revival & reform in the sda church

“Revival & Reform in the Seventh-day Adventist Church” : 

“Revival & Reform in the Seventh-day Adventist Church” “A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work.”-1 SM, Pg.121 Why?

Statistics : 

Statistics 1846-Only 50 Sabbath Keepers 1863, when church was was started, there were only 3,500 members and all of them lived in the United States As of 12/31/07, Seventh-day Adventist are established in 201 of the 230 countries, spreading the gospel

Recent Statistics : 

Recent Statistics “This quinquennium (5 years) the North American Division reached the 1 million membership mark! The membership now stands at 1,097,217. There have been 631 churches planted and 194,486 people baptized in the division this term… We have 5,243 churches and 760 companies in the three countries that make up the NAD-Bermuda, Canada, and the United States. During the Year of Evangelism in 2009, we experienced the largest number of baptisms in our church history, the largest percentage increase since the early 1900s…”-Membership & Growth, Adventist Review, June, 27, 2010 Worldwide-16.3 million Seventh-day Adventist

The Statistics Seem good, correct? : 

The Statistics Seem good, correct? Church growth New churches are being established We’re evangelizing most of the world But, are numbers alone impressive? “If you lower the standard in order to secure popularity and an increase of numbers, and then make this a cause of rejoicing, you show great blindness. [Is this happening?] If numbers were evidence of success, Satan might claim the pre-eminence; for in this world, his followers are largely in the majority…It is the virtue, intelligence, and piety of the people composing our churches, not their numbers, that should be a source of joy and thankfulness.”-Christian Education, Pg.42

Revival & Reform : 

Revival & Reform “God calls for a spiritual revival and a spiritual reformation. Unless this takes place, those who are lukewarm will continue to grow more abhorrent to the Lord, until He will refuse to acknowledge them as His children. A revival and a reformation must take place, under the ministration of the Holy Spirit…”

What is Revival? & What is Reform? : 

What is Revival? & What is Reform? Revival Reform “Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers of mind and heart, a resurrection from spiritual death.” “Reformation signifies a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices.”

Revival without Reform is dead!!! : 

Revival without Reform is dead!!! “Reformation will not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness unless it is connected with the revival of the Spirit. Revival and reformation are to do their appointed work, and in doing this work they must blend.”-1 Selected Messages, Pg.128

A view of the condition of our church is found in revelation 3:14-18, what do we see? : 

A view of the condition of our church is found in revelation 3:14-18, what do we see? Lukewarm Wretched Miserable Poor Blind Naked “The message to the Laodecian church reveals our condition as a people.”-R & H, Dec. 15, 1904

Ellen White’s view of the church: Satanic Death Stupor : 

Ellen White’s view of the church: Satanic Death Stupor “God’s people must take warning and discern the signs of the times. The signs of Christ’s coming are too plain to be doubted; and in view of these things everyone who professes the truth should be a living preacher. God calls upon all, both preachers and people to awake. All heaven is astir. The scenes of earth’s perils are before us, and yet we are not awake. This lack of activity and earnestness in the cause of God is dreadful. This death stupor is from Satan…

Satanic Death Stupor Continued… : 

Satanic Death Stupor Continued… Unbelief, like the pall of death, is surrounding our churches, because they do not exercise the talents God has given them, by imparting the light to those who know not the precious truth. Satan is now seeking to hold God’s people in a state of inactivity…Men are in peril. Multitudes are perishing. But how few of the professed followers of Christ are burdened for these souls…There is a stupor, a paralysis, upon the people of God, which prevents them from understanding the duty of the hour. Satan uses the listless, sleepy indolence of professed Christians to strengthen his forces and win souls to his side…

Satanic Death Stupor Continued… : 

Satanic Death Stupor Continued… “…When I study the Scriptures, I am alarmed for the Israel of God in these last days. They are exhorted to flee from idolatry. I fear that they are asleep, and so conformed to the world that it would be difficult to discern between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. The distance is widening between Christ and His people, and lessening between them and the world. The marks of distinction between Christ’s professed people and the world have almost disappeared. Like ancient Israel, they follow after the abominations of the nations around them.”-Christian Service, Pg.37, 38

Since this is our condition, sleep, lukewarm, wretched, poor, blind, miserable, & naked: : 

Since this is our condition, sleep, lukewarm, wretched, poor, blind, miserable, & naked: What needs to happen? Three (3) things to bring about true revival & reform in the Seventh-day Adventist Church

(1st Step) Ezekiel 37:1-3, 5, & 6 (NASB) : 

(1st Step) Ezekiel 37:1-3, 5, & 6 (NASB) “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, You know’…

Ezekiel 37:1-3, 5, & 6 (NASB) : 

Ezekiel 37:1-3, 5, & 6 (NASB) Thus says the Lord God the these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.”

