Back to the Real World

How do you feel now that you’ve come back from camp?

We can have such an awesome time at camp and feel like we grew so much closer to God, but what happens afterward?

Do we stay in those commitments? Does that closeness to God, that powerful worship, stay with us?

OR, what about when you go to youth group and feel a deep connection with God, and then you go home and all of that connection is gone? What then?

Let me tell you a story

Israel was started because God intervened in the life of 1 guy, Abraham. Then, after Abraham’s descendents grew larger and larger, they were enslaved by Egypt. Eventually, God broke Egypt so that the Israelites might leave and go to the land that God promised them. Then, after many wars, they finally took possession of the land and started a lineage of kings. A temple was built that was one of the most magnificent places in the world, and God’s presence was known to dwell there, so that there was always a heaviness to the air because the holiness of God touched down in some way there. After two kings, the nation split into two parts that fought constantly. They were beaten down, attacked, and eventually carted off and assimilated into the tyrant nation Babylon. God left the Jews because of their disobedience, and the temple was destroyed. Babylon then crumbled, and the Persian Empire rose, but in that time, Israel was in tatters, basically a connection of backwoods villages. But then one man, Nehemiah, was connected with King Cyrus of Persia, and Cyrus issued a proclamation to rebuild the temple and to let the Jews return to Israel. It was an incredible time for the Jews. They felt like God was finally with them again, and they started to rebuild the city walls and the temple. Then, we jump into Ezra 4:1-7

Ezra 4:1–7 ESV

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated.

So now, immediately after they start working on the temple, people start coming out of the woodwork to fight against Israel.

And then, it got worse.

Ezra 4:17–24 ESV

The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now the letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me. And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?” Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

What do you do when God’s not there?

What happens when you go back home and your home life is awful, or you find out that you still deal with the same sins that you thought you broke at camp?

Realize You’re Being Attacked

Ezra 4:4-5 “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

Satan, or the world, or evil, or your own sin nature doesn’t want you to get close to God, and so when you get a taste of a great relationship with God, you’ll get discouraged and attacked, just like the Israelites did!

Every time there is a spiritual “high” when you feel closer to God, you will encounter difficulty because that’s what Satan wants!

What are some ways that you’re “attacked?”

Not “feeling it”

Having bad stuff happen

Worship doesn’t feel the same

Getting busy

What can we do to fight against this? How can we stay dedicated to God in the face of feeling like He’s only there at camp?

Pray

One thing we don’t see in this story is the people of God praying for God to intervene on their behalf! They seem so preoccupied with how hard it is for the Israelites to be without a temple that they forget to pray for their situation!

Prayer works!

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

Prayer is effective. it does some incredible things if you’d just give it a shot!

Ephesians 6:18 “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

Don’t quit praying either! Perseverance was a big theme for camp, and we need to persevere in petitioning God!

Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

And even when we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, trust God to help you to pray!

If you want God to draw near to you, you have to draw near to Him, and one way that we do that is through prayer!

Know You’re Not Alone

What do you think I mean by that?

You have people around you who love you

These people love you and want you to grow!

Work together to love each other better!

Talk to eachother!

Pray for each other!

Read Scripture together!

You don’t have to wait for us to start something to read the Bible together, you can do that yourselves! Start a group chat and read the Bible together, or invite eachother to youversion Bible plans! I’ll show you how to do it later tonight if you want!

You’r leaders love you and want you to grow!

We are always happy to talk and to pray and to care for you!

You are never alone because God is with you.

John 14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

Matt 28:20 “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God hasn’t left you! He’ll never abandon you, even when it feels like everyone else will!

If you believe in Jesus as the Lord of your life, then you have God the Holy Spirit living inside of you, growing you, encouraging you, and making you more like Jesus!

So, you’re not alone! You don’t have to suffer in a vacuum!

We love you and we’re praying for you, and God is there and has a plan for you! He’s never left you, and will never leave you!

And we see the most perfect example of that in Christ on the cross.

He could have left! He could have abandoned us and said, “Forget it, these people aren’t worth the pain!” but instead He endured agony so that you could be with Him! He loves you more than you can imagine!

Questions:

What was the craziest thing that happened at camp? If you didn’t go to camp, what was the most interesting thing that’s happened so far this summer?

What are some ways in which you feel attacked after a spiritual high?

How can you fight against the discouragement that can come your way when you get closer to God?

How could your community help you to grow closer to God?