Thoughts from Camp - Day 17 - Peter's Vision

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

So we talked about Peter's vision today, and how Jesus fulfilled the law, and that the gospel went out to the nations. Heavy theological stuff for ten year olds. But guess what? They have brains, and they know how to use them, and they comprehended and could articulate the purpose of the Old Testament and the superiority of Jesus' covenant.

But that's not what I'm learning today, so that's not what I'll write. Here's what I'm thinking for today - why do we think discussion time is a useful teaching method? Here's the thing - we are all born without a knowledge of God. We don't gain a knowledge of God naturally, it has to be taught (or better yet, absorbed from Scripture reading). And then we sit down a roomful of teenagers and ask them what they think about God. Or better yet, we throw out Biblical questions - 'why do you think Jesus had to be man?' And these young teens who will some day be young men and women start throwing out their opinions from the limited Bible knowledge they have. Useful? Only to draw out the little knowledge that has already been placed in their heads.

Why not teach? Why not show? A person with both knowledge and passion is an unstoppable force in the church. An opinionated person just fits in with the rest. So why develop these? We need Bible study and proper teaching. Not question time so we can hear opinions. This is a topic I will be fleshing out more extensively over the next few weeks, and I'm sure you can look forward to a more comprehensive blog post about it in the fall.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 16 - Beatitudes

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

There is no hierarchy in the Christian faith. We often think of pastors and preachers as slightly above us normal folk on the Christian scale, and a man like Spurgeon far above them. There are different roles in the church, and different treasures can be stored up, but as far as being a Christian goes, you either are, or you are not.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives the beatitudes - the characteristics of a Christian. This is what every Christian looks like. These are the things that make us different than everyone else.

Poor in Spirit - That is, that we recognize our own spiritual condition. A poor person goes to a store and can not buy what they want. Why? They do not posess the money they are asked for. What God demands and what we have are not the same thing, and the Christian knows this, and lives with this reality. We are poor in Spirit - Spiritually bankrupt, and coming to God knowing there is nothing in our hands.

Mourning - This is mourning over sin, so if we all stopped reading this at funerals, that'd be great. We not only are aware of our Spiritual condition, but we are broken over it. We are upset over what we are. We feel remorse for our own depravity.

Meek - Again, this our condition, our mindset, towards God. Every Christian is meek. That is, they are humble enough to admit their poverty, and humble enough to mourn. Jesus told us that the healthy do not need doctors, but only the sick. If you believe yourself to be righteous, Jesus can not help you, for He came exclusively for sinners. So by this condition, all Christians are meek, for they have approached Him in much need. If you call yourself a Christian but do not believe in the poorness of your spirit, do not mourn for sin and are not meek, I challenge to see if you could ever have flung yourself upon the mercies of the Savior whose blood was shed for us.

Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness - Again, this is the mark of every Christian. As sons of Adam we are born spiritually dead - that is, dead in relation to God. We are born with no desire, no hunger, and no true knowledge regarding God. So when Christ makes us alive with Him, our hunger for Him is for the first time ignited. The Christian is alive in relation to God, and desires Him more. I asked a wise mentor once what it meant to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and he told me that it means fighting hard for the time spent doing things that satisfy your soul. That is, being diligent to exchange time spent doing things of temporary value for time spent in prayer and Bible study. Hours a day praying means losing hours a day doing something else.

Merciful - We now switch from conditions of the heart to actions. Christians give to others the mercy they received from god. Why? God has changed our hearts.

Pure in heart - not that the Christian is perfect in purity, but we strive for it. The goal of purity is what unites Christians together in fellowship, and what sets us apart from every other person in the world.

Peacemakers - Peace makers make peace. Its a really simple definition. This is what the Christian is.

Persecuted for righteousness sake - The prophets and apostles were all killed for their faith, and humanity has not become less depraved since then. Depraved men still hate God as they always have. If Jesus preached like most preachers today, they never would have crucified Him. The truth-proclaiming believer will only ever face opposition and disagreement. Such is the lot of the believer.

These are the marks of a Christian. Not a super Christian, just a Christian. This is what every true Believer looks like - these are our characteristics. True belief and desire to follow the Lord will result in life change, and this is what that life change will look like.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 15 - Zerubbabel

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Dragged into exile. It had been foretold by Jeremiah, Isaiah and others. Israel had been sinful and wicked - they didn't care about the temple sacrifices. They oppressed the widow and the orphan. God promised to humble them and restore unto them a knowledge of Him. So after some time chilling outside of the Promised Land, the day came for the remnant to return

A decree went throughout the land - King Cyrus of Persia said that anyone who wanted to rebuild Jerusalem could go. So who else would head up but one of those unknown, unrecognizable but dreadfully important Bible characters. Zerubbabel was his name, and the first thing he did when he arrived was to rebuildd the altar. Why? Because God is holy, and sacrifice needed to be made for sin. That was a priority. Shortly after, they re-poured the foundation of the temple. The old men who remembered the old one wept. The young men shouted with joy, until no one could distinguish between the cheering and the crying.

A few bitter men write a letter to the king complaining about the Jews and the work halts for a bit. But isn't too long until they pick up where they left off and carry on. God's work carries on. Although it stopped for a bit God is sovereign (and good) and the work continued. The temple is eventually finished, funded by king Darius, and the stolen temple articles are returned from Babylon.

What do we learn from all of this? That God's prophesied plan in Isaiah and Jeremiah to humble His people worked. The men who had misused the temple had been invaded and the remnant that survived was now, after years, returning to try a second time at what they had blown the first time. Could they be stopped by a grouchy neigbour? Of course not. God is sovereign – his work will be done.

Ezra shows up shortly after, he comes to teach people the law. He reinstates the Levitical priesthood so that the physical building Zerubbabel built has something going on inside. Shorlty after, he finds out everyone is being immoral in their marriages (interracial mingling - a Torah no-no). He tears his garments. He prays. And here's something cool - when he prays, he counts himself in with all the sinners. He, an innocent man, confesses the sin of a country he's a part of. A true leader with integrity counts themselves with those under them. Then, Ezra confronts the people about their sin, and they admit they have a problem. They do their investigating to figure out who is married to a person of what nationality. Then they deal with sin. Marriages are broken (not ideal, but better than the sin they were in). Families are flipped upside down. The nation had been dragged into exile for immorality, and this time they were literally willing to have their worlds turned upside down to avoid having sinful hearts before God. God is holy – we need to deal with sin.

Nehemiah, who gets his own book of the Bible but never his own Sunday School teaching slot, leads the third group of exiles back. He helps to rebuild the wall and put nation back on feet. And once they are a real nation living behind a wall, he works to stop the oppression of the poor and makes sure everyone is fed, and living in a real house. If you read the prophets, a lot of why Israel was judged is because they mistreated the widow and the orphan. And here, Godly Nehemiah knows what's up. God is loving – He cares for the oppressed.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 14 - Jonah

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

I stared down at my Bible and blinked again. Nope. That was it. Four verses. Half the story of Jonah, as it had been told to me, was contained within the first four measly verses. Now, to be fair, Jonah isn't a very big book. But I still feel like I have spent more time in my life than necessary hearing that flimsy narrative retold. But here's the part that gets me is that the rest of the book is hardly touched. I don't think I've ever heard someone tell me any of the details in chapter 2.

So when I told the story today, I told the whole story. The whole book. Not just the narrative parts. And more than that, I encouraged them to go back to their cabins and read it for themselves in case I missed something. But here's what I'm wondering and learning today - why do we reduce the Bible down to historical narrative. The Bible contains much history, true, but as a book, the Bible tells only one story. If the details you are highlighting to your Sunday School class aren't helping to grow them in their understanding of the redemption narrative, why are you teaching them? Leave cute children stories for Kindergarten - let the church be for the sanctification  of the saints.

Read your Bibles, teachers. Don't repeat the words of teachers before you who haven't read their Bibles. Because we are so often missing so many fantastic, Messianic, gospel-centred messages. The story of Jonah only matters because it is a shadow of another prophet who would one day descend to a grave for three days and emerge preaching repentance. So maybe spend less time worrying about the excitement of a ship caught in a storm and spend more time noting the fact that Jonah's disobedience and desire to condemn the world is a perfect antitype of his repentance-preaching counterpart, who loved the Gentiles Jonah didn't want to go to.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 13 - Elijah Fire

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Elijah prayed that God would turn back the hearts of Israel. That they would recognize that He was the true God. Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal to a competition - whichever God sent fire was the true victor. Why? Because the Israelites were wavering between opinions. They knew of God, had a Tabernacle and remembered what He did in the days of Joshua. But they also had a wicked king and seemed to prefer worshiping Baal. So Elijah really just wanted them to pick a side.

And here's the climax we all missed hearing about in Sunday School - after fire falls on his sacrifice, he gathers all the prophets of Baal together, and kills them all. Personally hacks them to pieces. Some people would suggest, 'what you believe is right for you, what I believe is right for me.' I'm not sure Elijah was sold on this concept.

And there's a reason for this. A reason why he had to kill them. When Adam broke the law of God, He deserved death. When anyone breaks the law of God, they still deserve death. This hasn't changed since Adam. The prophets had not only denied God, they had turned all of Israel against God. So Elijah, commissioned by God, was giving them what they deserved - giving them justice. Now we don't get to decided who gets to live and who gets to die, that's God's job, but in this case God had given Elijah permission to take some of God's authority.

There's a message in all of this. And that is simply this - as Elijah said, 'If the Lord is God, follow Him.' And if He is not, follow Baal. That is God's call to us. If God is God, follow Him. If He's not, don't waste your time. God's not interested in half-hearted service. He's not interested in people who come to church on Sunday but don't care about Him the rest of the week. He's not interested in people who ask Him into their heart but whose lives aren't changed.

What God is looking for is people who's lives are totally and utterly committed to Him. People who spend their lives in service to Him. Who spend their entire lives seeking to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, strength and mind. This is the kind of service He demands. He's not interested in people who waver between opinions like Israel did.

If God is God, follow Him. If Baal is God, follow Him.

Kevin Deane

Camp Mini-Yo-We

Muskoka, ON

Thoughts from Camp - Day 11 - The Holy Spirit

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Peter's knees were no doubt knocking when he stammered out that he did not know Jesus. He denied his master three times in one night, and no one could have guessed that this coward would go on to become one of the figureheads of the early church. But it wasn't long after Jesus' ascension that Peter was hanging out in the upper room getting ready to celebrate Passover.


“When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).


Peter cracked open his Bible, and he started preaching. And people listened. That day thousands were save, and the church only expanded from there. Peter – cowardly, denying Peter – was now a bold preacher, and where he went, people listened. When he preached, people came under conviction. Why? What changed in Peter? The Holy Spirit had come.


The Spirit is the third part of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit are each individual persons, but are only One God. No analogy, no logic, no human intellect has ever been able to comprehend this concept. But there is no division, no dissension and no separation between the three parts of the Godhead.
Peter and the other apostles were bold for the gospel. The Spirit had given them the courage they needed to take the gospel to ancient Rome. By every bit of human logic and reasoning, Christianity was foolish to join. Jesus, our leader was known to have been publicly rejected and killed. Who would want to follow a man who couldn't save Himself? By 54 AD, Nero, the emperor of Rome, was martyring Christians in droves. He would dress them in furs to have dogs tear them apart, or crucify them, or cover them in tar and then burn them to light up his dinner parties. By human logic, no one in their right mind would walk the streets of Rome, look up at the torched body of a crucified man and say 'I want to be what he was.' No rational person could witness the bloody death of Christians, and say 'I want to become one of them.'

But the Holy Spirit was at work, calling men unto God. Yet for every Christian that was torn apart by lions in the Colosseum it was as though ten men would stand up and say 'I want to be one of them!' Eventually, even Peter would be one of those martrys. The man who denied Jesus would end up professing His name until he hung upside down on his cross.

Christians were like seed – one would fall to the ground and die, and a whole crop would rise from that ground. Christianity exploded across the Roman empire, and over the course of only a few decades, thousands were converted. Why? Why would any logical, rational, sane human being want to join that number? Why would anyone even consider becoming a believer? Proclaiming faith in Christ, was, at times, like willingly joining death row. What rational human being would give up their life for such a cause? Why couldn't Christianity be stopped? Because the Holy Spirit had come. Jesus had promised the apostles power, and their words had such power that men were persuaded to believe.

The work of the Spirit hasn't changed. He still gives men the courage needed to profess Jesus' name in difficult places. And more than that, He points out sin to the believer and non-believer. Because we are depraved, we are not able to see the sin in our own lives without His help. The Spirit must come and bring conviction before there will ever be an understanding of sin.


To give a more recent example of the Spirit's work, let's look at the year 1741 (which might not be so recent). Jonathan Edwards stood in Enfield, Connecticut and preached a sermon titled 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.' He was not a great public speaker – by the light of a candle he held his notes a few inches from his face, and read in monotone. People literally fell out of their chairs with conviction. He was interrupted several times by people crying out 'What must I do to be saved?' Stories are told of men clinging to the pillars of the church, fearing that they would fall straight into hell as the Holy Spirit penetrated their hearts and revealed their sin to them. What happened in that church spread like wildfire down the Eastern seaboard in what became known as 'The Great Awakening.' People came to Christ in droves. Why? The Holy Spirit was at work.


The Spirit that grabbed hearts in Connecticut can fill your heart too. He gives courage, and convicts of sin. When the Spirit fills your heart, your very life is a testimony that pricks the consciences of others and convicts people of their sin. Your words have power. The same power that persuaded Romans to join death row for the sake of Christ. Jesus had said. When a Spirit-filled Christian loves, it is with the very love of God, for the Spirit is God, and the Spirit loves through us. And when the Spirit-filled Christian speaks, it as though God were speaking through a man. And whatever the Spirit-filled Christian does, it is done in a way that those around him will see his love, his light, and his testimony.


We must seek the work of the Spirit in our own lives. Perhaps if we sought the Spirit the way we were supposed to, we would experience the kind of ministry Jesus described and not the kind of ministry we so often see.


Kevin Deane
Camp Mini-Yo-We
Muskoka, Ontario

Thoughts from Camp - Day 10 - By Grace, through Faith

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Today we will be studying the first 9 verses of Ephesians 2. The passage will begin with a description of man's depravity, but it will shift suddenly to highlight God's grace.

“And you were dead”

This ultimately, sums up our position before God. What was God's threat to Adam if he ate the fruit? He would surely die. And although Adam did not die physically, his relationship with God became as dead as it possibly could be. Adam was dead spiritually, and so his children for all remaining generations would be. How much can dead men move? Can thy speak? Can they come when they are called? Dead men can do nothing, and so we are born spiritually. Unable to talk to God, or to come to Him. We are dead.

“in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,”

We are rule-breakers, is all he means. Adam broke a law, and we've been doing the same thing ever since.

“ following the course of this world,”

Humanity – all of humanity – was born as a descendant of Adam. So all of humanity is naturally inclined to disobey and disregard God. Not that people are as wicked as they could be, but even when they try to be good they still disregard God as Adam did. People may naturally believe in a deity, but the god they describe tends to be very much like them only a little bigger and a little more loving. People naturally believe in a god created in their image, not that they were created in the image of God. This is how the whole world is, and so to follow the course of the world, is to simply have the same level of regard to wards God as is common to man.

“ following the prince of the power of the air,”

This speaks of Satan. Again, humanity's distance from God is emphasized.

