How to witness -David Asscherick

now you might be thinking ah that's i think some of this stuff is a bridge too far david i think some of this is a bridge too far so now what i'm going to do is i'm going to show you that ellen white agreed with what i'm telling you right now because some people won't believe it unless ellen white said it okay so i'm going to show you ellen white was absolutely aware of what i'm telling you right now and i'm going to read you just five statements some of them a little shorter some of them a little longer and then that'll wrap up our time together today and then tomorrow will be story hour with uncle david and i'll tell you a bunch of stories that i think you'll really enjoy okay so let's start with the first one here this is ellen white from the 1888 materials page 830. give me that slide if you would fellas there's no way they could be asleep up there that's just not possible okay so it's going to come i'll start reading it off the back screen it says as a people we are certainly in great danger now just watch this she's writing to seventh day evans as a people we are certainly in great danger if we are not constantly guarded of considering our ideas because long cherished just pause there what's that called when we have an idea that we just keep doing over and over again we've just been using it tradition okay let's do it again as a people we are certainly in great danger if we are not constantly guarded of considering our ideas because long cherished to be bible doctrines and on every point to be infallible and then measuring everyone by the rule of our interpretation of bible truth what she says next is absolutely incredible thanks for that amen jim she says this is our danger and this would be the greatest evil that could come upon us as a people let that settle into your souls what's the greatest danger that could come upon us as a people thinking that because we've been doing something as a people a seventh-day adventist for a long time that we've been doing it right and then we measure everybody else by the way that we are absolutely sure is right while i was in europe and it's i wish i had time i actually presented this presentation in europe and i said there's reason why ellen white i believe had this insight in europe because europe is a cosmopolitan multicultural multi-ethnic place that has been let's be honest largely ruined by traditionalist religion do i need to say more than that if you're familiar with church history largely ruined to spiritual things by traditionalist religion i'm looking back to the medieval period so there's a reason that there is a tremendous sensitivity and even a suspicion about religion in europe you picking up what i'm laying down here so i think there's reason she had this inside in europe while i was in europe i felt deeply moved by the spirit of god as i never did before that there must be altogether a different spirit and an element brought into our conferences if one should hold ideas differing in some respects from that which we have heretofore entertained not on vital points of truth that's not what she's describing there should not be a notice this firm rigid attitude assumed that all is right in every particular you see what she's saying here we're not going to compromise the essence of the message of what we know is biblical but the way that we communicate that to people we should not have a rigidity and a a firmness about it we need to be flexible as we reach people in different circumstances situations cultures and nations yes or no that all is bible truth everything that we believe is bible truth without a flaw and every point that we have held is without mistake or cannot be improved she says this i know to be dangerous business what's called traditionalism that's just to put a simple word on it she says it proceeds from the wisdom that is beneath we need to be very careful that we don't take our generational traditional cultural ways of doing things and turn people into people that just look and think and act like us what we're trying to do is make disciples of jesus and that can take on a lot of different looks that may or may not fit within our cultural paradigm i suppose the easiest example of this the low-hanging fruit of this is how do we reach the muslim world well i think it's an unrealistic idea that we're going to take muslims and get them all wearing suits and ties and going into buildings with pews and steeples and singing onward christian soldiers and here's the good news there's no biblical requirement for any of that amen there's no biblical requirement to wear a suit or to you notice i'm violating that biblical requirement here out of great intentionality i might add there is no biblical requirement to sit in a building in a pew with a steeple and to sing onward christian soldiers to the pipe organ now to be clear there is nothing wrong with that but to think that that's going to be an effective evangelistic strategy to reach the islamic world no how do we take the gospel and morph it into something that feels culturally we're talking content is jesus his life death and resurrection we're not talking about in a combination of content but culturally from my perspective everything is in play you with me i'm just i'm up what do we have to talk about so that's my first one now it's one of five here's my second one ellen white ministry of healing page 485 as we become interested in the salvation of souls let me translate when we're content to no longer just sit in a pew and wait for the return of jesus he'll be here any moment now no no no when we become genuinely actually authentically interested in souls i love this we cease to mind the little differences that so often arise in our association with one another amen i love that we cease to mind them oh i better not say that we cease they say that it's bet you know no no no no no no temptation i have learned in my 46 years of increasing wisdom that it is easy to get the toothpaste out of the tube and comparatively difficult to get it back in so i'm just going to say as we cease to mind the little differences that often arise now just think