Notes from Thursday Evening's Service

Family Camp 2014: Thursday evening service - Pastor Mark Van Valin

1 Corinthians 10:1-11;  For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 

Exodus from Slavery is a 5 Act Play:

Act 1: "Slavery" (Exodus 1:12-14) The Israelites had been in Egypt - in slavery - for 430 years. In this 430 years they had lost everything - their vision for the future and their vision for any freedom. The only vision they had after 430 years was a vision of slavery - 24/7 work and bondage. The Apostle Paul writes that we are all in slavery. John Wesley preached that we are asleep. 

Act 2: "Awakened Cry" (Exodus 2:23-27) When we are awakened from our slavery - or our sleep - we cry out. This awakened cry is a cry for acceptance and repentance. However, a person never cries out for what could be until they first catch a vision for it. In the same way, we are all content in our sin until we catch a glimpse of God's grace, holiness, and glory. 

Act 3 (scene 1): "When I See The Blood" (Exodus 12:13) When God sees the blood of the lamb He will pass over our slavery. This "passing over" by God comes through the blood of Jesus. This is our justification. 

Acts 3 (scene 2): "Baptism through the Red Sea" (Exodus 14:13-15) Baptism is a new birth. It is not enough to be promised deliverance from slavery - we must be delivered and baptized in a new birth. 

Act 3 should have been the last act. But it is not the end, it is not even the middle. In the same way that "finding Jesus", accepting His salvation, and being baptized into the family of God is not the end of the story for us. 

Act 4: "Wilderness"(Deuteronomy 8:2-5) For 40 years the Israelites walked in the wilderness. For 40 years they tried to recreate Egypt in the wilderness. For 40 years God aimed to discipline the idolatry out of the Israelites. We can be taken out of the slavery situation but it is a process of taking the slavery mindset out of us. 

In 1 Corinthians 10 The Apostle Paul writes about a wilderness that exists past an individual's salvation.

We must ask, why do we choose to stay in the wilderness. John Wesley erote that is came down to negleglct - from prayer and Scripture - sin - we can't imagine a life away from it - or ignorance - we don't know a life apart from it. 

Therefore our options are threefold; we can choose to go back to "Egypt" - that is our venue of slavery, idolatry, and sin (Exodus 16:3), can stay in - and die in - the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:5), or we can take possession of the promised land. 

Act 5: "Take Posession" (Deuteronomy 8:1, 6-9) This is the land that God has promised to each one if us. This is the land of sanctification and holiness that God is calling us to. 

Notes from Tuesday Evening's Service

Family Camp 2014: Monday evening service - Pastor Mark Van Valin

The theme of this week's Family Camp is "Holiness: coming home again". At the foundation of our faith as Free Methodists is holiness - a life of holiness which is totally devoted to God. 

Tonight we looked to John 16:5-11; ...but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 

The "Advocate" - that is the Holy Spirit - convicts us of sin just as a good Doctor makes a diagnoses.this conviction of sin is a true gift from God. First the Holy Spirit reveals God's beauty, His holiness, His majesty, and His love. Then the Holy Spirit reveals to us our sin - our desperation from God and from God's beauty, His holiness, His majesty, and His love. 

In all of this, the Holy Spirit speaks to us in specifics. Satan always speaks in generalities - you're not good enough, you're strong enough. But when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, He speaks to is in specifics - of our jealousy, our dishonesty, and our pride.

But first the Holy Spirit reveals God's glory to us. Only after we catch a glimpse of God's glory - and begin to comprehend what God's glory is - can we truly recognize and completely understand that we have sinned against God and His glory. 

Romans 3:23 states; ...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Let us consider four stages of sorrow - grief - over sin. 

First, we grieve over how our sin affects us. Sin can seem okay until there is a consequence to my sin that hurts me personally. This first stage is not a sorrow brought by The Holy Spirit and it does not lead to true repentance. 

Second, we grieve over how our sin affects others. Sin that is hurting - ruining - our relationships may bring about sorrow because we are affecting others that we care about. This stage is the beginning of repentance.

Third, we grieve over how our sin separates us from God. A gap exists between us and God - a gap brought about by sin. As sin in our life increases, the gap - separation - between us and God increases. This third stage is a sorrow over din that is brought about by the Holy Spirit and it will lead us to true repentance. 

Fourth and finally, we grieve over how out sin grieves and dishonors God. Very few followers come to this point of sorrow over sin. However, when we reach this stage, we find true repentance and a desire to please, honor, and glorify God. 

Until you reach this fourth level of grief - of sorrow - you will never reach God's holiness.

Notes from Monday Evening's Service

Family Camp 2014: Monday evening service - Pastor Mark Van Valin

This evening we aimed to grasp a deeper level of holiness - this shall help us all as we continue throughout the week ahead. 

1 John 3:1-6; See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

1 John 4:13-18; This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Picture yourself - your life - life as an island. You are an island and the moment that you are saved in Jesus Christ your island has been invaded. When you accept Christ, you accept His salvation for you, and it is Jesus who has invaded your island. From this moment everything changes - or should change. Your desires, your priorities, your attitude - from the moment you accept Christ's salvation for you, everything changes. 

On the outside we can spot the mark of holiness and unholiness - in ourselves and in others. But the further in the island we go the more difficult it is to spot the marks of sin in our lives. 

Often people are taught - and trained in - the "weed whack" approach to getting rid of sin. Get rid if all din in our life one bit at a time and we will then achieve holiness. However, the more we tool and strain at weeding one portion of our island - our life - the more weeds continue to grow in other areas. See, weeds are - just as sin is - relentless! 

There are four fronts if sin that we must be aware of as we strive for holiness. 

1. Self-promotion - this is a need to be first and to be noticed. Self-promotion asks - begs - "What about me?"

2. Self-protection - this is a need to be safe. Self-protection states "Not me."

3. Self-indulgence - this is a need to seek comfort and pleasure, and to avoid pain. Self-indulgence calls out "Give me!"

4. Self-sufficiency - this is a need to reduce all if life to what I can predict , measure, or control. Self-sufficiency demands "Let me!"

All sin of omission or commission fit into one if these four fronts. Yet a powerful force behind all of sin is one this; FEAR. Fear is the ultimate and primary expression of unbelief. 

Deep in the territory of your life is a flag which represents who it is that rules everything in your life; your desires - your priorities - your attitudes. 

Imagine the game capture the flag where there is a battle for that flag. That flag in your life represents everything! 

Jesus has invaded your island - your life - and He desires to gain access - complete control of your flag. However that flag is not the flag of Satan that Jesus needs to capture, that flag is you. 

The solution is not to "weed wack" your life - your island. At the heart of the "Kingfom of Me" is fear. More specifically the fear of death. 

Matthew 16:24; Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

We all must give up the four fronts of sin, remove the flag to "Your " kingdom, and replace it with Jesus' flag. We must - daily - commit to confronting the four fronts of sin in our lives. 

To self-promotion - 1 Peter 5:6; Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

To self-protection - Exodus 3:12; And God said, “I will be with you.

To self-indulgence - Matthew 6:33; But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

To self-sufficiency - 2 Corinthians 12:9; But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

1 John 4:18; There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear...

The four fronts of a life with Jesus Christ - holiness - are focused on His ways for us. 

Humility rather than self-promotion - John 3:30; He must become greater; I must become less.

Obedience rather than self-protection - Isaiah 6:8; Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Self-denial rather than self-indulgence - 2 Timothy 1:7; For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Trust rather than self-sufficiency - Psalm 130:6; I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Notes from Sunday Evening's Service

On this, the first evening of Family Camp 2014, we welcomed Pastor Mark Van Valin from the Spring Arbor, Michigan Free Methodist Church as our Family Camp Evangelist. Pastor Van Valin will be speaking this week on the topic if holiness, more specifically "coming home" to our foundation as Free Methodists founded in and on holiness. 

This evening message focused around John chapter 7 where Jesus goes - in secret - to the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast if Tabernacles was an eight-day feast that followed the harvest, not only did it begin on the Sabbath, it also concluded on the Sabbath. Much like our week of Family Camp, as we begin on Sunday (our celebrated Sabbath) and we conclude on Saturday (the true Sabbath).

Throughout the Bible water is used as a metaphor frequently - water may be the primary metaphor used in the Bible. 

Isaiah 55:10-11; For as the rain and the snow come down from heavenand do not return there but water the earth,making it bring forth and sprout,giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;it shall not return to me empty,but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

And wilderness was symbolic for a lack if water. 

The Feast if Tabernacles was a celebration to help the Israelites remember God's hand if deliverance from the wilderness. 

It was on the final day - the greatest day - of the Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus made himself known (John 7:37) with a statement that would have been quite odd. After eight straight days of feasting - gorging - thelmelves in food and drink Jesus stand before them and says; If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

As we begin our week of Family Camp together, let us ask; is anyone still thirsty. Many of us come from our home churches where we regularly hear the Word of God spoken, we come from lives where we are committed to studying, believing, obeying, and depending on God's Word for our lives. And still, we are still thirsty. 

Let us pray; Lord, I'm going to commit this week to You. 

I'm thirsty and in need of the holiness that can only come from God. 

Psalm 25: I give my life to the Lord

Psalm 25 begins; "O Lord, I give my life to You..."

What does it mean to give your life to the Lord? 

This is something that we often speak about in the church but is it something that we often think about - something that we contemplate - something that we thoroughly consider?

What does it mean to give your life to the Lord?

According to Psalm 25 it means; to trust, to be led, to follow, to obey, to honor, to fear, to be taught, and to focus.

O LORD, I give my life to you. 

    I trust in you, my God!

Do not let me be disgraced,

    or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.

No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced,

    but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.

Show me the right path, O LORD;

    point out the road for me to follow. 

Lead me by your truth and teach me,

    for you are the God who saves me.

    All day long I put my hope in you.

Remember, O LORD, your compassion and unfailing love,

    which you have shown from long ages past.

Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.

    Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,

    for you are merciful, O LORD.

The LORD is good and does what is right;

    he shows the proper path to those who go astray.

He leads the humble in doing right,

    teaching them his way.

The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness

    all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.

For the honor of your name, O LORD,

    forgive my many, many sins.

Who are those who fear the LORD?

    He will show them the path they should choose.

They will live in prosperity,

    and their children will inherit the land.

The LORD is a friend to those who fear him.

    He teaches them his covenant.

My eyes are always on the LORD,

    for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.

Turn to me and have mercy,

    for I am alone and in deep distress.

My problems go from bad to worse.

    Oh, save me from them all!

Feel my pain and see my trouble.

    Forgive all my sins.

See how many enemies I have

    and how viciously they hate me!

Protect me! Rescue my life from them!

    Do not let me be disgraced, for in you I take refuge.

May integrity and honesty protect me,

    for I put my hope in you.