SWYC 2007: In This Generation

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GYC Southwest

SWYC 2007 Breakout Sessions, Part 2

Ivor Myers

Latter Rain, Sunday Law: What Comes First? Part 1

I was trying to find there, and did not know where there was.

So, there was someone that was walking looking for me there, and I told him that I didn't know where there was, but that I wanted to be there with all my heart.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure there were this many people here for that thing.

So that means you must have an interest in this subject.

I want to share with you just a little bit of why I am doing this particular study this evening.

How many of you have heard of Operation Global Rain?

As you all know, I don't need to go into the whole history of how it started.

But nonetheless, just listening to Peter Gregory's message...

How many of you were in Peter Gregory's workshop?

Yeah, as he was speaking, I was just thinking about this generation, you know?

That God is raising up a movement of young people, and not only young people, you know, older people as well, that are really wanting to see and to do whatever they need to do to see the Lord return.

And I thought, you know, Operation Global Rain in this context to me, it's just like, you know, wow, you know, this is the time.

You know, what else do we need to wait for?

And it was interesting because I began to have some concerns, or rather, some people raised some concerns to me that, you know, maybe Operation Global Rain is out of order.

You know, certain things needed to take place before we could expect the latter rain to be poured out.

And the certain thing in particular was the Sunday Law.

And so, you know, needless to say, a lot of research went into what was going on.

And basically the question was, are we setting the Seventh-day Adventist church up for a fall if we are moving outside of the order of events.

You know, 1 of the problems that we, as Seventh-day Adventists, have is that once we disagree with someone, Whoo!

You know, they are from the pits of hell.

And what I want to say today before I even begin the message is this.

I'm sure that there may be people in here on both sides of the question.

But the most crucial thing is that whether we agree or disagree, we must love each other.

And 1 of the things that amazes me about the early church, the Adventist church, is that the pioneers got together and there were a lot of times that their ideas didn't agree with 1 another, but they would love each other so much that they were willing to study hours on end to finally come to a conclusion.

And I'm not saying that we're going to be able to accomplish that here tonight, but what I am saying is that, you know, I'll tell you the truth.

I had 1 particular ministry right against me in particular and was just totally, you know, Pastor Miles, false prophet, Operation Global Reign is the counterfeit revival that is to take place before the actual revival.

You know, I mean, things that, and the most amazing thing to me was that this came from, from, OK.

And I was totally dumbfound, you know, it just amazed me.

So, To set the foundation for our study this evening, we're going to be reading a lot of Spirit of Prophecy quotes, we're going to be looking at a lot of Bible, and I don't know if we're going to get through this because I do have to end by 7.30, because I'll be speaking over in the other, over there, at 7.45.

To set this off, I want to, you know, I had written a paper, I want to just take a little portion of something that I wrote because I think it's stated so perfectly that I don't want to, you know, say it in any different way.

We have a couple questions we need to ask concerning this issue of Sunday laws and the latter rain.

First, must we wait on Satan to bring about the Sunday law before we take the field to pray for the latter rain?

Are we waiting for God to give Satan permission to pass the Sunday law so that he can then pour out the latter rain and seal Satan's fate?

You know, why hasn't the Sunday Law taking place yet?

Are we waiting on God to give Satan permission to pass the Sunday Law?

If God has given Satan permission, why is Satan stalling in the Sunday Law issue?

If God has said, Satan, go ahead, it's up to you to pass the Sunday Law, why is Satan stalling?

And if God has not given permission, why is God delaying this?

If he knows that this will spring his people into action to pray for the latter rain?

If the Sunday law is a thing that finally wakes up God's church so that we will pray for the latter rain and plead for it, why is God delaying the passing of a Sunday law?

If the Sunday law is the way that Satan believes he can ultimately destroy the people of God, why wouldn't he cause it to happen before God could pour out his spirit to empower his people to warn the world?

If the Sunday Law is the way Satan believes he can ultimately destroy the people of God.

Why wouldn't he cause it to happen before God could pour out his Spirit to empower his people to warn the world?

In other words, why wouldn't Satan have done or have passed the Sunday Law within the last 163 years?

So there's my little paragraph I wanted to lay out to you.

Somebody's stalling and the question is, we got to figure out, is it God, is it Satan, or is it us?

Some of you are throwing your answers out there already.

Well, let me begin to set a couple of things, you know, so we can have a right understanding, a correct understanding of the latter rain.

