The Hovering Quotes1- Complete - newly added to
The following quotations are taken from the Ellen White CD-ROM. They are quotations which contain the words: hover or its variants such as hovering, and minister or its variants. They are quotations in which Ellen White instructed the ministers not to hover over churches and those who knew the message but to seek the lost instead. Many of these quotations were one-time insertions in journals such as Review and Herald, Signs of the Times, the Unions’ periodicals, etc, but were not later compiled into the books which one would purchase at the ABC. Much of what Ellen White wrote on this subject therefore was not readily available for modern readers until the advent of the Ellen White CD-ROM. As you read these passages, you will see the need of an increased awareness of God’s instructions for His church in this area. It will be easy to see how far we have strayed from God’s plan for the ministry of both the Gospel minister and the church members. May God guide you as you prayerfully examine information which God gave us through His prophet, Ellen White.
Thanks, Wes McDonald
5200 W Co Rd 200 S
French Lick, IN 47432
wesmcd@earthlink.net
God has no use for those who seek a safe and easy place. By an unreserved consecration we are to prepare ourselves for God's service. Our ministers are not to hover over the churches, regarding the churches in some particular territory as their special care. Believers are to have root in themselves, striking firm root in Christ, that they may bear fruit to His glory. As one man, they are to strive to attain one object,--the saving of souls.
Mrs. E. G. White. {Pacific Union Recorder, August 28, 1902 par. 11}
The Lord's vineyard is a more extensive one than the present working force is able properly to cultivate. Therefore it is necessary that every one should labor to the full extent of his ability. Whosoever refuses to do this, dishonors the Lord of the vineyard, and if he continues inactive, the Lord will disown him. As the human agent endeavors to labor, God works in him and by him. When the Lord sees that little real effort for the conversion of souls is put forth in regions beyond, when he sees that golden opportunities are lost, and that the spiritual physician is devoting his energy and skill to those who are whole, neglecting the maladies of those who are ready to die, he is not pleased. He cannot pronounce the "well done" upon such work; for it is not hastening but hindering the progress of his cause, when rapid advancement is most necessary. Time and energy and means are devoted to those who know the truth, instead of being used to enlighten the ignorant. Our churches are being tended as though they were sick lambs by those who should be seeking for the lost sheep. If our people would minister to other souls who need their help, they would themselves be ministered unto by the Chief Shepherd, and thousands would be rejoicing in the fold who are now wandering in the desert. Instead of hovering over our people, let every soul go to work to seek and to save the lost. Let every soul labor, not in visiting among our churches, but in visiting the dark places of the earth where there are no churches. {Review and Herald, June 25, 1895 par. 6}
I wish to tell you that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work. The work of a minister is to minister. Our ministers are to work on the gospel plan of ministering. It has been presented to me that all through America there are barren fields. As I traveled through the South on my way to the Conference, I saw city after city that was unworked. What is the matter? The ministers are hovering over churches, which know the truth, while thousands are perishing out of Christ. If the proper instruction were given, if the proper methods were followed, every church member would do his work as a member of the body. He would do Christian missionary work. But the churches are dying, and they want a minister to preach to them. They should be taught to bring a faithful tithe to God, that he may strengthen and bless them. They should be brought into working order, that the breath of God may come to them. They should be taught that unless they can stand alone, without a minister, they need to be converted anew, and baptized anew. They need to be born again. {General Conference Bulletin, April 12, 1901 par. 21}
Go Work for Souls.--Instead of keeping the ministers at work for the churches that already know the truth, let the members of the churches say to these laborers: "Go work for souls that are perishing in darkness. We ourselves will carry forward the services of the church. We will keep up the meetings, and, by abiding in Christ, will maintain spiritual life. We will work for souls that are about us, and we will send our prayers and our gifts to sustain the laborers in more needy and destitute fields."--Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 30. (1900) {Evangelism 382.1}
Conference Workers Called to New Fields.--As a general rule, the conference laborers should go out from the churches into new fields, using their God-given ability to a purpose in seeking and saving the lost.--Letter 136, 1902. {Evangelism 382.2}
Aggressive Work Called For.--Our ministers should plan wisely, as faithful stewards. They should feel that it is not their duty to hover over the churches already raised up, but that they should be doing aggressive evangelistic work, preaching the Word and doing house-to-house work in places that have not yet heard the truth. . . . They will find that nothing is so encouraging as doing evangelistic work in new fields. --Letter 169, 1904. {Evangelism 382.3}
