Meeting Transcripts

Opening Remarks

Welcome

We appreciate all of you being here. Your presence is a tremendous boost for us here in Portland, and we pray that your experience here will be a tremendous boost for all of you and those in the churches you serve. You are examples of faithfulness, and we appreciate that. We know that attending camp meeting does not come without cost, monetarily and perhaps in other ways as well, especially when you take the better part of two weeks to be here. We pray that God will bless you for your efforts. And we pray that, as a result of your efforts, other guests will go home blessed as well. In that sense, you are a direct participant in whatever good things happen.

Unity

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).

Introduction

The central theme of the Book of Ephesians is the unity of believers in the church. More specifically, in the church at Ephesus where there were Jewish and Gentile converts from completely different backgrounds and perspectives. This Epistle was written by Paul to address those differences and to encourage unity among believers.

Three words or phrases recur throughout the Book of Ephesians. They are “together,” “one,” and “in Christ.” An example is Ephesians 2:5 and 6: “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We see this theme throughout the entire Epistle.

The first three chapters are mostly theological. They speak of the unity of the church, God’s plan of redemption, and how that plan relates to uniting the Jews and the Gentiles. The last three chapters are more practical in their approach. They cover how unity works. Paul illustrated unity by the unity existent in the husband/wife relationship, the mystery related to Christ and the church, the unity of the child/parent relationship, and that of the master/servant relationship.

Debbie and I had an experience in unity about one year ago when we rode a bicycle built for two. We were staying for a couple of nights in Central Oregon near a place that rented tandem bicycles. We had never done that before, so I said, “Let’s do it.” I am a fairly cautious person, but Debbie is more cautious than I am, especially when it relates to my suggestions. But I overcame her objections and got her to get on the second seat. I was in the front trying to figure out how to ride the bike and relieve Debbie’s fears at the same time, so I said, “Follow me. Let’s go.” It was like learning to ride a bike all over again. I don’t know how you learned to ride a bike, but my parents just put me on and pushed—survival taught me to ride the bike. In like manner, Debbie and I learned to ride the bicycle built for two. Going slower, in some cases, was more difficult than going faster. I quickly found that corners were tricky. I was leaning one way and Debbie was leaning the other. That wasn’t working, so I told her that when we went into a turn, she had to lean into it with me. Furthermore, I discovered after a while that her handle bars were attached to my seat; every time she leaned the opposite way, my seat twisted. It was very awkward at times, but we mastered it and learned to ride the bike in the ninety minutes or so that we had it. I thought about this as I was thinking about endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. When we are unified as a body, we cannot help but go forward as a body. There will be challenges, but we must persevere, because unity and the results of unity are taught time and again in the Scriptures.

Together

Consider Jonathan and his armor bearer, Joshua and Caleb, Paul and Silas, and other Biblical figures. Typically, God did not conquer using just one individual, but He gave victories to two or more individuals working together. That is the key to victory for all of us. Unity is the key to God’s presence among us. That idea has been the hallmark of the Apostolic Faith Church for over one hundred years. We know, from looking back on history, that there have been setbacks and everyone has not always been unified, but unity has been emphasized over the years. As a result, we are still sustained today and are still seeing victories won. We thank God for this.

On the day of Pentecost, the 120 in the upper room were unified. The result was that the glory of God descended, baptized those present with the Holy Ghost and fire, and launched the church. It is the same today. If we are unified, we can anticipate the Glory of God being pleased to descend into our midst and provide victories. And we can anticipate that those who have come here will leave with renewed vigor and purpose.

Endeavor

If unity were automatic or easy, Paul would not have written to “endeavor” to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Endeavoring suggest work, effort. The first verse of chapter 4 speaks of vocation: “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” The English word “vocation” is only found here in the New Testament. In other places it is translated as “calling.” It would be accurate to read the verse as, “Walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called.” Our call is to walk in unity. Unity is produced by sanctification, but it is maintained by adhering to the directives of that second verse; walk with lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance. 

It is not hard to walk in unity really. We have all done it in our marriages. There are many in this room who have been married anywhere from ten to fifteen to sixty-five years. We have learned to walk in unity. We have heard that there is “give and take” in marriage, however, a better way to say it might be, “give and give.” Although that suggests a kind of victimization mentality, so I don’t like it either. I prefer to think of the wedding vows. Each is asked to give themselves to their companion. The male goes first, I think. What if instead of answering, “I do,” he said he wanted to hear what the bride had to say first? When we say, “I do,” we should be saying it with no expectation or assurance of what will be received in return. There is a valuable object lesson in this. We vow to give of ourselves. Unity demands lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance. It demands endeavoring to achieve it and endeavoring to maintain it.

Blessings

In the third verse of the first chapter, Paul wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” That is what we feel. That is what we have felt in the nightly prayer meetings, particularly last night when more and more of us came together. It feels good to be on the campground and worship the Lord in unity. All of us have the same goal in mind. This is what is remarkable; we bring different perspectives and personalities to the table. We have all observed that it never pays to be too adamant in our own perspective or in our own viewpoint. I often hear a very strong and persuasive view from one perspective, from someone who does not know that I have heard an equally strong and persuasive view from a completely opposing perspective. In theory, I can’t win because eventually I have to decide something that would displease someone every time. That is only in theory, though. In practice, we have unity, which overcomes all of that. We all want the same goal, and we do dwell together in heavenly places in Christ. We are one body, one spirit, one baptism—and that is what this Epistle is all about.

Closing Remarks

God bless you as you do your part to help carry on this precious Gospel. It is a good Gospel. It still brings good results. We still offer a good salvation and a good plan of redemption, because we offer God’s plan. This work has a unique calling and a unique purpose in the world, a niche. We continue to be persuaded that the teachings and the principles and the way of life that the Latter Rain Gospel advocates are relevant today as much as they have ever been. We want to keep moving forward with that unified purpose to see the Latter Rain Gospel proclaimed. God bless all of you. We are looking forward to a great camp meeting. Let’s do our part around the altars of prayer, encouraging one another. If you do meet someone who is discouraged, do your best to buoy them up and let’s see what God can do this camp meeting. We will be dismissed in prayer and then you are welcome to linger. You are free to go as well. Thank you very much.

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