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INTRODUCTION

Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ! What a privilege to worship together on this last Sabbath morning of the 59th General Conference session&amphellip.young people, older people, women, men, and children all together as God&amprsquos family. We are grateful for the many ways the Lord has led His church during this week. We give all the glory to Him.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is on a heaven-directed journey and we are almost home. I believe with all my heart that Jesus is coming soon! We say it in every language&hellip&amphellip. &ampldquoJesus revien bientot! (French) &ampldquoHaysoos vee-en-nay (vien-a) pronto!&rdquo (Spanish), Brehvee Jayzeus voltarah! (Portuguese), Isus prediot skora! (Russian), Yesu ana-kuja kari-buni sana! (Swahili), Yesu knee me&amphellip..Kgauld&amphellip.O shim-knee-dah! (Korean), Yesu zhai-lie! (Chinese), Yesu jelldee eye-gah! (Hindi), Si Haysus eye ma-lahh-pit nang duma-ting! (Tagalog), Ha ana ahti seriahn! (Arabic), Yahsus kommt bahldt! (German)&amphellip..and in so many other languages of the world.

I appreciate the wonderful spirit and enthusiasm of our worldwide family of faith. And while we are all proud of our respective nations and cultures, I praise the Lord that there is a culture of Christ that binds us together and supersedes all others. In that spirit, I humbly ask for your prayers that the message I share today is heard clearly and that the messenger not be lifted up. To that end, if there is a particular point with which you agree, please respond with a heartfelt &ampldquoAmen&rdquo instead of applause. Thank you for your help in keeping the message, not the messenger, the center of our time together.

CHAOTIC WORLD SOLID WORD

Signs of Christ&amprsquos coming are increasing in frequency and intensity every day. Destructive events in nature, the great confusion of world politics, the pervasive and compromising activities of ecumenism, the dramatic increase and influence of spiritualism, the deterioration of world economies, the disintegration of societal and family values, the disbelief in the absolute authority of God&amprsquos Holy Word and the ten commandments, rampant crime and moral decay, wars and rumors of war, on and on. All point unmistakably to the climax of earth&amprsquos history and the Lord&amprsquos return to take us on the final journey home to heaven.

What at tremendous blessing to know that even amidst the uncertainty of the world around us we can rest with absolute confidence in the unchanging Word of God! Throughout the course of human history and against relentless satanic attack, God has preserved His Holy Word. The Bible contains an accurate account of our origins, a reliable record of our salvation, and a glorious glimpse at our soon coming deliverance. As Seventh-day Adventists, we accept the Bible as the foundation for all our beliefs and see in its pages our unique prophetic identity and mission.

ADVENTIST IDENTITY AND MISSION

With the power of His truth, God has carved out of this chaotic world the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We are to be a peculiar people, God&amprsquos remnant people&amphellip..to lift up Christ, His righteousness, His three angels&rsquo messages of Revelation 14, and His soon coming. As Bible believing Christians living in the last days of earth&amprsquos history, we are to be what the apostle Peter called &ampldquoa chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light&rdquo (1 Peter 2:9). As God&amprsquos remnant people identified in Revelation 12:17 as those &ampldquowho keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,&rdquo we have a unique message of hope and a mandate to proclaim God&amprsquos grace to the world. In the seventh volume of the Testimonies we read, &ampldquoSeventh-day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world&hellip He has made them His representatives and has called them to be ambassadors for Him in the last work of salvation&rdquo (Testimonies to the Church, Vol 7, p 138).

SABBATH

One of the identifying characteristics of God&amprsquos last-day people is the fact that the members of His church accept and believe ALL ten of God&amprsquos commandments including the fourth commandment which calls us to remember the Lord&amprsquos holy Sabbath day. The observance of the Sabbath is not only a sign of His creatorship in the beginning but will be THE sign of God&amprsquos people in the last days in contrast to those with the mark of the beast representing an attempt to keep holy a day which God has not set apart as holy.

SABBATH AND THE THREE ANGEL&amprsquoS MESSAGES

The Sabbath and its significance relates to each of the three angels&rsquo messages in Revelation 14. The first angel, &ampldquohaving the everlasting Gospel&amprdquothe righteousness of Christproclaims &ampldquoFear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water&rdquo (Revelation 14:6, 7). God is the Creator and is to be worshiped on His Sabbath day as a sign of our loyalty to His Word and creative power. The second angel in verse 8 proclaims, &ampldquoBabylon is fallen, is fallen&amphellip..because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.&rdquo She has corrupted God&amprsquos commandments and instituted another day of worship other than the seventh-day Sabbath, which is the only true mark of God&amprsquos creatorship. The third angel announces in verses 9-12 that &ampldquoIf anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand&rdquo he or she will be tormented or destroyed with fire and brimstone. If you worship the beast and his image you are rejecting THE one sign God has proclaimed as His test of allegiance&hellip&amphellip..the seventh-day Sabbath.

SALVATION

The third angel closes his proclamation in verse 12 by identifying God&amprsquos people as those &ampldquowho keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.&rdquo We rely wholly on Jesus and our relationship with Him for our salvation. We do not obtain salvation through works, but through the grace of Christ that we proclaim. Grace is the promise of God&amprsquos pardon and the provision of God&amprsquos power&ndash justification and sanctification. You cannot separate what Christ does FOR you (justifying you daily as if you had not sinned) from what He does IN you (sanctifying you daily as you submit to Him and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to change your life to become more and more like Jesus.) This is the everlasting Gospel spoken about in the first angel&amprsquos message. It is righteousness by faith. This is why Seventh-day Adventists should be the most powerful voices in proclaiming God&amprsquos grace! The Great Controversy theme is all about God&amprsquos grace to save sinners and through His power to transform them into His sons and daughters, faithful witnesses proclaiming the three angels&rsquo messages with Holy Spirit zeal through a living connection with Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

The atoning blood of Jesus Christ on the cross and the atoning ministry of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary have but one purpose the salvation of every repentant sinner. Thus, through His atoning sacrifice and High Priestly ministry we can &ampldquocome boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need&rdquo (Hebrews 4:16). It is this marvelous, powerful, redeeming grace we have been called to proclaim to a sin-sick world.

Furthermore, only a genuine realization of the depths of God&amprsquos grace can remove all ground for the opposite extremes of either self-indulgence or self-reliance. That marvelous book, Steps to Christ, explains that, &ampldquoWe have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us [justification], and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us [sanctification]&rdquo (Steps to Christ, p 63). Read those wonderful pages surrounding this quotation for a clear view of righteousness by faith.

SPIRIT OF PROPHECY

Now, getting back to Revelation 12:17 and another great distinguishing mark of God&amprsquos remnant people. We read that they will &ampldquohave the testimony of Jesus Christ.&rdquo Revelation 19:10 tells us that &ampldquothe testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.&rdquo The same spirit that moved the holy men of old has again, in these last days, raised up a messenger for the Lord. My brothers and sisters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Lord has given us one of the greatest gifts possible in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. Just as the Bible is not outdated or irrelevant, neither is the testimony of God&amprsquos end-time messenger. God used Ellen G White as a humble servant to provide inspired insight about Scripture, prophecy, health, education, relationships, mission, families, and so many more topics. Let us read the Spirit of Prophecy, follow the Spirit of Prophecy and share the Spirit of Prophecy. There are so many wonderful books to share including the one book Ellen White indicated she wished distributed more than any other, The Great Controversy. Thank the Lord for the religious freedom in this and other countries that allows us to share truth. The Spirit of Prophecy is one of the identifying marks of God&amprsquos last-day remnant people and is just as applicable today as ever before because it was given to us by heaven itself. As God&amprsquos faithful remnant, may we never make of none effect the precious light given us in the writings of Ellen G. White.

CHRIST-LIKE HUMILITY

When we use that term, remnant church or remnant people, we must never use it in a self-centered, exclusive manner. We are to be the humblest people on earth, recognizing our complete need of Jesus our Savior and praising Him for calling us into this mighty Advent movement. This Advent movement is made up of humble, simple people &ampndashnot simplistic, but simple. Many of God&amprsquos people are educated, disciplined, and savvy, but yet we are to be a simple people. Our Savior spoke with astonishing authority yet was humble enough to be appealing to the worst of sinners. This church is not just another denomination it is a unique, heaven-initiated movement with an evangelistic mission of salvation to the world that must continually go forward in the humility of Jesus. The world needs to hear the message of Christ from a people who are Christ-like. When we are transformed by His grace, we will preach, teach, and witness to the straight message from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy in a humble, loving, winsome manner.

When we, in all humility, lean completely on the everlasting arms of our Lord, He will work through us in a mighty way to give the final message of mercy to a dying world. Our success in finishing this work depends on our submissiveness to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. It depends on humbling ourselves before our Creator and denying self so that Jesus can control us and overcome our sin. It depends on whether or not we are ready to humbly ask for revival and reformation in our lives personally and corporately as a church, which will lead to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.

Mrs. White records a vision in Testimonies, Vol 8, entitled, &ampldquoWhat Might Have Been&rdquo (Testimonies to the Church, Vol 8, p 104-106). She saw that God wanted to do two great things at the General Conference Session in 1901: 1. Reorganize the church which happened giving us much of the structure we have today and 2. Provide the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which did not happen because there was unbelief within the church and God&amprsquos leaders and people did not humble themselves before God. The church missed the opportunity of receiving the latter rain. It was one hundred nine years ago. Let us not make God wait any longer to begin the latter rain so that Jesus can come.

We need to earnestly pray for that experience. We have been doing that during this session and must continue to earnestly seek the Lord&amprsquos will in our lives after we leave here. Mrs. White makes clear that &ampldquoA revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work&rdquo (Selected Messages, Book 1, p 121). During a number of the business sessions of this General Conference, you have been pleading for revival and reformation, for the Holy Spirit and the latter rain. Brothers and sisters, it is time&hellip&amphellipthe Lord is coming soon! He wants to use His remnant church in a most powerful way.

The Lord is longing to reproduce in us His own character. This can happen as we surrender ourselves to Him each day. As Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5, &ampldquoLet this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.&rdquo As we connect with Christ daily and allow Him to work through us, we will be used by the Holy Spirit to proclaim His grace and to hasten the coming of the Lord. Remember, this is the Advent movement, a called people, a remnant church, a people of destiny, a people on a journey toward heaven as we proclaim God&amprsquos grace.

In the book Christ&amprsquos Object Lessons we read of Christ&amprsquos wish for His people, &ampldquoChrist is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain&rdquo Christ&amprsquos Object Lessons, p 69).

ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT

In the Old Testament, God called a peculiar people with a message and a destiny. They were called to go on a journey of faith and by their trust in Him to proclaim God&amprsquos grace to the world. The Children of Israel lived in Egypt for 400 years and ended up being slaves to the Egyptians. I grew up in Egypt until I was about eight. Cairo was my home&amphellip..I knew very little else about the world except the Middle East. It is a wonderful place filled with wonderful people. However, in that ancient time, Israel was in bondage in Egypt. Through God&amprsquos miraculous use of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, God freed His people for a journey&hellip&amphellipfor a mission to the world. After the final and devastating tenth plague, the Children of Israel left on their journey heading south from Egypt.

Exodus 13:21 says that &ampldquo...the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire&amphellip.&rdquo What a wonderful God&amphellip..He will lead us day and night! The Lord led them down the west side of the Red Sea next to the Egyptian Desert. We read in chapter 14:2 that God led them to a place to &ampldquocamp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon you shall camp before it by the sea.&rdquo My father, who spent almost 15 years in Egypt, feels he knows where this place is as it is described in Patriarchs and Prophets. It is a place where God could demonstrate His power against the Egyptians. Some Biblical scholars think the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea in a place where there was a waist-deep sea of reeds. Of what value would that be for God to demonstrate His power? Absolutely no value at all! In reality, it was a very difficult place. As the Israelites were progressing south they had the Egyptian Desert to the west, a mountain in front of them, the Red Sea to the east and Egypt behind them. The chapter goes on to describe how Pharoah changed his mind and marshaled his forces to pursue the Israelites with &ampldquosix hundred choice chariots and all the chariots of Egypt.&rdquo Verse 10 says that when the Israelites heard Pharoah&amprsquos army coming, they became terrified. Why is it that when God is leading, we become afraid? The Israelites had the demonstration of the cloud and pillar of fire&ampndashwhy not trust in a power that was leading them? Let&amprsquos learn the lesson. The Israelites were so distraught they chided Moses in verse 11 saying, &ampldquoBecause there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?&rdquo Why do we act the same way at times? We see God&amprsquos miraculous signs of guidance and mercy and then something goes wrong and we blame God.

Then in verse 13 Moses tells the people not to be afraid and to &ampldquoStand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which HE will accomplish for you today.&rdquo Often we are tempted to act on our own impulses without allowing the Lord to guide our steps. However, the Lord asks us to go forward only under His direction. Thus Moses gave the powerful promise in verse 14 that should be the promise we all claim as we face the culmination of the great controversy between Christ and Satan &amprdquoThe Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.&rdquo Brothers and sisters, the Lord will fight for us, He will open the way. He will provide victory for His church but we must trust Him, we must humble ourselves before Him, we must obey Him, and we must follow His leading.

And then, God proclaimed to the Children of Israel through Moses the same command He gives His last-day remnant church today. Verse 15 declares, &ampldquoAnd the Lord said to Moses, &amplsquoWhy do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to GO FORWARD.&rdquo When God says, Go Forward, we must Go Forward.

However, the children of Israel couldn&amprsquot see the big picture. They had forgotten how God had led them in the past. Let us never forget how God has led this