If the ministers would get out of the way, if they would go forth into new fields, the members would be obliged to bear responsibilities, and their capabilities would increase by use.--Letter 56, 1901. {Evangelism 382.4}
Ministerial Forces Exhausted on Established Churches.--Our people have had great light, and yet much of our ministerial force is exhausted on the churches, in teaching those who should be teachers; enlightening those who should be "the light of the world"; watering those from whom should flow springs of living water; enriching those who might be veritable mines of precious truth; repeating the gospel invitation to such as should be scattered to the uttermost parts of the earth, communicating the message of Heaven to many who have not had the privileges which they have enjoyed; feeding those who should be in the byways and highways heralding the invitation, "Come; for all things are now ready." Come to the gospel feast; come to the supper of the Lamb; "for all things are now ready." {Evangelism 382.5}
Now is the time for earnest wrestling with God. Our voices should join with the Saviour's in that wonderful prayer: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Many may ask, "Who is sufficient for these things?" The responsibility rests upon every individual. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."--Review and Herald, July 23, 1895. {Evangelism 383.1}
Do not, my ministering brethren, allow yourselves to be kept at home to serve tables; and do not hover around the churches, preaching to those who are already fully established in the faith. Teach the people to have light in themselves, and not to depend upon the ministers. They should have Christ as their helper, and should educate themselves to help one another, so that the minister can be free to enter new fields. An important work is to be done in the world. New fields are to be opened; and the zeal and the missionary spirit that Christ manifested are greatly needed. Oh that the power of God would set the truth home to every heart! Oh that all might see the necessity of having a living connection with God, and of knowing and doing his will from day to day! {Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists 139.1}
Help your church understand why it should not expect the minister to wait on them.--My heart has been filled with sadness as I have looked over the field and seen the barren places. What does this mean? Who are standing as representatives of Jesus Christ? Who feels a burden for the souls who cannot receive the truth till it is brought to them? Our ministers are hovering over the churches, as though the angel of mercy was not making efforts to save souls. {Pastoral Ministry 99.3}
God holds these ministers responsible for the souls of those who are in darkness. He does not call you to go into fields that need no physician. Establish your churches with the understanding that they need not expect the minister to wait upon them and to be continually feeding them. They have the truth; they know what truth is. They should have root in themselves. These should strike down deeply, that they may reach up higher and still higher. They must be rooted and grounded in the faith. EGW'88 1752. {Pastoral Ministry 100.1}
Ministers who hover over their churches do them harm.--The churches that have not life in themselves, that have lost their spiritual discernment, call for ministers to come to their help, to bring them the breath of life. But the ministers have other work to do. They must carry the message of truth to those who know it not. Those ministers who hover about the churches, who have not a clear cut message, which, like a sharp, two-edged sword, cuts both ways, will do the churches harm. They will not work for the salvation of souls that are in great peril because they know not the truth, and they will die spiritually themselves, and trouble and discourage those who try to help them. 6MR 65. {Pastoral Ministry 121.3}
Hold little companies together by helping them become soulwinners.--There are many who have never heard from the Word the reasons for our faith; and yet some of our ministers feel a burden to hover over little companies of believers in an effort to hold them together. The best way to hold them together is to induce them to maintain a living connection with God, and to exert their influence in seeking to draw others to Him.--RH July 16, 1908. {Pastoral Ministry 263.4}
Some men have a special message from heaven. They are to be sent forth to waken the people, not to hover over the churches to their own detriment and the hindrance of the work of God. It does a church no good to have two or three ministers waiting upon it. Were these ministers to go forth to labor for those in darkness, their work would show some results. Let the experienced men take the young men who are preparing for the ministry and go forth into new territory to proclaim the message of warning. {Selected Messages vol. 2, 156.1}
The Lord's great vineyard demands from His servants that which it has not yet received-- earnest, persevering labor for souls. The ministry is becoming weak and enfeebled, and under its tame service the churches also are becoming weak. As the result of their labors the ministers have but little to show in the conversion of souls. The truth is not carried into the barren places of the earth. These things are depriving God of the glory that belongs to Him. He calls for workers who will be producers as well as consumers. {Testimonies for the Church vol. 7, 255.2}
The world is to be warned. Ministers should work earnestly and devotedly, opening new fields and engaging in personal labor for souls, instead of hovering over the churches that already have great light and many advantages. {Testimonies for the Church vol. 7, 255.3}
The people of God who have had light and knowledge have not carried out the high and holy purposes of God. They have not advanced from victory to victory, adding new territory, lifting up the standard in the cities and their suburbs. Great spiritual blindness has been shown by those who have had great light flashed upon them by the Lord, but who have not advanced in the light to greater and still greater light. Church members have not been encouraged to use spiritual nerve and muscle in the work of advancement. They should be made to understand that ministers cannot work out their salvation by hovering over them. It is thus that they are made weaklings when they ought to be strong men. {Testimonies for the Church vol. 9, 139.2}
In all lines of ministerial work there is need of greater earnestness. Time is passing, and work that should be far advanced is almost at a standstill. Ministers are not to spend their time hovering over the churches, laboring for those who have already accepted the truth. They are to go forth to proclaim the message to those who have not heard it. They must sow the seeds of truth in fields that have not yet been sown. {Australasian Union Conference Record, July 15, 1902 par. 1}
God has given all something to do. Those who are willing to work in self-denial and self-sacrifice will find their place. But those who seek only a safe and easy place need to be converted. Until their hearts are renewed, their purposes changed, God has no use for them in His work. By an unreserved consecration we are to prepare ourselves for His service. Our ministers are not to hover over the churches, regarding the churches in some particular place as their special care. And our churches should not feel jealous and neglected if they do not receive ministerial labor. They should themselves take up the burden, and labor most earnestly for souls. Believers are to have root in themselves, striking firm root in Christ, that they may bear fruit to His glory. As one man, they are to strive to attain one object,--the saving of souls. {Australasian Union Conference Record, August 1, 1902 par. 7}
Now I wish to say, We want the people to take hold of the work with interest. In every Church where there is a minister, he is to be a shepherd, not hovering over those in the Church, but taking workers with him, he is to go into the places around. {General Conference Bulletin, April 5, 1901 par. 35}
If our ministers, instead of hovering over the churches to keep the breath of life in them, would go forth to work for those outside the fold, those in the churches would receive the vital current from heaven as they hear that souls were drawn to the Lamb of God. They would pray that God would give power to the workers, and their prayers would be as sharp sickles in the harvest fields. {General Conference Bulletin, April 5, 1901 par. 43}
I have been for a long time pressed under the burden of the fact that we are not elevating the standard as we should. New fields are continually opening, and the third angel's message must be proclaimed to all kindreds, nations, tongues, and peoples. We must not feel that we are compelled to hover over churches that have received the truth. We must not encourage the people to depend upon ministerial labor in order to preserve spiritual life. Everyone who has received the truth must go to God for his individual self, and decide to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Those who have embraced the third angel's message must not make man their trust, and depend upon the ministers to make their experience for them. {The Home Missionary, December 1, 1894 par. 14}
Let every one do all in his power to help, both by his means and by his prayers, to carry the burden for souls for whom the ministers are laboring. Earnest prayer sent up to God for his blessing upon the laborers in the field, should follow the laborers as sharp sickles into the harvest field. When the people thus pray for the work, they will not be selfish, and seek to have the ministers preaching to them who know the truth, but will say to the minister, "Go and carry the truth so precious to us, to others, and our prayers shall go with you." This will be a valuable experience to every member of the church. {The Home Missionary, December 1, 1894 par. 15}
Ministers are not to be called hither and thither to attend board meetings to decide common business questions. This has been done in the past, but it is not the work in which the Lord wishes them to engage. Let men who have not been set apart to the sacred work of the ministry take the management of financial matters. Too many financial burdens have been placed upon the ministers. When this is done, the great gospel commission is neglected. God looks upon this as a dishonor to His name. {Pacific Union Recorder, September 12, 1901 par. 7}
The Lord's great vineyard demands from His servants that which it has not yet received,--earnest, persevering labor for souls. The ministry is becoming weak and feeble, and under its tame service the churches also are becoming weak. The ministers have but little to show in the conversion of souls as a result of their labors. These things are depriving God of the glory which belongs to Him. The truth is not carried into the barren places of the earth. God calls for workers who will be producers as well as consumers. {Pacific Union Recorder, September 12, 1901 par. 8}
There is a world to be warned. Ministers should be engaged in earnest work to open new fields, and in personal labor for souls, and not hovering over the churches which have already received great light and many advantages.
