Michigan Virtual Camp Meeting 2020: Forward to the Finish

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Restore

Dennis Page

01 Attention, Affections, and Affairs- First Comes the Covenant, then Comes the Marriage

I'm glad to be here with you to share this series titled, Restore 10.

Now this seminar is just the beginning of a study that you and I can be involved in for the rest of our life.

As my wife and I have been studying this for several years, we realize you cannot exhaust this material, and the reason for that is because it has to do with the very character of God Himself.

Several years ago, I was doing an evangelistic series, and 1 of my topics was on the law and grace of God.

And in the notes it talked about that you should not steal because God is honest, and You should not commit adultery because God is pure.

And I went home that night and I began to ask questions such as I should have no other gods before me because God is what?

I shouldn't serve or worship an idol because God is what?

I shouldn't take his name in vain because God is what?

And as I continued to ask God these questions, he began to answer.

And show me from his word over and over again how the law related to his character and how that would relate to the gospel and the message of righteousness by faith and salvation for you and I.

And so, no friends, we will not exhaust this material this week, but we will get a nice window into the heart of God as we look at each commandment.

As I've talked to my wife, we've talked to different Christians, and especially youth, and even among Seventh-day Adventists, asking them about how they looked at the law of God.

We would do surveys, and a lot of times, we would get negative answers checked off on that survey.

Sometimes people would say that God's law is overbearing, it's restrictive, it's just a set of rules.

Some would even look at it as a checklist, As if they if they got it right they would make it into heaven But friends that's not how God wanted us to look at this We would read into great controversy page 465 It tells us this the nature and the importance of the law of God have been, to a great extent, lost sight of.

A wrong conception of the character, the perpetuity, and the obligation of the divine law has led to errors in relation to conversion and sanctification, and has resulted in lowering the standard of piety in the church.

So if we're looking at it in a negative way, if we're looking at it through a wrong lens, it's going to affect our conversion and our sanctification.

So it is my hope and prayer that by the end of the week, those that perhaps are watching that may have thought this way or think this way, will get a different view of the character of God as we share through each commandment what he is declaring of himself and demonstrating that to us.

You know, some people would call it 10 words.

Ellen White would refer to the commandments of God as 10 promises.

And I can assure you by the end of the week, even though we're just going to look at the first 5 this week, you'll understand why these people would say that.

You know, a colleague of mine just brought it to my attention that the top 101 theological questions in 2019 that were searched on Google is quite amazing what they came up with.

Now what would you think the number 1 question would be?

The Bible in Romans 13 10 would tell us that his law is love.

And so friends hopefully by the time we finish up here this week you'll understand why God would declare his law love and that you will understand the answer to this question, what is love?

And so our focus will be to look at each commandment, and from that, draw what God is declaring about himself.

And then also, with the revelation that he gives, we'll understand what he is asking of us, what he wants to restore in our very life, so that by beholding, we will become changed.

You see, the life of our Redeemer throughout his pilgrimage on earth was a living representation of the character of the law of God.

And when God created man, he created him for a purpose.

And no matter where you go in the world, I have found that all relationships, if they're going to be healthy, happy, and safe, they have to have boundaries.

And so, whether it's a business relationship, a friendship, a marriage, there has to be boundaries if it's gonna be fruitful, if it's gonna be healthy, if there's gonna be security, if there's gonna be peace, if there's gonna be happiness.

And so, Since the fall of God, God has come to seek and to save, to free and to forgive, to cleanse and to heal, to transform and to restore His image and His likeness in you and I.

And so the commandments of God serve as a hedge of protection.

They're there as a set of boundaries to keep that relationship solid and safe.

We would see this, I'm sorry I forgot to put this in here, I want to go back and say this, 3, 350, 000 people ask the question every month, what is love?

So the great controversy would tell us in regard, I mean, sorry, Thoughts on the Mountain of Blessings, page 52, would tell us this in regards to the commandment of God.

There is not a commandment of the law that is not for the good and happiness of man.

It's definitely for us, friends, not against us.

Both in this life and the life to come, in obedience to God's law, man is surrounded as with a hedge and kept from the evil.

He who breaks down the divine erected barrier at 1 point has destroyed its power to protect him, for he has opened a way by which the enemy can enter and to waste and ruin." And so as I kneel down and pray and ask for God's blessing here, I invite you to kneel and pray with me.

