Revival Plan

Revival Plan

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  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 239-248 Day 438
    Chapter 38—One with Christ in God

    The Lord calls for men of genuine faith and sound minds, men who recognize the distinction between the true and the false. Each one should be on his guard, studying and practicing the lessons given in the seventeenth chapter of John, and preserving a living faith in the truth for this time. We need that self-control which will enable us to bring our habits into harmony with the prayer of Christ.

    The instruction given me by One of authority is that we are to learn to answer the prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John. We are to make this prayer our first study. Every gospel minister, every medical missionary, is to learn the science of this prayer. My brethren and sisters, I ask you to heed these words and to bring to your study a calm, humble, contrite spirit, and the healthy energies of a mind under the control of God. Those who fail to learn the lessons contained in this prayer are in danger of making one-sided developments, which no future training will ever fully correct.

    “Neither pray I for these alone,” Christ said, “but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.

    And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.

    “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:20-26.

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    It is the purpose of God that His children shall blend in unity. Do they not expect to live together in the same heaven? Is Christ divided against Himself? Will He give His people success before they sweep away the rubbish of evil surmising and discord, before the laborers, with unity of purpose, devote heart and mind and strength to the work so holy in God’s sight? Union brings strength; disunion, weakness. United with one another, working together in harmony for the salvation of men, we shall indeed be “laborers together with God.” Those who refuse to work in harmony greatly dishonor God. The enemy of souls delights to see them working at cross purposes with one another. Such ones need to cultivate brotherly love and tenderness of heart. If they could draw aside the curtain veiling the future and see the result of their disunion they would surely be led to repent.

    The world is looking with gratification at the disunion amongst Christians. Infidelity is well pleased. God calls for a change among His people. Union with Christ and with one another is our only safety in these last days. Let us not make it possible for Satan to point to our church members, saying: “Behold how these people, standing under the banner of Christ, hate one another. We have nothing to fear from them while they spend more strength fighting one another than in warfare with my forces.”

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    After the descent of the Holy Spirit the disciples went forth to proclaim a risen Saviour, their one desire the salvation of souls. They rejoiced in the sweetness of the communion with saints. They were tender, thoughtful, self-denying, willing to make any sacrifice for the truth’s sake. In their daily association with one another they revealed the love that Christ had commanded them to reveal. By unselfish words and deeds they strove to kindle this love in other hearts.

    The believers we

    22 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 229-238 Day 437
    No Time for Delay

    There are among us many young men and women who, if inducements were held out, would naturally be inclined to take several years’ course of study to fit themselves for service. But will it pay? Time is short. Workers for Christ are needed everywhere. There should be a hundred earnest, faithful laborers in home and foreign mission fields where now there is but one. The highways and byways are yet unworked. Urgent inducements should be held out to those who ought now to be engaged in work for the Master.

    The signs which show that Christ’s coming is near are fast fulfilling. The Lord calls upon our youth to labor as canvassers and evangelists, to do house-to-house work in places that have not yet heard the truth. He speaks to our young men, saying: “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Those who will go forth to the work under God’s direction will be wonderfully blessed. Those who in this life do their best will obtain a fitness for the future, immortal life.

    The Lord calls upon those connected with our sanitariums, publishing houses, and schools to teach the youth to do evangelistic work. Our time and energy must not be so largely employed in establishing sanitariums, food stores, and restaurants that other lines of work will be neglected. Young men and young women who should be engaged in the ministry, in Bible work, and in the canvassing work should not be bound down to mechanical employment.

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    The youth should be encouraged to attend our training schools for Christian workers, which should become more and more like the schools of the prophets. These institutions have been established by the Lord, and if they are conducted in harmony with His purpose, the youth sent to them will quickly be prepared to engage in various lines of missionary work. Some will be trained to enter the field as missionary nurses, some as canvassers, and some as gospel ministers.

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    A Division of Responsibility

    St. Helena, California,

    August 4, 1903

    To the Leaders in the Medical Work:

    Dear Brethren,

    I have a message for you. I am instructed to say that not all the arrangements connected with the management of the medical missionary work are to originate in Battle Creek. The medical missionary work is God’s work, and in every conference and every church we are to take a decided stand against allowing it to be selfishly controlled.

