Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
Camp Overview
Hello everybody. I lost my voice at camp so I actually need to use a microphone today.
God did a lot of awesome this week and I’m going to give you a little overview of what our week looked like and then we’re going to hear some testimonies from some of these awesome people in here. We’ll have a short video prepared by my lovely wife and photos by Allison Ramshaw. And then we will hear from Pastor Vaughan, we’ll have some baptisms.
So we drove down to Logan Valley and we made it without getting lost on Monday morning.
And we made it without anybody getting sick. And we managed to fit all of the luggage just barely. It the macks and all the seats were filled with luggage that were left open. But we got down there and what we did for the week was we split everyone up into four teams and we had our staff work as counselors with the campers. So when we broke up into teams, they were also in their counseling groups. So we had four teams. We had the Howler Monkeys.
We had the mongoose. We had the wolverines. They were the loudest group. And then at the end of the week, we do sports competitions and stuff throughout the week and memorize Bible, verses for points and stuff like that. And our winning team was the honey badgers. They had a lot of fun. So throughout the week we had some games and some competitions, but we also did a lot of other really good stuff. In the mornings we would eat breakfast, obviously, some awesome breakfast. And then we would have some morning exhortations about prayer and about spending time in the the word and meditating on God’s promises and stuff like that. And then everybody got to go out for a good 45 minutes to an hour and spend time with the Lord. And it was awesome because as the week went on, it was like everybody wanted to and I didn’t see, like everybody was still sitting with their Bibles when I sounded the siren and they’re like, I still need to read. So it was awesome to see people just like enjoying spending time with the Lord. And then we also had in the morning, along with games, we had breakout sessions and our staff taught some awesome sessions like why should you go to church how do I get rid of that pesky idle in my life and different things like that everybody got to go to and those went great we also had some guys and girls sessions where they’re split apart to deal with you know different issues ladies how was y’alls awesome guys were we okay how was the guys yeah And so after those in the morning, we would eat lunch and then we would have free time and everybody got to hang out with each other and then all, do you guys, meet with your staff like one-on-one? Yeah. Yeah? Was that awesome? Yeah. Yeah. It was some awesome one-on-one times. And then we’d have some games and dinner and then we had our evening messages. We had worship. And we had some phenomenal messages. Mike Bond. know where he is. There he is. He spoke the first night and he talked about, he just kind of gave an overview of the gospel and God’s love for us. And the next night Hannah spoke about God’s mercy and His loving kindness. And then I got to speak Wednesday night. I feel like since you guys were all praying for me Wednesday night, like I had a little advantage. I felt y’all’s the truth and what belief is and not believing the lies of the enemy and God did a lot of cool stuff that night as well and Thursday night we wrapped up with a cool exercise and Mike spoke about our need for each other and the body and and so throughout the week God did a lot of really really cool things I forgot to mention we also went on a float trip and that was fun And so God did a lot of really cool things. I saw the Holy Spirit transform some of you into a new creation and that was awesome.
And we did make it back. We didn’t get lost. A week. I know y’all were praying for us because God was answering prayers for different people, right Dan? Yeah, Dan’s knee gave him some trouble, but the Lord dealt with that and some different health problems. And so God was just answering prayers all week. So we’re going to give all of y’all a chance to share a little testimony about the week. Let me see what time it is. All right, and then we’ll have a video and some baptism. So who wants… Yes, Hannah. Oh, you can always pray. Okay, I’m just gonna pray that God will give grace to anyone who’s gonna share, because I think sometimes we go to camp, we have an awesome experience, and we come back to church, and we’re like, oh no, the adults are here. What if I cry in front of the adults? What if the adults know I love Jesus? Oh my gosh. So it can be a little stressful, all right? So I’m just going to pray for you guys. I’m just going to pray for you guys. You guys will be who you are, and that God will give you special grace to be honest and be real and to share, even with your parents. Some of the things you guys learned might minister to your parents today. We really encourage them. So I’m going to pray real quick. Father God, we love you. Thank you so much for your goodness. Holy Spirit, we just welcome you into this room. We acknowledge that you are Spirit of truth. I ask that you lead us into truth about Jesus. And I ask that you would show Jesus to every person in. This room today. God, I pray against hardened hearts in this room. Lord God, and I pray again. A full hearts in this room. God, I ask that you wash over them with your love and with your spirit and with your mercy and father. God, I ask that you anoint each one of these young people with your Holy Spirit, Lord, that they might share the truth that they might be real. that they might be honest, God, that they might want to give you the glory and talk about how Jesus has set them free. And Father God, I pray that your love will be known in this
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Camp Testimonies
Alright, so I’m not very good with organizing my words and my mind, so I wrote all this this morning. Alright, going into IGY camp this year, I was completely resistant to God and anything He wanted me to do. I was scared because for the past two years I’ve been completely turned away from God. I wasn’t praying. I wasn’t getting in the Word. I was just going to church on Sunday and Wednesday nights, making sure I said I’m alright when anybody asked me how I was doing. I was just playing the game. But living a double life sucks. I was always angry and depressed. I would wake up in the morning, just wishing I could go back to sleep and forget everything, everything
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camp and it stuck out to me because
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In order for me to be able to completely turn my life over to, I need to fully trust in Him. And everything needs to be on the table. This year at camp, God gave me hope and shined his light on the path back to Him. He made me realize that without Him, I am nothing. And that He even loves me, because He didn’t give up on me even when I gave up on myself.
