Hey, guys. We want to start off by welcoming you to the Simplicity Conference, because we do not have an abbreviation for it.
I want to start off by reading one of our theme verses: Colossians 2:17.
These are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.
About three weeks ago, Christy invited a bunch of us college students over to her house because we were going to have a conference in three weeks, and we kind of needed to plan it. We were discussing that night because we did not have a theme verse. We did not have anything. We were going over different verses to have as the theme, and this verse came up.
The theme with the adults over the past several months has been passing on the torch of the testimony to the younger generation. That is sort of the burden that we felt as well: to bring in the college students, the high schoolers, and the middle schoolers into the fold of the youth group—to bring you into what we are doing, pursuing the Lord together.
This verse came up, and we felt that what we really wanted to share with you guys this weekend is this: you have heard Sunday school. You have heard a lot of messages. You have heard so much about Christianity and church. But we want to share with you the reality of everything that has been shared. It is just Christ.
It might not make a lot of sense right now, but it is so simple. That is why the conference is called Simplicity. Over the messages this weekend, the goal is to share with you Christ: the love of Him, the pursuit of Him—just everything about Him.
It is not about going to church every week. It is not about singing songs. Those are all part of it, but the main goal, the main purpose in our lives, is to get to know Christ, to love Him, and to let Him love us.
This conference is not for those who are college-aged. Yes, we are here, but we are just here as helpers. We are here to help you. This conference is for you. It is for the Lord, but it is for us to show the Lord to you—or to let Him show Himself to you.
Middle schoolers, high schoolers—this half of the room is pretty good. You guys need to sing. Sing out. Pray, even. Even if you do not want to pray out loud, there is morning time set aside to pray.
The Lord really wants to meet you all this weekend, but it is up to you to turn to Him and to listen to what He has to say.
As this time progresses, we are going to have a few college students come up and share what our burden is for the weekend. That was my burden. Mercy is up next.
Okay, so I am really scattered, so please bear with me. As Noah mentioned, us college students got together, and this idea of simplicity came up. The time that we shared about the burden was just so full. I feel like we all left so encouraged.
It was really simple. We just came, and we shared about the burden. As I went to the Lord about this—about what He wanted me to share and what He revealed to me—He brought up these verses in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord.
And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, Who worketh all things in all.
The reason I feel like the Lord put that verse on my heart is that it is all the same Spirit. All these differences, everything that could complicate—it is just the same Lord.
A couple of years ago, I got this huge drive, this huge motivation, to go read some Watchman Nee books. I thought, “Okay, I want to gather all this knowledge. I want to know how to do everything.” I had this idea that spirituality was like this big storehouse, and in the storehouse there were all these different containers.
This one was for forgiveness. This one was for patience—you know, that one was really low. There were all these different containers, and I thought that I needed to go read a spiritual book—maybe a Watchman Nee book on forgiveness—and get fuel to put in my little container.
I thought I needed to work separately on all these different things. So I thought, “Okay, I am going to go read all these Watchman Nee books, get super smart, fill up all my levels, and be all great and everything.”
I went to the bookshelf on Sunday, just trying to find the title that looked the best. There were all these titles: Do All to the Glory of God, The Release of the Spirit, The Spiritual Man, Spiritual Exercise. They all sounded so great.
But after I went through all the books in that whole white section, I was just like, “I cannot do it. I cannot read all these books. I cannot know all this stuff. There are too many facets.” I grew really discouraged and completely overwhelmed. I thought, “Why even try? Why even start if I cannot do it all?”
So I went away. I did not read any books. But the Lord really showed me that there is a common thread through all those books: it is all the Lord.
The reason Watchman Nee wrote those books was for the Lord. The reason other spiritual people wrote books was for the Lord. The reason we are all here is for the Lord. The reason there are spiritual gifts and ministries is for the Lord. It is all the Lord.
I know I have said that like twenty times already, but it is just the Lord. I do not really know how to say it a different way, but it is just the Lord. I am just going to keep saying that: it is just the Lord.
When we decided on Simplicity, they asked us all to share, and I was like, “Okay, simplicity. What should I share about on simplicity? What is simplicity?”
