ASI 2011: Inspired to Finish Strong

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ASI 2011 Plenary Meetings

Doug Batchelor

Be Courageous

Frank Fournier

Marred in Our Hands

David Kulakov

Giving Our Best to Our Loving Lord

Members in Action

Just a Thought

Matt Parra

Why Should You Believe in You

Ivor Myers

The Blueprint

Beyond the Righteousness of Angels

Lyndi Schwartz

Worship and Song and Praise

Ted N.C. Wilson

God’s Remnant Church - Finishing Strong

ASI Presents

Chester Clark

The Patience of the Saints

Thank you so much for that beautiful rendition of the words of William Miller.

What a wonderful day of hope we have to look forward to.

I hope each of us are fixing our minds on that beautiful day that will come in the very near future.

It's a great privilege to be with the ASI convention And I want to thank you for your prayers.

You don't know how many people, as I have wandered the halls, have mentioned to me, I'm praying for you.

I want to tell you that means an enormous amount to Nancy and to me and to your world church.

ASI is 1 of God's great missionary organizations That is a tremendous blessing to the entire world church and its outreach for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

You just saw a beautiful demonstration of the cooperative endeavor that we are accelerating between supporting ministries and the denominational entities.

I want you to know that the General Conference appreciates you as members of ASI.

And we're delighted with your strong supportive activities reflecting the many supporting ministries that make up this dynamic organization.

Your emphasis on soul winning through the power of the Holy Spirit is how God wants you to work, sharing Christ in the marketplace.

Your support of so many evangelistic outreach projects are thrilling.

Projects such as the 1 Day Church, the 1 Day School and so many other marvelous projects.

Recently it was a privilege to attend the ASI Europe Convention in Konstanz, Germany and to see hundreds of dedicated, energized, spirit-filled church members who want to experience revival and reformation and a renewed mission emphasis for the evangelistic outreach on the European continent.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Germany and in Europe.

Plead with the Lord for a renewed sense of mission to proclaim the 3 angels messages with power in that secular and materialistic society.

There are millions of people in Europe and yes all over the world who are waiting for Seventh-day Adventists to stand up, speak out, and share the precious biblical message of Revelation 14.

Now, the giving of those 3 angels' messages is the reason God has raised up the Seventh-day Adventist movement.

We have a mandate from heaven to preach the everlasting gospel and Christ's righteousness, to boldly proclaim the fall of Babylon's apostate religion and to warn the world not to receive the mark of the beast but instead be sealed with the seal of God's everlasting mark of authority, the seventh day Sabbath.

Brothers and sisters here at ASI and those watching around the world, we have the great privilege as a church body to belong to a heaven-born Advent movement.

We belong to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, God's remnant church, A church that has been called by God at the end of time for a unique purpose.

A church that has gone through challenging times in the past and will go through very challenging times ahead according to Bible prophecy and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy.

A church that does not rely on traditions or human reasoning, but relies completely on the Word of God as its sole foundation and the living Word, Jesus Christ.

A church that does not derive its power from itself but accepts fully the admonition of the Lord in Zechariah 4 6 which says not by might nor by power but by my spirit, said the Lord of hosts." I like your theme for the 2011 ASI convention, inspired to finish strong.

Inspired by God the Father, inspired by God the Son, inspired by God the Holy Spirit, the 3 persons of the Godhead in 1, who are from everlasting and are everlasting.

God wants His church to finish strong as has been prophesied that it will.

John records in Revelation chapter 21 verses 1 to 3, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, also there was no more sea.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.

God himself will be with them and be their God and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death, no sorrow, nor crime.

There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away.

Then he who sat on the throne said behold I make all things new and he said to me write for these words are true and faithful." True and faithful.

God has promised, his words are true and faithful, that his church under his personal direction will finish strong.

His church will finish strong through his grace and through his power.

You will finish strong through his power.

This is not just a hyperbole or triumphalism.

On that great and wonderful day when we all look forward to seeing the culmination of the blessed hope, we will see Jesus appear with power and glory.

The blessed hope that will finish strong.

Matthew records in chapter 25 verse 31 that when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

Christ will come in power to claim his remnant people.

