ASI Conference 2024: Investing in Eternity

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Plenary

Ted N.C. Wilson

Hold Fast What You Have

I regret to indicate to you tonight that normally Nancy and I would stay the entire time.

But I accepted an appointment from a good long-standing friend, Brad Thorpe.

Many of you know Brad Thorpe, worked with Hope Channel for many years, is now the president of the British Columbia Conference.

And he invited me to come for camp meeting.

And I agreed to come, which means tomorrow morning early we will be leaving for Vancouver.

So, Denzel, I will be needing some sleep tonight, and I will get some good sleep.

What a privilege it is to be able to sleep well when you are resting in the Lord.

And I wanna encourage all of you to do that.

I wanna thank Andy Hunsaker, the president of ASI, for her wonderful leadership, for Denzel McNeilis and the entire group as they lead you in helping to present Christ in the marketplace.

I want all of you as ASI members and those of you who are guests, if you forget everything I say tonight, well first of all I hope you will remember at least a part of what I share.

But I want you to know that from the World Church, from the General Conference, from the North American Division, from all of our divisions, ASI, which has an extension throughout this globe, many different chapters, and we're grateful that our divisions are giving strong support in almost every place around the world.

We have been working on that to help people understand the supporting part of ASI members.

Our divisions, by God's grace, are on board.

They appreciate what supporting ministries do.

But I want you to know tonight you as ASI members are 100% partners in mission with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Don't ever feel in any way that the Church administration, that the Church around the world is somehow putting a distance between you and the mission of the Church and collaborating with the worldwide Church.

Yes, we have to be careful in terms of administrative, financial, legal ramifications in certain situations, but never should anyone get the impression that supporting ministries, those who are ASI qualified and connected, are in any way anything but 100% partners in mission with the World Church.

Wasn't that a beautiful song this evening by the Fletcher Academy, an ASI-connected institution?

And 1 of the main reasons why I was really interested and think it was such a beautiful song, nicely done of course, was that our 17 year old granddaughter Lauren Wright was singing in the group.

And what a precious experience that is, to see our young people growing up in the Lord and filled with a desire to share Jesus everywhere.

Yes, in the marketplace, but everywhere, at home, at school, and everywhere.

This evening, as is our real privilege to be with you, I want to focus upon the theme upon the theme which your ASI leaders have chosen.

Investing in eternity called, consecrated, committed.

Never before in the history of this earth do I personally, and I've only been alive for a few decades, but as I look back in history, I have never seen the world falling apart in such a fragmented way, in such a disparate way.

And I want to tell you something, At the same time, never have I really seen the world church coalescing around mission like we're seeing it today.

As witnessed by Elder Bryant, his explanation about Papua New Guinea, And Nancy and I travel all over the globe after COVID now, we just came back from South Sudan where we were holding evangelistic meetings.

I wanna tell you God's spirit is being poured out all over this globe because Jesus is preparing his people for the final climactic event of the proclamation of the 3 angels' messages with Holy Spirit power.

That's why you need to invest in eternity, that you need to be called, consecrated, and committed.

Now ASI is well known for its active participation in evangelism and the focus on Christ in the marketplace.

What a privilege to be able to have something in your hands.

Barbara, I think, mentioned new beginnings and what is so important for you to be able to use.

These beautiful lessons, which are so colorfully done, so nicely done.

ASI is doing its part in multiple projects, including this, giving effective methods to lead people to Christ.

These methods are truly part of total member involvement, global total member involvement as you invest in eternity.

God has called you and me to be a part of this last proclamation of the loud cry across this planet to lift up Christ, his word, his righteousness, and his soon second coming.

We're called by the Lord to this special work, to be consecrated, to be committed to this special calling, all through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and your complete reliance, our complete reliance on the Lord, on his holy word, and His instructions in the spirit of prophecy.

I want to encourage each of you at ASI, and I know you resonate with this, to Strongly plant your feet on the Word of God and our historic biblical pillars of faith.

May God help all of us to be faithful, obedient, consecrated, and committed to his precious holy word.

The wonderful fundamental beliefs that are found in the Bible are all focused and centered in Jesus Christ.

The wonderful instruction given to us in the spirit of prophecy is directly from the throne room of heaven.

We're to proclaim Christ's love and his 3 angels' messages of Revelation 14 and the fourth angel of Revelation 18 as we rapidly approach the Lord's soon return.

God is wanting us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, giving us a passion for the Word of God and for souls in our final work for Him in global total member involvement.

You see, ASI as a vital part of God's end-time church is helping to shape the immediate future of God's last-day mission.

Again, let me emphasize, you are 100% partners in mission with the complete denominational Seventh-day Adventist Church.