Now the argument is, does the Sunday law fall before, I'm sorry, does the latter rain fall before the Sunday law or after the Sunday law?

And I think that question is a faulty, it gives a faulty premise to begin with and here's why.

The early rain, the latter rain is simply a greater portion of the what?

Now, here's something you may not have thought about before, but the early rain is not a one-time event.

The early rain was a season, it wasn't a day.

You see, in Acts chapter 2, we often look at Acts chapter 2 and we say, there, that was the fulfillment of the early rain.

However, and if you have pen and paper you can write these down.

In Acts chapter 4 there is another outpouring.

Do you remember when the disciples prayed because they were being persecuted and they prayed, Lord grant us boldness to what?

Stephen Bohr

The Special Resurrection

Okay, good afternoon everyone It's good to see you here.

We have quorum the Lord said whether our 2 or 3 gathered and I see more than 2 or 3 here so we're going to get started because we want to take advantage of the time as much as possible and actually before we begin we want to ask the Lord's blessings so let's bow our heads Father in Heaven, thank you so much for the wonderful spiritual food that we've been receiving here at this series of meetings, It's such a blessing to be here at GYC.

And Father, we just ask that as we study this topic on the special resurrection, that Your Holy Spirit will open our minds and our hearts.

I know that We have a little bit of information overload perhaps, but I ask that you will clear up our minds that we might be able to understand what we're going to study.

We thank you, Father, for hearing our prayer, for we ask it in Jesus' name.

And so what I want to do is if possible, save the questions till about 10 minutes after I finish.

We'll leave a period at the end so that you can ask questions because if we have questions at every stage of the presentation we're not going to be able to get through the material.

So we'll try and stop at about I would say 25 minutes to 8.

The next meeting is at 7.45 and that will give us 10 minutes to answer some questions.

Permit me first of all to mention that in the Old Testament there were 3 notable resurrections And I'm only going to mention these, I wish we had time to read, but I'll give you the references.

The first resurrection, as far as we know, in human history was Moses.

And the information for that is found in Deuteronomy 34 verses 5 and 6.

The only person in the Bible that we know of that God buried.

And secondly, nobody knew where his grave was, which is very unusual among the Israelites, the Hebrews, because they very carefully marked the graves of their heroes.

Then of course we meet Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration.

What's he doing there if he died and God buried him?

And then to cap it all off you go to Jude verse 9 where it says that when Moses died there was a fight over the body of Moses.

Believe me they weren't fighting over his carcass.

There was a fight because Michael the Archangel had come to resurrect Moses.

By the way, it's the same individual who is spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4 where it says that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel in the trumpet of God.

So Moses was the first notable resurrection in the Old Testament.

Then the second resurrection was the son of the widow of Zarephath and that is found in 1st Kings chapter 17 and verses 17 to 22.

And then there's a third resurrection in the Old Testament which is very unusual.

It's an interesting story you might want to read it.

2 Kings 13 verse 21, where an individual was thrown into the grave where Elisha was.

And when he touched Elisha's bones, he resurrected.

Now I believe that's because Elisha is a type of Christ.

Elisha is the 1 who brings about the reformation in Israel after the work that Elijah has done.

And so, Elisha being a symbol of Christ, I believe that those who come in contact with Christ, though they be dead, yet shall they live as Jesus said.

Now in the New Testament we have actually 4 resurrections of individuals who died, who resurrected and died again.

First you have the son of the widow of Nain.

A second person that was resurrected by Jesus was Jairus, the daughter of Jairus.

That's found in Luke 8, 41 and 42 and then verses 49-55.

And Ellen White has something interesting to say about these resurrections, these 3 resurrections.

Ellen White says in volume 1 of Selected Messages 304, during his ministry Jesus raised the dead to life.

He raised the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus, but these were not clothed with immortality.

After they were raised, they continued to be subject to death." The fourth person who was resurrected in the New Testament was someone who was resurrected by the Apostle Paul.

That's found in Acts chapter 20 and verses 9 and 10.

Then in the New Testament we have some people who resurrected, who died and resurrected and will not die again.

And the story is found in Matthew chapter 27 if you go with me there quickly Matthew chapter 27 and verses 51 to 53 Matthew 27 verses 51 to 53 Speaking about the death of Jesus it says, Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in 2 from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

Now it gives the impression that they were raised that day before the resurrection of Jesus but verse 52 says and the graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of their graves after his resurrection They went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Now I want to read you an interesting statement from Ellen White about this group, volume 1 of Selected Messages pages 304 and 305.

