The former rain has never stoooed pouring. God wants to endow us with the former and latter rain. But, who is out there combing through the Bible regularly, consecrating themselves regularly, doing miracles for God- casting out demons, healing the sick, restoring blind eyes and raising the dead? All these miracles followed Jesus’ disciples/apostles so that the people would believe their report. The gospel, thus was taken around the known world by the work of God’s apostles who were endowed with various spiritual gifts —-after Jesus’ ascension. The time is now for the church to rise up. God is waiting on us.

In recent times, with the doctrinal and lifestyle dissonance within our Church, there has been strong cries for unity. Unity is essential before God’s servants can give the loud cry of Revelation 18:1-5. This gospel reaches to every nook and cranny of the world. Then our Lord and Saviour will appear to redeem His waiting saints. We know that Jesus will not come until the gospel commission has been taken to every nation, kindred, tongue and people (Matthew 24:14). Though there have been remarkable efforts by the Seventh-day Adventist Church to share this message around the world, we must acknowledge the reality that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of this world have never heard the name Seventh-day Adventists, much less the thrilling gospel that God has entrusted to this Church as the depository of His truth at the end of time.

Yet we know that Christ’s invitation will not be given to all the world until God’s people are empowered by the Holy Spirit. We have been promised a power greater than Pentecost. So dramatic was the presentation of the message under the power of Pentecost, that Paul was able to report before the fall of Jerusalem that the gospel “was preached to every creature which is under heaven” (Colossians 1:23). Unity preceded Pentecost:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place (Acts 2:1).

That same unity is necessary at the end of time before God can entrust His people with the Holy Spirit.

I have listened to many sermons on unity, and have witnessed the efforts to make unity the central theme of the 1995 General Conference session. Many of those addressing the issue of unity have quoted the beautiful message of Jesus in His unity prayer:

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:21).

Those sermons to which I have listened have, however, singularly failed to address the sole basis upon which this unity can be achieved. So important is this principle of unity, however, that Christ emphasized it twice in His prayer:

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (John 17:17). And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth (John 17:19).

Until God’s people are sanctified, there will not be unity. Every other call is a call for a counterfeit unity, for such calls are predicated upon that which will destroy unity. Frequently, these are calls to compromise, consensus, or the silencing of truth. God cannot bring genuine unity under false circumstances. So important is this matter that Sister White wrote:

Unity is the sure result of Christian perfection. —Sanctified Life, p. 85

Unity is not a goal, as it is often presented to be. It is the natural result of Christian perfection. Sadly, the wide-spread teaching of the “sin and live” theology has robbed our people of unity. Only a full response to church-wide calls for revival, repentance, and reformation will result in unity. The return of Jesus depends upon it. However, not all church members will respond to Christ’s call. The final shaking brought about by persecution will remove all who continue in worldliness and selfishness. The truth must be held sacred. The pluralistic, eclectic, ecumenical, evangelical thrust that is bombarding the Seventh-day Adventist Church is designed to derail this church from its God-given mission. The servant of the Lord says:

There is no sanctification aside from truth. —Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 432

If we are to achieve that perfect unity necessary for the pouring out of the latter rain, God’s people must hold the truth sacred. But more than this, they must allow the truth to be translated into the very fabric of their lives, bringing the sanctifying principle of God’s love. Thus Paul emphasized:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4:13-15).

Peter puts it in the most beautiful terms:

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently; Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever (1 Peter 1:22, 23).

There is no other way to hasten the coming of Jesus Christ. The Sanctuary message is designed to lead to the justification and sanctification of God’s people, the blotting out their sins, and the uniting of the lives of men and women in God’s truth, providing their title and fitness for heaven. There is NO other way.

Perhaps the greatest challenge that faces Seventh-day Adventist preachers and teachers is to present the concept of perfection within the context of Christ our Righteousness. This centrality of Christ points men and women to the matchless claims of Christ upon their lives and service; a claim validated by the love of God demonstrated on Calvary, and proven through the mercy and long-suffering that He has shown to His people. Perfection presented in a legalistic or Christless fashion will avail nothing. Only as the centrality of the love and power of Jesus is presented in the most winning and attractive way, can we hope to see men and women drawn from, on the one hand, the legalism of human effort, and on the other, from the false security that Christ did it all, that all we have to do to be saved is to accept His perfect life. Between these two failed concepts of legalism and antinomianism, is the truth that Christ is able to keep us from falling into sin by His all powerful, victorious life.

God is drawing His people to the total surrender of the will to Him. To the one Who is altogether trustworthy is the hope, not only of an individual nor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, nor of Christians, but of the whole human race. Our preaching must reflect this challenge if we are serious about the soon return of our Lord and Saviour.
By Colin Standish, Perfection, Hartland Publications, 2009 p.72 – 79,

All the preaching in the world will not make men feel deeply the need of the perishing souls around them. Nothing will so arouse in men and women a self-sacrificing zeal as to send them forth into new fields to work for those in darkness. Prepare workers to go out into the highways and hedges. Do not call men and women to the great center, encouraging them to leave churches that need their aid. Men must learn to bear responsibilities. Not one in a hundred among us is doing anything beyond engaging in common, worldly enterprises. We are not half awake to the worth of the souls for whom Christ died. {8T 147.4}

Psa 2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
Psa 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Psa 2:8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Psa 50:1 The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Psa 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Psa 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
Psa 50:4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Psa 50:5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
Psa 50:6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
Psa 50:7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

Zec 2:10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.
Zec 2:11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.