United In Prayer

This morning, during our final day of the week of prayer, I sat with a student who had been brought to tears through prayer. AGA students have spent the week engaging in “Prayer on FIRE”. The FIRE acronym calls us to worship in FAITH, with the right INTENTIONS, with the right RELATIONSHIPS and with ENDURANCE. This morning, the school sat in silent prayer for 8 minutes. That is a long time for many kids to be in the same room and not talk. During this prayer time, one of our students felt God communicate His love to them for the first time. I was greeted with the words, “I heard Him, Pastor. I heard Him. He spoke to me during prayer, and He told me that He loves me.” I was privileged to sit with a young person as they processed for the first time that there is a God who loves them. Prayer is powerful!

Our church is praying right now! Our 24/7 prayer vigil began on Friday, October 4th and continues through Monday. This morning, AGA students were our prayer warriors. We would love to include you in our united prayer. 

Events
Access the complete calendar on the Palmer SDA church Website (Events) tab.

Is Jesus Still Coming Again?

By William Earnhardt

After over 175 years of preaching the Second Coming, one crucial question comes to mind for Seventh-day Adventists. Is Jesus still going to come again? Are we still planning on it? Is it still a part of who we are?

Growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist, I heard people talk about how Jesus was indeed coming in the next five years. We thought the oil crisis in the 70’s was the beginning of the world's end. I remember looking at the form the Tulsa Roughnecks Soccer team sent me when I was a teen, asking me to renew my season tickets for the 1980 season. You may laugh at me, but I stared at that form in disbelief that I saw the year 1980 in print. There is no way the world will last that long, I thought. That was over 40 years ago, and we are in a new century. So what happened to the Second Coming? Is it still on?

In the mid-’80s, I joined a new Adventist church in the suburbs. I had just started dating a girl who went to that church, so I switched from the larger Adventist church where I was a member, to her church. We had just started dating when she dumped me. I stayed at this church because I did not want people to think I changed churches just for her. Besides, this church seemed to be really on fire. The weekly prayer meetings were very spiritual, and everyone was praying for the power of the Holy Spirit to prepare them for the Second Coming; about as many people were attending prayer meetings as we had at our Sabbath worship services. We were sure Jesus was coming soon, and we were getting ready.

Then something sad happened. People stopped coming to prayer meetings. Some decided “Growing Pains” was just too funny of a show to miss for a prayer meeting. People stopped coming to church altogether. This was not supposed to happen! Discouraged, I asked God why He did not come back when our church was at its spiritual peak when we had it all together. He waited too long, and now look what happened!

The Holy Spirit revealed why Jesus did not return when the church was on top of its game. Our church was on a spiritual roller coaster. Jesus is not coming back for a church on a spiritual roller coaster. He is not coming back for a people who walk with him off and on. A groom does not want to marry a bride whose love and devotion are in cycles. Neither does Jesus, Enoch walked with God for many years before being translated. God will come back for a church that will consistently walk with Him year after year, not on some roller coaster. The church is like a woman. For centuries, God’s church has loved to flirt with Him, but it also loves to flirt with the world. God’s church likes to date Jesus, but it also likes to date others too. Jesus is not returning for a date but for a wedding. When God’s church decides to stop dating and flirting with Jesus and decides to get married, He will return.

During this same period, our suburban church also asked the Holy Spirit to get sin out of our lives so we could be ready for Jesus to come. We did not – or at least I did not – realize how legalistic it was. Jesus is not coming back for a legalistic group who gets their act together so they can have some great reward like heaven. Jesus is coming back for a people who love Him because He first loved them. Today, I ask the Holy Spirit to remove sin from my life, not because Jesus is coming back, but because my sin breaks God’s heart. I do not want to break His heart any more, regardless of whether He is coming back tomorrow or a hundred years from now.

Now that I am older, I don’t hear people talking about Jesus returning in the next five years. So, is the whole thing off?

Some of Satan’s best weapons are over-zealous religious fanatics. They tell people Jesus is coming back during a specific time, and when their “prophecy” fails, people doubt that Jesus is coming back. However, this is all Satan’s plan. To get us to give up right before it happens. Concentration camp survivors say they survived because they never set a date for their rescue. Some wanted to be rescued by Christmas, and then when that came and went, they wanted to be rescued by Easter, and then when Easter came and went, they gave up hope. Others just knew they would be rescued someday, and they survived.

As Seventh-day Adventists, we must believe Jesus is returning without setting dates. Some have gone to the other extreme now and don’t even preach the Second Coming. They preach social sermons, which they find more practical in everyday life. While we must be useful, we must also realize that God formed our church over 150 years ago for a specific reason.

Are we embarrassed by our message? I am sure the disciples were embarrassed when Jesus was crucified, but there was no reason for them to be ashamed. Are we afraid people will not believe our message, so we preach things we know the world will accept? If so, shame on us! We do our Savior and neighbor no justice by hiding our unique message.

The Seventh-day Adventist church has a message that will do more than prepare people to live pleasant little lives in this world. We have a gospel that will prepare people for the world to come! We must let everyone know the Second Coming is still on!

There are twice as many prophecies about the Second Coming than there were about Jesus’ first advent. He came the first time, so we know beyond a shadow of a doubt He is coming the second time. Jesus warns against setting times for His return when He tells us, “In the hour you think not, the Son of man cometh.” Satan has been using religious fanatics for years to get us all excited and then disappointed that He has not returned. Satan wants us to give up and think Jesus is not returning at all. There is great danger in what I was always hearing growing up – about Jesus coming in the next five years – because it does two things: It makes us give up hope when He does not return in those five years, and it also makes us think we have five years to prepare. One day, we won’t have five years to prepare. We won’t have one year to prepare. In the hour we think not, He will come!

Don’t get ready, be ready! Be ready, not because He is coming back but because we love Him because He first loved us! The Adventist church – the church that believes the Bible prophecies about the Second Coming – has a reason to exist! If we preach social day-by-day sermons you can hear anywhere else, then we are not fulfilling our purpose for coming into existence over 150 years ago. A true Adventist more than believes Jesus is coming. We love His appearance! We have a message to give to the world, and the world's people are hungry for our message. We need to tell them that Jesus is coming back. Jesus loves them and wants to be with them forever!

P.S. The feelings and opinions expressed by the writer may not indicate the publisher’s feelings and opinions or represent your local church leadership.

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