Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Plenary

John Bradshaw

Kia Kaha

Mark Finley

Hope Beyond Tomorrow

Lightened With His Glory

Jesus Wins, Satan Loses

Pentecost Repeated

Shields of Brass

The Black Wall Street

Three Secrets of Lasting Peace

To Hope Again

The Second Coming

Our Father in heaven, we've been blessed by beautiful music.

We are grateful tonight for your presence.

We pray that you would speak to us through your word.

The resounding chorus of amens told me that everyone here is glad.

We are thankful that there is a God who is the potter of our relationship.

We are grateful you are a creator and through Christ, Redeemer.

Lord, would you speak to us tonight so that when we leave this place, as the day dies slowly in the West, we will be able to say we have been in the presence of God.

Bless us now, please, we ask you, not because we deserve it, but because you are merciful.

World War II unfortunately provides us with many lessons, many illustrations.

That kind of conflict on that kind of scale when humanity was putting behind itself the really rather primitive methods of warfare utilized in World War I, was learning to embrace the far more advanced and far more deadly means of destruction that World War II afforded.

Tanks had been used in World War I, but they were kind of slow and kind of primitive.

By World War II, they were far more advanced and therefore far more deadly.

Aircraft by World War II were far more sophisticated and therefore more lethal than they had ever been.

Radar was first used in warfare in World War II.

They were the most important ships in any Navy.

Of course, the weaponry, the weapons themselves, were unlike anything that had heretofore been used on a battlefield.

Exhibit A was the atomic bomb which claimed the lives of roughly 250 millions of people.

Sorry, I'll say that again, roughly 250 thousands of people, there's a big difference in only 2 Japanese cities.

That someone was General Sherman, the man who was responsible, the man who gave the order for the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War.

But after a war has been fought, we celebrate the gallant, we lionize the courageous, and we honor the intrepid, and certain warriors take a special place in the annals of human history.

1 such group of warriors was the 28th Battalion, known as the Maori Battalion, part of the 2nd New Zealand Division, the fighting arm of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force during World War II.

I'm not expecting that you know much about the Maori Battalion, but that's why we're discussing this tonight.

It was a frontline infantry unit made up of volunteers, of course, volunteers, comprising 700 to 750, maybe a touch more, touch less, men, divided into 5 companies.

It was the most decorated New Zealand battalion of World War II.

Like the other infantry battalions, the Maori battalion was divided into 5 companies.

4 rifle companies of about 125 men each and a headquarters company of around 200 men.

The battalion's 4 rifle companies, creatively named ABC, and D, were organized along tribal lines.

The Maori were and still are the indigenous people of New Zealand, a native people.

So the 4 rifle companies divided along roughly at least tribal lines.

While the headquarters company, HQ company, was drawn from all over Maoridom, Tribal affiliation was not a consideration.

In the words of Lieutenant General Bernard Freyberg, who commanded the 2nd New Zealand Division, no infantry battalion had a more distinguished record, or saw more fighting, or alas had such heavy casualties as the Maori Battalion, which fought in such places as Greece, Crete, North Africa, and Italy.

It is recorded that General Rommel, Germany's Desert Fox, considered New Zealanders to be the finest troops on the Allied side.

They fought, they said, for God, King, and country.

Rommel's chief of staff said, give me the Maori battalion and I will conquer the world.

Perhaps it is what was recorded in their rallying cry, or Perhaps it was the intent, the expression, the meaning of its rallying cry.

Some translation might say, be strong always, or ever be strong.

Those words were contained in the Maori battalion song, Kia Kaha.

It was their motto, their rallying cry, Kia Kaha.

Be strong, always be strong, no matter what.

Their motto has become part of the fabric of New Zealand culture today.

After a tragedy, people are encouraged, Kia kaha, when somebody is about to enter into a sporting contest, it is not uncommon, Ye verily, it is common that somebody will say to that person, Kia kaha, be strong.

If you are entering into some arena, not necessarily sporting, some place where you must give your best, somebody will say to you more than likely, Kia kaha, be strong.

There are schools, high schools that have taken those words as their school motto You will see it on the school crest the monogram with the crest those words will say Kia kaha be strong always ever be strong You must give of your best always and so we encourage you with these words, Kiakaha, always be strong.

For those who have studied World War II, it is said that the name Takrauna, Takrauna, Takruna, evokes memories of some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting in all of the Desert War.

Takruna was a 650 feet tall or 650 feet high rock fortress in the Sahel region of Tunisia right there in North Africa.

It was held in 1943 by German and Italian troops.

If you were to see a picture of it, you would say, that thing could not possibly be taken.

It was important because that thing blocked the advance of the 8 armies' drive towards Tunis, capital of Tunisia, which is about 45 miles in a straight line from Tacorona.

On the night of April 19 in 1943, a handful of B Company men, led by Sergeant Hanim Manahi, scaled a sheer cliff.

We wouldn't call them enemies today, but enemies in terms of warfare then.

Others of his followers reached the summit, too.

And after 3 days of desperate fighting, Takuna was taken.

He came back with a section of sea company and another platoon and successfully pushed back the Axis counterattack.

Manahe and his men took 300 prisoners over that time.

A British lieutenant general described what Menahe did as the most gallant feat of arms I witnessed in the course of the entire war.

This concept of strength will get your places in warfare and we have to remember that we God's people are involved in a combat in a warfare Paul described the Christian endeavor as being like a war.

Here we are on the eve of a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

And God is looking for people who are prepared to be strong.

Jesus himself said in Matthew 24 and verse 13, but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.

You might hear Jesus saying kia kaha in those words.

The word he used in the Greek was hupomeno.

And you'll find a word in Revelation chapter 14 and verse 12 that's very closely related to that word.

You read in Revelation 14 and verse 12, here is the patience of the saints.

That word is connected to the word endurance in Revelation 24 and verse 13.

Here is the patience, the steadfastness, the constancy, the endurance of the saints.

Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Right there Is that concept of grabbing hold and not letting go right there is the thought that we accept?

The task Stand up to it much forward Unflinchingly Kia, kaha It is said in Romans chapter 4 in verse 20 that Abraham was strong Strong he was the Bible says Abraham was strong now the Greek word used there is Connected directly to the word used in Romans 1 in verse 16.

I am NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the Power of God unto salvation, you know you've heard it a hundred times that Greek word is dunamis from which we get dynamite and Abraham is said to have had dynamite faith, which is fascinating.

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Series

Plenary

Kia Kaha

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Summary and Conclusion

39m

What is Righteousness by Faith?

The Answer to Our Deficiencies

57m

God is Love?

19-The Mark of the Beast

1h

Plenary

The Black Wall Street

1h 8m

Alpha: Anything But God

1h 37m

Probabilities

54m

The Strait Gate

43m

Morning Devotional

Following the Leader

48m

The Beatitudes

Blessed Are the Persecuted

29m

Are You a Wise or a Foolish Virgin?

51m

Pagan Christianity Fulfilling Prophecy

55m

Plenary

Final Charge

26m

Sound Doctrine