I thought, “What is a good way to figure out what this word means? The dictionary.” So I looked up simplicity. Naturally, it gave me the definition: “The state of being simple.” So I looked up simple.
A few definitions for the word simple are: not complicated, easy to understand, humble, and lowly.
As I was preparing, I discovered that simplicity is not really about making things complicated. Simplicity in Christ is to know Christ as your Savior.
One of the theme verses I really liked was this: “The reality is found in Christ.” I liked how simple that sounded. The reality is Christ.
Simplicity is not easy, but it is not complicated either. Knowing Christ takes effort, but it is not impossible. It is a willing commitment.
In my life, I have found that I try to make everything as simple as possible because I really am not good at trying to make things complicated. When complications arise, I am just like, “Okay, no—make it simple. I do not get that.”
I always thought that would be a bad thing, but keeping things simple—I do not know, it is simple. I cannot describe this without saying the word simple over and over again.
Simple is not the same as easy. Simplicity is not easy. It is the reality in Christ. It is not easy. It is just simple.
When I heard about the concept of simplicity, I thought it was actually kind of interesting because it was something that had been on my heart a little bit before that.
Over the summer, I felt like the Lord was really starting to stir a lot of our hearts. When the Lord touched mine, it was kind of like turning on a big hose and having it start swinging around because no one was holding on to it.
I came back and saw older people doing things that I thought were not simple. I was thinking, “That is not simple. That is not simple. What are you doing?”
They would say, “Well, you do this, you do that,” and I would be like, “Yeah, I want to do this, and I want to do it while I am barefoot.” They would say, “No,” and I would think, “Well, you are not simple, so you clearly do not have the spiritual life. I am right, and you are wrong.”
Eventually, I got into the mindset that any order of any kind was bad. I thought, “You are either real, or you are a Catholic.” I went around with the attitude, “I will follow your rules, but in reality, I am kind of like an eagle. I am good with God. I am free. You guys are all kind of down there.”
Right before I was about to leave for a trip where the Lord would touch me a lot and set me straight on a lot of things, I got my hands on a book by Stephen Kaung called Divine Life and Spiritual Order.
I was like, “What? That exists?” Typically, we think there is divine order and spiritual life, but as inverses. I started reading, and all of a sudden it was like, “Yeah, we are supposed to do this stuff. Yeah, we are supposed to do this stuff.”
I thought, “Okay, an eagle flies and is free, but it is still subject to gravity. It still needs to eat.” A human may not seem as free, but it has more responsibilities because it is further along and more advanced.
I realized that the reason some people had more complicated things was that, as they grew in the Lord, the Lord was able to show them, “Okay, you do it like this. You do it like this. You do it like this.” They were not making things up to be complicated. It was because they were obeying, and they had willing hearts to change and conform.
I think that is really what simplicity is: being willing to say, “Yeah, okay. Uh-huh. All right.”
We have this picture of the Catholic guy and then the guy who is on fire, singing during worship time. But God calls us to be a mix of both. He calls us to be able to obey.
There is a time for both. When the Spirit is on you, all you can do is worship. When God calls you to do things the right way—to confront a brother, to read your Bible, to share properly—that is a time for order. But the two can coexist because the answer is Christ.
Like everyone else has been saying, we are called to be like Christ and act like Christ. Christ was obedient in everything. He had to start from square one and learn and learn and learn.
At the outset, He was a fairly simple guy—working in the carpenter shop, being about His Father’s business, asking wise questions. But as He grew, He spread. It did not mean that He lost His principles and became complicated. He grew into the fullness of what God’s will for His life was.
It is an encouragement because we see people who are above us, but at the same time, we know that we are working toward that. Simplicity is a bridge to more complicated things.
Having a willingness to obey the Lord is something a child can do. It is simple, and that is what we are supposed to do. It is as simple as that. Just say yes—three letters—but that is all you need to do.
I first just want to apologize and ask you to bear with me through this because I am really scattered. I do not even know why I am up here, honestly.
Everything that I had prepared to share kind of left my mind today, and I cannot really come back to it or think of it at all. So this is really random, but the verse that the Lord gave me, or the verse that really encouraged me in this theme of simplicity, is 2 Corinthians 11:3.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
The reason this verse stood out to me is because this is exactly something that I have experienced: being deceived by the enemy and led astray from the simplicity and purity that is in the Lord.