Awesome.
God is good.
Benjamin
Benjamin. Where do I start?
Alright, so as a kid I came to church going through the motions. I figured, you know, I would be able to get away with things and people would not be able to notice. I wasn’t really saved as a kid going to church and I was convinced myself that I was pretty good at hiding behind it. But I’d have to say two years ago, my first year camp, it was three days but it was definitely three really good days. and it was the last time the IGY camp took place at Ochei Ranch. But I’d have to say that was definitely the first turning point of my life for the better. There was definitely, obviously, tears and just joy that went on. I don’t know, God just really spoke to me that year. I went back home after camp and Tim Ward even said during camp that some of us would go back home and fall back into darkness. That definitely happened to me. I just fell back to my old ways right away after that. There was just always this little tiny hook that was holding onto me. It was just like my spirit was trying to constantly push me towards God. It was always there, but I was always ignoring it. Year after that, my first year out at Logan Valley was my second year of camp. That year was definitely amazing. Oh my gosh, it was one of the best years I’ve heard of and it was one of the best years I have been to. And that one was definitely a larger turning point. And I went home after that and I was staying in the word, reading, spending time with God. And then I went to Belize and had fun there. And I figured I had this thing in my mind where I was thinking, oh, you know, I’m going to mission trips and stuff. I’ll be able to stay with God easy peasy. But no, I got back home and again, I fell back into addiction but I did not fall into darkness as much as I did the year before and I was just glad that God had, he was always there helping me in small ways and even when I thought he had abandoned me. And this year, this year was just, I’d have to say it was, it is the biggest turning point for the better that I, I will just, this will be a memorable year and I will never forget this year. And it will always stay around as an example to me. And this year is definitely going to be better. I am going to, he has inspired me, God has inspired me to even when I’m falling back into my addictions and I’ll get, let’s say back into video games or something. I’m playing it for too long. He’s given me the confidence to literally just walk out of my house with my Bible, go into the woods and pray and spend time with Him. Who’s next?
Nicole Dean
Nicole Dean. Okay, first, I have to tell everybody that I’m horrible at speaking in front of everybody, So forgive me if all my words just get… So Wednesday night at camp, we all were told to just pray to God and stuff.
And so I was doing that, and I just kept doing it and doing it. People kept coming up to me and just praying over me. And I just felt the love and everything. So I was in there and I was the last person in the chapel that night and I was in there for about over an hour praying and worshipping to God and not just praying in my head or worshipping in my head but I was just out loud and it was amazing. I don’t know if anybody all my age how much they pray out loud but it’s wonderful and It feels like your, it feels like, I don’t know how I can explain this, but it feels, it just feels different. It feels a lot different. And it was just wonderful and I can’t explain how different I feel and how happy I am that I was just doing it to God because I love Him. And I just, now I don’t know what to say. But I just can’t believe how much just praying out loud and worshiping fully and getting down on my knees in front of God, how amazing that feels and how wonderful it feels and how I just kept praying to God that I would feel His presence and I would feel His love. And I’ve been struggling still that I don’t feel like I felt it. And I do not want to go any more days without feeling it. So I have decided to seek after God until I feel His presence and His love. And now I’m trembling for some reason. I seriously just want to fall on the ground for some reason. But I just want to tell everybody how wonderful that is. if you haven’t prayed out loud to God and I was basically if everybody knows how Hannah prays I felt like I was praying like Hannah because I was like yelling to God and asking him and everything and it was just, it was the best thing that happened to me at camp this year.
Jen Wilson
This is Laura Dean. Oh, she’s getting the Kleenex box. Jen Wilson. Alright. Okay, so on Wednesday night, God showed and I wasn’t really believing that He was there, that He was there for me and that He loved me. And so then I talked to Kathy and she was telling me how much she loved me. And, um, sorry, I’m like shaking. So, um, Justus told us about the service and I had nothing, I didn’t know what to say.
I was like, I don’t know what to say if I go up there. But then that night at worship, I felt God’s love and I just like surrounded me.
And it was amazing. and it was like the best day of my life. And she’s really cool. Logan.
Logan
As you heard, I’m Logan. And this is my first year of camp, and also I’m not very good at speaking in front of people, so forgive me.
It was an awesome year of camp, and I really enjoyed it. God moved through a lot of you people here. He moved through me like I had a little bit of doubt that he just wasn’t real.
So he showed me that he was real and he put all that doubt in like a garbage bin. And yeah, Wednesday night, it was probably like, it was definitely an experience for me.
Like, I don’t know how to explain it, but God was just there. He was everywhere. He was in people’s hearts and people, he surrounded all the people that were hurting. it was a great year of camp. David?
David
Alright, how’s it going? This was my fifth year camp which was awesome and each year they get better and, better and, better and this was by far the best year. Again, I’m a terrible public speaker also, so don’t make fun of me. I really think that God did a lot of work in not just myself, but everybody else here. And I loved it that it was on Wednesday night, which was the third night. And when I was thinking about it, and I was talking to Spencer about it, and we were just thinking like, man, this is the third night at camp, and God is defeating sin. a lot of people’s lives. And what day did Jesus resurrect whenever he defeated death and sin? It was the third day. And that just, it blew my mind so much and I loved it. It was so great. The first night of camp was when I talked, this was the second day, it was the second day, sorry. It was during free time I was talking to Dan Benson and he was my counselor and he was phenomenal. He helped me realize that I had a lot of anger and I had a lot of frustration and I had a problem with forgiveness and he really helped me realize all that and it was God who freed me from it which was awesome and I couldn’t have asked for a better camp week I could have asked for a better camp group that God just worked in all of us and it was fantastic.
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Alright so this year was my first year at camp and it was amazing. It was the best time the best time of my life. And honestly, coming into it, I didn’t really know what it would be like, but I never felt God like that before. And you all did an amazing job, and I had some of the best counselors out there. And I was really struggling to see that God loved me, and that He was actually there and I’m gonna cry but but when Wednesday night I actually missed Justus’s sermon sorry but because because I broke down during worship because Hannah does such an amazing job and faith actually took me out there and she just told me that when she saw a me, she saw me sitting with all these different chains. And they were just pulling at me in every single, different way. And that night, she really helped me with all these, these chains. And it was really, it was really a good experience, because I never felt like God actually cared. And her and Laura really helped me know that he did, and he does, and he’s never gonna let me go. And so that was a really, really good experience. And I just really wanna thank you guys for. Whoo!
Kiri
Yeah! Kiri. Hi. Okay, everybody already said that they were bad at speaking and I’m really bad at it too. So, this was my first year at camp and this was like the best experience I’ve ever had, ever.
Everybody says Wednesday night was the best, but for me it was kind of like the worst because that was the night that I was really convicted of everything. But it was like, I was being really spiritually attacked all week and I had headaches and stomach aches every single day and I was like just really sick. And then Wednesday I was just being constantly attacked by lies and so I read this verse Psalm 69:4, and it says, mighty are those who would destroy me and those who attack me with lies. And when I read that, I just got all of this truth
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with being attacked by lies and by struggling with idols. And Tuesday I was in Laura Witty’s Idol breakout group and that was awesome. And so Wednesday I was really, I was more convicted of the idols. And then Thursday I was worshiping and they sang I surrender and I couldn’t hold it in anymore and I just broke down and I got down on my knees and I was just constantly being attacked the whole time I. Was down on my knees and so I just kept saying Satan Beyond in the name of Jesus and I kept saying it over and over probably like a hundred times until finally I could just feel that my idols were broken and it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. And also this week I was really struggling with my self-esteem and feeling like God loved me and that other people loved me. And Thursday and Wednesday I really felt that and it seemed like, Kathy put it in perspective for me and was telling me how like how almost all of the messages and the worship and everything was just like, it seemed like it was all for me. And so it was, I can’t even explain how awesome that was. And so Thursday I finally felt like I was, okay I’m going to get emotional, like I finally felt like I was beautiful and like that I had confidence in stuff that I did. And it was like, it was all from God and God just kept telling me that I was beautiful and that he loved me. Awesome.
Joel
Joel. Hey guys, so first off I just want to say, camp was amazing. I’m so glad I went. I just want to thank all of the counselors and leaders and Mike and Justus and Hannah for speaking. It was absolutely amazing. So could you guys just sing?
Andrea
All right, so I came to camp Tuesday afternoon.
