For almost 200 years Seventh-day Adventists have been preaching “Jesus is Coming Again.” We’ve been praying for the “Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” We’ve read the quotes by Ellen White about tracts and pamphlets being a light that goes around the world to fulfill the gospel commission. We wait for the “army of youth, rightly trained” to step forward and finish the work.
Yet, here we are.
Where is the Holy Spirit?
Where is the power that God has promised us?
We find in Revelation a description of people at the end of the world, both inside the church and outside the church, that state ” ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17) We shouldn’t be surprised by the state of those in the world or those in the church. We are exactly who Jesus said we would be. We are lukewarm.
There is good news however. Jesus is indeed coming again! There is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God is all-powerful and does have a work for us to do. The condition of the world and the church may be lukewarm, but we don’t have to be! We can choose to be faithful to the call God places on our lives. We can accept the promise of His Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9-11 says the Holy Spirit lives in us. The power is there, available to us. I believe we need a daily baptism of the Holy Spirit, a daily renewal of our lives in Jesus. This is where the power comes from.
The Wisconsin Conference currently employs 27 full time pastors and has seven Volunteer Lay Pastors (VLP’s) that are currently pastoring churches plus an additional 30+ VLP that are in our training program and we pray daily that the Holy Spirit will empower them each to do “the work.”
But we have thousands more, here in Wisconsin, who are called to join the work and spread the gospel. 1 Peter 2:5 says we are chosen by God to be part of his priesthood. We all have a job to do.
This year is our year of lay evangelism and we are praising God that we have over 40 lay led evangelistic series happening this year! We are anticipating thousands of seeds to be planted. God will reap the harvest, we have to plant the seed.
The world around us is in a Laodicean state. Will we stay there with them? The Holy Spirit is promised to us, that He lives in us. God has given us the power and is ready to do a great work.
Let’s partner with God and see what great things He has in store for us this year.
Adam Case, Ministerial Director