And I'm gonna pray this prayer that David would pray in Psalms 119, verses 17 through 19.

And his prayer was, Lord, deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word.

Open thou my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

I am a stranger in the earth, hide not thy commandment from me.

As I pray, I'm asking you to also pray this prayer, that our hearts would be open, our minds will be enlightened and we will receive the revelation that God desires to give to us today.

Dear loving Father, we bow humbly before you in the name of Jesus and we know that every time the law has been opened in the Old Testament, there's been revival and reformation.

And thy servant would tell us that when the law of God is restored to its rightful position, that there will be a revival of primitive faith and godliness among his professed people.

Lord, I'm praying that as I share, that you'll hide me behind a cross, that Christ's voice will be heard, that your Spirit will speak, and that at the end of this presentation, people will know that you have talked to them, you have spoken, that you have touched their heart.

And I ask this, Father, in Jesus's name, and I thank you for hearing me, Amen.

You know, slavery is a terrible thing, but slavery to sin is the worst of all.

The children of Israel would find themselves enslaved and in bondage to the most powerful nation in the world at that time.

The Pharaoh himself was to be looked upon as a god.

They had been in bondage for hundreds of years and would have come to the point of almost having the memory of God erased from their mind.

But God had made a promise to them that He would deliver, that He would remember them.

And so I invite you to open your Bibles with me to Exodus chapter 6.

I titled this presentation, Attention, Affections, and Affairs.

As we go through this study, You'll understand more why I titled it as this.

They had not known him as their fathers had known him, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And so there had to be an experience that they would receive in order to know the only true God who was about to deliver them.

Then the Lord said unto Moses, starting with verse 1, then the Lord said unto Moses, now shall thou see what I will do to Pharaoh.

For with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.

And God spoke unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord.

And I appeared unto Abraham and unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by the name Jehovah was I not known unto them." It wasn't that they did not know God's name.

Here God had made Abraham and Isaac a promise and Jacob a promise, but as a nation, they had not experienced God the way their fathers had.

As a nation, they had not experienced the covenant fulfillment that was about to take place.

I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan and the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers.

I have also heard their groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage and I have remembered my covenant.

Wherefore, say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord.

Now I want you to listen to 2 words that are constantly emphasized from this point out.

And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, And I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments And I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and you shall know That I am the Lord your God which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will bring you into the land concerning the witch, I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for a heritage, I am the Lord.

Over and over again in these passages, God would share with them.

He would say it again to get it in their mind, I will, I will, I will.

I want you to know you're not gonna do this.

You're not expected to do it, but I will do it because I have remembered what I have told your fathers.

And I will take you to be a people to me and I will be your God.

As Moses, verse 9, as Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, they hearken not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage.

They were so broken, they were so ensnared and captive by their enemy that they could not see how could this possibly happen.

But see, God would not just tell them, God would perform.

So over the next several chapters, God is then demonstrating what he promised he would do.

He's courting them, you could say, in this relationship before he enters into a covenant with them personally as a nation.

02 Blind Man Sees in Color

Good afternoon, everyone, and once again, welcome to Restore10.

As we opened up yesterday, I asked the question, why?

Well, many people, including Christians, have a wrong conception of the law of God.

We've taken many surveys among young people and older people, And we have found that a lot look at the law of God as restrictive they look at it in a negative way they think it's overbearing some think it's just a set of rules and Some people even look at it as a checklist of do's and don'ts as if they if they do it, right?

They'll make it into the kingdom of heaven.

You know, I believe that God wants to restore not 1, not 2, not 9, but he wants to restore all 10 in our lives.

You might say, well, I already know about the 10 Commandments, I'm already keeping them.

You know what, so did the rich young ruler.

But then he would ask, because he had a feeling that something was missing, what lack I?

We're gonna discover that today as we continue.

I read a quote from yesterday and I think it's good to repeat it again today.

It comes from the great controversy, 465.

The nature and the importance of the law of God have been to a great extent lost sight of.

A wrong conception of the character, the perpetuity, and the obligation of the divine law has led to errors in relation to conversion and sanctification.

And has resulted in lowering the standard of piety in the church.

So yes, there's many out there that claim they know about the commandments of God, But a misconception of what it means to keep them, a misconception of what it means to live them, has affected people's conversion and the transforming power of sanctification in their lives.

And because of that, we see a weakened Christian church today all over the world.

And the Seventh-day Adventist Church is not immune to it.

Friends, God created man for a relationship, and in every relationship, there's boundaries that are put in place if it's gonna be healthy, happy, and safe.

I read this yesterday and I just, these 2 quotes, I may read them every day because they are so meaningful and so powerful.

Thoughts on Mount and Blessing, page 52, I'm sorry.

Not 1 commandment is not for the good and happiness of man.

All of them are there for us, both in this life and the life to come.

In obedience to God's law, man is surrounded as with a hedge and kept from the evil, but he who breaks down the divine erected barrier at 1 point, in other words, if you disregard 1 commandment, if you try to insert your own theological understanding how something is to be done in that 1 commandment, You destroy its power.

At 1 point has destroyed its power to protect him.

When this happens, we open a way by which the enemy can enter in and waste and ruin.

And so it's important, every 1 of them are important.

You know, yesterday we looked at the first commandment.

Because he says, I created you, I redeemed you, I've been providing for you, I've gave the ultimate sacrifice for you, my son Jesus.

And so I've provided everything, and in my faithfulness, I've invited you into a covenant with me.

You see when we stepped into that baptismal tank back there or wherever it was when you stepped into the baptism, maybe in the river, in a lake, when you made that covenant promise with God, you had told the whole world that you're entering into a personal intimate relationship with him and that he would be first and foremost in your life.

That's what it meant to take that vow just like when a husband and wife things they stand before 1 another and they exchange those wedding vows They're committing to 1 another in an intimate deep personal relationship That is distinct and separate from any other relationship there to have That is what God called us into.

That is what we accepted when we stepped into that tank.

So today's topic, blind man sees in color.

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

Gracious loving Father, we bow before you humbly in the name of Jesus.

Lord, thank you for the gift of salvation.

Thank you for being faithful and committed to us as we discussed yesterday.

And thank you for the beautiful opportunity to allow you to open our eyes once again that we may behold beautiful things out of your law.

Lord, May there be a revival in our lives of primitive faith and godliness As we Allow you to work in us to will and do of thy good pleasure Lord, may jesus be seen may he be heard May he be experienced in today's presentation.

In Jesus' name I ask, and I thank you for hearing me, Lord.

I invite you to open your Bibles with me to Exodus chapter 33.

It was after the law had been spoken by God audibly, after the children of Israel said, yes, all that you have said, we will do.

It wasn't long after that that they'd find themselves making a golden calf and behaving as the world would in a big party, worshiping that golden image, proclaiming that was their God that delivered them from Egypt, what that must have done to the heart of God.

But Moses would intercede in their behalf, And Moses would find himself up in the mountain, and he longed for something deeper than what God had already revealed through the deliverance of Israel, through the provision, through that time all the way up to this moment.

He would say to God in verse 13, now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way.

Now, that was, when I read that and I was thinking about it today, a thought came to my mind.

But Moses was so taken in by the beauty of God's character, he wanted something deeper.

He wanted to get as close to God as he possibly could.

He was concerned that God was gonna forsake his people because they were prone to wander.

And God would promise in verse 14, and he said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give you rest.

And we'll talk more about that rest on Thursday.

And he said unto him, if your presence will not go with me, carry us not up from here.

For wherein shall it be known, here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight?

Now, Knowing God the way He desires us to know Him has a result.

And Moses understood that and he would say this, so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

You see, in this covenant promise, in this covenant relationship, There was supposed to be a distinct separation from any other relationship that they were involved in as a nation with other nations.

Just like a man and woman, when they exchange those marriage vows and they come together, that's supposed to be unique.

No other relationship is to be like it in their life with any other human being.

And so they were to be distinct and separate.

God would tell them in Leviticus 11, 44 and 45, he would say, for I am the Lord your God, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, in other words, you shall separate yourselves and be distinct, And you shall be holy, for I am the holy.

For I am the Lord that brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God.

In the second commandment, it would read, You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

For I, the Lord, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, but showing mercy to thousands to those that love me and keep my commandments.

