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Into The Light - Summer Camp Recap
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Sunday Message recorded 27 July 2025
by Associate Pastor Josh Shell
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Reflection on Summer Events
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, it's good to be with the guys this morning. As Victor had mentioned, this is going to be a typical morning where we're going to be, we're going to push the pause button on our study through the the book of Luke. um As summer is quickly closing, which is kind of sad for a lot of us in the room, but it's also exciting for many of us in the room, and especially the parents, right?
00:00:26
Speaker
That way the kids go back to school. But as the summer is closing, there's just been a lot that's happened over the summer that the Lord has done that's been absolutely incredible.
Stories and Highlights from Summer Camps
00:00:35
Speaker
And even as... John was just saying with the Pineco staff, I'm sure to put you on the spot again, but if we were to stop all of you guys and hear the stories that were happening out there at ah whether it's Outback, Silverado, Cryo Creek, or The Ridge, the Lord's been moving in pretty incredible ways, right?
00:00:51
Speaker
Well, it's the same thing everywhere else right now. The Lord's been doing some pretty incredible things. And as Victor said, the the kids just got back from their kids camp. And I've heard some of the stories that were that happened there and the Lord was moving there. So I'm really excited to hear even more about what's happened there at Camp Tejas.
00:01:10
Speaker
But the beginning of June, I got the opportunity of taking 37 total people up to fort Worth, Texas to attend another Christian camp called Centrifuge or Fuge. And the Lord moved in a mighty way there. And many of you guys prayed over us, you prayed for us, and you guys even financially gave to the to the needs.
00:01:30
Speaker
And so I figured it would be our due diligence to share with you what the Lord did. That way you guys can see the benefits of of your prayers and of your giving. Because the Lord did some really cool things with our students. And as Victor said, we actually have a couple of students that are going to be coming up in just a little bit are going to share a little bit about what they experienced there at camp.
00:01:49
Speaker
But first, I figured it would be fun to show you guys a little bit of a slideshow, a highlight reel, if you will, of what happened there at Fuge in Southwestern. So, Josh, now play. Yeah, it are So as you can tell, we had a lot of fun there at Southwestern. This is the location we went to, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. You can say that five times fast, right?
Activities and Spiritual Themes at Camp
00:02:15
Speaker
but Or they called it Swibits for short. So if you just want to call Swibits, that's great.
00:02:19
Speaker
But it was a lot of fun. We had a lot of big highlights, some key highlights. One, I think my favorite highlight was seeing Rick Restivo in Buddy the Elf costume. personally. And if you saw the Christmas photos, it was because our mega relay theme was Christmas. So that's why I was dressed up like Santa Claus. And you would thought that I was a star walking around out there. Like I ah figured it'd be multiple Santa Claus's walking around. I was the only one brave enough to bear the heat. So, um but it was a lot of fun.
00:02:48
Speaker
We learned that a kids love playing a card game called Sky Joe. For anybody who knows what that game is it's a lot of fun. They love it. And then we also figured out that we love playing pickleball. So pickleball is a lot of fun and pickleball players out there.
00:03:00
Speaker
Wow, okay, we need to teach y'all pickleball. Either that or y'all lying, okay? Pickleball's lot of fun. Anyway, but the Lord did some pretty incredible things. And you can tell, I'm wearing the shirt from this particular week at camp. The theme is called Into the Light, all right? Into the Light.
00:03:17
Speaker
And this is a very fitting theme for where we're at in this season with our, not only just with our youth group, but within this generation of of young adults and of of students. um As many of you guys can recall, last summer we went through ah theme called Revival Generation.
00:03:33
Speaker
And the whole premise of Revival Generation was teaching equipping our students on how to bring the gospel and to revitalize their generation for the gospel. to live on mission for the gospel so that way everybody around them can hear it and experience it.
00:03:50
Speaker
Well, this year, Into the Light, it took a little more personal turn. It went from being able to be a light or to to revitalize their community and come home, bring the gospel to share it, but rather it was all about owning their faith.
00:04:03
Speaker
So it's taking that next personal step of what it means for them to be able to bring it home, actually understand the gospel for themselves, and then to be able to share it with those around them in a more intimate, more personal way.
Symbolism of Light in the Bible
00:04:15
Speaker
And so it was a very, very fitting theme. And so i I'm excited to walk through this a little bit more with you this morning. But with the remainder of our time, I would love to share with you the four different sub themes of what we looked at each day while we were there at camp.
00:04:33
Speaker
So this idea of light, right? What does this mean in the scriptures? we We hear about light all the time. In the Old Testament, I got this from the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, light is a natural symbol for what is pleasant, good, or uplifting, or what is associated with more ah with important people and more especially with God.
00:04:53
Speaker
Light symbolizes the blessing of the Lord. Light is associated with justice, as we see in Isaiah 51 verse 4. It says, give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation, for a law will go out for me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
00:05:09
Speaker
It's also used in reference to good behavior and or it's a synonym for darkness, right? So that's just in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, light used a little bit more commonly in a figurative language.
00:05:21
Speaker
And we see that a lot with Jesus' teaching and that Jesus uses light as a spirit to to as a tool regarding spiritual truths. And we see this in the Gospel of John a lot.
00:05:35
Speaker
John liked using this this figurative language, this this example. We see in John 1, verse 4 through 5, it says, "...in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1, 7-9, just a few verses later, he came as a witness to bear witness about the light, talking about John, that all might believe in him.
00:05:56
Speaker
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light, the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John 3, 19 through 21. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people have loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
00:06:13
Speaker
For everyone who does wicked things, hates the light, does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
00:06:29
Speaker
And John goes on and on and on. ah with this this illustration and this this language of using light. And
00:06:39
Speaker
This is not the only time, though, that he uses it in the Gospel, John. he If you jump ahead to 1 John 2, he also uses it in a very similar manner where says, At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am not writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
Living in Light of Jesus's Teachings
00:06:57
Speaker
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in light. In him there is no cause for stumbling. So this is an example, this this figurative language that John uses over and over and over again, sets us an example of how we are to live in light of this moment today.
00:07:15
Speaker
The light has come into the world. And for those of us who believe in Jesus, we are now in the light. And when we are in the light, there's no darkness at all. So why should we try to stifle the light? Jesus used the same kind of illustration in the in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter five, where he says, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl.
00:07:33
Speaker
But rather, what does he do? He sets it out for everyone to see and he gives light to those around him. That's exactly what we are called to do as believers today. And that's exactly what this generation of students need to be encouraged to do right now.
00:07:48
Speaker
Not just these students. And this is a reason why I love doing these recaps, because everything we learned about at camp is not just for this generation. It's for all of us in this room right now. We all need to live in light of the gospel right now. We need to be lights shining bright into this into the darkness.
00:08:08
Speaker
And this is just a side note. ah we We have a tendency of thinking that right now our world is more evil than it's ever been before. That God is dying, right? This whole idea, you know, this was a thing back in the day where God is dead. Well, God's not dead. God is still moving.
00:08:24
Speaker
We have a tendency of clinging to social media and thinking like, man, everything is so dark, everything's so wicked. But look around you. Look at all the college students in this room today. Not just these college students at Pine Cove, but look at the hundreds hundreds of college students that are working for Centrifuge this summer, or for any other Christian youth camp that's out there right now. God is working.
00:08:44
Speaker
There is a revival happening. And we, as God's people, have a duty to go and to share that and be the light. We have to step into the light.
00:08:55
Speaker
We have to do our due diligence of going and sharing the good news of the gospel. But how do we do this, right? Well, the four things that I wanted to look at, but first, I feel like I'm jumping ahead of myself because I'm just really excited about this theme. But the overall theme for the week, the theme verse, is out of John 4, 42. And this is the interaction that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well, if y'all remember.
00:09:21
Speaker
But the John 4.42, this is after Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman, and she goes back into the town and talks about how what Jesus had revealed to her and all that he had said to her and how he is the Messiah. The people came out, and they were astonished at Jesus, and they started believing in Jesus.
00:09:38
Speaker
And then they turned and looked at the woman, and they said this in John 4.42. They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said, that we believe. For we have heard for ourselves and we know that this indeed is the Savior of the world.
00:09:55
Speaker
You see, what's beautiful about that i encounter with a Samaritan woman with Jesus is that after after experiencing such an incredible account with Jesus, I mean, Jesus was there. She came up to get water, right?
00:10:09
Speaker
We all know the story. She came up to get water. He was, hey, can you give me some water? She was like, wait, time out. you know who you're talking to? I'm a Samaritan woman. I thought Jews don't interact with Samaritans. And he's like, he said well, if you actually understood who was asking you to give you asking for a drink, you'd understand that you'd be asking me for a drink.
00:10:25
Speaker
And he goes on to explain himself to this woman and how he was the living water. And that if if anybody who drank from his water would not go thirsty again, but for anybody who drinks of worldly water would go thirsty.
00:10:39
Speaker
And then he takes it a step further and he starts revealing to her that her her habitual nature with with living with different men. And so through this account, her eyes become enlightened. Her eyes become open to the reality of who Jesus is. And and he later finishes. He says, do you not understand that I am he?
00:10:58
Speaker
And she's like, oh, my gosh. And so what does she do She goes back to the town. She can't stop talking about it. She does exactly what the seam is. She steps into the light and she does not hide it She's not ashamed of it.
00:11:12
Speaker
She goes and tells exactly who Jesus is and exactly who and why he came. He came to give living water to those who are being parched and to those who are dehydrated, those who are dying.
00:11:26
Speaker
And Jesus goes on. He uses all kinds of other illustrations, by the way, physical items to to talk about why he was here, right? He's the bread of life. He's the living water. He's the light of the world. He goes on and on.
00:11:38
Speaker
But he he constantly in these moments is is reiterating to us as people that we need him. We need him. If we desire life, if we desire joy, we desire the goodness of God and what he has created in this world, we need him more now than ever.
00:12:01
Speaker
But as I said, the four things, the four days that we looked at, the first day that we looked at was, the it was titled Source.
Personal Faith and Community
00:12:10
Speaker
and each day they asked different things. They asked a life question, they gave a key verse, they gave a focal story and some supporting passages.
00:12:17
Speaker
Well, for this particular day on Source, right, what is the source of light? Jesus. The life question, how have you followed Christ in obedience by responding to the gospel? Did y'all get that question?
00:12:30
Speaker
It's not about how they responded to Jesus. Yeah, I responded Jesus. have Jesus in my life. I'm good. going to kick back, relax, cross my legs and wait for everybody else to do the work. no No, no, Listen to the question again.
00:12:42
Speaker
Have you followed Christ in obedience by responding to the gospel? By responding to the gospel. Have you responded to the gospel?
00:12:54
Speaker
If you're a believer in this room today, how are you responding to it? Because again, we're not called to sit on the sidelines with this. Jesus, he ascended back into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father to prepare a place for us because he commissioned us to go and to share the good news. He said, hey, my work is done. Now it's your time to go. I'm gonna give you the helper, the Holy Spirit.
00:13:16
Speaker
Go, make disciples of all nations.
00:13:21
Speaker
But don't forget where the source comes from. The source comes from Jesus, this light. And the key verse for that day was John 8, 12, where it says, a again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
00:13:40
Speaker
The source of our life is Jesus. He is the light. And if we are truly in him, then we are going be demonstrating that light to them. And the focal story was Paul's conversion. We all know this story.
00:13:52
Speaker
Paul, who was once named Saul, one of the greatest persecutors of the early Christian churches world had ever seen, was on his way to go and persecute yet another community of believers. On the road to Damascus, he was encountered by this great light, Jesus.
00:14:06
Speaker
Jesus met him where he was at. He says, Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? says, Lord, who are you? He says, I'm the one you're persecuting, but guess what? You're no longer going to persecute me, man.
00:14:19
Speaker
I'm going to take you and I'm going to change you. And you're going to be one of the greatest missionaries this world has ever seen for my cause, for the gospel of Jesus. And Paul transformed in that moment and became one of the greatest missionaries this world has ever seen.
