The Friday morning devotion at camp focuses on Stephen and the early Church. On Thursday we talk about Jesus death and resurrection during morning devotion and then the Thursday night speaker emphasizes this again when that talk about how Christ overcoming sin and death has transformed their life. In the picture above you can see Greg sharing this message with the kids. Then on Friday we always try and give an example of what happened after Christ and how the Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of believers today. I love Friday devotion because it intentionally talks about the Christian life and doesn't candycoat things and tell the kids that everything is going to be better if you trust in Christ. There is so much temptation to do this in children's ministry today.
The campers learned about Stephen's unjust arrest and instead of defending himself, he launched into sharing the Gospel with his accusers. He shared that Israel's history is the history of God's acts in the world, that God constantly pursues Israel despite their rebellion, and that people worshiped God long before there was a temple because God does not live in a temple. Jesus death was yet another example of Israel's rebellion and God's pursuit of them. As Stephen shared about Christ, he did not defend himself against the claims that he spoke against the temple (because God lives in people, not in the temple). As the people began to stone Stephen, he cried out to God that he might receive His Spirit and prayed for the forgiveness of his accusers. In the story of Stephen, we see that God overcame suffering and death in Stephen's life because He showed Himself to be worth more than life itself to Stephen. God used Stephen's death to get more glory for Himself because he used it as a catalyst for spreading the Good News.
This morning, each of the 152 campers heard this powerful message. Would you pray that this message would penetrate their hearts and give them a desire to be in a relationship with a God who repeatedly shows He is more than able to overcome life's hardest situations?
Thursday night campwide Worship
Cabin devotions allow campers and staff to discuss the morning devotions in a small group setting.
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