If you have your Bible I would like to invite you to open it to 1 Corinthians the third chapter. 1 Corinthians is rapidly becoming one of my favorite books in the New Testament. I have studied it before but a couple of years ago, a friend and leader in special ministries told me in effect that, "John you do not understand who and what the church is; you need to study 1Corinthians." So I thought, "Well, that is a good idea. I need to study 1Corinthians more and I need to understand more of what it says."

I was on my way back home from a meeting that afternoon, on an afternoon flight and I got my Bible out and started studying 1 Corinthians. I knew that there was something in there that he wanted me to learn about the church. I got to verse two of the first chapter and it says, "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus." I thought isn't that exciting, I am learning more about what the church is. The church in Corinth were those people in that city who were sanctified in Christ Jesus. Is that what the Bible says? That is what the Bible says.

Well, I could tell you a lot more things that I learned that afternoon and the following afternoons as I kept studying 1Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is really one of the greatest books in the Bible about who and what the church is. I have learned much about God's church by studying this book.

If you turn over to the third chapter, there is one of the most astounding verses in all of the Bible. 1 Corinthians the third chapter. In fact, this was the verse that my brother Marshall used for the very last sermon he preached the day before he died. 1 Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse 9. It says, "For we are God's fellow workers."

If you study the Spirit of Prophecy writings carefully, the writings of Ellen White, you will find out that this is one of her favorite verses that she used over and over and over again. More than hundreds of times, it is in the thousands that she referred to this phrase. She spells out in many different places in her writings how we become workers together with God. It is those that become workers together with God that are going to be saved. This is one of the greatest privileges, friends, of being a Christian, is being a fellow worker with God.

Now, some people think it would be a great privilege if they could be a fellow worker with an important person down here in this world. Have you met people like that? They would like to get into a certain company or in a certain organization to work with a certain person who is world famous in that field. Have you met someone like that? They want to work with this person. But, friend, the greatest privilege that could happen to any creature, any created being, is if you could work together with God. Could you imagine the privilege of doing that? There is no higher privilege that any person could have than to actually be a fellow--a fellow worker with God! We cannot comprehend, friends, how wonderful this is.

So, recently I have started studying some of these statements in the Spirit of Prophecy, I am just getting started. It will take me a long time, I suppose, because, like I said, there is more then just hundreds. There is well over a thousand statements where she quotes this--about us being fellow laborers, a fellow worker together with God.

As I have been meditating on this subject, a question has come into my mind and that is what I want to study with you tonight. The question that came into my mind was this--if I want to be a fellow worker with God, is it my privilege to be a fellow worker with God?(It is what the Bible says, 1 Corinthians 3:9. I could be a fellow worker with God. I cannot comprehend anything so wonderful, but that is what the Bible says. It is what it says. So you can have that privilege and I can have that privilege, if we are willing.)

I was thinking about this. If I want to be a fellow worker with God, might it be important for me to find out where God is working? Do you suppose that might be important for me to find out? If I want to be a fellow worker with God I need to find out where God is working. Ever since the beginning of time, God has been working. As you study the inspired writings, the inspired writings always focus the attention on where God is working.

Now, when I went to college and I studied secular and ancient history, I found out that there were all kinds of things going on during Bible times, during Abraham's time. There were all kinds of things going on that you could study about in secular history, but inspiration does not go into any of that. It focuses all the attention on where God is working. If I want to be a fellow laborer, a fellow worker with God, I need to find out where God is working.

Now, after sin entered the world, immediately Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (See Revelation 13:8.) Immediately after sin, the plan of salvation was put into effect and those that accepted that plan of salvation wanted to return to their loyalty to God--Adam and his descendants. Now Adam had many children, but inspiration focuses on a holy line of men through whom God was working. There was Adam, then there was Abel. But Abel was killed, and evidently Abel did not have any children. But then a short time after Abel was killed, Seth was born. And then he had a son called Enosh. The Bible says then men began to call on the name of the Lord. That is where God was working.

Then you come down to the seventh generation from Adam. (I like to study numbers in the Bible; seven is an important number in the Bible you all know that.) In the seventh generation from Adam you come to a man called Enoch and that is who God was working with in the world at that time. That is where God was working and the people that wanted to be fellow workers with God were working in cooperation with Enoch. So, if you were living in Enoch's time and you wanted to be a fellow laborer, a fellow worker with God, you would be working with Enoch.

After Enoch, there was Noah. Noah was the tenth generation. And if you had been living in Noah's time, and you wanted to be a fellow worker with God, where would you work? Well, you would be working with Noah. All the people in the world in Noah's time, fellow workers with God, were working with Noah. You can go right on down the line to Shem, then eventually you get to the twentieth generation.(This is very sad) By this time there had been only twenty generations and the whole world had rejected God twice. The world was drowned at the flood. The whole world rejected Him except Noah and his family. That was the first time. Then the world rejected God again and went into idolatry--two times the world rejected God.

God looked over the world and he found a man, he was in the twentieth generation, his name was Abraham. God told Abraham,"I am going to fulfill the plan of salvation through you and through your seed." Christ was the seed of Abraham. God chose Abraham and Abraham went all over the known world at that time. He was down in Egypt; he was in the land of the children of Ham up in Canaan, that is where the descendants of Ham lived. If you had wanted to be a fellow worker with God in those days, who was the person through whom God was working especially in those days? Abraham.

Now, as you study the Bible record, you will find a certain characteristic clear back from the beginning of those through whom God was working. If you have your Bible turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 26, verse 5. Why was God working through Abraham? Notice what kind of person Abraham was. In Genesis, chapter 26, verse 5, it says, "because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

Abraham was obedient. If the Lord said something, Abraham did it. God came down one time and told Abraham, (you can read this in the 17th chapter of the book of Genesis) the sign of the covenant that I am going to make with you is circumcision. Abraham was about 100 years old. When God told Abraham that, do you know what Abraham did? He was circumcised that day. Abraham did not wait and say, "Well, I will do it next week." When God told him something, he did it right that day. That is the kind of person Abraham was. That is the person through whom God was working.

