The Danger of Ecclesiastical Amnesia - Pastor Stephen Bohr - Preach the Word

[Music] there are many lessons that we can learn from the history of israel but before we learn some of those lessons we want to ask the lord's presence as we study his word let's pray father in heaven thank you for the privilege now of opening the holy pages of your book we ask for the guidance of your spirit give us clarity of thought give us open hearts and empower us lord to live in harmony with your will and to proclaim it to others this we pray in the precious name of jesus amen as i was mentioning we have many things to learn from the history of israel many precious lessons as i will be would as i begin our study i would like us to remember that god delivered israel out of egypt with a mighty hand israel had an incredible history to tell others an incredible story about god leading them from egypt to canaan but god not only gave them a great history to speak about god also gave them incredible teachings or doctrines a worldview if you please in order that they might be happy holy and healthy on their way to the promised land and god also gave them an organization that was enviable an organization that would keep them together and would help them fulfill the mission for which god called them so god told israel to remember their glorious past how god had led them with a mighty hand in other words their history in deuteronomy 32 and verse 7 we find these words god is speaking to his people remember the days of old consider the years of many generations ask your father and he will show you your elders and they will tell you in other words remember your history and israel had a great history to remember and to tell they could speak about the founding fathers abraham isaac and jacob and how god had formed a covenant with them they could speak about moses their great leader and prophet through which god took them out of egypt to the promised land they could speak about the marvelous liberation from bondage in egypt their deliverance with god's mighty hand they could talk about the parting of the red sea to allow them to go through the sea on dry ground they could speak about the drowning of their enemies that had enslaved them the egyptians they could describe how god had rained bread from heaven manna from heaven to feed them 40 years in the wilderness how god had given them water from the rock how god gave them principles for holy living they could speak about how god led them in a cloud by day to shelter them from the sun and a pillar of fire by night so that they could see the direction in which they were going they could describe how none of the diseases of the egyptians afflicted them and how god had led them in the conquest of the promised land and had defeated their enemies before them they had a rich history to tell where you could see the leading hand of god in taking them from egypt and leading them to canaan but god also gave them distinctive teachings special teachings a world view if you please in deuteronomy chapter 32 and verses 46 and 47 we find these words and he said to them that is to israel set your hearts on all the words which i testify among you today which you shall command your children to be careful to observe all the words of this law for it is not a fragile a futile thing for you because it is your life and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the jordan to possess so notice the emphasis set your heart on all the words carefully observe all the words of this law it's your life by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you go across the jordan to possess so god told them remember the teachings follow the teachings obey the teachings transmit them to your children what could they talk about messiah's house the sanctuary which was in the center of the encampment of israel which basically was their world view god also gave them a calendar of events in the hebrew feasts which pointed forward to all of the specific events in the ministry of the messiah god gave him his wonderful ten commandment law he gave them the sabbath he gave them the system of stewardship including the tithing he spoke to them true principles of education elevated christian standards and principles for a healthy life in other words god not only intervened so that they had an incredible history to tell but he also gave them marvelous teachings that differed from the teachings of any nation of antiquity but god also gave them an enviable enviable organizational system sometimes we think that israel's organization uh moved from the top down in other words god told moses what to do and moses imposed it on the people but it might surprise many that god gave israel a representative style of governance of organization let's pursue that for a moment we're going to notice that the organization that god gave israel is very similar to the organization of the seventh-day adventist church today christ was the invisible leader of israel but moses was the visible leader of israel in the book confrontation page 25 ellen white wrote moses was their visible leader while christ stood at the head of the armies of israel their invisible leader so israel had an invisible leader jesus christ and a visible leader under the authority of the invisible leader moses and then in israel you had the priests the priests would be equivalent today to the pastors they serve the spiritual needs of the congregation that is of the members they offered sacrifices they offered prayers and they instructed the people in the way of the lord then you have the levites the levites cared for the tabernacle they received the offerings and disbursed them then besides the priests and the levites you had regional leaders from leaders of the tribes to leaders of tents in fact moses was wearing himself thin he was burning the candle on both ends so god through jethro his father-in-law gave moses some very wise counsel we find that council in exodus 18 and verses 15 through 20. it says there and moses said to his father-in-law because the people come to me to inquire of god when they have a difficulty they come to me and i judge between one and another and i make known the statutes of god and his laws so moses father-in-law said to him the thing that you do is not good in other words having people come to you for everything verse 18 both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out for this thing is too much for you you are not able to perform it by yourself listen now to my voice i will give you counsel and god will be with you stand before god for the people so that you may bring the difficulties to god in other words the most difficult issues you are to bring to god moses and we're going to talk in a moment about what those difficulties involved verse 20 and you shall teach them the statutes and the laws and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do god is telling moses delegate responsibility don't try and do everything yourself you're going to wear yourself out and so moses followed the counsel of his father-in-law jethro in verse 25 of exodus 18 we find the following words and moses chose able men out of all israel and made them heads over the people this is interesting because these days people say the church has only one head jesus christ and there cannot be any heads over the head well the fact is that's contradicted by this obviously the lone head of the church in the absolute sense is jesus christ but that doesn't mean that there cannot be heads or leaders under the headship of christ so it says in moses chose able men out of all israel and made them heads over the people and now notice rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tens in other words there were different groups of individuals over whom these individuals were heads or leaders ellen white explained this arrangement in patriarchs and prophets page 374. chiefs or princes ruled over the tribes so the tribe is the largest group actually all of israel is the largest but the next largest is uh the tribe so she says chiefs or princes ruled over the tribes under these in other words under the headship of these were captains over thousands and captains over hundreds and captains over 50s and captains over tents and then notice and lastly officers who might be employed for special duties ellen white further explained in the book patriarchs and prophets page 300 these these groups that i just mentioned the chiefs or princess over tribes the captains over thousands the captains over hundreds the captains over 50s the captains over tens she says these were to judge in all matters of minor consequence while the most difficult and important cases should be brought before moses this council was accepted and it not only brought relief to moses but resulted in establishing more perfect order among the people so you notice that israel had a representative style of governance christ the absolute leader invisible leader moses the visible leader the priests who cared for the spiritual welfare of the nation the levites which cared for the tabernacle the offerings and that the cleaning of the tabernacle and the disbursement of the offerings etc and then you had chiefs over tribes and then you have heads over thousands over hundreds over fifties and over tens a representative style of governance but there was another nucleus which was very important and that is that there was a type of executive committee that was composed of elders from all of the tribes that dealt with the general matters relating to the entire congregation it's called the council of the seventy numbers chapter 11 verses 16 and 17 describes this particular group it says there so the lord said to moses gather to me seventy men of the elders of israel whom you know to be elders of the people and officers over them bring them to the tabernacle of meeting that they may stand there with you then i will come down and talk with you there i will take of the spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them in other words they would be an extension of moses so to speak the spirit that moses had it continues and they shall bear the burden of the people with you that you may not bear it alone so in other words there was also a council of 70 elders that were from all of the tribes of israel that served kind of as an executive committee to care for the general affairs of the nation ellen white explained in patriarchs and prophets page 374 from the elders of the tribes a council of 70 was afterward chosen to assist moses in the general affairs of the nation just and i'll get ahead of myself a little bit just like in the seventh adventist church you have an executive committee with representatives from all over the world that deal with the general affairs of the seventh-day adventist church now whenever moses had to make a big decision the elders of israel were consulted and they were there with moses deciding what to do a prime example of this was the rebellion of korah dathan and abyram the story is in number 16 and verse 25. there it says that moses did not make a unilateral decision the elders of israel were along with him in making the decision about what would happen with korah dathan and abyram so god told israel remember your history he gave them teachings that would make them excel above all nations he also gave them an organization to keep them together and focused on their mission but the question is what was their mission well let's read two verses that we find in the old testament isaiah 49 and verse 6 is the first one indeed he says that is god says it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of jacob and to restore the preserved ones of israel i will also give you as a light to the gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth so god is saying it's a small thing for you to deal with the issues relating to the israelites israel i have also called you to be a witness to all of the nations that god's light will go to all the nations of the world now in the old testament israel was supposed to tell the story of their history and they were supposed to live in harmony with the teachings and they will be the envy of the world their crops would produce so much more they would not have any of the diseases of the surrounding nations they would be prosperous and the nations that surrounded them would say what is the secret of their prosperity and they would come to jerusalem and the jews would be able to share with them the principles that god had revealed to them the the history that they had