Sept. 9, 1901. Ellen G. White. {Pacific Union Recorder, September 12, 1901 par. 9}
Oh, what a work there is before us! Our ministers are not to hover over those who have received the message. With Christ's love burning in their hearts, they are to go forth to win sinners to the Saviour. Beside all waters God's messengers are to sow the seeds of truth. Place after place is to be visited; church after church is to be raised up. Those who take their stand for the truth are to be organized into churches, and then the minister is to pass on to other equally important fields. {Pacific Union Recorder, April 24, 1902 par. 6}
Just as soon as a church is organized, let the minister set the members to work. The newly-formed churches will need to be educated. The minister should devote more of his time to educating than to preaching. He should teach the people how to extend the knowledge of the truth. While the new converts should be taught to ask counsel of those more experienced in the work, they should also be taught not to put ministers in the place of God. Ministers are not gods, but human beings, men compassed with infirmities. Christ is the One to whom all are to look for guidance. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. . . . And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." {Pacific Union Recorder, April 24, 1902 par. 7}
The power of the gospel is to come upon the companies raised up, fitting them for service. Some of the new converts will be so filled with the power of God that they will at once enter the work, imparting that which they have received. They will labor so diligently that they will have neither time nor disposition to weaken the hands of their brethren by unkind criticism. Their one desire will be to carry the message of truth to the regions beyond. Mrs. E. G. White. {Pacific Union Recorder, April 24, 1902 par. 8}
In all lines of ministerial work there is need of greater earnestness. Time is passing, and work that should be far advanced is almost at a standstill. Ministers are not to spend their time hovering over churches, laboring for those who have already accepted the truth. They are to go forth to proclaim the message to those who have not heard it. They must sow the seeds of truth in fields that have not yet been sown. Work is to be done in various ways. Humble men, willing to make sacrifices, to work as Christ worked, are needed. And church members are to be taught to work in the Lord's home vineyard. {Pacific Union Recorder, July 31, 1902 par. 1}
We shall meet opposition arising from selfish motives and from bigotry and prejudice, yet with undaunted courage and living faith, we should sow beside all waters. The agents of Satan are formidable; we shall meet them and must combat them. Our labors are not to be confined to our own country. The field is the world; the harvest is ripe. The command given the disciples just before he ascended was, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." We feel pained beyond measure to see some of our ministers hovering about the churches, apparently putting forth some little effort, but having next to nothing to show for their labors. The field is the world. Let them go out to the unbelieving world and labor to convert souls to the truth. We refer our brethren and sisters to the example of Abraham going up to Mount Moriah to offer his only son at the command of God. Here was obedience and sacrifice. Moses was in king's courts, and a prospective crown was before him. But he turned away from the tempting bribe and "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." {Review and Herald, December 15, 1874 par. 29}
This work must be more extended. There must be far less hovering about the churches. Many are spiritually weak because they have not let the light which God has given them shine forth to the world. They have not connected with Christ, and become channels of blessing. God's people must read and practise his word for themselves. In the place of depending upon ministers, they must learn to place their trust in God. He exhorts them to "stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." {Review and Herald, January 19, 1897 par. 9}
The ministers who are hovering over the churches, preaching to those who know the truth, would better go into places still in darkness. Unless they do this, they themselves and their congregations will become dwarfed. Our religion has become weak and sickly because the members of the church have left their first love. They might be strong men and women in Christ if they would obey the Lord's directions. {Review and Herald, February 9, 1905 par. 12}
There are many who have never heard from the Word the reasons for our faith; and yet some of our ministers feel a burden to hover over little companies of believers in an effort to hold them together. The best way to hold them together is to induce them to maintain a living connection with God, and to exert their influence in seeking to draw others to him. It is our work to help others to place their feet upon the right foundation, and to understand their duty through a prayerful study of the Scriptures. {Review and Herald, July 16, 1908 par. 4}
