Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Revival Plan-The Elijah Solution

Rich Constantinescu

The Elijah Solution - Part 1

Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you love each 1 of us with an everlasting love.

And with loving kindness you have drawn us and you are drawing us and you will continue to draw us and Lord we want your image in us we want to be prepared to worship you face to face and not only that but we want to bring many others into the presence of your glorious throne in heaven and so we ask father for that revival of our own hearts father we don't approach the study of your word casually, we realize that only your Holy Spirit can rightly teach us all things as Jesus promised us.

And so we ask for the special gift of the person of your Holy Spirit to fill this place in our hearts as we study Your Word.

By way of introduction, my name is Richard Konstantonescu and I'm a native of Hinsdale, Illinois.

In Isaiah 8, verse 20, it says, to the law and to the testimony.

If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

And In the context of that verse, it talks about the wizards that peep and that mutter.

And I'm so glad that the Word of God does not need updating.

That we have clear words and instruction from God, and we don't need any muttering.

We can have the straight truth and as we look at technology, we're going to be recording this lecture.

By God's grace, please pray that the technology works.

But we need to update technology very frequently, and you see these old, outdated things that look so new, but the Word of God does not need updating.

And it's just so wonderful, and so I'm just so thankful not to be with the wizards that peep and that mutter, but I'm with God's people today who want a clear word from His Scriptures.

Today's topic is Revival Plan, the Elijah Solution.

And there is more blessing than we have ever experienced.

In Ephesians chapter 3 it says that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think.

And there's nothing special about Peter, James, John, any of the Apostles.

They had certain offices and those offices need to be respected and yet the Holy Spirit is given without boundary.

Think about the early Advent movement in the 1830s, 40s.

The Scandinavian children, young children, 5 and 6 years old, they would stand up on the tables when their parents couldn't preach and when the pastors couldn't labor, and they delivered the first angel's message.

And they preached with power because the Holy Spirit does not know boundaries.

In fact, I live next to a donkey and if the Holy Spirit can speak through a donkey, then He can speak through you and me.

So revival, we want that revival, that primitive revival.

We're going to talk about how we can experience that through the Elijah message.

Elijah was very unpopular with some people and yet we know that God only sends messages of reproof when they are positively needed and when a great blessing will come.

And so we're going to talk about the Elijah solution and the picture that you see on the screen here is to illustrate how important God's messages are.

Tomas Martinez was a man in Bolivia who was running from the law And anytime he saw police coming, true story, you can read about it in the newspapers, every time he saw police coming he would always try to evade them.

And Tomas didn't know that they were actually bringing him good news.

But he was a derelict, he was an alcoholic, he would just drink his money, do a few odd jobs for some coins, and just go and waste it on some alcohol.

And so every time he saw police, he remembered that he had written some bad checks.

And so he didn't want to get caught for those bad checks, and so he evaded them.

He didn't know that the wife that he had been married to for a brief time and had divorced, but the divorce was never finalized, had inherited 6000000 dollars, and she had died.

And they were looking for him high and low, and he kept on evading them, and they never found him.

How sad when God sends Elijah's, when God sends messages and messengers of rebuke, when he sends the law.

You know, Malachi chapter 4, if you'll go with me there, it talks about how God would send Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, And it's because He wants to bless us, amen?

In Malachi 4, verse 1, it says, for behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble.

And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Fact.

The good news is that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked.

He has given His own Son to take the punishment of the world upon Him.

And so the iniquity of us all was laid upon Jesus.

He does not want us to suffer this, and yet It's a fact that those that do not receive the gospel will have to go through this judgment.

And it's our work as Seventh-day Adventists to preach the 3 angels' messages to the world so that we can warn them of the impending destruction.

Noah was not the favorite fireside preacher of the Antediluvians.

He was not welcomed, and yet it is a very important message that we preach that the hour of his judgment is come, and There is a way out.

Verse 2 says, but unto you that fear my name.

Fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come.

Can you see the parallel between verses 1 and 2 of Malachi 4 and the first angel's message?

So there's a judgment in Malachi chapter 4 verse 1 and then it says, "...but unto you that fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with..." What?

