ARME 3: Leoni Meadows, CA - Aug 2010

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ARME Bible Camp

Dale Leamon

Having A Experience in the Bible

Lord, I so much want you to take over this time.

It's just because I always do it doesn't mean I always do it just because I always do it.

Lord, I cannot teach your word, but your Holy Spirit can.

Hey, that was a great lecture we just heard and about right ways and wrong ways to study God's word.

And I have discovered that you can be studying God's word in the right way and it can still end up being the wrong way.

Folks, we learned that every book of the Bible has a theme.

We learned that knowing that theme can really help us.

You know what the theme of the whole Bible is?

But see, he doesn't just want us to know about him, he wants us to know him as a person.

I'm gonna tell you something tragic and I learned this by tragic experience.

You can know everything, I don't suppose anybody knows everything, but you can know almost everything about God without really knowing God.

I know enough about the Bible now I think I could preach back to back sermons several times a day for the rest of my life and never run out of things that I know about the Bible.

Now, am I the greatest theologian in the world?

No, there's probably people who could preach for 200 years and not exhaust all they know.

But I'm just saying, I know so much from many years of Bible study, which I've always found very, very satisfying.

But Jesus, when he described his mission, notice how personal his mission is.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Do you notice that all those things that Jesus came to do are about an effect that his life is gonna have on my life?

It's about healing, it's about setting people free, it's about giving people sight.

He wants his word to have an effect upon us.

You know as you read the New Testament you discover that Paul started every evangelistic series by giving his testimony.

So I'm gonna share part of my testimony here.

And for some of you, this will hardly make any sense because you're so young.

I was educated in the Adventist system, grades 1 through M Div.

Who on earth is a master of divinity anyway?

I declared my intention to be a pastor at age 6, publicly in front of a camp meeting crowd.

I had a dream of the return of Jesus in my 60 year also, which I still fondly remember.

All the angels and the glorious colors and all that.

I was baptized at age 10 and I have never regretted it.

Any of you baptized at age 10 or somewhere around that age?

Yeah, that's not a bad thing, It's a good thing.

Anybody ever remember what Pathfinders was?

Fewer and fewer people know anything about Pathfinders anymore, but I was a devoted Pathfinder.

I know you don't know anything about ingathering.

Only if you're like me, you know, your life experience began shortly after the Jurassic period.

I experienced, now get this, I experienced no teenage rebellion.

See, I grew up in such a religious church family, no teenage rebellion.

But I went to Adventist school and the temperance guy came around from the conference office and he taught us to not use drugs and smoke and alcohol and all that.

And then he offered, if we wanted to, we could take the temperance pledge.

I did well in school and I made my parents proud.

It's not just to show you what a great guy I am.

All the doctrines made sense to me from a child.

I eagerly entered the Adventist ministry.

And in the ministry, I found that I was very happy when I was preaching.

You just feel so energized, Holy Spirit comes, so wonderful.

I found I was happy when I was preaching, I found I was happy when I was teaching, When I was visiting people, when I was counseling with people, when I was training people, discipling, evangelizing, I was even happy when I was doing administration somewhat, but I found that I was not happy when I was not working.

Now Some Christians, some Seventh-day Adventist Christians, you see, like the message, really like the message.

I find this especially true for young people, so I am talking to you young people.

I find that those of you who are really giving yourself to God at a young age are quite often really enthusiastic about the Adventist message, as I was.

And You want to know how to explain it to others.

And you want to be an expert at teaching the Bible.

Praise God, I'm so glad you feel that way.

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Having A Experience in the Bible

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