Michigan Camp Meeting 2025: He Must Increase

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

How to Introduce Ellen White to New Believers

Travis Smith

01 The Gift of Prophecy

You're about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2025 Michigan Conference Camp, held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

We pray that the Lord will bless you as you listen.

Heavenly Father, we are here to hear your word.

We ask that you would bless us now as we spend time talking about spiritual things.

And we just pray that your spirit would be with us and that we would have a great time together by your spirit learning truth.

This seminar is called How to Introduce New Believers to Ellen White.

And I could have named this seminar lots of things.

It's the gift of prophecy over overview from all of Scripture.

And I always like to give suggested reading for people who want to go deeper.

So if you want to write these things down or take a picture of the TV, that's up to you.

Understanding Merlin Burt is 1 of my professors at Andrews.

And Messenger of the Lord, This is a seminary textbook that pastors get who go to school to be pastors.

And then I'm not going too much into this, and so I wanted you to have this book, How to Understand and Apply Her Writings, by George Knight.

So lots of times, people have questions about how to apply and understand her writings, and I'll just make it real simple, you read her the same way you read the Bible.

If she's an inspired prophet, and we'll get to that later on, if she's an inspired prophet, inspiration is inspiration.

The Bible does not teach that 1 prophet is more or less inspired.

So you would read inspiration the same way you would read any inspiration.

So the rules of hermeneutics, hermeneutics is a big word for how to understand and apply scripture responsibly.

Not only in light of the book verse chapter right before it, but what does the Bible have to say on the entire topic in all of Scripture.

You have to understand, is this a specific message to a specific people to a specific time?

For instance, she said you shouldn't buy bicycles.

When those bicycles were being bought, that front wheel was like this big, and that little wheel on the back was like this big, and they were spending the equivalent of like $4, 000 to be counted as rich, and they were having these races, and people were being intense about the races, and they were getting mad and yelling and all of this and love was lost.

And so she just said, don't buy bicycles, right?

So does that mean that we shouldn't have, you know, our Schwenz today?

Like she said, every woman should know how to saddle a horse.

How many women here know how to saddle a horse?

How many women here know how to pump gas for themselves.

So it's the principle, women should learn to be independent.

So there's a policy and there's a principle.

So there's like a short little class on hermeneutics.

And then Ellen White Under Fire, I know that 1 is at ABC down the street.

101 questions about Ellen White and her writings, and this 1 is like a mega book.

And they're having a sale on Ellen White books.

And then the best way to understand and apply Mrs.

White's writings is simply to read her books.

You don't go on the internet and learn that way because if the dragon is wrathful with a woman, and is the dragon wrath with a woman?

And he makes war against those who do what?

Keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus.

And you'll find out in a minute that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

So the church that keeps all God's commandments and the church that has the gift of a modern-day prophet Satan is angry with.

So therefore when you go on the internet what kind of pub you think you're gonna find about that person?

I've read 19, at least 19 of her books, and I've not read anything that I'm uncomfortable with.

But not anything that I can't prove from Scripture, Okay?

So, here's what we're going to go over this week.

The biblical basis for the gift of prophecy, the purpose of spiritual gifts, how long does the gift of prophecy remain in the church?

Because there's many churches that teach that the gift of prophecy ceases when the canon of Scripture is closed.

That the gift of prophecy ceased when the canon of Scripture was closed.

And really, the point of the gift of prophecy is being able to hear God's voice.

No man gets to decide when God stops or starts speaking.

God can use you to be His next prophet if He so choose.

So this whole concept of cessation is the devil's attempt to mute God's voice.

Because God does nothing without revealing his secrets to his servants, the prophets.

So, the purpose of the gift of prophecy is to hear God's voice.

White is she says that the Bible is God's voice as though you could audibly hear him with your ears.

So if Ellen White is a false prophet, Satan should get a better 1 Because she's uplifting Jesus too much and she's directing people to the Scriptures too much.

So she's not a very good false prophet, if she is a good false prophet.

God, who at various times and in various ways did what?

02 The Testimony of Jesus

You're about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2025 Michigan Conference Camp held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

Father in heaven, we pray that you would be with us as we study your word.

We pray that we would enter in your presence and we would be affected.

That this would not just be facts that reach the head, but truth that reaches the heart, so that we can be changed and be like You.

Write Your law on our hearts and our minds.

Make us more willing to hear and follow truth.

Today's lesson, I've got to get mine, here's yours, is called, The Testimony of Jesus.

Okay, so let's recap what we learned yesterday.

Does a prophet have to tell the future in order to be a prophet?

Elijah, John the Baptist, hardly did any future predictions, and they were mighty men of God.

Okay, so when a prophet speaks, whose authority are they speaking under?

So when you reject the prophet, you reject God.

And the Scriptures are the result of the gift of prophecy.

The spirit of prophecy are writings of prophets.

And we call the collection of the books of the writings of prophets the Bible, right?

Which is from the Greek by Biblos which means books.

Question number 1 on the testimony of Jesus.

Revelation 12 and verse 17 says, Satan was enraged with the church, the dragon was enraged with the woman, And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who do what?

And how do we keep the commandments of God?

Galatians 5, 6, faith, working through love.

You don't do it through Just pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.

You keep the commandments of God through faith.

Okay, so they keep the commandments of God, and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Okay, now, we know what the commandments of God are, but very clearly, what is the testimony of Jesus?

Revelation 19.10, an angel appears to John.

I believe that John thought that this angel was the same person who appeared to him in chapter 1, and that person was who?

So that's why I think he felt down to worship Him, and the angel wasn't an angel.

It wasn't Jesus, it was an angel that was sent to him as a messenger with a message.

I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said, See that you did not do that.

I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The same thing happens in chapter 22, 8 and 9.

The exact same thing happens in 22, 8 and 9.

So the whole vision, Revelation was given through 7 visions and he was finally finished receiving his seventh vision.

And these things is everything that he saw in 1-21.

Now, I, John, saw and heard these things, And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

Then He said to me, see that you do not do that.

Now notice the last time we looked this up, the phrase was I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the?

And then the only thing that is different between 1910 and 2289, he says, worship God for the testimony of Jesus' spirit of prophecy in 19, verse 10.

But he switches out spirit of prophecy with another phrase, and it's just a different way of saying the same thing.

Notice he says, See that you do not do that, for I am your fellow servant of your brother and the prophets.

The reason why the phrase is switched out is because his brother and the prophets have been endowed with the gift of prophecy.

Then he says, I am your fellow servant of your brethren, brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus, or your brethren, the prophets." So those who are the brethren, the prophets, have the testimony of Jesus.

He says the same thing several different ways.

So, the brethren, the prophets, have the testimony of Jesus.

It is important because some people say that the testimony of Jesus is one's personal testimony about Jesus.

It's one's personal testimony about Jesus.

And we're going to see that the Bible bears that out, that that is not what the text is speaking about.

Question number 2, let's go to the inside.

How can we be sure that The testimony of Jesus is not one's personal testimony about Jesus.

Alright, how can we be sure that this is a gift, spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit and not one's personal testimony?

Now 1 Corinthians 1.6-7, we're going to read the whole statement in context in a second.

It says Paul was writing to the church in Corinth, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you so that you come short and know what?

Would it be a big deal if Paul said, I have confirmed that 1 of you has a testimony about Jesus?

And even if you didn't do really bad things, you realized that you were a sinner and you gave your life to Him, and He gave you righteousness when you had none.

So, whether you've done bad things and been forgiven, or done good things and realized that you needed Jesus.

Like it would be like Laodicea par excellence if I said hey I I went you're from Troy right I went to Troy and I have confirmed that somebody there has a testimony about Jesus.

That infers that other people don't have a testimony about Jesus, which would be like, what kind of church is this where No 1 has a testimony about Jesus, and the 1 who does, we're like getting excited about that.

03 How the Early Church Related to Prophets

Father in heaven, we thank you for this time that we have to spend and your word we ask that you would bless in Jesus name.

When a birthday cake with 44 candles is compared to a cupcake with 1 candle, it is easy to see which is brighter.

Is a cupcake brighter than a sheet cake with 44 candles?

Nevertheless, the cupcake with 1 candle is a lesser light.

It doesn't have as much light as the big sheet cake with 44 candles.

What is 1 of the major roles of a prophet.

By the way, today's called How the Early Church Related to Modern-Day Prophets.

For sake of illustration, pretend you lived in 40 A.D.

Your prophets would have been Peter, Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Philip's daughters.

You would have lived during an age where there were many, many prophets.

And I just thought when I was putting this together last night, David had access to several prophets, Gad, Nathan, and Samuel.

That guy should have never done anything wrong.

He had access to at least 3 prophets in his life.

Can you imagine if there was a living prophet right now and you could write letters and they would say, the Lord has shown me.

So now we're pretending that we're living during the time of a modern day prophet.

Ephesians 4.11, He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting." Okay?

What is 1 of the major roles of a prophet?

When I say spiritualism, what comes to mind?

Like witchcraft, like a dead person appearing in the form of Satan's angels.

What if I told you that spiritualism is false doctrine?

Some will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of...

And the gift of prophecy was meant to help us be unified in mission and in teaching.

That's what the text, I think, just said.

So the note for 1 says the Bible teaches that 1 of the roles of a prophet is to help unify the church in doctrinal matters.

Having said that, a major problem that non-SDA critics have is that Seventh-day Adventists appear to allow a non-biblical source to influence how we understand or interpret the Bible.

The idea is, how come Seventh-day Adventists can't understand the Bible by itself?

Now I would suggest to you that this is a very poor question, but it is a question that's asked.

So that means you're going to somewhere else to ask Bible questions because we're not studying for ourself.

So the people who go to Joel Osteen's church, who is their major thought leader?

Those who go to Benny Henn's church, who is their major thought leader?

Those who go to Benny Hinn's church, who is their major thought leader?

So, every church that people go to, their big leader is their thought leader, so they're guilty of the exact same thing that they're accusing Adventist of.

Most people don't study the Bible for themselves.

They accept their pastor's explanations because they are pleasing and easy to follow, require some self-denial, but not much.

So therefore, you need to put that question right back to them.

How much do you trust your pastor's judgment over your own mind and over scripture?

There is a discipline called hermeneutics.

How do you interpret Scripture responsibly?

What does this statement mean in the light of all the Bible?

How have other Bible prophets wrote about this?

Like, if I'd say, give me the biggest text for the State of the Dead, What is it?

This is the Ecclesiastes 9.5 for hermeneutics.

Isaiah 28 verse 10 says, "...for precept must be upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." In other words, you're looking at the wide scope of the Bible as to what a topic means.

The same thing is going to be said about how we're saved in Romans as it is in Genesis.

The Spirit of God is going to say the same thing consistently throughout all the prophets that He is inspired to write upon.

And so we don't make a doctrine off of 1 text.

We can use over 400, 500 verses to prove about the Sabbath, about how to keep it, when it starts.

04 Tests of a Prophet

You're about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2025 Michigan Conference Camping, held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us achieve balance and avoid distortion.

Help us to put the emphasis where you put the emphasis, winning lost people.

Sometimes we can be lost in the front row of the church.

Those people need to be labored with too.

We pray today that You would make truth plain in Jesus' name, Amen.

The setting is the Ohio State University.

About 6 or 7 years ago, there was a huge lecture hall, approximately 1, 000 students.

I was in a class of about 200 1 time, but it was a calculus final and you can't possibly as a professor learn a thousand kids' names, right?

And there was a set amount of time and the professor was a little bit mean and he said as soon as the time is up, if you're not done with your test, you have to retake my class and see me again for another 3 months.

1 kid could not think well under pressure, but he was a good test taker.

He couldn't handle the time limit, and he stayed behind for about 15 minutes after the buzzer rang for time to be over, and he walked up to the professor and the professor stayed there just long enough so that he could with enthusiasm tell the kid, fail and you got to take my class all over again.

And the young man looked at his professor and he said to him, do you know my name?

And there was a stack of papers this big.

He took the stack of paper, cut it in half, put his paper right in the middle, and put the other stack back on top, smiled at him, and walked out of the room.

When someone is believed to receive the prophetic gift, What does the Bible say we are to do next?

I think we've laid a pretty good biblical basis for the gift of prophecy, how it's related to and how God expected his people to view modern-day prophets.

Okay, I think you're equipped to answer some questions now.

When someone is believed to receive the prophetic gift, what does the Bible say to do next?

We're not supposed to be just accepting any old thing that comes along.

Test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Now, Jesus wasn't, he was worried about the false prophets.

He wasn't worried about the true because the scriptures say that there would be the gift of prophecy restored.

And tomorrow's presentation, what I'm going to do, I'm going to preach my evangelistic meeting sermon, which is different than when you knew it.

I'm going to preach my evangelistic meeting sermon on the gift of prophecy and show you how I introduced Ellen White and the concept of the gift of prophecy at an evangelistic meeting.

And there's nuggets there that you probably haven't heard before, so don't miss tomorrow, okay?

So, God wants us to have a healthy skepticism based on a sanctified skepticism.

So that we're just not believing any old thing, we make people pass Bible tests, amen?

So you can't just believe every old thing.

Series

How to Introduce Ellen White to New Believers

03 How the Early Church Related to Prophets

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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02 What Kept You in the Church

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