Monday's Details
Excitement of the first full day of camp thrust some campers from their bunks before the rooster Monday morning. All were raring to go. The day started with a counselor prayer meeting, a hearty breakfast, and clean-up crews working together to keep camp maintained.
The topic for the week in the morning Bible class this week is separation from the world. Pastor Roseland started the morning Bible class in 1 Thes. 1:9-10 “ For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, who He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
His next verse was I John 2:15-17 which points to idol manufacturing plant: “Do no love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in him. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” After turning from idols to God, we are given direction in Eph. 4:1-3, “Therefore, I the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of unity in peace.” Further, 1 Thes. 2:9-12 says “For you recall , brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” Believers do this by turning away from idols, and to the Lord. We were saved by grace through faith for a purpose, a calling. Out of gratitude for our so great salvation, we are obligated to our Savior for good works, (Eph. 2:10), and those good works must start with walking in a manner worthy of the calling of God. Paul described the method for the Christian walk in Gal. 5:16, “But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh,” Eph. 4:1-3, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore out to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Col. 3:16-17 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
The campers packed a sack lunch and headed for a picnic, a hike, and the Trail Time Bible class taught by Pastor Mark Perkins.
Amidst the back drop of God’s creation, Pastor Perkins made an issue of things that are real such as gravity and nature. According to the Word of God those who live their lives outside the realm of reality are morons. God is real, and those who live their lives without God are morons. Where God is, there is light, and without light the heart is clouded in darkness. Those who stumble around in the world without God end up with miserable lives, beaten up by the world that diligently strives to suppress truth and light. But a life lived in the light of Gods word is a real life. Life lived according to 2 Peter 1:2-11, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to use everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith, supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge, and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, an in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are your and are increasing they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or shrot-sighted haven forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore brethren be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling an choosing you for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord an Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” Those verses define REAL living.
Amidst the back drop of God’s creation, Pastor Perkins made an issue of things that are real such as gravity and nature. According to the Word of God those who live their lives outside the realm of reality are morons. God is real, and those who live their lives without God are morons. Where God is, there is light, and without light the heart is clouded in darkness. Those who stumble around in the world without God end up with miserable lives, beaten up by the world that diligently strives to suppress truth and light. But a life lived in the light of Gods word is a real life. Life lived according to 2 Peter 1:2-11, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to use everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith, supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge, and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, an in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are your and are increasing they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or shrot-sighted haven forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore brethren be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling an choosing you for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord an Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” Those verses define REAL living.
After the hike, the campers chose between duck tape or jewelry crafts and flag football.
Chaplin Rick King enjoyed a time of fellowship with the girls, then the boy separately before dinner. He challenged them to be the Christians Pastor Roseland and Pastor Perkins taught them to be. Dinner was chicken enchiladas, and they went fast. The girls even had seconds!
After dinner, Pastor Mark Musser began his series about the role of the Christian and his obligation to evangelize in a pagan world. The scripture for the Monday night Bible class was Acts 17:16-21. Observations about this passage guide us as to our obligations as Christians, with the Apostle Paul as our example for method. Paul was led to act by the Holy Spirit when he was confronted with the presence of idols. He reasoned with the people in the synagogue and the market place. He cultivated relationships within the culture. Paul was a tent maker by trade, so during the week he participated in the business world--the market. On Saturdays, religion took place in the synagogues, so that’s where he was, too with people--talking to them. He was talking about newsworthy events; specifically the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And, Paul got a reaction, too. In order for us to understand the viewpoints of those in the world, Pastor Musser defined the five views regarding God--theist, polytheist, atheist, agnostic, pantheist. Then he went on to describe the Greek and Roman deities, as well as the Epicureans and Stoics with whom Paul engaged. All the pagan philosophies have been around since ancient times. Paul evangelized the ancients with the same Satanic philosophies we hear in colleges, public school, liberal Christianity. . .the world with the same gospel. We as Christians face nothing new, but we must be prepared with the gospel of Christ. We must also be prepared with knowledge of the truth. The pagans are in the darkness of lies, and if we are unfamiliar with the truth, we are unable shine the light on our lies. We won’t be as well equipped to proclaim the gospel of Christ and converse with the lost if we are unprepared.
Mrs. Perkins baked a yummy peach cobbler which was warm and wonderful on such a cold rainy night.
Mrs. Perkins and Clarissa
When it was dark enough, we played BLACK OPS!!!! Teams dressed in camo and went on a mission to recover the food, ammunition, medical supplies, and Bibles that were donated to persecuted Christians and stolen by pagans. The Christian Black Ops teams went to recover the supplies donated for the fellow members of the body of Christ. The red team won because they managed to sneak across enemy lines, get past the spotters and take their recovered property back to their teams.
The campers went back to their counselor groups for small group time to discuss the three Bible classes of the day. The first day at camp ended happily. Friendships from last year were rekindled. Seeds for new friendships were planted. Our children are seeing others like them learn God’s word. Camp Arete 2012 is off and running!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment