3ABN On the Road

Keeping The Vision Alive

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Mark Finley

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000741


01:01 Last year the ASI leadership invited me to come
01:05 and conduct a seminar for the leaders of ASI,
01:09 for the president, the vice presidents
01:11 and the varying ASI officers
01:14 and to specifically look at vision.
01:18 Where has ASI come from? What's its origin?
01:21 What are its roots? What's its core purpose?
01:26 What was the vision in the hearts
01:28 and minds of its early founders and what direction
01:33 does that vision have for the ASI organization today?
01:38 And so we spent five or six hours
01:40 studying together, praying together,
01:42 looking at the biblical foundation of ASI,
01:45 looking at its historical precedent
01:47 within the Adventist church.
01:49 We looked at the early ASI leaders and their spirit.
01:55 After those presentations,
01:57 Debbie Young our president said to me,
01:58 well, Mark, can you take those principles
02:02 and distil them into about a 50 or 60 minute presentation
02:06 for our ASI constituency?
02:09 And so my task this morning
02:11 is to take a five or six hour seminar
02:14 and boil it down to its distilled essence
02:18 and look at its core and walk together
02:22 through the history background
02:23 of some of the early ASI leaders.
02:26 It certainly will not be exhaustive
02:29 and I picked out just a few principles
02:31 for us to look at.
02:33 And so we'll really look at three things this morning.
02:36 We'll look at the biblical framework of ASI
02:39 and see its biblical roots.
02:42 Then we will look at some of its early principles,
02:46 how it was established.
02:48 But most of all, we'll attempt to take those principles
02:52 and apply them to businessmen and women in the 21st century,
02:57 to apply them to self supporting units
03:00 like Wildwood and Eden Valley.
03:04 ASI has dramatically changed over the years.
03:06 Initially it was birthed as an organization
03:10 of self-supporting institutions.
03:14 It was only later that business groups
03:16 were added to that and it's an interesting mix
03:19 of entrepreneurial business people,
03:23 many of whom have done well in their businesses
03:26 and sometimes struggling,
03:28 fledgling self-supporting institutions
03:31 that have made a contribution in God's work.
03:35 So we're gonna look at that but most of all
03:37 we'll take these principles and we'll say to ourselves
03:40 as we go through the message this morning,
03:42 how do these principles apply to my life?
03:45 How do they relate to me as a Christian?
03:47 Because whether I am in self-supporting work,
03:50 whether I'm an ASI member,
03:53 whether I'm a church administrator
03:55 or pastor or a layperson,
03:58 I'm first and foremost a servant of Christ.
04:02 And whatever my occupation is, most of us here today are
04:08 Seventh-day Adventist Christians.
04:10 So whatever there is that makes us different,
04:15 there is much more that makes us the same.
04:18 And our togetherness is much more than our differences.
04:23 So let's pray together
04:25 and then we'll open God's word and study together.
04:27 I hope you brought your Bible
04:28 because we're gonna do some study today.
04:31 Father, as we look at the core, the essence,
04:35 the heart of the ASI organization,
04:38 as we look at its biblical roots,
04:40 as we study the divine counsel as given to this church,
04:44 I pray Thee today that you would keep
04:47 the vision alive in this organization.
04:51 I pray that the vision of its pioneers
04:54 would inspire us and motivate us
04:57 not only as a corporate entity,
05:00 not only as institutions and businesses
05:06 but may the ASI pioneer spirit burn in our hearts.
05:12 May we recapture
05:13 the spirit of the biblical giants of the past.
05:18 May we recapture the spirit of the early
05:21 Adventist pioneers of the past
05:22 and the founders of the ASI movement.
05:26 May that spirit motivate our vision,
05:28 inspire our hearts and lead us
05:30 to unfinished work in this generation.
05:33 We pray Thee in Christ's name, amen.
05:37 As the shadows lengthened and the sun set
05:42 over the beautiful Alps
05:45 in the area of Torre Pellice in Northern Italy,
05:50 the Piedmont valleys, the home of the Waldensians,
05:54 a group of Seventh-day Adventist young people
05:57 gathered around the campfire.
05:59 They sang hymns, they shared their testimony
06:04 but most of all, these stalwart Adventist
06:07 young people with their Adventist pastor
06:09 and youth leader studied the Word of God.
06:13 And as they did, the night wore on.
06:17 They were deeply involved in their Bible study,
06:20 they were reliving the history of the Waldenses.
06:24 They were reliving those scenes of those stalwarts of faith
06:29 who had stood for Christ against the church state union
06:33 and the medieval church.
06:35 They relived the experiences of these Waldenses
06:39 as they huddled in caves together
06:41 there in the Piedmont valleys.
06:44 And in the darkness of those caves
06:46 sang the great hymns of the church,
06:49 "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."
06:52 And these young people began to sing, and as they did,
06:55 a Waldensian elder stepped out of the darkness.
07:00 There are still Waldensian churches
07:01 there in the area of Torre Pellice
07:05 and the Waldensian elder had been listening
07:06 to these consecrated godly young people.
07:09 He had been interested--
07:10 He had been listening to their sermons.
07:13 He had been inspired by their testimonies
07:16 and he had been--
07:17 He was impressed by their Bible studies.
07:19 As he stepped out of the shadows,
07:23 he stood there silently for a moment.
07:26 His eyes moistened with tears
07:29 and then he asked the pastor for permission to speak.
07:34 He explained that he had lived
07:35 in these valleys for many years.
07:37 That his grandfather had lived there,
07:40 that his great-great-grandfather
07:42 had lived there.
07:43 He talked about his Waldensian heritage
07:47 and then he said this,
07:49 "Today our churches are mostly empty.
07:55 Today we've lost most of our Waldensian young people.
08:00 They have moved from these valleys,
08:03 they have gone down to the cities of Europe.
08:07 Most of them have become worldly like
08:11 many other secular Europeans."
08:15 And then he made this insightful comment.
08:19 He said, "We've lost our sense of mission,
08:22 we've lost our sense of purpose."
08:25 And then looking in the eyes of that youth pastor
08:29 and looking in the eyes of those young people,
08:31 he said to this, he said this to them.