experienced the marvelous organizational system that god had given them and as a result the nations would say wow we want to be members of this nation you say really notice zechariah chapter 8 and verse 23 zechariah 8 23 you see in the old testament the nations would come to israel for light after the day of pentecost christians are to go to the world and take the light of jesus it says in zechariah chapter 8 and verse 23 thus says the lord of hosts in those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a jewish man saying let us go with you for we have heard that god is with you and then the light of messiah's coming would go to the whole world and when jesus came everyone would have received him the bible tells us that he came to his own and his own received him not now how did israel fare in doing the three things that i mentioned as well as fulfilling their mission how well did they do in telling their history how well did they do in following the teachings that god had given them how well did they do in keeping israel together in its organizational system how well did they fulfill their mission of being a light to all of the nations well let's study just a slice of israel israel's history to see one example of what occurred we're going to take a look primarily at the period of the judges now in order to do this i need to give you some chronology i know some people don't like history because there are a lot of dates involved but in order to understand the period of the judges we have to understand clearly the chronology of when this period took place so i'm going to go over a little bit of history the exodus took place in the year 1445 bc that is before christ and israel was in the wilderness for 40 years so this would cover the period from 1445 bc to 1405 bc when they finally arrived at the borders of the promised land after sojourning in the wilderness for a period of 40 years during this period god delivered them with a mighty hand he organized the congregation he also gave them doctrines to guide them in the their life what they were supposed to believe and how they were supposed to live all of this happened during their 40 years when they left egypt and when they finally arrived at the promised land then you have the conquest of the land of canaan this took place between the year 1400 bc and the year 17 of the year 1375 bc during this time joshua led israel in the conquest of the promised land in fact if you study the record joshua with israel under the power of god conquered six nations and 31 kings during this period between 1400 and 1375 bc and then in 1375 joshua died the one who had led the armies of israel to conquer the promised land and then the bible tells us that after joshua died the elders that survived him were faithful to god and vigilant and israel remembered their history they followed their teachings and the organization of israel stuck together but then after this we have the period of the judges which probably begins around the year 1350 bc and lasts till about 1050 bc a period of approximately 300 years when joshua was about to die according to joshua 24 and verse 1 joshua gathered all of israel in fact all of the leaders of israel to give them a final message we find in joshua 24 1 these words then joshua gathered all the tribes of israel to shechem and called for the elders of israel for their heads for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before god so god is calling the leadership of israel the elders the heads the judges and the officers and then we're not going to read these verses but from verse 2 to 13 joshua reviews the marvelous history of israel how god had intervened and led israel with his mighty hand in chapter 23 and verses 6 through 8 joshua had already warned the congregation that they needed to abide by the teachings that god had given them not only remember their history but abide by the teachings it says there in joshua 23 verse 6 therefore this is joshua speaking be courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of moses lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left and lest you go among these nations these who remain among you you shall not make mention of the name of their gods nor cause anyone to swear by them you shall not serve them nor bow down to them but you shall hold fast to the lord your god as you have done to this day so god is saying to them remember what is written in the book of the law of moses that includes the ten commandments it includes the doctrines it includes the ceremonies it includes all of the teaching that god had given to israel and he said don't turn to the right hand or to the left hand hold fast to the lord your god and then joshua offered the famous challenge to the children of israel it's found in joshua 24 and verses 14 and 15. now therefore fear the lord serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in egypt serve the lord and if it seems evil to you to serve the lord choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the amorites in whose land you dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the lord so joshua is saying remember the history remember the teachings and abide by them stay together fulfill your mission how did the people respond to the challenge that joshua threw at them joshua 24 and verse 24 tells us the response of the people they said the lord our god we will serve and his voice we will obey once again the lord our god we will serve and his voice we will obey well it just so happens that the generation after joshua the elders that survived joshua obeyed or followed their commitment that entire generation we find in judges chapter 2 and verse 7 saw the people serve the lords all the days of joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived joshua now notice this who had seen all the great works of the lord which he had done for israel in other words they are remembering how god with the mighty hand had led israel and it says they serve the lord all the days of joshua the days of the elders because they had seen all the great works that the lord had done for them in israel but within 100 years or less they forgot their history they forsook their teachings and the organizational system fell apart an entirely new generation arose which