ASI Scandinavia 2024, One Purpose: Living for What Truly Matters

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ASI Scandinavia

Plenary

Jean Ross

The Lamb and the 144,000

I bring you greetings from Amazing Facts and from the team, from Doug Batchelor.

It's a joy to be able to be with you this evening and be here for ASI Scandinavia.

I've been in Denmark and Sweden, but never made it here.

So this is a great joy, privileged to be here, and thank you for the invitation.

As mentioned a little earlier, my name is Jean Ross.

I've been with them for about 20 years in the evangelism department.

So I oversee the evangelistic work that we do at Amazing Facts.

I'm also the administrative pastor of the Granite Bay Church plant.

I was the 1 who started the church and we kind of built it up and very much involved in the development of the Granite Bay Church.

So I'll be sharing a little more about what happened with Granite Bay in the seminar that we talk about.

We talk about characteristics of a healthy church, some of the lessons we learned through that experience.

Now if you are new to Amazing Facts, Amazing Facts is about, actually, going to be 60 years old next year.

So Amazing Facts has been around for 60 years, started in 1965 with a 15-minute radio program.

Joe Cruz, who was the president at the time, had an idea.

Start a radio program with an amazing fact from nature or history and then bring out a spiritual lesson.

And so that was the beginning of Amazing Facts.

I'll be sharing a little bit more tomorrow evening about amazing facts and the international work that we do.

It started with a radio program and then it went into television and then publishing and then a training program, our AFCO program and a lot of other things that the ministry is doing and the Lord is blessing.

And we're hearing some wonderful testimonies and stories of lives that have been impacted through the proclamation of the gospel.

So we're all about sharing the good news of salvation.

The everlasting gospel, That has to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

So keeping with that theme of amazing facts, let me see, is this working?

Our topic today is going to be the Lamb and the 144, 000 that we're going to be talking about in just a minute.

But keeping with the theme of amazing facts, how about an amazing fact?

Back in 1874, the little Methodist congregation in the town of Swan Quarter, North Carolina decided that it was time for them to build their own church building.

Up until this point they had been renting a facility, so they began to look around town and they found the perfect piece of land for them to build their church.

It was centrally located in the small community.

So the pastor of the group, the little congregation, asked Sam Sadler if he could buy his land to build a church.

But when Sam Sadler heard that a church wanted to buy the land, he refused.

He felt that such a nice piece of property in town needed to be sold to a more prominent business in the community, maybe a bank or something else of importance.

Even after the congregation raised their offer, he still flatly refused.

So finally, the congregation accepted a gift of land just outside of town, and they went about building themselves a sturdy little wooden church building.

Well, after the dedication of the church, that night everybody had their dedication service of the church and they all went home, there was a hurricane that blew in off the coast of North Carolina and it rained, and the little creek that was flowing through town became a River that burst its banks and began to flood the whole community Well as the floodwaters were rising the miracle occurred the little wooden church was lifted off its foundations by the water and then as if guided by an unseen hand, the church began to float towards town, like Noah's Ark.

It floated down Main Street and then stopped and made a sharp right turn.

It went for 3 blocks and then stopped and made a sharp left turn.

It went down that street and stopped right next to an open piece of land and then moved itself into the center of the property where it came to rest.

Yes, the very land that Sam Sadler refused to sell to the church.

Well, in the morning when Sam Sadler heard about that, with trembling hands, he brought the deed of the property to the pastor of the church and he said, I think God wants you to buy my land for your church.

They named the church the Providence Methodist Church of Swan Quarter, North Carolina, the Church Moved by the Hand of God.

And in fact, if ever you go visit that town, you can go to the church and there is a plaque out front that tells you the story of the church moved by God's hand.

Now the reason I share that story with you is because I believe there is another church that has been raised up and moved by the hand of God to do a special work in these final moments of Earth's history.

You see, God has raised up the Advent movement not just to be another church for people to consider, but he has raised up the Adventist Church to proclaim God's last warning message to the world.

A message that will prepare a living generation to meet a holy God.

Of course we understand that message to be found in the book of Revelation.