Now, the word for healing is often translated as salvation in Scripture.

God wants to save and heal us and He wants to prepare us for His coming.

To avoid the fires of hell, in verse 1, we need to have the Son of Righteousness arise so that we are healed.

The purpose for Jesus coming was very simple.

The purpose for Jesus coming was to save us from our sins.

And this is the message that we have to give to the world that we have a Savior who is able to transform our hearts and prepare us for the great day when Jesus comes.

Verse 3 says, You shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.

In the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Remember, it says, verse 4, and we're going to talk about Scripture memorization later on in other lectures this week.

For those that stick with this revival plan through to the last day, I'll give you a special memory pack with some verse cards.

And we'll be talking about practical ways to memorize Scripture.

As I said, I'm a former New Ager, and the way that I was able to get rid of the addiction of spiritualism, which is very difficult to get rid of, is the power of the Word of God in the heart.

I had actually taken so much LSD that I was taking it every weekend and as much as I could.

Whenever I could, I started to sell it even as a teenager.

And I was literally hallucinating for years after I stopped taking it.

And my purpose of taking it so much was so that I would constantly have this spiritual, I took it for spiritual reasons, these drugs.

And you know the devil, he's a liar, he can't come and deceive us often unless our minds are compromised.

So He usually mixes his deceptions with these substances.

And the only way that really I got over that was through hiding and remembering the Word of God.

So it's very important, only those who have fortified their minds with the words of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.

Remember, Ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments." Jeremiah 6 16 says, Stand in the way and see and ask for the old paths, Where is the good way?

You are not special and I am not special apart from other human beings in the sense of having some challenge that God has not already provided a solution for.

God has given us everything that we need and He's given it to us in His Word and through the messages of the prophets and we need to remember and go back if we find ourselves straying.

Verse 5 says, Behold I will send you Elijah, Elijah the prophet, my God is Jehovah, my God is Yahweh, the Eternal 1, Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." What's the purpose of Elijah?

The solution of having the healing in the wings of Christ, the Son of righteousness.

What is the purpose of Elijah to come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord?

He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children.

Aren't you glad that God has not left us to simply turn on our own volition?

The Elijah Solution - Part 2

Our Father in heaven, Lord, we're so grateful because you love each 1 of us with an everlasting love.

And we're thankful, Father, that you sent your only Son to redeem us.

And Lord, our only hope is in Him, and we're just wanting to have Him fill our hearts today.

So please bless us with the Spirit according to the sacrifice that Jesus made for each 1 of us so that we might be fitted to meet you face to face soon.

This seminar is Revival Plan, the Elijah solution and this is day 2.

The reason why we need revival is simply to become like our Savior Jesus.

He was born down so that we could be reborn up.

In John 1 verse 12 it says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power or authority to become the sons, and we can add in daughters, of God, which were born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, nor of blood, but of God." And then the next verse in verse 14 says the amazing truth that the Word was made flesh.

So, verse 13 says that we're not born again of blood or the will of man, but of God.

We're born of God, partaking of the divine nature, and yet we see the amazing trade-off in verse 14, the Word was made flesh.

So He was born down, amen, so that we could be born up.

And so God always wants to bring us to become more like Him, and that's the purpose of revival.

In Luke 4, He declares that He is now the Anointed 1.

And He stands in Nazareth and He says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Spirit came upon him at the River Jordan in a very special way for ministry, amen?

Because the Lord has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, the good news to the poor of the kingdom.

He had sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." This was the work of Christ, and This is why God is asking us to receive His Holy Spirit in the last days, especially because we have a very special work of healing, of teaching, and of preaching to accomplish across this globe.

And we cannot do it without the Holy Spirit.

And so, He promised us, you will receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and then you will be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

And there are so many people on earth right now that are waiting for the gospel message and we're not going anywhere until this work is done.

And so we need to be revived to be like Jesus, to be like the early church.

The experience of the early Apostles can be ours.

Tactics, Psychology, money, influence, none of these things are primarily going to finish God's work.

Now, are we going to have better tactics?

Are we going to have better recruitment strategies?

Are we going to have more offerings come in when we have the Holy Spirit with us?

