We had a lovely blessed time at the Easter Camp, diving into and meditating on God’s word, having great fellowship and serving one another! Here are a host of camp resources for you to enjoy!
(Disclaimer: Although I try to be as faithfully accurate as possible, I liberally use my own voice and also insert more of my thoughts in [these brackets], so my personal notes are just my personal take on the session and shouldn’t be seen as the 100% exact official views of Shebu or MCCC. – Vince)
Camp Sermons
Camp Workshops
Forgiveness and Repentance – Jonathan
Download the handout here: Forgiveness and Repentance Workshop – Handout
Spiritual Gifts – Aaron
Download the handout here: MCCC ES Camp – Spiritual Gifts Handout
More resources here:
- (Short booklet) Vern Poythress’s What are Spiritual Gifts? (http://www.frame-poythress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PoythressVernWhatAreSpiritualGifts.pdf)
- (Article) Timothy Keller’s Discerning and Exercising Spiritual Gifts?(http://www.trinitypca.org/download_file/view/1165/)
Evangelism – Arnold
Download the handout & notes here:
- Schedule of workshop outlining activities and what we discussed.
- Bible Passage: Luke 14:13-35
- Speaking Content expanding on the bible passage
- Weekly Timetable personal form
Christ-centered relationships – Shebu
There’s no handout, but here are some of my personal notes :
The foundation of every relationship is our relationship with Christ. (Ge 1-2). Perfect family relationship is modelled in God the Father and His Son Jesus, our relationships and identity are defined by knowing who we are in God. God’s definition of relationships: 1st most important is between God and man, then man and wife. Satan tempts Eve and challenges God’s authority, leading to broken relationships (Ge 3). Gal 4:5-7
World culture vs God’s standards – work out what is tradition and what is God’s command. (Mt 15:3-5). Family heritage – think about what are God’s commands, and if heritage is good (but not specifically commanded) no need to stop. [I’m reminded of 1 Cor 10:23-31]
Love Triangle – Jesus is at the top, you and the other person on bottom left and right corners, you grow closer to each other as you grow closer to Christ, by the Holy Spirit.
Eph 6:1 Children obey parents in the Lord – Honour Jesus 1st, then honour your parents. Eph 6:2-5, Parents – “do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Col 3:21. Learn to pray with one another (parents and children).
Conflict Resolution: Don’t be the Rhino (aggressively stubborn), ostrich (pretend there are no problems) or echidna (putting up barriers, withdrawing from social contact, ignoring/”silent treatment”). 1. Look into yourself (make sure you don’t have the log in your eye), 2. Ask for forgiveness if needed (usually both sides would need to). Forgiveness means not remembering and bringing up something in the past as leverage. God doesn’t go “you did that last week! [and so I’ll do this to you, even though I’ve forgiven you previously]”.
Disciples – focus on the eternal things, not just success. Kids are gifts from God for a season. Disciples of Jesus are raised to be sent out, so too should your children [leave father and mother and cleave to wife].
And a photo for resources he recommended:
- The Meaning of Marriage – Timothy Keller,
- gospel-centered Family – Time Chester,
- Money (god or gift) – Jamie Munson,
- What did you Expect – Paul David Tripp,
- Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Tedd Tripp,
- gospel-centred Marriage – Tim Chester,
- You and Me Forever – Francis Chan, (for those on tight budgets, you can get a free PDF by clicking “FAQ”, then scrolling to the bottom and clicking the download link).
- The Peace Maker – Ken Sande.
Camp Song
Click HERE to Listen Online, Check the Lyrics, MP3, Lead Sheet and Piano Score (or watch it below!)
Camp Booklet stuff
Download some stuff from the Camp Booklet HERE! (Includes Branton’s cover page art, sermon note taking sessions, devotionals and workshop synopses.)
QandA Section
We had a great Q and A session, and here are some of my personal notes on it:
- Is following Christ a binary yes/no?
- Yes, there is no in between (or “try” – Yoda, happy May 4th =P).
- Do you have to love yourself before loving others?
- You might have to ask why you don’t love yourself – what is your identity in Christ [see Ro8]? God tells us to love God and love others. The world’s view of love is very different to God’s view of love. Mt 22:37 God is the source of love. Love others as yourself, 1Jn God is the origin of love.
- Authenticity of the Bible?
- OT: Dead sea scrolls, and a lot of partial and whole copies of text. See theological MOOCs and http://www.ccel.org/ NT: 4 gospels support one another. Other resources: God’s Big Picture – Lee Strobel. Centre for public Christianity – Dr Dickson. The main ‘argument’ of Christianity is belief in historical fact of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and the empty tomb – that many early Christians died for! [Also check out the resources at end of this post!]
- Can you lose salvation?
- No. Eph 1:13 Sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit guaranteeing, Ro 10:8-9 if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart then you’re saved, 1Pe3:18 Christ died once for all. When there are examples of apostasy in the world (and NT), we should ask was this genuine salvation in the first place?
- Can God punish me if I’m Christian?
- Yes -God disciplines those He loves [Hb12:5-11] and there are earthly consequences to our sins. Though no eternal punishment! – 1 Jn 1:9
- If you ask for forgiveness, can you be sure you’re forgiven?
- You’re forgiven before God (1 Jn 1:9), but you can’t force someone to forgive you, just like you can’t force someone to believe in Christ. That said, Christians should always forgive. Lk 17:3-4
- Dating in high school: Christian perspective vs Asian?
- The Asian perspective (which can still be valid) comes from practicalities and knowing that so much can change during high school years, and that our desires can often be fleeting.
- Christian perspective is: generally “date” to marry (don’t act like you’re married when you’re not), and don’t awaken love before its time (Song of Solomon/Songs).
- My friend says: “Why does a good person need to believe in God? Does it matter if I go to heaven?”
- The bible says our works are filthy rags; go through the bible with them. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him – John 14:6. Ro 3:18 – we are saved from faith apart from the law.
- For evangelism, ask questions – what do you mean by ‘good’? Who is God to you? What do you think the point of heaven is?
- [Hint: it’s all about God and worshipping Him. Also, you may get use out of resources like: Two ways to live (multi-language; iOS/Android app available in respective stores), and Knowing God Personally (with PDF version). And heaven is definitely worth it when you consider every good thing in all of creation comes from God, and that without Him there is no good thing that has been made nor its existence sustained. And continue studying the book of Revelation with us (and read ahead!) to see the wonderful description of heaven – where there’ll be no more sorrow or pain, but perfect worship of our perfect God in new perfect bodies in perfect relationships!]
- How do you describe God’s love to the unloved?
- Love them as Christ’s ambassadors. Like Christ touching the untouchables (lepers).
- Are Red Packets (Lai See/Si, Ang Pao, Li Shi, Lucky Money, etc.) OK?
- These are just gifts showing love and encouragement. You could even put bible verses along with money inside, no need to be so legalistic.
- Discern through the bible if particular cultural things are against God or not.
- Make sure it’s not a stumbling block (e.g. a convert explained to their parents lovingly that they didn’t need it under their pillow [to keep them safe/bring them fortune] any more, because they have Jesus).
- Is it possible for someone to have the gift of prophecy to tell you God’s plan in your life?
- The priesthood and the prophets: the priesthood (genealogy based, a special order) is gone. Jesus is the High Priest – the priesthood before him were a type/pre-figuring Christ the fulfilment of the OT. Prophets were specially called to tell God’s word to the people. 400 years of Malachi to NT of silence (no prophecy), then in Luke Anna the prophet and John the Baptist prophesy about Jesus. Rev 22:18-19 – the book of prophecy is finished. Prophets have finished, now there are preachers to proclaim God’s Word! Eph 4:11-13 Details purpose of roles for building up the body of Christ. 2:19-20 shows the foundation is finished – that of apostles and prophets with Christ as the chief cornerstone.
- There will be false prophets and teachers (2 Pe 2:1-3) so test everything through God’s Word (the Bible) – 1 Th 5:18-21! Hope in Jesus [and His promises in the Bible], not in the prophesy. God’s will is revealed in the bible; for the specifics – are you communicating/communing with God? [read devotions – reading the Bible and prayer]. False prophets commonly interpret stuff out of context to justify their position [mindset of looking for support of their ideas in the passage instead of reading the Bible passage and figuring out what it says]. [The Bereans were commended for testing Paul’s teaching with the scriptures – i.e. the Bible – Acts 17:11]
Some resources mentioned in the QandA and other related resources:
