Come and learn how the use of Adventist literature can promote and enhance other ministries in your church spiritually and financially.

Michigan Camp Meeting 2018: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

<p>Come and learn how the use of Adventist literature can promote and enhance other ministries in your church spiritually and financially.</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>

Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Adventist Literature

Theresa Broden

Part 1 - A Key to Discipleship

Dear Gracious Loving Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come together, to spend time in fellowship, and to learn more about your work and why you would have us to be involved in the literature ministry.

We ask that your Spirit would be with each 1 here and any that are coming later.

And we ask that you would open our minds and our eyes, guide us with your eyes and teach us what you would have us to know.

Okay, well, for those of you who don't know me, I'll just give you a little background.

I have been an Adventist for about 35, 36, probably 37, yeah, 37 years.

I came into the church as a result of literature.

So literature's always been kind of dear to my heart.

What happened is my family is totally non-Adventist, no religious background at all.

My parents grew up in the church, not an Adventist church, and when they were grown, they said, we have had enough of church, we have put in our quota, we're not going anymore.

I never ever set foot in a church with my parents my whole entire life that I lived with them as a child.

I moved to Michigan to go to the University of Michigan, and there that's where I met my husband.

And my husband came from a Baptist background, but his parents had been given or they had purchased books from Cole Porter's.

And 1 of the books that they had was Bible readings for the home.

My husband's father passed away, and when he passed away he wanted to get that book because they had been studying a little bit about it.

He kept it under the Jewish tradition because he couldn't find an Adventist church.

So he just stayed home on Sabbath and didn't drive his car and he kept the Sabbath as best he knew.

And so when my husband started looking for this book, we had already started keeping the Sabbath because he'd been studying with his dad.

So he went to get the book from his brother, and his brother said, this book is not leaving the house.

So he knew that the book, somehow he figured out it was an Adventist book and he had an Adventist friend.

So he went to her and said, hey, I'm trying to find this book.

Because he had went to places like Sunshine Bible Shop and other Bible places and they're like, oh, that's a cult and we don't have books that they sell.

And so he's like, this place isn't a cult, I've been reading this stuff, this is good stuff.

And so as a result, his friend said, well, this is where the church is, and if you go over there, they'll introduce you to somebody who has the books." And they did.

They introduced us to a coal porter, and the coal porter came to our house and sold us the books that he was looking for, Bible readings for the home.

And as a result, we got into Bible studies, and today we're in the church.

So God uses his literature in a very specific and special way and part of this class is for us to understand how important literature is but also to understand that literature is not an instant reward type of ministry.

And that's, I believe, 1 of the reasons why a lot of people are discouraged because we have gotten into the instant reward mentality.

So if I pass out 100 tracts and nobody asks for a Bible study, I feel unsuccessful.

But God has said that there is no failure in His work.

And once we can understand that and translate that to other people, I think that they will have a greater understanding and appreciation for the literature work.

So what I've done is a lot of what I have has come from this book called The Printed Prophets.

And if you haven't read it, it's a really good read.

And this book was originally written in Spanish and then it was, they had so much good results with it, it was translated to English.

So you'll see a lot of what I have comes right out of this book.

But most of this book is just quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy.

So if you're not a Spirit of Prophecy person, you're probably going to have a little difficulty in this class because this class really is based on the spirit of prophecy.

And it's at the very end of the paper, the name of the book and...

The name of the book and the author is on the very last page.

So you don't have to, I didn't like take his information and just make it mine.

So, but a lot of the information that I have has come from this.

So what we're going to do, this is an interactive class.

We're going to talk about it because basically you need to understand and you need to get the message and you need to make this part of who you are.

You know, me just presenting information is just me presenting information.

It doesn't make a whole, you know, it doesn't change anybody.

So, first question we have is, this is the question that was asked by Mark Finley.

And it says, Why would God pour out His Spirit and latter rain power to finish His work if the majority of the church has little or no interest in witnessing?

If the latter rain, the fullness of the Holy Spirit's power, is to empower the church to reach the world with God's end time message, why would God give us the latter rain if we have a complacent, lukewarm attitude toward reaching lost people?

The fullness of the Holy Spirit's power will be poured out on a praying, totally committed, unified, witnessing church.

Is this the situation that we're in today?

Are we totally Uncommitted, lukewarm, not really interested?

I mean, we have people in our church that are just gung ho for literature ministry, health ministry, pathfinders, and then we have another group of people that we can't get involved in anything.

You've got your workers and your abusers.