00:14:32
Speaker
Because he didn't just hear the gospel, see the gospel. Well, what did he do? He responded to the gospel. Amen. you have not read that account, I encourage you to go read It's in Acts chapter nine, verses one through 20.
00:14:46
Speaker
So the first day was the source, that Jesus is the source. He is the life. The only way we can truly be in the light is through him. The second day was spark. The life question was, have you made your faith your own?
00:15:00
Speaker
Are you living out the truths of the scriptures? So again, this bounces right off of the source. If you're truly in Jesus, have you responded to the gospel? And are you actually making your faith your own?
00:15:15
Speaker
Are you living by your parent your parents' faith? Are you living by your church's faith? What are you doing right now? Are you living by your own faith? These are the questions that they were asking our students.
00:15:26
Speaker
really digging deep and trying to encourage them, hey, your faith is no longer a based upon some other exterior situation or circumstance, but rather your faith is your own. When you put your faith, hope, and trust in Jesus, it is no longer about the world, but rather all about Jesus and your relationship with him.
00:15:43
Speaker
Because God desires to have an intimate relationship with each and every one of us. He created each and every one of us uniquely and wonderfully. And then the second question was, are you living out the truths of the scripture?
00:15:56
Speaker
The key verse for this is Philippians chapter two, verses 14 through 15 says, do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.
00:16:14
Speaker
In other words, when you choose to believe in the source and you have this spark in your life, you're gonna see a change in you. a You're gonna see a change. It's no longer about your your desires. It's no longer about the world's desires, but rather it's all about what the Lord has called you to do as a son or a daughter of the living God.
00:16:37
Speaker
You are then going to see a change in you that when you go out and you encounter those people who you used to grumble against or those whom you used to dispute with, you're going to see them in a whole new light. You're gonna have empathy. You're gonna have understanding. You're gonna have compassion.
00:16:53
Speaker
You're not gonna want to dispute with them, but rather you're gonna want to demonstrate your love to them because that is living out the gospel.
00:17:02
Speaker
And the the focus story of this particular day was Nicodemus, this high-stature religious leader, this Pharisee who, we all know the story in John chapter three, where he came at night to go meet Jesus because he was curious about him.
00:17:17
Speaker
And he was asking about what does it mean to be born again? he was he He was curious about what it means to be to to have this spark in Jesus. And Jesus told him, he said, hey, in order for you to be born again, you have to die to yourself.
00:17:32
Speaker
You have to believe in me. It is is through the spirit. It's not by anything that you can do, but rather it's internal. It's about the transformation of the heart. And when you allow the spirit to come in and transform your heart, get ready to see what God's going to do.
00:17:49
Speaker
And as we see Nicodemus, he would actually go on and he would be he become more curious about it. He would reappear not only in John chapter three, but John chapter seven, when he was actually giving a defense for Jesus.
00:18:00
Speaker
And then ultimately later on, with after his crucifixion, he reappears with with joseph ah Joseph of Arimathea. And he helps bury Jesus. And so there's gonna be evidence of change in your life whenever you choose to surrender your heart to God.
00:18:16
Speaker
There's gonna be this spark to him. The third day was fuel. The question here was, how would you describe your relationship with Christ? How many of you in the room right now can actually do that confidently?
00:18:30
Speaker
If someone were to walk up to you on the street and ask you this question, how would you describe your relationship with Christ? you'd be like, ah, it's good.
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah, what how, why? Why is it good? What's happening? Are you in the word of God daily? Are you in fellowship with him? Are you allowing him to lead you and guide you into all truth? Because if you're not allowing him to do those things, then you probably need to stop and reassess what your relationship with Jesus is actually all about.
00:18:57
Speaker
Are you actually a true follower of Jesus?
00:19:01
Speaker
And the second part of that is, are you invested in a community of faith? So it's not just about your relationship with Jesus, but it's about what you're doing for the community of faith. Are you surrounding yourself with like-minded believers who are able to equip you, who are able to hold you accountable, to lead you, to guide you along the way, to sharpen one another, right? So the the key verse for that day was Proverbs 27, 17. As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another.