Then you go through Abraham's descendants, Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph. Joseph kept the law of God. Remember, he said to Potiphar's wife, "How could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Joseph kept God's law. Through Joseph, God's people and His special work in the world were preserved. And through Joseph the whole world at that time learned the true message about the Creator God and the true religion. That is who God was working through in that generation at that time. That is where and how God was working. So, if you wanted to be a coworker with God, you needed to cooperate or work with Joseph and the sons of Jacob that were faithful and true to God.

Then, less then 100 years after Joseph died, Moses was born. Through Moses God determined to bring the children of Israel out from the land of Egypt. We read the story in the second book of the Bible--Exodus. When God brought His people out from the land of Egypt, He made to them some wonderful promises. Turn in your Bible to Exodus the 19th chapter and verse 5. It says, "Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine."

So, God made a promise to Israel, now I want you to notice something here. Did this promise have conditions? Now that is something, friends, that we should never, never forget. I have heard people, in fact, I have even heard Adventists preach this. So, I decided I would check it out in the inspired writings. Have you ever heard people say that there are unconditional promises? I decided to check this out in inspired writings and when I looked in the writings of Ellen White, she says that all of God's promises and threats are conditional. They are all conditional. Do not let anyone tell you, friends, unless they can show you from inspired writings that it is unconditional, it was not unconditional. It was conditional, right from the first. God's covenant with Abraham was conditional. Read Genesis, chapter 17--there were conditions. There is nothing wrong with conditions. The Bible is full of conditions. The Lord says if you do this, I will do this. Are there conditions to being a Christian? Well, of course there are conditions. If we do not fulfill the conditions, if we do not come to Christ, if we do not repent, if we do not confess, if we do not put our faith and trust in Him as our Lord as well as the Saviour of our life, then we are not fulfilling the conditions of the Gospel and we cannot expect the promises of the Gospel to be fulfilled to us. There are conditions. There have always been conditions. There were conditions here with the Israelites. God made a covenant with them He said if you do this, I will do this for you. You will be My special people. Then God renewed His covenant with the children of Israel by giving them a commanded covenant or a law. A law of the Ten Commandments.

Then we see the story of Israel in the wilderness. They wandered in the wilderness for 38 years longer than they would have had to, at least that much, because they were not obedient and they rebelled. Finally, when they got to Canaan, you read the sad, sad story of this up again, down again, up again and down again, going into apostasy and then they get into trouble, then the Lord delivers them, then it goes on again for a generation or so and then they go into apostasy again and they start worshipping idols. You have this up and down again experience all through the book of Judges. This went on for hundreds of years. During this time the tabernacle that they had built in the wilderness was still with them. They had the yearly feast days, they had the high priest, and do you know where the tabernacle was located during all this time, this period of the judges? It was not at Jerusalem. In fact, people did not even know of Jerusalem as the center in those days. Jerusalem, the city that is called Jerusalem, was controlled by heathen people. The children of Israel did not control it. Do you know where the tabernacle or the sanctuary for the children of Israel was located? It was located in Shiloh for over 300 years. Shiloh was in the land of Ephraim. Ephraim was one of the largest tribes. Many people have almost forgotten this today, but it is very clear in the Bible what happened. Ephraim was one of the largest tribes and the center of divine worship was in the tribe of Ephraim. They thought that it would be that way always. It was that way for over 300 years.

It is so interesting, people today have almost forgotten what Shiloh was. Look what it says about this in the Psalms. Psalms 78, it says, starting with verse 67,"Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved." Psalms 78:67, 68

Why did He reject Ephraim? Why was the tabernacle taken away from Shiloh? Let me read that to you from Patriarchs and Prophets page 514. It says, "The ark remained at Shiloh for three hundred years, until, because of the sins of Eli's house, it fell into the hands of the Philistines, and Shiloh was ruined." What happened? The leaders of God's people fell into apostasy and sin. The Lord told Eli, He said, "You are not going to be a priest for Me. Your descendants are not going to be My priests forever."

They thought that could not happen. They said "Well, we are God's people." And those leaders said "We are descendants of Aaron." The Lord said you are going to find out, that is not the way it is going to be. You are not going to be priest anymore and God rejected Ephraim. The center for religious worship among God's people was taken away from there. Something that they thought could not happen--happened.

Let me read to you what happened to Shiloh. She says, "The sanctuary service was finally transferred to the temple at Jerusalem, and Shiloh fell into insignificance. There are only ruins to mark the spot where it once stood. Long afterward its fate was made use of as a warning to Jerusalem." Ibid.

Now, the center for divine worship is not at Shiloh anymore. There were people that thought that this was going to be the center for worship all the time and that this was the organization and it was going to go through. But that organization did not go through, and that place did not go through. The center for divine worship was moved to Jerusalem. So, a few hundred years later, do you know what the people of Jerusalem thought? They thought the same thing. The center for divine worship is here, this is where the temple is, and this is where it is going to be. This is where God is working.

Now, I want you to notice something as we are looking at this history. God cannot work with people that are living in sin! He cannot do it. It does not matter where the sin is, God cannot work with that. If you want to be a fellow worker with God you cannot link up and work with people that are living and working in sin--you cannot do it.

So, in Jerusalem the center or worship now has been taken away from Shiloh, now it is in Jerusalem. They are thinking the same way that the people thought in Shiloh. Notice what Jeremiah says about this. Look in your Bible in Jeremiah, chapter 7, verses 12-14. Now this is hundreds of years later, the worship has been transferred from Shiloh, that is not significant anymore, that city has been ruined. Look what Jeremiah says, let us start in the 9th verse, "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?"[All emphasis supplied] We are the church. We are God's people. We know that we are really bad but we are still God's true people, that is what they were saying. " 'Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,' says the LORD. But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first,' "(for over three hundred years that is where the center of worship was.) " 'and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because you have done all these works,'says the LORD, 'and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren; the whole posterity of Ephraim.' " Jeremiah 7:9-15.

