Michigan Camp Meeting 2016: The Harvest is Great

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Christianity 24-7

Jed Genson

Jodi Genson

Christianity 24-7- Part 1

You've been with us our whole life, as little children as we grew up.

You saw us through things that we've experienced with pain, suffering, anxiety, all kinds of different things, joys.

You know us, you've engraved our names in the palms of your hands.

You can't forget us, thank you, Thank you.

Lord, we invite your presence into this room right now.

This is the most important subject that we could ever talk about.

And we need you to teach us and open our minds and our hearts that we'll not be freaked out about the future, but we'll have confidence and assurance that you're with us and that you love us.

Thank you for these people that have come in here today, and we ask your blessing in the name of Jesus.

This, the first day here, it's called the New Birth Experience.

So what I want us to do, and there's a principle that we need to keep our gaze on Jesus Christ and we need to glance at ourselves.

Don't look too deep about your mistakes and failures.

We need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus Christ because He's our hope.

He's begun a good work in us and He's promised to finish it.

Because I'm going to say some things today.

The Bible and Spirit of Prophecy are going to say it, and it might step on your toes, but don't get mad and run out the door and start crying.

You turn with me to 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5.

I guess I didn't introduce myself, but my wife and her pastor's up in the UP.

Okay, the other 1 says, anyway, there's 2 of them that sound very alike, but yes, it's Christ in you, the hope of Goliath, it's the mystery of godliness, how Christ can actually live in us.

So, Christ in you, except ye be reprobates.

And we don't want to be reprobates, right?

So, and then, this whole first section is gonna be dealing with an issue we call righteousness by faith.

But I just want to read something to you here that might encourage you.

It's on page 161 in a book called Gospel Workers.

Okay, And the title of it is Righteousness by Faith.

The thought that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, simply given to us, not because of any merit, Not because we stop eating cheese.

But as a free gift from God, we can't explain it, it's simply a free gift.

And the only thing we can do is reach out and accept that gift.

The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented, for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken in their life.

If we understand, if we accept the righteousness by faith and Jesus Christ alone for salvation, his power's gonna be broken in our life.

So we're not gonna be sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting.

That gets really old and boring and discouraging.

So the enemy doesn't want you to understand it, because he knows if you understand it and you apply it and use it, his power's broken your life.

And then you can go happily along, skipping on into heaven.

Well, as we get into the story here, it's not that easy, but it's the truth.

It's the truth, and God's going to give us the power to be able to do that.

New birth experience, we're going to go into that a little bit.

We're told, I'm not sure I have it on slide, but we're told it in the, was it 1857 or something, that Jesus was ready to come, but he didn't show up.

There is a statement, it's on here someplace, but I'm just gonna quote it right now.

A lot of people don't like this statement because they take it out of context, but it says, when Christ's character is perfectly reproduced in his people, then he will come.

And people, they get freaked out because the word perfect's in there.

It's not about us, it's about Jesus Christ.

Okay, so This is out of the book Evangelism.

The angels of God in their messages to men represent time as very short.

Thus it has always been presented to me, it is true that time has continued longer than we expected in the early days of the message.

The Savior did not appear as soon as we had hoped, but has the word of God failed, or Lord failed?

Christianity 24-7- Part 2

Our Father which art in heaven, thank you that you have made the understanding of salvation as simple as ABC.

And yet a lot of times we just don't get it.

We don't understand how does this thing work?

And so as we go through this today, Lord, we pray for the gift of your Holy Spirit to come in to teach us because we want to know you.

You told us in John 17 3 that this is life eternal, that we might know you.

And so we're coming here today seeking you, that we might find you, and that we might have eternal life.

And we're seeking with our whole hearts, Lord.

You can have all of our habits and likes and dislikes, and we're asking that you take over and live in our lives.

Okay, for the benefit, how many were not here yesterday?

In order for us to be born again, that's what this is all about, we need to realize that we need a savior, Okay?

And so you might think, well I'm in the church, of course, I already realize that.

But we read yesterday several statements where it said many that come to Christ and are baptized are buried alive Because self doesn't die.

Because self doesn't die, then we have problems in the church because we're always being self-centered and fighting with each other about different things, color of carpet, copy machines, other menial tasks that has nothing to do with salvation.

And If you've been in a church at any length of time, if you've been in a board meeting any times, you know there's things that come up that are un-Christ-like spirits.

And so for you and me in this classroom, we wanna be like Jesus Christ.

We wanna learn how to live the Christian life 24-7, every day, every minute of the day.

And it is possible because Christ said it was possible.

Okay, I wish Jeannie wasn't showing up yet.