Satan knows that his time is short, and he is putting forth every effort in his power to destroy our faith in God and in his Word. His agencies are following us constantly, seeking to induce us to follow his plans, and to take a wrong course in word and deed. But if we will grasp the power that Christ offers, seeking the Lord diligently, and watching unto prayer, we shall have all power and wisdom to meet the attacks of the enemy. {Review and Herald, July 16, 1908 par. 5}
Many of our people do not seem to realize that the time has come for every one to take his stand positively on the side of Jesus Christ and the heavenly angels. By their indifference, by carelessness in word and act, they leave themselves open to the molding influences of the enemy. They seem asleep as regards the issues that are now before the world. {Review and Herald, July 16, 1908 par. 6}
The coming of these people to Christ and their conversion to the truth was an object-lesson to the disciples, and it should teach an important lesson to all who are engaged in the work of soul saving. From it ministers should learn that God desires them to go forth into aggressive labor, that He has not given them the work of hovering over the churches, when close by there are souls who are perishing for lack of knowledge. {Signs of the Times, December 4, 1901 par. 3}
Hovering Over Churches Weakens Them--The time that has been used in preaching to our churches has not strengthened them, but has made them weak and helpless, to be fed with milk and not with meat. God has been calling upon His ministers to leave the ninety and nine and hunt for the lost sheep. Your experience is to be a lesson for all who are hovering over the churches--consumers and not producers. We tell you to put your trust in God. Let Him guide you. The Lord Jesus is answering your prayers.--Letter 132, 1901, p. 8. (To S. N. Haskell and wife, October 7, 1901.) {Manuscript Releases vol. 10, 227.3}
Our ministers are not to be encouraged to hover about the churches to repeat to the believers week after week the same truths. We have a truth that is saving and precious. The Word of God must be planted in many hearts, the bread of life must be dealt out to many hungering souls. If we will study carefully the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, with these words I have read to you from the 54th and 55th chapters, you will see that there is a precious and an extended work to be done by the people of God. It is a blessed work to lift up Christ before the world. {Manuscript Releases vol. 10, 320.2}
The Lord's great vineyard demands from men that which it has not yet received--earnest, persevering labor for souls. The ministry is becoming weak and feeble, and under their tame service the churches also are becoming weak. The ministers of our conferences have very little to show in the conversion of souls as a result of their labors. These things are depriving God of the glory which belongs to Him. The truth is not carried into the barren places of the earth. God calls for workers who will be producers. There is a world to be warned. Why are the ministers who should be laboring in special service earnestly to open new fields and raise up new churches, hovering over the churches which have already received great light and many advantages which they do not appreciate? {Manuscript Releases vol. 13, 208.4}
This is the lesson the ministers must learn before they can accomplish the work of God has appointed them. God has not given those who know the truth the work of hovering over the churches when there are souls close by them who are perishing for lack of knowledge. {Manuscript Releases vol. 14, 141.1}
We have had the most successful camp meeting that has been held in New South Wales. It exceeded anything we had hoped. The light of the third angel's message has penetrated many dark places. We need every day a living connection with God. Our faith is not as strong as it should be. As a people we are not as devotional as we should be. We have great light, great opportunities, great privileges, and we now need to walk with the light and have a faith proportionate to the great and living truths we are handling. We must not trust in our own powers or in the powers and smartness of our speakers. We must lean our whole weight upon One who can help us in every emergency. Our work is aggressive; there must be no halting. There must be less, far less, hovering about the churches, and far more lifting the standard in new fields. Our ministers must give the trumpet a certain sound, lifting up Jesus and saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." {Manuscript Releases vol. 15, 8.3}
I would say, Let Brother Simpson labor where his message is evidently accomplishing great good. Those who have come to his meetings have given freely of their means to sustain the work that he has carried forward. At this time, when there is such urgent need of workers in Los Angeles, when the brethren are seeking to establish a sanitarium there, I dare not say to Elder Simpson, You must go back to Canada. And, besides, such a move might not be best for his health. For the present let him remain in Los Angeles, for the Lord is giving him marked success in bearing the message to the people. Let him give the trumpet a certain sound, arousing those who have never heard the truth. May the Lord encourage him to remain in Los Angeles until the church members are aroused to gird on the armor and show that they have a burden to give the message. Our ministers are not to hover over the churches. They are to proclaim the truth, as Elder Simpson is doing. Let those who know not the truth be given an opportunity to hear the reasons of our faith. {Manuscript Releases vol. 15, 314.1}