Well, he would tell Moses you tell the whole congregation You shall be holy because I am holy you see God has never used an image created by man.

He's never used anything, a sculpture, anything to reveal holiness to us.

How would you describe holiness to a man that's been blind from birth?

Moses would tell God, look, You cannot see my face and live, right?

03 What’s in a name? The Restoration of Integrity in the Christian Life

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome again to Restore10.

I hope you've been blessed, encouraged, strengthened, and challenged.

You know, as I was reflecting on yesterday's meeting, it is so evident that God does not just want to restore 1 or 2 or 9.

He wants to bring a complete restoration to humanity.

And everybody and anybody that's willing to put themselves in His hands, because He's the 1 doing the work.

Remember, in the first commandment, as we looked at that, He wants to restore faithfulness in our life, but that was laid on the foundation of His faithfulness, His commitment, His devotion.

And He said, I will give you a new heart, and I will take away the stony heart, and I will give you My Spirit so that you can walk in My ways.

Yesterday we looked at the second commandment, and God would give us a word picture of what His glory is, His holiness, and we would see different attributes as He proclaimed His name.

He would demonstrate that and how He interacted with the Israelites.

He demonstrates that and how He interacts with us today.

And He wants to restore holiness in our lives.

And you know, every law, every bit of the law is absolutely essential.

It will bring, when you come to know God as he would have us know him, it will bring a revival of faith in our lives.

I wanna share this quote with you before I get into the message this morning, or this afternoon.

It is only as the law of God is restored to its rightful position that there can be a revival of primitive faith and godliness among God's professed people.

Now I've heard this term primitive godliness before but I have not heard the term primitive faith.

Now the reason why we're doing this seminar is that there's a burden on my heart that people would know God.

There's a burden on my wife's heart that our youth, and myself as well, that The youth would know God.

There's not a Christian in the world today that's gonna fully, completely, and totally surrender to a God they do not know and understand.

There may be some submission, but there will not be a full and complete submission and that's what God needs in order to transform the whole life and so What's in a name?

When I go and I'm looking at buying some tools, I used to be a carpenter and build, when I go to look at a tool, I look at the name brand.

I look at the reviews, if it's not a tool, a name I'm familiar with, I'll look at the reviews, I'll talk to people and see what they think about it.

I'm looking for something that's trustworthy.

There's many people and companies that they go to great lengths to build up their name and to protect their reputation.

And when their name comes up in a conversation, they want people to say good things about them.

Yesterday we discovered that is in the name, what's in the name is God's character.

And so this morning I invite you, or this afternoon, I keep saying this morning, this afternoon I invite you to kneel with me, I'm gonna pray 1 more time before we open the word of God.

Gracious, loving Father, we thank you for this opportunity to bow humbly before you and to open your word and break the bread of life, to look at this third commandment and what you would have us understand in regards to this particular attribute of your life, of who you are.

Father, I know you wanna revive us and you wanna bring a revival of primitive faith and godliness in our life, and it's something that we need as a people, as a church.

So we're asking that your spirit will be with me, that Christ would be lifted up, and that Father you speak to the hearts of your people today.

Open your Bibles with me if you would please to Joshua chapter 9.

The Israelites had now got, had crossed the Jordan, the Jericho had been conquered, Ai had been conquered, and they're progressing into the land of Canaan, and the nations around them are quite concerned.

And there's a particular nation, a group of people, the Gibeonites, that realize as they hear the stories of what happened to the Egyptians and how they came across the Jordan and what happened to Jericho and Ai, these people came up with a very, very crafty plan.

And they would approach Joshua and the leaders of the camp, and they would make up a story to convince them that they came from a land very far off.

And Joshua and the princes bought into it.

They were a little suspicious, but eventually they were persuaded, and they bought into it.

And verse 15, I wanna start there and go down through a few verses here.

And Joshua made peace with them, and he made a league with them to let them live.

And the princes of the congregation swear unto them.

And it came to pass at the end of 3 days, after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them.

And the children of Israel and as the children of Israel journeyed and they came unto the city of the third day, and now their city were Gibeon.

And you know, they were coming to conquer this city.

And they would discover that the group that had come to see them were of these people.

And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel.

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02 Blind Man Sees in Color

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