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

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

A Light Was Kindled

C. Raymond Holmes

A Light Was Kindled - Part 1

A Light Was Kindled - Part 2

A Light Was Kindled - Part 3

A Light Was Kindled - Part 4

A Light Was Kindled - Part 5

Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for this week of camp meeting.

I'm so thankful that I was able to be here and do this seminar this week, and I'm thankful for everyone that attended.

And Lord, I pray that by your Holy Spirit, we would, as a church, always remain faithful to your word, no matter what it costs, because that's the only safe thing to do.

And so Father, we ask your blessing on Elder Mitchiff and the leadership of the conference.

We're very thankful for Elder Gallimore's leadership for 27 years, but now according to your plan that we have new leaders and they need your blessing and the empowerment of your Holy Spirit.

Yesterday, I was talking about some amazing facts that I discovered as I was in the process of making the transition from the Lutheran to the Adventist church.

And there's 1 more that I wanted to mention.

In July 1519, Martin Luther, Melanchthon, and Andreas Karlstad, his 2 colleagues, were invited to debate with the Catholic theologian John Eck, E-C-K, at Leipzig, Germany.

And the debate dealt with the authority for faith and life.

And the reformers, they argued for the authority of the Bible alone.

John Eck, the Catholic theologian, He argued for the authority of the church as represented by the papacy.

And later Eck wrote a volume entitled 404 Theses in which he was arguing against the Reformation.

But in that document, he exposed what he referred to as the inconsistency of the reformers.

And I want to tell you he was right on that, because he said to them, and in fact, that if you really believe, if you really hold to the Bible alone, you could not hold to the first day of the week for which there is no biblical authority.

And he said that to continue holding to Sunday was to recognize the primacy of the Roman Church.

And in his handbook, entitled Handbook of Common Places, he wrote this.

He said, quote, the Sabbath is commanded many times by God.

Neither in the Gospels nor in Paul is it definite that the Sabbath has ceased.

Nevertheless, the Church, the Roman Catholic Church, has instituted the Lord's Day through the tradition of the apostles without scripture." I retired in 1994 and in 1995, a little bit later, something came to my hand.

I can't remember how I got a hold of this.

In fact, I still have it in the back of my Bible here.

But it was a copy of the parish paper of St.

Catherine Catholic Church right here in Algonac, Michigan.

And listen to what this parish paper of that Michigan Adventist Church said, quote, Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century.

The Holy Day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power.

People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority should logically become Seventh-day Adventists and keep Saturday holy." and keep Saturday holy." What is this?

This is the little horn power of Daniel 725 that will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the times and the law.

No matter what we do, we'll serve to sanctify Sunday or Sabbath.

God has already sanctified it by his word and command.

The commandment holy, what he has made holy.

And though his contribution to the Reformation was enormous, for which we can be grateful, Luther was nevertheless unfaithful to the Word of God himself with respect to the Sabbath.

And can you imagine what started to happen to my thinking And to my trust in and respect for Luther, when I was able to absorb these amazing facts, for a while I was a man without a church, but gradually I knew what I had to do.

And it's on that basis that I'm going to share with you something today.

And Luther helped me make that decision when I discovered these amazing facts.

But I don't regret it because it's Bible truth.

And once you see the truth, you have no other choice.

If you're a child of God and you know the Bible is God's Word, And once you see the truth, you don't have any other choice.

My conscience is captive to the word of God, said Luther.

And I'm going to share some of that with you.

There is yet work to be done, and God has chosen a people to do it, to continue the Reformation.

Let's remember that because there's a price to pay always for faithfulness.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church may very well be, if you know what has been happening within Protestantism over the last few decades, but the Seventh-day Adventist Church may very well be the lone voice in the context of churches that have been capitulating to culture.

And I'll show what I mean by that, as they have become increasingly acclimated to the culture.

And the most recent example of that is that of the United Methodist Church, which just recently consecrated a lesbian as a bishop.

And there has been a strong reaction to that within the United Methodist Church, and there has been serious talk of schism in the United Methodist Church.

Part of the ethos of the time of trouble is that faithful believers are in conflict with the world and worldliness, and that they envision the Church of Christ as a holy community.

And in the struggle to stay true to the Word of God, the value of unity and like-minded Christian friends is boundless.

And the Word says, listen to this, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 10, I appeal to you, brothers, why it might as well include and sisters because it's a generic, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same judgment.

And then let's look at Philippians Chapter 1, beginning with verse 27.

Our Paul says, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in 1 spirit, with 1 mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ You should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have." The authority of God's Word was the issue at the time of the Reformation and it's the issue today.

I've said that a number of times, but that's all right, because the more you say it, the more it's heard, the more it sticks.

Because, and I'm going to quote Ellen White here, Patriarchs and Prophets, page 55, and listen carefully, whatever contradicts God's word, we may be sure proceeds from Satan.

Speaking of the early church, the book of Acts says in chapter 2, verse 46, and then chapter 4, 32 and 33, continuing daily with 1 accord and singleness of heart, the full number of those who believed were of 1 heart and soul and with great power.

The apostles were giving their testimony and great grace was upon them all.

But Satan, the enemy of God's church, was determined to destroy its unity.

And soon, even way back then, divisions and schisms rent the church.

And all of that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit brought about exhortations such as these that I'm going to read to you now from Paul and Peter and others, because a disunited church is a powerless church.

Romans 12, 16, live in harmony with 1 another.

Romans 15, verses 5 and 6, may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with 1 another in accordance with Christ Jesus that together you may with 1 voice glorify God, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus.

Finally, aim for restoration, comfort 1 another, agree with 1 another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Philippians 2.2, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of 1 mind.

The answer is in Philippians 2, verse 5 and verse 8.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

Series

A Light Was Kindled

A Light Was Kindled - Part 5

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

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