08:33 "Keep your vision alive. Keep your vision alive."
08:41 But that leads us to a question.
08:43 How does any organization do that?
08:47 How are you sure and how can you ensure
08:50 that ASI will not lose the vision of its founders?
08:55 How can you be sure that the presence
08:59 of the spirit of the founders of an organization
09:03 remains within that organization
09:05 decade after decade and generation after generation?
09:09 How can the vision that birthed an organization,
09:13 grow and expand so that the organization
09:16 becomes everything that God wants it to be?
09:20 How can we be sure
09:23 that the church does not get sidetracked?
09:26 How can we be sure
09:27 that ASI does not get sidetracked?
09:29 How can you be sure that the organization
09:31 you represent does not get sidetracked?
09:35 Organizations succeed only as they do
09:40 that which has God as destined them to do.
09:44 They are successful only
09:46 as they maintain a sharp focus and one of the dangers
09:51 for the Seventh-day Adventist church today
09:54 and one of the dangers for ASI,
09:56 and one of the dangers for the organization
09:58 that you represent is that the longer time goes on,
10:03 the higher the possibility
10:06 that the vision will become dull.
10:08 The higher the possibility that the focus of the lens
10:12 of the organization will become blurry.
10:15 As generations pass, Seventh-day Adventists
10:20 have never been in it for the marathon,
10:22 we've always been in it for the sprint.
10:25 We've not been in it for the long term.
10:27 We have believed in the fabric of our being,
10:30 in the citadel of our soul,
10:32 in the essence of the core of our being of who we are.
10:36 Adventists have believed
10:37 that Jesus Christ is going to come.
10:40 We are Adventists.
10:42 We believe that Jesus is coming and He is coming soon.
10:46 But the more time passes,
10:49 the more possibility there exists
10:51 that we can pontificate about the coming of Jesus
10:54 with our lips but our lifestyles
10:57 do not reflect that sharpened focus
11:01 of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
11:04 Therefore how can an organization
11:07 remain sharp and clear
11:11 with a laser-like razor edge focus?
11:15 I suggest to you that ASI will only remain faithful
11:20 to its heritage and its calling.
11:23 And you and I will only remain faithful
11:24 to our heritage and our calling
11:26 if indeed we understand the biblical framework
11:32 in which ASI exists.
11:35 So we begin appropriately this morning
11:39 by examining the biblical framework of ASI.
11:43 ASI gets its mandate from scripture.
11:46 I invite you to take your Bible
11:47 and turn to Acts the 18th chapter.
11:50 Acts Chapter 18.
11:54 ASI in an essence,
11:56 if you summarize ASI in an essence, it is this,
12:00 one sentence that will define ASI
12:04 and the spirit of ASI.
12:08 ASI is an organization of institutions
12:12 and laypeople that support themselves
12:16 financially so that they can participate
12:20 in the mission of the church.
12:23 That's what ASI is.
12:24 It is not a separate organization
12:27 from the church.
12:29 It is rather an organization of institutions
12:33 and laypeople who have such deep commitment to Christ
12:37 that they are able to find out
12:39 how they can support themselves to do mission.
12:43 That precedent is found in Acts the 18th chapter
12:48 and we find it rooted in scripture.
12:51 The first self-supporting missionary
12:54 was Apostle Paul and he lit gospel
12:58 fires throughout Asia Minor,
13:00 in Ephesus, in Colossae, in Corinth and in Rome.
13:06 Acts the 18th chapter.
13:08 "And after these things Paul departed from Athens
13:11 and went to Corinth.
13:13 And he found a Jew" verse 2 "named Aquila,
13:16 born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy
13:19 with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded
13:22 all the Jews to depart from Rome and he came to them.
13:26 So, because he was of the same trade,
13:28 he stayed with them and worked."
13:31 Notice the Apostle Paul
13:33 was a tentmaker who worked with his hands.
13:36 He was an ASI member.
13:39 He was a self-supporting missionary.
13:43 He worked to make tents so he could financially support
13:47 his missionary ministry
13:49 for the proclamation of the gospel.
13:52 And notice what the scripture says.
13:54 "So, because he was of the same trade,"
13:56 verse 3 "he stayed with them and worked for by occupation
14:00 they were tentmakers.
14:01 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath,
14:04 persuaded Jews and Greeks."
14:06 You let your eyes drop down to verse 8.
14:11 "Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue,
14:13 believed on the Lord with all the household.
14:15 And many of the Corinthians,
14:17 hearing, believed and were baptized."
14:19 So the first self-supporting worker
14:22 had a laser sharp focus.
14:24 He had a clear vision.
14:26 God had called him
14:28 not to make money predominantly.
14:31 God, in fact, called him
14:33 to use his resources for mission.
14:35 God had called him to use his resources for evangelism.
14:39 He was not going to wait for the church to support him.
14:42 He had a passion, mission and he worked with his hands
14:47 to sponsor his mission.
14:49 The function of ASI is to bring together laypeople
14:53 who are willing to support themselves
14:56 because they believe that God has called them
14:59 to soul winning.
15:00 They believe that God has called them to mission.
15:02 They believe that God has called them to evangelism.
15:06 In the medieval church, when church and state united
15:10 and when unbiblical practices came into the church,
15:15 the medieval church developed a theology
15:18 of the laity that had three principles.
15:22 And here is the theology
15:23 of the laity of the medieval church.
15:25 First, the clergy are spiritually strong
15:30 and the laity are spiritually weak.
15:33 That's why the medieval church did not believe that the Bible
15:39 should be read by laity because they believed
15:42 that the clergy was spiritually strong,
15:45 the laity was spiritually weak.
15:47 Second, the medieval church believed
15:50 that the clergy had a spiritual calling
15:54 and the laity had a secular calling.
15:56 So there was a dichotomy.
15:58 Laity by essence are spiritually weak
16:02 and laity in the medieval church philosophy
16:05 have a secular calling.
16:08 Then they said, the clergy will get special rewards.
16:12 Medieval church.
16:14 The laity will get ordinary rewards.
16:17 No special rewards for the laity.
16:20 But then the New Testament doctrine of the priesthood
16:23 of all believers was shared in the reformation period
16:29 and there was an explosion of understanding.