    After I received word in regard to the excellent meeting of confession and unity that had been held in Battle Creek I was writing in my diary and was about to record the thankfulness I felt because a change had come, when my hand was arrested, and there came to me the words: “Write it not. No change for the better has taken place. Teachings that are turning souls from the truth are being presented as of great worth. Doctrines are being taught that lead into bypaths and forbidden paths; doctrines that lead men to act in harmony with their own inclinations and to work out their unsanctified purposes; doctrines that, if received, would destroy the dignity and power of God’s people, obscuring the light that would otherwise come to them through God’s appointed agencies.”

    The leaders in our medical work at Battle Creek have endeavored to bind our medical institutions fast, in accordance with their plans. Notwithstanding the many warnings given them that this should not be done, they have desired to bind up these institutions in some way so that all our medical work shall be under their control.

    In the past I have written much upon this subject, and I must now repeat the admonitions given, for it seems difficult for my brethren to understand their perilous position.

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    “The Lord forbids that every sanitarium and bathhouse es

    18 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 219-228 Day 436

    For His own name’s sake, God will not permit the froward and the independent to carry out their unsanctified plans. He will visit them for their perversity of action. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isaiah 57:21. But in His judgments the Lord will remember mercy. He declares:

    “I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid Me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him.” Verses 16-19.

    “The spirit of My people should fail before Me,” said the Lord, “if I were to deal with them in accordance with their perversity. They could not endure My displeasure and My wrath. I have seen the perverse ways of every sinner. He who repents and does the works of righteousness, I will convert and heal, and restore unto My favor.”

    Concerning those who have been deceived and led astray by unconsecrated men, the Lord says: “Their course of action has not been in accordance with My will; yet for the righteousness of My own cause, for the truth’s sake, I will heal everyone who shall honor My name. All the penitent of Israel shall see of My salvation. I, the Lord, do rule, and I will fill with praise and thanksgiving the hearts of all who are nigh and far off, even all the penitent of Israel who have kept My ways.”

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    “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Verse 15.

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    Chapter 36—How Shall Our Youth Be Trained?

    John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, received his early training from his parents. The greater portion of his life was spent in the wilderness, that he might not be influenced by beholding the lax piety of the priests and rabbis or by learning their maxims and traditions, through which right principles were perverted and belittled. The religious teachers of the day had become so blind spiritually that they could hardly recognize the virtues of heavenly origin. So long had they cherished pride, envy, and jealousy that they interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures in such a manner as to destroy their true meaning. It was John’s choice to forgo the enjoyments and luxuries of city life for the stern discipline of the wilderness. Here his surroundings were favorable to habits of simplicity and self-denial. Uninterrupted by the clamor of the world, he could here study the lessons of nature, of revelation, and of providence. The words of the angel to Zacharias had been often repeated to John by his God-fearing parents. From his childhood his mission had been kept before him, and he accepted the holy trust. To him the solitude of the desert was a welcome escape from the society in which suspicion, unbelief, and impurity had become well-nigh all-pervading. He distrusted his own power to withstand temptation and shrank from constant contact with sin lest he should lose the sense of its exceeding sinfulness.

    But the life of John was not spent in idleness, in ascetic gloom, or in selfish isolation. From time to time he went forth to mingle with men, and he was ever an interested observer of what was passing in the world. From his quiet retreat he watched the unfolding of events. With vision illuminated by the Divine Spirit, he studied the characters of men, that he might understand how to reach their hearts with the message of heaven.

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    Christ lived the life of a genuine medical missionary. He desi

    20 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 209-218 Day 435
    Self-Sacrifice

    What language could so forcibly express God’s love for the human family as it is expressed by the gift of His only-begotten Son for our redemption? The Innocent bore the chastisement of the guilty. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18.

    Christ gave Himself, an atoning sacrifice, for the saving of a lost world. He was treated as we deserve, in order that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5.

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    Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, by the one who once stood in loyalty by His side in the heavenly courts. Behold the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, in the time of greatest weakness assailed by the fiercest temptation. See Him during the years of His ministry, attacked on every side by the forces of evil. See Him in His agony on the cross. All this He suffered for us.

