Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Thousands of Adventist teachers listened to a worship presentation at the National Teachers’ Convention as the speaker challenged them to walk with God and let God work through them to bring the joy of God to the lives of their students.

As I glanced around the large room during the sermon, I noticed the attentiveness in which the teachers listened to the speaker. Some were laughing, tearing up, or were captivated as the speaker drew them in and led them to make their own personal commitments.

This moment with the teachers made me think of Acts 1:3, where it tells us Jesus spent 40 days after His resurrection presenting Himself to His followers and showing by “infallible proofs” that He had risen. The most important part of this Bible verse states that Jesus was speaking to them about the things “pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

Imagine with me this scene of Jesus’ 40 days! I imagine that the people were hanging on to His every word. Here was a man who many of them had seen crucified and entombed. Now here He was alive and speaking! I know I would have wanted to listen intently to what He had to say because it was coming from a man who was alive again! Those 40 days must have been very special.

This challenges me in my own daily walk with God today to have the same kind of eager listening and learning at the feet of Jesus. He is still as alive today as He was during those 40 days, still likes to reveal Himself to us just like He did in those 40 days of instruction, and His instruction about the kingdom of God is still as relevant today as it was then!

Let us not lose that intent, eager listening and learning from the words of Jesus as we spend time with Him each day! I encourage you to reach out to a pastor, trusted person, or someone at the conference office who can point you to Jesus, how to grow spiritually each day, and explore new ways to grow in your walk with God!