She says, but those who came forth from the grave at Christ's resurrection were raised to everlasting life.

They were the multitude of captives that ascended with him as trophies of his victory over death and the grave.

So these individuals, you can imagine what it must have been like because Ellen White, we're going to notice in a moment, actually explains that these individuals were martyrs from the very beginning of human history till the times of Christ, which makes it possible that maybe Abel was among that group.

And perhaps even John the Baptist was in that group because he was martyred.

And Ellen White has this to say about this group, Desire of Ages, page 786.

Speaking about this group, she says, They were those who had been co-laborers with God, and who at the cost of their lives had borne testimony to the truth.

Now they were to be witnesses for him who had raised them from the dead." And by the way these were the ones who ascended with Jesus when Jesus went to heaven.

In fact let me read you that statement just a short statement from Desire of Ages page 833 Ellen White says all heaven was waiting to welcome the Savior to the celestial courts as he ascended he led the way and the multitude of captives set free at his resurrection followed.

Now the traditional view in the Adventist Church is that the 24 elders are this group that resurrected.

But there are several reasons why this cannot be possible.

And that is that Ellen White makes it very clear in Desire of Ages, the last 3 pages of Desire of Ages, that when Jesus ascended with those who resurrected with him, the 24 elders were already present there in heaven.

And Ellen White also makes it very clear that the 24 elders are actually the representatives of the worlds that never sinned.

You read those last 3 pages of Desire of Ages and you're going to discover that.

So the 24 elders in Revelation 4 are already there before Jesus arrives in Revelation chapter 5 at his ascension.

And so obviously if they're already there they can't be the ones that are coming back with Jesus.

Another statement by Ellen White, This is volume 1 of Selected Messages, page 305.

Actually let me go back a little bit here.

Jesus resurrected the firstfruits, right?

First Corinthians chapter 15 And verse 20 says that Jesus resurrected the first fruits.

But what about this group that resurrected with Jesus?

Now how do we understand that Jesus is the first fruits from the dead And this group is also the first fruits.

You know that the 3 spring feasts, the early spring feasts were Passover, Unleavened bread and what was the third 1 the wave sheaf that was waved before the Lord now Jesus died on Friday that's the Passover the next day begins on leaven bread First fruits or the wave sheaf always fell on the Sabbath after Passover.

And so, and you can find that in Leviticus chapter 23.

And so, when was first fruit celebrated during the year that Jesus died?

It was celebrated on the first day of the week.

So you have Passover, you have unleavened bread, and then the third day you have the first fruits.

And of course we know that Jesus that day ascended to heaven to his father and he presented himself to his father.

Remember he said to Mary don't touch me I've not yet ascended to my father and that evening he says to the disciples touch me.

So he must have ascended sometime in between Now the interesting thing is that not only during the first fruits were the first fruits of barley waved before the Lord but there was 1 other feast where first fruits were waved before the Lord and that was the feast of Pentecost.

At Pentecost also the first fruits of wheat were taken and they were waved before the Lord as well.

Now let me ask you, what does Pentecost commemorate?

It commemorates the ascension of Christ and his installation in heaven as what?

As High Priest and King of the Kingdom of Grace.

And who did he take with him up there when he ascended to heaven to become the High Priest and to sit on the throne of grace with his Father?

He took those who resurrected with him as the what?

Firstfruits because in the Feast of Pentecost if you read in Leviticus 23, firstfruits were also presented at the Feast of Pentecost.

Allow me to read you from Ellen White, first of all about Jesus as the first fruits, Desire of Ages 785 and 786.

Ellen White says, Christ arose from the dead as the first fruits of those that slept.

Latter Rain, Sunday Law: What Comes First? Part 2

Heavenly Father, we ask Lord that as we close with this last message for tonight, Lord, that your spirit would be with us.

We have We have been long at At the Bible tonight Lord, and we just ask that you would refresh us for 1 last study.

And then, Lord, help us to get a good night's sleep tonight that we might be refreshed for tomorrow.

We thank you for hearing our prayer in Jesus' name.

Before I finish this, I want to share with you a new dimension of Operation Global Rain.

Operation Global Rain 360 is what it's called, OGR 360.

The new website just went up about 2 days ago and you know I was really nervous because there's been a a lull between the 7th, 7-7 of this year and the time that the new website went up.