“the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”

The sons of disobedience are us. Somebody taught you to say 'please' and 'thank you.' Someone taught you to obey. But no one taught you how to lie. Or how to disobey. This comes naturally to us, for we are 'sons of disobedience.'

“among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,”

And here we are in our sinful state, trapped – enslaved. A slave may not work day in and day out, but works only when his master calls. And yet he is a slave 24/7 though he may not be working 24/7. So it is with sin. We are slaves 24/7, although our passions may only beckon to us from time to time. And when they beckon, we come crawling, desperate for the sinful desire our passionate flesh demands.

“and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

And what else would we deserve? We certainly don't deserve God's love or kindness. Our fallen, sinful, disobedient state has left us deserving nothing less than the wrath of God.

“But God,”

And in this prase lies all our hope. For we, being dead, can do nothing but wait for His judgement. 'But' tells us there is hope, 'God' shows us that it does not lie in ourselves.

“being rich in mercy,”

That is, He is willing to hold back what we deserve – to hold back the death, judgement and wrath we have earned.

“because of the great love with which he loved us,”

For it was God that loved us, before we could ever love Him. While we were still sinners, God showed love towards us, before we would ever have a desire to love Him back.

“even when we were dead in our trespasses,”

Again, our hopeless state.

“made us alive together with Christ”

That is, now revived those dead bodies. Dead men – who can neither speak nor come when called, are now awakened. Sinful men, who were once dead in their relationship with God have now been enabled to respond to Him.

“by grace you have been saved”

The salvation he offers is free of charge and absolutely undeserved. God's overwhelming goodness allows Him to extend to us this offer which should rightfully not be ours.

“and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

The sin of mankind was laid on Christ, and He died the punishment that that sin deserved. But more than that, the perfection of Christ was put on man. So a transaction was made – He took our sin, and we took on His perfection. So the Father views us as perfect in Christ and He punished Christ for our wrongdoing. So in this verse, we celebrate the riches we now inherit. For we will enter heaven clothed in the perfection of Jesus, and enjoy a spot in the heavenly places only Jesus should be allowed to enter.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.”

What is faith? To trust is the undeserved gift of God to undo the sin that Adam brought in the world. The Christian is the one that believes in the finished work of what Jesus did on the cross.

“And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So what is left for you to do? Absolutely nothing at all. No prayer, no church, no good work will make you any more perfect than Jesus can make you. Simply trust in Him. And when you trust Him, and He changes your heart – prayer, church and good deeds will flow out of you.

The free gift of God to undo man's depraved condition. What a marvellous message!

Thoughts from camp - Day 9 - David and Saul

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Chaos and wickedness were the norm in Israel, because they had no king. God should have been their king, but they had rejected Him, so they demanded a human king. God gave them Saul. Saul started off fine but ended poorly and was replaced by a man after God's heart - David. What made David greater than Saul? The Lord was with him. He inquired, God assured him of victory and went before him. Unlike Saul, he wasn't willing to kill the Lord's anointed. Unlike Saul, he protected the priests rather than slaughtering them.

David was the king Israel needed. Sort of. He brought salvation and righteousness to God's people. But he wasn't the ultimate king. There was a greater king coming. David was greater than Saul, but some day Jesus would be greater than David - a more perfect ruler.

David was a good king because he was generous. He gave where Saul took. But Jesus is the ultimate giver of mercy and forgiveness. David shared wealth, but Jesus shares eternal joy.

David was a good king because he sought the Lord's direction and the Lord gave him victory. David won many battles over sinful nations, but Jesus won the battle over sin itself. David conquered the Phillistines, but Jesus conquered the grave.

David was a good king because he was humble – even when he sinned with Bathsheba, he was willing to repent. David repented when he had done wrong – he recognized his sin and was willing to take the punishment. Jesus never did anything wrong, and yet he was still willing to take the punishment for sin. David was humble, but Jesus is more humble.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 8 - Ruth

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

The message of Ruth is so simple it hardly deserves a blog post. And yet its so marvelous. God brings life from death. Poor, Gentile Ruth was married to Sickly (or maybe Weakly) but after her husband died in the middle of a famine, she wandered back to Israel with her mother-in-law. As a widow, she has no chance to take care of herself and is left gleaning in the fields.