16:32 Take your Bible please and read 1 Peter Chapter 2.
16:36 1 Peter Chapter 2.
16:38 Here are the roots of all lay movements for God.
16:45 They are rooted in scripture, 1 Peter Chapter 2.
16:52 And the apostle cries out
16:55 against this unbiblical dichotomy
17:00 of laity in clergy.
17:03 In the New Testament every believer
17:05 is a priest of God to dispense
17:08 the grace of Christ to men and women.
17:11 In the New Testament
17:13 every believer is endowed by Jesus
17:15 with gifts to share Jesus' love
17:17 with a waiting world and a watching universe.
17:20 The dichotomy between clergy
17:21 and laity is a medieval fabrication
17:24 of the antichrist system.
17:26 1 Peter Chapter 2 and we look there at verse 9.
17:32 Peter says, "But you are a chosen generation,
17:37 a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
17:39 His own special people,
17:40 that you may proclaim the praises of Him
17:43 who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light."
17:46 Peter says there is no such thing in God's work
17:50 or plan as a hierarchical group of priests
17:53 to whom there has been given a spiritual calling
17:56 to communicate the gospel.
17:58 Peter says, to you and me in the church,
18:01 you are a royal priesthood.
18:04 Peter says to you and me,
18:06 you have the opportunity of opening God's word
18:10 and sharing God's love.
18:13 Now, Ellen White writing with divine insight
18:16 in the Gift of Prophecy
18:17 confirms this biblical theology of the laity.
18:23 Review and Herald, February 21, 1893,
18:27 "The work of the gospel is not to depend solely
18:31 upon the minister."
18:32 Can somebody say amen?
18:34 "The work of the gospel
18:35 is not to depend solely upon the minister.
18:38 Every soul should take action,
18:41 an active part in advancing the cause of God."
18:44 Every soul, every person who comes to Christ.
18:47 Now notice Medical Ministry 322,
18:51 "Work with your hands."
18:53 Now this is Ellen White's counsel to laity,
18:57 to self-supporting workers.
18:58 She says, Medical Ministry page 322,
19:02 "Work with your hands
19:03 that you may be self-supporting,
19:06 and as you have opportunity, proclaim the message."
19:08 So here is the mandate of ASI. Here is the heart of ASI.
19:14 An organization of men and women
19:16 who work with their hands to support themselves
19:19 so that through God's grace and by God's grace
19:21 and in God's grace they can share the gospel with others.
19:25 A number of years ago, Ellen White spoke
19:29 to a group of self-supporting workers.
19:32 We could call them
19:33 ASI members and that ASI convention,
19:38 I wondered what would the prophet of God,
19:42 if she were here this morning addressing this topic,
19:47 the spirit of ASI and how to keep that alive,
19:50 what would she say?
19:52 Well, one of the ways we know what she would say
19:54 is if we came back,
19:57 if we go back and read what she said.
19:59 Because she would say today, what she said then.
20:01 And here's what she said to a group of ASI workers.
20:04 "There is a place for everybody in the work,"
20:07 and I'm quoting.
20:08 There is a place for who in the work for how many?
20:11 There is a place for what? A place for everybody.
20:14 And everybody is everybody.
20:17 Everybody is not nobody because nobody is not everybody
20:19 and if nobody were everybody,
20:21 everybody wouldn't be nobody, right?
20:22 Sure.
20:24 There is a place for who in the work?
20:27 Everybody. Are you somebody?
20:29 Somebody is part of everybody, right?
20:31 Nobody is not part of everybody
20:32 but somebody is part of everybody.
20:34 Are you somebody?
20:36 Yeah, you are more somebody than you think you are.
20:37 You are priest of God.
20:39 You are an ambassador of Christ.
20:41 "There is a place for everybody in the work.
20:44 We each have a work to do for God,
20:47 whatever our occupation."
20:49 Well, what's your occupation?
20:51 You have a work to do for God.
20:53 Now if you go back to the origin
20:54 of the Adventist church,
20:57 the origin of the Adventist church
20:58 largely is a lay movement and the Adventist church
21:03 was largely raised up by laypeople.
21:05 James White was not an ordained clergy member.
21:08 Initially, he was a what, everybody?
21:10 School teacher.
21:12 William Miller was not an ordained preacher initially,
21:16 he was a military officer and a farmer.
21:18 Joseph Bates was not an ordained minister initially,
21:21 he was a sea captain.
21:24 But each of these men, each of these men
21:28 were moved upon by God for mission.
21:31 I pray today that God
21:34 will keep this spirit of ASI alive.
21:37 I pray today that men and women with large capacity,
21:42 businesspeople in this church
21:44 and I pray today that every self-supporting institution
21:47 would have a laser sharp focus on mission.
21:51 We exist for one reason
21:53 and that is to get the job done.
21:56 We exist for one reason,
21:57 to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ
21:59 to the ends of the earth.
22:01 May it burn in our soul.
22:03 May it radiate in every fiber of our being.
22:07 Now as I study the spirit
22:10 of these Adventist self-supporting ASI pioneers,
22:17 there are six principles
22:19 that I want to walk you through this morning briefly.
22:23 We will simply introduce them.
22:25 And I want you to raise this question
22:27 as we go through them.
22:29 Do these principles characterize my life?
22:33 You know, it's very easy to talk about
22:36 what some other organization ought to be doing.
22:39 It's very easy to talk about what others ought to do.
22:45 But the question really is,
22:48 do these principles actuate my life?
22:52 Deep within my heart are the principles
22:56 that birthed the advent moment,
22:58 the principles to which the early ASI founders
23:04 and pioneers gave unswerving allegiance.
23:07 Do they fill my soul? Do they radiate from my life?
23:14 I could choose a number of those principles,
23:16 I've chosen six.
23:18 And I want to look at them with you.
23:20 Six principles of the early ASI leaders.
23:23 Six aspects that characterized their lives.
23:28 Six principles that motivated them
23:32 as they started institutions.
23:34 Six principles that guided them as they reached out in witness.
23:38 Six principles that moved them
23:41 to step across geographical boundaries
23:44 and go to primitive places in mission service.
