September 2022, Auckland, New Zealand
The church at New Lynn, Auckland planned for a series of prophecy presentations in September, 2020. The theme was, “A New World Order.”
First, we distributed more than 12,000 flyers in the nearby community. Then we put up a statue of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream from Daniel chapter 2, for passers-by to see, with banners advertising the seminar.
The program went well and everyone who was present enjoyed our company. Besides the regular church attendance, there were thirteen new faces that responded to the invitation. Some told how they decided to come:
“My friend happened to pass by the place, and he saw a big statue, took a picture, and sent it to me. And I asked him, ‘Where is this?’ He replied, ‘It’s in New Lynn.’” – David.
“I checked out my letter box and I found an invitation for the prophecy seminar. It happened that it is near my place. So, I decided to come.” – Tele.
Once again, we praise the Lord for leading us in this work as we witnessed the tokens of the working of His Spirit in the hearts of men.
“There is far more being done by the heavenly universe than we realise in preparing the way that souls may be converted. We are to work in harmony with the messengers of heaven. We want more of God; we are not to feel that our talking and sermonising can do the work. Unless the people are reached through God, they will never be reached. We are to rely wholly upon God, pleading His promise: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6.”—Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 50.2.
~ Arnaldo Pedrosa
November 2022, Melbourne, Victoria
Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
A prophecy seminar that was planned way back before the pandemic hit the world took place on the 4th and 5th of November at Maranatha church.
This series focused on the final events—it incorporated current events and changes taking place in the world right now which are setting the scene for what is to come.
Our guest speaker was Brother Paul Chapman, director of the AUC Missionary Department. He visited us together with his dear wife, Sister Deborah Chapman. Brother Paul took us through three different studies. The first one, presented on Friday evening at 7 pm, was entitled, “Now is the End.” In this study Bro. Paul shared with us the different biblical signs that precede the coming of our Lord and the importance of an individual preparation for such a long-awaited event.
On Sabbath he presented the topic, “One Last Warning,” highlighting the importance of the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14, including the investigative judgment, the keeping of the commandments with a special emphasis on the Sabbath as a day of worship, and the mark of the beast. In the world today both, religious and secular leaders are pushing for the establishment of a worldwide day of rest for the environment and families—Sunday. As God’s people, we need to be prepared and make the right choices every single day to be faithful to the Lord and keep His commandments, by His grace so that we may say with Joshua, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15.
On Sabbath afternoon at 2pm, Bro. Paul presented his last topic, “Here Am I; Send Me.” In this presentation he made it clear that every individual is unique in the sight of God and has a calling from the Lord, based on Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.” He also urged the church to wake up and accept God’s call to serve and to save souls. Christ’s purpose was to bless others, and this needs to be our purpose in life in whatever line of work we find ourselves, Jesus left us His example—“From His earliest years He was possessed of one purpose; [Christ] lived to bless others.” The Desire of Ages, p. 70.
Brother Paul ended his series of presentations by taking a quick survey. The purpose of this survey was to encourage the church to make time to work for the Lord by participating in different missionary activities. Everyone participated in the survey and by God’s grace we hope that the survey results will help us to work together more efficiently.
Proverbs 29:18 reads, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Our hope is to see a revival and a reformation in our midst, and for that reason we consider that the ongoing studies of prophecy are vital to God’s church.
We praise the Lord for this weekend prophecy seminar and thank Bro. Paul for making the effort to visit us and taking us through all those topics. God bless you all!
~ Miguel Mendoza
You can watch the series of three presentations in the “Now Is the End” playlist at www.youtube.com/sdarmaustralasia