did not know the lord in judges chapter 2 and verse 10 we find that israel forgot their teaching and their history it says there when all that generation had been gathered to their fathers another generation arose after them who did not know the lord nor the work which he had done for israel how soon they forgot the past in less than 100 years how soon did they forsake the teachings that had been given to the original israelites and so they settled in the promised land they enjoyed the conquests of the previous generations and in comfort they embrace the culture the beliefs and the practices of the surrounding nations forgetting their history and forsaking their teaching in patriarchs and prophets page 5 21 and also in page 543 we find these words joshua exhorted the people exhorted his people not to settle down at ease and forget the lord's command to utterly dispossess these idolatrous nations in other words there were still victories to be won they had to finish the work of the conquest but instead of doing that they said let's enjoy the conquest that we've already won let's just choose to live together with the canaanites yes we'll impose tribute on them but we can live in the same place and we basically can embrace the same culture ellen white also stated on page 543 of patriarchs and prophets after the settlement in canaan the tribes made no vigorous effort to complete the conquest of the land satisfied with the territory already gained their zeal soon flagged and the war was discontinued this is exactly in harmony with what we find in scripture in judges chapter 1 verses 27 and 28 we find these words however manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of bethshan and its villages or tanakh and its villages or the inhabitants of door and its villages or the inhabitants of iblim and its valley uh villages or the inhabitants of megiddo and its villages for the canaanites were determined to dwell in that land in other words instead of expelling them from the land they decided to live with them in the same land verse 28 and it came to pass when israel was strong that they put the canaanites under tribute but did not completely drive them out they did not finish the work and as a result what happened they embraced the culture of the canaanites we find in judges chapter 2 and verse 17 the following words they turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the lord they did not do so now when the bible uses the word walk in a figurative sense it's talking about behavior or conduct in other words the people in a very very short period of time because they did not finish the conquest because they decided to live in the same region as the canaanites and embraced their culture they turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the lord and they did not do so in judges chapter 3 and verse 5 we are told how far away they went from the lord it says there thus the children of israel dwelt among the canaanites the hittites the amorites the perizzites the hivites and the jebusites and they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and they served their gods that's the generation after the generation of joshua folks they forgot their history they forsook their teachings and as a result the period of the judges is a period of vast disorganization the organization of israel fell apart in the book of judges we find this in interesting expression that probably most who are listening know all about it says there in judges 17 and verse 6 speaking about the period of the judges in those days there was no king in israel everyone did was what was right in his own eyes you know we think that postmodernism is a recent phenomenon not really postmodernism existed back then everybody did as they pleased because they did not have the guidance of the teachings of the lord they embraced the culture and the teachings where they lived and their organizational system fell apart and of course their mission was put on hold because instead of being witnesses to others they allowed others to become witnesses to them in fact the book of judges ends with these very words it not only does this expression everyone did what was right in his own eyes appear in chapter 17 verse 6 but it is also the last verse of the book it says in chapter 21 verse 25 in those days there was no king in israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes you see god has not called us to adapt to culture he has called us to confront culture and to transform culture the question is what standards do we apply to the things that we see to the places that we go to the clothing that we wear to the music that we listen to to the things that we buy to the foods and things that we consume that we eat and drink what are the talking points that engross us christians every day how do we use our time are we doing all these things in the same way that the world does have we forgotten what our history is have we forgotten the wonderful teachings that god has given us so that we can be a healthy happy holy people as we move to the promised land is it just possible that today we have more sophisticated idols than israel did when they bowed before idols of silver gold and stone is it possible that our idols are different kinds of idols but yet they occupy first place in place of god but the good news is that god told israel and this is somewhat paradoxical he told israel remember the days of old but then he said to them don't remember the days of old now let's read the two verses where we find this apparent paradox it's not really a paradox but because we're going to explain what this means isaiah 46 and verse 9 god says for israel to remember their past it says there remember the former things of old for i am god and there is no other i am god and there is none like me so basically god is saying remember the former things of old remember the great things that god has done in the past but then in isaiah 43 and verse 8 we find these words do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old now does that appear like a contradiction he says remember the things of old they said don't remember the things of old why would he say that oh because the future is going to be so great that the the past is going to basically be pale in a pale