Address—Etienne Leger
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Alright, good evening, everyone.
Glad you guys can all be here. Before we start, I had a special request from a friend of mine that asked me that I do something special than before in Sunday school. It's called hands up, hands down. If you know it, join in. If you don't know, you'll learn pretty quick. All right, so we'll do it all together. Make sure we're all ready to listen. OK? Hands up, Hands down. Hands up. Hands down. Clap once.
Advice hands up, hands down one more time, hands up, hands down, hands up, hands down pants up twice hands up, hands down okay, very thank you very much for those of you who don't know me, my name is ET Leisure. I'm from Montreal, QC and I'm here tonight to ask you to share with you a message. And you know I actually had on my heart a message ever since the month of April and May. He only asked me in the month of July or June and.
Really, I'm excited to share with you a message tonight. Before we start, we're just going to start off by singing #24 in the back of the book and we'll get started together. And your brother can help me start the tune #24 in the back of the book.
You know, today and yesterday I had several brothers come up to me and asked to pray with me. And I know many have been praying for this camp and for the speakers. And just so you know, it's a big encouragement and I know that there's a lot of prayer covering this camp. Satan doesn't like it when we get together and have the word of God open. He doesn't want to get us excited about falling the Lord and so.
Just we're going to ask the Lord together for help.
Before we start, before we dive into the message, let's just ask the Lord together for yourself.
Lord Jesus, thank you so much for being amazing. Thank you for this camp, for the opportunity we have to be together with Christians. I pray tonight that what is said would be from my spirit. Pray that you might be able to use something that is said tonight for the encouragement, conviction and blessing of those that are here. We just pray that you would be glorified. Lord Jesus and your name we pray, Amen.
Tonight I'd like to speak about a topic and it's about not being ashamed, not being ashamed of the gospel and to. For starters, we'll start off in the book of.
Romans very famous verse Romans 116.
Romans chapter one and verse 16.
I will be going through a story, the story of the life of Nicodemus. There's three instances that we see in Nicodemus in the New Testament.
We're going to go through his life and we're going to see a progression. We're going to see instances and we'll see how he changes throughout the encounters with the Lord Jesus. It's my and it's my prayer tonight that you also know the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost as your own Savior.
If you don't know him, this message will not really be relevant to you. And if you do know him, the question is, is he the Lord of your life? And we'll get to that later on, but we'll just start off by reading Romans 1.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
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For it is the power of God unto salvation.
And to everyone that believeth.
You know, there's a gap sometimes in our minds and our lives from what we know.
And what we do?
A gap from maybe we are here at a camp like this. We're feeling encouraged. We're feeling.
Like we can go home and seize the world and just live out for the Lord.
And I don't think anyone here has a bad intention while doing that. But there's another disconnect with what actually happens right when you get home. I know a lot of us are going back to school or to work. And those be challenges will be new things that will come up in my heart. And my prayer tonight is that there's something that is said here that would just encourage you to be sold out for Jesus to be excited about Jesus, you know, we have a great Savior. He saved us. He didn't just save us from our sins. He's giving you the Holy Spirit. You have the opportunity.
Do great things in this world, not necessarily on a financial level or maybe in a an academic level that might be part of it, but to serve the Lord Jesus Christ is, should and should be our greatest goal and objective. We all have different personalities. Now, maybe you think of not being ashamed of the gospel as being like someone like John Kemp. That's bold, that will just walk into a hospital and hit every floor and they chase him out of the hospital, goes to the next wing and just gets right in there.
Keeps going. You know, I, I'm not quite there yet. I don't think I have that much courage. But maybe tonight you're here in this room and you're pretty shy. You're like, well, how can I not be ashamed of the Lord? I'm I'm kind of shy in my in my I'm more timid. I'm more reserved. I don't really have the gift is to speak or I don't really have the courage to speak up in a place like this. You know, the Lord knows that the Lord knows exactly your makeup. He knows exactly.
Where you're coming from. He knows your capabilities, he knows your strengths, he knows your weaknesses.
And yet he's given each and one of us a gift, an opportunity to share with what is real in our life. You know, Andrew, you know, our brother spoke about Peter a few nights ago, and Andrew brought Peter to Christ. Andrew, maybe it wasn't that gifted, outgoing, boisterous apostle, but he brings Peter to Christ and Peter is greatly used. Maybe he'll be an Andrew. Maybe there's that school friend you've been thinking about witnessing to. Maybe there's that sibling that you know you have to have that conversation with.
Maybe you can be a blessing to that relative or that neighbor. Maybe you can be unashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Michigan Camp 2022, I have a challenge for you.
What would it take for you to give up your faith now? Think of it carefully. It took Judas 30 pieces of silver.
It took Peter.
Getting ridiculed a bit.
And I don't say that giving up your faith in the sense of walking away from Christianity, but what would it take you to compromise?
In your faith, you know, I don't think it's something that you just arrive at and that now that I've said or I've decided that I'm never going to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ again. I will always live in that, in that moment. No, I think we're challenged every day. Every day. If we're going to live in fear, we're going to live in faith. Are we going to believe the message of the gospel and how it applies to our lives, not only for salvation, but everything with the Bible, what it has to do with our lives?
I'm going to go through the story of Nicodemus.
And recover these three instances and hopefully we'll be all encouraged.