I came late. But I came into camp facing some stuff. I was dealing with some stuff. I was just really struggling with desires to be of the world and not just in it, more than I ever had. I actually share this with Mike. But Wednesday night, I was just struggling. It was Tuesday night, the first night. and she was speaking about God’s loving kindness and His mercy. So that just really touched me. I mean, I was struggling and I was trying to fight it on my own and trying to pull myself out of the world instead of backing off and letting God do it for me. So I was really just realizing that no matter what I did, He still was going to pull me out. And so I was just letting go. And so Wednesday morning, I read that, or I did my Devo on this verse that Hannah shared, or these verses that Hannah shared Tuesday night. It was Psalm 103:10–12. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or pay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. So I sat there for like the whole hour. I think I went a little bit over even. I just read those over and over and over again. It brought me to tears. Like his love for us is so great. And I don’t even, like right now, I don’t wanna be of the world. I don’t care, I wanna be crazy. I don’t wanna have anything to do with it whatsoever. Um, like, it’s just gone. Like, I don’t care about it. Um, and then Wednesday night when Hannah spoke, er, Justus spoke. You spoke. Um, at one point you started talking about perseverance and endurance and diligence, which is something I’ve always struggled with a lot. So there’s these verses in Romans 5 that he shared that I also did to my devotion on the next morning. But it’s not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. So that was really cool and it touched me. For the first time after camp, it hasn’t, I want to keep going as long as I can. I’ve been surrounding myself with stuff that’s going to help me keep going. So it’s just really making a difference. I’m done with the world, guys, and I hope you guys are too, because it’s just ridiculous. Andrea Dean. Hi. Well, that was loud. All right, so I’m going I’m going to be honest here. I do not want to be up here right now. But I’m up here anyway. This is my second year of camp and it was probably my favorite out of the two that I’ve been to. It was just awesome and a lot of people have said that this year. And so last year my whole family was sick right before and a lot of people were sick in the whole church and I was just like great. I had all this money that I got and I wanted to go to camp so much and I got sick was it, what was it, three days, two days before? And so I was like super mad. She’s like, God, why did you get me sick? You know, she’s like, why did you let this happen to me? So then this year came and it was Sunday night and I was not feeling very well. She’s like, no, you’ve got to be kidding me, no. So I just like started praying. It’s like, God, just like take this sickness away from me. And so he did and Monday morning came and I was like super pumped and everything. It’s like, this is so exciting. I’ve been counting down since January. Yeah, I count down for exciting things. And so Tuesday morning came and I was in my quiet time and I was reading out of 1 John and the Lord just brought this thing to me and just like, you have an idol in your life and you need to get rid of this. So I was just like, okay, I didn’t want to. It hurt to give it away, but I knew it was the right thing to do because I know that God is everything. And so then I gave it away and it was just awesome just giving that idol away. I just let that rule my life for I don’t know how long. And so then I was in Laura’s breakout session and she like told us about like how to get rid of those idols in your life. And so afterwards I grabbed her and I told her and she was just like, that is so cool. So then I guess it was yesterday I was out of my journal and and I was just reading like every page. I just started this one and at the very beginning, like the first page I was reading and I was like, I had this prayer to God. It’s just like, like, take everything, like break me down to where all that’s left is you in my life and like, I’m willing to give this all to you. And so I wrote yesterday. I said yesterday I was reading out of this journal seven days before camp I asked the Lord to do whatever it took so that I could have an awesome time with him. I let this
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Seriously, if you think about it, all this earthly stuff, sin, it’s super disgusting to look at. When I look at God, I’m just like, he’s so holy, and perfect, and beautiful. I just want to look more at him. My in my quiet times were awesome at camp, and I want that every day for the rest of my life, whether I’m at camp or I’m at home wherever I am. during worship, like last night I just started crying and I did not know what was happening to me. I I’ve never cried in public before, like never since that year and I was just like freaking out. She was like, what is happening to me? She was like, no! I look around and everyone else is crying along with me and then like people are coming over to pray for me. Like I had no idea what to expect last year. So this year it’s like, okay, so you know, I kind of know what’s going to happen. But really, I didn’t. So, like seeing all these other people, seeing two friends who’ve never been there before, just on their knees worshipping and praying and giving things up, it was just so cool. And like to see everyone just on their knees and crying, like you don’t care what people think of you then.
Like seriously, I don’t. I don’t know about you, but I don’t. And so I was just like, okay, so you know, it’s just between me and God, and I want to keep it that way.
