Sometimes when we are at camp, far away from the realities of life and living in comfort among familiar faces while experiencing a spiritual high, we often don’t want to move out of that experience and come back to the real world. Just the same, sometimes we become too comfortable with the familiarity of our daily life that we don’t want to move out of that familiar pattern even though at times we know that we need to move on.
On the last night of camp, Pastor Chris shared a message on ‘Crossing Your River Jordan’ from the passage of Joshua 3: 1-17. Pastor Chris mentions that there are 4 areas of our Christian life.
- Being stuck in Egypt
This phase is likened to the time when the Israelites were still living in bondage in Egypt. They were without joy because they had no control over their lives. Every day is spent fulfilling the orders of others. We were all once in this phase, before we found freedom in Christ.
- Wandering in the wilderness
This is when people have been set free, out of Egypt, but wander around aimlessly in the desert. They are people with no direction and guidance, unable to tell you where they are going or where they want to go. And like the people of Israel, sometimes they cannot let go of their past, choosing to think often of their time in Egypt.
- Standing at the banks of River Jordan
Pastor Chris says that the people in this category, are perhaps the worst of the lot. They stand cluelessly (ok, I know that technically the word 'cluelessly' does not exist) at the banks, looking at the Promised Land on the other side, but doing nothing to get there. When you know it's the Promised Land at the other end, you would think it silly not to cross over right? But think of the things in your life, have there been times when you need to cross over but didn't, because you never thought of it as 'the promised land'?
- Entering the Promised Land
We need to be fearless. We need to cross the river and take possession of the land that God has given us; a place of blessing and authority.
Crossing the river doesn't just mean moving forward, but also putting the past behind us. When we put the past behind us,
- our disgrace and shame is over. It's a new page. We no longer live a rebellious life but we live in obedience to God.
- we don't turn back. That's right. The pages have been turned, so you you keep going. You still have a chance to change your future, so work on that.
- our years of fears are over. We now walk under the covering of Christ, under his protection and governance.
- we live to exalt God's name.
God has an amazing plan for each one of us and we can come closer to our destinies only by moving forward. After all, God created us to be champions and conquerors, not cowards who don't dare to go forward
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Hey people, you can get this message and other awesome ones as well by ordering the Camp MTG cd at RM30 for all 6 messages. Or get the individual message for RM6 per cd.
Making Lemon Juice
Demonstration by Camp Commandant.Squeezing the Lemon.
Demonstration by Assistant Camp Commandant.Drinking the Squeezed Lemon. Eeeew!
Sudden Death Round 02:
The Ginger and Onion Challenge.
He's Gonna Blow!!!
High on ginger!
Getting emotional with ginger sensations.More pictures COMING SOON!
Picture CDs out this week @ Teenacity!
Only RM3 for the whole camp.
Our Camp Commandant, Alvin, with Pastor Chris and Jo Ben.
Everybody say "Cheesy Chinese the Chinese Chicken!"
there were 200 plus awesome people. that includes hot guys! hahaha *winks*
anyway, i will admit, i was a bit reluctant to go at first. as soon as we got there, it was a bit hot and stuffy but then i started to make some new friends and met up with a few old ones too.
it was really awkward, sitting in my group cos we've never met before seeing only 3 of us came for the briefing. but we warmed up and its all cool now.
the sessions were awesome! the worships and listening to the word made me feel new again. i rededicated my life to Christ during Ps. Andy's first message on the first night. i cried and i felt new again when someone prayed for me (sorry, but I'm not sure what her name was).
Ps. Chris Long is one great person. especially his parties before his messages. that was just a w e s o m e. everyone went CRAZY! it was like we were high without drugs. just fantastic.
and then there were the games. the funniest part about the Wet and Wild games were that we had to do the challenges with an egg under our armpit. that really made me walk carefully (yes, i was a victim). fortunately, my egg survived :D
i guess everyone was hoping to get wet but those fun games filled it in pretty well. those salty bananas actually tasted quite good.
when it came to the qualifying rounds of the Sudden Death competition, that was difficult! i couldn't chow down the raw ginger. my leader did pretty well with the raw onions. i was disappointed cos i let my group down but they cheered me and said it was okay. i love them very much for that.
OH! i LOVE the concept of the Guardian Angel Game. i spent a small fortune on mine :D
all in all, the camp was really great. a lot of people rededicated their lives to God like myself and many non-Christians took a big step in accepting Christ into their lives. they surely will not regret it. i feel so proud and happy that i went for this camp. i made so many new friends, too!
i (and most probably everyone else) can't wait for the next camp next year. oh btw, where ARE the pictures?! haha. thanks all :D
P.S: GREAT job to all the committee and especially Alvin Keng for his great performance as Camp Commandant. oh, and the worship team rocked socks!
P.S.S: Sorry this post is so random :D
We just got back from an awesome, power-packed camp as testified by various people in the shout box. How can we forget the experience of meeting new friends and experiencing life-changing moments? We had Pastor Andy and Pastor Chris Long who rocked the sessions and delivered God's word with such force and enthusiasm. We saw many teens gave their lives to Christ and many others who rededicated themselves to God. It's been an amazing experience.
We also played some gross games (haha..) but they were pretty cool stuff too; eating peanuts drowned in tomato ketchup, digging for marshmallows buried in flour, did some bubblegum blowing, passing straws with foot and mouth, and eating bananas soaked in salted milk. There were other fun stuff like watching 20 groups performing a 5 minute sketch to compete for places in the next round of "Sudden Death". Guess what the qualifying groups get to do in the next round? Yep, play more "extraordinary" games. Well, I don't have the pictures with me yet, but when I do get hold of them (or someone who has them), I'll get those pictures posted. So keep it logged on to Teenacity Blog!