We can only do this as we lean completely on the Holy Spirit for guidance upon the Word of God with instruction from the Spirit of Prophecy.

And as we face a changing religious and moral setting worldwide, and let me tell you, it is worldwide.

Customs, societies, various understood moral standards around the world are falling by the wayside everywhere.

But God never changes and he will see us through to the end.

He wants us to focus completely on Him and never compromise on the Word of God, the Holy Bible.

God is counting on you as called, consecrated, and committed members of ASI to strongly stand upon the foundation of his word.

And I want to urge all of you never never compromise on the Word of God or be involved in any attempt to reinterpret the Holy Word of God.

Stay true to God's Word and the pillars of our beautiful heaven-given faith.

I want to thank you, ASI, for your obedience to God's precepts, truths, promises, prophecies found in the holy word of God, and to your commitment to the wide-ranging instructions in the spirit of prophecy.

I was just speaking with someone just before coming up here who has a vision which is heavy on my heart for mission to the cities and how to organize training centers for young people who will be able to work in these large cities following the plan outlined in the Spirit of Prophecy.

As we face the last days of Earth's history, we must be passionate about the authority of the Word of God.

In the past, the Bible was held in respect in many places, but now increasingly it is being ignored or even derided.

Each of us must stand as guardians of truth, pointing people to the pure Word of God as the source of truth for these perilous times.

You see, the devil has always hated God's Word, and he does everything to neutralize its effect.

God has called you ASI members and all of us to a sacred responsibility to protect, to uplift, and promote the life-saving power of His Holy Word.

As you know, And as we've already indicated, the world around us is crumbling.

Health pandemics, social unrest, weather-related disasters, terrorist attacks, unbridled violence, Social upheaval, political turmoil, and many other daily challenges are making people afraid about security and personal safety.

Life has become uncertain for everyone now caught in this cataclysmic destruction trend.

They need to hear the message of hope and healing that God's Word provides, outlining the diabolical developments of the beast and the image to the beast found in Revelation 13, 14, and 18.

Now many people think the world is going in the wrong direction.

According to Seventh-day Adventist prophetic interpretation and the correct hermeneutical application to Scripture, What is needed is not a political, military, or social solution, but a passionate return to biblical foundations, God's holy and sure Word.

As Peter faced his own death, the Apostle Peter, he shared tremendous encouragement about certainty in God found in 2 Peter 1, verses 15 to 21.

Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

You see, God always wants us to have a clear, big picture, assurance of our salvation through Christ's life, death, and current ministry as our high priest.

Going on, for we did not follow cunningly divide fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses for his majesty." You see in this age of uncertainty that we are living, God's Word is true and faithful.

Going on, "'For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

And we heard this voice, which came from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, or as another Bible version says, a more sure word of prophecy.

Peter goes on to say, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

You see the sure word of God has always been an authoritative light shining in a dark place.

Peter goes on to say in verse 20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scriptures of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

My dear friends here at ASI, today more than ever, people need a sure foundation to count on, bringing comfort and hope for the future, since it points to the everlasting gospel message indicated in the first angel's message of Revelation 14.

You see, the Word of God points to Christ, His righteousness, His salvation, His ministry in the literal most holy place of the literal heavenly sanctuary and the final redemption of his people at his second coming.

It is your privilege as ASI and for all of us as members in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to passionately share the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

What a privilege to understand the Bible's directives for living the victorious Christian life through Christ's justifying and sanctifying righteousness and power.

Christ's righteousness is the core of the 3 angels' messages of Revelation 14.

However, the Word of God is being ignored more and more.

It is becoming fashionable to misinterpret and misapply what is plainly indicated in Scripture, even to the point of attempting to make scripture say what it doesn't say.

The Word of God is being reinterpreted by the historical critical approach placing the interpreter above the Word of God.

Harold Lance

From Courtroom Trial Lawyer to Full-Time Volunteer Ministry Leader

Heavenly Father, thank you for the privilege to be here and we ask that you be in this room.

That whatever is done and said will honor your name.

I can't, that's my earliest memory when I was the fourth of 4 children and we lived on the ranch which was a 10 acre place in Compton, California, in Southern California.

And my mother walked with 4 kids, it seemed like a mile, to church in Compton.

The singing, the stories, the learning about Jesus, and Mrs.

Leggett, she read the Bell of the Blue Pagoda and other mission stories that just fascinated me.

And then the time to ask questions and to answer questions.

And then we moved off the ranch and lived on a little ranch where we had a garden.

We didn't know anything about work-study as a concept, but we knew about it in practice that we had a garden and chickens and a cow and my mom used to take the 4 of us kids then 5 at that time on the bus to the Compton Church to go to Sabbath school and learn about Jesus.

Because I was in the 5, I was the youngest of 3 of us that were very close together.

My mom started me in school at 5 years old in order to keep us in first, second, and third grade.

I don't know what that was, but it wasn't good.

I remember, I don't know just what I had done, but I remember standing on my tiptoes, putting my nose in a circle on the blackboard as a way of getting my attention better than I had been able to have it before.

But I went to Long Beach Academy and then to Linwood Academy and had the privilege of wonderful Bible teachers and to learn about God and that Jesus loved me, and It was quite an experience.

There was a teacher when I was at Linwood who was just, I think we were 15 or 16 and she was just 20.

Finished PUC, bright lady, came and taught English and speech, and I took speech class as an elective and we teased her every day and made her cry.

In that class, just parenthetically, was Glenn Foster who became a cardiac surgeon at Loma Linda, and his family is the family that supplied the farm at Riverside in Zambia, Africa, and so that connection.

She was our teacher, and we were awful to her.

And at the end of the school year you know they had a yearbook and in her yearbook it was practice at that time to have people sign, and she said in my yearbook, Harold, she says, I expect to hear great things about you.

I didn't deserve any such recognition or compliment and she looked beyond our rudeness and meanness and said that encouraging thing.

And so I value Christian education really as an important factor.

And if you can put your kids in a Seventh-day Adventist school, don't let the opportunity pass by.

At Linwood Academy, there were about 350 students, and there was a rather diverse student population and when I was about 12 or 13 years of age it dawned on me that education was really important and that that was the key to get an education.

And having come from a poor family, I knew that there are a lot of ways that that could be disrupted.

And so I had in my mind that it was going to be important to get an education.

I also came to the conclusion that the Seventh-day Adventist church was God's church.

And I became aware of the great controversy.

And we had good Bible teachers at Linwood and Pacific Union College where I went later and I bought in to the Seventh-day Adventist faith in a way that I'm hopeful it sticks till the end.

But 1 of the, and that will become important as we talk a little bit more, but 1 of the most significant things that's happened in my experience is I married well.

I married Joan Dirksen and she's here and we've been married 69 years and we'll be married 70 next April the 3rd And what a privilege that's been to have her.

Out of 3 kids, we have 2 nurses and 2 lawyers.

Because I knew that education was significant.

After I got out of high school, And by the way, when I was a 12th grader in the fall of the year, it dawned on me that I was 1 half credit away from being able to to graduate and I thought to myself you ought to go on to the junior college and go forward but you know what I had a secret ambition to be the class president.

Never told a soul, but I was not elected.

So I went to junior college in the second semester of my senior year.

Not in a fit of disappointment, but I had said if I'm elected president of the college, I mean the president of the class.

But I didn't know how he was going to pay for it.

And so when the summer came, I went to La Sierra and worked on the farm and in the dairy.

And 8 hours a day on the dairy that they had, changing irrigation pipe.

And then my dad came to us and the construction boom was taking place after the Second World War, and he wanted me to come and work with the family.

And so I stayed out of school 2 years, and I was afraid every day that I wouldn't get my education.

So I took night school and correspondent school while I was working full time in construction.

Ultimately, when the Korean War broke out, I knew if I didn't get back in school, I was going to get drafted.

And I went back to school, ultimately went to Willamette University College of Law.

By the way, there weren't many lawyers in the Seventh-day Adventist Church at that time.

I learned maybe 8 or 10 in the whole denomination.

I was the first Adventist to go to Willamette, and they promised that they would not have a Sabbath class or Sabbath test as long as there was a Seventh-day Adventist there.

I finished and got out and was studying for the bar exam.

And in a bar review course that we took, I got acquainted with Bill Clark.

Now, you don't know Bill Clark, but he had just gotten out of the Army, and he was studying for the bar along with myself, And he told me that, look, if you get drafted, what you want to do is get in the counterintelligence corps.

And I said to myself, you know, if you're going to get into the counterintelligence corps, maybe you better go up to Fort Ord where you're going to show up.

I took, I got an actual photocopy of my law degree and my bar membership in the Oregon State Bar and traveled 400 miles to Fort Ord as a civilian and said I'm gonna be here next week as a draftee and I would like to have you consider me becoming part of the United States Army Counterintelligence Corps." And that's what happened.

And I tell you that story because it illustrates something that's really important.

You can manipulate your circumstances sometimes, that's not necessarily where God wants you to be.

I was stationed on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, which is the main drag between Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

At 2511 Wilshire Boulevard, above the Vagabond Theater, I was a civilian clothed investigator for the United States Army, and I had a 1966 Chevrolet four-door sedan, brand new, assigned to me, and they gave me $312 for clothes and I bought 5 suits, a hat and a trench coat.

They knew where to buy suits at wholesale.

But you know, during the time that I was in the Army, it kind of drifted away.

And I thought, that's not the right direction.

And as we got out of the army and accepted a responsibility as a young lawyer in Ontario, California, Joan and I decided that we were going to come back to church, in church, and be faithful.

I said I knew education was important, and the next thing I decided was that I didn't know exactly what God wanted me to do, But I knew that if I manipulated things like trying to be the class president of my Academy class or getting into the counterintelligence corps in the army that that would be Harold's plans and maybe it would not be God's plan.

So I decided this, I would never volunteer for any church responsibility, but I would be reluctant to say no.

I said I would be reluctant to say no to any opportunity that God called because there's a possibility that if I said yes, that it was God's plan.

If I had not asked for any kind of position or speaking opportunities such as this 1, Then I thought, well, it's possible that it's God's plan.

And so soon after we arrived at the Ontario Church, they needed a Sabbath school teacher for the youth.

And after a while, they needed another elder, and I said yes.

And unknown to me, they had a constituency meeting, and they asked me to serve on the Paradise Valley Hospital Board and I said yes.

And later they asked me to be on the Southeastern California Conference Committee and I said yes.

Members in Action ASI

Members in Action

I could have a whole evening of beautiful music.

1 of the hallmarks of ASI is Members in Action.

It's hearing what the Lord Jesus is doing in and through ministries.

These are church people joining hands together to spread this gospel message to the world.

This evening, it's my privilege to talk with Danny Kwon, who is the Executive Director of Health and Lifestyle Network.

Now, Danny, tell us, what does that mean?

OK, Life and Health Network is a media ministry.

We create resources that are designed to help with the right arm of the gospel.

So the right arm of the gospel, as you know, is an entering wedge that we are to use.

And it's designed to be used in America, but also we have resources in other languages to be used all around the world.

What sort of ministries have resources, has your ministry developed?

Well 1 of our main programs that we have is called Diabetes Undone.

And it is a program, well as you know, 1 out of 3 Americans are either diabetic or pre-diabetic.

And you know, it's able to reach people in the community with a group program that's designed to be super easy to run.

And it's designed to have the members, your church members, interact with the community to develop relationships.

So people can come into area churches, they can watch the video presentation.

Well, let me tell you a little bit more about Diabetes Undone.

You know, It's been run by over 800 churches in the NAD.

It's also been used by Adventist Health, Advent Health, Stanford University.

Loma Linda Medical School also uses it as a curriculum in their lifestyle medicine as well as Southern Avenue University nursing program.

So it's a really great program, 8 sessions, so it's 8 nights.

You can run it over 8 weeks and it's really easy to run.

So over 800 churches in the North American Division have already participated in this program.

We have an anxiety and depression series that's affordable and really easy to run.

And we also have like a hydrotherapy course, massage, chair massage course.

We are working on other courses as well all the time.

That's incredible and do you have any cooking programs?

No but we have over a hundred and 20 short cooking videos on our website.

We have cookbooks that have QR codes, so if you scan the QR code, it takes you to a short video.

So, it's a great sharing tool, so people can learn how to cook plant-based whole foods.

And by the way, all of our programs are super easy to run and very affordable.

It will not even affect your church budget.

So people can become involved, churches can become involved, individuals can become involved in utilizing these resources and sharing the gospel, especially the health message, to the entire world.

How is this program impacting churches around the world?

Well, Oklahoma Conference ran because of a grant that they received, was able to do Diabetes Undone with all the churches in their conference.

And what they found was Not only were they able to engage with the community with a very relevant topic, a lot of people were interested, a lot of people were coming to the churches, but church members were enriched because they were getting involved in a program that was easy to run, that was not daunting, didn't take a high learning curve to be able to administer.

New Jersey Conference is also running this.

And just a few weeks ago in the Northeast Columbia Association, their conference up there, 40 Bible workers were equipped and trained on how to use the Revertendo la Diabetes in their communities.

So these Bible workers are going to go out and they're able to present either one-on-one or 2 groups with the resources that we have on diabetes.

So this can be utilized in churches and communities around the world.

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Series

Plenary

Members in Action

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

Hold Fast What You Have

44m

From Courtroom Trial Lawyer to Full-Time Volunteer Ministry Leader

1h 27m

Members in Action

1h 58m

Merchant Missionaries

1h 27m

The Cost of Saying “I Will Go”: Missionaries and the Creation of a Worldwide Church

2h 27m

Sabbath School: Believe the Gospel

1h 27m

Investing in Eternity

1h 55m

Stewards of the Master’s Gold

1h 41m

Sound Doctrine