1. THE WORK OF THE PROPHETS
Lesson 7 for February 14, 2009

2. WERE THE PROPHETS CALLED TO PREACH THE PLAN OF SALVATION?

3. Preaching the plan of salvation
He taught the plan of salvation to the people by using the services taking place in the Sanctuary.
HOW DID MOSES DO IT?

4. Preaching the plan of salvation
In Isaiah 53, he explained how Jesus would die for all our sins, becoming our expiatory sacrifice.
HOW DID ISAIAH DO IT?

5. Preaching the plan of salvation
HOW DID PETER DO IT?
He introduced the plan of salvation in every preaching: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Jesus

6. Preaching the plan of salvation
HOW DID PAUL DO IT?
He wrote about Christ’s sacrifice in his letters to the churches: “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:9 NIV)

7. Preaching the plan of salvation
ELLEN G. WHITE
The Gospel is mentioned 8,000 times in her writings. Jesus’ sacrifice is mentioned 6,000 times.
“Let the science of salvation be the burden of every sermon, the theme of every song. Let it be poured forth in every supplication. Bring nothing into your preaching to supplement Christ, the wisdom and power of God. Hold forth the word of life, presenting Jesus as the hope of the penitent and the stronghold of every believer. Reveal the way of peace to the troubled and the despondent, and show forth the grace and completeness of the Saviour.” (Gospel Workers, p. 160)

8. HOW DID PROPHETS LEAD THE PEOPLE OF GOD?

9. Leading the people of God
ORGANIZATION
Moses organized the spiritual, political and judicial life of the people of Israel (Exodus 18:16)
Nathan, Gad and David organized the Temple services and music (2 Chronicles 29:25)
The apostles began to organize the early Church by apointing deacons (Acts 6:2-6)
Paul, Barnabas and their assistants organized new planted churches (Titus 1:5)

10. Leading the people of God
Sister White was took part in the early organization of the Adventist Church.
She pointed out that hospitals and schools should be built, that missionaries should go to other countries... She also explained how the institutions of the Church should work.
Leading the people of God
ELLEN G. WHITE
1888 Minneapolis General Conference

11. Leading the people of God
ELLEN G. WHITE
“The 1860s saw Ellen White and her husband in the forefront of the struggle to organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church into a stable institution. The decade was also crucial in that it encompassed the beginnings of Adventist health emphasis. Responding to Mrs. White’s appeal, the church as a body began to see the importance of healthful living in the Christian life. In response to her “Christmas Vision” of 1865, our first health institution, the Western Health Reform Institute, was opened in The institute later grew into the Battle Creek Sanitarium.”
The Upward Look. Biographical Notes.

12. HOW DID THE PROPHETS REPROVE SIN?

13. Reproving sin COLLECTIVELY
The prophets in the Old Testament fought against apostasy and the spiritual and moral problems of the people. For example, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel...
Paul, John and James faced problems of immorality, apostasy and social injustice within the Church (1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 John 4:1; James 2:1-9)

14. Reproving sin INDIVIDUALLY
Nathan accused David of his sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:1-14)
Oded reproved Azariah, Berekiah, Jehizkiah and Amasa because they took their brothers from Judah as captives (2 Chronicles 28:1-15)
Peter reproved the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, and the sin of Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 5:1-11; 8:17-24)

15. Reproving sin ELLEN G. WHITE
“When I have been compelled by the Spirit of God to reprove sins that others did not know existed, it has stirred up the natural feelings in the hearts of the unsanctified. While some have humbled their hearts before God, and with repentance and confession have forsaken their sins, others have felt a spirit of hatred rise in their hearts. Their pride has been hurt when their course has been reproved. They entertain the thought that it is Sister White who is hurting them, instead of feeling grateful to God that He has in mercy spoken to them through His humble instrument, to show them their dangers and their sins, that they may put them away before it shall be too late for wrongs to be righted.”
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, cp. 29, pg. 314.

16. WERE THEY UNCONDITIONAL PREDICTIONS FULFILLED?

17. Fulfilment (628 BC), after about 300 years
Predicting the future
Prediction (931 BC)
“And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, ‘O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: “Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.”’” (1 Kings 13:1-2)
Fulfilment (628 BC), after about 300 years
“Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.” (2 Kings 23:15-16)

18. Predicting the future
“And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.” (Acts 11:27-28)

19. Predicting the future ELLEN G. WHITE
Ellen G. White foretold future events like the beginning of modern spiritism (Fox sisters), the union between protestantism and the Catholic Church, and other events.
As Adventists, we must be awere of her prophecies about the events to come before during the End Time.
“The time is not far distant when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation, in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath, will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains.”
(Last Day Events, cp. 8, pg. 121)

20. HOW DID THE PROPHETS ACCOMPLISHED THEIR MISSION?

21. Preaching to groups of people (Paul, Acts 9:20-22)
In private interviews (Jeremiah 37:17)
By writing either personal letters or books (Elijah, 2 Chronicles 21:11-15; John, Revelation 1:11)

22. When Ellen Harmon (Ellen G
When Ellen Harmon (Ellen G. White’s maiden name) received her second vision in December 1844, she was told that she must go and relate to others what had been revealed to her. For several days, she prayed that this burden might be taken from her, but the words of the angel sounded continually in her ears, “ ‘Make known to others what I have revealed to you.’ ”—Ellen G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p. 69.
Early in her ministry, Ellen White also was told to write out the things revealed to her. Messages to individuals frequently were communicated to their recipients through letters (often called testimonies). Thousands of such communications were mailed from her home over the years. Of these she wrote, “In these letters which I write, in the testimonies I bear, I am presenting to you that which the Lord has presented to me.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 67. When Ellen White died, she left behind about one hundred thousand pages of published and unpublished material.