And we're going to have these necessary components, but the most necessary is we need the unction of the Holy Spirit.

If we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be added to us.

Primary of importance is we need a revival of primitive godliness among us.

We have to have the baptism of the Spirit, for this is the only efficient agent in the promulgation of sacred truth.

It is the Spirit of God that quickens the lifeless faculties of the soul to appreciate heavenly things and attracts the affections toward God and the truth." We talked about yesterday some serious things at the close.

We talked about the disasters that are happening, multiplying in the world, and how these signs of the times point us to the very distinct and inescapable fact that Jesus is coming soon.

As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.

Now the bad news of this equation is that in the days of Noah, they were strong.

They had the ability of having Enoch with them and having Methuselah and Adam with them for almost a thousand years.

And so they had the cumulative knowledge of the patriarchs, the sons of God as they were called, differing from the sons of men who married and married others who were not of the line of Seth.

They married those who were of the line of Cain and the daughters of men that were not of the divine nature.

And so they had these advantages and yet at the end of time, not only will we have the iniquities of the days of Noah, but we will be weakened and enfeebled with 6, 000 years of sin.

The good news is that where sin abounds, grace does more abound.

And so God delights in taking and restoring things that otherwise look to be hopeless.

And He is going to do His most marvelous work with those who are humble at the end of time, although they may come at the end of 6000 years of sin and feebleness, that He is going to work His mightiest works among us now." Isn't that good news?

So we're seeking this revival that is promised to us.

We're told that there will be troubles in the end of time in the remnant church, signified by an iceberg, for example, in this vision that was given through the Spirit of Prophecy, towering high above the ship was a gigantic iceberg.

An authoritative voice cried out, Meet it!

It was a time for instant action." Now, we know that the prophecy is that Elijah will come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, which means that there is a need for Elijah, which means that the environment of the world and the church of God's people will be similar to that in the days of not only Lot and Noah, but of Elijah.

And so there's a reason why Elijah is sent.

And so the vision goes on to say that the engineer put on full steam, the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg.

We're told in the next paragraphs that it represents the errors that are coming in among God's people.

We know that we are wretched and we are miserable, we are poor and blind and naked, and we do not even know our true condition.

No word of commendation is spoken to the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3.

There is no room for self-aggrandizement.

We need revival, friends, and we need it now because we see the signs of the times multiplying in the world and in the church.

And she says in this, excuse me, in the succeeding paragraphs, she says, I knew my duty as soon as I heard those words meet it.

I picked up my pen and I began to write the messages which God had given me to correct the errors which were coming in among us.

And that's why, number 1, prophets or messengers of the Lord, people that have prophetic messages, they are so important to God's church because they correct errors that come in among us and that's why we treasure the testimonies as we talked about yesterday.

Number 2, that is why they are so ill-treated and they're so ill-esteemed and unappreciated is because we don't naturally like to be told that we need to correct, but God chastens those that He loves.

Them that I love I rebuke and I chasten, he tells the church of the Laodiceans.

And so, we're seeing in the church the need for the straight testimony as well, the spirit of prophecy.

The good news is that in this climate of apostasy in the world and in the church as well, as we see here, the omega of apostasy.

Question, B0256, it's just a numbering system, it's special testimonies essentially.

Apostasy, and we can talk more about this later, but apostasy literally means falling away from the truth.

So anything that's not founded upon the Bible and confirmed by the Spirit of God is apostasy.

In this climate of apostasy, of the days of Noah in the world and also the days of Elijah in the church of God's people, we're told that God is going to do an amazing work.

The earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, please go to Revelation chapter 18.

We need to be positive in the midst of any trouble or apostasy.

In Revelation chapter 18 it says, John says, after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory." He needs great power because the earth is dark.

Isaiah 60 verse 1 says, "...arise, shine, for thy light is come.

The glory of the Lord is risen upon you, for behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.

And the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.

And so we need great power at the end of time, amen?

His character of love, of mercy, of forgiveness, His gentleness and patience, but also His hatred of sin and His desire for us to be made in His image, to be remade, to be recreated.

