just so glad that you're joining us. 16:41 I look forward to that. Okay. 16:42 So tell us, how did you make the transition 16:45 from pastor to being the Sabbath school, 16:49 or director of Sabbath School and Personal Ministries? 16:51 Well, let me give you a brief background here. Okay. 16:53 This department 16:55 of Sabbath School and Personal Ministries 16:56 is a single department 16:58 is a relatively new iteration 17:01 or new concept here 17:02 at least in the Michigan Conference. 17:04 We had Sabbath School 17:05 as an element of someone's departmental work, 17:09 but it was typically someone's 17:11 like fourth responsibility under other things, right? 17:14 But they, there was alignment. 17:16 The General Conference has 17:17 the General Conference Sabbath School 17:19 and Personal Ministries department. 17:20 And so we decided to come in harmony with that. 17:23 And so instead of having what used to be the Evangelism 17:26 and Personal Ministries department, 17:27 public evangelism was shifted 17:29 over to the ministerial department 17:30 and Sabbath School was rescued 17:33 kind of from the lower on the burner, 17:34 up to a side-by-side 17:36 with a Personal Ministries department. 17:37 For the reason I articulated earlier 17:39 in the Sabbath School and Personal Ministries 17:41 are two elements of the local church 17:43 that are exclusively 17:44 at least almost exclusively lay run. 17:47 So we wanna engage lay members of the church 17:51 who are otherwise employed 17:53 in full-time other activities, right? 17:55 But they have a passion for the Lord 17:57 and they wanna see the Lord come 17:58 and they want to do soul winning work 18:00 to be engaged 18:01 and the Sabbath School is uniquely suited 18:04 to be an engine for lay ministry. 18:07 I'm so excited about that. 18:08 So how I came to be, for me to be in that position, 18:12 I don't know. 18:14 But brethren, 18:15 one day I was in a meeting in the conference office 18:17 and during lunch, they tapped me on the shoulder 18:18 and they said, come on down this way. 18:20 So either it was something really good 18:22 or something really bad is about to happen 18:23 and Lord blessed 18:25 and honestly with my interests 18:29 and the direction 18:31 I enjoy going in ministry, 18:32 this lines up very nicely 18:34 with the things I clearly get excited about. 18:37 That's wonderful. 18:38 So how does that work? 18:40 I mean, do they contact the conference 18:41 or do you contact them? 18:44 The personal ministries director of the church and... 18:47 That's a great question, 18:48 there is ideally 18:50 there'd be an on the spot network 18:51 of personal ministries leaders in every church, 18:53 and we can send an email blast to them, 18:55 or they can come to personal ministries retreat, 18:57 so they can look at our resources online 18:58 and that, so we have that, ideally we'd have a good, 19:01 and we're building it up 19:03 to be better than what it is currently is, 19:04 but a good communication network back and forth 19:07 between the Sabbath School 19:08 and Personal Ministries department 19:10 and the local counterparts 19:11 of the Sabbath School group. 19:12 Sabbath School superintendents, 19:14 Sabbath School teachers and leaders 19:15 and the Personal Ministries leaders. 19:17 Those who are out there trying to recruit 19:18 and train their local members 19:19 and give Bible studies and those kinds of things. 19:21 So the conference office 19:24 doesn't exist to do the ministry. 19:26 It exists to support 19:28 the ministry of the local church. 19:29 So our job is to give help provide resources 19:33 and training opportunities and creative insights 19:36 so that like, they don't just bypass the local church 19:39 and say, oh, just go to the conference. 19:40 No, no, no. 19:41 The goal of the conference 19:43 is to help the local churches do their work well. 19:45 So we are a support structure to the local churches 19:47 where the real rubber meets the road 19:49 of church growth and evangelism. 19:50 Okay. 19:52 So we have a lot of people who are watching, 19:56 who are not Seventh-day Adventists, 19:59 and they're probably saying, what is Sabbath School? 20:03 Can you kind of just encapsulate 20:07 why Sabbath School is important? 20:09 What are the personal mean? 20:12 I mean, and it is Sabbath School 20:13 is a personal ministry 20:15 to me that really goes well together, 20:17 but can you explain what Sabbath School is? 20:22 Thank you. 20:23 Well, if they're coming from a non-Adventist, 20:26 but otherwise Christian perspective, 20:28 you'd probably think of Sunday school. 20:30 Okay. 20:31 And a lot of people think 20:33 maybe Sunday school is like a kid thing, 20:34 but there, this is for all ages, right? 20:36 And the distinctive, 20:37 at least in the Seventh-day Adventist Church 20:39 what I'm aware of, 20:40 there are unique features to the Sabbath School 20:42 that are not found in the worship service. 20:44 Okay. 20:45 So the worship service typically 20:46 has a presentation of the gospel, 20:48 a sermon of some sort 20:49 or a testimony sharing time, 20:50 or some sort of central feature like that. 20:53 And they'll have more special musics 20:54 and they'll have more special features 20:55 and they'll have more offerings taken, 20:57 where in the Sabbath School 20:58 there are essentially only three components 21:01 to the Sabbath School. 21:02 There is the... 21:03 Well, honestly, there's to the programming part, 21:06 there's really only about two, 21:07 there's the mission program 21:09 and there's the Bible study component. 21:10 Okay. 21:12 And so the goal of Sabbath School 21:13 is to be that uniquely powerful opportunity 21:18 for members of the church and non-members the church 21:22 to come into the house of God 21:23 and have a small group fellowship dynamic 21:26 to have a mission focus 21:28 and have a foundation of Bible study and prayer. 