On rate on April 20th, 1988.
A young 17 year old girl named Rachel Scott wrote in her journal. I'm not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus. This is a high school student.
Is I have to sacrifice everything I will.
Now some of you have maybe have written something similar in your journal. Maybe you've written a journal or a letter.
So it's a friend. I mean, you've made that declaration with your lips exactly one year later to the day.
Two gunmen walked into Columbine High School.
And they went straight for this girl called Rachel Scott.
And they asked her, are you a Christian? Will you renounce Jesus?
I don't know the exact words that were said.
But you did not, and they shot her eight times.
You know she didn't wake up that morning.
Thinking I'm going to do something heroic for the Lord. She's going to wake up thinking today is the day. I really have to be ready. Make sure I read my Bible, make sure I pray, make sure everything is good. She didn't know and you don't know when you'll be called on to take a stand for the Lord. You don't know when will you'll be at moment that you'll be called on to maybe publicly take a stand for the Lord. But if you've been in fellowship with the Lord, if you've been reading and praying, the Lord will prepare you and He's not going to put you in a position you cannot handle. We're never tempted in a position.
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Tempted or put in a place that we cannot handle.
So why would I be unashamed?
What's the purpose? Why would I put up with some ridicule? Why would I put up with maybe my friends on accepting me?
Why would I put up with maybe not be accepted by the kids in class being rejected?
You know, none of us likes to be rejected. None of us like to be pick last. None of us likes to be maybe.
Not part of the crowd. The cool crowd.
You know the Gospel does two things.
It brings out the shaming behavior and those who don't believe if today I said to you.
2 + 2 = 4 and you guys made fun of Maine.
I would say, you know what? You know, you're making fun of me, but deep inside I know that 2 + 2 = 4. And so I could be confident in knowing that this is something that I've known. I've seen it worked out in mathematics, I've seen it worked out in my life. I can believe it.
The same thing with the gospel. If you've accepted Christ as your Savior, if you've seen the power of God transform your life.
And transform the life of others. You should be unapologetic for it. And if someone makes fun of you, sure, it can hurt. Sure, I'm not saying it's going to be easy. But you can with confidence, say I know this works. I know that Jesus Christ saved me. I know his blood washed away my sins. I know there's power in prayer. I know He's changed my life.
And he gets freedom.
From shame to those of us who believe, those of us who have accepted Christ as our Savior, we have had our shame removed.
We have had our sins, our iniquities blotted out, removed from us. We don't have to live in shame. We've all been shameful things in our past. We've all done things that we're ashamed of, but the blood of Christ covers that. We've accepted Christ as our savior. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanseth us from all said. We don't have to live in that shame. And the reason why people don't want to accept what we have to offer is that they know deep inside they have a God-given consciousness that knows that what you're offering, what you're bringing.
Is.
The right thing, and they'd rather shut you up than they meant that they're wrong. Now, they might not say that outright, but.
We have multiple verses that we can go over and that the Word of God gives ample testimony to the fact that the Holy Spirit is working each heart in this world. And when we try to be a light for the Lord, either we can be ridiculed, some people might just pass us off, or they might accept that we don't always know. But our job is to preach Christ. It's the most loving thing in the world.
To tell the truth about the about the way to salvation. If you really love that friend of yours at school, if you really love that coworker, you will share.
Christ, how could you love? There's a there's an atheist named Pen Teller, I think his name is. He's a famous atheist. He says how can you hate someone so much not to tell him what the gospel if you really believed?
Let's say a truck is coming towards me.
When you really believe that truck was going to hit me, you'd push me out of the way if you really believed it was real. And if we really believe in Jesus Christ, if you really believe what the Bible says.
Should that not motivate us to share Christ with our friends, with our coworkers? It might be in different ways. It might not be in a sermon style. It might just be in a conversation, the question and a track. And there's many ways that we can share our faith.
You know, someone asked me tonight, they said, am I going to get church tonight whenever I speak? And you know, I hope tonight you're not just getting church, that someone's just yelling at you or talking.
And if I speak a bit louder, if I'm passionately because I hopefully I believe it and I want to portray that it's true. I hope you realize that I struggle the same as many of you. I struggle sometimes to share my faith. I'm not here saying that I've got all figured out, but I know the Lord Jesus is a great God and he is worthy of our trust. He's worthy of our of our of our confidence. He's worthy to be trusted in. It's my prayer that as we go through the life of Nicodemus, we see someone that goes from.
Be a closet Christian to being a sold out believer.
Let's start in John chapter 3.
John, Chapter 3.
Verse One there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
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Mathematics by night. And said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these things Miracles except that thou doest except God be with him.
She just answered and sent him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. And I'll just move down to verse 7. Marvel not that I say unto thee, must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
And now here is the sound thereof, but thou cannot tell where it cometh, and whither it goeth. And so is everyone that is born of the spirit. Verse 9. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? He has answered and said to him Of our master of Israel, I know it's not these things.
You know Nicodemus, he's a ruler among the Jews, he's a Whelan, he's an important man. He's someone with influence.
And the Jewish community was a member, I believe, the Sanhedrin, or a Pharisee at least the very least. He was a man with influence and he's gonna come see Jesus at night now.
Many historians maybe differ on this, why he came at night, but I'm gonna go with this reason very evidently when you're going to see someone at night.
