GC Session 2015: Prayer Seminars

Dan Augsburger

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Praying and Living For Revival

Kind Father in Heaven, we're grateful for the opportunity to present more on prayer, to encourage the attendees and their families and more people to be inspired by learning more about your word and more about ways in which they can enlarge their prayer life.

We ask Lord that they will be inspired in such a way that they'll take it back to their home churches and find ways to make your word known in so many ways.

And may they initially go to you for guidance and instruction.

Thank you for Dan and his wife who are here tonight and keep them faithful and keep them serving you in this marvelous way.

Dan Augsberger is, and he wrote this out so I'm going to follow it.

He teaches at the seminary, the Andrews Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

He does that part-time and then the rest of his time, he and his wife spend speaking at prayer and revival seminars throughout the world.

I think most recently you were in Honduras, is that right?

Okay, or you speak so many places it's hard to keep track.

This seminar tonight will consider how to get prayers answered for revival.

How do we get a revival in our hearts, in our churches?

This is something Dan Augsburger will address tonight.

And I'd like to ask his wife, Rose, if she would wave her hand or just stand.

It's a privilege, but more than a privilege, it's a sobering responsibility to be here this evening.

We have been called to be the representatives of God.

That when people see us, they will know what God is like.

When Jesus came the first time, he was given a body by the Holy Spirit.

But in this day and age, the church is his body.

And in John 17, we learn that Jesus said, called for a unity, because it was in that unity that the greatest proof that he was sent from heaven would be observed.

Not the best understanding of the Bible, not the nicest programs, not the most inspiring sermons, but the unity, the relationships between the members of the church, that's the greatest proof that Jesus truly came from heaven to earth.

Our other worldly relationships are the greatest proof of the genuineness of the gospel.

And so it's a sobering responsibility to stand before you.

We live in a time when we believe the the end is coming soon.

And you can find every variety of religion that you could possibly want.

But we want that which is genuine, that which is life-changing, that which is church-changing.

And so I stand with fear and trembling before you praying that I will be a faithful messenger for God.

Just very briefly 1 of the stories of the Bible that has greatly touched my heart recently was the story of Naaman.

Who would believe that the story of Naaman would be such an important question?

It's about a little girl, you know, that refers a man, but it's actually the story of faithful and unfaithful messengers.

The little girl was faithful in sharing what she knew and sent him off to to Samaria.

Like so many that don't know God and perhaps even some Christians that belong to the church, he thought he had to prepare gifts.

He had to do something to win the favor of this God that he was being referred to to get his prayers answered.

First goes to the king, the king tears his clothes, thinks he wants to start a squabble, he's not a faithful messenger, and eventually he gets to Elisha's house, right?

And I can imagine that he came in with his retinue of soldiers in his chariot, well-dressed.

And Elisha chose to send a messenger, didn't he?

And if you read the story, Elisha wasn't happy about 2 things.

Number 1, that he sent a messenger, and number 2, he didn't like the message.

And I'd like to suggest this evening that those are still the 2 great issues in the church, we don't like the messenger and we don't like the message.

And that's why I believe that for the members of our church, what we do with Ellen White is very significant.

I've had people say, you know, we don't need her if we just follow the Bible.

Luckily, Elisha had some friends who said, you know, you ought to follow the direction.

Now just imagine, had the messenger come and said, you need to go to a river and dip, would it have brought about the miracle?

What if he had said you need to dip somewhere 7 times?

What if he'd said you need to dip in a river in Israel 7 times?

It was a very precise message of going to a certain place and dipping a certain number of times and because he completely obeyed, he was completely healed.

And the question I want to ask you this evening is to what degree are people coming for help from the members of our church, but because they're only hearing part of the message, the message that is easy to share, They're coming with great expectations, but going away disappointed.

Perhaps wondering if there's something wrong with God.

And truth be told, the problem is that the messengers have not been as faithful as they should have been.

There's another story in the Bible that also speaks to this, and that is the story of the father that brings his son to the disciples.