It is so easy to get caught up in spiritual things. It is easy to get caught up in serving the Lord. It is easy to get caught up in looking at yourself and striving in your own strength, trying to please other people.
It is easy to focus on your sin, where you have failed, where you have succeeded, and where you have messed up. In all of it, it is so easy for the enemy to come in and take away your vision of just Jesus.
That is what everyone has been sharing already. All I want to tell you—especially you middle schoolers who are here this weekend—is that it is such a blessing to have you here, to be with you, and to see the high schoolers and junior highers stepping into the future where the Lord might have you, even going to college.
I do not know where you guys are in your walks with the Lord. I do not know if you have accepted the Lord. I do not know if it is something you have done or have not done.
But if I had one thing that I could share with you after my years of walking with the Lord, it would be this: just know Jesus. That is the only thing that matters—to know Him, to love Him, and to accept His love for you.
Just like Noah said earlier, all it is about is knowing the Lord and loving Jesus. It is nothing else but the Lord and His love for you.
I was not sure what the Lord wanted me to share this weekend. I did not know if I was even supposed to be here this weekend. I felt, “Who am I to be able to share Christ with everybody?”
When I think of simplicity, the Lord showed me again what He has done in me from the beginning of my life. I just want to share a little bit of the foundation of my life with you all.
I think I am like all of you. I was born in a Christian family, but on the other side of the world. My parents were so great, and they raised me with so much love that the Lord gave them.
I was so comfortable around my family and the love that they showed me. But it was actually the Lord’s love, and I did not know that back then. I was comfortable around good people and all the things that I had. I was comfortable being with my family, and I thought that was enough.
I was saved back then, but right after I got saved, I felt like I was doing the same exact thing as before I was saved. I thought it was okay because everything seemed so good to me.
I thought, “Good is not a bad thing. I can just be a good kid in class. Everybody likes me. I do well in school. My parents love me.” I thought that was enough.
But the Lord had something much better that I did not know. He had prepared so much for me. He knew that there was something better than good.
He brought me all the way here to study in the United States. I had to leave my family and leave my comfort zone. All the love I thought I had just left me, and I was all alone here.
I lived in a dorm at VCU. I did not know anybody, and they were not the good people that I met in Hong Kong. It seemed like they did everything that you could ever imagine in the world. I was so uncomfortable around that place.
All I had was the Lord. When I was there alone with Him, I started wanting to really know Him and coming to Him because I felt like He was my only protection then.
I started getting to know Him, really reading the Word, gathering with people, fellowshipping with people about Christ, and getting to know Him as a friend.
Then I truly saw that there is a better love that you can receive from the Lord. It was such a great experience to simply be with Him.
I do not think I would have received that if I had not left my family and my comfort zone. I really want to encourage everyone to simply know Him as a friend.
When you truly know the value of how much He has done for you—how He loves us so much that He died for us and made a way for us to know Him—I just could not help but love Him back.
I had to put Him as my first priority because I wanted to love Him the way He loved me. Even though I can maybe give ten percent, or even five percent, of His love, I want to praise Him and worship Him because He is worthy.
I really want to encourage you to continue to know Him. When you know Him more, it is almost like you would do everything for the best friend you have. When you are so close with Him and know Him, that is when you can truly worship Him from the bottom of your heart because He is worthy.
The group sings “Before the Throne of God Above.”
Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea;
A great High Priest whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in Heaven He stands,
No tongue can bid me thence depart.When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made an end of all my sin.Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.Behold Him there, the risen Lamb,
My perfect, spotless righteousness;
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace.One with Himself I cannot die;
My soul is purchased by His blood.
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God.
I am the last college student to go. I also am scattered and lost my message. It seems to be our theme tonight.
Something happened today: there was a car wreck. When something big like a car wreck happens, I think it is good to pay attention, think about it, and reflect on it.
Instead of my slideshow that I prepared on the preeminence of Christ, we are going to look at my truck.
They were driving, and someone ran a red light—not Christy. It was a logging truck. Logging trucks are bad guys to run into. They are big. In that kind of intersection and situation, there was not enough time to stop, so they ran into the truck.