about that religious walls are easy to build in fact they require no particular creativity or ingenuity to build they're already there to have a religious argument with somebody or to get in a religious fight with somebody is a piece of cake it requires no intelligence no creativity and no ingenuity but how do you build a bridge to someone who is coming from a different religious or cultural context than you that requires intelligence it requires intentionality it the walls are already there amen don't pat yourself on the back when you built more walls how do we turn those walls into bridges third of five quotations evangelism 542 and 543 in regard to making known our faith and ellen white has incredible wisdom here in regard to making known our faith when we talk to people about what it is that we believe no decided effort should be made to conceal it can somebody say amen in other words don't hide it but notice the other side of that no decided effort should be made to conceal it and no unwise efforts put forth to make it prominent do you see how she very carefully walks an appropriate line don't hide who you are but don't make the idiosyncratic parts of what you are the most prominent and important thing if i could translate what she's saying after this point she's saying just use some common sense then she gives a for instance she says persons will come to the sanitarium that's an adventist hospital persons are going to come to adventist hospitals non-adventist people people who are not members of our tribe are going to come to the sanitarium who are in a favorable condition to be impressed by the truth they might be sick in mind or in body but they're open to kind and intelligent and helpful and service oriented people so far so good okay now watch this it continues if they ask questions okay we're going to say that together if they ask questions okay one more time one more time when when if they ask questions in regard to our faith it would be proper to state what we believe in a clear and simple manner let me translate that this is not the time to preach a sermon what we believe in a clear and simple manner and when do we tell people what we believe in a clear and simple manner when do we do that if they ask questions indwelling godliness and parts of power to the conduct of the true believer that gives him an influence for the right but in this matter we should act with discretion there are conscientious persons who think it their duty to talk freely upon points of faith of which there is a difference of opinion in a manner which arouses the combativeness of those with whom they converse every one of us in this room knows somebody like this and some of us in this room are that person when the opportunity presents itself to bring up a point not of commonality but of difference and of combativeness you can't wait to tell somebody how wrong they are and by extension how right you are are you with me yes or no now notice she doesn't say they're bad people they're conscientious people they're just misguided they don't practice the same kind of wisdom that paul did when he was at mars hill he could have preached a very different sermon in acts 17 that would have utterly aroused the anger the hostility and the combativeness of the athenian philosophers instead he went out of his way to build bridge after bridge after bridge after bridge to get access to their minds and their thinking and even to ingratiate himself into their favoritism why why would he make these cultural accommodations so he can preach the what am i going to say so we can preach the gospel she continues one such premature injudicious effort saying the wrong thing in the wrong way at the wrong time even if you're zealous and extremely sincere may close the ears of someone who would otherwise have heard patiently but now because you were a beep who will now influence others unfavorably and through the indiscretion of one conscientious but ultimately overzealous person the hearts of many others will be closed to the truth when they go report to their family members man i went to the adventist hospital let me tell you those people are so overbearing dogmatic insistent and argumentative i couldn't i'd say i'd rather be sick at home than getting better with those people are you with me so she's writing she's saying look when people come to us we engage them in socially responsible ways if they ask questions it's appropriate to give clear and simple answers but let your indwelling godliness and let them see that you love their souls let that be the biggest sermon that you preach this statement continues it is a fact that is known to all that the zealous religionists of the different sects have cultivated and manifested very little candor in their estimation of those who differ with them on religious subjects i mean this is just such great writing this is just such great writing i mean that is the english language at very close to its finest she's like everybody knows that people who are really zealous about religion are not really fair in their estimation of others it's incredible those of this class people who are hostile to religion don't talk to me about god don't talk to me about church don't talk to me about religion we've all met these people am i wrong or am i right they might have been burned they might have been hurt they might have been whatever it is those people of this class expect to meet the same unreasonable spirit among seventh-day adventists how many have heard that there is a sort of almost colloquial reference to christians as know-it-alls and as hypocritical and as politically motivated okay so if you know that that is a sort of increasing cultural caricature of christians she's saying don't fall into it don't go jump headlong into people's expectations of what you are no look those of this class expect to meet the same unreasonable spirit among seventh-day adventists and then put their armor on prepared to resist anything that would reflect on their peculiar views we we make people hostile to what we have to say sometimes by the way we say it she continues in times past some in the sanitarium in the hospital have felt it their duty to introduce and she uses one for instance here of an idiosyncratic adventist belief the sabbath question in all places they felt it was their duty they have urged it that's the key word there upon patience with earnestness and persistency and i love this to such the angels of god would say not words but deeds let me translate that for you to such the angels of god would say shut up be quiet let your actions show that the sabbath is important to you let your actions show that god's love is real in the world yes if you have to say something if they ask a question make it short and simple and sweet but but it's not your responsibility to be overbearing in your promotion and notice this particularly of those things that are a little different a little idiosyncratic the daily life tells much more than any number of words a uniform cheerfulness tender kindness christian benevolence patience and love will melt away prejudice and open the heart to the reception of truth can somebody say amen absolutely incredible absolutely incredible you okay that's three of five here's number four evangelism page 140 and 141 brethren you who go forth to labor for those who are bound in chains of prejudice and ignorance you're going out to preach to the world you need to exercise the same divine wisdom that who tell me tell me who who who that paul manifested when you are laboring in a place where souls are just beginning to get the scales from their eyes i like that she's such a great writer it's like you go to a place and the scales are just starting to fall from the eyes of the people they don't know what you know she says they're just beginning to see men as trees walking be very careful not to present the truth in such a way as to arouse what's the word prejudice and to close the door of the heart to the truth and then this agree with the people on every point where you can consistently do so translation don't compromise the truth of the gospel but you can agree in every single single particular and i'll give you some instances tomorrow some four instances of how i do this some of them you're going to love and some of them might make a few of you a little uncomfortable but i'm not here to keep you happy i'm here to keep jesus happy okay i'm here to keep jesus happy and i love this let you let them see that you love their souls and you want to be in harmony with them you've probably heard something like this said before but it bears repeating if in a religious context you win the argument but lose a friend you lost the exchange people should feel at the end of the day that even if you are principled and firm and immovable in your own personal convictions you are very elastic and accommodating in others as they are on a journey as we all are toward god but we sometimes create this culture in this posture like we have arrived and we're just waiting for the rest of you to catch up but when we conduct ourselves in such a way that we communicate hey we're all on a journey and where i'm at is not where you're at and i'm here for you in your journey wherever that is and wherever that people will know that we love them amen let them see that you love their souls and want to be in harmony with them so far as possible if the love of christ is revealed in all your efforts you will be able to sow the seed of truth in some hearts god will water the seed sown uh i think that went backward okay anyway just go back one if you don't mind let there let's just try that i think i might have got one out of court if you could go back my little back button's not working there we go oh forward there we are okay this is fine it's like we're having a game our ministers need more of the wisdom that paul had he went to labor for the jews he did not first make prominent the birth betrayal crucifixion and resurrection of jesus notwithstanding that these were the special truths for that time he first brought them down and this is key step by step over the promises that have been made of a savior we saw this in acts 13 where he went to antioch and he told the jewish story and over the prophecies that pointed jesus out after dwelling upon these until the specifications were distinct in the minds of all and they knew that they were to have a savior he then presented the fact that the savior had already come jesus christ fulfilled every specification and i love this this was the guile with which paul caught souls he was tricky right before you knew it you're like man jesus really is the messiah he presented the truth in such a manner that their former prejudice did not arise to blind their eyes and pervert their judgment right people are already prejudiced let's be honest number one many people are prejudiced against religion in general yes or no and then there's people that are prejudiced against christianity yes or no and then there are people that are prejudiced against adventism either because they have experience with it and it was not positive or it just sounds weird yeah i mean who here has had the experience where they're trying to tell somebody who they are like yeah i'm a seventh-day adventist and they're like oh utah right utah joseph smith who's had that misunderstanding with somebody before you're like no no no no not the utah people we're also weird but we're not that flavor of weird that's a that's a different flavor of weird we're not that flavor of weird and i'll talk to you tomorrow about how to modulate your weirdness i meant that because listen here's the thing bro here's the thing sisters if you're going to be a follower of jesus and if you're going to be a seventh-day adventist you have signed up to the we're weird club okay now the less generous would say weird the bible would say peculiar i suppose some would say idiosyncratic i'm just gonna i'm just gonna flatten it out here you've signed up for the we're weird club okay so you have to be mindful of that you have to be mindful of the fact that lots of people already have existing prejudices so how do we how do we traverse those prejudices how do we get access to people and not get them hung up on our weirdness by the way everybody is weird i'm not just picking on you right everybody's weird in their own way a friend of mine has a refrigerator refrigerator magnet that says everyone is totally normal until you get to know them yeah and i think we can all admit that there are some things that we do culturally a seventh-day adventist that are weird okay i can admit it then i'll admit it for you okay uh here's the final statement fifth and final statement then we'll wrap up our time review reviewing harold june 3rd june 13th 1912 so this is right down toward the end of ellen white's life i love this statement i love this opening statement it should ever be manifest that we are reformers but not bigots can somebody say amen we are passionate about what we're passionate about we're not moving on that we're not going to move on the things that we are deeply passionate about right let's just take for example healthful living there was a time where the way that we lived and the way that we ate historically was regarded as unhealthy and ridiculous now modern medical science nutritional science and medical science has caught up to where adventists have been for like 100 years are we together everyone so so so we can be really passionate about the fact that we're advocating in this case health reform but there's a difference between being a passionate reformer and a bigot and she says we are passionate reformers we are not bigots when our laborers enter a new field that's key a new field they should seek to become acquainted with the pastors of the several churches in that place and i'll tell you a story about that tomorrow hey get to know these guys she then says when our evangelists would come into town and pitch their tent much has been lost by neglecting to do this neglecting to do what sister white neglecting to go in you come into this town evangelistically introducing yourself to the local christians as well if our ministers show themselves as what's that next word friendly and what's the next word sociable and do not act as if they were ashamed of the message they bear that's key so we're not compromising our content but we're friendly and sociable it will have and i love this classics understatement it will have an excellent effect don't you love that i love it may and may give these pastors these other denominational pastors and their congregations favorable impressions of the truth hey go show yourself to be a friendly person at any rate it's the right thing to give them a chance to be kind and favorable if they will right even if they are going to slam the door in your face you should still go it's the right thing to do our laborers should be very careful not to give the impression that they are wolves stealing in to get the sheep but they should let the ministers understand their position and this is fascinating and the object of their mission this is fascinating i'll talk to you about this tomorrow some of you are going to love it some of you less so i think we need to more carefully define what we're actually trying to do evangelistically because i think historically we have thought our evangelistic impulse and and uh our evangelistic ah there's a word i'm looking for there and it does not want to come the synapses are not firing our evangelistic responsibility that's not the word i'm still looking for searching over here is to turn people into seventh-day adventists i think we have thought that's what we're trying to do and by the way there's not necessarily anything wrong with the desire to have people become seventh day evidence because seventh day evidence are actually pretty cool people weird though they be and and we've actually got a few things kind of going in our favor so i think that's there's nothing wrong with that but i don't think that's our primary evangelistic impulse i don't think that's our primary evangelistic mandate there it is mandate i knew it would come i had the spinning wheel going on but it came our primary evangelistic mandate i don't think our finish line should necessarily be to get people denominationally affiliated with us i think that will be a byproduct of the actual thing that we're supposed to be doing and that's preaching the gospel and this is a to say it this way say it amen amen let me say it this way i ask myself this question all the time as seventh-day adventists do we primarily have something to say or do we primarily have something to build i think we have something to say i think we have something to say to the world i don't think we are supposed to be necessarily building up giant denominational institutions whereby people can either choose to be affiliated or not affiliated by the way this isn't a commentary on any specific institution i'm just speaking philosophically here methodologically i think we have something to say to the world and we will have to have some certain kinds of institutions in order to facilitate our mission but i don't think primarily we're just trying to build up some gigantic organizational edifice that people can either be affiliated with or not i think we have something to say to the world i think we have a message so notice that she says when you come into town and you meet these other pastors let them know why you're there and look at what she says this is why you're there let them know the object of your mission to call the attention of the people to the truths of god's word and what evangelical protestant pastor wouldn't be totally favorable to that we just want to preach god's word and the truth she says there are many of these which are dear many truths that are dear to all christians and here is what kind of ground common ground upon which we can meet people of other denominations upon which we can build bridges and not what word am i going to say and not walls in becoming acquainted with these other pastors we should dwell and and their congregants we should dwell mostly upon topics in which all feel an interest and which will not lead directly and pointedly to subjects of disagreement fine

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Id: Sw0rG8_VEd0

Length: 27min 24sec (1644 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 01 2021