Warm Beach Camp Day Camp - God ALWAYS Keeps His Promises (Day 1)

Greeting

Hey everybody!

Welcome to camp! Are you excited for this week at camp?

-Even if this is your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th week of camp this summer?

I want to ask - raise your hand if this is your first week of summer camp?

Introduction

My name is Jake and I’m really excited to spend the week with you all.

And there are 3 things that you should know about me:

#1 - I LOVE Jesus

#2 - I LOVE my family

I am married and my wife’s name is Melissa. She is awesome!

We have 3 kids: Braden, Parker and Carson. Braden and Parker are spending the week at a different camp, but Carson is here this week.

We have a dog named Zita and she is a chiweenie (chihuahua and wiener dog - long body and long legs) and an old lady (almost 14 years old - like 98 years old in dog years).

#3 - I LOVE camp

I have been around camp for a lot of years, Melissa and I met as camp counselors, we’ve worked at camp in many different ways.

And the thing I love most about camp is the chance to do a lot of really fun things while learning about who Jesus is and how much He loves you (which is a lot).

Introduce Theme and John the Baptist

This week, we are going to explore the story of John the Baptist

Let me ask this question:

Raise your hand if you have heard about John the Baptist before?

What are some of the things you’ve heard about him and his story?

-Ask the kids for feedback (have them raise their hands)

The cool thing about John the Baptist and his story is we are able to learn about WHO God is and WHY God is good.

Did you know that?

John the Baptist’s life gives us an example of God’s goodness and why following God can be a really great thing.

So we are going to explore John the Baptist’s life this week and see how it points us to God’s goodness.

Open with a SHORT Prayer

Sound good?!? Awesome

I am going to pray before we read the bible and talk about it. Because its important that we take a deep breath and focus our minds on Jesus.

So let’s pray

Illustration - Keeping a Promise

stuff

Connect the Dots

Have you ever wanted something so bad that it was all you could think about?

The story of John the Baptist actually begins with a promise between God and a husband and wife.

If you have a bible, turn it to Luke 1

Tell the Story

Back in the day, during bible times, it was really important that people get married and have kids, specifically boys.

Having kids, especially boys, was important because it meant keeping the family name going.

It was also important because having kids was a way of guaranteeing that the mom and dad would be taken care of when they got older.

Another thing about having kids that really mattered to the people during Bible times is that having kids was a way that women had a purpose.

I personally don’t love the truth of this, but women during this time saw their main job as being a mom and taking care of kids.

Anyways, there was a man named Zechariah (everybody say - ‘Zechariah’), who was a priest and a woman named Elizabeth (everybody say ‘Elizabeth’) who were married.

Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous - do you know what righteous means? Someone raise your hand and tell me.

Being righteous means that Zechariah and Elizabeth did what was right and pleasing to God.

These 2 people were good people, they did what was right, they were honest and all that - life was mostly good for them.

The only thing not great about their lives was that they didn’t have any kids and they were getting older and past being able to have kids.

Even though Zechariah and Elizabeth did what was right and pleasing to God, life was good for them, Zechariah was a priest (a good/popular person to be) - they still didn’t have it all.

How do you think that made them feel? How would you feel if you had everything except that one thing? Do you think that would make you think/feel differently about God?

Illustration - If only I had ______, then I could _______

After Luke 1 tells us who Zechariah and Elizabeth were and the “problem” they faced, Luke 1:11-17 tells us:

Luke 1:11–17 CSB

11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. 16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”

This was a big deal — Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous people which was important in God’s eyes; But they didn’t have any kids which was important in the world’s eyes; and now the best of both worlds was coming together to make everything right.

The Big Idea - What’s the Takeaway

So what is the most important thing that we can learn from this story?

Here is what I want you to know and remember from what this story shows us about who God is:

God ALWAYS keeps his promises.