Good job, Andrea. Alright, we only have time for just a couple more, because we have some baptisms to get to. So, I just want to start by saying I had a great group of guys this year, and I had a great counselor, Mr. Benson. I always struggled with, you know, really, you know, feeling God in my life. You know, I gave myself the excuse, you know, Oh, you know, I haven’t seen many things that you know really tell me you know that God’s real and that he’s alive in me And that he’s alive in the world, but that was a lie from the enemy and mr. Benson helped me realize that and this year I camp I saw many miracles when his knee gave him trouble We all got together and we prayed and literally the next day his leg was better And he was able to run on it and he hadn’t been able to do that forever. So it was just great to see that Also, the enemy was at work at camp. And I want to thank everyone in the church who was praying for us while we were there, because one night, in the middle of the night, I woke up and I was under attack. I felt sick. I had to run to the bathroom. I was feeling really sick. But I was praying and I felt the presence of God and He made me feel better and I was able to go to sleep. And so I just want to thank you all for praying. Also, I realized while I camped with the help of Mr. Benson that I had a lot of walls in my life. I was angry at God and I had pride. And he helped me break those walls down and put it all on the table. I had trouble with trying to control my own life when I needed to, give that to God. And so he helped me realize that and he helped me break down those walls with the grace of God. I just want to thank God for that.
Good morning. Hi guys, how’s it going? Good, I’m glad to hear that. Okay, so I just wanted
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to say that I’m an excellent public speaker. No, no, no, that was a joke. But um, camp was pretty good and my team was awesome. We uh, we goosed it up. I got pretty close to the people in my cabin and that was something that like, you know, before this year I was like, well, I’m, you know, not really a part of the rest of the girls in my group and I And I felt kind of like, eh, I don’t really have relationships with the them, but that happened this year. And we were all connected and we were unified and it was pretty cool because like I didn’t expect that and I wasn’t expecting to be part of like the group, but I did feel like thank you guys. is awesome. I was definitely broken down, but I always am because I love being broken down, especially at worship. I always cry. So much fun. You guys should try it more often, definitely. But I went out and I talked to Laura about what was going on and I was sad and I was trying and I was like and Laura was like Devin okay I don’t really care you need to pray out loud now and I was like Laura I can’t even tell you like what’s wrong I don’t even know but um it definitely helped me because like as soon as I started the words were just flowing out and I was like oh my gosh this is awesome Like I know what to say now. And praying out loud definitely is a big thing to do, like, do it more often.
It’s easy once it starts. That’s kind of, that’s all I have to say about that.
All right, we only have time for two more and they’re already here. If you guys were really looking forward to sharing, if you come Wednesday night, we will allow you to share at IGY as well. Okay? So two more. Abigail. So when I went to camp, I was not ready at all. I had just gotten back to my house like two days before. And I had a lot of hatred in my life, and I wasn’t willing to forgive people that I had sinned against and they had sinned against me. I went to camp and on Thursday I was able to let go of all of that hatred and I was able to forgive the person I thought I would never forgive. Susanna. That’s a lot of people. I wasn’t really playing and getting up here and I’m really bad at speaking in front of people. So this year at camp, I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen, but during my one-on-one with Faith, she gave me two questions to answer. And during one of Hannah’s talks, I’m not sure where she went. Hi, there you are. But during one of her talks, she was talking about how God is always there. And even if you don’t want him to be there, even if you try to block him out, he’s always going to be there. And he’s never going to give up on you, and he’s always going to love you. And so that just meant a lot to me. Word. Okay. In a moment, we’ll have a short video, and then we’ll invite our pastor up. And after the video, if you’re getting baptized, you can mic where they’re going. . They’re going to go change and head downstairs. So after the video, go change and go downstairs. But I just want to encourage y’all, everyone else that’s here, like God did stuff at camp and those testimonies are like to God’s glory and his goodness. And like he wants to do that in the lives of everybody here. So just seek him and ask him. And you will hear some more from Pastor Vaughn in a moment. But if the video is ready, we’re going to go ahead after the lights get killed. How many of you are getting baptized? Awesome.
A Word from Pastor Vaughan
I was reading in the book of Acts, and I think the Lord impressed the scripture on me for you for this group, and then I have something for the other group. You guys are the cool group. By the way, I’m the good public speaker too. In Acts 11, it says, Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antiochch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks or Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.“ So Barnabas comes, he heard this rumor that people got saved, and so he comes to Antioch and says, and when he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad. Isn’t that good? You see the grace of God? See the grace of God today? Are you glad? Yes. Thanks for glad, amen.
And he encouraged them all, and this is the word… I thought maybe the baptism was overflowing. Okay, we’re good, we’re good. Alright. And it says, so he saw the grace of God and was glad, and as I hear the testimonies because it fills my heart with joy, great joy. But then he had a word of encouragement for them, and his word was this, that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord. With purpose of heart. I can reassure you that everything God put into you at camp, the devil wants to take out of you. that God accomplished in your life the devil wants to remove everything and we know from the teaching of Jesus when he tells the the parable of the sower how when the when the word is sewn if it falls on the rocky ground the birds come take it and that’s the devil or it can fall on the ground that has the weeds and and that’s the world we heard someone share about the world today There are many things that will attempt to rob you of what God has put in you this week.
So in order to continue, I’ve been to a lot of camps, I’ve even run camps, and camps are awesome because you get Christians together and a lot of people are praying and there’s fellowship in unity and the Holy Spirit is there. It’s like this is a foretaste of heaven, amen? And it is. It’s a foretaste of heaven. But we’re not in heaven yet. There’s a real battle, and so when you get up and you go to school or you go to work or you do the things you’ve got to do, there is a battle. And so you must determine to follow the Lord. It’s something you must purpose to do. Being a disciple of Jesus does not happen to you. It is something you do. Now God did something to you this week. He did something to you. Some of you he saved. Some of you he freed. He did something to you. But the Christian life isn’t just sitting in a chair waiting for God to do something to you. It is you purposing to, to do what God, after God does something to you or in you, then purposing to then walk that out every day of your life. You’ve got to walk it out. You’ve got to determine you’re going to be in the Word of God. You have to determine, you will pray, you have to determine, you will seek fellowship, you have to determine not to do certain things that you have done in the past. And it’s something you purpose to do. Not to earn God’s love, not to be good in a religious sense, but because God wants to continue whatever he did this week, he wants to continue and expand that work in your life.
Amen? A disciple of Jesus is someone who takes up his Death to the world. Death to the flesh. Death to the evil one. But the Christian message is a message not just of death, it’s a message of resurrection also. So the cross is followed by the empty tomb. And we’re going to see in a moment, when they’re baptized, that as they go down in the water, This is a symbol of them dying and being buried. And that burial is a death to the world and a death to sin. And then when they come up out of that water, that is a beautiful picture of the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of the believer with Jesus, a symbol of new life. Having died, they are then resurrected in newness of power and newness of life. And as we come up out of that water in newness of life, we then pledge with purpose of heart to follow on with the Lord.
Amen.
To continue on with the Lord. So we thank God for everything he did. And I think maybe once a month we’re going to have this, just have everybody come back and say, Let’s give more testimonies. I’m still walking with the Lord. I’m still purposing. I’m still in the Word. I’m still praying. I’m sharing with my friends. A lot of you guys have a lot of friends that don’t know Jesus. And you need to be the one that shares Jesus with them. Let Jesus work in you and through. Let Jesus do what he wants to do in you and with you. He I can do great things with your life. Great things. to see what he’s going to do. Let’s pray a blessing on these young people. Father, we thank you for all the work that you did, and we give you all the glory, all the honor, all the praise. We are so grateful, Lord, for the reality of your love, the reality of your power. We thank you that you save. We thank you that you set free. We thank you that you heal. We thank you, Lord, just for all that you do for us because of your great love for us. We ask, Lord, as we obey You in baptizing today as we obey your command to go into the world and to make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Spirit. We ask Lord that you would be honored and glorified and we ask that you would bless this the sacrament to the souls of those who are baptized today And we ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Alright, so if you’re getting baptized, you can go. I’m only going to give you a couple minutes, you better hurry.
The Love of God
So, now a word for all the rest of us. All of us old fogeys didn’t get to go to camp. Um, I’m glad you said that and not me.
Cause that’s kind of the joke. That’s cause that’s kind of joke I would say, but I’m glad you did it. Not me. Um, I want to share a verse in 1 John. If you have your Bible, you can open your Bible to 1 John or your iPad or your iPhone or whatever you do to read the Bible. I’m standing here and there’s the AC and it’s blowing my pages.
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Oh, he wants me to read 2 John. Really. Actually, there is a good verse here.
1 John 4. Well, yeah, we better start on 4. It says in verse 7, it says, said, let us love one another for love is of the world. No, it doesn’t say that, does it? What’s it say? Love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God. Everyone who loves is born of God. And even who does not love does not know God. Why? For God is love. In In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. I wasn’t going to share in this passage until I heard the testimonies today, because one of the themes that you heard over and over was people saying, I finally got it. I finally realized that God actually loves me. Now, this is from kids, some of these kids have been raised in Christian homes and have heard the gospel over and over and over. And some of these kids have been told over and over and over that God loves you. But it doesn’t matter how many times somebody else tells you God loves you, until you hear it from God, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s true. I heard that God loved me before I really believed it. I heard it. I heard Jesus loved me so much that he gave his life for me. God the Father loved me so much that he would give me his only son. I heard it. I didn’t believe it. I heard it. I wasn’t raised in a Christian home, but I heard it. I didn’t believe it. The gospel, let me read one more verse. Let’s go to John, the gospel of John, not the first epistle, chapter three. Because the Apostle John is really, in that That letter is really echoing what Jesus said in his own ministry. And in the Gospel of John in chapter 3, a very famous passage because it talks about the new birth and being born again, being born of God’s Spirit. And it talks about God’s love and probably the most well-known Bible verse of any Bible verse. Maybe. Psalm 23, but I’m not sure, is in verse 16 where it says, For God, John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Now, this is the heart, not only the heart of the gospel, which the word gospel by the way means good news, this is the heart of the issue. Because Jesus, goes on and says, men love darkness rather than light so they don’t come to the light. And that’s true. What I can share from my own experience, and I think it’s true of many others, is that what we believe to be true of God profoundly influences whether or not we will come toward Him or walk away from Him. And because of the tradition I was raised in, my perception of God was that He was a frowning tyrant who demanded strict obedience that any infraction was going to be punished. But if I tried, and if I wanted church, and if I took the sacraments, and if I was sorry for my sins, and if I tried, I might be able to earn acceptance with him. I might. But there was no, and knowing the weakness of my own heart, even then, I realized if that’s the game, I’m not playing. Because I’m going to lose that game. I mean God knows everything, right? He knows everything about my heart, He knows everything about my life, and there is no way it is not possible that any good things that I do are going to outweigh all the bad things that I do. It’s not going to happen. And I’m astounded that people actually get into religious systems which are basically works based. It astounds me to think that someone could actually believe that they are good enough to do whatever to outweigh their bad things and somehow to atone or pay for their own sins. The gospel is not be religious, the gospel is not try harder, the gospel is The gospel is not try harder. The gospel is not, God might accept you or love you if you do something. That’s not the gospel. That is another gospel. What Paul calls in Galatians a perversion of the gospel, and that gospel is a denial of the love of God.
Now, John uses an interesting word in the epistle, the word propitiation, and some of your modern versions might use a different word. It’s a very important word. It’s a biblical word as a long theological tradition. And this is the idea that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, something was happening there that had to do with my sins and my relationship with God. There was a payment being made there. Now the idea of Jesus dying to pay for sins is actually becoming unpopular even in the Christian church. And some have called the idea of Jesus being punished by God the Father as cosmic child abuse. Now these are Christian writers saying this.
I could give a whole lot of sermons on that. The point is, is the point is this, is that God’s love was demonstrated,
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as a propitiation, that’s what he’s saying. I’ve sent
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in the broken world. Everything is broken. The family’s broken. Marriages are broken.
Society is broken. Government’s broken. The economy is broken. Everything is broken. Hearts are broken. We live in a broken world. But that was not God’s intent. God’s intent that we would actually live in peace and harmony with one another and with him. Sin is the the great culprit here. Sin has brought disharmony in all this brokenness we see. But God, in His great love for us, because He loves us, sent a remedy for this brokenness. And that remedy is His Son Jesus Christ. And through Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sin, He removes through that payment, that sacrifice, He removes the obstacle between the obstacle between us and God. So we can now enter into a relationship with God. What we heard today from some of these testimonies, even though the word might not have been used, is that it’s finally dawned on some of these young people that real Christianity is about knowing God. It’s knowing Him. That’s why John says, if we don’t walk in love, you don’t know Him. If you know him, you’re walking off. Why? Because he is love. It’s about knowing him. The problem is, if you think that you have to earn, or you have to pay. Or do, to be accepted by God, you’re going to go the other way. You will not come to him.
We need assurance. We need divine assurance that we can come and know God. not be damned. Because our conscience tells us, our conscience tells us to run from the light. It tells us to go away from God because we know we have done wrong. We need divine assurance that if I come, I will be accepted. If I come, I will be forgiven. And that divine Divine assurance is the cross. The divine assurance is that God loves you so much, He took His Son and He placed Him on a cross, and there He was suffering for your sin. That’s how much God loves you. That’s how much. You have divine assurance that if, you come, you will be accepted. God loves you. He really does. Maybe you’ve heard it many times, but maybe today you’re hearing it from the Holy Spirit. Even we Christians who actually do know Christ, we can fall into a works thing. We can live in the outer land, if you will. We can stay in the wilderness, if you will, because we’re not fully embracing the reality of God’s love.
The pastor who, where I got saved many years ago, he was a great evangelist, still is actually, very simple illustrations to talk about the gospel. And one of the illustrations he used was, imagine you’re out in the water, you’re out in the ocean you’re drowning. And some guy comes up in a boat and he says, oh, I see that you’re drowning. You’re like, help me, I’m drowning. He said, okay, here’s a little book on how to swim. See you later. And he goes, did he save the drowning person? No. Okay, so you’re drowning. Another guy comes up to the boat. He said, help me, I’m drowning. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you a lesson. He jumps out of the boat, swims around the boat. Just swim like this, go this way, you’ll get there. Get some of the boat leaves. Did he save the drowning man? Third guy comes up on a boat and you say, help me, I’m drowning. And he grabs you and he puts you in the boat and he rows you all the way to the shore. He takes you out of the boat and puts you on the land. Did he save you? He saved you. And that’s what Jesus does for us. He doesn’t just give us a book, although we got a book. Does he just give us an example? But he gave us an example. He does more than that. He actually saves us. If he’s the savior, then you are the save you. Got it? So stop trying to save yourself and let Jesus save you. Let Jesus save you. He’s the one that saves, not you. So let him save you and let him do it today. Let him do it right now. It is a simple act of childlike faith where you believe what He actually has already done for you. If you say to Jesus in your heart, Jesus saved me, guess what He’ll do?
