Michigan Camp Meeting 2023: The Boldness of the Cross

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Snapshots of My Redeemer: Morning Devotional

Tim Rumsey

The Word

You are about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2023 Michigan Conference Camp Meeting held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

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

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your blessings to us today.

And as we open the Bible together and look at a picture of you found in the Gospel of John, I ask that you would send your Holy Spirit for spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

May we see you more clearly, we ask in Jesus' name.

We're going to start in John Chapter 1, a good place to begin, and I invite you to turn there to the opening verses of this unique gospel.

The gospel of John 1 beginning in verse 1.

We read this, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." This morning I wish to communicate 3 ideas to you.

Number 1, the Word of God creates reality.

Idea number 2, Faith is the bridge by which we enter into that reality.

And number 3, the reality of the Word of God is more trustworthy than the evidence of our senses.

Number 1, The Word of God creates reality.

Number 2, faith is the bridge by which we enter into that reality.

So let's start with idea number 1 that the Word of God creates reality.

The Gospel of John opens by presenting Jesus as the Word that created everything.

In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.

And we notice, of course, the parallels between Genesis 1, verse 1, and John 1, verse 1.

It is unmistakable that John's intent is to tell us that it is this Jesus Christ that he spent 3 and a half years with here on earth.

This is the same divine being that created everything.

Now, when we look at the creation record there in Genesis chapter 1, We see that yes, indeed, God created on the first 5 and a half days, right, by his word.

God spoke and he said, let there be light, and what happened?

And as We work our way through Creation Week.

That's very different than what happens when any of us speak.

I can look around this room and I can say there's a camera over here, there's a big screen up there, There's chairs here, there's people scattered around, there's a piano, and it's all true.

Those things are there, but all I can do is describe what God has already put into place.

But God has to be careful when he speaks, right?

Because if he says there's an organ over here, suddenly there will be an organ over there on the other side of the platform.

So when God speaks, when the word of God speaks, reality is created.

And Jesus always changes reality, doesn't he?

Think of all of the stories we have in the Bible and the stories that I hope you have in your life.

When Jesus shows up, the picture changes, doesn't it?

You can take a ragtag bunch of slaves that have just escaped from Egypt, and here they are standing in an impossible situation with mountains on either side, a great sea in front of them, and a very angry army behind them.

A hopeless situation until Jesus shows up.

And now there's a new reality, a new bridge, or land bridge, so to speak, by which they can walk forward into a new life.

You can Take 3 Hebrews, young boys that find themselves captives in the land of Babylon, and they are in an impossible situation.

Bow down and worship this image or you'll be thrown into a fiery furnace.

What do you do if you choose to remain faithful to God?

An impossible situation that completely turns itself upside down when Jesus shows up and walks with them in those flames of fire.

We can look through the Gospels and all of these miracle stories of Jesus.

This dead person raised, this girl raised to life, this blind person healed, and reality is created when the word shows up.

So 1 of my questions to you this morning is, how has God shown up in your life?

What testimony do you have that the Word of God, the Bible, and the living Word, Jesus Christ, what is your testimony of how they have created a new reality in your life?

I'm sure there are many wonderful stories we could share here.

You know, there are people that you can reach that nobody else can.

There are people that will identify with your background, your experiences, your history.

And God is relying on you to share with them.

And if you don't share with them, who will?

And if you feel like you don't, ask God, give me an experience that I can share.

But I'll warn you, don't pray that prayer until you're ready for his answer, because sometimes God's answers are surprising, aren't they?

I would like to share with you a story in my life.

This is the first time I really knew for myself that God existed, but more than that.

I never doubted that he existed, but I knew for myself that he existed and that he loved me personally.

And There's a difference there, isn't there?

We'll look at these verses in a few minutes in Hebrews chapter 11, but faith begins by believing that God exists.

God wants to bring us to the place where we know that he exists, yes, but we also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves us personally and that he is a rewarder of those that seek him diligently.

It was halfway through my college experience at Union College.

This was the summer of 1998 and somehow I had gotten myself talked into being a boys counselor at Flag Mountain Camp in South Dakota.

And unfortunately for me, I had discovered about 3 days into my summer experience that I didn't really want to be a boys counselor all summer long at summer camp.

But here I was, and so I was determined to do my best to make the best of it.

And as the week started ticking by, my attitude started to slip, and I really wasn't enjoying what I was doing too much and I just entered 1 of those down-road spirals that we can get ourselves into and by the time I reached the midpoint of that counseling experience, I was in a pretty bad place emotionally and spiritually just feeling sorry for myself.

And so I took 1 of my days off in the middle of the week there in early July and I just threw my backpack into my car and said I'm gonna find a place to hike.

Flag Mountain Camp is in the Black Hills so there's lots of beautiful hiking trails that you can find and I put in a little bit of food and almost as an afterthought I threw in my Bible and off I went.

Found my parking place, hit the hiking trail and it was a beautiful day out.

The sun was shining but there was a cloud hovering over me, if you can identify with that.

And as I was hiking, I was not noticing the birds singing, I wasn't noticing the beautiful scenery.

