April 15, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
LEST WE FORGET OUR MISSION AND GET DISTRACTED BY ALL THE EXCITEMENT & COMMOTION.
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.” Eze. 3: 17. “And thou shalt speak My words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear [accept it or reject, like it or dislike it].” ch. 2:3, KJV.
As we near the coming final test, part of the true preparation for what is coming is to make sure we know what we are doing and what the original mission was given to the remnant to accomplish for Him.
Here is the message and the specific work attached to it that He wants His true messenger to give to the world around them, starting in their homes and outward.
“In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted THE LAST WARNING for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the Word of God. They have been given a work of the MOST SOLEMN import, the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.
“The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned, and God’s people are to be true to the trust committed to them. They are not to ENGAGE IN ANY SPECULATION, neither are they to enter into BUSINESS ENTERPRISES with unbelievers; for this would HINDER them in their God-given work.” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, p. 19.
“It is not only by preaching the truth, not only by distributing literature, that we are TO WITNESS for God. Let us remember that a CHRIST-LIKE LIFE is the most powerful argument that can be advanced in favor of Christianity, and a cheap Christian character works more harm in the world than the character of a wielding. Not all the books written can serve the purpose of a HOLY LIFE. Men will believe, not what the minister preaches, but what the church lives. Too often the influence of the sermon preached from the pulpit is COUNTERACTED in the lives of those who claim to be advocates of truth.”Ibid, p. 21.
Remember this always, not only in times of prosperity but more so during times of calamity and adversity like now, to:
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man can see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Heb. 12:14,15.
We might have already entered the early time of trouble. Therefore, “step fast” and even faster and “gird up the loins of your mind.” NMF