What are these verses telling us? : 

What are these verses telling us? How Israel would/could be revived That they are very dead!!! Very Dry Bones-Indicating that it had been a long time since life had been in them and they seemed hopeless of revival There was a question posed: Can these bones live? Vs. 5-”I will cause breath to enter you” (In the 2nd solution to Revival & Reform, find out what WORK God says will also bring breath into the Churches)

Solution number 1: : 

Solution number 1: The Holy Spirit!!!-“A revival must take place under the ministration of the Holy Spirit.”-1SM, Pg.128 “The Lord must breathe upon the dry bones, that they may live. The Spirit of God, with its vivifying power, must be in every human agent, that spiritual muscle and sinew may be in exercise. Without the Holy Spirit, without the breath of God, there is torpidity of conscience, loss of spiritual life. Many who are without spiritual life have their names on the church records, but they are not written in the Lamb’s book of life…

Solution Number 1 Continued… : 

Solution Number 1 Continued… …Unless there is genuine conversion of the soul to God; unless the vital breath of God quickens the soul to spiritual life; unless the professors of truth are actuated by heaven-born principle, they, are not born of the incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth forever. Unless they trust in the righteousness of Christ as their only security; unless they copy His character, labor in His spirit, they are naked, they have not on the robe of His righteousness. The dead are often made to pass for the living; for those who are working out what they term salvation after their own ideas, have not God working in them to will and to do of His good pleasure.”-R & H, Jan. 17, 1893

BUT, there are conditionsActs 2:1, 2, & 41 : 

BUT, there are conditionsActs 2:1, 2, & 41 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were [1.] all on one accord [2.] inone place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting…and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

(2nd Step) Remedy found in Isaiah 58 (NASB) : 

(2nd Step) Remedy found in Isaiah 58 (NASB) “Is not this the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke. And let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him..”

Quotes about Isaiah 58 : 

Quotes about Isaiah 58 “The union that should exist between the medical missionary work and the ministry is clearly set forth in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah.”-Counsels on Health, Pg.514 “The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah contains present truth for the people God. Here we see how medical missionary work and the gospel ministry are to be bound together as the message is given to the world. Upon those who keep the Sabbath of the Lord is laid the responsibility of doing a work of mercy and benevolence. Medical missionary work is to be bound up with the message, and sealed with the seal of God.”-Evangelism, Pg.516, 517

Quotes about Isaiah 58 : 

Quotes about Isaiah 58 “I have been instructed to refer our people to the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Read this chapter carefully and understand the kind of ministry that will bring life into the churches[That’s Revival]…Let our people everywhere be encouraged to have a part in it.”-Medical Ministry, Pg.263

Quotes from Isaiah 58 Continued… : 

Quotes from Isaiah 58 Continued… Testimony to Ministers, Pg.416-“Prosecute this work with tact and ability [What work, Medical Missionary Work]…Combine the medical missionary work with the proclamation of the third angel’s message. Make regular, organized efforts to lift the churches out of the dead level into which they have fallen and have remained for years…Encourage all to take a part in work for their fellowmen, and see of the breath of life [Remember Ez.37:6] will not quickly return to these churches. The work which is being done in medical missionary lines is the very work which Christ commanded His followers to do. Can you not clearly see that those who are engaged in this work are fulfilling the Saviour’s commission?...” 2nd Solution-Grab hold of Medical Missionary Work!!!

BY doing medical Missionary Work you will be: : 

BY doing medical Missionary Work you will be: 1.) Following Christ pattern of evangelism 2.) Waking up dead churches 3.) Fulfilling a portion of God’s great commission 4.) Growing in your personal walk with God

(3rd Step) 2 Kings 22:1, 3-5, 8-11 (NASB) : 

(3rd Step) 2 Kings 22:1, 3-5, 8-11 (NASB) “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem…in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan…the scribe to the house of the Lord, saying, ‘Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money brought in to the house of the Lord which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages of the house…

2 Kings 22:1, 3-5, 8-11 (NASB) : 

2 Kings 22:1, 3-5, 8-11 (NASB) Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’…Shaphan the scribe came to the king…And [read] it [book of the law] in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, HE TORE HIS CLOTHES.”

Facts about the Book of the Law : 

Facts about the Book of the Law Lost during King Manasseh’s reign-Prophets & Kings, Pg.392, 393 Placed on the side of the Ark-Deuteronomy 31:24-27 Was “the observance of the statutes recorded by Moses, especially those given in the book of the covenant, which forms a part of Deuteronomy…”-Prophets & Kings, Pg.392 The Book of the Law had been neglected because it was lost Question: What was the purpose of the Book of the Law? (Find out in a minute)

Why does Josiah rend his garment in verse 11? : 

Why does Josiah rend his garment in verse 11? “The encouragements offered as the reward of obedience were accompanied by prophecies of judgments against the disobedient; and as the king heard the inspired words, he recognized, in the picture set before him, conditions that were similar to those actually existing in his kingdom.”-PK, Pg.393, 394 In essence: What was being read, was happening in his own kingdom, and it was startling!!! “…[Josiah’s] sensitive conscience was deeply stirred as he saw how far the people had departed from the requirements of the covenant they had made with God. He saw that they were indulging appetite to a fearful extent…Appetite and passion were fast gaining the ascendency over the reason and judgment of the people.”-Health Reformer, April 1878 Is this happening, even in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today?

