Michigan Camp Meeting 2017

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Faithful Talks

Louis Torres

1. A Lost God

I'm going to share with you things that I hope will do something for you to bring about whatever God needs to change in your life.

And any time you deal with change, it always is painful.

But I pray that you will allow the pain if it means salvation.

The religious community in the 60s was shocked by a professor who made a statement, and The statement he made was that God was dead.

He was a theologian, and that's what was shocking, that a theologian would make a statement such as God is dead.

Now, Pastor Bentley, Can you just put your finger on the mouse pad?

Just put your finger on the mouse pad to move the first 1 and if it moves the first 1 we're okay.

And if it doesn't then I'll ask you to use your finger again and we'll just proceed.

It came out of the magazine, Time Magazine, and it shocked a lot of people because It seems to appear with all the atrocities that have taken place during the First World War and Second World War that God really did not exist.

When I became converted, I was working in a machine, I got a job in a machine shop, and I got a letter from the US government telling me that I was drafted during the Vietnam War.

My boss told me that I didn't have to worry about it because he was a personal friend of the colonel and he could get me released from military duty.

Why would you want to go to Vietnam anyway?

Why, he said, because I've manipulated my life all along all these years, and I decided to stop manipulating my life.

I want God to lead my life and not me trying to figure out how I can get out of something.

And then he explained to me how as a little child, being a Jew, trying to escape with women and children and old people, all of a sudden a plane, an Italian plane came down and began to shoot them and kill as many as possible.

And he says a little boy, he was hit under the train, and he watched all these people being mowed down, And the question that came to his mind is, where is God?

Father, heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity we have to study your word, and we pray for your spirit to guide, to direct us, Give me clear thoughts, I ask in Jesus' name, amen.

The question about God being lost is not something that just atheists, agnostics, infidels deal with.

There are many, many young people who grow up in the Adventist church who really do not and are not and do not understand or know or experience the reality of God.

Is it possible for you to grow up in the Adventist church and never know God?

Is it possible for people to be religious and never know God?

And so while it is true that there are atheists and agnostics and infidels who don't believe in God.

You would expect that, but you don't expect it in a religious setting.

But the highest number of people who don't know God, not found outside, is found inside.

There are millions of religious people in the world who don't know God.

And I know of young people who have left the church because they have never experienced God.

I've known of young people back when I was in the military, who came into the military at the same time that I was there, who though they grew up in certain areas of what we call Adventist ghettos, these young men gave evidence that they knew not God.

Even though they professed to be Adventists, yet the sad commentary was that they did not know God.

They have a hard time trying to find God.

And that's interesting because in the Bible, in the book of Jeremiah, let's see if I can get the next 1.

Can you put your finger there, the magic touch?

And in the book of Jeremiah it says, ye shall what?

And find me when you shall search for me with how much?

Why is it so difficult for people to find God then?

If the scripture says that you will seek me and find me when you shall search for me with how much?

Why is it that young people make shipwreck of faith, leave the church, leave the church family, leave the faith, and go out into the world and live a reckless, or not so reckless, a very prosperous life without God.

Now, the reality is that in the scriptures, people think God is lost, but what we find from the scriptures is that God is not lost, he is actually looking.

For example, Jesus gave 3 parables in the book of Luke, chapter 15.

The first group, they're lost but do not know how to find their way back.

It's a terrible, scary sense that comes over you when you realize that you're lost and you don't know how to find your way.

Any of you have been lost and felt you couldn't find your way?

And it's even more exasperating when you need to get someplace and you can't get there because you're lost.

That's what happened to me the other day.

The first 1, lost, but doesn't know how to find his way back.

And the interesting thing about that lost condition is that someone went to find him.

In other words, the sheep did not initiate the search.

The shepherd is the 1 that initiated the search.

The wonderful thing about that story is that it doesn't end with a shepherd coming back with empty hands.

The shepherd comes back with what he went to look for.

Is it possible for a person to be lost in the house?

Again, the condition is a lost condition, and the coin does not know that it's lost.

And there are many, many, many, many, many, many people who do not know that they are lost.

The term that describes them is called strangers to divine influences.

2. The Bridegroom is Coming

Tonight's presentation, how many of you have been at weddings?

And some of you are hoping to get married, wannabes, Someday?

Well, I've been to many weddings, and in every country you go to, there's kind of a different slant to the way they do weddings.

I remember I was in Romania, and they wanted me to celebrate a wedding.

And I was a little nervous because I didn't know what they do, how they do it.

And it turned out to be completely different than what I was used to because I was waiting up the platform at least for an hour and I was not sure what was going on whether or not a wedding was gonna take place or not.

But the people in the audience, they were sitting there and everybody was peacefully just waiting.

And it turned out that what they do is that the bride dresses up in a white gown and then she is supposed to hide someplace in her house.

And the groom is supposed to come and try to find the bride.

And when he gets to the door, the families are supposed to try to discourage him from even wanting to find her.

And so he goes and he has to demonstrate his earnestness and his longing to be able to get a hold of this bride.