It was the type of wreck that you drive by and slow down for. You think, “Oh, somebody really got hurt.” You might start to pray for somebody, or think that somebody might have died.
I think somebody said the Grahams were driving by and thought, “Oh, that looks terrible. Oh no.” Then they realized, “Wait, those are our kids. Those are the ones that we know.”
Inside the truck, mason jars were broken and things like that. None of the swords, knives, bow and arrows, or any of those things cut anybody. There were pocket knives, explosives, gasoline, and all kinds of stuff in there. It was not a good truck to crash.
But that happened today, and it gets you thinking. When you see a car like that, and four people walk out of it, with their limbs still there and everything still there, you start to reflect.
I had planned to share from Colossians 1 on the preeminence of Christ. It gets into God Himself, the invisible God, and how Christ is the expression of Him. He shows all the fullness of the Godhead.
It speaks of creation, with all its complexities, and how it was all made in Him, for Him, and unto Him. Then there are all the complexities of the church, the corruption of mankind, this world, and the universe. But all of it gets repaired and simplified in Christ.
After hearing about the wreck, and then seeing the truck, I began thinking, “Let us get down to the simplest moment. Let us get down to where it really counts.” What really matters is when you meet God.
I am up for talking with anybody this weekend about difficulties in the universe, questions about the Bible, or anything like that. It is actually a fun hobby of mine. I try to find hard questions that I cannot answer, and then I try to find the answers. When I am really stumped, I go ask Brother Kaung.
I have talked with a number of people about difficult and complex things. I have talked with seekers, read their books, and talked with atheists and people who found complexities too difficult to explain through the simple good news of Christ and Him crucified.
But when they were really searching for truth, they discovered Christ and Him crucified.
Some of my favorite authors write really good books and have really big minds. When I read them, I think, “Whoa, this guy is smart.” I love reading them, but sometimes I do not know what they are saying, so I have to read it again and again.
I have met people I have argued with, and we get into complex things in the universe. But as we keep going, we arrive not at a complex thing, but at a moral thing in that person’s life. That is where it stops. The argument finishes.
Even with Christians, sometimes the reason we cannot agree on the Bible is that it is not agreeable to our lifestyle. I was arguing about the kingdom one time with someone, along with a group of others. Late into the night, we went through Scripture after Scripture.
As we brought in the truth of the kingdom—that there is a reward for Christians, that there is more than just a gift—it unlocked the Scriptures, and they worked together. But finally he said, “This cannot be right because this other preacher I listen to knows Greek, and you—who are you?”
What it really came down to was that if he accepted that truth, it would undo his whole lifestyle. There was something else blocking him.
I think when complex things in the universe and hard questions are really in front of your mind, and you have a true heart seeking what is real, then when you find the simple truth, you can respond to it. The lingering questions can be answered through conversation and study.
But if there is something else stopping you, then that is the hindrance. There is a real hindrance sometimes from actually coming to Christ, and usually it is not that things are too complex. It is not merely a philosophical answer or a difficulty in Scripture.
Many others have learned a lot of knowledge, and they have seen Christ. So, putting that aside, when it comes down to it, all of us are going to meet our Maker. All of us are going to meet God and stand before Him.
I want to read a couple of verses. One is in John 3, right after John 3:16, which many of us have memorized.
For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him.
He that believeth on Him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus did not come into the world with the purpose of judging us. He came into the world to save us. But judgment is already upon the one who does not believe.
We could say that judgment is upon us because of our sins, because of things we have done, or because we were born into corruption. But that is not what this passage says. It says that a person is judged because of this one thing: he has not believed in the Son.
There is also a judgment in Revelation 20, the judgment after death: the great white throne judgment.
And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
No one can hide from Him. Everyone is brought before this great white judgment throne. The books contain their works—their actions. Other Scriptures tell us that thoughts, intentions, and every word are brought into judgment.
And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.
And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
At that great white throne, all the dead are before Christ, and their books are opened. In that outside-of-time kind of realm, your whole life is exposed before your Maker. There are no complexities at that point. You are staring face to face before Christ.
There is only one thing that matters: the other book that is opened, the book of life. If anyone is not found written in the book of life, he is cast into the lake of fire.