So the passage of Scripture in particular that I'm going to be emphasizing over the presentations that we do here in the evening is coming from the book of Revelation.

Revelation is probably my most favorite book in the Bible.

I teach a class for an Africa program there in Roseville, California on the book of Revelation.

We go verse by verse through the whole book.

I've also been involved in writing a set of lessons on the book of Revelation verse by verse, so I really love the book.

And the reason that I like the book of Revelation so much is well firstly it is a revelation of Jesus Christ right at the very beginning of the book talks about Jesus talks about what he's doing to save us but it is also a book that I believe has been written in a special sense for those who are living in our time.

It is a book that we need to understand if we are going to be ready for Jesus to come.

So In Revelation chapter 14 where you find the 3 angels' messages, the chapter is divided up into 3 sections.

The first 5 verses describe a group of people called the 144, 000.

We're going to be talking about them this evening.

And then you have the 3 angels' messages and then you have the harvest of the earth starting in verse 14 onwards.

Jesus is pictured as coming with a sharp sickle in his hand to reap the harvest of the earth.

So you've got 144, 000 with the Lamb victorious in heaven, then you've got the 3 angels' messages, and then you have the second coming of Christ.

Now, of course, Revelation is not always written in chronological order.

It's written for the most part in chronological order, but it's topical in its emphasis.

And an interesting feature that you find in the book of Revelation is it will present a subject and then Through inspiration John backs up and explains to us how that situation occurred In other words in Revelation 14 you see the hundred and 44000 victorious in heaven but then it backs up and tells us how did they get there?

Through the proclamation of the 3 angels' messages and through the harvest of the earth, which is the second coming of Christ.

So what we're going to be looking at this evening is what does the Bible tell us about this group of people called 144, 000?

Because I believe we are living at the fulfillment of these prophecies.

Look at what's happening in the world around us.

And God wants us to have a clear purpose.

We ought to know why we are here, what it is God has called us to share with the world.

That's our study, the Lamb of God and the 144, 000.

Now this is going to be somewhat of a Bible study.

We're going to be actually looking at passages of Scripture and studying through it together.

So we're going to begin right here in Revelation 14 verse 1.

Verse 1 says, Then I looked, and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion.

Now the first mention that we have of lambs in Scripture occurs in Genesis chapter 21.

And it's the story of Abraham who, in order to attest his ownership of a well at Beersheba called the Well of the Oath, is recorded as giving 7 lambs to Abimelech.

The background story is Abraham's servants dug a well, the servants of Abimelech confiscated the well, and then Abimelech didn't even know about this, and there was friction between the servants of Abraham and the servants of Abimelech, and finally Abraham and Abimelech met, and Abraham said, well, you know, your servants took the well away, And then to buy back the well, which really belonged to Abraham, he gave 7 lambs to Abimelech.

Now sheep is referenced elsewhere earlier in scripture, but this is the first reference of lambs.

It's interesting that a lamb is used in the context of buying back something that really belongs to the person making the payment, right?

The well belonged to Abraham, but he bought it back from Abimelech and lambs were used in this transaction.

Well I find it interesting that Jesus is the Lamb of God and the earth belongs to Him but it was stolen by the devil and the Lamb has brought it back, has redeemed us, Christ has brought us back.

John chapter 1 verse 29 makes that clear, the baptism of Jesus.

The next day John the Baptist, he saw Jesus coming towards him, he said, behold The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

And 1 of the disciples of John that was standing by, listening to John the Baptist, followed Jesus.

Hour of His Judgment

You know I enjoy hearing all of the stories about the ministries that are taking place.

There's a lot happening and a lot of opportunities to be involved in ministry.

I in particular, maybe I'm a little biased, I appreciated the AFCO report.

AFCO Europe, I've had a chance to go teach a couple of years ago at the graduation time and had a wonderful time.

So if you are interested, I would highly recommend AFCO Europe.

So a lot of international work is happening in training an army in taking the gospel to the world.

I'll share with you 1 brief story that just came from 1 of our AFCOs.

Actually, our AFCO program in Australia, in Melbourne.

I was there earlier this year in January.

I was there for the graduation for the AFCO program.