And so his character is talked about in Exodus chapter 34 to Moses.

He said, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.

Truth is important as well as mercy, amen?

The 2 must kiss each other in that divine blend of mercy and justice.

The Elijah Solution - Part 3

Heavenly Father, as we are seeking you this morning, Lord, we also thank you and praise you for the blessings that we have enjoyed in our lives of your sweet Spirit.

We thank you, Father, for giving us the Scriptures.

We thank you for sending your Son, for sending the messengers, the prophets, and for all of the blessings that we enjoy, the food and the air and life today.

And we ask, Father, that you would refresh our souls today, Lord.

We don't have anyone else to go to, Lord.

You have the keys of life and death and you are our creator and we worship you this morning.

And fathers, we look into your word, we ask humbly in Jesus' name that you'd open up our eyes to behold wondrous things out of your teaching, out of your law.

Not far from where I used to live in California in a city called Grass Valley, there was a beautiful property that is a very beautiful place to live.

And there was a beautiful property that a couple was afraid would be taken from them because they couldn't afford the payments on it.

It's a very, it's not an inexpensive place to live out there.

And so they had this large ranch area, and they were out for a walk with their dog when they noticed that there was a rusty lid sticking up out of the ground underneath this tree.

So they thought, well, there's must be some trash here.

And so they uncovered and found out that there was a can and it looked like a paint can.

And it was, it felt like it had something like lead paint in it.

And so they hauled it out and brought it back to throw it away, and they opened it, and they found a treasure trove.

They went back, this is gold country, Grass Valley, California is also home to the largest, most productive mine in the United States called the Empire Mine.

And they uncovered various others of these cans in the same area, totaling 1, 400 rare US gold coins.

The previously largest reported find of Bering's treasure had a face value of $4, 500 and valued at about 1 million.

But this treasure, the Saddle Ridge treasure, had a face value of 28, 000 versus just 4, 500, bringing the total value to over $10 million.

Suffice it to say, they were able to keep their ranch.

But not before the treasuries all went directly to their records to make sure that there were no bank robberies or stagecoach heists, and to make sure that that money did not belong to them.

And of course with bated breath they waited for the news because nothing would be more disappointing than finding 10 million that turns out to belong to someone else.

And they found out that indeed it was theirs to keep.

Jeremiah 9 tells us that, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.

Let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.

There is a treasure far exceeding physical treasure.

Those who have found it know that you cannot place value upon the blessing of God.

Philippians 3 says Paul tells us, "...yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." We will find out that Jesus is all we need when Jesus is all we have.

And He will allow us to go through difficulties and challenges in the upcoming days to teach us that He is enough for us.

We must have that revival in our hearts, or else we will give in to the difficulties and the challenges that are ahead.

2 Corinthians 4, verse 4 says, "...in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the knowledge of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." And that's why he was able to say, we're troubled on every side, but not distressed.

We want Christian experiences that are not tied to our surroundings, to the atmospheric elements, to the treatment of others, to our financial condition.

We need an inner peace, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, to keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

And revival means the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to make us like Jesus.

And it is possible, friends, to live a victorious Christian life.

And it is evidenced by the apostles who started out to be rough, unlearned fishermen and laborers, and they were transformed into leaders of a global movement that we still talk about today.

The power of God has not diminished since he worked with those few individuals, those 12 disciples, and he is able to do amazing things with each 1 of us regardless of our rank, our stature.

I think about a man that signed up for a seminary program or a pastoral theology program at Union College.

And I know a physician that went to school with this man many, many years ago, probably 60 years ago.

In fact, he was the slowest, it seemed, in the school.

And he knew that if he didn't pass this 1 class that he had to take, that he was going to fail and not be able to achieve his dream of being a minister.

And so he asked his friends, please pray for me because my mind cannot comprehend this material.

Back to Menu

Series

Revival Plan-The Elijah Solution

The Elijah Solution - Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

The Elijah Solution - Part 1

1h

The Elijah Solution - Part 2

55m

The Elijah Solution - Part 3

53m

The Elijah Solution - Part 4

39m

The Elijah Solution - Part 5

1h 1m

Sound Doctrine