Lord, why did you send me here all summer long?

I didn't notice the gathering storm clouds on the horizon.

And I remember at 1 point, I had hiked about an hour or so, and I tried to jump across a little creek, and I slipped on the wet stones, and I sprained my ankle.

And so now I'm hobbling as well, and that didn't help my attitude either.

And I did not notice the approaching storm until it just broke in all of its fury.

It had the rain, it had the wind, it had lightning, there was even some hail.

And here I am an hour and a half from my car, where do you hide out in the wilderness?

And I looked around and I realized that I was actually standing on the edge of a campground.

And I thought, where in the world do you hide from a storm like this?

And the only place, I kid you not, was the outhouse, standing on the corner there of the campground.

And I knew I wasn't going to sit in that for the next 10 or 20 minutes.

I curled up under the eaves of this outhouse.

And I decided, I guess I'll wait out the storm here.

The Servant

Going to continue our journey through the gospel of John as we look at different snapshots of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

This morning we are going to look at John 1, verse 14.

You probably have heard this verse before.

Flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth." We're going to be looking at the incarnation this morning in 3 aspects.

We're going to be looking at the timing of the incarnation.

We're going to be looking at the character of the incarnation, and then we will look at the purpose of the incarnation.

So the timing, the character, and the purpose of the incarnation.

I invite you to bow your head with me as we pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of life this morning.

And while we appreciate the gift of physical life again for another day here on earth, We look forward to that eternal gift, never-ending gift of eternal life with you.

And that gift centers in your Son, Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice He made for us.

So I ask that as we open your Word this morning and look at the nature of this gift that you have given to us, that you would give us understanding, and even more importantly, Father, please give us transformation.

Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5, as we look first at the timing of the incarnation.

Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5 says, But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." God is always on time, isn't he?

It was just a few months after my wife and I had been married that I felt a very strong call to some kind of ministry work.

I wasn't sure what that meant at the time, so we started praying about it.

My wife was teaching first and second grade at 1 of our schools in Atlanta, and I was working on graduate coursework in music.

And so we prayed through that entire school year.

If you want us to move, to go somewhere, to be missionaries, we're willing to do that, whatever it may be.

We prayed and we prayed and we prayed, and second semester came and no answer, so we continued praying.

Eventually, it came to early April, and we realized that we needed an answer by May 1st because my wife had to let her school know if she was coming back that year.

And so we began praying a very specific prayer.

Heavenly Father, please show us by May 1st where you want us to go.

And it was April 28 or 29, I don't remember which night, we were there in our living room praying, and the phone rang.

It was actually a former teacher of my wife who said, hey, can I talk with Tim?

And he was inviting me to come and teach at another boarding academy and do music.

Sometimes a little bit early, but usually exactly on time.

And so We see here that when we deal with the incarnation, this subject that our human minds can not even really begin to wrap themselves around.

God sent forth His Son at the fullness of time.

Now we have that time prophecy, don't we, in Daniel chapter 9?

It's the 70 weeks or the 490 years, and we're not going to go through that prophecy this morning, but it outlines very clearly when the Messiah would appear.

And while it doesn't pinpoint the day that He would be born, It was possible to know if you were tracking that prophecy.

We are very, very close to the birth of the Messiah.

And so we get a little more insight from the book Desire of Ages.

Jesus came when the deception of sin had reached its height.

God sent forth His Son in the fullness of time, and part of what defined that fullness of time was the fact that the deception of sin had reached its height.

And so the 1 who would deal with sin, it was time for him to come, wasn't it?

The same paragraph goes on, Satanic agencies were incorporated with men.

The bodies of human beings made for the dwelling place of God had become the habitation of demons." That's interesting wording at the end, the habitation of demons, because we find basically the exact same phrase in Revelation 18 verse 2 where the prophecies speak of this world in spiritual Babylon at the end of time being a habitation of devils.

So the world at the time of Christ's birth had reached the the peak or the climax of sin.

And Revelation implies that just before Jesus returns the second time, the world will be in a similar situation.

The bodies of human beings made for the dwelling place of God had become the habitation of demons.

You know that the Bible tells us that you were created to be a dwelling place or a temple of the Holy Spirit.

And so the incarnation happened when the Holy Spirit had been driven away from humanity.

If humanity was filled with demons instead of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit has been pushed away.

And God sent forth His Son in the fullness of time when the Holy Spirit had been almost completely pushed out of human experience.

This is why Jesus promised his disciples near the end of his ministry that after his resurrection he would send the Holy Spirit He would send another comforter to be with them Christ's life and death and resurrection not only pay the penalty of sin but also provided a way for the power of the Holy Spirit to be re-implanted within humanity.

Didn't Jesus tell His disciples there just moments before He ascended back to heaven, he said, wait here in Jerusalem for what great event?

And he says there in Acts 1, verse 8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon you.

Now, there are numerous symbols that the Bible uses to represent the Holy Spirit.

In John 3, John uses the analogy of wind as he's talking with Nicodemus.

You can't see the wind itself, but you can see the effects of the wind.