New website went up 3 days ago and like within the first, I think, 2 hours we had about 6 churches that had registered.

And so we sent out another email and as of today we've had I think another 20 churches registered just in the last 2 days.

What OGR 360 is, we are planning to have 3 10 days of prayer meetings next year.

The first will begin January 2nd and it will be 10 days of prayer followed by 110 days of activity.

So 10 days of prayer, 110 days of activity, and that 110 days of activity will be geared towards outreach to Baxladen and former Seventh-day Adventists.

So that makes 1 120-day period that will be totally dedicated.

Those 10 days of prayer will be dedicated to backslidden and former Seventh-day Adventists.

At the end of that time period, we'll have another 10 days of prayer, followed by 110 days of activity, but this time it will be to non-Seventh-day Adventist.

And what we are asking is that each person involved will commit to 1 day out of the week for that 110 day period, 1 day out of the week, whether that be Mondays or Wednesdays or whatever, that you will commit that day, an hour a day to 2 hours or 4 hours of intentional Bible work.

Whether that be Bible study, going door-to-door, making phone calls, whatever it is.

And that was so you're not doing a hundred and 10 days back-to-back of Bible work.

You're just choosing 1 day out of the week, at least 1 day out of the week, to do intentional Bible study.

And so the third 110 period will just be like a free-for-all.

But it's a total of 360 days hence OGR 360.

Ellen White says that she saw jets of light.

The earth seemed to be lightened with a heavenly influence.

People have said, you know, Operation Global Rain, the 777 thing was a big hype on the day.

It is a Season and so we are praying that we we are entering and have entered into the latter rain season where?

God will empower us as we begin to go forth into the world, lifting up the cross.

Having said that, I want to pick up with where we left off, with this issue of the Latter Rain and the Sunday Laws.

And I'm not going to recap because I feel my throat getting ready to go out.

So I'm just going to share some more things as quickly as I can so that we can get a proper understanding.

I've had some people say, the angel of Revelation chapter 18 cannot declare that Babylon is fallen until Babylon is fallen.

And Babylon is declared fallen when she passes a Sunday law.

Or does the Sunday Law come first which then causes the angel to descend and to declare that Babylon is fallen?

And on face value it would seem that yes, Sunday law has to be passed first in order for the angel to descend and declare that Babylon is fallen.

I want to read to you a quote, a couple, well 1 taken from Last Day Events, page 198, where she says this.

She made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

By forcing men to accept a spurious salve.

Not yet, however, can it be said, she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication she has not yet met she has not yet made all nations do this not until the condition shall be reached and the union of the church and the world shall be fully accomplished throughout Christendom, will the fall of Babylon be complete.

The change is a progressive 1 and the perfect fulfillment of Revelation 14 8 is yet future.

When the law of God is finally made void by legislation.

So this quote seems to say that when Babylon is fallen, when can that angel of Revelation 18 declare that Babylon is fallen?

And therefore the argument is that this angel which basically brings a latter rain, the latter rain cannot fall until the Sunday Law is set up.

Is that clear, the argument that is being presented?

Okay, now, here is the answer to that dilemma.

The angel of Revelation 18 is to add his voice not only...

Which angel says Babylon is fallen anyway the second angel the angel of Revelation 18 does not add his voice only to the second angel he actually adds it to the first and the third as well you see that So He adds power to all 3 messages.

Maranatha page 173, the 3 angels' messages are to be combined, giving their threefold light to the world.

In the Revelation, John says, I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory.

This represents the giving of the last and threefold message of warning to the world.

So the angel that descends does not descend saying only Babylon has fallen.

She also says, or the angel also says, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come.

Which message does the angel add power to first?

And it would make sense that the angel first adds power to the first angel's message.

No 1 hears the voice of these angels, for they are a symbol to represent the people of God, who are working in harmony with the universe of heaven.

Men and women enlightened by the Spirit of God and sanctified through the truth proclaim the 3 messages in their order.

See, what that means is that the third angel's message cannot be preached without the second angel's message going before it.

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SWYC 2007 Breakout Sessions, Part 2

Latter Rain, Sunday Law: What Comes First? Part 2

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Latter Rain, Sunday Law: What Comes First? Part 1

44m

The Special Resurrection

1h

Latter Rain, Sunday Law: What Comes First? Part 2

49m

Sound Doctrine