And they spend their time badgering back and forth.

Well, there was a mistake, this is not the right house.

You know, they could go through all this.

No, it's not that I don't believe, well look, okay, you come and look inside for yourself.

So then he's supposed to come into the house and begin to look throughout the house until finally he hits the right room, he opens the door and there she is in her splendor.

And then he takes her and as he comes to the door, a band is waiting at the door.

And they begin to walk toward the church, and the bride and groom are walking behind the band, and the family are following behind.

And then I could hear some music in the distance, and it got louder and louder and louder.

And the band walks into the church playing their music as the bride and groom come in.

And then what I did not anticipate was that it was not a short ceremony.

Anyway, so they're supposed to sit there, the bride and groom, and the preacher's still standing.

So I'm standing there, and they sit down.

And the reason they sit is because the friends and family and all that are going to take this opportunity to, okay, there we are, they're gonna take this opportunity, there they are sitting, can you see that?

And so they're gonna listen to all sorts of poems and songs and poems and songs and poems and songs.

And finally, after they're finished, you cannot preach a 10-minute sermon.

It has to be at least a half an hour with translation, which means that the sermon is about an hour long.

But they're sitting, so they're enjoying all of this.

And finally, after all of that, then they stand up and then we do the normal vows, exchanging of vows and finally get married.

And what's interesting is that I went and did this wedding in 1991.

And I returned back to Romania in February.

It represents a total member involvement.

What's happening is that the general conference president is encouraging membership to be involved in sharing the gospel.

So I had to go over in December to begin with to prepare the ground.

I had to train 2, 070 preachers, lay preachers.

And after that, then 100 of us went over with the 2, 000 plus preachers, and we did over 2, 000 meetings at the same time throughout the country of Romania.

And then I had to go to Ukraine and do training over there in December.

In the Ukraine, I don't know how many people were involved because they actually satellited the whole program to the whole Soviet Union.

And so I know hundreds and hundreds of people listening to it.

So at the same time, we launch evangelistic meetings.

And I don't know how many of you know about this, but you are able, if you'd like to participate in 1 of these, just go on the website of TMI.org, and you can see the different countries that they're gonna be holding meetings at, and you can then volunteer and participate and preach your own series.

Of course, they'll give you the sermons and all that and prepare you, and you can participate for 2 weeks when they're in another country and do an evangelistic meeting.

How many of you would like to do something like that?

Okay, and so all you have to do is to do tmi.org, okay, www, and there you'll see the countries.

Last year, they did meetings in Rwanda and 100, 000 people were baptized.

And presently, there are 20, 000 evangelistic meetings going on in East Africa.

And then there'll be 20, 000 meetings going on in West Africa and then in 2018, I went in January to the Philippines to prepare the conference leadership, talking about the Sava School, personal ministries directors and training them how to train because next year in 2018, Japan is gonna have the program, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, et cetera.

So there'll be thousands of meetings going on at the same time.

Can you imagine seeing 100, 000 people being baptized at the same time?

So anyway, I returned back after 1991, about How many years is that?

And so the couple that I married showed up just to thank me for what I did 25 years ago.

And they were still in love, still excited.

It was just a wonderful thing to see this couple.

So, weddings then are filled with thoughts of joy, festivity, and celebration, et cetera, aren't they?

And it's interesting that the Bible, the Bible uses a lot of wedding stories as messages.

So let's pray together as we say the word of God.

Father, thank you for the privilege we have to study, to pray, to consider your messages to us.

The Lord used different wedding scenarios to bring to us messages And 1 of the things that he did was he gave a message before the wedding message in Matthew chapter 24.

Now if you see what I wrote there, Matthew 24 comes before Matthew 25.

Well you say, pastor, that's obvious, you know, 25, yeah, 24 comes before 25.

But here's the point that I've discovered recently, that most of us don't catch, and that is, that 24 and 25 actually are together, not separated.

By the way, the person who separated the Bible into verses and chapters was a man back in England who was riding on the back of a horse, and while he was doing that, he was dividing the Bible.

So the Bible originally did not have chapters and verses as you have it.

That's why in the Bible, when you read the Bible, it doesn't say go to Jeremiah, or it doesn't say Jeremiah chapter so and so.

It just says Jeremiah said or Moses said.

The reason for that is that in those days there were no divisions of the Bible as we have it today.

3. Faithful

In New York City, where I grew up, there is a prison called the Tombs.

Now just the name of it kind of is an eerie sounding name, right?

The reason why it's called a tomb is because it's subterranean.

In other words, this prison is below ground.

In Manhattan, there are many, many, many buildings that have several stories underneath the street level, did you know that?

And so, this particular jail is called the Tombs.

And when the prisoners have to go to court for hearing, they take them through a passage underground and the door that finally leads into the courtroom has a verse of scripture inscribed above the door.

So if you have your Bibles, let's look at it.

If you haven't discovered that, you ought to read it.

Look at Proverbs 13 and verse 15, and it says, good understanding, Proverbs 13 and verse 15, good understanding giveeth what?

Let's pray together as we study the word.

