ARME 4: Pine Springs Ranch, CA - Jan 2011

<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>

ARME Bible Camp

Dwayne Lemon

The Purpose

Brothers and sisters, I have been to many campuses.

And I've been at all sorts and different kinds.

I've been to the ones that are as free and happy as can be.

And I've been to some of the most strict and fanatic.

And I gotta tell you the truth, I've found that the experiences, especially the emphasis of prayer, has shown this to be 1 of the most phenomenal care meetings that I've ever been a part of.

And I'm just so grateful for the work that's being done through this wonderful ministry called our own.

1 thing I will tell you that I was so grateful for is when Pastor Myers talked about the expansion of the understanding of the word of God.

You see, brothers and sisters, every Bible topic, it has its first application.

And sometimes it may have a secondary application.

You can think about Jesus when he talked about the destruction of Jerusalem.

It had an application for AD 70, but it also has a secondary application to the end of the world.

And then outside of first and second applications of scripture, you can also pull life lessons from scripture.

And you'll find that all of these make up the wonderful garden of God's Word as he presents it to us moment by moment.

And that's why I'm so grateful for the emphasis that has been given about approaching the Word of God, being creative at times, and studying the word, but at the same time remaining consistent with truth.

In theological realms, there's something called exegesis.

And exegesis is a critical observation of a text.

And sometimes, if we're not careful with our approach towards exegesis, sometimes we can have such a single view on what exegesis is, that sometimes if we're not careful in our study of Scripture, we can exit Jesus right out of the process.

And God's design is not that Christ would be removed.

For Jesus says, without him, we can do nothing.

I think about Proverbs 4, verse 23, where Solomon tells us, out of the heart of the issues of life.

And if we were to go ahead and do that nice research on a text where we look at the Hebrew word for heart, we would know that the word heart means mind.

And whatever takes place in the mind is revealed through the character.

So therefore we would say, Brother Solomon, you are absolutely right.

Out of the heart or the mind comes out the issues of life.

But brothers and sisters, I remember 1 time I was reading a book called Advent is Home.

And in the book Advent is Home, page 15, Ellen White says, out of the heart are the issues of life.

And then she says, in the heart of the community, The heart of the church is the home.

She wasn't talking about the wine, though she referred to Proverbs 4.23.

But nevertheless, she was still being 100% faithful to the truth of God's word.

And so it is that we're going to talk about the great purpose, the theme of the Bible.

And I believe that we're going to look at some things we'll be able to see in its first application.

There may be some things we can see in its secondary application.

And then there may be some stories that we can look in the Bible and pull out some life lessons.

But the chief purpose of it all is that by the grace of God, that it will lead us to Jesus Christ.

And so before we go into our topic, what the purpose is of our meeting, I'm once again going to consecrate myself in prayer.

And as much as you're able to, I'm going to ask that you could join with me as we approach the Lord's throne and kneeling before God.

If you are able to, I'm going to ask you to please come with me.

If not, then let's represent by our heads as we would pray.

Loving Father, we are so grateful for the privilege and the opportunity to study your word.

And Father, as you admonished us yesterday for the preparation to come to study, dear God, now I'm looking at the great purpose of the Bible altogether, the theme.

I pray, dear Father, that as you open our eyes, help us to behold wondrous things out of thy love.

Father, I am not naturally equipped to give your people the word of life, but I'm grateful for the power of your Holy Spirit.

I pray, Heavenly Father, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

And may you speak to your servant and speak through your servant to your people.

And while all the blessings may fall out to others, please, Father, do not pass me by.

For we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

I want you to turn your Bible to the book of 2 Peter chapter 1.

We're going to go over and take a look at what the Bible is telling us as we're seeking to understand better the theme of the Bible, the great purpose of the Scripture.

The Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 1 starting at verse 20, Very familiar text.

The Bible says in 2 Peter 1 verse 20, knowing this first, that how many prophecies?

No prophecy, no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but what kind of men?

Holy men of God's faith, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Bible makes it very clear that when the scriptures were put together, it didn't come by just a brother or sister just simply saying, Hey, I want to tell people about a bunch of religious stuff.

God's Spirit spoke to the minds of human beings who submitted themselves to God and therefore God called them not just men, but he called them holy.

Now the reason why I find that to be interesting is I want you to see what the book of Acts chapter 3 tells us.

In Acts chapter 3 we find out something that I thought was very interesting because Remember, the focus of this study is to help us better understand the great purpose or theme of the Bible.

The Bible says in Acts chapter 3, in verse 19, now brothers and sisters, there are many applications in which we can do this.

When Acts 3.19 was put together, it had a present application for that day when Peter was talking to the brethren it most certainly has an application for the last days but brothers and sisters I want us to see another lesson that we can pull out of this very same time Bible says in Acts chapter 3 in verse 19, it says, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Look at what it says in verses 20 and 21, Watch this.

It says, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until when?

The times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of how many?

Now here it is that we saw in 2 Peter 1, verses 20 and 21, that the script did not come by private interpretation, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

God worked through these men and women to put together the word of God that we have today.

Now in Acts 3, specifically in verse 21, we see them now referred to not simply as holy men, but holy what?

And it says that whatever the previous sentences were saying, This was the whole reason why the holy prophets wrote the Bible.

It says in verse 20, Acts 3, verse 20, it says, and he shall send who?

Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive unto when the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began the great focus the great emphasis that the Scriptures were put together is to show us how Jesus through his ministry is going to restore all things.

Now, the reason why this becomes very important to you and I, is because if Jesus is going to restore all things, there clearly must be a recognition that things got distorted.

That's 1 reason you need to restore something.

It's because somewhere along the lines, it got borrowed, it got messed up, or it got distorted.

Now, understanding that, here's the question.

What do you think are some of the things that's going to be restored?

If somebody were to ask you, well, what are the things that's going to be restored?

Back to Menu

The Purpose

Transcript

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

WYC 2013 Plenary Sessions

The Power of the Pure Heart

35m

3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

13 Waging Peace

17m

The Divine Design, Part 2

46m

The Cross and the Sanctuary

The Cross and The Sanctuary- Part 1

34m

Consecrated

52m

Hebrews 11- Faith

10 The Faith of Joseph Part 2

38m

Dave Fiedler - Adventism: Past and Future

Consecration and Fanaticism

1h

SWYC 2009 Breakout Sessions

How to Study the Bible, Part 2

45m

The Most Popular Lie in the Church

34m

Being a Good Elder

16m

How to Grow Spiritually

Knowing Better

47m

Digging Deeper

1h 13m

Sound Doctrine