Everything in your book is exposed—layer upon layer of the reality of sinfulness, like an onion being peeled that gets stinkier and stinkier. Every action, every thought behind it, and even what you really wanted behind those thoughts is brought out.
Then it comes down to one question: What did you do with Christ? Did you trust in Christ, or did you not trust in Christ?
The world is judged because it has rejected Christ. When the book of life is opened and your name is not found there because you did not believe on the Lord Jesus, then you are cast into the lake of fire.
But what if you have believed in Christ? Believers have a similar experience, though for a different reason. In 2 Corinthians 5, another judgment is mentioned: the judgment seat of Christ.
For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.
This is not about whether your name is in the book of life. You cannot even come before the judgment seat of Christ unless your name is in the book of life.
The point is this: you are going to meet your Maker. If you are a believer, you are going to stand before Christ. No matter what grade you are in or what your maturity is, all believers must stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Another book will be opened, and each one will be judged according to his works—according to what he has done while in this physical body. You have however much time you have to live in this body, but then you will be manifested before Christ.
This is also mentioned in Matthew 7.
Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father Who is in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and by Thy name do many mighty works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.
These are active people. They prophesied in the name of Jesus, cast out demons in the name of Jesus, and did mighty works in the name of Jesus. Anybody looking at them might think, “You have to be walking with the Lord. You are doing stuff.”
But their works were lawless. They did whatever they wanted to do. Whether it was good or bad was not the question. They did not do God’s will.
The problem was that He did not know them. He said, “I never knew you.” That can be confusing, but this is about their actions. He was not with them in their actions. They were lawless—without Him, not doing God’s will.
This wreck happened today, and I began thinking about somebody dying. We could have had some people die today, actually. That is not something to think lightly about.
On another trip recently, I drove by a car wreck where people were dead. We were on our way to New Jersey, and we saw people who had been driving twenty minutes ahead of us. Then they got into a wreck, and they died.
So it comes down to this simple spot: if you die, what do you have? Do you have Christ right with you? Can you say, “I am with Christ”?
Put yourself right in front of the Lord. Can you say, “I know You. I am walking with You. I am a mess, but You know me, and I am with You. I am crying out to You. I keep failing, but You know that I am stuck with You”?
Years ago, we had a car wreck in Kentucky. We were taking my sister to a church group that she wanted to visit because she was looking for fellowship. It was Sunday morning, and you do not expect trouble on a Sunday morning.
Gabriel was one, and he had thrown up in the car. We pulled over because we were scared he might choke. We were completely off the road in the gravel, and Catherine was turning around in her seat to unbuckle him and clean him up.
Then we got slammed by an SUV Bronco from the 1980s. It crushed the whole back of our RAV4 until it came to Gabriel’s car seat. The car was squashed all the way up to his seat, and his car seat was bent into my seat.
We looked at that car and wondered, “Did some angel block this right there?” I am thankful the car was made that way, but what shook us was that we could have all died.
The driver was drunk on Sunday morning. He had lost his license because of DUIs, and he had no insurance. Experiences like that shake you up. You think, “What if I died today? Where am I? What am I doing? Am I lawless right now? Am I doing what I should be doing?”
Today, while I was praying about this, I thought about a man named Charles from Kentucky. Charles was quite a character.
I drove his wife to the hospital one time when he had a heart attack. He came into my dad’s office. I was managing my dad’s clinic for a little while, and Charles came in refusing to go to the hospital. He said, “I have got to see Dr. Pittman.”
He was a big, stocky guy. He had been a Navy SEAL, and he had killed a lot of people. He had a lot of stories. He was a gruff, terrible guy—very sinful and mean. He enjoyed being mean.
He would compare himself to Lamech, Cain’s descendant: “I killed somebody just because he stepped on my foot. I am worse than Cain.” He was a really scary guy.
He came in having a major heart attack. They put him on an EKG, and it was all over the place. We called an ambulance immediately.
The ambulance was going to take him to the nearest hospital, but that was not the hospital equipped to give him the care he needed. My dad called the emergency-room doctor and told them to have the ambulance turn around and take Charles to the hospital in Lexington.
His wife was a mess. She was in tears, and he was dying. I took her to the hospital and shared with her about the Lord on the way.
When we got there, the doctors were about to do an emergency operation. They told him there was a very small chance he would live, but the operation would give him a chance. Otherwise, in thirty minutes, he was going to die.
As they were about to roll him away, I felt urgently that this guy was really about to die. This was where it counted. I had no message prepared. I did not have a tract on me. I did not have my Bible with me. What do I do with this guy?
I went up to him and said, “Charles, it is going to get dark in there when you go into surgery. I want you to call out the name of Jesus. Call out to Him, and He will rescue you. He will save you.”
He looked at me all odd and rough, Charles-like, but his heart was softened. He squeezed my hand and went into surgery.
A couple of hours later, the doctor came out shocked and said, “He made it. He is sober-minded right now. You all can go in and see him.”
When I came into his room, he said, “Jeffrey, I saw Him. I saw Jesus. I did what you told me to do. I think I was dying. I saw Jesus, and He healed me. I met Him.”
He believed on Christ. He was not the type of person you would expect to believe on Christ. He remained a rough guy, actually, but every time I saw him, he would say, “You know I saw Christ, right?”
He is dead now. He later died of medical troubles, soon after his wife died. But he died knowing the Lord Jesus.
That experience brought it down to something simple for me. This is my one-word gospel message: Jesus. Find Him. Call out on Him.
That is what Charles did, and he met Christ. When you know you are about to die—when you are going down in an airplane, getting in a car wreck, or on your deathbed—it comes down to simplicity.
We do not know when we are going to die or how it will happen, but we can live with this simple way of life: we know Christ.
I think of another story. There was a guy named John Whitney who came to a camp kind of like this. It was at a campground, we were in cabins, and we had bunk beds.
He was in my cabin. I was a college student and was responsible for the staff dorm guys. He was nineteen, I was eighteen, and we had twenty-four guys in the dorm.
He came in late. On his way to the camp in Minnesota, coming from New Hampshire or New York, he got three speeding tickets in three different states because they drove so fast.
I got him into his bed and talked with him briefly. I told him about a morning Bible study I was doing with some of the staff. It was not on the schedule; we were just getting together to read a little bit in the Bible and pray before breakfast.
He wanted to come, and the next morning he came to our Bible study. We read the Bible, and then we prayed.
I was trying different things at that time, including ways to pray in circles. Since there were so many of us and so little time, I told everyone, “Let us pray silently for the person on our right.”
We all began praying silently for each other. Then John prayed out loud. He totally missed my instructions. I am so glad he missed my instructions.
He prayed a serious, simple prayer:
God, use me today for Your glory. I want to be used by You today for Your glory.
Later that day, he worked in windsurfing and sailing. He was teaching people how to windsurf and sail. We ate lunch, and then something happened in the afternoon.
He had an allergic reaction to a number of things at the campground and with the food. He went into anaphylactic shock. They took him to the hospital, and he died that day.
There were more than a hundred people at the camp—maybe one hundred and fifty. That year, I think we had sixty or seventy baptisms because, after his death, everybody in the camp was shaken.
Everyone was thinking, “Whoa, he was just a nineteen-year-old at this Christian camp with us. He taught me how to windsurf, and then he died today.”
Suddenly there was a seriousness upon all of us: “I am going to meet God at some point. Am I ready?” So many souls were searching their hearts during that week-long camp, and many young people came to Christ.
John’s family came to the camp. His parents were God-fearing, moral, good parents. Their family was wholesome. But John’s death shook their foundation, and they fell apart. Then they fell onto Christ.
I do not know who had been born again before that. I do not think the children had been born again, and the parents were unsure. But when they came to the camp, Christians shared Christ with them—just Christ.
They testified that they had never simply met Christ like that before. They said, “When you came to this place, everything was just about Christ.” They met a wall of Christ—a wall of love, the love of Christ.
Suddenly, the whole family came to Christ together. It simplified everything from the religion that they knew.
They had been faithful people. Every morning they got up and studied the Word. They prayed for a certain amount of time every day. They went to every church meeting possible. They were prepared, faithful, church-going, religious, good, God-fearing people who studied the Word of God, but they did not know Christ.