shadow of what god is going to do it says there in isaiah 43 verse 18 do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old behold god says i will do a new thing oh the new thing will far out shine the old things i will do a new thing now it shall spring forth shall you not know it i will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert in scripture rivers of fresh water represent the holy spirit so god is saying i'm going to pour out my spirit upon this people and greater things will happen happen in the future than happened in the past so what does this have to say to the seventh-day adventist church to our very own beloved seventh-day adventist church have we kind of got caught in a rut where we uh where many of the people who come into the church don't have the foggiest idea about our history have we forsaken to a great degree the wonderful teachings that god has given to the seventh-day adventist church is it just possible that we have been distracted from our mission to reach the world with the three angels messages is it possible that we have not finished the work of conquest spiritually speaking is it possible that we have embraced the practices of the world the practices of culture i believe that at this time in our laodicean state we are in a condition similar to the condition that israel was in during the period of the judges but god promises great things in the future i want to read a statement from great controversy page 464 where ellen white speaks about a great revival ahead that is going to make the revivals of the past disappear in insignificance so to speak it says there in great controversy 464 about the time when god will pour out the latter reign notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and piety there are true followers of christ in these churches in other words there are true christians in every church in the world not only in the seventh adventist church there are christians that are obeying the will of the lord up to where they know it much more faithfully than many of us seventh-day adventists but ellen white says there are true followers of christ in these churches and then comes a promise before the final visitation of god's judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times the spirit and power of god will be poured out upon his children at that time notice what the promise is when the spirit is poured out at that time many will separate themselves from those churches not adventist churches we're talking about a non-adventist churches will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for god and his word many both of ministers and people will gladly accept those great truths which god has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the lord's second coming wow what a promise she says many both of ministers and people will gladly accept those great truths which god has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the lord's second coming i believe that we can see some droplets of the holy spirit falling even at this time let me share an experience that i've been having in recent months i have been corresponding with a roman catholic priest in the country of spain he lives in valencia spain and basically uh the first email that he wrote he expressed his desire to experience baptism by immersion you see he's been watching secrets unsealed and other christian other seventh-day adventist programming on youtube and he's come to the conviction that the seventh-day adventist has the truth for this time let me just read you one of his latest emails that he sent me about his desire to be baptized and the reason why i want to explain briefly he wrote the reason why i want to be baptized i was born june 11 1945 and i am 74 years old i grew up and was educated in a catholic family and i lived a catholic life both in the social and academic circles i was ordained as a catholic priest in 1981. i have searched for god all my life and what the apostle wrote certainly certainly applies to me that god is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him i first discovered adventism in february of 2017 through several videos posted on youtube by pastor victor san vicenz obviously a pastor in spain after this he continues i studied the adventist message in depth through your posted videos and those of others and then he mentions walter fight he mentions robert weyland the 1888 message dennis prieby etc as well as secrets unsealed more recently he continued all of this along with the knowledge of god's prophet ellen white and especially the three angels messages has led me to the conviction that the true revelation from god for this time is conde contained in what i call a second pentecost or the latter rain that is preached by the seventh-day adventist church ellen white wrote many both of ministers and people will gladly accept those great truths which god has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare people for the lord's second coming unfortunately many adventists are saying ho hum i'm so tired of the message i'm so tired of our history let's move on whereas people who have never known the truth they come to a knowledge of it and they said this is exciting why did i never hear this before in his most recent email he wrote i have already notified my father superior and told him that i am leaving the priesthood to be baptized and join the seventh-day adventist church by the way providentially i'm supposed to visit the city of barcelona in spain at the end of january early february in the year 2020 this was long before i even began corresponding with this priest and so in barcelona the sabbath of january 25 2020 i will have the privilege lord willing of baptizing this roman catholic priest into the seventh-day adventist message you see as adventists we have a rich history we have profound teachings similar to the ones that god gave to moses for example the sanctuary the sabbath the law stewardship laws for healthful living ethical lifestyle basically all of the instructions that god gave to moses he has given once again to the seventh-day adventist church through the ministry of ellen white god has also given the seventh-day adventist church a marvelous organizational system similar to the organizational system that existed