Josiah’s eyes opened : 

Josiah’s eyes opened “… While Shaphan the scribe was reading to him out of the book of the law, the king discerned in this volume a treasure of knowledge, a powerful ally, in the work of reform he so much desired to see wrought in the land. He resolved to walk in the light of its counsels, and also to do all in his power to acquaint his people with its teachings and to lead them, if possible, to cultivate reverence and love for the law of heaven.”-PK, Pg.398

Purpose of the book of the law explained : 

Purpose of the book of the law explained “…The statutes and judgments specifying the duty of man to his fellow-men, were full of important instruction, defining and simplifying the principles of the moral law, for the purpose of increasing religious knowledge, and of preserving God’s chosen people distinct and separate from idolatrous nations…In consequence of continual transgression, the moral law was repeated in awful grandeur from Sinai. Christ gave to Moses religious precepts which govern the everyday life. These statutes were explicitly given to guard the ten commandments...”-Review & Herald, May 6, 1875 What was the purpose of the Book of the Law? To simplify & apply the law of God to everyday life for the purpose of increasing religious knowledge, and to preserve God’s chosen people distinct and separate from idolatrous nations.

The third step to Revival & reform in the Seventh-day Adventist Church : 

The third step to Revival & reform in the Seventh-day Adventist Church A revival of the Spirit of Prophecy!!! What’s the purpose of the Spirit of Prophecy? Ted Wilson, (GC President), Adventist World, Sept., Pg.11-“Accept the Spirit of Prophecy as one of the greatest gifts given to the SDA Church, not just for the past but for the future. While the Bible is the ultimate authority and final arbiter of truth, the S.O.P. provides clear, inspired council to aid our application of Bible truth and is a marvelous blessing to direct God’s church in the last days of this earth’s history.”

Has the Spirit of Prophecy Really been lost in the Seventh-day Adventist Church? : 

Has the Spirit of Prophecy Really been lost in the Seventh-day Adventist Church? “In North America we have about a 17 percent reader population for the Spirit of Prophecy books, and most of those readers are over the age of 65,’ Kibble (Alvin Kibble), an NAD (North American Division) vice president, explains. ‘That’s alarming! It’s not that we don’t have access to Ellen White book; we’re just choosing not to read them.’”-Adventist World, Feb. 2010 Issue, Connecting with Jesus, Pg.23

Ted Wilson, GC President : 

Ted Wilson, GC President “…There seems to be three categories of people who don’t have a good knowledge of Ellen White’s writings: (1) those who simply don’t have the materials available, (2) those not interested in reading them, (3) and those-a much smaller category-who, for whatever reasons, are actively opposed to the Spirit of Prophecy….”

What is the last deception of Satan upon the SDA Church? : 

What is the last deception of Satan upon the SDA Church? “The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God.”-Last Day Events, Pg.177 How? 1.) Buy books, don’t read them 2.) Don’t buy the books “As God’s faithful remnant, may we never make of none effect the precious light given us in the writings of Ellen G. White.”-Ted Wilson, GC Sermon

Review of the 3 elements which will bring about revival & reform : 

Review of the 3 elements which will bring about revival & reform 1.) The Holy Spirit (Need to be on ONE ACCORD) 2.) Medical Missionary Work (“We have come to a time when every member of the church should grab hold of Medical Missionary Work.”-7T, 62) 3.) Revival of the Testimonies (Our “powerful ally” to the work of reform)

Hope for the Church : 

Hope for the Church “Though the professed followers of Christ are in a deplorable condition, they are not yet in so desperate a strait as were the foolish virgins whose lamps were going out, and there was no time in which to replenish their vessels with oil….The counsel of the True Witness does not represent those who are lukewarm as in a hopeless case. There is yet a chance to remedy their state, and the Laodecian message is full of encouragement; for the backslidden church may yet buy the gold of faith and love, may yet have the white robe of the righteousness of Christ, that the shame of their nakedness need not appear. Purity of heart, purity of motive, may yet characterize those who are half-hearted and who are striving to serve God and Mammon. They may yet wash their robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.”-Review & Herald, August 28, 1894 “There is hope for our churches if they will heed the message given to the Laodecians.”-Manuscript Release 139, 1903