They're followers of the 1 who has the truth.

They were sent out with power, they have brought about many miracles.

But on that particular day when they had sought to cast out the demon, they had failed.

In fact, the disciples would come and say, I brought my son and your disciples were not able.

And when Jesus comes down from the mountain, it's interesting that there's a squabble.

And I believe the scribes were saying, what's wrong?

Maybe things aren't quite so right with the 1 you're following.

And I think the disciples are responding by saying, well, maybe it's not God's time.

Maybe there's something going on in this family that prevents God from answering our desires for healing.

They were doing this instead of saying, actually, we're not really willing to take up the cross and follow Jesus.

We want to be on each side of a reigning monarch.

This idea of dying to self and carrying the cross and being humbled, that's not part of our agenda.

Maybe God is unable to bless our efforts because we have failed to accept his way of working.

Undoubtedly, we're not saying we've been arguing about who is first, And because there is a lack of unity, because there is disunity, because there's differences between us, God is unable to bless us.

In the 1 case it was failed to accept the message, or potentially that the message might have been poorly given, only partially or wrongly.

In the second case, there was something within their lives that kept the miracle from happening.

Now it's interesting, there were, that day there were the disciples that I think were trying to defend themselves.

They weren't taking any of the blame probably.

There was the father who tried many times, the son who frequently had been, you know, embarrassed as he'd been thrown down into the ground.

There were the scribes who were trying to make the most of it and those that were around the edges.

My brothers and sisters, as members of the Adventist church, We should live in such a way that God's miracles can take place through our lives.

Ellen White had a vision where she talks about seeing thousands going door-to-door.

The doors were open to to studies of the Bible and she also says the sick were being healed.

Esther Knott

Preparing Our Hearts for 40 Days of Prayer

Kind Father in heaven, we're really grateful for your mercy.

We're grateful for your Being with all of us and you brought us safely here to San Antonio for this GC session We ask that the speaker today will be inspired and blessed and that our hearts and minds will be encouraged, inspired, blessed as well.

Be with each 1 here in Jesus' name, amen.

Our speaker today is a friend and that's saying a lot.

If you're listening to someone or you're responding to someone who's a friend, it makes an absolute difference.

This is pastor Esther Ramharak Singh Nutt, and she's pastored for 28 years in Illinois, Maryland, and in Michigan.

She brings a wealth of experience to her role as the associate director of the North American Division Ministerial.

She's also Director of the In Ministry Center located at the Adventist Theological Seminary on the campus of Andrews University.

I met her about 20 years ago, I think, probably more than that, because it was before her daughter was born and then we got to know her, her daughter, well her husband Ron and her daughter Olivia.

So she brings a wealth of experience in a variety of areas.

So we're excited to have her here and we hope that indeed you will be blessed and that you'll share.

What I want to mention is that we have some handouts that we're going to see that you get and we also have this available.

What you'll receive in your hand will also be available online.

So the purpose of that, and we're also being recorded today and that'll be uploaded.

This seminar will not just be available to you who are here, but to people around the world.

So they'll be able to go online if they have that kind of access, and they'll be able to hear this seminar as well.

The next voice you hear will be that of Esther Ramirezg-Nutt.

I really hope that the next voice that you hear speaking to your heart will be that of our Savior through the Holy Spirit.

And the seminar that we're doing is actually 2 seminars.

And the second part is about 40 days of prayer.

And so we want to start with that, preparing our hearts in order that we can participate in the 40 days of prayer.

And for the record, I want you to know, as Don, my friend, mentioned, I am married to Ronald Alan Knott.

People meet me and they think I'm married to Bill Knott.

Bill is the editor of the Adventist Review.

Ron is the director of the Andrews University Press.

You may have heard of the Andrews Study Bible.

Many of you, I see, are nodding your heads.

But it's a wonderful study Bible that I especially like to give to people when I've recently baptized them.

So we baptize someone, we want them to become disciples.

