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

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Soul Winning Hour

Soul Winning Hour - 1st Sabbath

Well, let's bow our heads as we begin with prayer.

Oh, Heavenly Father, what a blessing it is to be upon this platform, weighted with laborers for the cause of Christ.

Young laborers who are giving the strength of their youth to share the gospel in this generation.

And Father, we pray that you would bless them, that you'd bless this soul-winning hour as we hear the testimonies of how you have worked through them and hear from their own lips how you have worked through them to reach souls for your kingdom.

So Father may our hearts be overwhelmed with joy and a renewed earnestness as we see that if these young people can be such earnest laborers for you, how much we want to join and be a part of that earnest labor too.

So Lord bless this hour for we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.

Okay, well I'm glad to be joined by my wife today, who's been a liturgy evangelist.

We have special guests like Elder Carter and Elder Crick from the Pacific Union.

Of course, we have all those young people here and we'll just go and watch a brief video that kind of summarizes the ministry and what the young people do.

A book can go where an evangelist can't go.

It can keep speaking truth long after the person who brings it has left.

It can point someone to the Bible when all other ways have failed.

So when a Christian warmly presents a book, it can change the whole course of someone's life.

That's why every summer, groups of young people work the cities for 10 weeks, meeting people in their daily routines and leaving them with books that meet their needs and point them back to Jesus.

And through the power of God, the lives of thousands of people are impacted eternally.

There is a reason this work continues, even though it's not easy.

Because there are people everywhere, craving truth, longing for something deeper, and waiting for someone to show them the love of God.

So today, as they're listening to the testimonies of our young people, I not only want you to be listening, but I'd be inspired for you to do something for the Lord as well.

It's not time to just sit back and enjoy, but also be encouraged to do something.

I want to just introduce this group 1 more time.

I would like for the leaders to raise your hand.

So those are the leaders who are leading the group of this 60-some young people here.

David and Daniela, and they are in the field working with me, training the different groups.

They are the right and left hand of our ministry this summer.

And they will be the ones who will take and start interviewing the young people.

And let's enjoy the testimonies just now.

So we're just getting started, but God has already been working, so we just wanna give you a small taste of what's been happening so far.

And so I'm gonna give a little quote as an introduction, but then as the students tell their stories, they'll just say their name briefly and where they're from, So you'll get an idea of where some of our students come from.

So, Cole Porter Ministry page 23 contains 1 of my favorite quotes on this work.

We are told that as Cole Porters go from house to house, they will find souls who are hungry for the bread of life.

There is a famine in the land for the pure gospel.

So, Karina met 1 of these hungry searching souls very recently and so she's going to tell you how that happened.

So I canvassed a man on the great controversy and I asked him what his spiritual or religious background was and he said he was Lutheran but now he's studying the Bible as a Jehovah witness.

And behind my back of the mind, I started to think that, oh, they don't accept literature from other religions.

So I started to pray, and I was like, Lord, please help me to get this powerful book in this guy's home.

So he was like debating yes or no with the book, and I just kept praying as I was canvassing, and I started talking more about the Great Controversy, how it has the French Reformation, and it talks about different religions.

So I saw the great controversy play out right in front of me because he was debating yes or no with the book.

And he ended up saying, yes, I'll give the donation for the book, but I have to ask permission if I can read this book because we don't usually accept literature.

So please pray for this guy that he can, you know, will be allowed to read this powerful book and so he can know what the truth actually is.

So God sent Karina from Denver, Colorado to come and reach this man with the great controversy.

Another quote from Cole Porter Ministry that I really appreciate says that, men and women are wandering in the midst of fog and error.

Tell them not in high-flown language, but with the simplicity of the children of God.

They tell our story very simply, and our simplest books are the books that we carry for children, that really simplify the Bible stories for them.

And so Haley had a really interesting experience this week where she was sharing some of our children's books that actually opened up the door in order for her to be able to share more with someone.

So I handed this lady the kids, our children's books, and she looked to 1 in particular, and she was like, oh wow, I really need to read this because I don't even know all this stuff.

And so I pulled out another 1 of the books that we have, it's called The Answer Book.

And As she was flipping through it, I was telling her about it, and then she turned to a page that was answering questions about the judgment.

And she was like, oh, the judgment is really, really scary.

And I was like, you don't need to be afraid of the judgment.

And so I pulled out The Great Controversy and she like lit up.

Like I told her about how the angels came, will come to people who are scared and stuff.

So anyways, I also pulled out another book that we have, which is Promise of Peace, which is like desire of ages and stuff like that.

And I told her that it would give her peace in her life.

And then she finally signed up for Bible studies and signed up for like stop smoking program and I even gave her an address to a church nearby her so pray that she will go there.

So the thing about canvassing is long before we go to those doors God is already working in their lives and we don't know what's going on before we come but it's always amazing when God works out these divine appointments and sends us to people at the right time.

So Olivia definitely had a divine appointment this week and she's gonna tell you about that experience.

I was canvassing industrial businesses and I walked into an auto mechanic shop and I called and a lady came in from the back and she just looked very grumpy and sort of depressed.

But what I didn't know at that point, that the past year, she'd been going through a really difficult family situation, and just that morning, she had gotten a call that the conflict had been resolved, but in a very dishonest and hurtful way to her, and it was tearing apart her family.

So she wasn't very interested in the health books that I shared with her, but before I went, I shared with her that we were working with the famous Blue Bible Story Company, and then she asked me what religion I was, and so I told her, oh, I'm a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.

And her whole face changed, and she gasped, and she said, you're a Seventh-day Adventist?

I want to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.

And so the conversation just exploded from there because we were so excited to have met each other.

It turned out she was a homeschool mom and over the past 20 years she had been reading the Bible from different curriculums and different denominations.

I was able to connect with her because I was homeschooled too.

And she discovered from her Bible studies the truths of the Sabbath and what happens when we die and the health message as well.

She'd heard about Adventist from her chiropractor who had given her a great controversy, but she had never had a chance to read it yet.

And so she didn't know that there was an Adventist church in the area.

And so I prayed and I asked her, would you like to visit our church?

My friends and I will be there on the 29th.

So I was able to share with her the address.

And she signed up for personal Bible studies as well with members of the Warren Church that we're staying at.

And before I left, I was also able to pray with her.

And it was such a blessing because we both realized that this was such a divine appointment that God had set up and I was able to leave her with Christ's object lessons and the desire of ages too and she's really excited to be reading those as well as the great controversy that she already has.

So I just pray that and I ask you to pray that this family will continue to follow in the light that God is shedding on their path.

Well it's exciting what's happening each summer, and Of course you cannot help but get a lot of good experiences.

We're just getting started, so there'll be so many more coming in as the summer progresses.

If you want to be watching testimonies, you can and you have access to Facebook, And if you type in GC Youth Ministries, they're actually posting our stories once every week.

So we have every Friday, there will be a story from the Michigan young people posted on the GC Youth Ministries Facebook page.

Now I want to invite Elder Crick here, and he's a good friend of mine.

Soul Winning Hour - 2nd Sabbath

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this Sabbath day.

We thank you for the privilege that is ours of knowing Jesus personally and being co-laborers with Jesus for the giving of the gospel to the world in this generation.

Lord, as we listen to the testimonies of these individuals today, we in advance thank you for what you already have done, and we thank you for what you will continue to do in their lives and by God's grace through each 1 of our lives as we seek to hasten the coming of Jesus, for we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

I'd like to invite up Pastor Rod Thompson.

He's going to bring a couple of friends with him as he comes today from the Mount Pleasant and Midland churches.

And these are not only interesting testimonies but these are baptismal candidates can you say amen.

Pastor Rod come and introduce us to who you have with you.

Amen the first person that I'd like you to introduce to you is Tricia Hall and Tricia about 3 years ago you were living in Midland and you were driving to Mount Pleasant 5 days a week.

I was going to Central Michigan University, going to school, And I was just commuting, so driving every day, about 40 minutes each way, so a lot of time in the car.

And I was just looking for more of him, and I stumbled on Strong Tower Radio.

And what did you think when you started listening to that?

I was a little leery, but every—I thought if they, you know, are trying to teach things that aren't the Bible I'll turn it off and that never happened so I just kept it on and thought well where can I find a Saturday church so yeah it was So at that point you started attending the Midland Church?

Yeah, I Googled where can I go to church on Saturday?

No, I'm so glad to have found this church.

Brenda Cahill, she greeted me right away and I knew I was probably home.

And as she is coming to the Midland Church back in 2017, then 2 years ago we had an Unlock Revelation seminar that the whole state of Michigan was doing and you came to that.

And when that was done, you got baptized and became a member of the church.

It took a while to let go of basically everything that I knew and everyone that I loved and family, you know, you do something 1 way and just to change, you know, knowing in your heart And acting on it takes a while sometimes, so.

So now it's been 2 years since then, and now today you're ready to be baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The point that we want to make with this story of Tricia is that this is not something that's uncommon.

It's often that we have an evangelism series and we invite people and we want them to come in and we want them to be baptized and be right into the church right away, don't we?

And sometimes there are things that people have to work through and family members that have to be reconciled with and talk to and those sorts of things.

And we don't ever want to give up on that, do we?

So you may have somebody that you've had come to an evangelism series, and yeah, they didn't make a decision for baptism right away, but don't give up on them.

All right, the next person I want to introduce to you is John Duman.

Now, John, You have been in the Seventh-day Adventist Church your entire life.

My folks worked really hard to make sure that we had a good Christian education.

I have a little trouble calling it gla, but at any rate.

We got married, my wife and I, and we had kids, and around about that time, we both started slipping away.

Twenty-two, twenty-three, left home, got married, and started a family, and then life got in the way Oh, absolutely, or I let it get in the way 1 of the 2 and and how long were you out of the church?

Well, it's Gonna be my 40th high school reunion coming up in October, so almost 40 years.

And I'm currently studying about Israel's trip to Canaan.

Now in case you didn't make a connection with the name, John Duman is the brother of Russ and Tim Duman, a part of the Strong Tower Radio Quartet.

And something happened not too long ago with your brothers.

Yeah, for their first CD, I took the pictures for the CD and we were in our second year of taking pictures for their next endeavor.

And after we got all done, they said, we have a question for you.

And they said, would you be our sound man?

So you were out of the church, but your brothers were reaching out to you at that time.

About that time, my father-in-law's second wife died and he was in Idaho, so I flew out to bring him back.

And instead of the quick fly out, pack up, come back, We had to tour a little bit of the country.

We had to attend church, which I hadn't done in many years.

And then the trip took a lot longer coming back.

And then when the next Sabbath came, I thought, well, I can't just blow him off.

It's with his gentle prodding that I started going back to church.

So that trip that you took, that was something that you were expecting to just get there and get back and be done with that, but it sounds like he was delaying things a little bit.

I don't know if he was intentional, but yes.

And so there was some spiritual work that was going on at that time, and then what happened?

Well, then I started attending Mount Pleasant Church.

And I have to say, if you're looking for God, you need to find a church that's as loving as the 1 I've found.

So you came to the Mount Pleasant Church, and at that time, we at the Mount Pleasant Church were talking about a mission trip to El Salvador, and what happened there?

Normally when I get to church, I sit in the back corner and I watch people and welcome them.

And this particular morning, I'm sitting in there and I get this image or this thought, you know, you could do the same thing by standing out and looking through the window.

And the pastor, his sermon that week was 2 faithful spies.

And it was all about a mission trip to El Salvador.

And I got the V8 slap along the forehead, and I, you know, okay, God, I get your point.

So you were not even a member of the church at that time.

You were just coming back, and you felt the call of God to make that mission trip, and he did, and we went and built a couple of churches there in El Salvador, and then we came back, and what happened?

Well, the pastor asked me if I was ready yet, and I said, yes, I believe I am.

So we started studying together, And I never really thought it was possible to have a friend and a pastor, but I really do.

The point that I think that we hear here in John is that, and it may not have come out totally, but what we're seeing here is that John has been in the church his whole life.

He fell away for a while, then he came back, but what happened is all of a sudden he had a born-again experience.

And that's exactly what Elder Bradshaw was talking about this morning when he mentioned those people that may be in the church that have been there their whole lives and are kind of going through the motions, doing everything that's supposed to, and it sounds like that's what was happening.

And so the point that we want to make here is that you may have a family member.

You may have a son or a daughter, a mother, a father, a brother, a sister.

You may have a friend, somebody that you see them in the church.

Yeah, they're there, they're going through the motions, but you're just wondering, are they truly saved?

And the point is that we don't ever want to give up on them.

Series

Soul Winning Hour

Soul Winning Hour - 2nd Sabbath

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Plenary Sessions

We Will Remember God’s Mighty Acts

1h 8m

ASI Spring Chapter Conference - Sabbath Afternoon

1h 57m

Personal Evangelism

How to Grow Your Church: The Motion of the Movement

1h 23m

Christ our Righteousness

Christ our Righteousness - Part 1

47m

The Three Angels' Message

07 The Fourth Angel’s Message

1h

Sabbath School and Personal Ministries: Getting the Most Out of BSO

05 From Click to Christ: Winning Souls with BSO

1h 9m

Plenary

High Time

1h 18m

Is It Time to Fast?

05 Is It Time to Fast

1h 2m

The Key to Finishing the Work

Taste and See

1h 8m

SWYC 2007 Plenary Sessions

Revelation’s Sanctuary Pattern

51m

Sabbath School and Personal Ministries: Getting the Most Out of BSO

02 The Power of Personal Ministry

58m

Plenary

Different or the Same - Christian Standards in the 21st Century

1h 7m

Sound Doctrine