ASI Southern Union 2024: His Capital Gains

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ASI Southern Union

Alistair Huong

When to Sell All?

Well, thank you for being here this evening.

As was introduced already briefly, the topic this evening is 1 that relates to our practical money management, but within the context of end-time prophecy.

So just out of curiosity, how many of you have heard the notion that at some point in the end times, God's people should sell everything, divest their assets?

How many of you have heard of this notion?

Have you then ever wondered when that time is?

Has that question ever crossed your mind?

So That is actually the topic of our presentation this evening, and we are going to address it head on.

I am endeavoring not to bait and switch you with a catchy title with an important question and then end up talking about something else.

We certainly hope by the end of our time together to have some clear instruction from the Lord about this very important question.

So we haven't prayed yet, and so we need to invite the Holy Spirit to be with us.

Father in heaven, we know that you have given us ample warnings and preparation in your word for the end times and to prepare for your return.

And so in this 1 question today that we are asking regarding the capital that you put into our care.

When is it to divest ourselves of these things in light of the end times?

Give us wisdom, give us instruction from your words and from the spirit of prophecy.

We pray that the Holy Spirit might be here to lead us and to guide us.

Have you heard about potential recession, financial collapse, turmoil in the world, World War III, nuclear holocaust?

It seems like there's always some sort of world instability, some current event news that stimulates the Adventist mind to connect it to the end times and prophecy.

And COVID-19 of course was another such instance where a lot of people started asking the question of when is it, is this time to sell our assets?

And sometimes these questions are intertwined with the idea of financial instability because we want to preserve our assets and preserve the value of what God has placed into our hands, but there are more to it than that.

Now, before we get into the actual study itself, I need to make sure to give a disclaimer.

And that is that this study has a prerequisite.

And it is an assumption that I'm making that here at ASI Southern Union, I am speaking to an audience who has a strong foundational knowledge of end-time prophecy.

When I refer to things like Revelation chapter 13, and a Sunday law, and a death decree, and the notion in the Bible of a time of no buying or selling, I'm making the assumption that you already understand these things.

That there's going to be a time of trouble and its relationship to the 7 last plagues and that there's a close of probation and when these things happen in relation to the second coming, I have to make that assumption because if I don't, we're never going to get anywhere in the study.

If there are aspects of what I'm referring to that you don't understand, please feel free to talk to me or Pastor Cameron, Dr.

McNulty, the leaders of ASI Southern Union.

We will put you in contact with some, put some resources in your hands to better understand these basics of end time prophecy.

Revelation chapter 13, Revelation chapter 14 in particular, but also the whole book of Revelation really.

So with that disclaimer out of the way, let's dive right in.

We're gonna begin in the book Early Writings and this is the passage of Scripture, not Scripture, sorry, of the Spirit of Prophecy, that directly comments on this notion of selling all our assets.

Houses and lands will be of no use to the saints in the time of trouble, for they will then have to flee before infuriated mobs, and at that time, their possessions cannot be disposed of to advance the cause of present truth.

Notice I highlighted, bolded, advance the cause of present truth.

It was shown that it is the will of God that the saints should cut loose from every encumbrance before the time of trouble comes, and make a covenant with God through sacrifice.

If they have their property on the altar and earnestly inquire of God for duty, He will teach them when to dispose of these things.

Then they will be free in the time of trouble and have no clogs to weigh them down." So here we see the time.

When is it that all of these assets are assets ought to have been divested?

It is speaking specifically of the time of trouble.

Now what time of trouble, what is this time of trouble?

This time of trouble is specifically speaking about the time of trouble spoken of in Daniel chapter 12 verse 1.

There shall be, when Michael stands up, there shall be such a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

This is the time of trouble that happens right before the second coming, after the close of boobation, after the Sunday law, after the mark of the beast.

You understand where in earth's history we're looking?

Right at the very close before Jesus returns.

This is in distinction to the many times of trouble and tribulation and trials that have happened throughout history to God's people and the saints.

There is in fact, the term, the little time of trouble, which is not an inspired description or terminology but it's descriptive of a period of time before the close of probation in which there will also be hardship and tribulation and persecution.

This is talking about the 7 last plagues, the time of trouble that happened during that time.

So we see in this statement that it is the will of God that the saints should cut loose from every encumbrance before that time comes.

So we see a little bit of the timetable here, but let's keep reading and we're going to summarize the key points in just a moment.

I saw that if any held onto the property and did not inquire of the Lord as to their duty.

And they would be permitted to keep their property, and in the time of trouble it would come up before them like a mountain to crush them.

And they would try to dispose of it but would not be able.

God's people were starving for the truth and we made no effort to supply the lack.

Oh, that we had let it go and laid up treasure in heaven.

I also saw that God had not required all of his people to dispose of their property at the same time, but if they desired to be taught, he would teach them in a time of need, when to sell and how much to sell.

This statement is so dense with instruction.

First, we see in conjunction with the previous passage that we read, we ought to ask the Lord.

We ought to ask him to show us when to sell, and he will tell us.

However, what we see here is that if we don't ask, he won't tell us.

He won't make our duty known if we don't ask, because God is a gentleman.

And if we say we want to cling onto these assets and we don't want to know when we ought to let them go, God will say, okay, I will respect your choice, except the property and those assets will become an encumbrance to them, like a mountain to crush them, it says, during the final time of trouble, because they won't be able to dispose of it.

But notice this is a very, very crucial point.

Right in the middle of the slide there, notice what is the source of the regret of the Saints in this situation.

The Saints do not say, oh my net worth has been slashed by 90%.

I wish I had sold earlier to protect my financial position.

Neither did they say, you know what, I could have run a whole lot faster if I did not have all this property tying me down.

It was not out of a sense of self-preservation.

The source of regret for the saints who did not divest of the assets was that The work of God suffered lack because of their selfishness.

The motivation, this is the key, the motivation at the end times for selling our assets is not to protect our financial position.

It is not to preserve our own personal security.

It is to accomplish the finishing of the Gospel Commission.

That is the motivation for God's people at the end times.

Near the end it says, I also saw that God had not required all of his people dispose of their property at the same time.

When to Sell All?

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