April 28, 2022 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Ted Wilson (TW): Hello, friends. Today, I am with our Executive Officer team at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland….Erton Kohler, the Secretary of the General Conference, and Paul Douglas, the Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer of the General Conference. We are sharing with you an earnest, special appeal for united prayer.
We are living in very serious times, and as the world careens from one crisis to the next, this is the time, more than ever, to unite as a worldwide Church family. We are to proclaim the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 and pray fervently for revival, reformation, repentance, and humility as we prepare for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the final loud cry of the fourth angel of Revelation 18 opening the way for the Lord’s second coming.
Erton Kohler (EK): People everywhere recognize that time is short, and Jesus is coming soon. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is committed to carrying out its God-given message and mission unitedly around the world, and one way is through General Conference Sessions with its more than 2,000 delegates representing more than 21 million Seventh-day Adventists worldwide.
Normally, GC Sessions are held every five years, but the 61st General Conference Session, originally scheduled to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2020, had to be postponed twice due to extraordinary circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The GC Executive Committee has rescheduled the 61st Session to take place June 6-11, 2022, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Paul Douglas (PD): General Conference Sessions are important business meetings and decisions taken there affect the world church as a whole. Some of the business conducted at a General Conference Session includes the election of General Conference officers, departmental directors and associates, and officers of the General Conference’s world divisions. Delegates at the Session also discuss and vote on items such as the Church’s Constitution and Bylaws, our Fundamental Beliefs, the Church Manual, and any other business referred to it by the GC Executive Committee’s Annual Council.
EK: In addition to these regular business items, other elements of the Session include inspiring music and spiritual devotionals, and wonderful division and attached union reports showing how God is working through His Church around the world. Of course, it is also a special time for fellowship as a worldwide family of believers. Due to financial considerations, however, this year’s GC Session will be held over six days rather than ten days of past GC Sessions.
TW: As we approach the upcoming General Conference Session, as a world church we want to refocus on revival for mission. Ahead of us lies a wave of challenges and defining moments as we face the reopening of the post-pandemic world, armed conflicts, political and natural crises, and much more. We must be clear in what we believe, for our beliefs define our mission and practice. It is therefore vital that we renew our commitment to following God’s Word and counsels from the Spirit of Prophecy, and to truly seek the converting and reviving presence of the Holy Spirit, asking Him to do in and through us a work which only He can accomplish. We need to plead with God for a deeper consecration, and a heart in tune with His will – both for our personal lives, our families, and for our worldwide Church.
EK: As officers of the General Conference, we invite you to join us in a special time of study and prayer leading up to the General Conference Session. Called, the “40 Days of Prayer,” this special initiative of the Church’s Revival and Reformation Committee begins on Tuesday, May 3, and runs through the GC Session itself, ending on Sabbath, June 11. Everyone is invited to join us in these 40 Days of Prayer as we unite in studying and praying, focusing on the themes of Revival and Reformation, God’s Word, Christ our Righteousness, the Holy Spirit, the Three Angels’ Messages, and Mission. Daily and weekly inspirational materials will be provided free to you when you sign up at the website shown at the bottom of the screen [revivalandreformation.org/40days].
PD: Prayer is a vital part of the Christian’s life, and in the life of the Church. I begin each day on my knees in prayer. However, my prayer does not end there; I continue in conversation with God throughout the course of the day. In these conversations, I speak, and God listens. But even more importantly, God speaks, and I listen. In addition to personal communion with God, I have seen Him work through prayer in the life of the Church. Sometimes we face situations that seem insurmountable from a human point of view. Nevertheless, as we pray and ask God to lead, He opens doors, and it is clear He has answered in a profound way. As we approach the upcoming GC Session, it is important we unite as brothers and sisters around the world and pray for God to lead in an amazing way.
TW: A few weeks before the 1888 General Conference Session, Ellen White was impressed to write a letter to the delegates expressing her deep convictions. She wrote, “We are impressed that this gathering will be the most important meeting you have ever attended. This should be a period of earnestly seeking the Lord, and humbling your hearts before Him. I hope you will regard this as a most precious opportunity to pray and counsel together.” She urged delegates to follow the counsel of Paul, given in Philippians 2:3, to “esteem others better than ourselves.” Then, she said, “you can in humility of mind, with the spirit of Christ, search the scriptures carefully to see what is truth. . . . The truth can lose nothing by close investigation. Let the word of God speak for itself, let it be its own interpreter, and the truth will shine like precious gems amid the rubbish.” (Letter 20, August 5, 1888).
EK: In this important letter, Ellen White emphasizes the necessity of personal Bible study, coupled with sincere prayer, asking God “to open their understanding to the truth of His word.” She continues with this pointed interpersonal instruction: “Let every soul now be divested of envy, of jealousy, of evil surmising, and bring their hearts into close connection with God. If all do this, they will have that love burning upon the altar of their hearts which Christ evidenced for them. All parties will have Christian kindness and Christian tenderness. There will be no strife; for the servants of God must not strive.” Letter 20, August 5, 1888
PD: Ellen White then speaks of last day events in words that are even more relevant for us today, stating, “We have been apprised of our dangers, the trials and temptations just before us; and now is the time to take special pains,” or efforts, “to prepare ourselves to meet the temptations and the emergencies which are just before us. If souls neglect to bring the truth into their lives, and be sanctified through the truth . . . they will be swept away by some of the manifold errors and heresies, and will lose their souls.” She continued, “All selfish ambition should be laid aside, and you should plead with God for his Spirit to descend upon you as it came upon the disciples who were assembled together upon the day of Pentecost.” Letter 20, August 5, 1888
TW: Friends, just as the believers experienced the early rain of the Holy Spirit, we long for the promised Latter Rain so we can finish the work God has given us to do and we can go home! Let’s remember, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was a result of the believers being in “one accord,” described in Acts 2. They were united in belief and purpose, and this unity came about as they sought God in prayer, contemplated His Word, and confessed their sins.
EK: Ellen White gives us divine counsel for achieving unity today: “All misunderstandings and controversies may be happily and successfully adjusted by the living testimonies of the word of God. One of the greatest hindrances to our spiritual success is the great want of love and respect evidenced for one another. We should seek most earnestly, by every word and action, to answer the prayer of Christ, and to encourage that unity which is expressed in the prayer of Christ, that we may be one as he is one with the Father.” Letter 20, August 5, 1888
PD: She continues: “Every feeling of indifference for one another should be strenuously overcome, and everything that would tend to variance with brethren should be put away . . . The love of Jesus Christ existing in the heart will consume these little things, or greater things, which tend to divide hearts. Satan sees that in unity there is strength; that in variance and disunion there is weakness” (Letter 20, August 5, 1888).
TW: Friends, Jesus is coming soon! Let us come toget-her as a worldwide family during these 40 Days of Prayer, seeking God with all of our hearts through sincere prayer, confession, and revitalized Bible study. Let us ask God to reveal any barriers to the unity of the Church that may exist in our own hearts, asking Him to give us the grace to reach out to those whom we may have offended or who have offended us. Let us plead for revival and reformation that the Holy Spirit can bring to us individually, to our families, to our local churches, and throughout His worldwide Church family as we anticipate Christ’s soon coming.
I invite you to pray with us just now.
EK: Our Heavenly Father. Our hearts are full of gratitude for everything that you are doing in the life of the church and in the life of each one of us. Thank you for your blessings, but we would like to ask, especially for the unity of your family, your church in this earth. You’ll know that we have a great mission to fulfill, and we will do it just if we receive the Holy Spirit and work together as a family, as one united. We feel.
PD: Our Heavenly Father, we continue in prayer. Just so thankful that you’re willing to use us as part of your mission. And we ask that God on your church and every member in this church of yours to give them a full outpouring of your Holy Spirit, that they may have that power to go and teach and preach and baptize and to build up your kingdom for your soon return.
TW: And Lord, as we unitedly pray during those 40 days of prayer, we ask that you will truly unite our hearts as we focus upon the mission ahead of us and the Lord’s soon second coming.
Bless Lord, as our people around the globe proclaim the three Angels messages with Holy Spirit power, give them not only the words in their mouths to share, but give them great enthusiasm in their personal, practical Christianity showing the love of Jesus to others. And so, Lord, we plead with you to bring unity into our church so that we might accomplish the great task before us and share the love of Jesus. His wonderful three angels’ messages and the knowledge that Jesus is coming soon. Sharing that with everyone around us. We thank you for hearing us. Bless your church in this work. In Christ’s name, we ask it, amen.