Adventure Camp Day 1

ADVENTURE CAMP 2013

 We at Word of Grace Church went away for a weekend to enjoy God, be with on another and  hear from God . It was truly a great time of encountering His presence in the worship, in the Word and praying for each other. We were challenged to a bigger call , a bigger commitment because what God wants to do in and through us is much bigger than we realize. That phrase was the catch phrase for the weekend.

Day 1- session 1- Tim Davis

It’s all bigger than you realize. He is more important than we realize. Our savior is stronger, our task is bigger and the gospel is more effective than you realize.

There are days that are more significant than you realize and it changes your life forever. Days will come that change everything.

I John 4:7-12

This is the most important message that he got from being with Jesus. The story is the same- ‘Dear Friends, Let us love’. John gives 3 incredible reasons why he is convinced that this is the most important message he could give.

1.     God is love (v.8): the heart- rending example is in the cross. The heart stirring message is that we need to love one another. God is more than that but John is happy to focus on that for there is something about love that is sufficient. We are looking at who God is in His very nature love. That is why He created us to be in community and He dwells in community. This command, to love one another touches the very heart of God.

2.     Love is not just in word but in deed: John sees the contrast very starkly when we don’t love one another but say we love God. God did not love us just in word but in deed- HHHHhhhhhhHe gave His son. In the same way we ought to love in deed. The question we must ask ourselves is- Are we demonstrating love in action? Am I forgiving when offended?Propitiation – god’s anger being appeased.

3.     We belong to one another: John was the one who saw the Son of God pour out his life. From the cross, Jesus spoke to John and told him- “Here is your mother” (John 19:27). When we come to the cross we come on our own but we walk away from the cross with a family. At the cross God says ‘Your brother, your sister, your mother…!’ We belong to one another. It looks more glorious when it looks all different. Jesus chooses Peter and Andrew, and then James and John- all Galilean. Then he chooses a tax collector and a zealot who wants to kill the tax collector (Simon). Jesus turns up the contrast so that the love looks all the more glorious when we are different. We love one another because we belong to one another. It’s not a club. Our belonging to one another will keep us together even if we are called away.

The essence of the trinity is love- the Father gives His Son in love. In verse 12 it says that though no one has seen God, if we love one another, He lives in us. So, they see Him in us.      

Day 1- session 2: Tim Davis-

This is regarding the disciples’ realization of who Jesus is.

In Mark 6:

Jesus feeds 5000. It’s a miracle shouting something amazing about who Jesus is. Who feeds 1000s in the desert? God does. Way back God fed the Jews in the desert and now this. But in verse 51 they were completely amazed when Jesus walks on water, because, “they had not understood about the loaves” (v. 52). So, in Mark 8: 14, Jesus does the miracle again and feeds 4000. What was it they were supposed to understand? They had not understood who was it standing in their midst. In all the Old Testament stories we need to see where Jesus is in the story. He is the Champion in every story and He is in our midst. We declare that Jesus is in our midst. But even when a new storm appears, we have to understand that a champion is with us. At Word of Grace, if we are to be impacting lives, cities and nations, we need to be aware of who is standing in our midst.

Peter has this amazing revelation of Jesus and then Jesus tells them that He is going to die. They did not understand it. But Jesus said that He would not leave them as orphans. Another will come and He commissions us to go by the Spirit. This is the only way to follow Jesus. We want to be a church that is aware of the presence of Jesus.

In the Acts, Peter suddenly begins to understand- Jesus was there in their midst through the Holy Spirit and Peter says that this is what the prophets spoke about.

John 7:37- “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink”. This is the call of Jesus even today. He is here with us by the Spirit. He is not weaker, He is strong- a champion as before, and He calls us to be filled with the spirit. He repeats this six times in Matthew 7: 7-8 so that we understand that to ANYONE who asks, His Holy Spirit will be given. But very often, along with this call of Jesus, we hear other voices saying, ‘He does not mean you’, ‘You are not good enough’, ‘nothing is going to happen anyway’, ‘what if something bad happens?’, etc. But these are dirty lies from the enemy and need to be silenced and when they are silenced, you hear Him loud and clear.

“IF ANYONE IS THIRSTY, LET HIM SOME TO ME AND DRINK.”   

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.

English Language Service 10am. Please check google maps for directions