Usually it's maybe more secretive, maybe it's more of a you don't want other people to see who you, who you're talking to and what you are being associated with. And this is, I believe what.
Nicodemus did. He came to Jesus by night. He had questions. He was a genuine truth seeker.
He came to Jesus by night to have these questions answered and not my intent to go over the aspect of new birth and everything he brings out. I know Tim mentioned a lot of thought in his meeting yesterday about election, that type of thing. My my point is just this. He came to Jesus, He had that encounter, He had that personal.
Encounter with the Lord Jesus tonight My question to you, Michigan Camp 2022, is this Have you had that personal encounter with the Lord Jesus? Have you been transformed?
Have you had the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you had a personal encounter the way Nicodemus had with Him? You know the longest journey you could ever take is 18 inches from the head to your heart. It's knowing something in your head and believing it in your heart. Where do you stand tonight? Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters. School wise, career wise, relationship wise of this question is not addressed.
It's impossible.
But someone says they're saved without having a transformed life.
We don't. I don't see your heart. Someone told me once, why are you judging me? I was speaking about something they were doing. I said I'm not judging, I'm just a fruit inspector. I don't see any fruit in your life for the Lord. And are you really saved? I don't know that tonight. I can't say. Look around and put a yes or no on your head. But the Lord Jesus knows. And don't play games with the Lord. God is not mocked. What a man sows.
He will also reap if you profess Christ today and you have an unchanged life.
My friend, be careful that you're not just deceiving yourself. Make sure that it's not just something you've known in your head, you've believed in your head, you've learned the verses, the memory work.
Everything else to do with Christianity without having that personal encounter with the Lord Jesus.
And so.
Here begins the story of Nicodemus.
He's starting to learn about the Lord Jesus he's starting to be.
He had obviously listened to him, he had obviously known a bit about him and so he starts off this journey.
And we're not gonna be able to follow his journey through this life, only these three little snapshots of his life where we see a change in him. And I'm not saying that that change might be overnight, but there should be a change in your life if you encounter the Lord Jesus.
You know.
Nicodemus cannot come in his own.
Pompous way as a as a as an educated man, he actually came as a as a truth seeker, he called Jesus Rabbi.
Which means teacher, he acknowledged who Jesus was and he came and had an honest questions. And it's not wrong to have questions. I'm not here saying that there's no place for apologetics. There's no place to have honest questions about some of these things that maybe you're not sure about. But know this is the Lord Jesus Christ absolutely is interested in your life. You cannot be more loved tonight than you are right now. The Lord Jesus Christ is just the same God that died on the cross 2000 years ago. He's interested. He died when he was hanging on that cross. He was thinking of you.
He was. He died. He shed his blood so that you could live a transformed life, a life that is not ashamed of him.
Let's go down to the second meeting in John chapter 4. Sorry, John 7. John Chapter 7.
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And 43.
So there was a division among the people because of him.
And some of them are going to take in hand, but no man laid hands on him.
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto him, Why have you not brought him?
The officers answered. Neverman spake like this man.
You know the Lord Jesus never had a bad word come out of His mouth, always had the right thing to say, always had the right conversation.
And there was a division because of him, because he came and he divided between light and darkness. He came and he came as the light of the world. And he caused that division because some rejected him.
And some accepted him and there's a whole conversation later on going to be happening.
Those that came to the officers that went to supposedly arrest Jesus, they said never man steak like this man. They were, they were realizing this is not a regular, you know, random, you know, itinerant rabbi going around preaching this is someone special. He has a message that we have to listen.
And the Pharisees answered in verse 47, Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law, are cursed. And now on the scene appears Nicodemus again, the second time. The first time he came by night.
And the verse actually reminds us again, verse 50. Nicodemus said unto them, Bracket he that came into Jesus by night, being one of them.
Close bracket. Let the law judge any man before I hear him, and know what he doeth. The answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee arises no prophet, And every man went into his own house.
Second time now we're going to see Nicodemus and he appears on this scene. There's a controversy, there's a division over who Jesus Christ is in his message, and he takes a stand. Now this is maybe not taking a stand in a open.
Quite public. He kind of asked the question, he kind of gets involved and he actually causes the whole controversy kind of cease and everybody went to their own house. But the point is this, there is a transformation. There is a progression in his life where he takes a stand for the Lord Jesus. And my prayer for each and every one of you, old ones, young people alike, is that in your life there is a progression.
But maybe yesterday you were too embarrassed to ask the Lord for his help or pray for your food and find your classes. But tomorrow you'll do it. But maybe you're too embarrassed to to not laugh at that bad joke that your coworker said. But now, I mean, tomorrow or today you're not going to do that.
But maybe you're not going to join into the laughter of an inappropriate joke and you're gonna maybe just be quiet, even if you're just quiet without me saying something that has a marked witness. And so my prayer is that and the prayers of many here at the campus that we see growth. You know, my kids are growing from, you know, 0 from 10 months to four years. And there's growth. It's not gonna happen in one day. But there is progression. And we try to feed them and help them so they grow up. We sing that song, Read your Bible.
Every day and you'll grow, grow, grow. I was at Michigan camp.
