The Next Step—Teaching others to be Global Adventists

This demonstration is designed for you to enable others to see their need to grow in the area of becoming Global Adventists and how to practically become one.

Draw two stick figures on a marker board or if you are teaching just one or two people a piece of paper is just fine.

Worldly Person

Adventist Christian

Now ask them, "What do you think the differences between these two people are?

Contrast the two by writing descriptions of each. You may need to prompt your students initially so they understand where your coming from.

Your list may look something like this:

Unforgiven	Born Again
Guilt	Has Hope
Self Interested	Serves Others
Worldly Goals	Open to God's Plans

Now summarize by drawing a vertical line between the two lists and an arrow from the worldly person to the Adventist Christian stating, "basically Jesus describes this person as having crossed from death to life." (That's a quote from John 5.)

Challenge your group by drawing an arrow from Adventist Christian to a third location to the right asking them, "Does God have plans for you beyond being an "Adventist Christian?" Draw a third stick man.

Explain that this is the same eye-opener that Peter had. "Do you think Peter at Pentecost possessed all the empowering characteristics that are under the list for "Adventist Christian? Sure he did. But he was missing something. God knew he was lacking something and God took him to the next step. What was the next step? How did God take him there? You remember Peter went up on the roof of a tanner to take a nap. And while he was up there he had a strange dream . . . lizards, rats, skunks, baboon's, pigs. What was the point of the dream? Acts 10.

God wanted Peter to have a global love! What an unusual revelation to Peter. God invited Peter to become a "Global Adventist." (Write "Global Adventist under your third stick man.) (By the way, Peter was an Adventist - He believed in the literal imminent return of Jesus.)

Explain how God intentionally and dramatically transitioned Peter's thinking from "happy local Christian" to "world minded missionary." Explain that there should not be a difference between the Global Adventist and every Adventist but that culture and lack of information has separated the two.

Definition of a World Adventist: A Spirit filled believer who has discovered the truth and need of fulfilling God's global purpose to teach all peoples about Jesus Christ. They are those who realize that as Christians they can delight and worship their God by acting, praying, thinking and believing according to God's love for peoples of every language, race and nation.

So what makes the difference? A Global Adventist has been exposed to three aspects of God that either the average Adventist has never heard or just doesn't care about.

Adventist Christian
Global Adventist (Like Peter having SEEN something different)
The Reason for God's Word
The Redeeming of God's World
Their Role in God's Work

1. God's Word. Global Adventists like Adventist Christians love the Word of God and daily read it, even memorizing and teach it. The difference is that a Global Adventist has observed God's overarching purpose from Genesis to Revelation as being to save the whole world. Intellectually, most people know that but they haven't applied it to affect their world view and even less their daily life! These are the kinds of questions that a Global Adventist might ponder while reading scripture.

Why did God tell Adam and Eve to fill and subdue the "whole earth?" (Gen. 1:28)

Did God scramble the languages at Babel to help or hinder world mission? (Gen. 11:1-9)

Why were "all nations" to be blessed through Abraham? (Gen. 12:3)

Why did God tell Abraham not to settle in Canaan because "the cup of the Ammonites was not yet full?" (Gen. 15:16)

Why was God so interested in the welfare of the orphan, and alien in the nation of Israel? (Deut. 10:18)

Was the missionary trip of Jonah to Nineveh more common than we have thought?

Why must all nations hear before Jesus will come?

Is Revelations all encompassing description "every nation, language, tribe, and people" an echo from the Old Testament?

2. God's World. Ask your group a question that helps them consider their own perception of the world. Like, "If you gave an assignment to a class of high school seniors to write a report entitled, 'Our World,' what type of topics do you think you might get back? (Answers will vary.)

There are many ways to view the world. Global Adventists are well informed about the world but their primary interest is not a business world, not a political world, not an environmental world, not a tourist world not a technological world not a music world, movie world, media world, or a Mac world.

Global Adventist's primary interest is in God's world. That is the world that is seen through a similar (idealistically identical) filter to the view of God. When it is all said and done, how does the Bible reveal God's interest in the world? We know that what God is redeeming off this planet is people. People are all that really matter.

Individuals cluster in families.
Families cluster in tribes.
Tribes cluster by language.
Languages cluster into villages.
And villages cluster to make nations.
God's world is about individual people.

3. God's Work. So, "What is God's work?" Point and emphasize your point with a motion. God's work is moving people from death to life . . . and from life to Global Adventists and from Global Adventists to Global Actionists!