See, Ephraim was where Shiloh was. The Lord said, "I cast them out, I rejected them because of their wickedness, and you think that now that you are in Jerusalem when you say that 'Well we are the true people of God and this is His temple, and even though we are bad we are still God's people.' " The Lord says, "You are going to find out I am going to cast you out just as I cast them out."

You see, friends, are you listening? It is character that counts with God. Profession is worth nothing unless my character is in harmony with my profession. They did not think that could happen. I have tried to figure out in my mind over and over again, what Daniel must have felt like when he was still a teenager and the armies of Babylon come in and you have been trained all your life that this is God's house, this is His temple, the Shekinah glory is manifested here, this is God's people, this is His city, and the armies come in and just burn it down. You are taken to Babylon and they say you worship that God that we burned down. We burned down His building, we burned down His temple. That would be quite a test wouldn't it?

You see with God, character is what counts. Where is God working? God is working with people that keep His law and listen to His voice and obey. God is not working with people that are living in wickedness. That is all through the Bible. Do you think God is the same today as He was in Bible times?

So, they went into captivity. Why did they go into captivity? Here is a statement from Signs of the Times, July 19, 1899, "Their calamities did not come because they kept the law of God, but because they disregarded that law. God had told them that if they did not obey His commandments, He could not keep His covenant with them. The history of the Israelites is portrayed for our warning. They had great light and exalted privileges; yet they did not live up to that light nor appreciate their advantages, and their light became darkness. They walked in the light of their own eyes, instead of following the leadings of God. Their history is given for the benefit of those who live in these last days, that we may a void following the same example of unbelief."

So, all this was written down, (what happened to them) it was written down for our benefit. If we follow the same course that they followed, do you suppose that what happened to Shiloh can happen again? Do you suppose what happened to Jerusalem can happen again? Not only can it, it will, if we follow the same course. They did not obey the prophets, they did not obey the law of God and the result was disaster.

I want to tell you, friend, are you listening out there on television? I want to tell you something. If you claim to be a Christian, if you claim to be a Seventh-day Adventist and you are disobedient to the Bible; if you claim to be a Seventh-day Adventist and you are disobedient to the Spirit of Prophecy, I want to tell you that you are in a worse condition then if you made no profession. It is going to be worse for you when the judgments of God fall if you made a profession and your character was not in harmony with that profession than if you did not make any profession.

Well, the last of the prophets comes, Malachi. If you have your Bible turn to the book of Malachi, notice what he says. This is the very end of the Old Testament prophets. He says in Malachi, chapter 4, verses 4-6, "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Now, I want you to see something as we look now into the New Testament. Who in New Testament times fulfilled this prophecy? Who was the Elijah prophet? John the Baptist. That is very clear, but I want to explain to you one of the reasons the Jews did not accept John the Baptist. One of the reasons that they did not accept John the Baptist was because they had a misunderstanding of prophecy. Do not let anyone tell you that this is optional and you can believe it this way and you can believe it that way and believe it the other way. Let me tell you, if you misunderstand prophecy you can lose your soul as a result. A correct understanding of prophecy is very, very important.

When John the Baptist came it could be before he was born, that he was the Elijah prophet. Notice what the angel said to his father before he was born. Turn in your Bible to Luke, chapter 1, verse 17. The angel is talking to Zacharias about John the Baptist. He says in verse 17, "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah." John the Baptist was to come how? In the spirit and the power of Elijah.

Now, I want to ask you a question. The prophecy in Malachi 4:4-6, was it a literal prophecy or a symbolic prophecy? The Jews believed that the prophecy in Malachi 4:4-6 was a literal prophecy. They expected that before the Messiah came that God was going to send Elijah down from Heaven. The same Elijah that had met Ahab. They believed that this Elijah that had lived 900 years before and was up in heaven, God was going to send him back down to the earth and he was going to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah.

Notice they came to John the Baptist with this question in the gospel of John the 1st chapter. John, chapter 1, verse 21, it says, "And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' "

Why did John the Baptist say I am not Elijah? Why did he say that? Because he understood the question they were asking. Questions have a context. The question they were asking was, Are you the man who met King Ahab and started that fire up on mount Carmel? Are you that man? Are you Elijah? And he said, no I am not. Do you see that because of their misunderstanding of that prophecy they rejected the Elijah prophet? So, the report went all over Judah, that he is not the Elijah prophet. We asked him ourselves and he said that he is not. But I want you to see what Jesus said about it.

Turn in your Bible to Matthew the eleventh chapter. Jesus here is talking to the multitude about John the Baptist starting in verse seven. Notice what Jesus says in verse fourteen. He says, "And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come."

Now, were John the Baptist and Jesus contradicting each other? Not at all. The Jews asked John the Baptist if he was the same Elijah that was with Ahab. He said, no I am not. But Jesus said that he is the Elijah prophet. So, all the time that Jesus was here, the Jews were looking for Elijah to come. They said this fellow from Nazareth could not possibly be the Christ because before Christ comes Elijah the prophet has to come. Just a few months before Jesus was crucified an incident took place that you can read about in Matthew the seventeenth chapter, starting in verse nine. This is after the transfiguration, which was late in Jesus ministry.

It says, "Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, 'Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.' And His disciples asked Him, saying,'Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him what they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.' "

Do you see the significance of what was going on? The Jews were saying that before the Messiah could come the Elijah prophet has to come first, and they are looking for him. The disciples imbibed this idea and they asked Jesus, why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come before the Messiah can come? Jesus says that is all over with. The Elijah prophet has come and has already been beheaded. That is all over with. The Elijah prophet came, gave his message, they rejected it, and it was all over and they were still looking for it to happen.

Friends, Ellen White says in Selected Messages, book 1, 406, that the experiences of the children of Israel just before the first coming of Christ, (the Lord had shown her over and over again) would be the way it would be with God's people just before the second coming of Christ. There were people in those days who were looking for Elijah to come and they were waiting and waiting and what they were waiting for was all over, because they did not understand Bible prophecy.