He won’t just give you a book. He won’t just give you an example. He’ll actually save you. that He will give you new life, and that new life can begin today, it can begin this very moment. That’s how it begins when you are born again of God’s Spirit. Father, we thank You for the revelation You’ve given us that You are love.
And we thank you that you not only love us in the sense of have kind intentions towards us, but Lord that you love us and that you demonstrated your love. You proved your love by giving us your son Jesus Christ. I pray for any, I pray for all. I ask that each heart here Lord would know your love. heart here. And there may be some that came in today not really knowing anything about you. There may be others who have been church their whole lives. It doesn’t matter, Lord. They need to know you. We all need to know you. And I ask, Lord, that Your Spirit would open our hearts, that You remove any veil from our minds, and that through the work of If you save your spirit right now, Lord, you would save souls right now. And if you’re sitting there and you don’t know you’re standing before God, the Scripture says whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. There’s no magic formula, but if you cry out to Jesus Christ, He will save you. Jesus, be my Savior. Jesus, save me. wife sinned, let him save you because you can’t save yourself. Lord, we thank you for the testimonies you’ve heard today of your love in action, of your grace. We ask Lord that as we now witness these baptisms, that this public profession and this public pledge of following you would truly bear fruit for many years to come. I ask it in Your name, Amen.
Baptisms
There he is. Let’s give it up for Pastor Bond. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So Spencer came to me early in the week and was like, hey, I talked with Josh and I think he got saved. And so I was like, really? And he did. There was, there was, there is a noticeable difference in Josh.
And I’ve had a number of his, of the staff this past week mentioned it. It was very noticeable. So it was very exciting. Josh, it was, Justus and I were kind of following up one night after a long day and we’re talking about things and then at the very end he’s like, oh and by the way, Josh wants to get baptized at camp. And I was like, and he’s like, but we can talk about that later. So we talked about it and Josh was like, I wanna be baptized, I wanna be baptized, I wanna be baptized, I mean he was like ready to go. I the I mean he was ready to go. And so, and they have a creek there and there’s enough water and we just, we talked, Justus and I talked and we just thought it would be awesome to allow the body, his family also to be a part of
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anyone else who wanted to be baptized that hadn’t been baptized or had gotten recently saved. So we didn’t want just like people to start doing it because you know everyone was doing it oh I’ve never been baptized oh I guess I’ll be baptized so we actually talked to each of the groups by their teams to make it a little smaller and so we just said hey this is what we’re doing a couple people have expressed interest and if you want to be baptized and you haven’t been and you’re saved, then we encourage you to consider doing it. So it really wasn’t a hard push at all by us. We just didn’t want to make people do it just because we were twisting arms or anything. So we just put it out there, and we have a number of people that responded and wanted to be obedient to Jesus’ command to be baptized. So it’s very exciting, and I’m going to let Josh lead it off. So come on down, Josh. We’re setting up over here.
Josh, have you trusted in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Yes. Do you commit to follow Him all of your days? Yes. Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Give it up for Kristin!
How’s the water? It’s okay. The water’s okay. It could be a little warmer, right? Yeah. But… Kristin, have you trusted in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Yes. Do you commit to follow Him all of your days? Yes. All right. And I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is Noah. I don’t know if I’ve ever baptized anyone in jeans before.
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I don’t own any shorts. This is a true statement. If you would have seen Noah throughout the week, he had pants on all the time. It was warm on the float trip. All right, Noah, do you believe in Jesus and trust in him as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Do you commit to follow him all of your days? Yes. All right. Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Alright, Aubrey!
Aubrey, do you trust in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Yes. You commit to follow him all of your days? Yes. All right. And I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the And it’s Cody! Cody, do you trust in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?
Yes. Do you commit to follow Him all of your days? Yes. All right. Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amanda McCartney! You ready for this, Amanda?
Yeah. All right. Do you trust in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Yes. Do you commit to follow Him all of your days? Yes. And I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you.
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All right, give it up for Danny! Yes, good save. Danny, do you trust in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Do you commit to follow Him all of your days? And I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Thank you.