Believe seven years ago and some kids here weren't even born. I have pictures of playing with some of you kids at a table like in the in the in the hobby classroom. And now you guys are like beating me at soccer and stuff. You know, like people grow up and thank God that we have a generation rising up. But there is a progression doesn't happen overnight and it's the Lord's will that we all grow. We we take a stand more and more for the Lord.
For His glory day after day.
You know, Nicodemus, put yourself in his position. He's a he's a rich man. He's an influential man. And people are talking bad about the Lord, but his heart has been touched. He doesn't want to say nothing. Maybe he's having cold tremors. Maybe he's having cold sweats. He's stuttering, his hearts beating. What do I do? Do I say something? Do I just be quiet? And maybe another time. But no, he's going to take a stand right there and then, and he takes that. It's not a major stand. It's not.
Hey, I'm a follower of Jesus, he asked the question. And maybe you're going to be in that situation next week with your coworker.
Will it bring up something about the lorry and you maybe can have an opportunity to ask the question. Maybe you'll be able just to say a little something for the Lord and maybe you'll open up a door. Maybe you should be praying that in your life. Lord give me little opportunities. I'm going to plant little seeds, little seeds here and there. I have 7 Punjabi employees working for me and a bunch of other unchristians and they're very respectful of the bold holy book, the Bible.
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They don't believe in it, but they're respectful of it. And so if I mention a little something about God, about what Jesus said, but listen.
So I'm careful. I try to plant these little seeds, bring out these conversations imperfectly. I've missed plenty of opportunities, but with the Lord's help.
It could be for their salvation.
So he takes a stand. Nicodemus takes a stand and dissipates.
The crowd.
You know, he was able to say that and.
We'll get some approach. They asked him, Does the law judge any man before? He says that not our law judge any man before it hear him, and nobody says. And they answered him. I thought also of Galilee, almost like accusing him.
You're also from gallery. Are you like you know his his homie? Like are you friends with him? Like are you trying to support him? And, and sometimes the world won't.
Attack us? What the like kind of throw little jabs in about the Lord just to see her reaction, especially if you've taken a stance of the Lord before.
You might see our friends kind of throw a little side one in there, like a little comment now and then to poke you and to see where your reaction. They might, you know, test you sometimes. I know I have.
A bunch of young male guys working for me and we're working on the job site. Sometimes in a good looking girl walks by and I can tell they're all looking at me out of the corner of their eye. What's the boss going to do?
Is he going to do a double take? And it's a challenge to be not only not look but also be intentional that I'm not looking.
And that's a challenge because the world will test us and they're looking for little inconsistencies in our lives. They're looking for little things just to be like to stick it to us. Ha, you said you're a Christian to look what you did. You said you're a Christian, but look at that joke you you enjoyed or the thing you watched. And Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He'll want to come in and just say you're a failure. You messed up. Forget this whole faith thing. Just keep it to yourself. Don't bother sharing it around you.
And he's an accuser. He'll want to come at you. And the truth is, have I ever failed in my faith? Absolutely. But we confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And he wants to us to continue to confess, to move on and grow.
In second Timothy 3 verse 12 it says they that live godly.
Maybe will suffer persecution. Is that what it says? No, it says they that live godly will.
Suffer persecution now persecution has different forms. Income from the world from a non believer just making you openly.
If ever you've gone out, passing tracks or street preaching will be people that will make fun of you openly.
People that will reject you or ridicule you, that's openly and that's hard.
You might be rejected by the religious community, may other religions by other.
Groups that.
Don't believe Jesus Christ as God, don't believe in what Jesus said about himself and what the Bible teaches. But the hardest group by far is our peers being rejected by our peers.
And that is the hardest because some of them might be sitting in this very room, maybe that you're a fellow Christians.
So-called Christians, maybe they're actually real believers, but they're not pulling you in the right direction.
It's one thing if it's an unchristian unsaved school friend that might just not love the Lord and just and you know that OK, they're not saved. But what if it's your?
Your your your Christian friend that's sitting beside you tonight.
That's not really encouraging you in the Lord, but instead of, you know, in the mornings.
When you're in your cabin, instead of reading their Bible, encouraging you is just trying to get you to go play.
Carpetballer, ping pong or volleyball? I just distracting you from your reading.
That can be hard. What if you're just saying, I want to read my Bible and pray and they kind of say, oh, come on, let's go. You know, I've been there, I've been in that cabin and, and seeing that happen back in the day, I'm sure it hasn't changed now. And you know, I just want to encourage you, if you're that person that is trying to take a stand, even while you're Christian friends, take that stand. Just be faithful to the Lord. No, Daniel didn't change his.
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Didn't change his.
Habit when the going went rough.
I was at a conference once.
And you know, I'm I'm someone who remembers certain things, certain key phrases or certain lines. I remember a meeting I heard 15 years ago about the consecration of a Christian, Another meeting about from Brother Doug Nicolay on Who art Thou Lord? Little tidbits. And I don't know how, but these stuck with me.
And their meetings, I listen to you over and over in the past, and I remember them and I've stuck with them. And this is a little tidbit from one of these meetings.
The brother said this is an older brother, respected laborer who said.
What will have the most impact?
In your life from this weekend, talking about a conference weekend will not be.
What you hear at the meetings, and I almost fell off my chair. I'm like, this brother is telling me that like, I'm not going to be like changed by what he's going to say. Like he's actually like kind of almost discrediting or undermining what he's going to say. He says no, He said, you'll be blessed by what you hear, and that's good.