When it came down to their son dying, they discovered Christ.
Reflecting on the day, that is what I want to bring out: the simple fact that at some point we must all be manifested before Christ. All of us are going to be in front of Him.
At that point, it comes down to this: do I know Him right now, or do I not? Am I with Christ right now, or am I not?
It does not matter as much how mature you are, how much you know, what answers you have for questions, what books you have read, or even what your history is. What matters is the present: Am I walking with the Lord right now?
If there is some obedience thing before you—a step that you know He is calling you to take—that is your place. Ask, “Am I with Him right now?”
He always puts something in front of you so that you can take a step and say, “I am with You, Lord,” and keep walking. It is not merely, “I obey.” It is, “I am with You, and I walk this way with You.”
There is a first step when people come to Christ: “I trust in You. I believe in You. Forgive me of my sins.” That brings you into this realm, and then you express it in baptism.
But all of us may have something right in front of us. If we met our Maker today, that is what would be hanging in front of us. Is there something in which I am not walking with Christ? Is there something in my life where I cannot say, “I know You, Lord”?
That is the simple thought tonight: you are going to meet your Maker. At that point, it is only going to be, “Am I with Christ, or am I not with Christ?”
Lord, with this experience today—with the car wreck, and even Your keeping, rescuing, and preserving—we want to bring it back before You. In Your light, search us out.
Do not let us take these things lightly or neglect to consider our ways and consider where we are.
Lord, as we are starting this weekend and will be together hearing Your Word, worshipping, fellowshipping, praying, and playing at times, bring the whole time together.
We pray that You would especially draw us all to be with Christ. Let none of us miss that one simple thing, which is Christ. Let none of us be away from You.
Let none of us leave this weekend apart from You. May all of us discover Christ anew. Whatever our history is, may all of us be with You, know You right now, and be in the good of it. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
What we are going to do next is have some snacks, also known as dessert. But first, I am supposed to go over the schedule for tomorrow.
Even though we are a little off schedule tonight—and by that I mean a lot off schedule—tomorrow we are going to be completely on schedule. Got that?
At 8:15 in the morning, you should be up, showered, and ready to go. We are going to have a half hour of solo time.
This will be time by yourself, within visual range of one of the buildings. You will be reading the Word, meditating on the Word, and praying. If you have questions about that, we can explain it better. Basically, it is like morning time that your parents usually have.
Then we have breakfast, and merging with that is group time. Groups have been decided, and we will tell you about them when it comes time for group time.
Then we have worship and a message by Matt Graham. The rest is fairly self-explanatory. You just go to the places when the time says to go to the place. We will explain things as they happen.
Make sure you have a handbook. Make sure you do not lose your handbook. To help with that, write your name on it. If it gets misplaced or left on the ground somewhere, we can find it and get it back to you.
Also, make sure that when you come to meetings, you always have your Bible and your notepad. We have a few extra notepads if you do not have one, but try to keep the notepad we gave you with you.
Apparently, we have T-shirts.
Outside of solo time in the mornings, always travel in groups of three. It is for safety reasons. Do not go off by yourself, and do not go off with just one other person.
Always have a group of three. That should not really be an issue because, if you are walking between buildings, there should be a whole group of people.
A lot of us feel like we are here mostly because we want to be with the Lord, and a big part of that is trying to take away distractions.
If any of you are willing, and you think it would help, we would like you to give up your phones if you feel like it would be a problem or distraction. This is by no means mandatory.
If you feel that giving up your phone would take away a distraction, or if you feel it is something the Lord wants you to do, please give it to either your room leader or one of the adults around.
If you are worried about people tampering with phones, or about them getting lost or stolen, we are going to have boxes for them. They will be kept responsibly inside the room leaders’ rooms.
If you are keeping your phone for an alarm clock, a notebook, or a Bible, we have spare Bibles and notebooks. Do what you feel the Lord is leading you to do. If you feel led, give your phone to one of the adults or to your room leader.
I should have done my announcement first instead of talking about phones, because I am going to use my cell phone to give this announcement. I have the boys’ sleeping arrangements.
Does everyone know where they are sleeping?
Make sure you are not in other people’s beds. Stay in your assigned bed.
All right, and now we break and eat dessert.