23:47 I use as examples men like
23:50 E. A. Sutherland and Percy Magan
23:53 who founded the laymen's movement
23:56 which later spawned and became ASI.
23:59 I use as examples early Adventist missionaries
24:02 and those in the supporting work
24:04 and those in the church work
24:06 and those in self-supporting work
24:08 to illustrate these principles.
24:10 First principle, when you study the history of ASI,
24:15 when you study the history of these
24:17 self-supporting workers
24:18 for God and these business people for God,
24:21 you'll observe one characteristic
24:24 that they all had and here's what it was.
24:26 They had a simple reliance upon God.
24:31 In short, they believed
24:33 that God was well able to handle His work.
24:38 They did not believe
24:39 the work would be free from difficulties.
24:41 They did not believe the work would be free from obstacles.
24:44 They did not believe that the work
24:46 would be free from financial needs.
24:48 But they believed
24:50 that there was no difficulty too great for God to unravel.
24:53 There was no problem too great for God to solve,
24:56 that there was no perplexity
24:58 too great for God to reveal an answer to.
25:02 One of the characteristics of these early pioneers
25:06 of both the Adventist church and the ASI movement was this.
25:10 They trusted God and they learned
25:13 how to place trust in the fabric of their own life.
25:17 They claimed passages like these.
25:19 Take your Bible please and turn to Philippians 4:19.
25:24 These passages were the hallmarks
25:27 of these early ASI leaders.
25:30 They learned to trust God.
25:31 They saw every problem and every difficulty
25:34 as an opportunity to trust.
25:36 They saw every challenge
25:37 as an opportunity for deeper faith.
25:40 Philippians Chapter 4 and we look there at verse 19.
25:46 "And my God shall supply all your need
25:50 according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
25:53 My God shall do what, everybody?
25:55 Shall do what?
25:57 Supply all your need according to His riches in glory.
26:03 I have a set of traveler's checks
26:05 in my back pocket that's signed by the bank of heaven.
26:09 It is in my back pocket of faith.
26:13 My God shall supply
26:14 all your need according to His riches in glory.
26:17 The cattle on 10,000 hills are His.
26:20 The silver and the gold is His.
26:23 You may be struggling
26:25 in some small self-supporting institution for finances.
26:29 You may be struggling in some ministry today
26:32 but if the work is of God,
26:34 He is well able to care for that.
26:38 That's precisely what these early advent pioneers believed.
26:45 This is the confidence that we have in Him.
26:47 If we ask anything according to His will,
26:50 He hears us.
26:52 Let me give you an example of this.
26:54 The year was 1901.
26:58 In 1901 Percy Magan,
27:02 E. A. Sutherland had just initiated
27:06 a move of old Battle Creek College
27:10 up to Berrien Springs, Michigan.
27:13 These men of God wanted to see the school there
27:18 which we now call Andrews University
27:21 and its related schools.
27:23 They wanted to see a school that trained missionaries
27:25 to go to the ends of the earth.
27:28 And that school has fulfilled that destiny.
27:30 It has sent out missionaries around the world.
27:32 But in 1901 it was struggling financially significantly.
27:38 And Percy Magan and Sutherland knew
27:41 that out west there may be a dollar or two.
27:46 And so they decided
27:48 that they would go out to California
27:49 to do little soliciting of funds.
27:52 Is there anybody here today
27:55 that's ever gone anyplace including California
27:57 to solicit a fund or two?
28:00 Now one thing I know about
28:01 self-supporting workers and ASI members.
28:05 They are not shy when it comes to asking for money.
28:09 All you need to do is walk through the booths
28:11 and talk to them for a few minutes
28:14 and they will tell you their needs.
28:16 So Percy Magan and Sutherland
28:19 were gonna go out to California.
28:22 They were gonna solicit a little money there.
28:24 There was only one problem.
28:26 They only had enough money for one train ticket.
28:30 But there was a worse problem then that.
28:33 They got a little more money
28:34 so they could buy two train tickets
28:36 but it only would get them to Chicago.
28:39 Had no money to go out to California.
28:42 So, well, Percy Magan and Ed Sutherland
28:46 get the train ticket, they go to Chicago.
28:49 When they get there,
28:52 Percy Magan looks at Ed Sutherland,
28:53 he says, "Ed, you watch the bags and the luggage.
28:58 Let me go solicit to see
29:01 if I can get at least one train ticket to California."
29:06 So with Ed Sutherland is sitting there
29:07 and Percy looks at him, he said,
29:09 "Now, Ed, you be praying while you watch the luggage."
29:13 Now here is the president
29:15 and the dean of one of our colleges in Chicago
29:19 sitting on the luggage praying
29:23 that God will get them enough money to go off to California
29:25 to solicit more money so the school can stay afloat.
29:29 But they believed that the dream was God's.
29:32 They believed the vision was God's.
29:34 They believed in a simple reliance upon God.
29:40 So Percy went out to solicit.
29:43 He saw the chief--
29:48 the chief of the railway sitting in the railway office
29:51 with his heads in his hands, crying.
29:54 So in goes Percy and he says to him,
29:57 "Brother, is there a problem?"
29:59 The man began to explain problems
30:00 with his family and his home.
30:03 Old Ed is still sitting on the bags, praying.
30:05 Half hour goes by, he says, where is Percy?
30:08 An hour goes by, he says, where is Percy?
30:09 An hour and a half goes by, he says, where is Percy?
30:12 Two hours go by,
30:13 well, Percy is giving a Bible study in there to that fellow.
30:17 At the end of the Bible study, the man says,
30:18 what did you come into the office for?
30:20 He said, because I don't have enough money
30:21 to go to California.
30:22 No problem, brother, here's a ticket.
30:25 Gave him the ticket free.
30:29 Simple reliance upon God.
30:34 Simple reliance upon God.
30:36 The year is 1943, the place is Madison College.
30:39 The weather is terrible.
30:41 Heat wave comes through the south
30:44 as bad as the heat wave
30:45 we've had now but much, much, much worse.
30:49 Madison from 1920 to 1950 was in its golden years.
30:54 For those of you who are younger,
30:55 you don't understand the significance.
30:57 Readers Digest, 1938
31:00 wrote a magnificent article about Madison.