I believe that Brother Simpson is presenting the truth as God would have many others present it. Some of the brethren in Los Angeles felt that he should do more in the church there. When this was suggested to me, I thought of the answer that Christ gave when the priests and rulers reproached Him for eating with publicans and sinners. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," He declared. {Manuscript Releases vol. 15, 314.2}
Let the work now being accomplished for those who have never before heard the truth, lead our ministers and church members in Los Angeles to arouse. Let them take hold, as they see that God is working. Let them make diligent work in repenting of their coldness and indifference and selfishness. As the church is by repentance cleansed from this neglect, and the members are converted, they will heartily engage in laboring from house to house. By teaching those who are seeking for the light of truth, they themselves will receive a valuable education. {Manuscript Releases vol. 15, 315.1}
Let no one, by precept or example, seek to draw Elder Simpson from his God-appointed work. Let all take hold with him in an effort to carry the work in clear lines. The members of the Los Angeles church need to heed every message that comes to them bidding them arouse from their stupor. If they will earnestly seek the Lord, He will give them light and life and the quickening power of the Holy Spirit. {Manuscript Releases vol. 15, 315.2}
The idea that our ministers must hover over the churches might just as well be given up now as later. The members of the churches must be taught to keep themselves at work, showing the intelligence and spirituality God requires in those who claim to be members of His church. {Sermons and Talks vol. 2, 156.5}
What is going to give life to the churches? Nothing can do this like seeing the work advancing in the harvest field. And in this work the members of the churches can all take part. They may not preach, but they can help in many other ways. Many can work as Brother Shireman has worked. God has given us Brother Shireman's work as an object lesson. God has encouraged Brother Shireman in his work. The Spirit of the Lord has guided and blessed him. There are others who can and should work as he has worked. {Sermons and Talks vol. 2, 157.1}
Will our ministers remember that it is not the particular duty of a minister of the gospel to hover over the churches. Those who do not labor for the salvation of others will soon lose their own confidence in God. All who profess to understand the plan of salvation have a special work to do for those around them, ever to be ready to speak a word in season to them that are ready to perish. If it is your desire to honor and glorify, not yourself, but God, He will give you a work to do that will result in the salvation of souls. But you yourselves must be in right relation with God before you can lead others to Him. You must have a humility that God can accept. Then He will be able to impress your mind, and give you a fitness for His service. {Sermons and Talks vol. 2, 302.1}
The cities in America, in this country, and in other countries, are not worked as they should be, and yet we are admonished to be laborers together with God. Instead of this, many churches, collectively and individually, have been so far removed from God, so separated from his Spirit, that they have left souls to perish all around them, while they have been calling for workers to labor in the church. This labor has been granted them, and the impenitent and the sinner have been robbed of the messages which the Lord would have given to them. If the church were a living, working organization, having life in itself, its members would experience travail for souls. Individual members of the church would strive to impart the light of the knowledge of the truth to those who have never been enlightened by the truth. When the human agent puts himself in living connection with God, the Holy Spirit will work in him "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." A vital connection is kept up between the church in heaven and the church on earth, and it is manifest that we are God's husbandry, God's building. It has been a mistake to have so many meetings in Battle Creek. One third of the time spent in ministerial institutes would have accomplished more toward the salvation of souls, because the ministers would have gone out from these meetings freighted with the precious light which had been shining from the word of God. Time would have been given for the laborers to set the truth before thousands in destitute fields. Many who have never heard the truth as it is in Jesus, would have been convicted and converted, and as a result many souls would have been added to the church, of "such as should be saved." {Review and Herald, June 11, 1895 par. 4}
There has been so much preaching to our churches, that they have almost ceased to appreciate the gospel ministry. The time has come when this order of things should be changed. Let the minister call out the individual church-members to help him by house to-house work in carrying the truth into regions beyond. Let all co-operate with the heavenly intelligences in communicating truth to others. What though it be in weakness? It is Christ that speaks to the heart; it is he that creates an interest where there has been no desire to hear. {Review and Herald, June 11, 1895 par. 5}
Christ said, "I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." We should do very much more to carry the light into "regions beyond" that sinners may be converted to the truth. Many of those who profess to believe the truth, have heard a great deal from the Scriptures, have had golden opportunities and valuable privileges. Because of the abundance of privileges that have been given them they have not valued them as they should, or appropriated the truth to their souls as they should. Had the
people had less instruction, and had unbelievers had a great deal more, it would have been more after the order of God. The living testimony should have been borne, and regular organized efforts should have been made in every church, and persons should have been set to work for those who are unbelievers. Christian growth is promoted by active work for others. {Manuscript Releases, volume 6, page 200}
God "hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world." Acts 17:31. Christ tells us when that day shall be ushered in. He does not say that all the world will be converted, but that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." By giving the gospel to the world it is in our power to hasten our Lord's return. We are not only to look for but to hasten the coming of the day of God. 2 Peter 3:12, margin. Had the church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in power and great glory. {DA 633.3}
The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of the past experience of the Adventist body. God led His people in the advent movement, even as He led the children of Israel from Egypt. In the great disappointment their faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Had they still trusted to the guiding hand that had been with them in
their past experience, they would have seen the salvation of God. If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844, had received the third angel's message and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of His people. {Great Controversy, page 457}
Our ministers are displeasing God by their feeble efforts to let the truths of His word shine forth to the world. Nothing so strengthens the churches as to see the work progressing in other portions of the vineyard. When the ministers understand the great blessing to be derived from laboring for those who know not the truth, they will leave the churches, after impressing upon them the importance of devising plans and methods whereby they can do within their borders the same kind of work that the ministers of the gospel are doing in the regions beyond. {Medical Ministry, page 317}
“How can finite man carry the burdens of responsibility for this time? His people have been far behind. Human agencies under the divine planning may recover something of what is lost because the people who had great light did not have corresponding piety, sanctification, and zeal in working out God's specified plans. They have lost to their own disadvantage what they might have gained to the advancement of the truth if they had carried out the plans and will of God. Man cannot possibly stretch over that gulf that has been made by the workers who have not been following the divine Leader.
We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel, but for Christ's sake, His
people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action. Now, have men who claim to believe the Word of God learned their lesson that obedience is better than sacrifice? "He hath showed thee (this rebellious people), O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8).
Now the Lord will not be pleased with those men whom He hath appointed to do a certain work, to take on many lines of work and carry them until they become so wearisome that it breaks their strength. You, nor any other agency, cannot heal the hurt that has come to God's people by neglect to lift up His standard and occupy new territory. The churches should now be acting in their strength, with capabilities, talents, and means, carrying the work, reaching higher and broader in capacity to stand before the world in the power of invincible truth.
But if all now would only see and confess and repent of their own course of action in departing from the truth of God, and following human devising, then the Lord would pardon. Warnings have been coming, but they have been unheeded.” {Manuscript Releases, volume 10, pages 277-288} (To Prof. P. T. Magan during the early months of his endeavor to establish the college at Berrien Springs, Mich. Written at South Lancaster, Mass., December 7, 1901.)
Many presidents of state conferences do not attend to that which is their work--to see that the elders and deacons of the churches do their work in the churches, by seeing that a faithful tithe is brought into the treasury….. Presidents of our conferences, do your duty; speak not your words, but a plain "Thus saith the Lord." Elders of churches, do your duty. Labor from home to home, that the flock of God shall not be remiss in this great matter, which involves such a blessing or such a curse. {TM 305-306}