GYC 2013: Before Men and Angels

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

GYC 2013 Seminar: Dealing with Issues in the Church

Ted N.C. Wilson

How Your Church Works

This message was presented at the DYC 2013 conference, Before Man and Angels, in Orlando, Florida.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.dycweb.org.

Let me begin by looking at, and we're not going to do a lot of exhaustive Bible reference or Spirit of Prophecy reference in this hour.

I'm just going to tell you some basic inner workings of the church which are basically founded upon scripture and the spirit of prophecy.

But this is more of a practical how the church works kind of presentation.

However, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 40, I think it's a verse familiar to all of you, and I apply it to the church.

Let all things be done decently and what?

You know, God in heaven has everything so organized that he knows from the minutest atom to the largest movement what is happening.

Everything is ordered according to his will.

And he intends for the church to be that way as well.

Now the church organization is based on a very spiritual and a very biblical approach and foundation and tone.

You know this is not just some big corporation.

We have legal bodies, we have administrative function, we have all kinds of things that take place in a very organized manner.

So, it is corporate in its approach at times, but it is not just a corporation.

It is truly a spiritual organization, and it must be that.

Everything must be founded upon God's Word and the wonderful counsel we received in the Spirit of Prophecy.

It is the object of God's greatest attention.

He could have used other means to accomplish the task of bringing his message to the billions of people on this earth, but he has chosen to use the church and you and me.

And leadership and membership must be involved in a very spiritual approach in Bible study, in following the counsels of the Spirit of prophecy, in intense prayer, and in listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

That's why revival and reformation is so important, not just for local church members, not just for GYC attendees, but for ministers, for leaders, for general conference personnel, for division, union, local conference, everybody.

There's nothing, anything different between your experience and my experience because we're all sinners at the foot of the cross.

So revival and reformation is key to preparing God's church for the very final times, which I believe we are actually in.

I really believe that Jesus is coming soon.

I really believe that the church is about to enter a period of time when it will see incredible evangelistic explosion but also incredible resistance by the devil using every means possible.

Now this is not a seminar on that, but I'm just telling you my own personal conviction.

We must remember as we talk now about practical ways in which the Seventh-day Adventist Church functions and how you as a young person fit into it, we must remember, this is absolutely crucial, that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the remnant church of the Lord.

Thank you for the lights, that brings clarity to the situation.

That this church is called of God, that It is a unique movement with a unique people called in a special way with a unique message and a unique mission.

And that of course is focused most dramatically in Revelation 14 and also Revelation 18.

We are to lift up Christ and His righteousness.

Now we're just laying a foundation here for how the church works.

I don't want you to get the idea that there's some kind of magic formula that, you know, we can do this and this and achieve this.

It is based on a spiritual understanding of how we relate to God and the end time movement.

And so Christ must be first and foremost and Christ and his righteousness must be what is seen in all of us as we work within the church.

That is the core of the 3 angels' messages, Christ's righteousness.

Let's not get tripped up in all kinds of strange understanding that if we understand the chart this way or if we do it this way or that everything is going to unfold because we are so brilliant, we must focus upon Christ's righteousness and our submission to him and then his power working in us will then develop the final end time movement.

Now the charts and of course prophecy is all part of that but it is Christ and his righteousness that is most important.

The 3 angels' messages, the sanctuary service, the Sabbath, his soon coming.

Now the Seventh-day Adventist Church evolved from no organization, Absolutely 0, a very loosely confederated group to the current setting of cooperative organization that we have.

Now I'm not gonna read you much today or refer too much in the spirit of prophecy, but let me just read from Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers.

I'm reading through this book personally.

If you want something that will challenge you in almost every area, whether you're a minister or not, It says ministers and gospel workers.

Anyway, page 26 of Testimonies to Ministers.

Just to give you an understanding of how the church moved to where it is now.

As our numbers increased, it was evident that without some form of organization, there would be great confusion and the work would not be carried forward successfully.

To provide for the support of the ministry, for carrying the work in new fields, for protecting both the church and the ministry from unworthy members, for holding church property, for the publication of the truth through the press, and for many other objects, organization was indispensable.

So you see, as they developed from just a loose group that didn't want to have any creed, didn't want to have anything that bound them, just the word of God, which The word of God is to be our foundation, absolutely.

But they were opposed, they were almost anti-organization.

But they soon found out that they needed some kind of organization to make the work move.

Yet there was strong feeling against it among our people.

The first day Adventists were opposed to organization, and most of the seventh day Adventists entertained the same ideas.

Now that's a key for anything that you're facing in your own local church or institution.

And so it says, we sought the Lord with earnest prayer that we might understand his will and light was given by his spirit that there must be order and thorough discipline in the church, that organization was essential.

System and order are manifest in all the works of God throughout the universe.

Order, this is the last sentence, order is the law of heaven and it should be the law of God's people on the earth.

Now that doesn't mean everybody marching, you know, like little automatons without thinking.

But it means a submissiveness to the word of God and the impression of the Holy Spirit and the counsel of the spirit of prophecy to bring about order so that the mission can be accomplished.

Today, we have all kinds of things that help to bring, quote, order into the church.

I brought with me, increased my weight load on the airplane but that's okay.

We have The Working Policy of the General Conference.

And it has all kinds of regulations and policies concerning everything you can think about.

And if you come up with something that isn't covered in here, then probably they're working on it.

It is a big book and covers many different topics.

Now, working policies, that sounds so dry and so bureaucratic, but really what it is, these are just general agreements that we have made together as to how to accomplish the mission of the church.

And the General Conference Executive Committee, you can change a working policy at an annual council of the General Conference, which is only once a year.

You can't change it at a general conference committee that may be called at any time.

It has to be at the time of the annual council when all delegates come from the 13 world divisions and our 1 attached union, the Middle East North Africa Union.

When they all come, and of course every union president is a member of the executive committee of the general conference, then you can change working policy or add to the working policy.

So it is something that we do collectively from all over the world.

It's not something done just in a back corner somewhere with no 1 knowing what's going on.

If you're not acquainted with the church manual, I think you can buy it in an ABC or certainly online.

The church manual is something which local churches use to keep order in the local church.

And it is something so important that you can't change this at an annual council.

It can only be changed at a general conference session, once every 5 years.

So at San Antonio, in a year and a half, hardly seems possible that another General Conference session is coming about.

We hope and pray that the Lord will come even before San Antonio.

But if he doesn't, we'll have another General Conference session.

And at that time, you will see some changes that will come in.

Usually, there are small modifications and that kind of thing.

Then we also have a minister's handbook which has lots of good information for pastors and other materials that help to keep the church functioning in order.

We have the fundamental beliefs which now number 28, fundamental beliefs.

These are essentially beliefs which we have had for decades but which have been codified first in 1980 and then more recently an additional 1 added not that it was a new 1.

It simply incorporated prayer in an area that would focus upon the tremendous challenges especially in areas where spiritualism is so strong, and that God's power is stronger than satanic influence.

But we have fundamental beliefs, we have administrative organizational systems, we have institutions, We have over 500 local conferences and missions.

We have over 120 unions around the world.

We have 13 world divisions and we have the general conference.

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GYC 2013 Seminar: Dealing with Issues in the Church

How Your Church Works

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How Your Church Works

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