This is God's remnant Church and through God's power it will finish strong.

I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to that day when I will see my parents again and you will see those who have died in Christ because the great blessed hope is just before us.

Now how is it that we can humbly claim to be God's remnant church?

There are those, even Seventh-day Adventists, who would dispute that we are the remnant church.

Some may say, well, we're a part of the remnant.

Perhaps others might say, well, the remnant is yet to come.

My brothers and sisters, in order to say that God's church will finish strong, we need to know who we are and why we are here as an Advent movement.

We need to understand our special calling from the Lord.

We don't say any of this in a self-centered, egotistical manner but we say it in humility, indicating that we fulfill the qualifications of God's remnant people who know that the church will finish strong.

Now God's told us in Testimonies for the Church, Volume 7, page 138, that Seventh-day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world.

He has made them his representatives and called them to be ambassadors for him in the last work of salvation.

The greatest wealth of truth ever entrusted to mortals, the most solemn and fearful warnings ever sent by God to man have been committed to them.

That's to you and to me to be given to the world.

How can we understand this from scripture?

A few years ago at a meeting, a large, rather large meeting, many people attending, I had a very bright and intelligent person come to my supper table as I was eating and asked a challenging question.

He asked me what my greatest challenge was.

I thought for a moment and then I responded by indicating that probably 1 of the greatest challenges that we face, that I face, was to keep the vision alive in the Seventh-day Adventist Church that we are a unique movement.

Well he kind of looked at me and he said, Really?

He said, I'm a Christian first and then I'm a Seventh-day Adventist.

Well, I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, of course we are Seventh-day Adventist Christians.

But I want to tell you that we have a special task that others are not doing.

Well, this particular gentleman proved my point right then and there.

He didn't seem to think that we were unique.

We're all in need of Christ's justifying and sanctifying power.

We are in need of revival and reformation through the Holy Spirit that will lead to the outpouring of the latter rain.

We're indebted to Christ for salvation and his all-encompassing grace and righteousness.

People of the book, a prophetic movement, people who believe in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, people who understand those books from the historicist viewpoint.

We are not preterists, those who assign the events predicted in the Bible to a singular event in the distant past.

We're not futurists who assign prophetic events as having some place in the distant future and have no relevance to history either current or past.

We are historicists who understand that the 7 churches, for example, of Revelation 2 and 3 represent not only historical places, but periods of church history represented by the characteristics of those original churches.

We believe in the prophetic landmarks throughout history which were predicted before they happened and led us to an understanding of who we are and where we are in Earth's history.

You see it helps to know that we are living in the very end of those toes in Daniel chapter 2 and that the next event will be the stone appearing that was cut without hands representing Jesus' soon Second Coming.

Daniel 8.14 tells us exactly what happened in 1844, and that the sanctuary message which is replete in scripture is a powerful and meaningful message for the world throughout time and even more so during these end time days of this earth.

The sanctuary message of God's plan of salvation, how Christ, our High Priest, is interceding for us in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary at this very time.

It is 1 of the most precious biblical beliefs that needs to be shared fully with the world.

Christ is our creator, our Redeemer, as the humble broken lamb on the cross, our example, our high priest, and our coming King.

Brothers and sisters, we're living in the most incredible time in Earth's history.

We've been called to proclaim God's incredible message of salvation through Christ and His righteousness And we need to know who we are if we are to deliver that message with Holy Spirit power.

There are many biblical texts which give us a picture of who we are as a unique movement that will finish strong.

But I want to tell you there is 1 text that identifies us so clearly it cannot be misunderstood.

It is the caller ID of the biblical prophecy.

Just as your cell phone or your home phone can identify the calling number and name in some cases of those calling you, giving you the opportunity to decide whether or not you want to take that call.

So the Bible in Revelation chapter 12 verse 17 identifies God's remnant church or people at the end of time.

It reads, "...and the dragon, that's Satan, was wroth or angry with the woman, the church, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Now verse 9 tells us the dragon is Satan.

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ASI 2011 Plenary Meetings

God’s Remnant Church - Finishing Strong

Transcript

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