17 Jun 2019, 12:42James ShepleyPontins Prestatyn
Camp Meeting Begins- Commitment Service
This Monday evening, Pastor David McKenzie, Youth Ministries’ Director from North-eastern Conference in the United States, kicked off the SEC Camp Meeting in Prestatyn with an urgent message: ‘hold on! No compromise!’
He took as his passage, one of the darkest episodes in Israel’s history, 1 Samuel 4. A succession of woes overtook Israel that day: Eli’s sons were killed, the Israelite army was slaughtered, the Ark of the Covenant was captured, and the Glory of God departed from Israel.
Pastor McKenzie challenged his listeners with a question: ‘so why did Israel lose the Ark? Why did they lose the glory, Church of the living God?” The problem was compromise. When they saw the other nations go into battle with their idols and images, instead of depending on their God, they decided to do the same. ‘The Seventh-day Adventist church must not try to live in two worlds’, he said, ‘The church must know what it believes and stand for what is right’.
That day Eli’s sons died, Phinehas’ wife died, and on hearing the news of the terrible defeat Eli himself fell off his chair and broke his neck. Pastor McKenzie warned, ‘when the glory of God is not in the place, the devil will go on a rampage…Keep God in his rightful place.’
But the story did not end there. Recalling how the Israelites hadn’t had to lift one finger to get the ark back, Pastor McKenzie counselled, ‘The battle belongs to the Lord….. Get down on your knees’.
This Monday evening, Pastor David McKenzie, Youth Ministries’ Director from North-eastern Conference in the United States, kicked off the SEC Camp Meeting in Prestatyn with an urgent message: ‘hold on! No compromise!’
He took as his passage, one of the darkest episodes in Israel’s history, 1 Samuel 4. A succession of woes overtook Israel that day: Eli’s sons were killed, the Israelite army was slaughtered, the Ark of the Covenant was captured, and the Glory of God departed from Israel.
Pastor McKenzie challenged his listeners with a question: ‘so why did Israel lose the Ark? Why did they lose the glory, Church of the living God?” The problem was compromise. When they saw the other nations go into battle with their idols and images, instead of depending on their God, they decided to do the same. ‘The Seventh-day Adventist church must not try to live in two worlds’, he said, ‘The church must know what it believes and stand for what is right’.
That day Eli’s sons died, Phinehas’ wife died, and on hearing the news of the terrible defeat Eli himself fell off his chair and broke his neck. Pastor McKenzie warned, ‘when the glory of God is not in the place, the devil will go on a rampage…Keep God in his rightful place.’
But the story did not end there. Recalling how the Israelites hadn’t had to lift one finger to get the ark back, Pastor McKenzie counselled, ‘The battle belongs to the Lord….. Get down on your knees’.