31:03 New York Times articles on Madison.
31:04 It was a premier educational institution.
31:07 Head of the department of agriculture
31:08 came down there to see it.
31:10 I mean, they would grow thousands and thousands
31:12 of quarts of vegetables and beautiful flowers and its--
31:18 it was spreading self-supporting workers
31:20 around the world but here now 1943,
31:24 there is a tremendous, tremendous heat wave.
31:29 And as the result of the drought,
31:31 fruit trees are drying up.
31:33 The crops are dying off.
31:37 Ed Sutherland gathers in the chapel the students
31:42 and the faculty, and he said, I do not believe
31:45 that it's God's will that these fruit trees dry up.
31:49 I do not believe it's God's will
31:51 that we would destroy what we've worked so hard for.
31:53 We cleared these fields with our own hands.
31:56 So one characteristic about self-supporting workers,
31:58 they knew how to work.
32:00 We cleaned these fields with our own hands.
32:02 And he said, I believe.
32:03 I was praying last night and the Word impressed me
32:06 to gather the students and the faculty.
32:08 We're gonna pray that it will rain.
32:09 Some of the faculty objected.
32:11 They said, no, if it does not rain,
32:13 we'll be the laughing stock.
32:16 Sutherland said, that's God's problem,
32:17 that's not our problem.
32:18 That's God's problem. So they began to pray.
32:22 They got faculty and students together
32:24 and they prayed and they prayed.
32:26 They got up off their knees, walked out
32:29 and the clouds came in the sky and it rained.
32:31 But the interesting thing is it rained
32:33 no place else in the Nashville area
32:35 except on the Madison farm.
32:38 And they--
32:40 Nashville didn't get rain for two more weeks.
32:43 You want to read the thrilling story of that.
32:46 Go back to some of the early leadership,
32:50 God's beautiful farm and you read what God did.
32:55 Early self-supporting workers depended on God.
33:00 Notice a comment by Ellen White.
33:04 Ministry of Healing, 487.
33:08 This one quote may be the reason
33:11 God sent you to ASI this year.
33:15 You don't have to find too many million dollar bills
33:17 blowing down the street to become a millionaire.
33:20 Somebody is gonna need this right now.
33:22 Somebody is gonna need this.
33:25 And if you don't need it now, use it as a band-aid,
33:27 put it in your medicine cabinet
33:29 because you are gonna need it in the future.
33:32 "We are prone." We are what?
33:34 "Prone to look to our fellow man
33:37 for sympathy and uplifting, instead of looking to Jesus."
33:41 What are we prone to do? What do we prone to do?
33:45 Look to who?
33:46 Our fellow man for sympathy and uplifting instead of Jesus.
33:50 "In His mercy and faithfulness, God often permits
33:54 those that we place confidence in to fail us,
33:58 in order that we may learn the folly of trusting in man
34:01 and making flesh our arm.
34:03 Let us trust fully, humbly, unselfishly in God."
34:08 What are we prone to do? What are we prone to do?
34:13 We are prone to look to man to solve our problems.
34:17 That's our tendency.
34:19 And if we do that too much, what will God do?
34:22 What will God do?
34:24 He will allow people to do what?
34:27 Fail us. Why?
34:29 Because He wants us to learn to trust in Him.
34:33 So has somebody failed you recently?
34:35 Has some leader in ASI failed you?
34:38 Has some lay leader in your institution failed you?
34:42 Has somebody in your church failed you?
34:44 Has a leader in a particular ministry failed you?
34:47 If somebody fails you,
34:49 rather than criticizing the person
34:51 that fails you, get on your knees
34:53 and say, Jesus, thank you.
34:55 You want to teach me the folly of trusting in man.
34:58 You want to teach me how to depend totally upon You.
35:01 Simple reliance upon God.
35:04 I want to do that, what about you?
35:07 I want to give God permission.
35:08 Lord, if there are people that fail me,
35:10 Lord, people that I trust, people I have confidence in,
35:13 Lord, I give you permission to allow them to fail me,
35:16 because Lord, in the final crisis
35:19 and the final analysis, I want to trust in You.
35:22 Oh, Jesus, give me a sweet spirit
35:23 toward my brothers and sisters.
35:25 Jesus, even if they fail me, help me like Moses pray
35:28 that you blot me out of the book.
35:31 Lord, give me a pure spirit in my heart.
35:36 And, Lord, help me be supportive.
35:39 But, Lord, if people fail me, that's okay with me, Lord.
35:42 Because there must be something
35:43 in this man's heart that I must learn.
35:46 I must learn deeper faith. I must learn deeper trust.
35:50 One thing I see rooted in early ASI leadership
35:55 and I see rooted in early Adventist pioneers
35:59 is unswerving reliability on God.
36:05 Now there is a second thing, there is a second principle.
36:09 There is unswerving allegiance to know the will of God
36:13 as revealed in the Bible
36:15 and the counsels of the Spirit of Prophecy.
36:18 When you look at the early advent pioneers
36:19 and early ASI leaders,
36:22 they were committed to doing God's will in the Bible
36:26 and they were committed to the counsels
36:31 of the Spirit of Prophecy.
36:32 They believed 2 Chronicles 20:20,
36:37 this was a hallmark.
36:39 This is part of the ASI spirit.
36:43 It is unswerving allegiance to the will of God
36:47 in the revealed counsels of God's will.
36:52 2 Chronicles 20:20 here it is. Last part of the verse.
36:57 "Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be" what?
37:00 "Established.
37:01 Believe His prophets and you shall prosper."
37:05 There were times when the counsels
37:07 of the Spirit of Prophecy
37:10 went against the personal feelings and ideas
37:14 and ways of doing things of these early ASI leaders.
37:18 Now a good example of this
37:21 is the choice of the location for Madison College.
37:24 It's a fascinating story.
37:27 Percy Magan and E. A. Sutherland
37:31 left Berrien Springs
37:34 and they came down to form a new school in the south.
37:40 They were encouraged by Ellen White to do that
37:42 and they were looking for the property.
37:45 And as they were traveling toward Nashville up the river,
37:48 they came to a farm called the Ferguson Farm.
37:52 Percy Magan and Sutherland
37:55 went out and looked at the farm.
37:57 And as they walked over the property
37:58 looking at that farm,
38:00 they kept saying no, not this place.
38:02 No, not this place, never this place.
38:05 First, it's too big, 700 acres, much too big.
38:08 Second, the soil is depleted because it was a hog farm,
38:13 that's pigs and goats and they just ruined the land.
38:18 So the land is ruined,
38:19 worst soil, Magan says, I ever saw.
38:22 We can never use this farm.
38:24 And Sutherland chimes in, he says, it is too rocky,
38:26 it's too rocky, it's too rocky, let's go.
38:29 So they move on.
38:32 Some time later Ellen White
38:33 went to look at property with them
38:35 and she said to Magan.
38:39 Magan, what do you think about that Ferguson Farm?
38:41 Here was his response.
38:43 Sister White, I try not to think about it at all.
38:48 It's the worst piece of property I ever saw.
38:50 No possibility at all.
38:53 She said, but the other night in a vision,
38:59 the Lord impressed me that that should be the property.
39:04 It was almost as if Magan and Sutherland said
39:06 we'll go get, go find out again,
39:08 I think you heard wrong.
39:10 Because their response was oh--
39:13 Four words, "Oh, Lord, not here."
39:18 Oh, Lord, not here.
39:21 But because they believed, contrary to their thinking
39:26 and contrary to their personal desires and will,
39:30 the counsel of the Spirit of Prophecy.
39:33 They accepted what Ellen White said
39:36 and knelt by a pile of rocks
39:40 and consecrated that property to Jesus.
39:44 And then they went to work cleaning the rocks out,
39:48 purchasing the property.
39:51 And to the amazement of scores of people,
39:56 it was soon yielding 3,000 gallons of peaches,
40:01 1,000 gallons of string beans, 2,200 gallons of grapes
40:06 and it became an agricultural school
40:09 that was the envy of America.
40:11 The Spirit of Prophecy spoke and they listened.
40:16 May I ask you a question?
40:19 In your personal life, you see, wouldn't it be easy to say,
40:25 oh, this is what our school should do
40:27 in harmony with the Spirit of Prophecy.
40:28 Today, it's too bad they are not doing them.
40:31 Oh, that's an easy question to ask.
40:32 Our hospitals, they should be doing this and this.
40:34 Oh, that's an easy question to ask.
40:36 But here's my question to you.
40:38 In your personal life,
40:42 have you made an unswerving commitment
40:46 to follow God's will as revealed in the Bible
40:49 and follow His counsel
40:51 in the area of the Gift of Prophecy?
40:53 Have you personally made that decision
40:57 in the area of health reform, in the area of diet?
41:01 Have you personally made that decision
41:04 in the area of what you watch or don't watch over the media?
41:08 Deep within your heart, have you made that decision?
41:13 We have here today people from supporting institutions,
41:17 people from ASI organizations, we have conference, leadership,
41:23 let me ask you a question, we have laypeople.
41:26 Wherever you are responsible
41:29 and your sphere of influence whatever it is,
41:33 have you made a bedrock principle
41:36 that to the best of your knowledge and your ability,
41:39 you will leave the area that you lead
41:42 in harmony with the principles of scripture
41:45 and the divinely revealed
41:47 will of God in the Gift of Prophecy?
41:50 How can ASI keep its mission clear?
41:54 How can the Adventist church keep its mission clear?
41:56 First, by simple reliance upon God.
41:59 Second, by unswerving allegiance to the Bible
42:02 and the divinely inspired counsels
42:04 that God has given to this church.
42:06 Thirdly, you'll notice in ASI
42:09 that ASI took up very carefully the ministry of Jesus.
42:15 Matthew 16:24, third principle.
42:20 ASI was birthed in sacrifice.
42:23 Third principle, ASI was born in sacrifice.
42:29 Without sacrifice, according to the prophet of God
42:33 and the teachings of Jesus,
42:34 the work of God on earth will not be finished.
42:38 Matthew Chapter 16, we look there at verse 24.
42:42 The scripture says,
42:43 "Jesus speaks to His disciples then."
42:46 He called them from their fishermen's nets.
42:49 He called them to a self-supporting ministry,
42:52 a ministry that no organization was gonna support them,
42:55 they had to discover alone how to be supported initially.
42:59 Matthew 16:24, "Then Jesus said to His disciples,
43:03 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
43:06 and take up his cross, and follow Me.'"
43:09 Are you personally willing to make sacrifices
43:12 so the work of God will go forward?
43:15 When Magan and Sutherland found the property,
43:17 the Ferguson property for the Madison School,
43:20 that 700 acres,
43:23 Magan had-- Sutherland had inherited a little money
43:27 and he took all of his inheritance,
43:29 $12,714 and he put it down on that school.
43:34 Are you willing, are you willing,
43:39 not to give out of your abundance
43:44 but are you willing to make a sacrificial gift
43:49 for a cause that God puts in your heart
43:51 to finish His work on earth?
43:53 And when I talk about sacrifice,
43:54 I don't only mean money.
43:56 Money is sometimes, for many people,
43:57 the easiest thing to give.
43:59 What about your time? What about your energy?
44:04 Somebody said, anybody wrapped up
44:05 in themselves is a small package.
44:07 One of the things I noticed about these early ASI leaders
44:11 is they put their lives on the line
44:14 for a cause they believed in.
44:16 If the cause was worth dying for,
44:19 it certainly was worth living for.
44:23 You know, from 1902 to 1924, Magan and Sutherland
44:27 and their staff made $13 a week.
44:29 You say, well, that was back then.
44:31 Oh, yeah, you try to go back then and live on $13 a week.
44:35 When the school didn't have textbooks,
44:38 they decided to take $600
44:40 that they had saved and buy the textbooks.
44:44 The work of God on earth will never be finished
44:47 unless men and women make sacrifices.
44:50 Not long ago, my colleague
44:52 Vice President General Conference, Mike Ryan
44:54 was meeting with some of our Global Mission pioneers.
44:56 Incidentally, we have thousands and thousands
44:59 of Global Mission pioneers around the world,
45:02 right now, thousands of them.
45:03 These Global Mission pioneers are local people
45:06 working in local soil that are sharing the gospel.
45:08 And Mike was meeting
45:10 with one of the Global Mission pioneers.
45:11 He was way out in the hinterlands
45:13 and he put his arm around that mission pioneer
45:14 and he said to him, what might I do for you?
45:17 Is there any way that we can help you?
45:19 And the mission pioneer looked at him
45:20 and he said, yes, there is.
45:22 And then the mission pioneer looked down at his feet
45:25 and there were two mission pioneers standing there
45:26 and one had bare feet and one had shoes on.
45:28 And the mission pioneer said,
45:30 we have only one pair of shoes between us.
45:32 Just one.
45:34 And we use that pair of shoes
45:37 whoever walks to the farthest village.
45:39 He said, we have a group that we study the Bible with
45:42 and do evangelist meetings
45:43 with in a village about 12 miles away.
45:45 We have another one in a village
45:47 about three miles away.
45:48 And he said to him, look, whoever needs the shoes
45:52 worst is the one who walks the farthest.
45:55 So if it's my turn to go to the village 13 miles away,
45:58 I have the shoes for today.
46:00 If it's his turn to go to that village,
46:02 he has the shoes for today.
46:03 The one who only has to walk three miles
46:06 doesn't get the shoes but the road is kind of rocky
46:09 and at times our feet are bloody
46:11 by the time we get to the village.
46:12 Pastor Mike, do you think you could help us
46:16 get one more pair of shoes?
46:22 I do not fully understand that sacrifice.
46:28 Do you? Do you?
46:32 Do you know what it means to give your life,
46:35 your soul, your all?
46:41 Before we get out of this earth,
46:44 before we leave here,
46:46 God is going to have a group of people
46:50 that want to go home
46:53 more than they want to stay here.
46:57 They have smelled the glories of the Promised Land
47:04 and they want to go.
47:06 What will keep the vision of ASI sharp,
47:10 a group of people that are totally dependent on God
47:13 with simple reliance and trust?
47:15 A group of people that are motivated by the Spirit
47:19 to follow the counsel of the Bible
47:20 and the Spirit of Prophecy?
47:21 A group of people that for them
47:26 they make sacrifice, commitment.
47:29 Fourthly, ASI always was a group of ministries,
47:37 organizations, institutions that shared resources.
47:42 Part of the vision of ASI is the sharing of resources
47:47 so that unusual institutions that have been blessed
47:49 will share them with other institutions
47:51 that are struggling and need help.
47:54 The spirit of ASI is those who have been unusually blessed
47:58 in their businesses will share.
48:00 I will say to you today that I am concerned
48:03 what I see in some quarters of ASI
48:06 and in the Seventh-day Adventist church in general.
48:09 The competition between organizations
48:12 and ministries is not in harmony with God's will.
48:17 God is leading us
48:19 not to compare ourselves with other ministries,
48:23 because when you compare yourself with another ministry,
48:25 another organization, one of two things happens.
48:28 Either you are doing better than they are
48:29 and you become proud and you lose your soul
48:31 because you are proud or you are doing worse
48:33 than they are and you become depressed.
48:36 And God wants you neither to be proud nor depressed.
48:38 I love what the Bible says. 2 Corinthians 10:12.
48:43 What is the essence of ASI?
48:45 The essence of ASI is shared resources to get the job done.
48:51 2 Corinthians 10:12,
48:54 "For we dare not class ourselves"
48:58 we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves
49:01 "with those who commend themselves.
49:04 But they, measuring themselves by themselves,
49:07 and comparing themselves among themselves,
49:09 are not wise."
49:11 It is not wise to compare your ministry
49:14 with somebody else's.
49:15 It is not wise to think that you can hoard resources.
49:19 ASI was a ministry birthed to share resources.
49:23 We see that in Magan and Sutherland.
49:26 Magan and Sutherland worked together for 15 years.
49:30 The church was going to start a new medical school
49:33 on the west coast, Loma Linda, California.
49:37 Magan had gone to the medical school,
49:39 taken a medical course in Nashville,
49:41 became now a medical doctor.
49:43 He was called to go out to California.
49:50 Sutherland was devastated.
49:52 Here's my colleague, we worked together 15 years.
49:54 He went to him, Percy, you can't go.
49:57 Percy, I need you.
49:58 Percy, what's gonna happen to Madison?
50:00 They prayed, they worked together.
50:02 They discovered that it was God's will for Magan to go.
50:08 So Magan left.
50:10 Magan goes out there starting a school called
50:12 the College of Medical Evangelists.
50:14 As he is out there, he is in financial trouble.
50:17 They had a nursing program down in Glendale, California
50:22 and the nursing program was in real trouble.
50:25 So he contacts Sutherland.
50:31 He says, Sutherland, I'm in trouble financially.
50:33 What did Sutherland say? I told you not to go.
50:35 Sutherland says, okay,
50:36 I'm gonna send my four best fundraisers
50:39 headed by Mary Haskell to raise money for you.
50:42 So a board meeting is taking place
50:45 out there at Loma Linda
50:47 and the board votes to close down
50:49 the nursing program in Glendale.
50:51 And these four women walk in and they look at Sutherland,
50:57 rather Magan and Magan's teeth drop.
50:59 You know, his eyes get big and he said, what's happening?
51:01 And they said, oh, E.A. Sutherland sent us
51:06 and we have $60,000 for you to keep that ministry alive.
51:11 And the ministry of medical missionary work continued
51:15 because Magan had such a commit--
51:18 rather Sutherland had such a commitment
51:21 to shared resources.
51:23 But do you know what God did? You know what God did?
51:25 Did you ever hear Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedia?
51:27 You ever hear that?
51:31 Mary--
51:34 Lydia Funk Scott of Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedia
51:39 shortly after that came to Madison,
51:42 was in the hospital there, was blessed
51:45 and she gave them a million dollars.
51:47 I will tell you something.
51:49 When you share your resources as an institution
51:54 that's been blessed by others and as you share together
51:58 as we are done with the spirit of competition,
52:01 conference work and self-supporting work
52:03 working together,
52:04 institutions within self-supporting work
52:06 working together, ministries working together.
52:09 We are on the same team and God calls us
52:13 to unite with the mission of Jesus Christ
52:18 in the spirit of love and humility so we can go home.
52:23 Fifth principle. Here it is, fifth principle.
52:28 ASI was birthed in loyalty to the church organization.
52:36 It was birthed not as a counter church,
52:42 not as a critic to the church but it was birthed
52:48 as a laymen's movement within the Adventist church.
52:54 It was birthed in loyalty to mission
52:59 because it is still written, Acts of the Apostles, 107,
53:04 "Enfeebled and defective as it may be,
53:08 the church is the one object of Jesus' regard."
53:12 Enfeebled as directed and defective as it may be,
53:15 the church is the one object of Jesus' regard.
53:18 In scripture, the church is the bride of Christ.
53:22 Is your wife perfect?
53:24 Oh, you don't have to raise your hand,
53:25 she may be with you.
53:27 I'll ask you, sir, what if somebody wrote a document
53:31 about all the faults of your wife
53:32 and it was a hundred pages?
53:33 Would you read it?
53:36 You would burn it up.
53:38 How do you feel as a man
53:40 when you hear somebody criticizing your wife?
53:42 But in the Bible, the church is what?
53:45 The bride of Jesus Christ.
53:48 Are there weeds in the church? Sure.
53:50 But will the weed and tares grow together till the harvest?
53:52 Will they?
53:53 And it's not your job or mine to go around
53:55 and thinking who the weeds are and pull them out, right?
53:59 The church is God's own as I told a group not long ago.
54:05 Do you think that Noah house-trained those animals
54:09 before they went into that ark?
54:13 You think any elephant ever let a load in that ark?
54:18 Do you think that sometimes the ark stunk a little bit?
54:23 I would much rather be in an ark
54:26 that at times may stink a little bit
54:29 than be in the waves
54:30 and be sucked up before the ark comes to safety.
54:34 "He that has ears, let him hear
54:35 what the Spirit says to the churches."
54:38 Sure, there are some faults in the Adventist church
54:41 but you can go and wallow around
54:44 among the manure if you want.
54:46 But as for me and my house,
54:48 I believe God is taking this ark through.
54:58 ASI has been called by God in the ark...
55:09 to a divine destiny.
55:11 To a divine destiny.
55:14 The reason we are the remnant
55:16 is because the remnant remain.
55:18 And we're not interested in any offshoots
55:19 because offshoots shoot off and they don't remain.
55:26 The answer to every offshoot
55:27 that ever was or ever will be is this, it's the shaking.
55:33 In every movement in the past, God has called out.
55:37 At end time He is gonna shake out.
55:40 When the majority of Israel drifted away from God,
55:44 God called out New Testament Christianity.
55:46 When New Testament Christianity drifted away from God,
55:49 God called out the reformers.
55:51 When the reformers only went so far,
55:52 God called out the advent moment.
55:54 Ecclesia, Ec is out clesia is called.
55:58 There was always a called out movement.
56:00 But in the--
56:01 If you keep having a called out movement
56:03 for the movement that becomes apostate,
56:05 you never stop having a called out movement
56:07 because the called out movement that you called out,
56:09 if time goes on, becomes apostate.
56:10 Are you with me?
56:12 So in the final generation, in the last days,
56:14 it is not a called out movement anymore,
56:17 it is a shaken out worldly movement.
56:20 So in the last days,
56:21 God will allow circumstances that will come,
56:24 that the worldly class among us will leave
56:27 and God will have a church that is pure.
56:30 A church that rises and His end time
56:33 people committed to Him will preach His gospel
56:36 to the ends of the earth
56:37 and tens of thousands will be saved and Jesus will come.
56:40 Last principle in ASI, here it is.
56:43 We end with what we began with.
56:48 Jesus spirited ASI
56:53 as a single minded focus on mission.
56:58 ASI supporting schools are for mission.
57:00 ASI sanitariums are for mission.
57:02 ASI health food factories are for mission.
57:04 ASI restaurants are for mission.
57:06 ASI publishing houses are for mission.
57:09 Mission, soul winning,
57:11 evangelism is the heart, the essence.
57:14 Charles Spurgeon was in England
57:19 one of the mighty preachers of generations ago.
57:23 And as Spurgeon was there,
57:24 a group of businesspeople in America
57:26 knowing his charismatic ability
57:28 to hold an audience said to Spurgeon.
57:31 Spurgeon, come to America, we'll give you $50,000,
57:37 you make 50 speeches.
57:38 We'll give you $50,000 to come to America.
57:41 In addition to that, Spurgeon, we'll pay your wife's expenses,
57:45 we'll pay a secretary's expenses for you.
57:48 And, Spurgeon, in addition to that,
57:51 we'll put you up in lavish hotels.
57:53 Spurgeon, we believe
57:54 that if you took your techniques of preaching,
57:56 applied them to businesspeople,
57:58 you can motivate these businesspeople
57:59 to make scores of money.
58:01 This business group in America said come, Spurgeon.
58:03 Spurgeon wrote back and here were his words.
58:07 "I regret to inform you
58:11 that I cannot accept your invitation
58:13 because the price that you've offered me $50,000
58:18 is not high enough."
58:20 They were amazed and then he said, P.S.
58:23 I can stay in London and win souls.
58:28 I can stay in London and win 50 souls for Christ.
58:33 That's the passion of my life.
58:38 What is the passion of your life today?
58:43 Are you sold out for God?
58:49 Have you said to Jesus,
58:50 Jesus, the passion of my life is to lead some man,
58:57 some boy, some girl to Christ in the kingdom.
59:03 As we bow our heads to pray...
59:08 I want to ask you this question.
59:10 Do you live a life of totally reliance upon God?
59:15 Are you committed to seeking God's will?
59:17 Are you willing to sacrifice for Jesus?
59:20 Do you rejoice at the success of others?
59:23 In your heart is there one tinge of criticism
59:25 or you're loyal to the church?
59:28 And do you have a single minded focus upon mission?
59:30 Oh, Jesus, may it be true for us
59:33 that the passion of our souls
59:37 and the vision of our life is a finished work
59:40 in this generations, oh, Jesus, oh God.


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Revised 2015-05-14