Friends, there are people today that are coming up with all sorts of new interpretations of Bible prophecy. They are waiting for this to happen and this to happen and this to happen. One of these days they are going to see the Lord coming in the clouds of heaven and it is going to have happened already. What then? You see, friends, their misunderstanding of prophecy caused many people to not be ready for Christ when He came the first time, and a misunderstanding of prophecy will cause many people to not be ready for Christ when He comes the second time.

If you want to be working where God is working, it is important to understand Bible prophecy, because Bible prophecy tells you where God is working. But they did not understand Bible prophecy so, they were waiting for Elijah to come; waiting for Elijah to come and Elijah had already come. They did not recognize him.

Oh, friends, I have thought about this over and over again. It is going to happen again. I do not want it to happen to you and that is why I am telling you this now. There are going to be Seventh-day Adventists who are waiting for this and they are waiting for that and they are waiting for something else. Some people are waiting for certain time periods to pass that they have concocted. Some people are waiting for all sorts of things to happen. This is going to happen and then this is going to happen and then this is going to happen. Friends, when it does not happen the way they have imagined it will happen; some day they are going to wake up and it will be all over.

Oh, friend, do you want to be a fellow worker with God? I want to be a fellow worker with God. I think that is the greatest privilege any of us could have. But if we are going to be a fellow worker with God, we are going to have to get down on our knees and say Lord help me to understand Bible prophecies so I can understand where You are working.

Well, where was God working in the time of the Jews, when Jesus was brought to the temple to be dedicated? You can read about this in the book The Desire of Ages, 56. Jesus was brought to the temple to be dedicated and the priest, Ellen White says, did not recognize anything unusual. Then Simeon and Anna came in and they did recognize something different. In commenting on this experience in the temple, Ellen White says in The Desire of Ages, page 56, "So it is still. Events upon which the attention of all heaven is centered, are not discerned, their very occurrence is unnoticed, by religious leaders, and worshipers in the house of God."

Here all heaven is focused on this! And down here in this world the people that claim to be God's true people, that profess to be His true people, they do not even know it has happened. They do not even know what is going on. How can you be a laborer together with God if you do not even know where God is working? She says, "Events upon which the attention of all heaven is centered."

Down here in this world she says the religious leaders and the people of God do not even notice it. They do not even notice the occurrence, they do not even know what happened. That priest, just saw some peasant people in some poor clothes. He has probably gone through that ceremony hundreds of times with other babies. The name Jesus, which comes from the Hebrew word in English as 'Joshua'(you can understand Joshua was the person that lead the children of Israel into the promised land) was a famous one in Jewish history.

So, there were people all over in Judah in that time with the name of Jesus. That was a common name. They just wrote it down like you would write down any common name in society today, just wrote it down and did not think anything about it. But all heaven, the entire universe was focused on that event. Here the priest is right there, the attention of the whole universe is focused on it and he does not know anything is going on; he does not know what is going on.

How can you be a laborer together with God if you do not even know where and what God is doing in the world? Or how God is working? How can you be? Well, the Jews rejected their Redeemer. Today, you can read many books of history where Christians, professed Christians (not real I should say), have terribly persecuted the Jews and accused them of being guilty of the blood of Christ. Poor Jewish children have endured terrible atrocities from professed Christians, because the Christians have said you are responsible for the death of Christ. Do you know Ellen White has something to say about this business of pointing our finger or looking down our nose at the Jews, thinking we are Christians and that we are better then they are?

Let me read to you what she says about that subject. This is Signs of the Times, January 24, 1895, she says,"Today the Christian world looks upon the Jews as a people who are under the divine curse because of their rejection and crucifixion of Christ. But, instead of looking upon them as sinners above all others, they should seek to learn a lesson from their condition, and inquire why it is that the judgment of God fell upon them in so signal a manner. It was because they rejected the great light which had been given them from the time of their delivery from Egyptian bondage."

They rejected the light and she goes on to say how they did not obey and so God could not fulfill the covenant promise with them. Now, the covenant promise was fulfilled, but it was not fulfilled with most of God's professed people, it was fulfilled through those who were loyal and obedient. So, during the time when Jesus was here, (this should be the easiest question in the world for a Christian to answer); where was God working? God was working through His Son to bring salvation to a lost world.

So, when Jesus was here, if you had wanted to be a laborer together with God, what would be the thing for you to do? Connect yourself with Jesus and cooperate and work with Him. There were people that did that. That was where God was working! That concept is so full of instruction. That was where God was working, and if you were going to be a fellow laborer with God, you needed to go where God was working and work with the Lord.

You can read in John 17 and 20 where Jesus said to His apostles, "Just as the Father has sent Me into the world, now I am sending you into the world." Jesus left this work with the apostles. Now, where is God working? He is working with the apostles. If you want to be a fellow laborer, a fellow worker with God, you need to get connected up with the apostles. When you heard them preach, the Holy Spirit would convict your mind and if you accepted and surrendered to that conviction, you could become a fellow worker, a fellow laborer with God. So you read in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, Paul told the people who had accepted the gospel in Corinth, you are fellow laborers with God.

Those that accepted the gospel all over the world are to become another link, as Ellen White says, in the chain let down to save the world. So Paul says, You are God's fellow workers. But in the New Testament, the New Testament writers predict that a terrible change is going to happen among those who profess to be Christians. Notice first of all, what the apostle Paul says about it in Acts 20. He is speaking here to the elders from the church of Ephesus. "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock." Acts 20: 28, 29

Where are these savage wolves going to come in? They are going to come in among you. Now who was he talking to? He was talking to the elders, the ministers, the leaders of the church of Ephesus, which was one of the largest Christian churches in the world. He was talking to Christian leaders, to pastors, to ministers, to elders, and He said savage wolves are going to come in among you; among the leaders of the church. What are they going to do?