in israel what kind of doctrines has he given us well ellen white wrote about medical educational publishing administration of the work ministerial evangelism home and marriage devotional life children finances health every dimension of life to prepare a people for the second coming of jesus christ ellen white wrote the that the organization of the seventh-day adventist church is very similar to the organization that existed in israel notice in early writings page 97 she wrote the lord has shown that gospel order has been too much feared and neglected we should shun formality but in so doing we should not neglect order now listen she's going to refer to four periods of time as it relates to organization there is order in heaven number two there was order in the church when christ was upon the earth and that church was apostate folks but there was order she continues and after his departure this is number three order was strictly observed among his apostles that's number three and then number four and now in these last days while god is bringing his children into the unity of the faith there is more real need of order than ever before for as god unites his children satan and his evil angels are very busy to prevent this unity and to destroy it is that what the devil is doing with our church today tearing it apart over different issues so that we are distracted from our mission and we are fragmented and disunited ellen white also wrote in testimonies for the church volume 1 page 647 has god changed from a god of order no he is the same in the present dispensation as in the former paul says god is not the author of confusion but of peace now notice this he that is god is as particular now as then and he designs listen carefully that we should learn lessons of order and organization from the perfect order instituted in the days of moses for the benefit of the children of israel notice he says that the order in israel was the perfect order and she states that we should learn lessons from the order and organization that israel had in fact the organization of the seventh-day adventist church is very similar to that in israel not the same names but very similar in what sense we believe that christ is the invisible leader of the seventh-day adventist church but god has established a visible leader to oversee the entire church and that is ted wilson the president of the general conference the seventh adventist church doesn't have priests but the equivalence of the priests would be the pastors of the seventh-day adventist church care for the spiritual needs present the needs of god's people to god in prayer offer spiritual sacrifices for god's people the spiritual leaders of the church would be equivalent to the priests then you have the levites we don't call them levites today we call them deacons the deacons cared for the needs of the poor the deacons cared for the temple or for the sanctuary and they also disturbed received the offerings and distributed the offerings then in the seventh-day adventist church we have what are called divisions you remember that in israel there were chiefs or princes over tribes that would be the large group the division of the seventh-day adventist church like the north american division for example and the president of course is dan jackson then you have also rulers over thousands that would be equivalent to the unions in the seventh-day adventist church a smaller circle then you have rulers over hundreds that would be equivalent to local conferences then you have rulers over 50s that would be like church districts a smaller unit and then you have rulers over tens which would be the local church and the pastor leading it and then you have officers for special duties which we might compare to departmental directors and we also have what you might call an executive committee or a council which would be equivalent to the council of the elders where there were representatives from all of the different tribes we have what is called the executive committee of the general conference where you have representatives from all of the fields of the world what did ellen white have to say about the need to remember our history our teachings and our organization and testimonies to ministers page 31 ellen white wrote this famous statement that is often quoted in reviewing our past history having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing i can say praise god as i see what god has wrought i am filled with astonishment and with the confidence in christ as our leader so when elle white wrote this she was pumped up she says as i look at our history i see how god has been with us all the way i say praise the lord i'm filled with astonishment and i have confidence in christ as our leader but then she wrote this we have nothing to fear for the future from that point on except as we shall forget the way the lord has led us notice that's our history the way the lord has led us and his teaching in our past history now we could change that because the opposite is also true she says we have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the lord has led us and is teaching in our past history we can also put it this way we have every reason to fear for the future as we forget how god has led us and his teaching in our past history there's always the danger that we'll forget our denominational history and dare i say that many if not most of those who are joining the seventh adventist church have not an inkling of our denominational history and many of them are coming in and they are ignorant of many of our teachings and doctrines of the church and probably very uh not cognizant of the organizational system of the church many of them perhaps understand that the local church is it we have a duty to teach these people first of all denominational history a good place to start would be the book by jan loughborough the great second advent movement where you have the early history of the adventist church and how god led the church in a marvelous way we need to study with people all of our teachings to make sure that they're living in harmony with those teachers not in order to be saved but because they've accepted jesus christ as savior so that they make strong seventh-day adventists they need to understand how are our churches organized so that they feel part of a world church of fulfilling a world mission ellen white wrote in volume 9 of the testimonies page 19 the following words in a special sense seventh-day adventists have been set in the world as watchmen what does a watchman do he defends right he doesn't allow the thief or the enemy to come in so the seventh-day adventist church has the role of defending the truth but that's not all once again in a special sense seventh-day adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers we are not only to be on defense we are to be an offense we are supposed to be sharing the light of jesus not only defending the truth she continues god has entrusted them that is seventh-day adventists with the last warning for a perishing world on them that is on seventh-day adventists is shining wonderful light from the word of god this is a blessing received god has given them a work of the most solemn import notice we've received the blessing wonderful light and she says god has given us a work of the most solemn import that is sharing what is it the proclamation of the first second and third angels messages and then she states this there is no other work of so great importance they are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention are we fulfilling what this quotation says that we're supposed to defend the truth that we have received once delivered to the saints and we are sharing the light of the three angels messages to the world that not only includes the everlasting gospel which is the first part of the first message it also includes fearing god giving glory to him the hour of judgment it includes speaking about babylon and inviting people to come out of babylon it also has to do with not worshiping the beast people have to know who the beast is not worshipping the image people need to know what the image is not receiving the mark people need to understand what the mark is so it includes teaching the entirety of the three angels messages ellen white wrote in solemn words that we find in volume 8 of the testimonies page 247 the following words in the balances of the sanctuary the seventh-day adventist church is to be weighed now i want you to i want to stop there just for a moment you'll notice that not only individuals are weighed in the balances of the sanctuary by the way balances of sanctuary means to be judged uh you know remember in daniel chapter 5 god says to belches you have been weighed in the balances and have been found wanting so this is where ellen white is drawing from in the balances of the sanctuary the seventh-day adventist church not individuals the church is to be weighed she will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had those are the blessings that god has given the church god has given us privileges and advantages and she says she will be judged the seventh-day adventist church will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had and then comes an if if her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that christ at infinite cost has bestowed on her if the blessing conferred if if the blessings conferred that's once again what we've received upon her have not qualified her to do the work and trusted her so notice we have blessings received but the purpose of the blessings is to work so once again i'll begin up here if her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that christ at infinite cost has bestowed on her if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work and trust it to her that is our responsibility on her will be pronounced the sentence found wanting by the light bestowed the opportunities given will she be judged god chooses in order to fulfill a mission if the mission is not fulfilled then god takes measures to make sure that it's done by unconventional means sometimes ellen white wrote in one selected messages page 67 it should be remembered that the promises and threatenings of god are like conditional you know there are people who say well the church is going to go through because god has said that it's going to go through well i believe the church is going to go through of course there's going to be a shaking there's going to be a remnant that remains a remnant that is faithful ellen white says that many will leave like the leaves of autumn the the winds will blow them away but there will be many that will come into the church as a result of the shaking the question is are we going to be shaken out are we going to remember our past our glorious past as a church the way in which god has led this denomination in a marvelous way are we individually going to forget the unique teachings that god has given to the seventh-day adventist church to share with the world that includes the law the sabbath the state of the dead the sanctuary principles of healthful living not in order to earn salvation by doing and believing all of these things but if we love jesus we are going to want to obey all of these things implement in our them in our lives because we love the lord jesus and we want to live in harmony with his will and what about the organizational structure are we going to come together in unity so that we can fulfill the mission of the church as one satan at present is uniting his army and he's dividing the lord's army we need to unite the lord's army so that we give the devil a united front so this is the big question that confronts our church it is my prayer that we will wake up from our slumber we will remember our history we will live by the doctrines and the teachings that god has given us that we will work together in unity in harmony to fulfill the mission of the church by sharing the everlasting gospel as it is contained in the three angels messages so that the work can soon be finished and we can go home because i don't know about you but i'm tired of living in this world of sin and sorrow and sickness and suffering and death it is time to go home it is time to finish the work of conquering the land so that we can live with jesus throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity may that be our hope and our desire is my prayer [Music] you

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Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 17 2021