But the people sitting the left and right of you are going to have a way bigger impact on your life.
So you're saying choose your friends carefully?
We'll do a little exercise here tonight, turn the person to left of you and say you are an influence.
On me.
Turn the person to the right of you and say you have an impact on my Christian life.
Turn to the person to the left of you and say I can be a health or hindrance to your Christian life.
Turn the person to your right.
And say I will either pull you up or drag you down.
None of us lives and dies to ourselves the way.
You act will impact the people around you.
I look in this room and I see a lot of my good friends, guys with a bunch of kids, and these are people that I know how to bless it in my life. But if I look at a group of guys and girls, a group like this, I can tell you at least half of the people that were my age or other not following the Lord at all or maybe left the assembly or maybe just doing their own thing, not really interested.
I'm 34 right now, and it hurts to think, you know, that maybe I contributed in a way to their demise. Maybe there was things I allowed in my life that were a discouragement to them when I was 17 years old at a Mount Tabor conference.
I was with my group of friends and that was a conference that I decided that I want to start getting serious and I took my notepads to have a note. So I remember I started taking notes.
And after meeting people around her kind of being silly and just so you know, I was pretty silly too. So I'm not like throwing one under the bus here. My sister can attest to that. I know she prayed for me a lot. But and I was at that meeting and when I was at that meeting, I was taking notes. I'm like, you know what, I'm just going to focus. My friends are being a little bit all focused. Maybe that's you tonight. You want to focus, but your friends are like elbowing you and like, what's this guy saying? Whatever.
Brother came up to me after, I'm not going to say who because he has some kids in the room here. He came up to me and he said brother.
Are you saved? I was like, yeah, gathered and like, saved. Like what are you talking about? He says.
He says you're not acting like a Christian. He's like all those young people in the back. He's like you're part of them and like he's like you guys like you, you're here for a conference. You're just being silly. He's like, are you guys even saved? And like I kind of took it like hit me hard and I kind of like try to talk my way out of it. And he kind of toned down a bit. But he had a good point. And I thought about that since.
I was not acting. I was with the group that was not acting very much like Christians. There was not.
Something there that was building up, maybe someone in that group was trying to be focusing, but people around were distracting and were not helping them along.
You know it's not just a question about attention and meeting when you're talking among yourselves after meeting in the in the dorms at night. You know, when you're playing ping pong or volleyball. What are you talking about?
What are the conversations your the music choices you share with your friends?
The movies, the friendships, the associations, these are all things that we have to ask an honest question about. Am I helping my friend out?
Alcohol is another big one.
I have at least five or six friends in line that I grew up with going to young people's.
And started getting in alcohol and we thought it was cool. I was part of that group for a while.
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And I can tell if five or six of those guys about alcohol problems in that time and have not followed the Lord. And so you might think it's OK for me to do, but just think about your brother or sister that might have a weakness or might take it the next level, next, the next, the next step. It's a solemn thing and I'm not proud to say it.
Evil company corrupts good habits. The question is, are you being the evil company? Are you bringing your friends up or bringing them down? And that all ties into not being ashamed of the gospel.
Because Nicodemus had to choose to break off from his religious friends to follow the Lord Jesus, and you might have to break off with some of your true friends.
Maybe the people sitting in your room, maybe the people, the young people, your local assembly, maybe their friends that you spend a lot of time with will be a time when you say I can no longer go with you to do this. I want to follow the Lord Jesus. I'm sold out for the gospel. I want to believe what the Lord is Word and follow him. And you won't be accepted by them.
When I was in my late teens, early 20s.
We had rented a Airbnb, about 20 of us guys at a friend's wedding.
And I came back later on that evening and these are all guys in the meeting, by the way.
They were throwing a party at the house.
Playing cards, alcohol, music, everything. And I walked in there and I was staying at that house. I was associated.
And I said, you know what, guys, enough is enough. I went, I turned off the music, said, guys, I got to talk to you. I said, guys, and I'm not saying this, that if any pride in myself, but I came, I said, guys, this has got to stop. Like how far are we going to go? Like what's going to happen? Like, are we just going to keep going down the hill? There was another house next door doing a party. They were completely unrelated to us and they were not Christian. I said, there's absolutely no difference between what we're doing here right now and what's going on next door.
I said how we gotta stop this? Like this is not right. You know, in front of all my friends. I'll think about this being 18 years old and our 1920 and have all your friends tell you.
Most of my friends that were there, and these are guys I grew up going to young people's events and stuff. Is it ETU? Stop it. You're being too legalistic. Just just just don't just stop it, man. Like, OK, That's what Bob will say, ha, ha, let's go Bible study and we'll kind of then we'll like play cards and like keep drinking. And I'm like, guys, we gotta change. Someone's gotta change. If not, we're gonna keep going down because at that point, some of my friends that were there already had alcohol issues.
I said guys like you either going to rather going to going down and bring other people down. Are we going to change? And that was hard to have my own friends, the guys, you know, the young, the guys that play volleyball with, the guys that go Rd. tripping with people I go snowboarding with. Can I say ET look, just not all of them made fun of me. Some are just like on the fence. I could tell, but I had, you know, these people and I felt so.
Low in my life because man, these are like my support group of people I care about.
And I have to like not really roll with them anymore because I can't because it's affecting me. And again, I'm not saying this to say that I was anything special. The Lord gave me strength and he helped me find new friends, other Christians, other believers that love him and wanted to serve him. And I just say that that don't want to get to that point where you have to just.
Make a dramatic thing. I just felt it was the moment. It was a time the Lord gave me strength and it was ending the weakness. I'm not saying I did it in the right spirit. It's the past now. It's, you know, 20 years ago.
Or 15 years ago. The point is this. If you are honoring the Lord, if you take a stand for the Lord, if you're going to not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's going to cost you something, young people. It's going to cost you something to be associated with the Lord Jesus. Now, you might do it in weakness, you might go too hard on them, but it's better to be true to the Lord than live in a compromising situation.
So just be careful.
What you do, you know, I felt ridicule and that really hurt. I like people. I'm a people pleaser. I always like to be like out and about with people. I don't, I'm not a loner at all. And so to have that in front of my friends was was hard. Thankfully, around that time, I got an e-mail from Tim Roach who said, hey, want to go to Malawi and that was exciting and thank you. It's a long story, but we've been denied a couple times and.
Saw my wife down there eventually. So the Lord worked it out. The Lord honored it. But the point is this.
You're going to maybe have to make those tough choices, and Nicodemus started making that choice. He didn't quite go all out with the Lord.
But he made a decision, I think at that point was kind of where he started saying I'm going to separate from that. You might not be in a in a historic clash with your friends in front of them at a party. But maybe you have to say, you know, I'm not going to go on that road trip with them. I'm not going to go watch that movie. I'm not going to, you know, associate with this because it's going to drag me down in my life. I can't tell you exactly what to do. Some of you are going to probably going to new schools this fall or starting a new course. You're going to have choices to make. Who are you going to sit with? Who are you going to?
00:40:25
Associate with is it going to be for the glory of the Lord? Some of you are moving out now from your parents. You now have freedom with freedom to do what? Freedom to live for yourself, freedom to do whatever you want to do? Or are you going to say, I'm going to make sure that my life is what the Lord Jesus would want me to do?
Let's turn to the third instance, John 1938. Let's Fast forward some time here, Nicodemus.
Probably had seen what went on. He may have been part of even the trial that condemned the Lord to death with Pilate and Herod and the crucifixion and what followed.
We don't hear them stepping up there. We don't hear them saying hey, stop guys, don't put them on the cross.
Now whether or not it happened or not, the Spirit of God doesn't tell us, but He takes a stand for the Lord.
When the Lord died, and this is when he said, you know what I'm done with?
These guys, these Pharisees, I'm going to associate with the Lord Jesus in John 1938, and after this, Joseph Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besat Pilate.
And he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate give him leave. And he came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at first kidney Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of marinallo is about 100 lbs weight. And they took their body of Jesus and wandered linen cloth with spices. The matter of Jews to bury.
In the place where He was crucified there was a garden in the garden of New Sepulchre, wherewith no man was yet laid.
There Lady Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews, preparation day for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
So we have another guy come out of the woodwork, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple, but a disciple who was afraid. He had, he had fear, he had a, he was afraid he was a rich man. He says he was a ruler. He was someone with influence, with power. And maybe he could have said, well, maybe I'm going to use my influence and power for the Lord in my sphere of work. I'm just going to do what I'm doing. I have this authority and power. I'm just going to like kind of just do the right things for the Lord.
And maybe that worked for a bit, but now there was this moment.
There was a fork in the road. What's he going to do with the body of Jesus? Are we going to let the body of Jesus go into a common grave with the criminals?
What are we going to do, Take a stand? And he takes a stand and it's so nice. And he tags, teams up with a guy called Nicodemus, right? Our third friend, Nicodemus, him and him together. It's so nice to have a Christian friend, isn't it? To have a friend that you can trust, that you can pray with that prays for you. I have a friend.
Once you're having close to different people over the years, but I know that I can call anytime and pray with them and he prays to me and calls me if there's a struggle. And it's so nice to have that brother in arms or sister in arms to go along life with you. And I encourage you seek out those friends that are going to encourage and build you up. And so they go to pilot. Pilot had had a long day. He didn't really want to deal with this like he had the Sanhedrin on one side, the people almost a riot going on. And now he has someone asking for the body of Jesus and the Lord.
God allowed it being sovereign that he got the body of Jesus and he goes with Nicodemus and they take it down off the cross. Now this would be something that would have been a pretty gruesome task. The body of the Lord Jesus was very damaged. You know it was a corpse, you know it was not. He was dead. And they take him down, they elevenly wind him up and they anoint him this 100 lbs of ointment and they and they publicly are.
Defiling themselves for the dead now they probably were, according to Jewish law, probably couldn't have partook of the of the feast because they were now having in contact with a dead person.
But they take Jesus off the cross, they wrap them up, and they give them an honorable funeral, which is in line with prophecy. But there's a public demonstration. There's a courageous obedience. They had a lot to lose. They're highly ranked Pharisees.
They're associating themselves with a crucified leader of a rebellion to overthrow Rome. So that's what the Sanhedrin thought. Their associates are saying we're going to be with the rebel guy, the dead rebel guy. But they're saying, you know, we're going to be a part of that. We're going to associate ourselves with him.
You know, it wasn't a very, it was a menial task.
Wrapping someone up, it's not like a happy thing, but they did it for the Lord Jesus and it cost them something. It cost them a new tomb. It cost them 100 lbs of spices.
00:45:07
No, Jesus Christ died. He died for you, He rose from the dead. He died because he loved you. And what are you going to do for him in return? We preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block into the Greeks foolishness. First Corinthians 123.
Michigan Camp 2022 Are you ready to be a fool for the Lord? Are you willing to associate as a fool?
We're not fooled because we have the right message, but we're going to be viewed as fools because people are going to see us and say this guy's office rocker, this girl's off her rocker, Why is she telling me about this? Jesus doesn't make sense.
Philippians 120 says, According to my earnest expectation, hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now Christ shall be magnified in my body is your life.
Worth something to you personally? Do you put great?
Do you put care in your body? Do you take care of it? You workout, You eat the right things.
You take care of what goes inside you. Are you willing to let Christ be magnified?
In your body, Paul could say to for me to live as Christ and to die again. Are you willing to use your talents through skills that God gave you to begin with?
For His glory.
What does it mean practically to be identified with the Lord Jesus?
A lot of us are wearing these nice shirts.
Michigan Camp with burst in the back, and O'Donnell wins the prize for the Christian T-shirts he wears. I mean, you like, I'm encouraged by them. I have a couple myself. But what does it mean to not be ashamed of the gospel? Is it just showing up at a, at a weekend like this? And, and, and just saying, oh, I'm just going to, you know, be a part of all the meetings, sing really loud And the hymns thing. How am I going to be tomorrow or on Monday when I go home?
When I go to work next week, am I? Of course there's going to be some failure.
But the Spirit of God doesn't give us.
Room to or doesn't give us an excuse to fail. We all know that we have the flesh we have. There's been times that I've gone to a conference, been on a high and gone back Monday morning and man, I followed my knees for the Lord and say Lord, you know I I need you. I need you so badly. What are we going to be a part-time Christian or a full time Christian? Don't be a part-time Christian that demands a full time God. The Lord wants you to be sold out for him. He wants you to be obedient.
For him, maybe it's going to be that movie you're going to want to watch. It's only a little bit of cussing, it's a bit of nudity. But you know, how much sin does it actually take to grieve the Holy Spirit? If you grieve the Holy Spirit with your actions, with what you watch, what you communicate with, what you associate with, you're not going to be a clean vessel for the Lord's use.
Who your friends are going to tell you, don't judge me, don't judge me in my Christian walk.
People might tell you judge not lets me not judge, but you can reply twist not the scriptures, lest he be like Satan.
Seems pretty good at twisting those scriptures that verse judge not be not judged has nothing to do with judging a friend because he's watching something.
It's a lot more than that. In Second Timothy 1/8 it says be there in four. Not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord.
There is a testimony to the glory in this world, the word of the Lord, this Bible.
Is illegal in 51 Countries. There is people that when they accept the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are going to pay a great price for this book. I have friends that I know of in India, in other countries, Malawi and other places. I'm sure if you read the Book of the Martyrs or if you get those newsletters.
You'll see that there's people that suffer great things for this book and what's it going to cost you Michigan camp 2022 What's it going to cost you to follow the Lord? We're told to study ourselves are proven to God a Workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Our brother Daniel gave a really great talk on Christian maturity.
There is a need for us, for young men and young women, to dig deep in the Word of God, to take these things seriously for themselves.
To rightly divide the word of truth. You know, we're here in the camp, we're having a great time.
But some of us are from small assemblies, some of us are from groups that have had difficulties in the last couple of years. Maybe there might be a reproach even being gathered to the Lord's name. They might say you're too legal. You separate from true Christians. You think you're better than other believers. You know, those accusations could be true in some way. Because there's been times when I know maybe I've held the truth of God with a high hand or.
In a real legal way. But that doesn't change the truth of what the word of God says. It's not my point to go into the ground of gathering tonight, but there is. The word of God is. There's a way for us to behave in the House of God. There is.
00:50:05
The truth of God for the believer, a path for us to take and you need to dig the time. Take the time to dig these truths out for yourselves. Don't just assume that it's going to fall into your lap. Maybe there's a brother or sister in your local assembly that irk you. Maybe that they are holding the truth of God in a wrong, wrong spirit. Don't let that discourage you. Be a blessing to them. Hold dig in for yourself and and don't be ashamed of what the word of God says.
You know the hardest, Like I said, the hardest opposition can sometimes come from our friends, from our from true believers.
That are going to be with us for all eternity in heaven, but might just not be in a state of soul to be a blessing to us. You know, if there's weakness that an assembly, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don't reject everything you've been taught you've been grown up with because of the attitude of a brother or sister or a fellow peer. Take the time, go to them, get golly counsel, find an older brother or sister or many of us here at camp would love to have a conversation with you. Have any questions? We have the question meeting for questions like this.
Just because you see failure in your family doesn't mean that or around you doesn't mean that you should just reject everything you've been taught and seek a large path. We should have a what? We should have the whitest heart as Christians. We should have a wide heart seeking the love every single dear member of the body of Christ, whether they're at the Lord's Table or not with us on a Sunday morning for the same time. Narrow path. The path of the Christian life is a narrow one. We're not going to have to just we're told to separate from that which is wrong.