And I love the study notes in that Bible because I can trust them and we want to make disciples.

And 1 of the things that we do when we make disciples is to teach people how to pray, how to become more like Jesus every day.

And that is what this whole focus is about when we come to pray, and especially at the GC session.

There's a quotation that really helped to shape my life, and it says, as long as you are content to live without revival, you will.

As long as you are content to live without revival, you will.

And don't we so often go through our day just being content?

But we, brothers and sisters, must not be content to live without revival.

It's what we need and what God wants to do in our lives.

And I've been reading in the book of Romans, and there are 2 passages that I want to focus some of this on.

Romans 8 verses 1 to 2 and Romans 12 verses 1 to 2.

Romans 8 tells us, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death." And the reason I want to stress the no condemnation is because the first part of this seminar that we look at this morning is going to focus on Christian sins.

I recently had a Bible study with someone and she said, well I don't think that I'm that much of a sinner.

You know, especially as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, we're not guilty of the Big 10 as we see them.

We seek to honor God and to love God and to love our fellow human beings.

But part of what we're going to look at today, and I have some people here who are going to be helping me, is that Evelyn Christensen in her book, What Happens When Women Pray, it's also what happens when people pray.

There's no difference whether you're a man or a woman.

When you pray, God answers and he works on our behalf.

But even as we look at Christian sins, I want you to understand how it is that we have no condemnation.

How many of you are from a country outside of North America?

Who does not live in North America right now?

So I need to take some time to help you understand how the American legal system works, because it will help you understand how we can view, how we can have no condemnation because we're in Christ Jesus.

So if you've watched the American television, you might understand a little bit about that.

But in the American legal system, there's a judge who sits up front, and there is a jury, and the jury's purpose is to listen to the evidence that's been presented and then they decide whether the person is guilty or innocent.

There are also 2 attorneys, at least 2 attorneys in the room.

The job of the defense attorney is to try to show the jury why this person should be considered innocent.

I'm gonna put the defense attorney on this side, just from my perspective.

And then there's a prosecuting attorney who tries to make you decide this person is guilty, they deserve punishment.

And then there's the person who's on trial.

So Ruel, I'm gonna pretend that you're the person that's on trial, just so we can have a face.

Just turn around and wave so they see you're the guy that's on trial.

So we're going to have to decide whether or not he is innocent or guilty.

And in biblical terms, we have an attorney who the Bible says that our advocate is who?

Who does the Bible say is the adversary, the accuser of the brethren?

So Satan is the accuser, Jesus is our advocate.

And because we know who Satan, his nature, he is telling the jury all of these things about us, about why we should be condemned, and probably some of the things that he's saying are not true because of who he is.

But as we listen, as Ru-El listens, as I listen and the evidence of my life is brought up, I know that I'm not innocent.

I know that I'm guilty and if the jury had to make a decision about whether I'm guilty or innocent I would stand condemned.

Well, sorry brother but you would be condemned.

I don't know you, we just met, but I know you're not perfect because you're probably like me and you deserve condemnation.

But your attorney, who is Jesus, and it's the job of your attorney to let you know how you can present yourself in the best light.

And he knows that from history, and in American politics, in the American legal system, a lot of it is based on case law, which means precedent has been set.

And because of precedent, that helps your attorney know how to defend you.

So we know from the very beginning of Earth's history that there is a law that says you can choose to have somebody else's record stand in your place.

Instead of the evidence of your life being presented to the jury, you can choose to have somebody else's record stand in your place.

So you want to scan history and say, okay, I want to do that.

Who's got the perfect record so that I will not be pronounced guilty?

Wes Peppers

Lansing SDA Church

Acting Like the Acts Church

Lord, today we just ask in a special way that your Holy Spirit would draw near to us.

There are many away today for the men's chorale and for the pathfinders, and so we uplift them, Lord, that you would use them in a powerful way, that you'd bless them in everything that they participate in for you today.

