CAMP DEVO

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Camp is not easy job. Each of you have done a great job.

about me: student Pastor, Camp experince

Tension

On any given day you have dozens of things to do.

English Standard Version Chapter 10

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Context:

martha had alot on her plate. How would you react if 12 of your family members showed up unanounced? My first thoughts are food, chairs, is there enough diet coke in the house? What will your attitude be? I would’nt want to seem rushed I would put a smile on try to engage in conversation.

Lets up the situation one more, Jesus and his disciples show up to your college dorm room asking if they could come over for dinner.

Point 1: Communion with Christ becomes the posture of your life.

My deflt is serving and doing, I tend to see the task before I see the people.

This idea of communion with Christ is not anything mystical or a feeling or emotional response. In the simpliest of termes it is obediance and pursing Christ before all things.

The part Martha missed was not the opertunity to serve Jesus and others. She was became more focused on the task at hand and missed the Lord’s teaching

Communion comes from finding Jesus more pressious and valbule over all worldly things. The great part of being at camp is that you spend most of your day reflecting on your walk with Christ. I would encourage you to reflect on this story with martha. Are you working and doing ministry in a way that you are seeking approval from Christ by your works or is it from your love for Jesus.

you can only opreate out of skills, and personality for so long. Faithfulness has to be anchored in somthing outside of yourself.

When we look at the earliest christians in Acts 2:42 what were they doing?

English Standard Version Chapter 2

42 they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Teaching of the apostales, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer. When you boil camp down this is what you are doing everyday. When you boil down what you do each day this is what it looks like: studying God’s word togather, sharing meals togather, and praying with one another. To the best of your abilty do not miss any opertunity for those moments.

Point 2: Selfless service only happens from a deep communion with Jesus.

The point of the story is not to neglate resposblities for the sake of communion. If I was working on somthing with a group and some were just talking and they told me that they were just focusing on commouning with one another. I might communion my fist with their face.

Service is one of the means of grace that we see in Romans 12. When Jesus is what we charish most it you will never view a skill period, or trash run the same. because it all becomes part of your worship and how you communion with God in your Christian life.

Here is an example of what I mean. [example of Eli coming into students]

I love Eli and love to know what intrest he has and what he feels inscure about and what scares him. Why Becuase Jesus cares about Eli.

You have girls at camp from every context and every walk of life. and praise God for that. The lord in his soveringty has seen if fit for you to disciple that girl for 2 weeks at camp. I want to plead with you in deepest way I can, seek to leverage every opertunity with every girl to show them Jesus. If that means playing teatherball for 20 minites do it, talking about a girls favorite metal bands do it. If God is fully sovergin over all things everything and everyone, everything you do, and every coversation has purpose and meaning.

final point on your service as communion, seek to find ways to serve that no one expect for Christ knows about. I was walking home last night and I saw all of these dirty pots with rice stuck on them and the thought crossed my mind. Man I wish I could go clean some of those pots. Just from the Joy that comes from the labor of it. Communion with Christ is not possible if you are not willing to humble yourself to the smallest or dirtiest of task.

Somthing that I encorage my students to do often is go read old dead guys. So there is an old dead guy named brother Lawerence who wrote a book called the practice of the presence of God. Brother Lawernce: cook, shoe repaires for the other monks. "We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed."

Application

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow in your communion with Christ and to see your service as a form of worship.

sister, humble yourself. If your time in God’s word has been perfomtive or lacking, if every skill period feels like more of an oblgation rather than an opertunity to disciple. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

Be commited to sharpening one another more into the image of Christ.

You will never drift towards holiness. It is a good thing for you to ask other staff memebers, not nesserly your best friend to read scripture and pray togather. There may not be a better eviroment than camp to grow in your santifcation.

Finnish the summer well and start planing your on ramp for the Fall

Part of my job, I go to Western Carolina each week for college ministry and have the same conversation over. I’ll ask someone where do you go to church and do you know what they say? Well I tried to find one when I first got up here but I just never got plugged in.

Speaking from experince. The month you get home will feel so busy, weird, and Jaring. The Enmey wants nothing more for you you than to jump back into old habits, todos, and drama. One of the hardest parts of the Christian life is watching people fall away. I am firm beliver that this is where the enmey starts to creep in is the fall semester. Where ever you going to school or whatever you have planned next have an answer for the follwoing: where and when am I going to church the first Sunday I am back home? Where will I find Christian community? What do I plan to do for my Bible study?

Closing

why do we camp? Why do we do skills?

English Standard Version Chapter 9

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

we do camp for the sake of winning girls to Jesus.