“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14. Jesus said that this gospel would be preached to all nations before He returned to receive His people to Himself. How is this to be accomplished? The Lord has given you and me the privilege to work for Him. He has called us to “cry out with a loud voice,” to “plead with the people,” and to present the “Third Angel’s Message.” He has asked us to tell his people to “come out of Babylon.” How can we accomplish this most sacred work for the Lord?
There are many avenues of witnessing. We can travel, do door to door evangelism, give Bible studies, feed the poor, visit the sick, be hospitable, preach, print books, give literature and magazines and much more. If we take advantage of our opportunities, if we listen to the guiding voice of the Holy Spirit, if we love Jesus more than ourselves, and if we love people more than ourselves, we will be looking for any opportunities to do the Lord’s work. A member of our church recently had back surgery. Most would not think of this as a witnessing opportunity. But God can turn even the worst situations into an opportunity. This gentleman was able to witness and even give whole Bible studies to nurses and patients in the hospital. He was only there three days and gave out many Spirit of Prophecy books and signed up several people for Bible studies through the mail. Is there anything impossible for God?
God is raising up a people for Himself, and a group of people who want to finish the work of getting out His last day message. Ellen White says, “If you are in communion with Christ, you will place His estimate upon men; you will feel for others the same anxiety, the same deep love that He has felt for you. Then you will be able to win, not drive, to attract, not repulse, the souls for whom Christ died.” She goes on to say, “Not one soul would ever have been brought back to the fold, if Christ had not made a personal effort to save that which was lost; and it is by this personal effort that you can rescue souls. If they stray, you will not, cannot rest in quiet indifference and ease. You will leave the ninety and nine that are within the fold, and will go out to seek the lost.” General Conference Bulletin, 23.
Leaves of Autumn
Last year we were looking for new avenues of witnessing. It was suggested that we secure a booth at the Kansas State Fair. Ellen White tells us that we should be represented at these kinds of events so we can spread God’s literature like the “leaves of autumn.” We were truly blessed both last year and this year by witnessing at the fair. The fair here in Kansas is a ten day event and there are always many exhibitors showing off their products and competing for the attention of the people. We were on the second floor of the commercial building and as you walk in the door and look up, you saw Steps to Life’s bright blue exhibit. It was the most outstanding booth in the building. Unlike the other exhibitors, we were not competing for the business of the people. On the contrary, we were giving away free books! As people passed by our booth, we would hold out a book and ask them, “Would you like a free book?” Most people are astounded that anyone would be giving away free books. As they passed by, they would often take either a book or a pamphlet and sometimes more than one. Last year, we featured the National Sunday Law as our give away book. This year, we featured two books: Who are the Angels and What’s Behind the New World Order? Both of these books are excerpts from The Great Controversy.
We found that more women liked the book on angels, and more men liked the book on the New World Order. We also found out that less people came to the fair this year than last, yet we were able to give away more books. Praise God. Let me give you a list of the books we gave away. You will be amazed. First, there were 7500 What’s Behind the New World Order and over 6000 Who are the Angels. We also gave out 600 National Sunday Law books, 1210 Steps to Christ for a Sanctified Life, 200 Why Protestants, Why Catholic (which is the same book as the New World Order book with a different title), 200 How to Quit Smoking, 100 How to Keep the Sabbath, 100 Uncertainty of Life, 400 8 Laws of Good Health, 1500 Wake Up to Wellness, 2000 Eat for Strength. (These three pamphlets were about God’s 8 laws of health and the harm that meat, caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco can have on the body.)
Health—Entering Wedge
Many people today are interested in good health. They are hungering for anything that will help them take off weight, avoid illnesses, and give them a better quality of life. We see in today’s world that God is able to use our health message to reach people for Christ. It is truly the right arm of the gospel. Many people want to quit smoking but are just not strong enough to overcome. Can you relate to not being strong enough of yourself to overcome sin? Jesus is strong enough, though. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Philippians 4:13. Through our love for others, we can help them to find God’s answers to the dilemmas they face. The theme of our booth was the 8 Laws of Health. We listed them on our blue background in an easy to remember order. It spelled NEW START; Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunshine, Temperance, Air, Rest, Trust, in Divine Power. We even talked to many people about vegetarianism. Some were so interested that they bought Country Life cookbooks. Of course, as we presented healthy living to them, we also talked to them about God’s plan for their lives.
We saw many people at the fair this year that we saw last year. One was an exhibitor who was very interested in the National Sunday Law book. When she saw that we were back out at the fair again this year, she rushed down to our booth to see if she could acquire three more National Sunday Law books. She said she had people who had to read this book. Her name was Virginia. Virginia also told us that she had been talking to her daughter about the Sabbath and on what day the Sabbath fell upon. Her daughter said it wasn’t Saturday, so Virginia told her to read the National Sunday Law book. After reading this book, her daughter decided to do some investigative work to prove it all wrong or right. She later came back and told her mother, “You know, Mom, you were right!” Then she went to work and started telling all her coworkers about the Sabbath. Praise God!
We also met another lady who had been at the fair last year and she also had read the National Sunday Law book. She was convicted on the truth and when she saw us at the fair this year, she came over to get more of our books. She told us that she believed the truth and wanted to keep the Sabbath. She said that when she had read the book, she went to talk to her pastor to get some answers, but her pastor could not give her any good rebuttals to the truth she had learned. The devil can not do anything against the truth of God. She told us that she had recently moved to Iowa and wanted to know if we knew of any home churches. Do we ever! We are setting her up with a home church in Iowa so that she can worship with God’s true Seventh-day Adventist people.
Our very first day at the fair was very exciting. We were passing out books left and right. Suddenly, two gentlemen came up to me and started talking to us about God. They were very enthusiastic about following Jesus the way He said to follow Him. We talked about overcoming sin and that this is why we need the Holy Spirit in our lives. They agreed and said today most people do not believe you can overcome sin. Then one of the men asked me to tell him on what day the Sabbath fell.
I said, “What does the Bible say?”
He said, “The Bible tells me it is the seventh day, which would be Saturday.”
“That’s right,” I said. He was amazed.
He said that we were the first people he has met that agree with him. He then asked “When does it start and end?”
I said, “What does the Bible say?”
He said, “The Bible tells me that it starts from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.”
“That is correct,” I said.
“You mean you believe that too?” he said.
“Yes, we believe in only what the Bible says. We go by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” I said.
As we talked further, I found that he had learned all this from studying his Bible and searching for the truth. He told me that they had no where to worship God and did not know of anyone who believed as he did. I discussed starting a home church in his area. He is very excited about the home church idea and wants to learn how to keep the Sabbath properly. He has even offered to let us use a small warehouse which he is building for his company to worship in. God is wonderful!
High School Students
We had many high school students at the fair and some were there not solely for fun. Some had school projects, and they were working on customer service. We found this out as they came by our booth and loaded up on books and pamphlets. They said they were looking for bad customer service and we were not it. As they went from booth to booth, we saw one student earnestly reading What’s Behind the New World Order. He was sitting directly opposite our booth at a rest area. We continued to pass out books and talk to people, periodically looking over to where this young man was sitting. He must have read half that book before he moved on, because he sat there for a very long time. We could tell that this young man was going to have more than customer service stories to share with friends and family.
Of course, there is always a down side to every effort to do Gods’ work. Satan is out to discourage and destroy the people of God and all who would listen to them. This should not dishearten us, though. God’s people triumph in the face of adversity. When you pass out free literature, you must expect some people to take the books and throw them away. Pastor Marcussen calls his National Sunday Law books little preachers. I agree with this analogy when speaking of literature that leads people to the truth. When people threw these books at the fair, it was like shooting these poor little preachers. But God is merciful. Periodically, we would send out our medics and nurses to check the trash cans and retrieve the wounded little preachers.
Some had been destroyed, but a lot were just wounded and after retrieval and revival, we sent these little books back out to fight the battle against the powers of darkness. One man read the New World Order book and was furious. We watched as he climbed the stairs, rounded the corner, then the second corner, then to our booth and said “This is what I think of you and your book.” He ripped it in half and threw it in the trash can in front of our booth. He then stormed off looking very pleased with himself. But I think we had more people take the books after his big show. They probably were interested to find out why he was so upset. The children who helped at our booth were a big help handing out literature and checking trash cans. These little helpers of God were not too proud to go and retrieve these little books. Remember Virginia that I told you about earlier? Her booth was at a very strategic corner where people would throw away their books. She was helping with our booth by retrieving books thrown away in her trash can. Does God have everything planned out?
The Lord wants to use each one of us to complete His work, but we need to listen to that still small voice which is the Holy Spirit. One morning as I was getting the booth ready, I had sat down to d o some morning devotions. As I was reading, I was impressed by the Holy Spirit. I looked downstairs and saw a girl who was running a horoscope booth. I was impressed that I should go down and give her a book. So I picked out a book and some pamphlets, and I went downstairs, walked up to her and said, “Hi. I was upstairs doing my devotions and the Lord impressed me that I should give these books to you. I hope you will enjoy them.” She said thank you, and I walked off. That was the last time I saw her at the booth. I do not know if she read the books or what the Lord is doing in her life. I do know that she did not sell horoscopes anymore. God knows the hearts of the people. We need to just follow his guiding hand and listen to the urging of His Spirit.
Call Now for Next Year
“The harvest truly, is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Luke 10:2. God wants all to be laborers for His harvest. There are many people who will be saved if we love them enough to give them this message. The state fair in your area is a great way to reach people with His last day message. You will need to get in contact with your state fair as soon as possible. They fill up booth spaces very quickly. Remember, time is growing short. Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:2-5: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrines, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned away to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” There will come a time when people will no longer listen to God’s last day messages. We are responsible for the people we know and will have to answer for those who we did not love enough to give them the message. The fair is a great way to meet people and to present God’s message. I encourage you, reader, and your church to actively get involved in witnessing. We at Steps to Life want to help you to get God’s Three Angels’ Messages out to the world. Let us know how we can help.