Sermon delivered by GC President, Ted N.C. Wilson at the 2015 Annual Council.

<p>Sermon delivered by GC President, Ted N.C. Wilson at the 2015 Annual Council.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Ted N.C. Wilson

Everyone a Sower

Thank you, Daniel and Andrea, for that beautiful rendition.

That is the reason we are here, because our Redeemer lives.

Because of that, God has given us the opportunity to be totally involved in proclaiming the message of God's last day proclamation.

It's a privilege to have all of you here and we welcome you again.

We've had a wonderful beginning to the annual Council, marvelous lead conference.

I was so excited to see everyone talking and discussing.

Thank you also to those who have put together the wonderful program last night, Council on Evangelism and Witness, which will continue this afternoon.

Everyone, I hope, will be present at 1 o'clock for that very important meeting.

We welcome all of you, our retirees and others.

Pastor Bediako, several retired vice presidents, we welcome all of you.

All of us together here for 1 particular purpose, and that is to glorify our Redeemer who lives and to proclaim that He is coming again.

But I want to tell you, we're living in a time of unprecedented change.

God has asked his remnant people, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to prepare the way of the Lord, to lean completely on him and receive the power of the latter reign of the Holy Spirit.

It is time for the final loud cry, the proclamation of the first, the second, and especially the third angel's messages.

Christ has called us to be sowers of his Word.

He's called us to follow his example of service to others by proclaiming his truth and righteousness to the world, announcing his soon second coming.

You see, Members of this worldwide church of almost 19 million members are called to partner with the heavenly sower, Jesus Christ, in proclaiming his final message of love, righteousness, redemption, and last-day prophetic warning heralding Christ's soon return.

Practical evangelistic outreach based on the Bible and the spirit of prophecy with plenty of references to both in our presentation this morning.

Now this sermon is going to resemble more of a learning symposium for all of us regarding total member involvement rather than a normal sermon per se.

I invite you to turn to the book of Mark, chapter 4.

In this passage, Jesus was speaking to thousands by the Sea of Galilee near the beautiful plain of Gennesaret.

Now the listeners could see on that plain and on the hillsides beyond the sowers and reapers who were busily casting seed and then harvesting the early grain.

Jesus identified the truths of heaven using parables with simple references to what was happening.

He shared the following parable with those in that vast Sea of Galilee audience and with us today, October 10, 2015, right here in this comfortable General Conference auditorium or wherever you may be watching.

You see Mark chapter 4 verses 3 to 9 tell us, listen, behold a sower went out to sow and it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and devoured it.

Some fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth.

And immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.

But when the sun was up it was scorched and because it had no root it withered away and some seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no crop.

But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced some thirtyfold, some 60 and some a hundred.

And he said to them, he who has ears to hear, let him hear." You know what a privilege it is to hear the Word of God, to listen to its instruction, to understand its directives for living the victorious life through Christ's justifying and sanctifying power.

You see, the Word of God is being ignored more and more these days.

It's becoming fashionable to misinterpret, to misapply what is plainly indicated in Scripture.

It is being reinterpreted by those who may have a higher critical approach to Scripture, by those who place themselves above the very Word of God.

You see, we are to faithfully follow and promote the historical, biblical method of interpreting Scripture, allowing the Bible to interpret itself line upon line and precept upon precept.

As Seventh-day Adventists, we should carefully adhere to the document voted October 12, 1986, at the annual council held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

You see, this document, Methods of Bible Study, carefully outlines how to study God's holy word.

We are to follow the historicist view of prophecy and biblical understanding.

Now I want to speak very plainly to each of you.

Pastors, teachers, administrators, church elders, leaders, members, young people, Don't let anyone turn you from the historicist understanding and the historical biblical interpretation of Scripture.

Now note the following instructions that are given to us from the Spirit of Prophecy about accepting the Bible as it reads.

And we're going to look at a number of quotations.

Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 171.

God requires more of his followers than many realize.

If we would not build our hopes of heaven upon a false foundation, we must accept the Bible as it reads and believe that the Lord means what he says.

239, many become decided transgressors of God's holy law as the result of union, concord, and cooperation with companions who are the instruments of Satan.

Now that's an interesting phrase I found in Spirit of Prophecy.

To undeceive them, but they refuse to take the Word of God as it reads.

He is seeking to teach them that the Lord's way is always to be closely followed, that his word is to be taken as it reads and that men are not to devise and plan according to their own judgment, irrespective of his counsel.

And another 1, Prophets and Kings, a marvelous book, page 185.

Many do not hesitate to sneer at the Word of God.

Those who believe it just as it reads are ridiculed.

Let's have ears that hear the Word of God, minds that will accept the Word of God in its plainest forms as it reads.

Now what did Jesus want the disciples and us to understand about everyone being a sower of this precious truth in the Word of God.

He went on to explain the parable of the sower in Mark chapter 4 verses 14 to 20, as was read by G.T.

Matthew 13, 37 indicates that the sower of the good seed was the son of man, Jesus Christ.

He came not as a king, but as a sower, pointing to a great harvest that would result after challenging difficulties.

You know what a marvelous ending we had to that lead conference when we watched that film about the harvest, and all of us are part of the harvest, the final harvest.

But there will be difficulties and challenges.

You see, Jesus left His heavenly home to sow the Word of God on this earth.

We are to partner with Him as sowers of the Word, of the truth.

Christ's Object Lessons, that marvelous book that we are reading in Believe His Prophets, pages 36 and 37, it says the following, his servants in like manner must go forth to sow.

So those who are called to unite with Christ must leave all in order to follow him.

Old associations must be broken up, plans of life relinquished, earthly hopes surrendered.

In toil and tears, in solitude and through sacrifice, must the seed be sown.

You see, we're told everyone is a sower of the Word.

Total member involvement in the last proclamation of this precious Advent message.

Luke 8, verse 11 says, the seed to be sown is the Word of God.

Seeds have incredible germinating capability.

Christ's object lessons, again, page 38, indicates the following.

In every command and in every promise of the Word of God is the power, the very life of God by which the command may be fulfilled and the promise realized." Page 37, those who study the Word of God with open hearts, open to the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, will not remain in darkness as to the meaning of the Word." On page 39, in the days of Christ, the rabbis put a forced mystical construction upon many portions of Scripture.

Because the plain teaching of God's Word condemned their practices, they tried to destroy its force.

The Word of God is made to appear mysterious and obscure in order to excuse transgression of His law.

Christ rebuked these practices in His day.

He taught that the Word of God was to be understood by all.

He pointed to the Scriptures as of unquestionable authority.

You see, Every pastor, every teacher, every member is to participate in helping all to become ardent students of the Word of God and then to share it.

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Everyone a Sower

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