Loving God, thank you for your word, and as we study it, we pray your spirit to guide us and direct us.

Most young people who are not converted, who grew up in the church feel that being a Christian is hard.

And most young people who are converted feel that being a Christian is hard.

In fact, I know young people who grew up in the church who look at other young people, they can do whatever they want to, they can go wherever they want to, and they feel hampered and hindered from experiencing wonderful things out there that these kids are experiencing, and they begin to think that being a Christian is Hard.

1 of the arguments that I've heard from young people is like this, you know, they never have to worry about this or worry about that.

And we're all being told don't do this, don't do that, don't do this, don't do that, don't do this, don't do that, don't do this, don't do that.

So I remember I was buying something in Sears store 1 day, and I had a shirt and tie on, and the lady walked in, she looked like she was from the east, speaking about not America, but over the Middle east area, and she couldn't find whatever she was looking for, so I went up to her and I said, madam, I said, can I help you?

She said, I'm trying to find Dustin So and I can't find it.

I said, I know where it is, I'm taking you there.

So I took her over there and I said, is this what you're looking for?

She said, this company ought to be proud to have somebody like you working for them.

I said, no, I'm a Christian and I love to help people.

She said, all his laws are do not, do not, do not, do not.

The person that says it's hard to be a Christian or the Bible that says that it's hard to not be a Christian?

The scripture says very plainly, the way of the transgressor is hard, period.

And you may think, you know, why does the Bible say that when it's so hard to be a Christian?

You know, you go places, you can't find what you need to eat as a vegetarian.

All my friends, you know, go to parties and all that, and I always seem to be the oddball.

Well, the reality is that there's good reason why the Bible says that the way of the transgressor is hard.

And I'd like to share with you why the Bible says that.

And I hope you have your Bibles with you.

We know that in the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, they were created in a perfect state.

Didn't have to worry about high corn fructose.

Didn't have to worry about fat, pork, and the food, etc.

And as they ate of the tree of life, it perpetuated life.

God intended that the tree of life would provide eternity for those who partook of it.

Everything was good, and We do not know how long this process went because the Bible does not tell us.

And so that's why scientists have difficulty.

They test the trees and they think the trees are millions of years old.

Well, how old is a tree when it's created?

If you test it and it's already fully grown, you can't tell how old it really is unless you know that the creator said that it was just created, right?

Because if it was fully grown, then it would be like the cypress and the cedars over there or the sequoias in California, correct?

And what they do is to figure out how all these trees are, they have to count the rings, correct?

Well, if you take a tree that's fully made and it has a thousand rings, and you think the tree's a thousand years old, correct?

Until, until Eve did not follow the counsel that God had given to her.

She wandered away from her husband, and the scripture says that she partook of the tree.

And I should say to you that what happened with her, with me is reminiscent to my childhood.

I lived in the ghettos of New York City, and there were always people driving beautiful cars, nice looking cars, well dressed and all that, who would come to us and say, you don't really know what you have missing until you try this.

And I'll give it to you for free, just so you can try it.

They do not come looking like street people who haven't taken a bath for several days.

They come in nice brand new cars with nice clothing on, jewelry on their hands, they make it appear like they're on top of the world, and they offer you something that you have missing.

4. The Sons of God

Several years ago when I got out of the military, I wanted to do something for ministry for God.

And I didn't know how to do it because I was a brand new Adventist and didn't know the political correct way of doing things.

And so it turned out that I got a job to do Bible work for $25 a week.

Now, you have to understand that my wife was making $200 an hour prior to that and I was making a little bit more than $25 a week when I was in show business.

So $25 a week was not a lot of money, but I couldn't believe that somebody would pay me just to witness.

So I began witnessing and I came across, we were given a trailer, my wife and I and our children to live in.

I actually was married already and we adopted 2 children and had our baby girl.

And so in this particular trailer court, there was a young couple living and he was in the Air Force and we began to witness to him and his wife.

And 1 night we came to, I actually went to visit the couple, and I found a strange lady there.

I suspected that she was religious, the way she was dressed, et cetera, And it wasn't long when I discovered that she was religious.

She was the wife of the local Jehovah Witness Church leader.

And then all of a sudden I realized that she was there to steal my sheep.

And I was very nervous because as I said I was brand new and didn't know all that I wanted to know about the Bible, but I did know enough about the Scriptures to kind of defend myself.

But she threw me a curve by speaking about the sons of God.

How many of you have heard the idea that in Genesis chapter 6 that the sons of God there were angels who came down and got married with women and that's why there were giants in the land.

And frankly, I didn't know how to respond to that, except that I prayed.

And all of a sudden, a thought came to me and I shot at her a question, and I said, so when the flood came, where did these angels go?

And she was stumped, because no 1 had asked that question before.

And I said, now wait a minute, these angels came down, got married with women down here, and had children, and God would let them go back to heaven?

So she gave this nervous laughter, giggle, you know, and she said, why don't we start our own church?

And I said, no, why don't you join my church?

Series

Faithful Talks

4. The Sons of God

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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