00:19:28
Speaker
Are you allowing men and women in your life who are gonna sharpen you, who are gonna hold you to a standard of excellence in Christ?
00:19:39
Speaker
That's key. Because if you don't allow that to take place, then have you really allowed the authority of Jesus to take over your heart? Community is essential. God created the church for our benefit.
00:19:55
Speaker
this This building, you guys in this place right now, you know, a lot of times we hear, i hate hearing this from people. The church is full of hypocrites.
00:20:07
Speaker
Well, it is, it's full of hypocrites because we're all broken, we're all sinners. But here's the sad reality. We as a church should not be demonstrating ourselves as if like we have it all together. People need to understand that this place is for broken people who need healing daily.
00:20:23
Speaker
If you're in Christ, guess what? Praise God that you've experienced salvation, but you still need healing daily. You are not made perfect yet. I know some of you guys think you are, but you are not perfect yet.
00:20:35
Speaker
I'm not perfect yet.
00:20:38
Speaker
but we need the fellowship of believers. We need community to sharpen one another. And we see this in the in ah in the relationship dynamic of Jesus and his disciples. The disciples, Jesus called every one of them from their occupation because they saw the need. They saw the source of life.
00:20:56
Speaker
They had this spark in them and they said, that is what I want. And they followed him and they followed him to the very end. Even after Jesus ascended, they still continue living for him to the point to where they all pretty much were martyred for their faith.
00:21:10
Speaker
Are we willing to do that for Jesus right now? Are willing to to to use the gospel as a fuel to to propel us forward, regardless of what the world is going to throw at us?
00:21:25
Speaker
And then lastly, because I still want to save some time for the students to come up, the last day was
Sharing Transformative Experiences and the Gospel
00:21:32
Speaker
shine. Shine. Shine. Have you ever shared or have you shared your story and the message of the gospel with those who you know who do not have the hope of Christ?
00:21:46
Speaker
Are you living out the Great Commission? Are you allowing the source of life, Jesus, to set a spark in you that ultimately will fuel you to go and to share the good news?
00:22:02
Speaker
That's a hard question, isn't it? Because as believers, we like to say yes, absolutely. But really, are we actually doing that?
00:22:12
Speaker
I can ask that to all the members of our church. I can ask that to all of you at Pine Cove right now. Pine Cove staffers, y'all have a great opportunity right now to share the gospel of Jesus to people. But what are you going do when you go back to your school? I was there.
00:22:25
Speaker
I was a college staffer one day, believe it or not. I had hair back then, but... of It was hard, it was a hard transition going back to school.
00:22:36
Speaker
But believers here in the church today, in our community in Columbus, what are we doing with our community right now? It's one thing to be sitting here in the church right now, saying that, yes, Jesus, I love you, I praise you, I sing songs to you, I give my heart to you, but are you willing to take it to the next step?
00:22:54
Speaker
It's to shine the way we're supposed to outside of these walls. It's easy for me to shine in here because the lights reflect off my head. But what about when I leave this place?
00:23:09
Speaker
Am I going to shine for Jesus? These are the truths that we were challenged, that were challenged our students while we were there at camp. And it was absolutely incredible to see what the Lord was moving in their hearts.
00:23:20
Speaker
One of the other great highlights that I know if Stephen Mick were here today, he might be here somewhere, but he would share is is they we had an opportunity to meet with one of the advisors or one of the professors of the missions department.
00:23:34
Speaker
We had what, you was it seven students? Seven students go and meet with this missions professor who was an active missionary. And they had an incredible opportunity go and to talk about mission opportunities and what the Lord is doing to hear her story and what where she came from where her husband currently is serving.
00:23:54
Speaker
So the Lord is moving in the lives of these students. But I would like to pause right now because we do have two students that would like to hear you for the i' like to let you hear from as we conclude our time. But the first student, he told me this morning not to say his name until now because he wanted to surprise his dad, but it's actually Eric Cox.
00:24:11
Speaker
And so...
00:24:15
Speaker
i'm to give the mic to Eric, and he's going to share with his experience here from camp. All
00:24:28
Speaker
right. For some y'all know, the theme was Into the Light. So pretty much camp the whole time was us trying to find Jesus. So when you take him home, to make sure you're saying the word with him.
00:24:41
Speaker
um So...
00:24:44
Speaker
John 1.9 says that that was the true light, which lightens every man that comes into the world. That really felt like it summed up the whole week.
00:24:55
Speaker
You're supposed to find him, and you're supposed to bring him home and still stay with him. oh and But the whole week was amazing, really. We had, 37 students playing it?
00:25:08
Speaker
oh twenty twenty 28 and 9 leaders. I had a great time with everybody there. i had one roommate. His name was Casey. There was only two people into the room, which was nice.
00:25:24
Speaker
We had a great pastor, Anthony Knight. When he would preach, it was very easy to get what he was saying because like he was very clear about it. The band was 317 Collective.
00:25:38
Speaker
oh I know they're on Spotify. I don't know anything else. um I know last year we had one student surrender his life to Jesus, and this year we also had another one, and know in it was me.
00:25:52
Speaker
so But right, that's all I got.
00:25:59
Speaker
are
00:26:05
Speaker
I know, y'all hear that last part? I just want to make sure y'all heard that. He said, last year we had a student to surrender life Christ. This year we had one. He said, it was me. So come on, Eric. I'm proud you buddy. um Yeah, give it up for Eric one more time.
00:26:21
Speaker
um I know we're at 10 o'clock, but I have one more student. Are we okay with that? Okay, next one is Miss Mia Westfall. Where are you at She was already up here singing and with us, by the way, so now she's gonna come share. She's got the multiple hats today.
00:26:41
Speaker
Good morning. Okay, I wanted to talk about one of the points that Anthony Knight made on, it was, think it was Spark, and it was about obedience.
00:26:56
Speaker
And this one stood out to me because he said something that I've never heard before, and I struggle with it a lot, as I'm sure a lot of other people do, but it's, don't treat obedience as something that's natural for us.
00:27:11
Speaker
Because it's not, because we have a sinful nature. And he was just saying that, you know, God's love language is obedience. And so we can honor God and by obeying him, but we also have to remember that he also knows that it's not natural for us.
00:27:29
Speaker
So that was an important point for me, and it stayed with me this whole time. And i'm just going to give you all a few highlights from camp. So our church group time this year was so amazing. Church group time is what happens at the end of the day. You meet with your church because in the beginning and throughout the day, you go with your Bible study groups with other churches. So that way you can meet new people.
00:27:55
Speaker
And then at the end of the day, we come together and we talk about how our day was. And this year specifically, i don't know, I felt a calling this year to get to know everyone in our youth group because there are a few new people. And so I felt really connected.
00:28:10
Speaker
And there was a lot of people that said a lot of amazing things in church group time. And so that was awesome. And then i wanted to say one more thing about a special moment me and my friends had.
00:28:24
Speaker
One of my friends particularly was having a rough time being... like persecuted by a person at camp and she was very angry.
00:28:37
Speaker
And so me and my other friend came and we talked with her and I shared this verse with her. It's Matthew 5 11. It says, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you utter all kinds of things evil against you falsely on my account.
00:28:54
Speaker
And so after that, we just kind of took off and we all started sharing verses with each other. And in the and the end, the friend that was really angry, she said, i want to pray for him, the person who was persecuting me.
00:29:11
Speaker
And that was very big for me because she forgave him. And we ended up praying for each and every person in our youth group. And it was it was a really nice moment.
00:29:23
Speaker
That's all I have. Thank you. um
00:29:28
Speaker
um um Awesome. Thank you, Mia. Thank you. Guys, this is just two testimonies about what the Lord did at camp. And I wish we could share all 26 other students, but a lot of them are out of town. And so i'll I'll save that for another day. But if you do see a student from our youth group who went to camp, ask them about their experience.