And because of that, we don't see what the Lord wants to do in our life and in our church.

And you know, it says here, it says, I want to clarify here that for the purpose of this class, church is individuals, Not congregations or denominations.

Because the latter rain will be falling all around and certain people will be receiving the latter rain and others won't.

And certain churches may, because you know, there's some churches that you can say that church is on fire.

Everything is, I mean, they're witnessing, they're getting people baptized, they're moving.

And then there's other churches who can't tell you the last time they've had someone new come into their church.

So as we talk about the latter rain falling, the latter rain is definitely necessary to do the work.

In gardening terminology, if you plant some seed, you need rain to get the seed going.

But if you only get 1 rain and it never ever rains again, your stuff, whatever you plant it, is going to be pretty small and you probably won't get a harvest.

That latter rain is the 1 that brings in the harvest.

And so we are looking for the latter rain because it's time to go home.

And because it's time to go home, we really want that latter rain experience.

But it's not going to happen, in most cases, to a whole church.

It's gonna happen to individual people who are ready and willing and accepting of what the Lord wants to do.

And that's something we have to understand and appreciate when we do our literature work, is the whole church is never going to get excited about it.

Not everybody is going to want to do literature ministry.

Even when the whole church is excited, there's going to be some naysayers that say, you know, this isn't going to last.

So it doesn't mean that, you know, we can opt out and not have to deal with it.

We're not the only church, though, that understands the importance of the written word.

And so, First of all, Assembly of God leader, his name is Bob Hopkins, he said that Christian literature anointed by the Holy Spirit is always effective and the only way that he believes that we will be able to fulfill Christ's injunction to reach the whole world.

They understand the importance of literature.

Another mass literature plan is for Every Home for Christ.

This is a systematic distribution of evangelical literature to every home in various countries in cooperation with local churches and missionaries.

It has so far circulated 3.25 billion pieces of literature.

Dick Eastman, 1 of the leaders, says a global movement is underway to reach every home for Christ and the impact will be beyond our imagination.

So it's not just the Adventists who have this idea that we need to be getting this literature out.

Other churches understand the same message that we understand.

Part 2 - Promotes Successful Ministries

Dear gracious loving Father, we thank you so much for this opportunity again to come together.

Lord, we want to learn more of how to be effective in our ministry for you.

We understand as we move closer to the end of time that we need to be sharing our information, the truth that we have with others.

So we ask that your spirit will be with us, that you would guide us and teach us what we need to know.

Okay, well first of all, The first sheet you have is Christ's example in soul winning.

So we're going to go over that and then we're going to talk about some practical ways to use the information.

The disciples were members of the family of Jesus, and they had accompanied him as he traveled on foot through Galilee.

They had shared with him the toils and the hardships that overtook them.

They had walked and talked with the Son of God.

And in His daily instruction, they had learned how to work for the elevation of humanity.

As Jesus ministers to the vast multitudes, they gathered about Him.

His disciples were in attendance, eager to do his bidding and to lighten his labor.

They assisted in arranging the people, bringing the afflicted ones to the Savior, and promoting the comfort of all.

They watched for interested hearers, explained the Scripture to them, and in various ways worked for their spiritual benefit.

They taught what they had learned of Jesus and were every day obtaining a rich experience.

But they needed also an experience in laboring alone.

They were still in need of much instruction, great patience and tenderness.

Now, while he was personally with them to point out their errors and counsel and correct them, the Savior sent them forth as his representatives." So we have a couple things that are bold, and these are the things we're going to talk about.

First of all, in soul winning, Jesus was the 1 who ministers.

It's Jesus, it's the Holy Spirit, it's God who touches the heart of people.

We do not have the power or ability to convert anybody's heart.

So we need to allow the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, to do that to people's heart.

They watched for interested hearers and opened doors.

What are some ways that we will know when they are interested hearers or open doors?

Transitions, when people are moving into new areas, when there's a death in the family, illnesses, new neighbors, job changes, births, deaths, all of those kinds of things are examples of open doors because then people are willing to listen in times when they normally wouldn't.

They explained the Scripture to them and in various ways worked for their spiritual benefit.

We talked yesterday about we're in between the sixth and the seventh seal, and God is in the process of sealing his people.

But as he is in the process of sealing people, we need to be building relationships so that when we share our literature, it actually is able to sink into their souls.

You know, we hear about things, tracts and books being thrown away, and usually that's because we didn't have a relationship with the people.