And at the same time, we also have media that we do and publishing.

We have a whole program that Amazing Facts is doing down there.

It's called Amazing Facts Oceana and it covers Australia, New Zealand and some of the islands in the area.

So as part of the program, in addition to the Africa side, there was some training that was taking place.

Not some training, there was some fundraising I should say that was taking place and folks were invited to come and learn more about Amazing Facts and Amazing Facts Oceania Australia and find out how they could become partners in helping to financially support the program.

So there was 2 of these, 1 was in Melbourne and the other 1 was in the Gold Coast.

And folks who had contributed to Amazing Facts Australia were invited to come to this fundraiser, and during the time they got to share their testimony.

Now, 1 of the people that came, her name is Sashka, she has an interesting testimony, So she shared her story at the AFCO fundraising.

She was very talented with music, but life was difficult at home.

She ended up for a while doing drugs, living on the street, living a wildlife.

He was actually training at Andrews University at this time, and she was still in Croatia.

She connected with an atheist, and they started dating, and they were thinking seriously about marriage.

And the brother who is at Andrews University is very concerned about his sister, and he heard about AFCO in the United States in California, we have an AFCO program there, so he contacted Sashka and told her about this training program, he didn't exactly give her too much information that it's a Bible training program.

He said they got music and you can learn English better.

So anyway, she finally did decide he was going to cover the cost for her.

And usually we're pretty careful in our application process.

And I don't know how we missed it, but she somehow got accepted to AFCO because she got to share quite a bit of information in the application process.

She didn't quite know what she was getting into.

She says she smoked her last cigarette, waiting to be picked up to be taken to AFCO.

She arrived at AFCO and she looked around and she said, wow, this is an interesting place, totally different than what I expected.

She asked 1 of her friends, she got to know some of the people, she says, well, where's the music program?

And the more she was studying the word of God, the more the Holy Spirit is working in her life.

She got converted during her time at AFCO.

But she's engaged to marry an atheist back home in Croatia, didn't quite know what to do.

So she called her fiance and said, the engagement is off.

She says, well, I am here at this program in AFCO but I've come to know the truth and I've been converted.

I want to live for Jesus and I can't be married to somebody who doesn't even believe God exists.

And she said AFCO and amazing facts and she told him, well look it up online.

His English wasn't that good, but it was good enough for him to log on and begin to watch some of the videos and learn some of the things that she had learned at AFCO, and he got more convicted.

And so before she even made it back home, he reached out to an Adventist pastor in his town, and he started taking Bible studies.

Now to make a long story short, both of them went to the Bible studies and they were both baptized, became very involved in their local church, and then they decided, he decided he wanted to go into full-time ministry So they both went to a college there in Croatia, in Serbia I think it is, and they studied theology.

Well, then a church opened up for Serbs, for Serbia in Melbourne, Australia, and they were looking for pastors.

And so they contacted this couple and said, would you come help in this church in Australia?

So she moved, they moved down and they'd been there for a couple of years.

So they are there during COVID, just arrived a couple of years, a year or so before COVID.

And of course, if you've been aware of the news, you know that it was very difficult with the lockdowns that took place in Melbourne in particular.

And at the height of all of the lockdowns, there was a lot of unhappy people in the city.

And there was a big rally that was taking place where people were going to show their dislike to the lockdowns.

And there were some of the people from the church, some of the ladies from the church, that decided that they wanted to go show their support, their opposition, to all of the lockdown measures that were in place in Australia.

And knowing Sascha, she's kind of a spicy kind of person.

She left the kids with her husband at home.

And so on Sunday, they went to this rally in downtown Melbourne.

Well, things got out of hand at the rally.

And they began to spray tear gas and there was unrest and everybody was arrested at this big rally.

And so she's arrested, she's worried now what's going to happen to her, she's here in Australia, her family's at home, They don't even know.

Anyway, they gather them in smaller groups, and they're waiting to be processed.

And she happens to be standing next to another woman.

And they're talking, and they're both very distraught.

And while they're talking, they find out that Sashka is the wife of a pastor.

