Michigan Conference Campmeeting 2021: How Much More?

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Essentials for Salvation

Doug Batchelor

02 Persisting in Prayer

01 Feasting on the Word

03 Power for Witnessing

You are about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2021 Michigan Conference Camp Meeting held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

We pray that the Lord will bless you as you listen.

We've been sharing 3 presentations talking about...

You all noticed how I said 3 presentations?

3 presentations that are talking about the priorities in the Christian life.

3 main disciplines to prosper and grow as a Christian, and it is reading the Bible, prayer, sharing your faith.

When I was a baby Christian living up in the mountains, there was a very dedicated man, as we all called him, Brother Harold.

I don't even know what his last name was.

He was a Jewish convert, an older man, and he had gone through a dramatic conversion experience from being a devout Jew to Christianity, and he had a ministry working among the street people and the hippies of which I was 1.

But this man was probably 1 of the most dedicated Christians I've ever met.

I mean, he woke up at like 3 or 4 in the morning, he prayed for an hour, He'd read his Bible in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.

He'd then go to the hospital, and he'd visit all the rooms.

Back then, you didn't need to be the hospital chaplain.

He would just go walk into the rooms and say he'd like to quote you a scripture.

And from memory, he'd quote the 23rd Psalm, or he'd quote something.

Whenever I heard him quote the Bible, his voice would quiver.

I used to go to these early morning prayer meetings in a place called Joshua House, and Brother Harold would be there, and I'd see him praying before the meeting, and he used to just look up and pray, and I saw his face would glow.

Well that's just to introduce him to you a little bit.

Now I'm walking down Palm Avenue and Palm Springs 1 day and he comes up behind me in his three-wheel bicycle.

He rode a little three-wheel bicycle with a basket on the back and he saw me and recognized me.

He said, how long can you hold your breath?

But I was glad to answer because I could hold my breath for 4 minutes and 10 seconds because Karen helped me end her once and she timed it.

No, actually, I grew up with a swimming pool.

We used to scuba dive and snorkel and I would free dive.

He said, you shouldn't go any longer than that without praying.

I said, that's how often you need to read or meditate on God's Word.

I said, what's going to happen to you if you do not exercise?

I said, that's what happens to your faith if you don't share it.

He said, you've got a physical body that has very real needs.

You have a spiritual body that has very real needs.

If you do not take care of those practical needs, there's going to be a cause and effect.

We need to share our faith, let our light shine, but we cannot do it in our own strength.

We need to do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now this is 1 of the few times you're going to notice in the Bible, and we heard our Scripture reading from Acts.

I'm going to read what Jesus says in Luke 24.

Jesus told the disciples, I want you to be witnesses, but notice what he says at the end of his ministry in Luke 24, verse 49, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but Terry'..." What does Terry mean?

"'Wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.'" You cannot live the Christian life without the Christian power, and you cannot share the message without the power.

Jesus said, unless you are born of the water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, You could work with your pastor if you've not been baptized, and you could set a date on a calendar for your water baptism.

It's a little different for the spirit baptism, but the spirit baptism is even more important than the water baptism.

There will be people in heaven who may not be baptized in water like the thief on the cross, but you must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, unless John 5, sorry, John 3, verse 5, unless you are born of the water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

And I know a lot of pastors and evangelists.

We love to tell how many were baptized, and it always makes for a good report with a conference.

But I almost never have Any conference president say, how many were baptized in the Holy Spirit?

So how do we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Now you may not be able to schedule the date, but there are things you can do to bring about the gestation and the conception and the ultimate delivery of the Holy Spirit in your life.

The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and Jesus was born within, And we need that spiritual birth to happen within us.

How was the Holy Spirit poured out in the book of Acts, chapter 8?

Christ said, don't go off preaching, teaching, you're going to receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

He ascended to heaven after 40 days of meeting with them, but the Holy Spirit didn't come until 50 days, Pentecost after.

That means they spent 10 days doing what?

They were in the upper room, reading the Bible and praying.

You know what Jesus did every time that Jesus appeared to them before his resurrection?

Then they went to the upper room and they prayed.

And then sound came from heaven as a mighty rushing wind, and the place was shaken where they were assembled, and tongues of fire appeared upon them all.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

That happened after they had bathed themselves in the Word and bathed themselves in prayer, and it's the next sequence.

You know, the greatest revival in the Bible happened in the name of, or in the times of Jonah.

It says, the word of the Lord came to Jonah in chapter 1, But he wasn't listening to the Word.

In chapter 2, Jonah does a lot of praying.

Chapter 3, the Holy Spirit comes upon him.

If you've been in the belly of a fish for 3 days and 3 nights, you come out.

Jonah was born again, and after he was born again, God said, the Word of the Lord came to Jonah again the second time.

This is chapter 3, said, "'Arise and go to Nineveh.'" He said, "'Yes, sir.'" And he went in the power of the Spirit, and he preached, and the whole city was converted.

I mean, if you're going to have Jonah for an evangelist or Noah, Noah reached 8.

It's a lot easier to let your neighbors know about Jesus when you've experienced this new birth.

So we're going to look at some vignettes in the Bible of people who were successful in witnessing and what brought that about because we need that baptism of the Spirit.

If you look with me in the second book of Kings, now time will not permit for me to read all of the story, but I'll bring you up to speed.

Second Kings, I want you to go to chapter 7.

In 2 Kings chapter 6, there's a battle between the nation of Israel and the Syrians, and the Syrians surround the capital of Samaria.

They besiege the city, and they besiege the city for so long, and it may have lasted a couple of years, so that they're starving to death in the city.

In fact, there's a very troubling passage in there about the people turning to cannibalism because they are so hungry.

Series

Essentials for Salvation

03 Power for Witnessing

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

The Key to Finishing the Work

Taste and See

1h 8m

Personal Encounters with Jesus

4. The Secret Christian: Nicodemus

50m

The Joy of Discipleship

53m

Principles for Succesful Soul Winning

Interpersonal Relationships - The Art of Hospitality Part 2

50m

Hungering for More of HIM

02 Powerless

42m

The Last Elijah: An Intergenerational Revival for These Last Days

05 Cry for Fire

41m

Principles for Succesful Soul Winning

Elephant in the Room: 5 Keys to Church Growth

55m

Established in the Present Truth

Sound Doctrine

58m

Looking Back

36m

Our Great and Urgent Need

54m

Presenting Persuasive Appeals During Keys to Revelation

03 The Holy Spirit Makes Appeals Appealing

58m

Effective Wholistic Witnessing Among Refugees

04 Effective Wholistic Witnessing Among Refugees

41m

Sound Doctrine