00:29:50
Speaker
Ask them what the Lord did in their heart that week because the Lord is still working their hearts. So I know that you guys were praying for us while we were there. And I you guys even prayed for the kids camp. Don't stop praying for the seeds that were planted.
00:30:03
Speaker
The Lord is still moving. The Lord is still working in our students. And I'm really excited about what the Lord is going to be moving forward with these two specific, because we have a lot of students who are growing up, right?
00:30:15
Speaker
These are both juniors this year, right? And so we got got one more year, we got two more years with them And so we we're going to make the most of it. And I'm excited about what the Lord's going to do with them. But as we conclude, as we go into this time of invitation,
00:30:29
Speaker
This is my question for you, for all
Call to Walk in the Light and Conclusion
00:30:32
Speaker
of you. Again, the theme into the light. That was the theme for our students. But this is a theme for all of us. Are you currently walking in the light?
00:30:42
Speaker
Are you choosing daily to allow Jesus to be your source? Are you allowing him to spark you to live a life that is worthy and pleasing of the gospel? Are you allowing the gospel to fuel your daily life in and out and how you interact with others?
00:30:59
Speaker
And and with you whether it's your family, your friends, your coworkers, and ultimately are you allowing that to to to shine bright for the world to see?
00:31:11
Speaker
but Ultimately, that's what we're called to. We're called to shine bright, right?
00:31:19
Speaker
um just wanted to close with this, right? With 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. Absolutely incredible identity verse right here. For all of you who are in this room as believers,
00:31:31
Speaker
This is what Peter says of us. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who've called you out of darkness, get this, into what?
00:31:48
Speaker
His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. What are we gonna do with that?
00:32:03
Speaker
I pray that we will truly live in the light. So if you're in this room today, maybe you're someone who's never surrendered life to the gospel. Maybe you've never understood what the true source of life is about. I pray say that you will do that, that you will seek so that way you will find the true source of life.
00:32:19
Speaker
Maybe you're in this room and you're you're kind of stuck in the mud you don't know what to do with it. I pray that if you want to, i mean, either you can come down talk to me. I'd love to have a conversation with you, what that looks like. Because the reality is that we're all kind of right there with you.
00:32:32
Speaker
We all have those days. But the good news is, is that the Lord gave us the fellowship of believers to sharpen one another. that way we can spur each other on in faith. So if you're in this room and you feel like you're kind of stuck in the mud or whatever, I pray that you will not sit there alone. That's what Satan wants. He wants you to sit idle.
00:32:53
Speaker
But I pray you will find that you'll that you'll pursue your fellowship in the local church as a body of believers. And for the rest of us, maybe you're on cloud nine right now with your relationship with Jesus. Don't stop the race.
00:33:07
Speaker
Don't stop the race. If you're on cloud nine, then you better shine bright. Okay? But let me pray over us. If you need to come down and talk to me, I'll be down here for the invitation. If not, we'll we'll go from there. So let me pray over us. We'll go in this time.
00:33:22
Speaker
Father God, we just thank you so much for this time. God, thank you for the work that you did that first full week of June at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary within our student ministry.
00:33:34
Speaker
Lord, I thank you for Anthony Knight, for the the speaker that week. I thank you for his diligence of and preparation for speaking life and light into the students in that place. It wasn't just our youth group there. It was over 300 students there, Father. So Lord, I pray for those who are back at their home right now.
00:33:52
Speaker
pray for our students and for all the other students. who experienced it over the summer. Lord, that the seeds that have been planted will sprout, but they will that they will grow.
00:34:03
Speaker
And Lord, that each one of them will shine bright for the gospel. But Lord, I pray that over this church, I pray that over each, every individual person in this room, I pray, Father, that if we believe and confess that you are Lord, Father, that we will not be ashamed at all the gospel.
00:34:19
Speaker
But Father, allow it to lead us and to guide us into all truth. That we will go and just share it. And we will demonstrate it for all in our in our lives and our community. Lord, may we truly be your hands and your feet.
00:34:32
Speaker
May we be the light. God, we love you. We praise you. We thank you for the way that you first loved us. That you are the light. That's brought us out of darkness. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:34:51
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.