Look at the next verse. "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves." Ibid, verse 30. From among who? From among the leaders in the Christian church. "From among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves."

Paul says there is going to come in a gigantic apostasy. Where is this apostasy going to come from? It is going to come from the leaders of the Christian church. Savage wolves are going to come in, not sparing the flock. In 2 Thessalonians Paul is talking about this same gigantic apostasy that is going to come into the Christian church. "Let no one deceive you by any means: for that Day [the day of Christ as you see in verse 2] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 [All emphasis supplied]

He goes on talking all the way down to verse 12 about this gigantic apostasy that is going to come in. Now, Paul is not the only one who talks about this. Peter talked about it, too. "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies." 2 Peter 2:1

Notice how it will happen. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies. Now, how would a minister or a teacher secretly bring in a destructive heresy? They will secretly bring in destructive heresies. That is something, friend, that you ought to think through. Paul talks about this too, over and over again; the destructive heresies are always brought in secretly. Whenever you learn of a book that is written and the people do not want to put their name on it, you ought to remember this text!

There is a teaching that came in, nobody knows where it came from, but there is this teaching that is appearing, let me tell you how it often starts. It starts in places where ministers are trained. They are trained in this new teaching and over a period of about a generation it gets down to the laity and then the laity eventually believe in this new teaching. "They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed." Ibid., verses 1, 2

The word blasphemy means to speak evil of something. The way of truth will be evilly spoken of because of this new teaching that has secretly been brought in. The new teaching will send you straight to hell fire if you believe it. Peter says it is a destructive heresy. It has been brought in secretly and many people, Peter says, will follow it. As a result of this new teaching the real way of truth will be blasphemed, or be evilly spoken of. He goes on and talks about these false teachers over and over again, clear on through the second chapter of 2 Peter. So, both Peter and Paul predicted that there would come in a great apostasy into Christendom. Paul puts his finger right on the spot in 2 Thessalonians 2 and says it is the mystery of lawlessness. In the Greek text it says lawlessness, and in the Old King James Version it says iniquity, but that's not the most accurate translation, the most accurate translation is the mystery of lawlessness.

This apostasy, the apostle Paul taught, would involve the breaking of God's law. It would involve the transgression of God's law, and many people would follow after it and as a result of it the way of truth would be evilly spoken of. That's what the New Testament teaches. Did that happen? Well friends, Ellen White has this to say about it.

In Great Controversy, 61 and 62, she says,"The history of God's people during the ages of darkness that followed upon Rome's supremacy is written in heaven, but they have little place in human records. Few traces of their existence can be found, except in the accusations of their persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliterate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or decrees. Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to destroy. Expressions of doubt, or questions as to the authority of papal dogmas, were enough to forfeit the life of rich or poor, high or low. Rome endeavored also to destroy every record of her cruelty toward dissenters. Papal councils decreed that books and writings containing such records should be committed to the flames. Before the invention of printing, books were few in number, and in a form not favorable for preservation; therefore there was little to prevent the Romanists from carrying out their purpose."

And so a great moral darkness spread over the world, and now I want to ask you a question. If you were living in that time and you wanted to be a fellow worker with God, where would you go? What would you do? If you do not understand where God is working you could not be a fellow worker with God. It made all the difference in the world whether or not you understood that God was working with people that were keeping His law, and God is not working with the people that are not keeping His law. And if you didn't understand that you could not be a fellow laborer with God.

Do you realize friends that there have been millions of people that have had it in their mind that they were working with the Lord, and they were working with the devil the whole time? Talk about deception. They think they are working for the Lord, and they are working for the devil, because they're working contrary, (they are fighting) to God's law.

We come down to the time of the Reformers. We find that all the sixteenth century reformers upheld God's law, every one of them. Now all of them did not understand the binding claims of the fourth commandment, but let me tell you they did not reject the fourth commandment, they just didn't understand it. There is a complete difference in not understanding something and in rejecting truth, a complete difference. Many people have had this question when they come to our evangelistic meetings, and learn what the fourth commandment says. I had a lady say, "Oh, what about my husband." (her husband is dead) She said, "He was a sincere Christian, he never knew all this." She felt terror stricken. Here she had been breaking the fourth commandment for decades and did not know it. She is a Sabbath keeper now, and she said, "What is going to happen to my husband he did not know any of this"? So I read to her what the Bible says, "For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have." 2 Corinthians 8:12

Nobody is lost because they did not know the truth on some point. That is not what causes people to be lost. It is when you know the truth and you reject it. That does cause you to be lost. And what ever truth that you know, friend, you are under moral obligation to follow and obey that truth, and if you do not obey the truth that you know, you will be lost. And all the reformers believed in obedience to the commandments.

You can see it in the writings of Martin Luther. Martin Luther used to preach on the Ten Commandments. Sermon after sermon after sermon dealing with the Ten commandments. John Wesley used to preach over and over again on the Ten Commandments. Both of those men preached a great deal on the Ten Commandments and believed in them. God was leading a people on step by step. God was working. And the time came when all over the world, simultaneously it seemed, God started raising up people all over the world from all the different Christian churches, as a people that were obeying the truth that they understood, and studying the Bible on their knees, and praying for truth as they studied the prophecies. People from all over the world, Bible students from all over the world came to the same conclusion and they said, "Jesus is coming soon."

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, and the early part of the nineteenth century when you study sacred history you find that simultaneously, all over the world a great second advent movement emerged. And people, (from their study of prophecies), began to proclaim and say, "Jesus is coming soon. We are living in the time that the Bible calls the time of the end. Now, we do not have time tonight to go into detail about what happened in the second advent movement and the preaching of William Miller and all of those things. But as a result of the great second advent movement that arose in Europe, in South America, in India, Africa, and the United States, there was a group eventually formed that were called Millerites, and Adventists, and later they were called Seventh-day Adventists.