Well, the lady that she's standing next to is also a pastor's wife, and her husband is a pastor in the Pentecostal church, a fairly big 1 there in Melbourne.

So the 2 of them are standing there and they're waiting to be processed.

And while they're waiting to be processed, Sashka's phone gives an alert, she opens it up, and at that same time, Pastor Doug and I, we were doing an evangelistic series from our studio in California and it popped up on her phone on YouTube and so the 2 ladies sat and they watched our Bible prophecy seminar while they were waiting to be processed.

Well after that the Pentecostal pastor's wife watched Amazing Facts, and she had never heard that before.

So after they finally got processed, they went their separate ways, and she went back home and she went back and looked up Amazing Facts, and she began to watch that prophecy seminar and she invited her husband to be a part of the message, part of the program.

And after watching, they heard the truth about the Sabbath and the other truths presented in the seminar and they made a decision that they wanted to keep the Sabbath.

So he resigned his position as associate pastor of the Pentecostal church.

And he and his wife and friends from the church started meeting in their home.

And they were studying Amazing Facts material.

K Lenart

Solomon’s Wisdom: Timeless Principles for Young Leaders, Part 2

So good morning together Very happy to see you this morning You know, I'm so Happy to be here to join the ESI in Scandinavia we heard so many good things and now I can be part of it And to be part of something is always better than only hearing it, right?

I know it's nice in the North, in Scandinavia, but heaven is much nicer.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the night.

We want to thank you that we can lift our voices and praise you in these beautiful songs.

Jesus, we want to thank you also for the ministries presenting here, 1 mission spotlight after another.

And we want to thank you, Jesus, that you are the 1 who blesses each ministry and each business for your glory.

And this morning as we are studying we ask you to be here.

Send your Holy Spirit so that's not me but you.

In the powerful name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Salomo's wisdom and the revolution of mission today.

We have been studying yesterday, if you remember, Isaiah 49 verse 6.

Oh man, we said that's not a small thing God, but God said I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

He was blessed to be a blessing, not only for the village, city, country, but to all nations.

David is praying for his fingers and for his hands to make it skillful that he knows how to do the things.

Is it important that God is training our fingers and hands?

I am always admiring as you're playing the piano, I say, wow, that's amazing.

You're sitting there, you're playing, you're watching, not the piano, but you are in the music, I love it.

God has trained your fingers and your hands.

And we heard about a dentist ministry this morning, about the teeth.

And not only dentists need to have trained fingers and hands, right?

We need to be trained, not only our mind only, but also our fingers and our hands.

And God is the 1 who trained David, and he is the 1 who is training you.

He's interested in your education, and He is your teacher.

In Psalm 144 we have seen that David knows that he is nothing, he is just a breath.

Through the blessing, and he is not just asking for a small blessing, he is asking for the 1000 times or 10000 times blessing.

Are you brave enough to experience your ministry and your your business to see what God can do above your imagination, above what you have planned.

But what I have experienced is that most people, they don't know how to put aims in their life.

I was just invited on a big conference this year in California to be the speaker there, and I asked my congregation, We had 200 offline in front of me and 200 online to write down the next 20 years aim.

And a workshop is always where you have to work.

So people came to the workshop, and I received almost 200 little papers where people have been writing down the 20 years aim.

Because I put all the 200 papers on my bed.

And I was curious to know what is the 20 years aim they have put on this little paper.

The first pile was you can reach it within the first 2 years.

The homework was to have a 20 years aim, right?

You can reach that aim within the next 2 years.

I said, that's the aims you can reach within the next 5 years.

And then I looked, who has written an aim for the next 20 years?

I don't know if his name was David, but a little boy said, I want to become the President of the United States.

He was 12 years old, so that's a 20 years aim, But he was the only 1, can you imagine, from all the people who came to this conference in California.

So that showed me that we have difficulties in putting the aims down.

The last year, the last day of this year, I would like to ask you to make the same homework.

I'll make it a bit more easy for you, because you're so nice to me.

Please give that little paper to me, and I hope that I receive a lot of papers.

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Series

Plenary

The Lamb and the 144,000

Transcript

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Parent Conference

Sponsor

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