By the way, in a few days we're going to look very closely at that conversation, the new birth experience.

Some other symbols that the Bible uses for the Holy Spirit is fire.

And we see that illustrated and played out on Pentecost Day, don't we?

As The disciples are in obedience to Christ, waiting there in Jerusalem.

They have confessed their faults to each other, their sins to God.

They have made reconciliation for those 3 and a half years of jostling for position, right?

And they are now united together and God can pour out His Holy Spirit upon them and tongues of fire descend upon them.

Some of the other symbols used for the Holy Spirit are water.

The Bible speaks of a former and a latter rain and we understand both from the Bible and Spirit of prophecy that before Jesus comes back there will be a second and greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit called the latter rain at the end of time.

And then the fourth primary symbol of the Holy Spirit would be oil and this would tie in with the anointing that priests or kings were required to receive before they were allowed to begin serving in their capacity.

So 4 symbols of the Holy Spirit, fire, wind, water, and oil.

And it's very interesting that these are the same 4 ways that we generate electricity to this day here on Earth.

Jesus knew what he was talking about, didn't he?

Many years ago, a pastor, 1 of my pastors, gave those of us in the church a challenge.

He said, are you praying every single day, yes, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but more specifically than that, are you praying every single day that God will prepare you to receive the latter rain of the Holy Spirit?" And I sat there and I had to admit to myself, I'm not praying every day for that specifically, that God would prepare me to receive the latter rain.

So I'm going to give you the same challenge today.

Are you praying every single day, yes, that you will receive the Holy Spirit day to day, but very specifically that God will prepare you to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in great power at the latter rain and I encourage you to make that a daily prayer.

You know God has promised that he will send this blessing.

Now the same paragraph going back to Desire of Ages page 36 here we get a little more description of the world the state of the world at the time that Jesus was born.

The senses, the nerves, the passions, the organs of men were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the vilest lust.

The very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of men.

Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which they were possessed." So the incarnation happened when the pull on the strength of fallen human nature had reached its height to the place where humanity was reflecting the image of Satan rather than the image of God.

Now, when a new baby is born to any loving family, you know what the parents and the grandparents and the aunts and the uncles do, right?

They gather around that little baby and they start looking at every feature on that little tiny face.

The Lamb

Heavenly Father, as we open your Word again this morning, we desire to see a clearer picture of you and of your Son, Jesus Christ.

And as we look specifically this morning at the sacrifice that was made.

I ask that your Holy Spirit will make this a reality in each 1 of our lives.

So the question is frequently asked, why would a God of love and a God of life require something like animal sacrifices?

Especially for those of us in our modern, westernized, and we have to admit, frequently sanitized culture.

The idea of animals being sacrificed, especially of God requesting or even requiring this, is sometimes difficult to come to grips with.

And so people ask, or they question, or they even allow it to cause doubt in their minds.

Certainly a God of love in the Bible would not require something as messy, and smelly, and dirty as an animal sacrifice.

You know, when you really think about it, these sacrifices, they attract flies and other animals, don't they?

Your clothes get dirty, your hands get dirty, blood soaks the ground.

There is nothing clean or easy or nice about a sacrifice.

Why would He require the death of an innocent animal?

We find an answer in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 68.

The sacrificial offerings were ordained by God to be to man a perpetual reminder and a penitential acknowledgement of his sin and a confession of his faith in the promised Redeemer.

They were intended to impress upon the fallen race the solemn truth that it was sin that caused death.

So God's purpose was that as We as humans would watch this suffering and this death.

We would be reminded that it is our sin that has caused the death of this innocent animal.

And of course, there was the faith aspect as well, right?

Where those involved in these sacrifices would look forward in faith to the 1 sacrifice that would ever really matter, and that was the death of the Son of God on the cross.

The Bible says in Romans 6.23 that the wages of sin is death.

We're going to look more closely at that penalty and I hope you have your Bible.

Let's turn to Genesis chapter 2 Because God gets more specific with Adam and Eve in regards to what the legal penalty of sin is.

God is speaking here to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

And we're looking at verse 15, 16 and 17.

So Genesis 2 verse 15, And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it.

For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." So according to God's own word, the result or the penalty of sin is death, but God gets pretty specific here.

When would that penalty, according to his words, be enacted?

For in the day that you eatest thereof, you will surely die.

This is a very clear statement from God, isn't it?

There's no room for questioning what He means.

It's direct, it's clear, and it's simple.

So according to God's own words in Genesis 2, verse 17, the penalty of sin is death the same day.

Now, before we go further, we do need to make a distinction here so that we're clear between the penalty of sin and the result of living in a sinful world.

God is speaking here about the punishment or the result of sin itself, and it is death that same day.

And this makes sense, because Isaiah 59 and other places in the Bible make it clear that sin separates us from God.

So when I sin, I am separated from the source of life and the only result from that can be death itself immediately.

But we live now in a fallen sinful world where every system that God originally designed to be perfect, whether it's our bodies or the environment around us or the relationships that we operate within, all of it is affected by sin.

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The Judge

Transcript

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