This group called Seventh-day Adventists, as they studied the prophecies, studied this prophecy in Revelation 14 that we call the three angels' messages, and the reason it is called that is because it is a proclamation by three angels, starting in verse 6 and going clear on through verse 12. And having studied the meaning of the sanctuary message in Hebrews and in the book of Daniel, they realized that the day of Judgment began on October 22, 1844. They realized that. Notice what it says here in the first angel's message in verse seven. It says, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come."

Now where was God working during this time? He was working with the people that were studying His word and were obeying it and following it. And God says here is a message that is going to go to all the world. You read that in verse six, and it includes the everlasting gospel. And while the everlasting gospel is still being preached (Revelation 14:6) a message is to go to the entire world that tells the world that the hour of God's judgment has come.

Now this is not a message, friend, that the apostle Paul preached, because it would not have been true then. The apostle Paul taught, and you can read it in Acts 24: 25, he told Felix of a judgment that was still in the future. The judgment was still in the future in Paul's day, and he refers to that more than once in the book of Acts. The judgment was still in the future. Martin Luther did not preach it either. Martin Luther did not say that the hour of God's judgment is come. Because it had not come yet. But here is a message that the hour of God's Judgment has come.

Now, friends, you cannot preach that the hour of God's judgment has come unless you know it has started. Can you? You cannot preach that it has come unless you know that it has started. How do you know that it has started? How do you know for sure that it has started? There is only one way that I know, that you can tell that the hour of God's judgment has started, and that is from Daniel 8 and 9. And do you understand why the devil has made our understanding Daniel 8 and 9 a focal point of attack? Do you understand why? If you can destroy a persons confidence in that, they cannot preach the first angel's message anymore. And I want you to remember something. The second angel's message and the third angel's message are built on the first. And you cannot preach the third unless you preach the second, and you cannot preach the second unless you preach the first. And if you do not understand Daniel 8:14 about the twenty-three hundred days and if you accept these new theological ideas that destroy your faith in that, let me tell you, friend, you are no longer a Seventh-day Adventist, and you can no longer preach the three angels' messages.

Where is God working today? God is working today with the people who are proclaiming this message. That is where God is working today. If you want to be a fellow laborer with God today, you have to join up with the people who are doing this. I want you to notice a few things about the three angels' messages.

We have already covered the point that if you reject Daniel 8:1-14, you cannot preach this message; you cannot be a fellow laborer with God; you are out in the cold; you are going to have to do something else. You cannot be a fellow laborer with God, because this is where God is working today. This is God's special work today. Then look at the second angel's message in Revelation 14:8; it talks about Babylon. Let me ask you this question. Can you preach the second angel's message if you do not know who Babylon is? You cannot do it. If you want to be a fellow laborer, or fellow worker, with God today and preach the second angel's message, you have to know who Babylon is.

When I see people who claim to be Seventh-day Adventists getting all mixed up about this and they try to explain who Babylon is and when they get done talking you cannot figure out what they are talking about, I say, "What has happened?" Our people can no longer preach the second angel's message if they do not know who Babylon is. If you want to be a fellow worker with God as His work is finished in the world, you are going to have to know what Revelation 14:8 means because Revelation 14:8, friend, is going to be repeated with the greatest power that you can imagine, even greater than you can imagine.

Read Revelation 18:1-5. The second angel's message is going to be repeated to the entire world. The entire world is going to be lightened with its glory. You read the loud cry message in Revelation 18:1-5; it is a repetition of the second angel's message in Revelation 14:8. If you want to be a fellow laborer with God today, you have to know this message. Then look at the third angel's message. It is a warning against the beast, the image, and the mark. Notice how the third angel's message concludes, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12

Notice, these are the people; this is where God is working today! "Here are those who keep the commandments of God." If I come and say to you, "Well, I do not know if you can really keep the commandments of God or not," can I be a fellow laborer with God and preach Revelation 14:12 if I do not even know if they can be kept? Have you noticed that it does not say here are those who are trying to keep the commandments? I have heard preachers say, "Well, he is doing his best." It does not say that. It says they keep them. Do you think that the Bible means what it says? The Bible says there is going to be a group of people who keep God's commandments. You cannot be a fellow laborer with God, be a coworker with God, being involved in His last work for the world, if you cannot proclaim the message; and how can you proclaim the message if you do not believe it is true?

Do you see how dangerous this idea is when people say, "You are going to keep sinning until Jesus comes"? Whenever somebody tells me about that I say, "Sure, a lot of people are going to keep sinning until Jesus comes, then they are going to burn up." Where is God working? God is working with the people who are keeping His commandments and have the faith of Jesus.

I want you to notice the identifying marks. If you want to be a coworker, a fellow laborer with God, you need to know where God is working, the people He is working with, and they are described in Revelation so clearly that you cannot miss it. Let's look at four points.

1. The people among whom God is working in these last days, according to Revelation, are people who are keeping the commandments. We read that in Revelation 14:12 and you can read it also in Revelation 12:17. You need to find the people who are keeping the commandments, not the people who are saying, "Well, I am doing the best I can." Those are not the people where God is working. Those are not the people described in Revelation 14:12. That is phony!

The first thing you want to look for is a group of Adventists who really keep the commandments and do not play around and say, "Well, we are doing the best we can." Listen, friends, the best you can do is not good enough, unless you are keeping the commandments; and you can keep the commandments by the power of God.

If you give your life to the Lord, He has the power to give you so that you can keep them. Read Romans 6, Romans 8, 1 John 3; the Lord can give you the power. Friends, if we do not do it, when Jesus comes He will be able to show us millions of people who had the same besetting sins that we had and He will say, "I gave all of these people power to overcome." What are you going to say then? I want to tell you, we are going to be speechless. We will see people who had the identical, same besetting sins. (By the way, there are not an infinite number of besetting sins.) We will be able to see the people who are saved that had the same besetting sins that we have, and if we do not overcome, we will be speechless. We will see people who were just as weak as we are.

They overcame them through the power that Jesus provided through His Holy Spirit; and He can provide to you, friend, that same power. Now, overcoming and how to overcome is not our topic tonight; but you see, friend, if you want to be a fellow laborer with God, you have to find the people where God is working.