    Christ’s earthly life, so full of toil and sacrifice, was cheered by the thought that He would not have all His travail for nought. By giving His life for the life of men, He would win the world back to its loyalty. Although the baptism of blood must first be received, although the sins of the world were to weigh upon His innocent soul, yet, for the joy that was set before Him, He chose to endure the cross and despised the shame.

    Study Christ’s definition of a true missionary: “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Mark 8:34. Following Christ, as spoken of in these words, is not a pretense, a farce. Jesus expects His disciples to follow closely in His footsteps, enduring what He endured, suffering what He suffered, overcoming as He overcame. He is anxiously waiting to see His professed followers revealing the spirit of self-sacrifice.

    Those who receive Christ as a personal saviour, choosing to be partakers of His suffering, to live His life of self-denial, to endure shame for His sake, will understand what it means to be a genuine medical missionary.

    When all our medical missionaries live the new life in Christ, when they take His word as their guide, they will have a much clearer understanding of what constitutes genuine medical missionary work. This work will have a deeper meaning to them when they render implicit obedience to the law engraven on tables of stone by the finger of God, including the Sabbath commandment, concerning which Christ Himself spoke through Moses to the children of Israel, saying:

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    “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you…. The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever.” Exodus 31:13-17.

    Let us diligently study God’s word, that we may proclaim with power the message that is to be given in these last days. Many of those upon whom the light of the Saviour’s self-sacrificing life is shining refuse to live a life in accordance with His will. They are not willing to live a life of sacrifice for the good of others. They desire to exalt themselves. To such ones truth and righteousness have lost t

    24 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 199-208 Day 434
    The Sign of Our Relationship to God

    By the observance of the Sabbath the children of Israel were to be distinguished from all other nations. “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep,” Christ said, “for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” Exodus 31:13, 17, 16.

    The Sabbath is a sign of the relationship existing between God and His people, a sign that they are His obedient subjects, that they keep holy His law. The observance of the Sabbath is the means ordained by God of preserving a knowledge of Himself and of distinguishing between His loyal subjects and the transgressors of His law. This is the faith once delivered to the saints, who stand in moral power before the world, firmly maintaining this faith.

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    Opposition we shall have as we voice the message of the third angel. Satan will bring in every possible device to make of no effect the faith once delivered to the saints. “Many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” 2 Peter 2:2, 3. But in spite of opposition, all are to hear the words of truth.

    The law of God is the foundation of all enduring reformation. We are to present to the world in clear, distinct lines the need of obeying this law. Obedience to God’s law is the greatest incentive to industry, economy, truthfulness, and just dealing between man and man.

    The law of God is to be the means of education in the family. Parents are under a most solemn obligation to obey this law, setting their children an example of the strictest integrity. Men in responsible positions, whose influence is far-reaching, are to guard well their ways and works, keeping the fear of the Lord ever before them. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalm 111:10. Those who hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord and cheerfully keep His commandments will be among the number who see God. “The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us.” Deuteronomy 6:24, 25.

    Our work as believers in the truth is to present before the world the immutability of the law of God. Ministers and teachers, physicians and nurses, are bound by covenant with God to present the importance of obeying His law. We are to be distinguished as a people who keep the commandments. The Lord has stated explicitly that He has a work to be done for the world. How shall it be done? Let us seek to find the best way and then perform the will of the Lord.

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    This world is a training school for the higher school, this life a preparation for the life to come. Here we are to be prepared for entrance into the heavenly courts. Here we are to receive and believe and practice the truth until we are made ready for a home with the saints in light.

    Our sanitariums are to be established for one object—the proclamation of the truth for this time. And they are to be so conducted that a decided impression in favor of the truth will be made on the minds of those who come to them for treatment. The conduct of each worker is to tell on the side of right. We have a warning message to bear to the world, and our earnestness, our devotion to God’s service, are to bear witness to the truth

    23 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 189-198 Day 433
    Burdens that the Lord has not Given

    The Lord gave you your work, not to be done in a rush, but in a calm, considerate manner. The Lord never compels hurried, complicated movements. But you have gathered to yourself responsibilities that the Lord, the merciful Father, does not place upon you. Duties He never ordained that you should perform chase one another wildly. Never are His servants to leave one duty marred or incomplete in order to seize hold of another. He who labors in the calmness of the fear of God will not work in a haphazard manner, for fear that something will hinder an anticipated plan.

    Not all the burdens that you have been carrying have been laid upon you by the Lord. The result of your carrying these extra burdens is felt all through the field. If you had kept at your appointed work, laboring for the class of people whom the Lord desired, by means of the sanitarium, to reach with present truth, with the message that God has given His people to give to the world, much more would have been accomplished to bring the chosen people of God before men of high standing. Much more would have been accomplished to show forth the ways and works and power of God. The sanitarium was to be His witness in behalf of truth—elevated, sanctifying truth. The Lord made you, my brother, His honored instrument. He never required from you one task that would crowd out your work in connection with the institution that was to stand for the truth, to do a certain work for God, flashing light upon the pathway of thousands.

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    You have a great and sacred work to do. If you hold faithfully to the part assigned you, through the skill given you you will be enabled to work swiftly, though never appearing to be in a hurry. When your eyes are opened, you will see the deep poverty of the mission fields. You will see that the workers there are hampered at every step, while the Lord’s money is being used to sustain home enterprises and institutions, so that the message which should be given to the world is lost sight of.

    God impresses different men to be laborers together with Him. One man is not authorized to gather too many responsibilities upon himself. The Lord would have the physician upon whom so much depends so closely connected with Him that his spirit will not be irritated by little things. The Lord desires you to be one of the most efficient workers in the medical profession, slighting nothing, marring nothing, knowing that you have a Counselor close by your side, to sustain and strengthen you, to impart quietness and calm to your soul. Feverishness of mind and uncertainty of spirit will make the hand unskillful. The touch of Christ upon the physician’s hand brings vitality, restfulness, confidence, and power.

    I write to you as a mother would write to her son. I would help you if I could. I would go to see you if I could feel it my duty to leave the work here in Australia, but I dare not do this. You have built up hopes and nurtured plans without due consideration of how the tower is to be completed. As one who knows, as one who has been permitted to see the results of the work that you have taken upon you, I call upon you to stop and consider. God knows your frame. He knows that you are but dust. You will certainly need the counsel, not only of those who have encouraged you to go on in the work which you deem so important, but the counsel of men who, at the present time, are able to see more clearly than you do the results that will follow certain undertaKings.

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    Cast not behind you as of no consequence the warnings that as yet you do not understand. If you receive the messages of warning sent you, you will be saved from great trial.

    Extract from a letter written in 1899 from Wellington, New Zealand—We are not to allow our perplexities and disappointments to eat into our souls and make us fretful and impatient. Let there be no strife,

    19 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 179-188 Day 432
    Chapter 30—Words of Encouragement

    Cooranbong, N. S. W.,

    December 12, 1899

    To the Medical Superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium—

    My Dear Brother,

    You speak as if you had no friends. But God is your friend, and Sister White is your friend. You have thought that I had lost confidence in you; but, my dear brother, as I have before written you, I know that the Lord has placed you in a very responsible position, standing as you do as a physician to whom the Lord has given knowledge and understanding, that you may do justice and judgment, and reveal a true missionary spirit in the institution established to present truth in contrast with error.

    My brother, the Lord has not left you to go on a warfare at your own charges. He has given you wisdom, and favor with God and man. He has been your helper. He has chosen you as His agent to exalt the truth in the Battle Creek Sanitarium as it is not exalted in the medical institutions of the world. It was His purpose that the Battle Creek Sanitarium should be known as an institution where the Lord is daily acknowledged as the Monarch of the universe. “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” Daniel 4:35.

    The Lord designs that the proclamation of the third angel’s message shall be the highest, greatest work carried on in our world at this time. He has honored you by placing you in a very responsible position in His work. You were not to separate your influence from the ministry of the gospel. Into every line of your work you were to bring an understanding of and obedience to the truth. The place assigned you by the Lord was under Him in the divine theocracy. You were to learn of Jesus, the Great Teacher, planning and working in accordance with His example. You were to make God first, ever obeying His word. In this would be your strength.

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    You were to be a faithful physician of the souls as well as of the bodies of those under your charge. Had you fulfilled this trust, using aright the talents God gave you, you would not have worked alone. One who never makes a mistake was presiding. Only the Holy Spirit’s power can keep the spirit sweet and fragrant, soft and subdued, enabling the worker to speak the right words at the right time.