This lady I talked to today, and she was sitting right there, and she's coming today someplace.

And I don't wanna do it without her, but I might have to.

He's gonna get baptized sometime in the near future.

She became an Adventist 18 years ago, he never did.

And yet, now he's going, here she comes now.

And some of the things I shared yesterday, she said, would really have helped him is searching for God.

Jeannie, I'm talking all about you, and I didn't tell the whole story because I wanted to wait until you got here.

I just introduced you that your husband's gonna get baptized.

Maybe you want to fill in a little bit of the blanks here.

And I apologize for keeping everyone so late yesterday, so I'm gonna try to keep it shorter today.

I'm gonna tell a story that has something to do, I think, with your husband.

Well, my husband and I have been together for 40 years now.

I joined the church 10 years after we were married without him.

He had been on Adventist, raised up as an Adventist, and left the church before I met him.

So he was okay with me going to church or taking the kids, but he wouldn't come.

And he allowed me to put him in church school, and I had a daughter graduate from Great Lakes.

And he's just been kind of sitting back in the background all these years, not saying anything, and I'm always leaving the invitation open, you can come to church with me.

A few years ago, he had made a comment about not understanding the Bible, so I bought him the Ellen White children's version of the Bible.

He had it for about a year and then he started reading it from Genesis 1 and read the whole thing through.

And during that time, I had a car accident which scared him to death.

I was fine, but it was enough to scare him.

And I says, you know, I wanna be going to Wednesday night studies.

And our pastor does a wonderful Wednesday night study.

So he came once, kind of got his little bit of an interest and he went back.

He's been going back now for a year and a half.

And I wanna share that, I didn't share this yesterday.

You know, I said I'd been baptized 3 times, and I had enough baptismal certificates to paper a small building.

The last 1 I didn't even get it, but anyway.

So it's not baptism that gets us into the heaven, right?

And 1 of the reasons that I left as a young person, and we've got all kinds of statistics and stuff about our kids leaving, But 1 of the things that hit me was the inconsistency in the members, okay?

And you can't do that because we're all sinners.

We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

We all have weaknesses and mistakes and failures.

Some of us understand walking with God a little better than other people and some people are out of control and some people aren't.

And so I would really recommend you get this little book called Steps to Christ.

After I read this, after I gave my life to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit impressed me to read this book.

And since as a young person, I had Ellen White crammed down my throat, you know, like they always say, but Ellen White is our best friend.

I can't even explain how much she's helped me to understand Jesus Christ.

And so on page 71 it says this, When the mind dwells upon self, this is what Satan wants to get us to do, dwell upon ourselves, our own mistakes and failures.

Now yesterday we gave our lives to Jesus Christ, and we were complete in Him.

So now he wants you to look at yourself, your own weaknesses, failures, your guilt, what you've done in the past, and he'll bring up the past, and I shared that with you yesterday.

The text you want to look at there is Ezekiel 33, I believe it is.

I have to submit to her all the time because she's got this thing all together.

And in my mind it's up here and then she says, well, I already put it on the screen.

Christianity 24-7- Part 3

Jed presented 2 really important foundational messages yesterday, and so when, I'll share a little bit more tomorrow, but He mentioned that when I gave my heart to Jesus, I was 19.

I was baptized at 13, but I gave my heart to Jesus when I was 19.

You give your heart to Jesus but you just don't know what to expect.

You kind of, okay, so I'm waiting for this whatever to happen.

But my journey was a progressive 1, and that's the way it is.

That first step, and I like to visualize it like this.

There's Jesus over there, and I'm like this, okay?

Jesus is here and it's love that draws, is that right, Jeremiah?

From the time you're born till you respond.

And it's interesting because that's what I needed.

I did not have a sense that I was a sinner.

But I needed love, and that's what he drew me with, love.

So That's what my need was, and I responded, and I went his direction.

To know and believe the love God has for you is the first step.

And so he placed some security in my life.

But I didn't know what we were gonna do after that.

There's a lot of stuff that, you know, I kind of feel sorry for him, for Jesus, because he has a lot of stuff to work through in our lives, doesn't he?

Father in heaven, these folks want to know more.

And so I pray today that you will please speak to their hearts.

Each 1 here in this room has a different need.

And so Lord, I just pray today that you will help me as we present how to meet the enemy.

It will give them tools they can use, Father, in their journey.

We will be leaving outlines on that table over there against the wall, so as you come in, there'll be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, tomorrow there'll be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, et cetera.

So if you've missed the first 2 or you missed 1, there should be some extras.

White writes in 1 of her books about this vision she had.