The number one characteristic of the people where God is working are people who keep the commandments. If the group that you are working with, if the church that you are going to, if the pastor that you are listening to is not teaching you to keep the commandments and if they are not keeping the commandments, you are with the wrong group! And I do not care what they are called.

2. Where is God working today? If you want to be a fellow laborer with God, you have to find the people described in Revelation 12:17. They not only keep the commandments but they have the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 19:10 says that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Ellen White fulfilled the prophecy in Revelation 12:17 in the giving of the gift of prophecy to God's remnant people.

I was talking to a gentlemen the other day who used to have a high position in one of the largest institutions operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church structure. This institution is a medical institution. He used to carry with him some books when he went to meetings. They were books like Ministry of Healing, Medical Ministry, Counsels on Health, etc. He told me that one day the chairman told him, "I do not want you to bring those books with you anymore." Now listen, friends, I do not care how big the institution is and I do not care how big their budget is, when the leaders of the institution do not have time to listen to God's prophet, they are not part of the people described in Revelation 12:17; I do not care what they call themselves!

When we do not have time to listen to God's prophet, we are not part of the remnant in Revelation 12:17; we just are not. We are playing games with ourselves. If you want to find the people whom God is working through, you want to look for a people who have, believe, and obey the Spirit of Prophecy. That is who you want to look for. They keep the commandments, that eliminates most of the world right there, but then you look for the second characteristic, the people who have the Spirit of Prophecy. I want to tell you, that eliminates the large portion of those who make a profession of waiting for the Lord to come. That is the second identifying mark, according to Revelation 12:17. If you want to find out where God is working, if you want to be a fellow laborer with God, you want to find people who not only keep the commandments but have the Spirit of Prophecy and are living by it.

3. Revelation 14:12; They not only keep the commandments but they have the faith of Jesus. You will never find somebody who has the first qualification and does not have the third one because you cannot keep the commandments unless you do have the faith of Jesus. You cannot do it. They have the same kind of faith that Jesus had. By the way, in 1895, I think there were about 26 sermons that A. T. Jones preached at the General Conference on that phrase "the faith of Jesus." That is a big subject and involves all about the nature of Christ, how you overcome, what it means to exercise faith, faith and obedience, faith and works, sanctification, and how your character is changed.

All of these are involved in the faith of Jesus. People who have the faith of Jesus will be a sanctified people. That is the kind of people you are going to have to look for if you want to be a co-laborer with God in the last work that He is doing for the world.

4. I am sorry to say that this qualification leaves out a lot of people who appear to have all of the others. Look in Revelation 14:6. Remember, God's last people will be giving His last message to the world. "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth; to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people."

If you want to find the people through whom God is working and if you want to be a fellow laborer with God, you need to find the people who are determined to take the three angels' messages to every single person in the world. You need to find those people. When you find those people, you will know what group to work with; you will know how to be a co-laborer with God because that is where God is working. He is working with the people who have these four characteristics. They keep His commandments; they have the Spirit of Prophecy and live by it; they have the faith of Jesus; and they are out to take the gospel to every single person in the whole world. This is where God is working today. These are the specifications given to you in the book of Revelation itself.

Oh, friend, I want to give you an opportunity to make a decision tonight. Are you going to be a fellow laborer with God, a coworker with God? Something terrible has happened in Adventism, just as it happened to the children of Israel. This is a little booklet that was written many years ago now called Forty Years in the Wilderness in Type and Anti-type by Taylor G. Bunch. What happened to the children of Israel at Kadesh-barnea? They had an opportunity to enter the promised land. What happened? Unbelief. Notice what Taylor Bunch says here on page 10: "The Advent movement reached its Kadesh-barnea at the Minneapolis General Conference in the fall of 1888. For two or three years previous to that notable gathering, the Lord through the Spirit of Prophecy sent message after message to this people declaring that they were on the borders of the heavenly Canaan."

There are people who do not understand this. They get all mixed up when they are reading the Spirit of Prophecy and their faith is weakened in the Spirit of Prophecy because they come to us and say, "Ellen White said that we were on the very borders of the land of Canaan, and she wrote that clear back in the 1880s." Of course she did; and we could have been in the land of Canaan before 1900. But in 1888, we did exactly what the children of Israel did. We turned around and went back toward the wilderness. Sister White talks about how we went back into the wilderness and were going back toward Egypt.1879: "We are now on the very borders of the eternal world."1881: "The end of all things is at hand."1885: "We are standing upon the very verge of the eternal world."1885: "Eternity stretches before us. The curtain is about to be lifted."

Practically every issue of the Review for months before 1888 contained earnest and heart searching calls for a spiritual awakening that would give God's people a vision of their Laodicean condition and of Christ and His righteousness as the only remedy. But what happened? On page 13 he says, "Just as Israel murmured in their tents and criticized God's chosen leader who was endeavoring to lead them into the promised land, so modern Israel re-enacted those scenes at Minneapolis in 1888."

So, this message that was taken to the General Conference in 1888 kept on going for a few years after that, but we rejected it. As a result, he writes here on page 17, "It is very evident that the rejection of God's special message in 1888, which resulted in the altering of His purpose to take His people directly into the promised land, marked the beginning of a spiritual retreat toward the world, or Egypt." On page 33 he said, "The message of 1888 continued for several years before it was finally rejected and the advent people turned back into the wilderness." So, the advent people now have turned back into the wilderness.

Now, what is the Lord going to do? I want to tell you, friends, if you read the 1888 Materials by Ellen White, you will find out that our leaders rejected the message. There was a gigantic apostasy that developed. We have not recovered from 1888 yet. We rejected the counsels on health and rejected the counsels on evangelism and education. We rejected them so much that when there were a couple of men by the names of Sutherland and Magan who were determined to follow the counsels, they found it impossible. The Lord, by special providence, directed them to go outside the structure and start what has been called self-supporting work.

