Michigan Camp Meeting 2023: The Boldness of the Cross

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Principles for Succesful Soul Winning

Alex Rodriguez

Elephant in the Room: 5 Keys to Church Growth

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.

Father in heaven, thank you again for your blessing and mercy.

You know, as much as I'm whining about it, it is wonderful to have the rain, Lord, that you take care of us.

In fact, that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Lord I pray that that you bless us as we as we've come together in this camp meeting.

Lord we need the power of the Spirit of God and so we're asking that you will you will be here that you will be present that we will hear your voice and that we will see you.

Lord, once again, I ask that you speak through me in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, so title of this talk is Elephant in the Room, and I just realized I need to quit crossing through this because the projector is there.

Acts chapter 2 is 1 of my favorite places in Scripture, 1 of my favorite stories in Scripture.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with 1 accord in 1 place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." This is by far 1 of my favorite places and 1 of my favorite stories in Scripture.

It's also 1 of those stories that bothers me the most.

It's 1 of these that keep me up at night, Keep me awake at night.

And I'm bothered because if you read the entire book of Acts, it's not just Acts chapter 2, but if you read the entire book of Acts, what you find is that the Holy Spirit seems to be available wholesale for anybody that wants it.

Read through it and you'll find the disciples are talking to folks and they'll come to you and they'll say, have you received the Holy Spirit?

If you dare say no, they'll come to you, lay hands, and boom, you have the Holy Spirit.

Even into the rest of the New Testament, the Spirit of God seems to be available to everybody, and I want the Spirit.

And so as I think about Acts chapter 2, I'm like, oh man, if I could have been a fly on the wall just to experience that, just to see it.

Can you imagine these cloven tongues of fire coming down on people's heads, and all of a sudden they're speaking in other tongues.

And if you read all of Acts 2, thousands are converted in a day.

There's so much work that God does in the New Testament based upon what's happening here in Acts chapter 2.

And today I'm thinking, don't we have to finish this work?

We need the Holy Spirit in order to do that.

But it doesn't seem like we've had that kind of outpouring in a long, long time.

And that bothers me a bit because it's not always been that way.

We've always had the power of the spirit of God within the church.

Now I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit moving on an individual or even an evangelistic series.

Sean and I just preached 1 in Calgary, Canada.

We jointly preached it and the power of God was there.

I wish I had time to tell you some of the stories and maybe I'll wrap those into some of the other presentations, but I know the power of God was there.

And yet what I'm talking about is not necessarily that as much as it is Pentecost, the former reign, the latter reign, that kind of power that God's going to give the entire church so that we can finish the work.

We haven't seen that kind of power in a long time.

But you might be thinking, well, pastor, hold on.

I think that maybe God did this in Acts chapter 2 because of the New Testament church.

I mean, you remember Matthew chapter 23, right?

At the end of Matthew chapter 23, God says, Jesus says, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I wanted to do so much for you.

I wanted to to bring you in and just hide you under my wings.

What your temple is left to you, to you desolate.

We see that the message goes now to the priesthood of all believers, those that had been chosen, the Jewish nation, they're no longer that chosen nation.

Now God is rising up a New Testament church.

And you might be thinking, well, the Holy Spirit was poured out in great power because God's about to launch the New Testament church.

And if you're thinking that way, well, you're not mistaken, that is true.

The only problem is if you follow Christian history all the way till today, you'll see that the Spirit of God has always been poured out on God's people.

Let me give you another example, Moravian revivals.

How many of you studied Moravian revivals?

1727, see, you've got this guy by the name of Zinzendorf, Count Zinzendorf, and as a little child, he just loves Jesus, he wants to walk with God, he dedicates his life to the Lord from childhood, And this is what we say, I'm a Pathfinder leader at my church, man, I tell you what, when these young people are seeking the Lord, we need to give them the Lord.

All the stuff that we're trying to give our young people all the time, it's not getting them anywhere.

My little 4 year old as we start rounding the bend to get to the church and she sees the church she starts screaming, Sabbath school, Sabbath school, I want to go to Sabbath.

It could be Tuesday and it doesn't matter she wants to go to Sabbath school.

When those kids want Jesus we need to give them Jesus because as they grow up, the world's gonna give them all kinds of other stuff.

Count Zinzendorf, he's a little child and he gives his life to Christ.

And when he gets to, I guess, the equivalency of college back in those days, when he gets there he's got a lot of friends that are asking him to do this and do that with him and he's saying, no, no, I don't do that kind of thing, but he invites them to come with him and he teaches them the Bible.

There's power in our young people, by the way.

Empower our young people to preach the gospel.

They don't have all of the biases that we have.

Anytime I want somebody to knock on the doors at the church, you know who I pick?

I pick my pathfinders because They're fearless.

My daughters, man, they'll walk next to a house and it'll say, beware of the dog.

Don't come in unless you want lead in you or something like that.

And before I can tell them, hey, be careful with, they're already over the fence and at the door knocking.

There's a little disconnect in these teenagers' brains, but God uses that in tremendous way.

