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

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission

C. Raymond Holmes

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission - Part 1

Heavenly Father, we're so thankful to be here at Camp Meeting, and we're here to receive a spiritual blessing, and we pray that your Holy Spirit will be present not only in this room but throughout this campus, that you would anoint each preacher, each speaker, each presenter.

We ask for a special blessing on the young people and Elder Batchelor's meetings with the young people.

Lord, bless this conference, the Mother Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist church worldwide.

Keep it faithful, Lord, a light shining in the darkness.

Well, I have a lot to say and I don't talk fast like some of these monitors do.

I talk so fast, you know, you can't process what they're saying.

But I'm going to have to talk a little faster this week because I'm a little concerned that I'm not going to be able to share everything that I have with you if I don't speed up a little bit.

So you can open your Bibles to 1 John, and I'm going to start by telling a story, and you can find this story in my book, The Road I Traveled, and they have some in the ABC.

But when I was a young minister just out of seminary, I was a Lutheran at that time, and I was in my first Lutheran parish.

And believe it or not, I was asked to make a presentation at what was called in those days a Bible camp.

They don't call them Bible camps anymore, But that's what we called them.

And after my presentation, it was in the evening and it was getting dark.

And everybody left the little chapel that we were in.

And they locked the door so we had to sit on the steps with 1 light bulb above our heads.

And she said, I have something I need to talk with you about.

And she said, I don't know if my sins are forgiven.

In other words, she didn't have the assurance that her sins were forgiven.

And being a young pastor, I didn't know what to say right away.

So I did something I had never done before.

And I asked God to help me, to help this lady.

And the words came to my mind, open 1 John to the first chapter.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And she kind of looked at me And I said, please read it again.

And she said, I just told you many times.

And after a little while, she said, I guess I am.

And I said, how do you know that you're forgiven?

And she says, because it says so right here.

Now, you don't learn how to be a pastor in a seminary.

And I'm a former seminary professor and I'm saying that.

You get ideas, you get philosophy, you get theory, But you become a pastor by pastoring.

Did you notice that if you take the puppy in your hands and it's never been near water, but you hold it over water and what does it do?

So you just drop it in the water and it swims.

I was learning to become a pastor and nobody taught me how to do that in the seminary.

Ever since then, 1 John has been a favorite of mine.

Anyway, were it not for the warnings found in the Word of God in the New Testament, it would be hard to believe that some of the churches that arose out of the Reformation are today uncertain, divided, disputing, to the point of preaching and teaching a confused, misleading, and even deceptive message.

Paul says in Galatians 1 6, I am astonished, he said, that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another 1, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

The biblical gospel proclaims that the basic human problem is sin, for which the solution was Calvary.

It calls for the death of the old man or the old woman, signified in baptism by immersion, and then walking in newness of life, empowered by the Holy Spirit to be obedient, which we cannot do by nature, which is why we need the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

And this different gospel being proclaimed today says that sin in human beings is not the problem.

Instead, sin is found in social oppression, in unjust social institutions, for which the solution is that a loving God accepts everybody unconditionally because of their created goodness.

Inclusive social justice is the essence of this different gospel.

This different contemporary gospel teaches, first of all, that the Holy Spirit is doing the Holy Spirit is doing new things today, even though such new things contradict the biblical witness.

Number 2, it teaches that the power of sin is not present in human life, but in social institutions and injustice.

Number 3, it teaches that the gospel and the law of God are opposed to each other.

And therefore, number 4, the gospel abolishes the law.

And number 5, it teaches that baptism does not signify dying and rising with Christ to a new life, but is a kind of a right of confirmation or initiation that guarantees acceptance by God.

And then number 6, it teaches that Jesus is not the only way to find acceptance by God.

And this is in contrast to his own, in Jesus' own words in John 14, verse 6, The gospel, when he says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life, no 1 comes to the Father except through me.

In other words, it teaches that the cross was not necessary, this different gospel.

And so what is being identified as simply a difference of interpretation, as healthy as healthy theological pluralism, which by the way is speaking of euphemistically as enlarging the tent, That is in reality part of the life and death struggle that is called the great controversy.

And the seriousness of the situation becomes apparent when it is seen against the background of the major contemporary challenges to biblical Christianity, which the church was created by God to preach and to teach and to defend.

Now here's the cultural challenge, that of postmodern secular humanism, which denies absolute truth.

It's almost unbelievable at a time when the Christian witness to the biblical gospel is so desperately needed that so much of Protestantism is abandoning sola Scriptura, or the word alone.

And consequently, they're scuttling the Reformation.

Halloween gets more attention on October 31 than the Reformation does.

Unbelievable, except for the New Testament warning, 1 John 2, verse 18, 1 John 2, verse 18, Children, it is the last hour.

And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come.

John does not identify the specific people to whom his letter is addressed, but he calls them his little children.

In chapter 2, verse 1, 18, 28, chapter 3, verse 2, verse 10, verse 18, and chapter 4, verse 4.

But he does identify the historical context as that of the last hour and the return of Jesus in chapter 2, verse 28.

Therefore, it has great relevance for us, this little letter, who just as those who lived at the time it was written, live at a time of political, social, moral, and religious turmoil and confusion.

And for those who breathe a sigh of relief that the 20th century of warfare was finally over.

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission Part - 2

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this new day.

We thank you for the sunshine that reminds us of the Son of Righteousness, our Lord Jesus.

We thank you for the health we enjoy that makes it possible for us to be here.

We pray that your spirit will be with us, enlighten our minds and our hearts.

Everyone who is here, presenters and members and friends, and may your Holy Spirit teach and touch hearts and minds and move people into faith.

Be with the children and the young people in a special way.

How many of you here were not here yesterday?

Well, then, it's helpful if I do repeat myself.

Catch you up where we were when we ended yesterday.

We were talking about the fact that To claim fellowship with Jesus while walking in the darkness is to deliberately mislead and deceive.

It's hypocrisy, pretending to be something that we're not.

Not just giving lip service to the truth, but living it.

Put it into everyday practice, no matter what the consequences are.

And that is so important because this kind of faithful living strengthens the church for its last hour mission.

John says in chapter 1 verse 7, if we walk in the light in the midst of the world's darkness, As he is in the light, we have fellowship with 1 another.

So understanding the nature of the church as 1 body and understanding the mission that's required by the demands of the last hour, and that's where we are in history.

Can we really be in fellowship with 1 another if we're not on the same page when it comes to both the message that the mission of the church is not to transform society?

And it's the transformed people who transform society.

You are the light of the world, Jesus said to his disciples.

So that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

There's a difference between good works and the works of the flesh.

Because when they do, He gets the glory, not us.

And what does that mean that He gets the glory?

And those works are good only if they are of the light and not of the darkness.

Whoever follows me, Jesus says, will not walk in darkness.

Spiritual, theological, philosophical, ecclesiastical, cultural, moral darkness.

But he says they will have the light of life to illuminate and guide and direct.

We're not supposed to be secret believers.

We're supposed to have an influence on the world for good, for righteousness.

Now after John talks about walking in the light and practicing the truth, as opposed to walking in darkness and not practicing the truth, he talks about sin.

Which we mentioned yesterday is the basic human problem.

A lot of people don't like it when you talk about that.

I remember when I was a Lutheran minister, every once in a while somebody would mention that at a church board meeting and tell me that folks are complaining because you talk too much about sin.

Anyway, John's logic is relentless when he talks about sin.

Because the hypocrisy of claiming to be in fellowship with Jesus while walking in darkness misleads and deceives people.

It's the worst kind of sinning, misleading and deceiving people.

And that kind of hypocrisy and deception will not serve the mission that is required by the demands of the last hour.

In other words, the world has to know that we are here.

When I was a student at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, my wife and I worshipped My wife and I worshipped at St.

Mark's Lutheran Church, which was a part of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church.

By the way, we still appreciate the spiritual heritage that we received in that Finnish evangelical church.

But anyway, that's when I preached my first sermon in that church.

And we were received warmly by that congregation.

So when my graduation was approaching, I decided that I would paint a portrait of that church.

I was going to be an artist when I was in my teens, but the Lord had different plans.

And so I painted this quite a large painting of that church with a dark background, some beams of light coming up.

And A couple of years ago, I got word that that church was closing.

And so I inquired if I could get the picture back.

And so They were happy to return it to me.

But they were all there 1 Sunday afternoon and my wife and I drove from from our house to Marquette for that occasion and they presented, returned the painting to me and thanked me for it and so on.

And I had it in our house for a while, but I didn't know where to put it.

And 1 day it finally dawned on me I should give it to the new conference office.

But the whole point is John says, how does he say it?

But anyway, when I first painted that picture, my focus was on the light that was shining out of the church window that had a big cross in it and it was reflected on the ground on the snow.

But now when I look at it, my focus is on the sky, dark sky, with beams of light that seem to me to portend the second coming of Jesus.

In other words, I see something different in that picture that I painted way back then today because of what I know than I saw then.

And it was a sad thing to think about when that church was closing down.

A doctor bought it and turned it into a clinic.

The light that was once shining has gone out.

There are 4 large Lutheran churches in the western end of the UP that have lost so many members that they have 1 minister now, 4 churches, and they don't know what to do.

And let me tell you, that's what happens when you abandon sola scriptura, the Bible and the Bible alone.

Anyway, John says in chapter 3 verse 8, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil and is doing the devil's work.

If we say we have no sin, verse 8, what's sin?

This is the message we have heard, verse 5, from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with 1 another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission Part - 3

Thank you for being here at this camp meeting.

And we pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us this morning as we look into your word and impress the truth upon our minds and hearts.

I want to say something else too that's not in my notes, but it really is motivated by a little discussion we had here before all of you arrived.

And we were talking about the fact that, and I said that I believe that God raised up the Advent movement in the mid-19th century because he knew what was coming.

In other words, there's a purpose for this denomination to be here.

And we call our church the Remnant Church based on Scripture.

And you know what a remnant is, it's the last piece of cloth on a bolt of cloth.

Well, the last piece is identical to the first piece, which means that the remnant church is supposed to be identical to the apostolic church.

In other words, we represent the truth as it was presented by the apostles.

I want to read you a couple of passages from 2 Timothy, if you want to open your Bibles, because it fits into the context of what we've been doing this week.

Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning with the first verse.

Beginning with the first verse, but understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty For people, and I have a sermon on this text that I call, people are the problem.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, Proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, that is to say you can't satisfy them, no matter what you do.

Slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.

Avoid such people, for among them are those who creep into households and so on." Wow.

And then look at chapter 4, beginning with the first verse.

And this passage was read at both of my ordinations, into the Lutheran church and into the Adventist church.

And in Michigan at least, it's read at every ordination service.

I charge you, he's writing to Timothy, Paul is, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word.

In other words, when things are going good or when things are going bad, be ready to preach the word.

Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, Fulfill your ministry.

Because if you preach the word, you'll get into trouble.

Because the world doesn't like God's Word.

And I like to ask young preachers, young ministers, it says to reprove and rebuke.

But the secret is, and when I taught preaching at the seminar, I always emphasized this.

It's not the preacher that does the rebuking.

And it's the Word that reproves and rebukes and exhorts.

But the preacher has to preach the Word in love, not in a condemnatory way, but in an appealing way.

He is a stirring example of 1 whose whole personality and character has been transformed by a close relationship with Jesus.

And the Gospel of Mark tells us that when Jesus appointed the 12 apostles, he called Simon, Peter, which means rock.

And he called the 2 brothers, James and John, Sons of Thunder.

And apparently those 2 brothers lived up to their nickname.

He was at sometimes a bit reckless and impetuous and even intolerant.

But as he matured in the faith, he mellowed and faith.

And that's what's supposed to happen to us.

Exactly what should happen to every 1 of us as we grow in Christ.

John became the kind of man that I would love to have as a friend.

I suppose that's why he appeals to me, I don't know.

But I've always, his gospel and his Epistles have always been a favorite of mine.

Anyway, John, he fit Paul's description of a mature believer.

As Paul says in Ephesians 4.15, 1 who, quote, Ephesians 4.15, 1 who quote, speaking the truth in love, grows up in every way into him who is the head, Christ.

Now if you hear anybody say that headship is a new idea among Adventists, that's nonsense.

Grow up in every way into him who is the head.

And so this son of thunder became known as the apostle of love.

Why then Doesn't the apostle of love begin his letter by talking about love?

Actually he does, though we may not think so at first.

Because John knew that to love Jesus is to love his Word.

The 2 cannot be separated from each other.

And in his gospel, And in his gospel, chapter 14, verse 23, he quotes Jesus as saying, saying, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.

And we will come to him and make our home with him.

Jesus says, whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me." And so John begins this letter about, Instead of talking about love, he begins by talking about walking in the light of truth and not walking in darkness.

He talks about confessing sin, about forgiveness, about being cleansed from all unrighteousness.

He talks about keeping the commandments as the evidence of knowing the Father and the Son.

He talks about walking in the same way that Jesus walked.

In other words, he's talking about the transformed life.

And when John wrote the second chapter, verses 3 through 6.

And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments.

Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

By this we may be sure that we are in Him.

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Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission Part - 5

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Parts

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission - Part 1

58m

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission Part - 2

1h 4m

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission Part - 3

51m

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission Part - 4

42m

Preparing the Church for the Last Hour Mission Part - 5

55m

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