Opening Remarks

Welcome

We would like to thank all of you for being here today. Also, thank you for joining us for this year’s camp meeting. Your participation and support is much appreciated. May God bless each one of you.

Agenda and Announcements

Today, we will try to keep to the schedule as closely as possible. My session will take up the first thirty minutes or so. At ten o’clock, we will have Brother Joe Bishop lead us in part two of “Scriptural Growth and Development.” That will take us to 10:45 a.m. We will then take a ten-minute break, after which Brother Pierre Hancock will lead us in a grammar lesson. (You may notice we scheduled his session for after we speak!) We will adjourn before noon, at 11:40 a.m.

The materials from the ministers’ meeting in March are on the back table, some of which will be used again today. If you have not received a Higher Ground notebook, they are available as well. If you have a notebook, but are missing pages from the March meeting, let Sister Rodica Musgrave know and she will mail the missing pages to you. If you have a notebook, but do not have it with you today, that is okay; you will receive inserts that can be added to your notebook when you return home.

We are interested in updating our records for accuracy of name, address, email address, and so forth. Some of the pastors filled out a Minister Questionnaire form last week at the pastors’ meeting. If you have filled one out and returned it, obviously you do not need to fill it out again. If you have not, we request that you do that today.

For a textbook, we are using Fundamentals of the Faith. A supply of those is available on the back table. The cost is $20.00. The book Brother Pierre will be referencing is called Nitty-Gritty Grammar Book. The cost for it is $10.00. In addition, at the pastors’ meeting one week ago, we made reference to a book called Music in the Balance. I believe we have a few of those left at a cost of $10.00.

Brother Elmer Luka continues to do well. He had intended to come to camp meeting for the last Sunday, but it appears that he could be here tomorrow instead. So we will expect to see him, Lord willing.

Our Heritage

“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust” (1 Timothy 6:20).

Timothy’s Heritage

In both epistles to Timothy, Paul gave Timothy a charge, and the groaning of Paul’s heart can be felt in the selected text. Timothy had a heritage. Paul referred to this in his second letter to Timothy when he spoke of the unfeigned faith that first dwelt in his grandmother Lois and then in his mother Eunice saying, “and I am persuaded that in thee also” (2 Timothy 1:5). We too have a heritage, and it is something that is priceless; it really is. I feel as if I arrived late to even claim a heritage compared to those of you who are second, third, and fourth generation Apostolic Faith. However, we know that those who come in at the eleventh hour have the same opportunity as those who came in at the first hour. I am not sure it is possible for late-comers like me to appreciate our heritage as much as those who have followed a long line of generations, but I do appreciate it and consider it to be priceless.

Our Holiness Heritage

A heritage is something that is transmitted by, or acquired from, a predecessor. It is a legacy, a tradition, and a birthright. In the Apostolic Faith, we refer to our heritage often because we trust that it is rooted in God’s Word. We are able to trace our roots back to the Azusa Street movement, and before that, to the holiness movement of the 1800’s. The people who first gathered at Azusa Street were holiness people. Their preaching was very strong on salvation and sanctification, and God was pleased to pour the Holy Ghost upon that group of believers. We heard a little about that yesterday–how the initial Pentecostal message was about receiving salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Sister Karen Barrett mentioned that, from the beginning, every heading of our paper read: “Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). I believe this was also true of the first thirteen or so papers printed from Azusa Street. The “faith” was the set of beliefs, doctrines, and practices once delivered to the saints. Even the word “delivered” is similar in meaning to what we feel when we hear “keep that which is committed to thy trust.” It has the sense that something has been transmitted, something has been handed down, and a charge has been given with that to be the custodian of it; to manage it and to treat it properly.

Our Apostolic Faith Heritage

It is true that we have quite a heritage in the Apostolic Faith Church. I appreciate being a Christian, but I appreciate being an Apostolic also. When I first stepped into that meeting in Roseburg in 1974, I had no idea what I was stepping into. I feel that the Lord called me out of sin and threw me into the middle of a gold mine of the full Gospel. I thank God for this faith, and I thank God for the vision we have as an organization to see it perpetuated. Everything we do revolves around the fact that God has given us sound doctrine, and our determination is to see this sound Pentecostal doctrine go forward to the best of our ability. We know that our organization is quite small and does not have a huge impact in the world, but we thank God that an impact is made; healthy, sound doctrine is preached. Everything this organization does is designed to help people get to Heaven. So we can hold our heads high for being participants in the Apostolic Faith.

Not everyone sees the value of our heritage. That is okay; we do not complain about that. I am reminded of when our son, Randy, came home from school one day shaking his head at an assignment he was given. He was to write a paper describing what it would feel like to be on the bottom of a shoe. He could not imagine writing a paper on that; it seemed very foolish to him. However, my daughter, Alicia, who later became an English graduate at Portland State University, lit up at the idea. She said “Randy, imagine all the things you could write.” Not everyone shares the passion that we feel in our hearts as to the call of God on this organization and on us as individuals. Although, we thank God for the vision that we have, we need to understand that there are many wonderful Christians who do not belong to the Apostolic Faith. You and I have met some of them. I met many different people when I prepared income taxes. I could see that some of them were Christians. We know that we are not the only people who will go to Heaven. 

Sometimes there is disappointment when we discover one who disagrees with the way we feel about the people in this organization or the organization itself. It is important that we not speak unkindly of those who disagree with us. Everyone is entitled to make their own decisions. As far as ministers with differing opinions, we must not be satisfied in isolating ourselves to a degree from our peers. We need each other. It is incumbent upon us as Apostolic Faith ministers to do all we can to cultivate communication with one another. There is plenty of room for variety amongst this group here. Thank God for it! We need it in our organization as it makes our organization stronger. We need to support each other, to stand shoulder to shoulder with one another, to reach out to one another. Do not be content to think in your mind that a fellow minister is one that can be discarded or ignored. We cannot be satisfied with that, for “we are laborers together” as we are told in 1 Corinthians 3:9. We work together because we are stronger when we work together, and we use our variety of talents to a common goal of seeing this Gospel go forward. Thank God for each one of you that determines to do that along the way. Let’s make sure that each one of us as individuals is hungry like a new convert to receive instruction and let us do what we can to be responsive to the Spirit of God. As we do, God will bless us. In 2 Timothy 1:5, 6, Paul said, “I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” This was probably similar to the way in which we ordain pastors in that we lay hands on them publicly to send them out to help carry this Gospel work. When we signed on as ministers and pastors, we signed on to do just that. We signed on to support one another and to do our best to encourage one another, so let us not be negligent in doing that.

Preserve a Pure Gospel

Let me return to the text at hand: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust.” A charge was given to transmit a message, to declare it. Paul’s message was to preserve a pure Gospel by preaching healthy doctrine. That charge was delivered to Timothy so that he would deliver it to others. That same charge is ours today. We have been delivered a pure, holy, Pentecostal Gospel and it is in our hands to keep, manage, preserve, guard, and pass on to those who follow us.

“Committed [or deposited] to thy trust” reminds me of something I learned recently about my ancestors. Most of you know what a trust is. The word reminds us of wealthy people like John P. Getty or Bill Gates. A trust is a place where a large sum of money is deposited so that someone may benefit from the earnings. If the money is managed properly, someone does benefit. I recently learned that my grandfather, Roger Lee, was at the end of a long line of wealth. The Lee family once owned the largest department store in the world. It was in London, England, and I am told that although the building has changed hands, it still stands and bears some part of the Lee name. Neither my dad nor I ever saw any of the Lee family fortune. My grandfather was the last in line because he squandered that fortune. There had been something committed to the Lee family, but it was squandered. Paul said to Timothy, “O, Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust.” He was speaking of the pure Gospel. If anyone were to tamper with that, we should take it personally because it is the Gospel that God has given us.

My wife’s Grandpa Brown was in the Doris, California, revival. He testified that the light shone through the cracks of the barn where he was praying. Now, we can see how that charge of Grandpa Brown was passed on to his son, Bob Brown, and then to my wife, Debbie, and now to our children. It remains to be seen how they will manage the trust that has been committed to them. I cannot govern that, but I can govern what I do with it. And I feel very passionately that a trust has been committed to us and we must value it. Someone who has been observing the Apostolic Faith made the comment that we really value our heritage. I sure do, don’t you? 

Be Encouraged

At times, I have wondered how those who have gone on before us would view camp meeting if they were to step into one today. How would they view the Gospel that is being preached, the Young People’s Meetings that go forth, and the Children’s Church services that are conducted? My conclusion is that they would love the meetings because they would still see a pure and a holy Gospel. They would hear about salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Before camp meeting I listened to a sermon by Clarence Frost from July 4, 1958. That was a long time ago, but he was preaching about “The Old Paths.” The sermon was moving. He talked about those who came to him and asked why he upheld those old, antiquated ways. After listening to the first five minutes, it became clear that he felt that something had been handed to him that he was going to keep. I have heard it said before that we do not value the old paths because they are old; we value them because they were right. They were the truth and they led people to Heaven. We cannot do any better than that. We have every reason to be encouraged this camp meeting and every reason to thank God because there have been a number of young people tarrying around the altars of prayer, praying earnestly. Some of them have already prayed through to their deeper experiences and others will in the week ahead if the Lord tarries.

Some events may arise to discourage us, and if we focused on them completely, we would be discouraged. However, that is not what we want in our hearts. When I was transferred to Eureka, California, Debbie and I took a preliminary trip to see the city, church, and congregation. I had been there before to visit Brother Earl and Sister Sylvia Philips, but I had not paid attention to the town. It had not occurred to me that I might live there someday. The Eureka branch had been through some testing times before Brother Earl went there, and I could see the remnant of some of the discouragement that still existed. There were a few people that seemed to be quite discouraged. When we arrived back, I mentioned this to Brother Loyce Carver. He might have been worried that I would be discouraged, but I was not the least bit discouraged, because I knew that God was God. It does not matter if the size of the congregation is forty, a thousand, or twenty. That does not impact our faith. We do not rely on a feelings, numbers, or events. Our faith is in God and we are not influenced by circumstances. Brother Carver’s response was that someone who refuses to be discouraged cannot be discouraged. I believe that is true. We must refuse to be discouraged. We must say that we will not be discouraged. Ups and downs will come our way, but we must remain focused on the commission we have received of God. We have something of great value that has been committed to our trust. By His grace we will continue it.

Closing Remarks

Part of continuing our commission is to keep our tools sharpened. We will do that today, as we study “Scriptural Growth and Development” and the use of the English language. Tomorrow, we will look to Brother Rene Cassell to preach in the morning, Brother Paul Akazue in the evening, and Brother Ted Joli in the afternoon for the Young People’s Meeting.

‍