Empower the young people to preach and knock on doors.

Zinzendorf, he's dedicating his life to Jesus.

And eventually he becomes an adult, and he becomes the count.

And he's looking at the problem of Christianity at the time.

It's not the end of the 1260 years, by the way, when does the 1260 end?

It's not quite there, there's still some persecution happening, and he thinks to himself, you know what, if I bring Christians onto my property, I can protect them.

He invites Christians to come and live with him and several take him up on it.

I mean just a good number, a hundred, 200, I can't remember what the number is off the top of my head now, but they take them up on it and they start all living together.

They're all from multiple different denominations.

That's not necessarily an issue unless you're living in the same place and you're talking religion and trying to worship together, which is what they, I mean think about the Adventist Church, we can't even agree and we're just 1 church.

Imagine bringing all these people and that's exactly what happened, there was there were issues, they were having multiple issues between themselves and finally the count begins to pray with a few friends of his and he comes up with an idea through the power of God, he comes up with an idea, he's going to meet with every single 1 of the families.

He gets an appointment, he meets with every family and he asks them 2 things.

Evangelism Cycle: Holistic Evangelism

Father in heaven, once again, I thank you for your goodness and mercy and I thank you for this camp meeting, Lord, and the call to ministry that you've given us.

We're wanting to be faithful and there's so many things that are taking our attention.

They're dragging us left and right and we don't want to be shaken with the wind, Father, we want to stand firm in your truth.

And so here we are, Lord, we're trying to learn, we're trying to study and prepare.

And I pray that your presence will be here and that you will indeed be with us, Lord, that you'll teach us through your Spirit.

We're asking for your Spirit this afternoon.

Once again, Father, speak through me in Jesus' name.

So Matthew 24, verse 2, we all know Matthew chapter 24.

It says, The disciples are walking with Jesus and they get to the temple and they're looking at the beauty of the temple.

It's not as beautiful as Solomon's temple was.

They had made so many provisions for that particular temple.

And you remember after the captivity, they went back and they built the temple, they rebuilt the temple.

And the Bible says that some of the elders, they wept.

It wasn't like it wasn't like Solomon's temple.

That's why it's right after lunch, right?

It's like oh man, I just can't quite think It wasn't like Solomon's temple.

It was the Talmud's temple was just glorious They had poured so many riches into Solomon's temple.

And yet the Bible says that this new temple was going to be even better.

The presence of Jesus was going to be in it.

And it wasn't like it was ugly though, because the Jews had poured a lot of funding and money into this thing, and Rome itself was proud of it.

They had poured all kinds of expenses into it.

It was a beautiful temple, and the disciples are walking with Jesus, and they're showing him the temple, as if he's not ever seen it before, by the way, but they're showing him the temple, and they're like, look how beautiful this temple is.

And then Jesus makes this startling statement, and he said that not 1 stone will be left upon another that shall not be thrown down." And you can imagine what the disciples are thinking to themselves.

Because remember in the disciples' minds, Jesus is the Messiah, and as the Messiah, he's supposed to be taking over.

He's supposed to break the yoke from the Romans and and they're gonna be a great nation once again and they're just awaiting this.

Although Jesus has told them so many times that that's not really his mission, that's what's in their minds.

1 day, don't know when, but 1 day he's going to grab the kingdom, he's going to be king, and we're going to be once again at the top of our game.

And so when Jesus says, hey, look, not 1 stone will be left on top of another, they say to themselves, when could that possibly be?

It's got to be at the end of the age And so that's why they ask in verse 3 tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age and then Jesus doesn't doesn't explain Himself here.

He doesn't say to them, well, you know what, I was talking about the destruction in AD 70 when Rome would come.

I wasn't really talking about the end of the age.

Now, this is what I call 1 of the blank moments in Christ's life.

1 of the blank moments, blank canvas moments of his life.

There are times in Scripture that Christ is asked open-ended questions.

And when he gets to answer an open-ended question, he can say anything he wants to say.

He can paint the portrait that he wants to paint.

He can use whatever color he wants to use.

He can use whatever brush strokes and whatever instruments, he can design that in any way he wants to.

And Jesus is asked, let us know, tell us, what will be the end?

We don't know, we're gonna sit, and you're just gonna tell us, and now Jesus gets to tell us the most important things that we need to focus on about the last days.

Blank canvas moments in Christ's life, they are extremely important because now, Christ gets to just tell you the way it is.

And he starts off, Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no 1, what?

Actually, what we're talking about today, no.

Let me just get to the right presentation.

I had just changed it from the middle on.

And Jesus answered them, "'Take heed that no 1 deceives you.'" Notice this, right off the bat, what does he say?

There will be deceptions in the last days.

Out of the church and in the church, right?

I mean, Paul warns us that there would be sheep or wolves in sheep's clothing.

And if you look back at Christian history, you'll see that that the problems of the church have always come from within the church.

I mean, yeah, we expect problems from outside of the church.

Rome had a huge hand in crucifying Christ and all of the stuff that happened.

