Michigan Camp Meeting 2018: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Going the Distance

Mark Howard

1. Not Far

2. The Little Engine that Couldn’t

3. Tragic Tale from Tinker Creek

4. Justification by Faith

5. Identifying Your Superpower

6. It’s Complicated

7. The Peril of Prayer

8. Finishing Strong

I remember my first camp meeting and I want to tell you, the first time I ever, the idea of taking a week off of work to go to camp meeting and I know there are church members today like, what?

First time I took a, in fact, my wife was pregnant with our first child, my son Caleb, and we slept in a tent.

So I, you know, I went to the store, I think it was a Walmart, and I got a tent.

I thought that's what they were designed to do.

So we woke up wet every morning, you know, $25 Walmart tent doesn't keep water out.

I mean, it was 2 weeks before she gave birth, if not 1, and we're sleeping on the floor of the tent.

And we've been at camp meeting ever since.

Now I have to be at camp meeting, I work at camp meetings and things like that, but I'd still be here.

And I'm glad you are here, and I think that, Well, the Lord has a blessing for us this morning and I want to ask that he would bless our time.

So I'm going to ask if you bow your heads while I do so.

Father in heaven, oh Father, you have been gracious to us this camp meeting.

Your spirit has been pronounced on this campus through all the different speakers and seminars, Lord, and just on the moving in our own hearts, reminding us of who we are.

And Father, this morning, as we come here, not to hear any man, but to hear your voice to us, I pray that you would anoint my lips, Lord, and may I speak that which is pleasing in your sight.

May the words of my mouth And the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, for I ask it in Jesus' name.

Now I was thinking, when I was thinking of the title for this, the title that came to my mind for today is the peril of prayer, which is Kind of an odd title because prayer, when we talk about prayer, it's always positive.

Prayer is a great thing, and it is a great thing, and we talked about prayer yesterday.

In fact, yesterday we were talking about our relationship with Christ, and we were looking at in the context of relationships in general, how all relationships have at least 3 fundamental pieces that determine their success.

And those 3 pieces were time and communication and expression.

We need to make time with God, undivided attention time in which we communicate through the process of prayer and Bible study.

Some of the ways we talked about expressing in our relationship was how we express our love and feelings to each other.

Finding out the things that each other likes so that we can do those things.

Telling other people about the relationship.

I just barely touched on that, but that last 1, that's the 1 I want to spend some time on today.

And so why the title, The Peril of Prayer?

Did you know there are times when prayer is not a good thing?

There's an interesting story in the book of Joshua after the Israelites conquered Jericho and they were going to go into Ai.

In fact, Ai was such a small little place that they just sent a few people in to take care of it, and they were wiped out.

The Israelites, they just conquered Jericho.

So Joshua gets on his knees and he's praying before the Lord.

There's sin in the camp and you haven't dealt with it.

Now Ellen White in the book Steps to Christ shares a powerful statement about when prayer may not be as powerful as it needs to be.

It says, God does not mean that any of us should become hermits or monks and retire from the world in order to devote ourselves to acts of worship.

Now, I've got to be careful here, but I know certain ministries over the years who have encouraged people to escape to God, go off in some remote place and you can raise your kids in some remote, isolated, whatever.

And I'll be honest with you, those have been some of the hardest church members I've ever had to work with, and here's why, because they're not involved in anything, because they think their only mission field is their family.

Do yourself a favor and do a search in the writings of Ellen White for this phrase, me and mine, me and mine.

She talks about people who think that's their only service.

She says, God has called you to reach others besides just your family.

Now I'm not saying that we don't have a responsibility, and our number 1 responsibility isn't to our families.

But notice, and this is where she's going, God does not mean that any of us should become hermits and monks and retire from the world in order to devote ourselves to acts of worship.

The life must be like Christ's life between the mountain and the what?

Or his prayers will become a formal routine.

When men take themselves out of social life, interaction with others, out away from the sphere of Christian duty and cross-bearing, That word duty is not a popular word today.

When they cease to work earnestly for the master who worked earnestly for them, they lose the subject matter of prayer and have no incentive to devotion.

See, we were talking about the relationship and devotion of life yesterday, and I know multitudes of Seventh-day Adventists who struggle with this, unbeknownst to them, because they're missing a key component.

Now, you know what a tripod is, don't you?

And you try, they make tripods for different purposes.

You set things on them, cameras or what have you.

And of course, those 3 legs are essential.

You lose 1 of those legs and you don't have a tripod, you have a bipod, and it doesn't work as well.

Well, in the Christian life, you've got a tripod of a foundation.

You've got your Bible study, and you've got your prayer, but you also have that expression part of witnessing.

And I'm going to tell you that if you don't have that in your active Christian experience, this is what's going to happen.

You're going to lose the subject matter for prayer, and you're going to lose the incentive for devotion.

See, when you're sharing your faith, I'm just going to be honest with you here.

I've been in this for 20 plus years as a Christian, sharing my faith the whole time, and I still on a regular basis encounter people asking me things I don't know the answer to.

Now Sometimes lay people think, well, you know, if I were a pastor, if I were this or that, then I would witness more because I would know more.

In fact, that's how I've learned as much as I have is when people ask me things I don't know and I have to study it out and it drives you to devotion.

See the incentive to devotion often comes from interacting with others.

The subject matter for prayer, like what do I pray about?

Look, when you're out witnessing with somebody, you know what to pray about.

And when they're asking you questions you can't answer, that might even tend to shake your faith, you know what to pray about.

But when we pull ourselves out of that part of Christian life, it says we lose the subject matter of prayer and have no incentive to devotion.

Their prayers become personal and selfish.

They cannot pray in regard to the wants of humanity or the up-building of Christ's kingdom, pleading for strength wherewith to work." Wow, indeed.

Now, I want you to turn with me to the gospel of Matthew.

And we're going to look at a parable today, maybe a little bit different than you have looked at it in the past.

Matthew chapter 12 is very short, Just 2 verses we're going to look at here, 3 verses.

Matthew 12, we're going to look at verse 43.

The Bible says in verse 43, when an unclean spirit goes out of a what?

Out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest.

Series

Going the Distance

7. The Peril of Prayer

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Plenary

Occupy

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Cleansing the Temple ( Remnant Rally 2009 #5 )

1h

Light Bearer

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2019: Evening and Sabbath Meetings

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John Chung, Chelsy Jourdan, and Sebastien Braxton: Cubicles and Christ

Transitioning to the Spiritual

39m

What Do You Have In Your Hand?

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WYC 2007 Plenary Sessions

If You Do These Things

52m

SWYC 2005 Plenary Sessions

Morning Devotional

52m

A Thoughtful Hour

A Thoughtful Hour- Part 2

1h 17m

Fire in My Bones

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You Know Enough, Part 2

22m

God's Invisible Plan

03 God’s Invisible Plan and Flunking the Spiritual Gifts Test

58m

Sound Doctrine