I know a little about this because when I was a boy, for a time we lived at and my father worked at the very institution that was begun. John Osborne's father worked at the very same institution when he was a boy. It was called Madison College and Sanitarium. They started a school and a sanitarium. Self-supporting work started as a result of this gigantic apostasy that was in Adventism.

So God started to fulfill His plan a different way. It was a longer road, a longer route. As a result of Madison, little institutions started springing up all over. Some of our best missionaries came from Madison and went to all parts of the world. Little self-supporting institutions started springing up. We had had a reorganization of our church in 1901 and that was rejected at the General Conference in 1903. Just as the children of Israel came to the point in their experience where they wanted a king, we came to the point in our experience where we wanted our schools to be like the world. I have lots of materials from Adventist leaders in my file on this, from our leading people who were there when this happened in 1931. They said, "We will rue the day when we made this decision." They knew what they were getting into. It is just the same as what happened when the children of Israel wanted a king, and the course ever since that time in our educational system has been nothing but down. We stave off the apostasy at this level for a little while; we never get back; then after a while we go a little deeper.

As I have watched this thing I know what I am talking about, friends. I have worked in the system most of my life. I have been in these committees where there was a fight as to whether or not to follow the Spirit of Prophecy. I have seen the people who were loyal to the Spirit of Prophecy have the losing vote. I know what I am talking about. It has been a downhill road. So, the Lord moved on. Did God still have a plan? was He still going to fulfill it? People could not understand, just like the children of Israel were wandering through the wilderness, how was God ever going to straighten this mess out? The way He straightened it out then was that He let them die off. That is about the way that it has happened with us, too. Let the people who are rebellious just die off, take another generation.

In 1943 as a result of Madison, there was a little place started near Chattanooga called Wildwood. I spent some time there when I was a young man. I have heard W. D. Frazee speak in a meeting on Friday night, just like this meeting, on what the real purpose of Wildwood was. I heard him say it and illustrate it, I know exactly what he taught and what he believed. He said, "The real purpose of Wildwood is (just one word), evangelism."

You know, there are people in self-supporting work today who have forgotten what it is all about. Elder Frazee said that evangelism is the purpose. If you forget the real purpose for your existence, what do you have? Well, Ellen White said, "The old standard-bearers are fainting and falling. Our young men have not been educated to feel their accountability to God; . . . We do not realize the magnitude and importance of the work before us. Hence our plans are not becoming wider and more comprehensive." Testimonies, vol. 5, 11

You see, our plans should be constantly becoming wider and more comprehensive. One of the great evidences that we have just been wandering in the wilderness is that we are not in earnest in making plans to finish God's work. I will give you just an example. I asked some people this today: Why didn't Adventists buy a short wave radio station decades ago? We could have done it. Why didn't we do it? We are wandering around in the wilderness. How is God's work ever going to be finished? We are doing this little thing and that little thing and the other thing.

Friends, there is a world that is dying and God has a special message to save the world. He is looking for some people who will carry that message to the world. If you and I do not do it, the rocks are going to cry out and God is going to raise up somebody else to do His work. We will not be fellow laborers together with God; we will lose out. Where is the focus of heaven right now? Friends, it is with the people who are out to take the three angels' messages to the world, who are keeping God's commandments, who have the spirit of prophecy and are living by it, and have the faith of Jesus. And I want to be a part of that group. I want to be part of the group who are coworkers with God. Don't you?

What has happened in Adventism is the same thing that happened in Israel. They were God's professed people, but their character did not line up with their profession. "I was shown that the follies of Israel in the days of Samuel will be repeated [Now in that day it was future; now it has already happened. That was when Israel wanted a king.] unless men have greater humility and less confidence in themselves, and greater confidence in the Lord God of Israel, the Ruler of His people. The ability and wisdom of any man is only derived from God. Connected with God, his life bound up with God [He is a coworker with God.], he will work the works of God. God has wisdom underived. He is the Infinite One; the human is finite, erring. He [God] is the Fountain of the light and life and glory of the world. One leak will sink the mightiest vessel that ever rode the proud ocean; so will the church make shipwreck amid the perils of these last days unless the holy Captain of her salvation shall not only serve as Captain but Pilot." 1888 Materials, 919

I looked up the context of this statement and Ellen White is talking here about the professed church. Now, the true church is going to go through to the end. There are people who say to me, "Oh, the church is going to go through," and they do not know that inspiration says that what they call the church could make shipwreck.

I am not telling you this as a prophet, but I am telling you something, friends, unless there is a repentance, confession, a restitution, and a willingness to stand on the truth such as we have never imagined, we are not very far from the shipwreck that she predicted. The catastrophe that I see happening to Adventism, sometimes I just wish like Jeremiah that my eyes were a barrel of tears. I see our people, the great majority of them, going to destruction and when I try to warn them they say, "You say that we are in total apostasy." I am telling you this so that you will turn around!

Friends, when you look at the destruction of Jerusalem, you get just a little idea of what could happen to Adventism. It could be more awful than you have any idea. The only way that you are going to avoid being part of that destruction is if you are a coworker--a worker with God--and you are working where God is working and you are obedient to His law. Do you want to be a coworker-worker with God? Do you want to be one of those who are keeping His commandments, who is living by the Spirit of Prophecy, who has the faith of Jesus, and who is out to evangelize the world with everything you have?

Do you know, friends, when you study the gospel, the gospel is not a half-way business. Either you have to get in to it all the way or you might as well get out. I tend to be a very cautious person, but as I have studied this I have said, "Lord, help me. I am choosing to give this thing everything I have.

It is going to be all over soon, and when it is all over, I want to know that I have given it everything I have. I want all my money, my time, my talents, anything I have, Lord, I want it all to be in the finishing of Your work." How about you? If you want to be working where God is working, if you want to be a fellow-laborer with God and dedicate your life to Him tonight, I want to invite you to kneel down with me and dedicate our lives to be coworkers-workers with God and to finish His work.