    You have not been faultless. Often you lost control of yourself. Then your words were not what they should have been. At times you were arbitrary and exacting. But when you were striving for the mastery over self, angels of God cooperated with you, because, through you, God was working to exalt His truth and cause it to receive honored recognition in the world. God gave you wisdom, not that your name should be magnified, but that those coming to the sanitarium in Battle Creek should carry away with them favorable impressions regarding the work of Seventh-day Adventists and respect for the principles that are the foundation of their work. The honor given you did not come to you because you were righteous above all men, but because God desired to use you as His Instrument.

    God’s Purpose in Establishing the Sanitarium

    It was God’s purpose that in the sanitarium, missionaries, teachers, and physicians should become acquainted with the third angel’s message, which embraces so much. Angels of God were to be your strength in the work that was to be done in order that the Battle Creek Sanitarium might be known as an institution under the special supervision of God. The missionary feeling and the sympathy that prevailed in this institution was a result of the work of invisible heavenly agencies there. God said: “I thought it good to show signs and wonders. In My might I wrought to glorify My name.” Many have gone from the sanitarium with new hearts. The change has been decided. These, returning to their homes, hav

    22 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 169-178 Day 431
    The Cause of Dearth in the Church

    He who is appointed to act a part in the work for this time should feel the solemn responsibility resting upon him. We are working for eternity. If we eat of the bread which came from heaven we shall be Christlike in spirit and character. We are living in an age when there is to be no spiritual idleness. Every soul is to be charged with the heavenly current of life. The question is often asked: “What is the cause of the dearth of spiritual power in the church?” The answer comes: “The members allow their minds to be drawn away from the word of God.” We are built up physically from that which we eat, and in like manner the character of our spirituality is determined by the food given to the mind. We are to give the mind and heart proper nourishment by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God.

    Christ declares: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life…. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world…. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.” John 6:47-57.

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    We must abide in Christ, and Christ must abide in us; “for we are laborers together with God.” The work of the Christian is an individual work. Let God’s workers cease to find fault, for this is sin. Let them improve themselves as they think that their fellow workers should improve. It is their privilege to live in Christ by eating the bread of life. Those who do this will have a healthy, growing experience, and the righteousness of God will go before them as they do the work specified in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah.

    To Every Man His Work

    Every branch of the work of God is to have recognition. “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11, 12. This Scripture shows that there are to be different workers, different instrumentalities. Each has a different work. No one is required to lay hold of another’s work, and, though untrained, try to do it. God has given to each according to his ability. One man may think that his position gives him authority to dictate to other workers, but this is not so. Ignorant of their work, he would enlarge where he should retrench, and retrench where he should enlarge, because he can see only the part of the vineyard where he is working.

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    Live for God. Make the Saviour’s teaching a part of your life. Your pathway will be brightened by clear, shining light. You will have the heavenly anointing and will be kept from making grave blunders. Do not be so intent upon the work you are doing in one portion of the Lord’s vineyard that you cannot appreciate the work that others are doing in other parts of the vineyard. They may be faithfully cultivating their talents so that they can return them, doubled, to their God. Let every man look well to his own work, making sure that it is complete, without spot or wrinkle to mar its perfection. Then leave it with God to say: “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Matthew 25:23.

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    Chapter 28—Unity of Effort

    Cooranbong, N. S. W.,

    April 17, 1899

    To a Physician in Perplexity:

    My Dear Brother,

    I

    23 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 159-168 Day 430
    Our Work for Today

    What saith the Lord in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah? The whole chapter is of the highest importance. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?” God asks, “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am.”

    “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Verses 6-9, 13, 14.

    This is our work. The light that we have upon the third angel’s message is the true light. The mark of the beast is exactly what it has been proclaimed to be. Not all in regard to this matter is yet understood, and will not be understood until the unrolling of the scroll; but a most solemn work is to be accomplished in our world. The Lord’s command to His servants is: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Verse 1. A message that will arouse the churches is to be proclaimed. Every effort is to be made to give the light, not only to our people, but to the world. I have been instructed that the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation should be printed in small books, with the necessary explanations, and should be sent all over the world. Our own people need to have the light placed before them in clearer lines.