21:31 That through that, 21:33 you know, again, three things, 21:35 you know, for instance, 21:36 studying your Sabbath School lesson 21:38 ahead of time 21:39 and contributing to a lively dynamic conversation 21:42 and study of it in the Sabbath School program 21:45 is very different than listening to a sermon. 21:47 People might say, you know, 21:48 I don't need the Sabbath School study. 21:50 I'm gonna listen to a sermon. 21:51 Let me tell you something, 21:52 hearing a message that you didn't prepare, 21:54 that you didn't study a head for. 21:55 Only that person is delivering and you're not feeding back. 21:57 And there's nothing wrong with it. 21:59 I preach a lot of sermon. 22:00 You just mentioned I'm preaching a sermon, 22:02 but there is something particularly special 22:04 about being in the room 22:06 with fellow seekers, fellow believers, 22:08 fellow students of the Word of God. 22:10 And as iron sharpens iron, 22:12 you're digging deep into the Word 22:13 and you're getting insights 22:15 and you're being guided by this common program, 22:17 common curriculum of the Sabbath School guide, 22:19 but the true study, 22:21 the study lesson itself is the scripture, right? 22:24 And as we dig into that deeper, 22:26 the truth of God's Word become clearer. 22:29 And not just theoretically clear, 22:31 not just academically clear, 22:33 but practically closer, 22:36 you know, it starts to cut into the life. 22:38 And so this oftentimes local Sabbath School teachers 22:43 many times have more direct Bible instruction time, 22:48 in a more intimate, personal setting 22:51 than even the pastor does from the pulpit. 22:53 Now there's an importance to the pulpit. 22:55 I'm not denigrating preaching at all, 22:57 but I'm saying there's a counterbalance of teaching 23:01 in the Sabbath School 23:02 that would be a benefit and a blessing to everyone 23:06 if they could have both. 23:07 Amen. In 25 words or less... 23:09 Good luck. 23:11 Where does this lesson come from? 23:13 Yeah, I was just getting ready to ask this question. 23:15 Where does this lesson... The quarterly. 23:16 Okay, let's start with the quarterly. 23:18 I might have lost your 25 words. 23:20 But the quarterly actually technically is not called 23:25 the quarterly anymore. 23:27 It hasn't been for a couple of decades now, 23:28 but we keep referring to it 23:30 as the quarterly colloquially or pedestrially, 23:33 because that's just what we always call it 23:34 'cause it's published once a quarter. 23:37 So there's a 13 week study guide 23:40 and it's called the Adult Bible Study Guide. 23:43 That's the technical name of that resource 23:45 that we refer to as the quarterly, 23:46 it's the Adult Bible Study Guide 23:48 and right there in the name, 23:50 it tells you what its purpose is. 23:52 It's not to be studying it. 23:54 It's to be a guide to studying the Bible. 23:56 Okay. 23:58 And so the purpose of that quarterly as we call it, 24:00 that Bible study guide is to give a, 24:04 basically an outline of a study process 24:07 that every local church can share in common 24:10 around the world. 24:11 By the way, you know, 24:13 you think about all the different, 24:14 we talk about cultures and this and that. 24:15 You know, I don't know exactly what I am culturally, 24:18 but I tell you what, I'm a Seventh-day Adventist. 24:19 Amen. 24:21 And when I go to anywhere in the world... 24:22 And I always add another word to that, 24:24 I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. 24:26 Amen. Absolutely. 24:27 Let me say, of course, that should be a given, 24:29 that's what you mean, and we have to say it, 24:32 but my point is that there is a, 24:35 there is a common bond of belief in Christ 24:39 and the distinctive messages of His Word 24:42 as are taught by 24:43 the Seventh-day Adventist Church 24:44 that is developed 24:48 and deepened 24:51 through steady study 24:54 that is found in the Sabbath School. 24:55 Okay. 24:57 So the Sabbath School lessons will go over certain topics 25:00 like Daniel, or like books of the Bible, 25:01 like Daniel or Revelation or Isaiah, Hosea 25:04 or something like that, or the Gospels. 25:05 Okay. 25:07 But sometimes they'll go over a topic like education 25:09 or witnessing. 25:10 Everlasting gospel. Exactly. 25:12 Right now we're talking about the covenant. 25:13 Yeah. That's my favorite. 25:15 Oh, and we're going through the Old Testament, 25:16 starting in Genesis with creation, 25:18 we're going through Abraham and Moses. 25:19 And we, you know, we'd make a Sabbath School preparation 25:22 and we can talk about that later, 25:23 but a little resource, 25:24 and it's fun to study ahead and look and say, 25:26 oh, this is where we're going to go. 25:28 And to know that you can walk into any church anywhere 25:31 and pick up that Bible, 25:33 and you're going to be literally singing 25:34 from the same page to the hymnal. 25:36 You know what I'm saying? Literally studying it. 25:38 There's such a, 25:40 when you look at the early church. 25:41 What was the bonding agent of the early church? 25:44 It wasn't just the dynamic preaching of Peter 25:46 and yes, the moving of the Holy Spirit, for sure. 25:48 But it was that study of the Word of God 25:51 that continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine, 25:55 you know, and that is for all the wonderful things 25:59 about the Seventh-day Adventist movement. 26:01 And I like to call it a movement 26:02 because it's not just a static, another concrete. 26:04 The Lord has raised up this prophetic movement 26:06 for such a time as this, 26:09 and as much as we often teach against 26:12 and rightly so against once saved, always saved, 26:15 'cause we have to have a daily experience with Christ. 26:17 We gotta renew that relation, right? 26:19 But we sometimes fall into 26:22 once learned, always learned. 26:26 You know, so the idea is like, oh, I heard that in '86. 26:28 I got it. I'm good. 26:30 And anytime someone would say, 26:32 why do I have to come to an evangelistic meetings? 26:33 I've already heard it all before. 26:35 It's like, oh, praise the Lord, 26:36 so you can cover Daniel 9 tonight for our presentation. 26:38 They're like, ah, okay. 26:41 So we all comfortably know it enough, 26:43 to say we agree, 26:44 but we couldn't study our way out of a paper bag 26:46 if our life depended on it, right? 26:48 You know, to me and JD will attest to this. 26:52 I guess one of my favorite things 26:54 in the whole wide world 26:56 is just to get lost in Bible study. 26:57 And when I know that 26:59 I'm going to be teaching on a topic, 27:01 I don't care how often I've taught on it 27:04 or preached on it before, 27:06 I start it from scratch. 27:08 And the reason I do, 27:11 God's Word is inexhaustible. 27:15 And sometimes 27:17 we study and we learn something 27:22 and we get, 27:23 you know, this is what happened at the reformation. 27:25 They studied 27:27 and they got a hold of the truth 27:29 and they parked on it 27:31 and they didn't, 27:32 a lot of churches didn't go forward 27:35 beyond what they originally learned. 27:38 So sometimes I'll be studying something 27:40 that I think I know inside now. 27:42 And as you're going through and I'm looking up scripture, 27:45 and then all of a sudden, it's like a neon flashing light 27:49 that God is showing me. 27:51 I don't wanna say a nuance, 27:53 but like, if you think of a diamond, 27:55 a multifaceted diamond, 27:58 that's what Bible study is like is you've got some things, 28:02 but then he comes in 28:04 and he carves out another message 28:06 and you're going, 28:07 wow, I've missed this all these years. 28:10 So that is something that I love 28:14 about being a member 28:17 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 28:18 wherever we go, 28:20 we've got brothers and sisters around the world. 28:23 And as so many people will call 3ABN or write 3ABN. 28:29 And they say how wonderful 28:33 that all of your pastors 28:34 are teaching on the same page. 28:38 In other words, I mean, there are different sermons, 28:40 but nobody's contradicting. 28:42 And you know why? 28:44 Because of the deep, 28:45 I mean, this church is a deep Bible studying church. 28:50 And we have not only the Adult Bible Study Guide, 28:55 but we also have it for children. 28:56 Absolutely. 28:58 The Sabbath School department and the General Conference 28:59 produces resources for all the world around 29:02 for different children's levels all the way from infants 29:04 all the way up until their time ready for adulthood. 29:07 So and that's one of the things that we want to, 29:10 as parents, as church leaders, 29:12 we wanna make sure that young people, 29:14 all people are always students of the Word. 29:17 You never graduate from the school of Christ 29:19 and you're never too young to enroll. 29:21 You know what I'm saying? 29:22 So you wanna start off and just stay in that Word 29:24 and continue to grow in grace, 29:26 because we're gonna, I mean, inspiration has told us, 29:28 we're gonna continue to learn even into eternity like these, 29:31 you mentioned inexhaustible and in the song, 29:34 the science in our song 29:36 will be this plan of redemption, right? 29:37 We're gonna have fuller understandings 29:39 and deeper insights into the whole thing. 29:41 And so like, no matter how much you get into it here, 29:45 there's still an eternity to go. 29:47 I'm gonna say something and I'll get in trouble again 29:49 'cause I did this once before, what is it? 29:51 Proverbs 6 something. 29:53 I don't know if it's 6:18, 29:54 but it says that 29:56 the path of the just will shine brighter and brighter 29:59 until the coming day, 30:01 which means, hey, we don't have all the steps 30:07 we need to know. 30:08 We need to keep studying. 30:09 So why do you think 30:12 the Sabbath School program unfortunately, 30:15 I think a lot of it is because of COVID. 30:17 But what do you think is the reason for the decline 30:22 in the Sabbath School program? 30:23 Let me defend COVID for a minute. 30:25 You know, I think COVID gets blamed for that. 30:26 It was great before COVID come on. 30:29 Sabbath School in a lot of places, 30:31 at least across, 30:32 you know, our neck of the woods here in the Western world, 30:34 North America, Europe, wherever, you know, 30:36 'cause there are, as you mentioned, 30:37 there are places where Sabbath School is huge. 30:42 It is the big rock in the jar. 30:43 It is the thing that comes first. 30:45 And you'll have people like I have a friend of mine 30:47 who works at the General Conference 30:48 and he takes to do Sabbath School training 30:49 around the world. 30:51 He went to a place in Africa 30:52 and he got there at 9:30 when it was supposed to happen. 30:54 And people had been there. 30:55 The place was packed out 30:56 and they had walked for hours to get there. 30:59 You know, but you don't really see that 31:02 now, to be clear, 31:04 even in the North American context, 31:05 Sabbath School used to be not terribly long ago, 31:09 less than a hundred years ago, 31:11 Sabbath School was more attended 31:13 than the worship service. 31:15 Okay. But something has happened. 31:16 I can't exactly explain all that's the deal of it. 31:19 But I do have a sneaking suspicion 31:22 and pardon me here we go. 31:26 You said you were about to get yourself in trouble. 31:28 So let me jump on. 31:29 Okay, you come on in. 31:31 Now, when you go out and do canvassing work door to door, 31:33 you invite people in your neighborhood 31:34 to take Bible studies. 31:36 Hey, we just want to help you. 31:37 Here's some Bible study guides 31:39 to get you back in the Word of God. 31:40 Okay. 31:41 If you go to a committed Christian, 31:43 but of another denomination, 31:44 some evangelical stripe or whatever, 31:45 they'll say, oh, thanks. 31:47 But no, thanks. 31:48 I've already got my study group, 31:50 my Wednesday night prayer meeting. 31:51 I'm good. Okay. 31:52 Then you go into, if you've got a hardcore, 31:54 like atheist or military, they'll let you know, 31:55 I don't want 31:56 what you're selling, get out of here. 31:58 You know, they're very forthright too. 31:59 And this is not a disparagement 32:01 when you, almost every single time 32:03 you knock on someone's door, who's Catholic, 32:05 they'll say, no, thanks I'm Catholic. 32:09 Now, why is that important? 32:10 Well, because in that thinking, 32:12 going into the Bible yourself personally, 32:15 and having a direct connection with Jesus Christ 32:17 is not the way as their understanding 32:19 you get saved, you get saved 32:21 through the machine of the church, right? 32:22 So the structure and the services, 32:24 the ceremonies 32:25 that the intercession of the earthly priest, right? 32:27 And so for their mindset and that's no disparagement, 32:31 that's exactly what they've been taught 32:32 and they're good, but the issue is 32:35 that's the expectation 32:37 is that I get salvation through the church. 32:40 Bible study is nice for you, but not for me. 32:43 Now, why do I say that? 32:44 Because we have an entire midweek service 32:48 called prayer meeting 32:50 that very few people attend in most churches. 32:52 We have Sabbath morning, 32:54 Sabbath School 32:56 that a fraction of what attends the regular service, right? 32:58 And what I see happening in the worship service is now 33:03 we're trying to make the worship service, 33:05 the one-stop shop for everything church. 33:08 So you'll see extended prayer times 33:10 and gardens of prayer and taking requests. 33:12 And when we had a whole meeting called prayer meeting, 33:14 just nobody went to it. 33:15 So we put it in the worship service. 33:17 And every, like, for instance, 33:18 if you were to look at local church right now, 33:19 we had a really important announcement to make, 33:21 would you make it at 9:30 in the morning? 33:23 First thing at Sabbath School. 33:25 No wouldn't, and you know why you wouldn't need it. 33:27 Go ahead and tell me why wouldn't you not do it? 33:28 'Cause most church isn't there. 33:30 Because you know they won't be there. 33:32 Yeah. That's exactly right. 33:33 So we put it in the worship service 33:34 and if we have a baptism 33:36 or special testimony or baby daddy, 33:37 let's put it in a worship service. 33:38 We have special lessons, put it at worship service, 33:40 expert, put in the worship service. 33:41 And then we get mad at the preacher for going long. 33:44 You know I'm saying the truth. 33:46 Well, what happens is we have basically imbibe 33:49 what I call a species of Catholicism, 33:51 where my responsibility as a committed Christian, 33:56 isn't to be in prayer meeting, to be in the Sabbath School 33:59 and to be in the outreach and being in evangelism, 34:01 my job is to go to church. 34:03 And as long as I can even be late, 34:07 as long as I'm dressed up and I get there 34:09 while the sermon is preaching, 34:12 then I got church. 34:13 And what happens is 34:16 essentially the sermon on the ear 34:20 has become the wafer on the tongue. 34:22 Hmm. 34:23 I got my sacraments and I'm good. 34:28 When the reality is, 34:29 that's not how 34:30 the New Testament church was built. 34:32 Now we see predominant preaching 34:33 of Peter and Paul and John 34:35 a powerful stuff, right? 34:36 But you look at that early church revival 34:38 they'll have a clear message. 34:39 And then the preacher would move on 34:40 and they would study together. 34:42 They would fellowship together. 34:43 They would do evangelistic labor together. 34:45 They would go win souls. 34:46 They would leave the church, right? 34:49 So it was truly a lay driven. 34:52 Now there's a place for pastors, 34:54 teachers, evangelists. 34:55 Let me be clear. I'm one of them. 34:56 I like that. 34:58 But the movement of the church isn't going to take place 35:01 while we're just watching 35:03 the paid clergy do their job in front of us, right? 35:06 The Lord is calling for every individual member. 35:08 And so how Sabbath School I think has petered off 35:12 is that we've come to view church, 35:15 the worship service corporate, 35:17 the 11 o'clock service, the divine hour, 35:19 whatever you want to call it 35:20 as the one obligatory portion of my duty to the Lord. 35:25 And the reality is, 35:26 He's looking for a whole life devotion 35:28 that includes prayer and Bible study 35:30 and fellowship and witness, 35:32 not just listening to a sermon. 35:34 So that's so... 35:36 And real Sabbath School. 35:39 Okay. Okay. 35:40 So what's involved? 35:42 Now a good. I think a good... 35:44 Let's just say as if...Yes. 35:46 'Cause there's plenty of Sabbath Schools 35:47 I wouldn't necessarily say 35:49 are necessarily firing on all pistons, 35:50 but I'm happy with anybody's there at all take you that. 35:53 But you wanna have, 35:56 of course the biggest piece of the pie, 35:57 as we've already mentioned is gonna be the Bible study 36:00 and prayer elements, right? 36:02 We wanna devote ourselves to the Lord in prayer 36:03 and we wanna open up that Word 36:05 and using the Bible study guide 36:07 is a great springboard to good dynamic study, right? 36:09 But have good teaching, good instruction, 36:11 good dynamic with the class. 36:13 And we can come back to that in just a minute 36:15 about what makes a really good teaching. 36:16 'Cause a lot of times teaching is even seen as offensive now, 36:19 I don't want anybody teaching me. 36:20 I just wanna have a good round table conversation. 36:23 Anyway, and there's a place for interactivity, 36:26 but there's also a good place for teaching, 36:27 someone who knows what they're doing 36:29 and teaches the Word of God, right? 36:31 Amen. 36:32 But that is the sizable chunk. 36:34 And that's where you can learn the beliefs of the church, 36:37 learn the teachings of the Bible 36:40 and apply them in your life, 36:42 in that Bible study dynamic. 36:44 Okay. 36:45 But the other thing that people forget 36:47 is that there's a mission component 36:49 to Sabbath School. 36:50 Now this is, I don't know how Sunday schools do it. 36:52 I'm not a specialist in other denominations, 36:54 but I know that 36:55 in the Seventh-day Adventist faith 36:57 that the Sabbath School is the engine for mission work 37:01 around the world. 37:03 Repeat that 37:04 because I don't think a lot of people know that. 37:06 The Sabbath School 37:07 is the engine of mission work around the world. 37:11 Let me explain it this way. 37:15 The one offering that is collected 37:17 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church 37:18 that goes 100% to mission work 37:22 is the one collected during the Sabbath School. 37:24 And that's world mission. 37:25 World mission, right? 37:27 And to be clear, 37:28 the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 37:30 you got to understand structurally 37:31 is not a local congregational structure. 37:32 Okay. 37:34 Now there are local congregations that meet, 37:36 but for instance, your local congregation, 37:38 doesn't take up a collection and pay the pastor directly. 37:41 And if you have a big church, you gonna have big paid pastor, 37:43 small churches are poor. 37:44 No, no, no. 37:45 It's, it's an equalized system 37:47 because it's a conference, a sisterhood 37:48 as it's technically known of churches, right? 37:51 And those conferences in other parts of the world, 37:53 especially where there's frontline missionary 37:55 need the more resourceful parts of the world 37:57 to fund their work. 37:58 And so when we give to the mission of the church, 38:01 when we get a mission work, 38:03 we're giving to frontline work in difficult places 38:07 where there's projects going on, 38:08 where there's entering wedge ministries happening, 38:11 where there's, and in some parts of the world, 38:13 it even has to be, you know, kinda Waldensian if you will, 38:16 kind of like cloaking. 38:18 It's fascinating what's going on. 38:20 But the mission offering taken up at the Sabbath School 38:23 is the one offering 38:25 in all of the collections that go on 38:26 that goes, funds funnels directly 38:29 into that mission work. 38:31 And so I would highly encourage the people 38:33 to revive the mission program. 38:35 And you know, what inspires people to give to mission? 38:38 Is hearing stories about missions. 38:40 We want to hear testimonies, 38:41 wanna see the life-changing miraculous interactions, 38:44 the divine appointments, right? 38:45 And so, I like to describe 38:48 the mission component of the church of the worships. 38:50 I'm sorry, the worship that the Sabbath School program 38:53 like a funnel. 38:54 Okay. 38:56 First of all, you have the global perspective, right? 39:00 There's the world mission focused basically saying, 39:03 here's what they're doing over there. 39:06 Okay. What they're doing. 39:08 And we hear, I praise the Lord for the resources, 39:10 put together by the General Conference 39:12 and other ministries 39:13 that have frontline missionary testimonies, 39:14 every single week available, 39:16 you can push play and download them 39:18 and have a DVD or whatever you get, 39:19 but they'll take you beautiful high definition, 39:22 pictures of stuff that's going on in jungles 39:23 and islands of the sea and desert somewhere. 39:26 And it's miracle stories. 39:28 And I remember as a little kid, I remember listening, 39:30 this is a mission spotlight, 39:32 you know, and it's just, oh, 39:34 and you'd hear the stories about these interesting people 39:37 doing these amazing miraculous things 39:39 and how the truck never ran out of fuel. 39:40 And the angel stopped the gate, 39:42 you know, all the things and you hear these stories. 39:45 I mean, think about Timothy in the New Testament. 39:49 What inspired him 39:51 to give his life to mission work? 39:53 It wasn't just his own study, but he witnessed, 39:56 you can study this by the way out in the Acts, 39:58 in the book Acts of the Apostles. 39:59 The first time his name is mentioned 40:01 in scripture is Act 16, 40:03 but actually the first time he met Paul was in Acts 14. 40:07 When Paul was dragged out, 40:08 was stoned so badly 40:11 that his murderers thought 40:12 they had finished the job 40:15 and they take him out of the city gate. 40:17 And the believers gather around 40:20 essentially to have a memorial service 40:22 and buried the poor man. 40:24 And in that moment, he wakes up, 40:28 you know, dust themselves off 40:29 and has dirt and blood and stuff. 40:32 And Spirit of Prophecy tells us Timothy was there. 40:35 What's that gonna do to a young man 40:37 who sees this man giving his life? 40:39 And then what does Paul do? 40:40 He wants to get back and go back in the city. 40:43 And he says, whatever that is, I want some of that, right? 40:46 We need to hear those mission testimonies. 40:49 We need to hear those reports from the worldview. 40:51 Okay. 40:52 So the first element of the funnel 40:54 is the global perspective, 40:55 world mission, what they're doing over there. 40:58 But if we in the mission program 41:02 right there 41:04 and take up a nice offering, which we should, 41:06 another problem could sink in. 41:08 And that is the assumption 41:10 that all mission is foreign. 41:14 We're about the foreign mission work, 41:16 the global, the world. 41:17 And there's always big inspiring, 41:20 but very remote terms. 41:23 So we get the impression sometimes 41:24 that mission work is something that we pay for 41:27 and something that we pray for 41:30 and that's it. 41:31 But there's more friends. 41:33 Okay. Go ahead. Ask your question. 41:34 But I worked on this. 41:35 Go ahead. Okay, go ahead. 41:37 You finish the funnel first, then I'll bring up the other. 41:38 All right, will do that. 41:40 So global, but then you have to ask the question. 41:41 If that's what they're doing, 41:43 well, then what are we doing? 41:45 And you start to see that 41:47 there's a local mission context too, 41:49 whether it's the local church, your local congregation 41:51 or your local conference, 41:52 but there are some outreach initiatives, 41:54 some, you know, softening of the heart, 41:57 kind of personal outreach things 41:59 or literature, distribution, or media ministries 42:01 or Bible study offer things that are going on. 42:04 There are evangelistic campaigns, 42:06 there are door-to-door witnessing opportunities. 42:08 There's a lot that is going on or at least should be going on 42:11 in our own local mission field, right? 42:13 And so we wanna hear reports 42:15 of what's going on in our local church. 42:16 I wanna hear what other departments 42:18 of my own local church are doing, 42:19 or at least other departments in my conference are doing. 42:22 What are some initiatives in our area 42:23 that I cannot just watch, but I can participate in? 42:25 Right? 42:27 So you wanna go from the global mission perspective 42:30 to the local mission perspective. 42:33 And you would think, Oh good now that's better, 42:35 but there's still one more step. 42:37 Okay. 42:39 Not only do we have a global mission, 42:41 not only do we have a local mission, 42:42 but each and every member of the church 42:45 should have a personal mission. 42:49 So what we wanna do is 42:50 end the mission program with an appeal. 42:54 Who's ready to raise their hand, say, 42:55 here am I send me. 42:57 That's good. 42:58 Ever been on a committee? 43:00 Well, I'm not gonna ask you, 43:01 you know, you've been on committees, right? 43:02 And anytime we do something. 43:05 Nobody does. That's right. 43:07 We're all a big charge. 43:08 We can have inspiration all this good logo, 43:10 and we're gonna do this really thing. 43:11 But unless somebody says, 43:13 I'm gonna make the phone call 43:14 or I'm gonna unlock the door, or I'm gonna do the thing, 43:16 it doesn't happen. 43:19 Man, I can tell you, 43:20 there's a lot of here we are send us, 43:22 but we need a lot more, here I am send me. 43:24 Amen. 43:26 And so what we should be doing is 43:28 giving very practical training on how you can do mission work 43:33 even apart from your local congregation 43:34 or local conference, 43:36 what can I be doing in my neighborhood? 43:38 What can I be doing for my friends, 43:39 my family members, my coworkers, 43:41 my associates in other fields, 43:42 my acquaintances down the street 43:44 that I don't really know. 43:45 How can I turn those opportunities, 43:48 you know, those, 43:49 what we might think is just interactions, 43:51 haphazardly into divine appointments? 43:53 How can I stop myself with the right literature, 43:56 have the right thing to say, give the right invitation? 43:58 How can I start to be a missionary, 44:01 right where I am? 44:02 And I think it was Mark Finley by the way, who said, 44:05 and pretty sure it was Mark Finley. 44:06 So I'm gonna say it was him, 44:08 but he said, God never calls you 44:10 to be a missionary where you aren't 44:12 until you're a missionary where you are. 44:14 Oh, that's good. You know what I'm saying? 44:15 And so we need a reformation of that missionary mindset 44:20 that starts with the individual 44:22 then goes to the congregational or the conference level, 44:25 you know, corporately 44:26 and then goes globally to all the world. 44:28 Amen. 44:29 Let me interrupt just a second, 44:31 because I wanna remind our people at home. 44:33 This is a live program 44:35 and you can sent, 44:37 we're gonna get into some resources 44:39 and some true methods, ways to revive, 44:43 you know, oh, we need a revival 44:47 in our personal lives, 44:50 in our Sabbath schools. 44:52 And this will bring a revival in the church. 44:54 You can text your questions 44:57 to (618) 228-3975. 45:03 Or you can email us at 3abn@... 45:08 No, live. 45:10 Live@... 45:11 Let's start that over. 45:12 Email us live@3abn.tv. 45:17 And we look forward in the second hour 45:20 to getting to those questions. 45:21 But I just wanted to hit one point that you said. 45:24 Okay. Let's have it. 45:25 When you said it's not, 45:27 we think of missions as being around the world, 45:31 truthfully the church in Brazil, 45:34 the church in Africa, 45:35 and I'm talking about 45:37 the Seventh-day Adventist congregations, 45:41 they're exploding. 45:43 And a lot of it has to do with small group meetings 45:47 with the attention 45:49 to what we're talking about now. 45:51 In the United States, the membership, 45:55 what is our membership now? 45:56 Twenty something. 45:58 The whole world? In the whole world. 46:00 I think we are over 21 and 21 to 22 million. 46:03 But what percentage of Adventist 46:05 live in the United States? 46:07 The percentage of the Adventist Church 46:08 in the North American division is roughly about 6%... 46:11 of the world. 46:13 So 90, put it in this way, 46:14 94% of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 46:16 is not here. 46:18 Yes. 46:19 And I have heard of other churches 46:22 and other denominations 46:25 who are sending their missionaries to us 46:30 because they think the United States 46:33 and some of the other developed worlds 46:36 are Sodom and Gomorrah. 46:37 If other churches can recognize that, 46:40 why can't we recognize that we're God's people 46:44 and we need to wake up? 46:45 Yes. 46:47 And I would wholeheartedly agree that 46:48 we have to recognize that we are in a mission field 46:51 and that we have been put here by God's grace as missionaries. 46:55 And so, again, that goes back to the whole, 46:58 I want to disabuse people of this notion 47:00 that missionary work is always over there. 47:02 There's missionary work 47:04 just as much, you have to go across the ocean, 47:05 you have to go across the street. 47:07 You know, and these are platitudes, 47:08 we say from time to time, but the statistics bear it out. 47:12 If there is one of the neediest places 47:14 for a revival of true godly, Bible believing, 47:18 you know, membership, 47:19 it's right here in our own backyard. 47:21 And so I would earnestly appeal to people 47:23 to get involved in their local church outreaches, 47:26 their own personal witness. 47:27 And the Sabbath School again 47:29 is a great springboard for that. 47:31 I mean, think about this. 47:33 And, Shelley, you mentioned this, the small group dynamic. 47:35 Okay. 47:37 If, what if every local Sabbath School group said, 47:40 we're not only going to have a foreign mission initiative 47:42 where we're going to raise money 47:44 for some good cause or project. 47:45 Praise the Lord. 47:47 That's great, but we're also going to do something here 47:49 and it might be just a temporal needs type of ministry 47:52 where we're going to start winning friends for Christ 47:55 by doing, you know, intentional, good deeds. 47:57 Praise the Lord. 47:58 Or we might try to distribute a whole bunch of literature, 48:00 or we might tell people about ministries in the media, 48:02 like 3ABN or other, you know, resources like, great. 48:06 And, or we're going to distribute glow tracts, 48:09 or we're going to invite some people to church, 48:10 or we're going to hold and set a meetings ourselves 48:13 or whatever it is. 48:14 And they started doing things in that local context, 48:17 the Sabbath School would then be a catalyst 48:20 for individuals to get involved in local mission work. 48:24 Because oftentimes even when you have a local church 48:26 and it does a big outreach event, 48:28 it may be into a public evangelist campaign. 48:32 There's really not often much that members can do. 48:36 I mean, they should be, 48:37 you know, row hosts and greeters 48:39 and hosting the desk 48:40 and there's things to get involved with. 48:42 But I can't tell you, 48:45 I work closely with the evangelism work 48:47 in the Michigan Conference too. 48:48 And you'll hear phrases like, 48:51 when's the next time 48:52 we're gonna do evangelism, right? 48:54 As though it's a thing you put on the calendar, 48:56 it's a four week event that happens in the fall 48:58 every other year or something. 49:00 When the reality is evangelism 49:02 soul-winning is supposed to be an ongoing, 49:04 active dynamic process all the time. 49:08 And so we have to disabuse our minds of the idea 49:10 that mission work is foreign. 49:12 The idea that evangelism is you know, occasional, 49:17 and the reality is 49:18 I should be about my father's business 49:20 every single day every time He gives me the opportunity. 49:23 And if I don't have opportunities, 49:24 I'm going to make some opportunity, right? 49:26 Amen. 49:27 Let me ask you a very simple question. 49:28 I think that's very complex 49:31 is let's just talk quickly 49:35 about divine appointments. 49:38 Your neighbor or whoever you are my friends. 49:42 If we take a step forward to go out and make those calls, 49:47 how does God react to that 49:50 and create that divine appointment? 49:52 A lot of people I think are just afraid. 49:54 They feel like they're not being equipped. 49:56 The paradigm here is 49:58 if they'd go to Sabbath School and get involved, 50:01 that probably the answers would come to them, 50:03 but you know, we're fat and lazy 50:05 and we have need of nothing. 50:07 So consequently, we're going to stay home. 50:09 Yes. Okay? 50:10 And thinking that someone else will take care of that, 50:14 or I don't have enough information, 50:17 but, boy, I do believe in divine appointments, 50:20 but what happens 50:23 should John Doe step out of his comfort zone, 50:27 go across the town, hand out glow tracts, 50:30 go knocking on doors, right? 50:31 What can he expect? 50:34 Well... I mean... 50:35 I know the answer you probably wanna hear is that, 50:37 man, if you would just step out in faith, 50:39 it's all going to work together. 50:40 It's probably not. 50:42 Good. Okay. 50:43 But that doesn't mean you don't do it. 50:45 And let me just, you invoked, 50:47 you know, we're fat and lazy, that kind of stuff. 50:49 So let me just go down that track 50:50 not on exactly those terms. 50:52 But what if, let's take it to the physical realm, 50:56 if I was in a terrible car accident 50:58 and my leg was just really mangled 51:00 and had to be repaired, put back together, right? 51:02 And, and it was out of use for a long time. 51:06 It was pinned up in some apparatus and everything. 51:08 And the day comes, when I finally get that, 51:10 you know, all that gear taken off 51:12 and the cast is gone 51:16 and I hop up on that leg 51:17 and I start to run, what's gonna happen? 51:19 It's gonna be, 51:20 what if somebody came in and said 51:22 with the physical therapist, come in and say, 51:24 "Oh, look at your miserable little leg." 51:25 It's clear that you have not been given 51:27 the gift of mobility. 51:29 No, but people will look 51:30 at their spiritual life and say, 51:32 here's the thing I've never done. 51:33 Or I've so rarely done it that I'm no good at it. 51:36 And then when they give it a shot, 51:37 they find out they're no good. 51:38 And they say, "Oh, see, it's not my gift." 51:40 Friends it's not about being, 51:42 nowhere in the Bible 51:44 is witnessing called a spiritual gift. 51:46 Amen. 51:47 You know, it's not that you look at, there's prophecy. 51:49 Now that's a gift. 51:50 You know, tongues, that's a gift. 51:52 Healing, that's a gift. 51:53 But talking to your neighbor, 51:54 everybody's got a mouth and supposed to use it. 51:56 So this idea that, 51:58 "Oh, I'm just not good at it. Or I'm not." 51:59 And by the way, 52:00 tell me when you're going to be informed enough. 52:03 People like, well, if I only had more information, 52:04 let me tell you something. 52:05 You cannot imagine the level of, 52:10 it's hard for a Seventh-day Adventist, 52:11 even if you've just been tangentially, 52:13 just kind of occasionally, 52:15 the level of Bible that you know, 52:20 compared to the rampant, 52:22 not illiteracy and the fact that they can't read, 52:24 but functional literacy 52:25 and the fact that they won't read the scripture. 52:27 There's just ignorance, right? About the Bible. 52:29 But I think Seventh-day Adventist sometimes, 52:30 I don't wanna reach out to my neighbor 52:32 'cause they might ask the question so hard 52:33 that I won't have the, 52:35 and look, if they do ask a question you don't know. 52:39 I know someone does that. 52:40 All you have to do is like, I don't know, 52:44 but let's find out. 52:45 Yeah, that's a great question. 52:47 I never thought about that, but that's a great one. 52:49 Well, let me, let's get started on these studies 52:50 and we're gonna find it out together, 52:52 but don't be intimidated by that. 52:53 Of course, you don't know everything 52:55 and you're not gonna be good at something 52:56 you haven't practiced, right? 52:57 Sister White talks about how... 52:59 She has this one statement she said, 53:01 "That if the ministers would get out of the way 53:03 the church members would be obliged 53:05 to carry the burden." 53:06 And she says, 53:07 "And their capabilities will increase by use. 53:11 So you're probably not gonna be good 53:12 at reaching out to your neighbor yet. 53:14 You're probably going to fumble all over your words 53:15 and mess it all up. 53:16 It's okay. 53:18 Do it again, get better at it, right? 53:19 But through that process, 53:21 your sincere desire to serve the Lord 53:24 and your practiced approach. 53:27 And you're gonna learn about some more resources, 53:29 and you're gonna get some training 53:30 and say, I wanna be better at this, right? 53:31 The Lord is gonna build you into a missionary 53:34 who can do fantastic work. 53:36 And for those times when you're not that good, 53:39 don't forget we have the Holy Spirit. 53:41 We've got angels who go before us. 53:43 We've got the mercy of the Lord who wants to win that soul 53:45 more than we wanna win that soul. 53:47 So all of heaven is engaged in this missionary activity. 53:49 You're just the agent 53:51 who's supposed to go do the frontline worker. 53:53 So the Lord is behind you. 53:54 The angels behind you, the Holy Spirit's behind you. 53:56 You got the Bible to stand on and you may not be good, 53:58 but give it a shot. 54:00 And the Lord's gonna bless. 54:01 You know, what you just said is... 54:02 Yeah, but here's a couple of things. 54:04 What you just said is so true 54:07 that when we go often, 54:10 it is people want to be heard. 54:13 They want to just some have someone talk to them. 54:16 This is why 54:17 you can invite somebody to Sabbath School or to church, 54:21 or the reason I think 54:23 evangelistic series are not more successful 54:27 as far as attendance is, 54:30 for the most part, people rely on flyers. 54:34 A, a flyer doesn't get anybody to the meetings. 54:37 If your church is having an evangelistic session, 54:41 you need to be more than 54:43 just somebody that's a row counter 54:44 or whatever. 54:45 What you need to do is reach out and personally 54:50 invite somebody 54:51 and tell them you're gonna come pick them up. 54:55 Because I mean that's... 54:57 I'll tell you what, because people do come in from flyers, 54:59 of course, but what would be great 55:00 is if we didn't have to, 55:02 it almost seems like a binary either, 55:03 either we're gonna invite our friends 55:05 or we're just gonna do billboards and handouts 55:06 and say, but friends, why don't we do everything? 55:08 Why don't we put those flyers to use? 55:10 And back them up with a personal invitation, 55:12 put a little literature, 55:13 meet your people at that water cooler. 55:15 But you're absolutely right that personal 55:17 and tiny little 30 seconds speech on this. 55:21 In the same way I said, 55:22 we're shoving everything into the worship service now. 55:24 And it's killing Sabbath School and outreach 55:25 and prayer meeting, all those other things. 55:27 We do the same thing with the evangelistic meeting. 55:29 We expect every phase of the evangelistic process 55:32 to be done in a three week window. 55:34 So we want to prepare the soil of the heart 55:36 and we want to, you know, 55:38 offer the, you know, sow the seed of truth, 55:40 and we wanna cultivate it through Bible study 55:42 and we wanna call for decisions 55:43 and see them be baptized members of the church, 55:45 starting from zero to baptize in three weeks time. 55:48 And then they'll say, well, see evangelism doesn't work. 55:51 Come on, evangelism is doing fine. 55:54 It's the evangelists who aren't working. 55:56 And I don't mean the public evangelists. 55:57 I mean the personal, the local congregations. Yes. 55:59 The pastors too, the elders, the minister, 56:01 the lay leaders, even the volunteer. 56:04 You might even hold a position in the church, 56:06 but are you out doing 56:08 what the Lord has given you the opportunity to do? 56:10 And you can't just sit on the sidelines and cast stones 56:12 at a thing that you're not contributing to. 56:14 So come on, let's get it. 56:15 Let's get some skin in the game. 56:17 Armchair quarterbacks, two quick questions 56:18 'cause we've only got 56:20 a couple of minutes left, but... 56:21 Are you serious? 56:22 Well, in this hour, 56:24 we're gonna be back for a second hour. 56:25 We hope your questions are, 56:26 texts those questions in (618) 228-3975, 56:31 or email us at live@3abn.tv. 56:35 But I have to tell you this. 56:36 There was someone 56:38 who was on the president of the White House cabinet, 56:42 this cabinet member. 56:43 I had the opportunity to meet him 56:45 right after he retired, 56:47 big time in another church. 56:48 You know what he said to me? 56:50 I mean, he's not a Seventh-day Adventist, 56:52 but he watched 3ABN all the time. 56:54 And he said, "I like your teaching." 56:56 He said, 56:58 "One thing I've learned about Seventh-day Adventist." 57:00 He said, I don't wanna get, and he's high up in his church. 57:04 He said, 57:05 "I never wanna get into a Bible 57:08 question and answer with him 57:09 because he said, 57:11 most churches don't know their Bibles 57:13 like Seventh-day Adventists do." 57:15 And that's the advantage of Sabbath School 57:19 is going through that Adult Bible Study. 57:22 Now I'll tell you what? 57:24 You can see he's lightened a flame already. 57:27 Join us for the second hour. 57:29 And we're gonna see resources 57:31 and some things that you can do 57:33 to make your Sabbath school ALIVE! 57:37 Amen. 57:40 See you in a sec. |
Revised 2021-10-21