And to cleave after the Lord with those and that's an encouragement with those that follow on the Lord with pure heart. They'll always be those that are going to be willing to follow after the Lord with a pure heart for our blessing and for the encouragement of God's people. So in summary, I've been there. I've been ashamed of the gospel feebly. I've tried through some ways to.
Move out and to take a stand for the Lord slowly. There's times that I fall back on my face and I got to say, Lord, I'm a failure, but I want to try again. You're worthy.
Peter fell down, the Lord restored him, and maybe tonight you're here in this treatment and you had a failure. You know that you're not where you should be at with the Lord. And it's my prayer tonight that you just take that time. You're just sitting in the seat right now. Just confess with the Lord. Say Lord, I can't do this without you. I want to start again. I want to start out fresh with the Lord. Maybe there's one person in the room that you've been on the fence about following the Lord. You've been raising a Christian home, but you have big decisions coming up. You're going to go. You're going to go to.
School, you're starting a new course, a new job, you're contemplating a relationship with someone that may not be a believer. We have plenty of instructional, the word of God about that. Are you going to be ashamed of the Lord? Are you going to start off obeying his word? Nicodemus? We see a progression from closet Christian to sold out follower to associated with a dead man, a dead man, Jesus, who rose from the dead three days later, victorious over the grave.
But he associated, he compromised. He did not compromise. When it came down to it, knew that some in this room that's been playing a double game. Maybe you're something to your friends here at meeting, but you're going to go back Monday morning and you're going to be the complete officer. We're not going to recognize. If I were to see you on the street, I would not know this is you that was sitting here at the camp playing volleyball with all of us.
Maybe there's someone here that has the best intentions. You say, you know, I go to school, I'm in the car and I pray, Lord help me speak and you struggle day after day.
To speak for the Lord. My encouragement to you is don't give up. Don't give up the Lord.
Will fill your mouth. Keep communing with him. He will fill it. He will help you. He will not let you down.
Maybe someone here is discouraged and saying, you know, my small assembly, they're just, there's nothing there for me, nothing there for my kids, there's nothing there. Don't give up, Don't give up. The Lord can bring in encouragement. He can bring times like this or we can be strengthened. Don't give up. The Lord is worthy. Give what is due to Him. He will, He will fill the rest.
Network from an assembly with not many kids. It's hard. It's hard on us parents, but want to be faithful to the Lord. He can bless and he is no man's debtor. You know, I've got a need to these categories in my life where I've been on the fence be following the Lord, where I've been in compromise, been discouraged with the assembly. I've had the best intentions, but I can't open my mouth. I'm not here. Please don't think I'm preaching at you. I could be sitting in this chair and I wish I was.
But the Lord has put this burden in my heart and I really wanted to share it.
I look around you guys and I love you guys. You guys are the future of the Assembly. If the Lord leaves us here, maybe we'll have camp twice as big in a few years. You know the Lord is worthy. He is poorly to be followed. Don't settle. Don't compromise. Be sold out for the Lord.
00:55:01
Now maybe it's in your own family. Maybe you look at your parents life and you look at how the word of God says. He says my dad and mom aren't really doing that well. Maybe they failed. And you know what? I'm already a failing dad and the kids are four. It's going to get worse. I'm going to make mistakes. I'm sure guys like Tim and Bernie would agree they've made mistakes. Don't look to us through our parents and say.
Well, if it what you guys messed up, so I'm not gonna really buy for myself. Look back to the word of God. We're all we're all fairly humans. Maybe you could be an encouragement to your parents. Maybe if you see that, you know, the word of God says that you young brothers should be praying and that you should be taking part and taking your priesthood seriously. Maybe your dad never took part in the assembly. And I had friends that say, yeah, my dad never took part. Robert, I take part. Well, the word of God says you should and take your you do you be serious about the Lord.
And see what will happen. You could be a blessing to your parents.
You can be an encouragement that way too.
A God that is faithful yesterday.
Today and forever, my prayer is that this conversation that we've had tonight, this talk encourages you and lights a fire inside your heart to be sold out for the Lord, with failure, yes, but committed to Him so that you can live a life that is not ashamed. Romans 116 I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God to salvation.
And to everyone that believes.
I want to end with a quote. In the 1980s, a young man in Rwanda was forced by his thrive to either renounce Christ or face certain death.
He refused to renounce Christ and was killed on the spot.
The night before.
He had written the following commitment that was found in his room. You may have heard this before, but it's called the Fellowship.
Of the Unashamed and I'm going to read it in closing.
I am part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.
The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made.
I am disciple of Jesus Christ.
I won't look back.
Let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past has redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.
I'm finished and done with low living site walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams.
Chintzy giving and dwarf goals.
I no longer need preeminence.
Prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity?
I live in His presence. Lean by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, labor by love.
Labor by power. My pace is set, my gate is fast. My goal is heaven.
My Rd. is narrow, my way is enough, my ray is rough in the companions few, but my guide is reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go.
Until he returns, give until I draw, preach until all know and work, until he comes. And when he comes to get his own, he will have no problem recognizing me, for my colors are clear. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. My friends, this is something that this man wrote. He gave his life and it's something that little parts of it I can relate to, you can relate to as well.
The Lord Jesus is worthy.
Of our trustworthy to be followed. And may you be able in a small way to not be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ.