Potomac Camp Meeting 2012 - Wednesday Night - Henry Wright

good evening had a good day want to just share you had a good day thanks for asking had a good day I want to share with you for about 30 seconds that I've been able to accomplish something in the past year that I wanted to do for about 10 years this is my 47th year of preaching the Adventist Church and over the years the Lord has blessed me to develop a lot of series of sermons and so I've brought a number of those with me to the ABC and invites you to stop by that table have a series on Daniel on the sanctuary the Holy Spirit on family the Sabbath and several others and if you have time to stop by my wife and my children will appreciate it very very much let us pray our Father this this theme that you have given us when I am weak then I am strong it's reverberating throughout the camp and we are reflecting on it and as we do so again this evening along with many of the other presentations that have taken place this day we ask now that again you'll visit with us in Christ's name Amen we talked for a bit last night about Jairus didn't we and identified in Jairus the ruler the weakness of not facing the depth of your weakness it wasn't that Jairus thought he had no weaknesses but in the crisis he underestimated the depth of his weakness in terms of trusting and relying on God and and the sermon spoke to many of us did it not it was a serious moment of reflection and many of you have shared with me today and I've appreciated the affirmation that God was in our midst and spoke with us did he not tonight I want to visit the Gospel of John I mentioned last night that this is the gospel of all awwe the amazement in the Gospel of John that that God would have anything to do with us at all the theme text in the book of John in my thinking and I recognize that many times we preachers reflect personally and that's I guess permitted by the Lord but the theme text for the book of John to me is the 14th verse of the first chapter this simple statement and the word was made what church at you know the text the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth and those of us who dug a bit deeper and maybe even have access to the original language know that the text is actually saying that Jesus moved into our neighborhood how can you sit there so calm Jesus moved into our neighborhood and lives with us let the church say Amen that's the theme that's the golden cord of the book of John and therefore the book builds toward chapter 4 which will be my my my main focus this idea of God's acceptance of our condition the key verse in Chapter two in my thinking is verses 24 and 25 at the end of the chapter but Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifies man for he knew what was in man has it ever occurred to you the comfort zone that God offers when he says to you I know what's in you well maybe for some of us that's not a comfort zone but the idea is warming to me it is it is invigorating to me but Jesus the text is really saying didn't commit himself to their foolishness because he knows how we really are and and and I don't know how you are but it's good to know that at some point in my life there's at least somebody intelligent who can see Henry right for who he is and accept him you're to come for me I that's that's because we got the end and don't sit there pious don't set there pious some of you are sitting right now on on on on the TNT of your past and if only people knew come on somebody some of us would get up now and just tiptoe on out of the room can I get a witness but the text just said in chapter 2 building the theme toward chapter 4 that Christ knew what was in man and then in chapter 3 dealing with the conversation between Christ and Nicodemus of course we come to that most famous passage that all Christians know and are embarrassed if they don't know it John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but verse 17 to me dr. Patterson verse 17 is the verse to me that gets unprefixed een but without verse 17 verse 16 is just a tantalizing piece of ice cream that I never get to eat because verse 17 tells me for God sent not his son into the world to condemn world somebody say men out there but that the world through him might be saved it's nice to know that he's so loved but it's better to know having loved he gave up condemnation so he moved here knows what sent us gave himself for us does not condemn us and then suddenly bill Miller chapter three is followed by this interesting story in Chapter four and you begin to understand that the Gospels are a sermon and the sermon writer of John is is building his story he setting he setting the foundation and now introduces us to this person whose greatest need is to be accepted you see your fear of your past can be used by Satan as a weakness to your faith and glory in God you consider a pious if you want to but we all know all of us have great big fat skeletons that's oxymoron fat skeletons in our closet I didn't think that one through I have to rewrite that that sentence of the servant but you know it's out now fat skeletons in our closet forgive the preacher forgive me that we don't want anybody to know about and and and and John is building me remember the theme of the book is the all the amazement how could God John is writing deal with us we're a mess all messed up all crooked all bent and the God of the universe sacrifices his son for us it's amazing the angels a Peter says the Angels try to look into this with Wonder the are still trying to figure God out having established the theme in his first chapter having made the announcement that God knows what's in us in Chapter two having said that he came to love and not condemn then comes these words at the beginning of chapter four and I just loved the Bible verse 1 when therefore the Lord knew that therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples in John though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples he left Judea watch this now this is good stuff he left Judea and it departed again into Galilee and then verse 4 then verse 4 he must need go through Samaria ok you missed it now try it again having established that he moved into our neighborhood then said he knows within us and then declared He loves us but doesn't condemn us then the Bible says he must need to go that is the Bible now is tying those words to John 1:14 you see he that came and dwelt among us did it because he needed to do it I'm trying to tell you that God needs you oh shoot I need somebody to say man around here God needs you you are somebody not a dangling participle in somebody's DNA chain you are a creation of God and he needs to be where you are you read John 14 didn't you didn't you read it yes that's where I am there ye may be also he's got this as crazy as we are he wants to be with us hallelujah I can't stay here call me hallelujah some of those folk in your little church that you can't stand he wants to be with them that lady whose voice on the phone turned you die here she is again God wants to be with them that husband that you're still trying to figure out why the Lord gave him to you God wants to be with him somebody say man out there he must needs go in other words whatever there is in Samaria whatever there is in the city of Sekar God has said I need to be there somebody there I need to meet before the sermon is over I want you to feel real special want you to feel massaged and loved and caressed and and wanted by God and some of us need that age had been good to this this woman in that time middle age was actually in the 30s when you're in your thirties you were middle-aged and she probably was early 30s and even though whether worn by life she still turned a few heads as she walked to the well she was proud of her feminine ammunition but it had its price she'd always been in my imagine in my imagination misunderstood by both sexes even from her teenage years pulled at by men indeed by women she arose this day early as usual she had domestic skills domestic skills that belied her her looks and she delighted and surprising those who saw her only as a pretty face and the fact that she could really cook a meal she really could keep a house the small town where she lived was a cauldron of gossip nobody had any private business when you tried to keep your stuff to yourself as she did the people in this little town were good at making up their own story and unfortunately she had done many things in her life to fuel their gossip according to the Bible story she lingered around the house till around noontime and then headed for the well she always walked like a woman who knew she was being watched from behind shut shut doors her her head was held high her chin jutted into the air and defiance hiding the shame of a life not well lived the Sun high in the sky caressed her olive skin and embraced well formed cheekbones and lips that were naturally moist lustick eyelashes shaded dark brown eyes her robe hung just right to let you know what was beneath the women she passed ignored her the men she passed tried to and then she approached the well listen to me listen to me Church she approached the well and oh my to her shocked everybody wasn't gone there was a man sitting there she had no idea that he was there because he needed to be I'm not so much concerned a night about preaching to you I I want us to just kind of feel together you see one of my and maybe I'm naive one of my one of my dreams Rick for the church is that the church could become and should be a comfort zone for the broken are you listening to me and it disturbs me that after all these years in the Adventist Church with the truth God has given us with the love that God shares with thee with the cocoon that the church could be that we still have so much posturing and pretense in the church to be very frank about it we are afraid of each other we're not comfortable with each other somehow we have twisted the religion the gift of religion the gift of faith the gift of truth denne that God has given us we have twisted it into some kind of a way of measuring one another so that so that there's this pressure to pretend you're happy when you're sad okay when you're not righteous when you're unrighteous has it occurred to you that the last place in the world where people should have to pretend is the church think about what I'm saying to you and yet it's the one place on earth I believe we're more pratense takes place than any other place rise up on Sabbath morning Jessa for our clothes and come with our piety and and hope that nobody notices what a bad week it has been and unlike the early Adventists after 1844 who went to that great disappointment in other white records out each week they would come in and pour themselves out to one another just thankful that they've gotten to another week and had not lost their faith we're afraid to cry with one another to side with one another to admit their people sitting in the Adventist Church who really don't believe everything we teach but they're afraid to tell anybody because we fixed up the straitjackets that everybody must wear and if you don't wear it you're labeled so the divorced person is less the person who still battles with liquor is less the person who's had two or three children of wedlock is less where did we get the right to do that in this church where did we get the nerve and so we forced the unnamed woman to come to the well by herself why she knows nobody's gonna help her why she knows when she walks up the conversation will stop why she knows that if she stumbles with her picture of water nobody will care that's why she comes by herself but thank God Jesus needed to meet her her life is a mess just by reading the text we pick up a few things look at look at chapter four e'n and verse verse 18 for thou hast had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband in this thou settest truly so she was not biblically married oh my oh she was not good looking married she obviously was a failure at interpersonal relationships she can't be a Deaconess no way in the world the choir maybe greet her possibly if she dresses differently are you listening to this preacher tonight verse 17 she's the woman answered and said I have no husband jesus said to her thou has well said I have no husband so she's embarrassed about her life have you ever had to go to church on a Sabbath morning embarrassed because your stuff got out some of you have been there and you walk and you sit in the pew and you feel like every eye is on you and thank God you have the courage and the grit to stiff it up and go on and go to church but but but but you don't feel and then somebody comes up and sits beside you and puts their arm around the chair and says I'm glad you're here oh and it all drains away all the things we can offer each other if we just would the peace that we could share if we just would the forgiveness thank you Gary this morning thank you so much the forgiveness the forgiveness that that God has gifted the church to bestow we can get it if we would just give ourselves permission so that that woman does not have to get water by herself verse 17 also reveals that she's a little dishonest woman answered and said I have no husband well kind of true but you know when your life is not right let's just be honest you get used to being dishonest about your life and then of course we notice how she tried to divert the conversation when Jesus gets all up in her stuff she changes the subject and Jesus goes with her he lets her change Ellen White says that Jesus lets the conversation flow we're at my course so he's already bombed her because he talks about the water when some water water for everlasting life verse 14 give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw and she's not ready for the kool-aid he's serving because the next verse is go get your husband Jesus is a genius man he creates as his are but he knows where he's going see and he knows that he's serving water she's not ready to drink and just when he's got a BAM go get your husband I am foolish enough to believe that there is no kind of person listen to what I'm about to say there is no kind of person that should not be welcome in a seventh-day Adventist Church if we are who we say we are and and and and you're going to be upset with me but I'm gonna punch it some of you guys who are in these little churches these little clubs where you have set up your opinions as the standards for the church and I can speak frankly about it because I grew up in a church like that a church is dominated by my family and you had to fit in with the rites if you want to be a member of the church and I watched my family bruised a lot of people I'm not I'm not talking I'm not talking at you I'm talking with you brooms a lot of people as the church became a little a little club and we've gotten so proud of our smallness that we worship it so afraid that somebody might come and dilute our self containment sorry you don't say Amen I'll say Amen for you a man we forgot is even the small of the smallest of churches are supposed to grow and it's not us it's not for us to decide how the growth will go and who will be in the growth the church belongs to the Holy Spirit and so the growth may come from the people you least feel comfortable around they will wear dreads they will wear jeans they were world Jewry when they first come in it's okay the Sun will rise the next morning and gravity will remain upon the earth for in this day and time ladies and gentlemen God is not nearest chooses and choosy as we are he knows there are people out there who have hearts and we'll talk about it on on Friday I'm going to talk about Rahab who have hearts full of goodness and possibility wait on the outside we don't see it but God looketh not thank you Jesus on the outward appearance of God studies hearts I've read it in my Bible and I believe it somebody may come in the church shoes who's smarter than you so they'll be Clerk you've been clerk for 37 years they'll replace you as clerk you've been an elder for 55 years and the young guy will come in wearing his dreads he gets full of old egos and they'll put him in elder over you'll be first elder and one of them will come in and they'll be the treasurer I know you were treasured for 27 years and see Wilson gave you a plaque for counting the money all those years take the flack hang on the wall sit down let somebody else count the money her weakness was she'd let her past become her dictator and Ellen White makes the state of them when Jesus asked her she says I'm quoting exactly so when Jesus asked her where is your husband she said Ellen White says she felt like someone was turning the pages of her life because now he walked right up into her bedroom and she was not liking that and she started talking about the well and Jacob and our Father it's really the soit's quite quite amusing you know and Jesus goes along with her because he's already he's already he's already told her her stuff thou I love Jesus thou has well said I have no husband translation for once you told the truth for thou has had five husbands but can you imagine so you're sitting there but see a picture yourself picture that secret thing you want nobody to know and you have a conversation with somebody and they walk right up in your stuff yeah you're right you have had an abortion yeah you're right you have had an affair yeah you're right you you are still smoking yeah you're right if I go home there's still beer in your refrigerator and all of a sudden you feel naked naked the facade is gone the pretense is over and how do you walk back in church the next Sabbath I declared you without apology that next Sabbath could be the best Sabbath of your life you unhitch the red wagon Satan has no more to hold against you you're free free in Christ one writer says that one of the reasons why she came to the well by herself I did a lot of reading about different views of this lady is that these five men were the former husbands of some of those women who came to the well at the right time our life was a mess but Jesus went to meet her and when I'm saying you and I'm you know I'm I'm not fussing at us I mean we've all got to grow this thing together but when I'm saying you focus that in these last days in these last days we must we must open our doors to the broken to the unfixed and allow listen to me now and allow what Christ has done for us to be the mecca that draws people in and we don't have to sit in church and act like we've never done anything wrong we've never committed any sin oh hey hey hey hey he knows what's in men chapter 2 verses 24 and 25 but he moved into the neighborhood anyhow I don't have to pretend he knows where I live is a ghetto of selfishness but he moved there anyhow and he does not condemn so how can I the woman is drawing well water by herself y'all it's got to bother us that's got to bother us and when someone walks in our doors with our church is bigger small there should be this there should be this rush in our hearts what can we do to make them feel comfortable instantly not not I sizing them up and eyeing them down we can't fix everybody up overnight I know that's bother some of you and they may continue to wear jewelry for the next year it's okay somebody just almost passed out I'm sorry in position it just they just almost just dropped off their seat you see we're worried about stuff hey they showed up with us come on now wait that much they showed up with us they sat down let them get a feel of it let them get into it first my experience is and so that you don't miss some sample right no IIIi don't believe in wearing your I already don't I don't okay okay that helps somebody I don't believe in it but neither do I believe that I'm gonna worry somebody to death who's got the courage to come in church on Sabbath morning and sit and hear they let me let me trust let me trust the Holy Ghost I don't need to do the Holy Ghost work let into his own work I'm calm I'm calm the shirts too there the skirts too short give them a long one for Christmas you just give it you you don't like to make behind one the woman's after well by herself I don't want you to forget that she came by herself and Jesus would not permit her to be by herself thank you Father met her there and the disciples walked up what is this what is this a Samaritan what is this father don't you want something to eat I'm already eating I've had an amel I'm well fed what's your story what do you dread the rest of us discovering maybe you spent some time behind bars maybe the woman you married doesn't even know that maybe you have some children you've never claimed maybe there's a relationship that just shouldn't be going on and yes we said it before I mentioned again the abortion or that happened it's there Jesus says tonight I must needs go and finding and then we come to - what is for me the key verse in this story verse 29 and verse 39 repeat the same thing she goes she forgets about the water and she goes to the men in the city and brothers and sisters this this this this statement Cynthia just it does something to my heart come see a man that told me all the things I've ever done I wish you could read the Greek because the Greek implies come meet this man that knows all my stuff and I feel accepted in his presence hallelujah thank you Father it's the greatest gift that Christ gives the church the one person my young man who knows you down to your guts but in your presence and your in his presence you don't have to apologize you have to drop your head you can be bashed in the Sun kind of come meet this man that's got all the facts on me and does not make me feel less hallelujah thank you Father set yourself free tonight set yourself free tonight set yourself free tonight don't let your past be your weakness don't let the intimidation of your past be a brick that the devil holds over you do not let what's not known by people and you through to be known be the things that shock would you set yourself free in the presence of the Almighty God who knowing every stitch in your knitting can talk to you and she walked away from that well with her head held high it was a bounce in her step she forgot about the pot of water come see a man and and and she's still using her gift she brought all the men with her at SRI I noticed that she didn't call no sister she's um Jesus takes us as we are come on and say man everybody now she knows she doesn't have to hide now she knows at least one person meet her at the well tis so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take him at his word come on folks come on come on come on come on come on come on you want to sing the song for you tonight some point we'll join in aren't you thankful are you thankful for the acceptance of Jesus don't let your past be your weakness listen now tis so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take him at his word just to rest upon his promise just to the Seth Jesus Jesus how I trusted you're beautiful Jesus Jesus Jesus - trustee learn to trust the precious Jesus save your friend all better with me wings with me meet China's will you understand Jesus my team you know oh Jesus Jesus ashes Jesus is to draw I trust him Oh beautiful softly not ring too softly let's join hands across the aisle and join hands with each other one hands across the aisle yes acceptance that was my subject they I'm accepted it fills me up man I'm accepted wow I finally found some place I'm accepted it's the church folk don't let us ever take that away from the church acceptance I didn't say condoning I said can acceptance it starts with right where people are the Christ 2 moved into our neighborhood who knows what's in us who loves us but doesn't condemn us now has met us at our well just say it out loud I'm accepted you say it let's pray my heart still thrills Lord at the beautiful did beautiful duet that had just been sung blend the voices the touch of the keys the words of the song tis so sweet she found out she could trust you Lord with all that she was I trust you too it's it's a little afraid some time but I trust you but Lord what I'm praying for tonight is that somehow we'll leave this camp meeting and we'll go home with a determination that the place where we worship the place we call our home church will have such a spirit of acceptance that our churches will become irresistible to the broken irresistible to the broom and we'll lose our fear that we're going to give up some standards and and give up some things that are dear to us just trust Jesus to to bring them in heal mold them we just love them so we home tonight free of the weakness of allowing our past to dominate us sneaking to the well by myself I'm a part of the Fellowship of the broken and we love each other and we need each other and we will hold each other in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and let the accepted say Amen god bless you god bless you go home praise the mound I'm fixed upon it mount of thy redeeming you

Channel: Potomac Conference Corp. of SDA

Views: 18,085

Rating: 4.5966387 out of 5

Keywords: camp, meeting, potomac, adventist, SVA, henry, wright, gary, patterson, ron, flowers, karen

Id: vD-q7KM3R_Y

Length: 45min 10sec (2710 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 12 2012