It didn't mean it wasn't effective and Christ still can't use that, but when we have relationships and we mix that in with the power of the Holy Spirit, our evangelism will be so much more powerful and effective.

They taught what they had learned of Jesus.

And what do we do when we teach what we learned of Jesus?

You know, I've given lots of talks, and sometimes I'll be with a group of young people.

And young people, it's a very hard group to keep their attention.

And every time I've learned the cue, when they start becoming distracted, I go right into a personal testimony and it automatically Picks their ears up and they stop and they start to listen to what you have to say Testimony is powerful So if I can get some young people who are just trying to talk amongst each other, ears to perk up because I'm telling about how God has been in my life and made miracles happen, it can work because Everybody wants to hear the good news.

Everybody wants to know that God is alive, he's doing things, he's working.

And so always be ready to share your testimony.

And it doesn't have to be when you came into the church.

It could be what he did for you last week, how he healed somebody in your family or someone that you know.

And then lastly, the Savior sent them forth as his representatives.

So they had to have these things in their training So when they went forth, they would be effective.

It says there in Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20, "'Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them "'in the name of the Father and of the Son "'and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe "'whatever I have commanded you, "'and lo, I am with you always, even until the end.

So the spirit of God is going to be with us when we follow his plan.

We have our own ideas and God has a plan.

As a church, we have received great light.

This light the Lord has entrusted to us for the benefit and blessing of the world.

To us has been given the ministry of reconciliation.

With the power from on high, we are to beseech men to be reconciled to God.

We are encouraged to pray for success with the divine assurance that our prayers will be heard and answered.

If 2 of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven.

For where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.

Ask of me and I will answer your requests." The promises made on the condition that united prayers of the church are offered.

And in answer to these prayers, there may be expected a power greater than that which comes from private prayer.

The power will be given with the proportion to the unity of the members and the love of God for the love of them for God and 1 another.

So prayer in unity is much more powerful than prayer alone.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't pray alone, but 2 or 3, which means it can be a husband and a wife.

So The more we pray, the more power we will receive, and the more effective our ministry will be.

If you go to the prayer tent, not the prayer tent, the exhibit tent, they have a booth from the GC, and they will have this book.

It's called Revival and Reformation on Prayer.

I didn't get a whole bunch because every time I get them, they disappear because people take them.

And they also have these 3 tracks on prayer.

I advise you to pick up a couple, take some back to your church, because then you'll have it.

This is a powerful book, it's written by Mark Finley, but it talks about prayer.

And When we start to use literature in ministry, it needs to be bathed in prayer like we talked about yesterday.

We don't just want to hand it out willy-nilly.

We want to pray over that because God knows exactly who needs it, the right track that they need to have.

We were buying textbooks back in Huntington, West Virginia, and every day there was this guy that came around and he looked like, you know, he was kind of straggly, that he needed some money, but every day he would come around.

And we were passing out tracts to the young people as they came and so we gave him a track as well.

And so he came back 1 day and he was like, you know, I read that track that you gave me.

And he said, you know, I've really been struggling and you know, I don't have money and I'm not working and he gave me the whole spiel about how he was struggling.

But he said, when I read that track, and the track that we gave him was, does God care if we're hurting?

And God knew exactly what track to put into that young man's hands.

And we were able to spend some time with him, to pray with him.

And on our last day when we were trying to break down, because we had already made up our mind, we're not giving anybody any money because we're buying textbooks.

So because we're buying textbooks, everybody assumes, oh, they're buying textbooks, they have lots of money.

But so the very last day he came, we were breaking down, and we were able to hire him, because we do hire people, to help us break down.

And so we were able to hire him, spend some more time with him in prayer.

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Series

Adventist Literature

Part 2 - Promotes Successful Ministries

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Accountability and the Judgment

52m

Plenary

The Seed Has Germinated, But What Will Be the Fruit?

55m

How’s the Ag “Pulse” in our Schools? Panel Discussion

40m

How to Deal with Loneliness

23m

Student Mentorship

20m

The United States of Addiction Winning America’s Chemical Civil War

52m

At The Top Of The Ladder

38m

Evening Plenaries

Lessons from the Soil

47m

Judge Others and Why Jesus Said Don’t

45m

Being Adventist

The Terrifying Tyranny of Adventist Eschatology

1h 7m

ANCHOR School of Theology

1. Principles for the Study of Bible Prophecy- Part 1

58m

Intensive: Gardening 101

6. Gardening 101: Winter Salads

49m

Sound Doctrine