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    No Change in God’s Cause

    There is to be no change in the general features of God’s cause. It is to stand out as clear and distinct as prophecy has made it. We are to enter into no confederacy with the world, supposing that by so doing we could accomplish more. My brother, if you stand in the way to hinder the advancement of the work on the lines that God has appointed, you will greatly displease Him. The warning message is to be given, and after you have faithfully accomplished your part of the work you are not to hinder others of the Lord’s servants from going forth to do the work that they should do. Laboring for the degraded and fallen is not to be made the principal and all-important line. This work is to be combined with the work of instructing the churches. Our people are to be taught how to help the needy and the outcast.

    No line of our faith that has made us what we are is to be weakened. We have the old landmarks of truth, experience, and duty, and we are to stand firm in defense of our principles, in full view of the world. With hearts filled with interest and solicitude, we are to give the invitation to those in the highways and the byways. Medical missionary work is to be done. But this is only one part of the work that is to be accomplished, and it is not to be made all and in all. It is to be to the work of God as the hand is to the body. There may be unworthy ones connected with the ministry, yet no one can ignore the ministry without ignoring God.

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    Words of Caution

    My brother, you are represented to me as in danger of standing apart from our people, feeling that you are a complete whole. But if you bin

    24 min
  • Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pp. 149-158 Day 429

    But instead of men being sent from Battle Creek, as God has directed in the pointed testimonies that have been given, thousands of dollars have been devoted to enlarging the institutions and increasing the facilities in Battle Creek. And the call comes from Battle Creek for more conveniences and more workers. But there must be a change.

    We are encouraged as we see the work that is being done in Chicago and a few other places. Years ago the large responsibilities centering in Battle Creek should have been distributed. You may look with satisfaction at the widespreading growth of the sanitarium at Battle Creek, but God does not look upon it with the same approval that you do. If institutions had been built up in other places, if men had been given responsibilities to bear, there would have been far more strength, far more efficiency in our work, and we should have moved more nearly in accordance with the mind and will of God than we have. As it is, a few men are carrying heavy responsibilities. A few wield an influence that has a controlling power in the management of the work far and near, while there are many who carry no burdens.

    Many of those carrying heavy responsibilities need to be converted. Christ says to them as He said to Nicodemus: “Ye must be born again.” “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:7, 3. Many are controlled by an unchristian spirit. They have not yet learned in the school of Christ His meekness and lowliness, and unless they change, they will yield to Satan’s temptations. Year after year they carry sacred responsibilities, yet prove themselves incapable of distinguishing between the sacred and the common. How long shall such men continue to wield a controlling influence? How long shall their word be permitted to exalt or to cast down, to condemn or to lift up? How long shall they hold such power that no one dare make a change in their methods?

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    Build Up New Centers

    People are encouraged to settle in Battle Creek, to give their influence to the building up of a modern Jerusalem. This is not after God’s order. Thus other places are deprived of facilities that they should have. Enlarge ye; spread ye; yes, but not in one place only. Go out and establish centers of influence in places where nothing, or next to nothing, has been done. Break up your consolidated mass; diffuse the saving beams of light into the darkened corners of the earth. A work similar to that of an eagle stirring up her nest needs to be done.

    “Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.” Jeremiah 48:11. This is true of many of the believers who are coming to Battle Creek. Many have a spasmodic zeal in battle, but their light is like that of a meteor that flashes across the heavens and then goes out.

    Let God’s workmen who have the interests of His cause at heart do something for the colored people in the Southern field. Let not God’s stewards be content merely to touch this field with the tips of their fingers. Let those at the heart of the work plan in earnest for this field. Many have talked about it, but what are they doing as the stewards of God’s means? Why do they feel at liberty to bind up God’s capital of means in Battle Creek? Why do they do the very things that they have been warned not to do? The matter is becoming serious, for warnings and entreaties have been given in vain. The arms of power in Battle Creek are being extended more and more widely, seeking to control the work far and near, and to crush that which they cannot control. I lift my voice in protest. The spirit that now controls is not the Spirit of the Lord.

    -151-

    The Lord has blessed Battle Creek again an

    22 min

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