And Lord, this morning we pray especially for these dear folks that are in the hospital, for Lori and for Sarita, and we pray for Jody's grandson, Lord, Jody and Bob, and Lord, we uplift each 1 of them to you.

Lord, you know their circumstances, you know their challenges, you know the healing that they need, and we just intercede today in a very special way, asking you, Lord, to be near to them, be close to their families, be close to their own hearts and Lord we pray that you bring comfort and peace to them and bring healing.

So Lord We look to you and Lord in this broken world that we live, we realize that these things are very real and Lord the devil delights in them but Lord we know that even through these most difficult trials you can bring good And so Lord we're looking to Jesus today and we're looking for that good that you will bring out of these things.

And we long for the day when Jesus will return when all those things will pass away and you will not have to face them anymore.

Lord we believe that that day is coming soon, and so Lord, prepare our hearts for it.

We ask you to draw near to us just now as we open your word together, and we pray, Lord, that your spirit would come, revive us and rejuvenate us and draw us close in Jesus' name, amen.

I want to ask you a question this morning.

What kind of a church do you think that Jesus deserves?

Isn't that a very interesting question to ask?

If you could think about the church that Jesus would deserve to have, What would you think?

So, there are many characteristics we can think about that we would say that would be the picture of the church that Jesus deserves.

How many of you can think of all those things, right?

And how many of you believe today that Jesus, before he returns to this earth, he's going to have that kind of church?

How many of you believe that this morning?

The question today is, are you going to be that church?

Because the question is not, is it ever, is it really going to happen?

If everything else that's been prophesied in the Bible has come to pass, how many of you think that that's going to come to pass?

And so we long, we desire, we want, we have a passion to be the kind of church that Jesus deserves.

Not just the 1 that He wants, but the 1 that He deserves.

And ask yourselves the question this morning, are we reflecting our own part to make that happen, to become the church that Jesus deserves?

And this morning, we're going to take a look, real quickly, at the book of Acts.

And we're going to see a picture of a church that was the church that Jesus deserves.

And we're going to see this morning if we can find some aspects of the book of Acts, some characteristics that we can examine and ask ourselves the question, how can we become the type of church that Jesus deserves?

How many of you are ready to do that this morning?

And what you find very powerfully is the church that Jesus began in the book of Acts will be the church, will look like the church that is ready and waiting for Jesus to come.

So something happened in between those times, right?

And by God's grace, we're trying to get back to, we're trying to come back to the church that started.

And we want to have even, we want the character of Jesus to be restored in our lives.

So let's take a look at some points this morning about God's early church.

We're gonna, I'm gonna talk about 4 points this morning and There are actually probably 400 or more in the book of Acts that we could look at, but for time's sake I'm trying to condense them.

We may do a little bit of a series out of this coming up here.

But I want to invite you to turn with me in the book of Acts chapter 5.

Acts chapter 5, and we're going to take a look at verse 28 and 29.

The first point that I want to make today is that the Acts Church was a group of people that loved Jesus more than life because Jesus had loved them more than his life.

How many believe today that Jesus loves your life more than his life?

Because He gave up His life for us, didn't He?

He said, no greater love has a man than this for his friends than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends.

But Jesus didn't lay down His life for His friends, did He?

And every 1 of us here today and every person in the world at some point in their life has been the enemy of God.

Not that God posed himself as an enemy to us, but we ourselves were enemies to him.

I hope today that you're not the enemy of God.

I hope that you have become through His grace the friend of God.

But there might be someone here today who is an enemy of God, who is running from Him, who is with their lives doing everything opposite of His ideal for them and making His sacrifice in vain.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Praying and Living For Revival

1h 14m

Preparing Our Hearts for 40 Days of Prayer

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Acting Like the Acts Church

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Is Balanced Health Ministry Possible?

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04. Biblical Missionaries: The Jonah Saga

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32. Questions and Answers from Prophecies of Hope

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31. Revelation’s Last Plagues

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30. What Will Heaven Be Like?

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29. God’s Washing Machine

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