We expect that kind of thing, but the reality is that some of the greatest troubles that the church has ever had come from inside the church.

Is that true in the Adventist church as well?

The Bible tells us that these things are going to happen.

There will be great deception in the last days, and we're seeing that every single day.

For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

Community Oriented Ministry: Making Connections with Your Community

Father in heaven, thank you again for today and for your goodness and mercy and bringing us together, Lord.

What a wonderful time it is to come together with like believers in your house as we worship here on this campus and we grow closer to you.

Lord, we pray that your presence will be here with us as we study the Word, as we study your methods, that you will give us wisdom.

Lord, you've asked us to do a marvelous work in these last days, and we want to step up to the challenge.

Now, Father, be with our meeting here for the next hour, and just bless it.

Bless the words that I speak, Father, in Jesus' name, Amen.

All right, so this afternoon I'm gonna do something a little different, not so much a study or a sermon, but more looking into possibilities.

I'm gonna talk about community-oriented evangelism a little bit, and what we can be doing, giving you examples, your churches may be already doing all kinds of things, and those things may be absolutely wonderful, and if you are, and if they're working, that's fantastic, it's great.

In fact, share some of those with me, and I may even put some of those on the presentations when I get an opportunity to speak to other folks.

But we're going to be looking at several things that I have seen conferences do or churches do.

Some of this comes from Indiana, from when we were in Indiana.

When I say we, it's because my brother-in-law is back there, Pastor Bryce Bowman in the back, and we pastored in Indiana for a while, so some of this comes from from Indiana when we were back there, and I'll just share some things that that worked really, really well that I've kept going in in other churches or other conferences as the Voice of Prophecy works here and there.

But before we get into that, let's turn together to Matthew 25.

Matthew 25, and we're going to read from verses 31 through 36.

Now, over the last few days, we've talked a lot about Matthew 24 and what God has called us to do as a people of God.

We are to preach the everlasting gospel in the last days.

But we are not only a Matthew 24 church, we are also a Matthew 25 church.

And starting at verse 31, Matthew 25, verse 31, it says, When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them 1 from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." Verse 37, Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, When did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you?

Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?

And the king will answer and say to them, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to 1 of the least of these my brethren you did it to me then he will say to those on the left hand depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave me no food I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?

Then he will answer them saying, Assuredly, I say to you, Inasmuch as you did not do it to 1 of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.

And those will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." As you look through the Gospels, you'll read that multiple different places that says the Lord is coming and He will bring His reward to give to folks according to their what?

So there is a work that we are to do as a people of God.

The last end-time remnant church of God has a work to do.

Now the main work that we are to do as a people of God.

The last end-time remnant Church of God has a work to do.

Now, the main work that we are to do is to bring the everlasting gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to a dying world.

But that gospel of Jesus Christ is not just the story of what Jesus did for us, but it's all of the beautiful things that God is.

God wants wants people to live holistic and wholesome and and righteous lives.

Even though this is a messed up, broken world we live in, God wants this world to be, or this life, to be better for people, and we have the ability to make that better.

It's interesting to me that we seem to sit holding the jewels of life, the water of life, and yet we won't give that to anyone.

We just hold this in our churches, in our homes.

Just in Calgary, Canada, we ran into so many individuals there that they've been searching for what we have for years.

For their entire lives, They've been searching for what we have in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

We just, as a people of God, have not had the courage to give that to them.

And friends, I think that God's gonna bring us into judgment because of that 1 day.

What did you do with the precious gift of the Word of God that I gave you?

You see, the calling to work in the Adventist Church, It's a righteous, holy, and solemn calling, and it's a heavy burden.

He's given us these jewels, not so that we can just simply hang on to them and wait for His coming.

And that, of course, unfortunately, is what many have done for years.

We are a Matthew 25 people as well, so when it comes to compassion type ministry and community-oriented type ministry, That needs to be a part of what we do.

Yesterday we talked a little bit about the evangelism cycle, and we'll see that again as I talk a little bit about Calgary today, but evangelism, true evangelism, is a holistic system.

It covers an entire process from beginning to end, starting in prayer and going all the way into turning someone into a disciple of Christ through the power of Christ.

And every step of the way is vital and important to the system.

If you're simply picking 1 thing out of there and you're trying to do that as evangelism, you're not going to succeed.

If you're saying to yourself, you know, my church is going to be all about cooking classes.

Well, you're going to do some wonderful cooking classes, no doubt.

Or you say, you know what, we're going to open some shelter for the homeless.

I remember as a kid, I lived in Atlanta and we had a winter, a fairly cold winter for Atlanta.

Well, the church was situated on a really nice property.

It had a grade school, and then across the street behind there was the union office at the time, or the conference office.

I think it's now the union office down there.

It's been a long time since I've been in Atlanta.

I think it was the Belvedere Church, it was the name of it, and 1 Sabbath we came to church and we found out that that night before, the night before Friday night, there was a homeless man that had made it as far as the bushes that separated our property from another property next to us.

Series

Principles for Succesful Soul Winning

Community Oriented Ministry: Making Connections with Your Community

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

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