She was on a boat and she hears this loud voice, says, oops, honey, what happened to my thing?

1 night a scene was clearly presented before me.

Now, she had gone to sleep with this burden on her heart.

And as the Lord does, He gave her vision or He gave her a dream or something that would answer that burden she had.

A vessel was upon the waters in a heavy fog.

Suddenly the lookout cried, iceberg just ahead!

There towering high above the ship was a gigantic iceberg.

An authoritative voice cried out, meet it!

The engineer put on full steam and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg.

There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck.

The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collisions, but no lives were lost.

The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair.

She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern like a living creature.

That's out of Selected Messages, book 1, page 206.

So when I was putting together this presentation, I was thinking, what can I use that would be an illustration for how to meet the enemy?

By the way, when we say how to meet the enemy, do you all know who we're talking about?

Well, we're gonna surprise you here in a little bit too.

We know that the scripture says to be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the 1 who is against you, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.

Now I've never been in Africa, so I've never been stalked by a lion before, but that's how they work, right?

They kind of stalk their prey and wait for the moment when they can pounce.

And it's interesting, but this word to be sober means to be on top of it.

It's not talking about what we think in terms of soberness as not drinking alcohol.

So we say, be alert, be aware, because your adversary is after you.

And then John 10.10, the thief comes to kill, steal, and to destroy.

He is stalking you and he's not gonna give up until he gets you.

There is a battle waging behind the scenes for eternal life or eternal death and it's very real.

We sometimes, we don't like to hear that because it sounds too scary But it's time for us to be sober.

But praise God, I want you to, this is not on your notes.

Revelation talks about the devil being cast out of heaven.

And 1 third of the angels were cast out with him to this earth.

So we have Satan and 1 third of the angels.

2 thirds of the angels plus Michael plus the Father plus the Holy Spirit on our side.

Satan, one-third of the angels, versus the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and two-thirds of the angels.

And just like Moses, who is on the Lord's side?

And so we have a choice on whose side we're going to be.

Christianity 24-7- Part 4

Today we are going to be talking about some pretty close to home things.

But the whole purpose of the seminar is so that you can be set free, that you can have the tools that you need in your journey, in your walk.

Our Father in heaven, we just thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you that The rain passed over, but it wasn't destructive.

And you protected us all here on this campground.

And I know that your spirit is present here, Lord, and I pray that you will join us in this room, fill it with your angels.

I pray that your Holy Spirit will be able to penetrate our minds and our hearts and help us to really connect with you today.

Did anybody feel the pull of the flesh yesterday?

Did you experience the pull of the flesh yesterday what we're talking about?

I was thinking of that shopping cart right there, but decided that it needed to go into the cart crowd.

She had a thought to walk away and leave it, but she didn't, she put it away.

Before we came to this class, we planned on getting some ice cream for dinner after class.

Well, actually, before the class was over, I was like, okay, now we can't go to the swimming pool.

People, when I was here, were like, oh, you can't go for ice cream.

I went to the place, and they said, you can't go for ice cream.

But you experienced it on a very simple level.

I talked to someone before the class that said I needed to work on freedom in Christ.

And then I got here and that's what you talked about was freedom.

Well, you added to it to make the freedom understandable.

We hope that it's, you know, when we put these seminars together, we just really pray and agonize with the Lord that it'll be simple, practical stuff, not theology so much as it is giving you some real, you know, things that you can touch, you can hold on to, you can understand.

I need pictures, you know, a lot of big words just kind of go in 1 ear and out the other or over my head or whatever, but when someone presents very simply and clearly, simply practically, then it resonates with me.

Please understand that I'll make these outlines up a couple days in advance, but then when I sit down in the morning and I go over them again, I may add or I may take away.

So I'll let you know when something is not, I'll try to remember to let you know when something is not on your outline.

So these first few verses are not on your outline, you will want to write them down.

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Series

Christianity 24-7

Christianity 24-7- Part 5

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Don’t Lose Heart

50m

The Three Angel's Messages

02 The Everlasting Gospel

1h 7m

Will He Know You?

48m

Plenary

Choice, Thoughts

41m

Breakout Session A

Addicted to Affection

1h 11m

The Future of Adventism: Will Our Biblical Foundation Give Way to Culture?

2. The Future of the Everlasting Gospel

1h 16m

Our Mistakes and God’s Purpose

38m

Speak it in Love

49m

The Big Three

How to Know God’s Leading in Your Life

42m

The Sanctuary, God's Answer to the Sin Problem

Why Jesus Waits

1h

Will He Know You?

47m

Bible Study

26m

Sound Doctrine