But Boaz starts looking after her. He has extra grain dropped for her. He lets her eat from his table. Eventually he marries her. He is kind beyond reason. He is extraordinarily generous.

Would Ruth have starved without Boaz? Maybe, maybe not. But the widow (can't provide) of Sickly (who is dead) was a Gentile (not God's people) and would certainly have not fared well.

Its a simple story with a simple message. There was a redeemer (in this case literally), who brought life where there should have been death. He lavished love and generosity on the lowest of the low and provided restoration where there should have been starvation.

It's what Christ did for us. Us - the poor, weak Gentiles that could never provide for ourselves. He redeemed us, was generous beyond reason, and even promised to marry us. It's not just a cheesy love story - its a message of grace that says God brings life where there should be death.

Kevin Deane
Posting from Camp Mini-Yo-We
Muskoka, Ontario

Thoughts from Camp - Day 7 - God's Plan All Along

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

The goal has always been restoration. What Adam had in the garden – the perfection, the relationship, the reflected image of God – that is what God has been working to restore from the moment Adam bit the fruit. God created the world perfect and when it became imperfect, God's desire was still to have a perfect world. It wasn't like He was content to have His world remade by one of His creation. The relationship He had before the fall was what He wanted back. So God made a promise to Adam – one day, someone would come who would crush the head of the serpent. Essentially, someone was going to restore what happened before sin entered.

And so this story begins to unfold, from Genesis 3 right to the end of the book, of God's work to restore to humanity what He had with Adam. So God appears to Abraham, and he tells Him He wants to make a covenant with him. God wants to make Abraham's descendants into a country – a people set apart for God. But what interest does God have in a holy people? He wants to restore that relationship He had with Adam – that perfection. So God promises Abraham a son. Why? Because someday someone is coming who is going to restore what happened before sin entered.

And then God appears to Moses and gives him instructions to build a tabernacle. All God is saying is, 'remember what we had back in Eden? I want that again.' So they build this tabernacle, and its made out of the same materials that were found in the garden. And at the center is a room that is a perfect cube, just as the garden was. And a cherubim-curtain guards the entrance to this room. And then we read about heaven and we see the same thing – a perfect cube, made of gold. Why? Because all God was saying was, 'remember what we had back in Eden? I want that again.'

So eventually God sends His son, Jesus. And we find out that this is the one we were anticipating. The one who would crush the head of the serpent had arrived. And He offered restoration to what Adam had in Eden. Someday in heaven, those who are in Christ can enjoy the relationship Adam had in the beginning.

So what is God's plan now? What does He want? The same thing He has always wanted. We are still a part of the story that has been unfolding throughout history – the story of God redeeming man back into the relationship He made us for in the first place.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 5

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Three times he denied Jesus, and yet he still became one of the most prominent men in church history. Peter was an incredible man, and after Pentecost, he marched into the world, boldly proclaiming the gospel. We don't know all of his ministry, but the first bit of Acts details his life, and we have two of his letters carefully preserved in the Bible.

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)

Christ is our example. He procalimed truth, and when the crowds rose up to kill Him for it, He did not waver. He continued to proclaim the truth about both God and man. His message was not watered down, it was not simplified, He knew He would be killed for what He was saying, and He kept saying it. As Leonard Ravenhill once said, “If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.”Leonard Ravenhill

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:22)

He was perfect. This makes Him uniquely qualified to take your punishment upon Himself.

“When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23)

When Christ preached truth and was hated for it, He gave no response, and this is our example. We do not need to defend the truth of Scripture. Truth is truth, whether or not people mock it. Christ simply entrusted Himself to our just judge. He would let God judge those that struck Him. He would not strike back.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,” (1 Peter 2:24a)

Christ's substitutionary perfection is repeated here. His perfection was placed on us, and our sin was laid on Him.

“that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:24b)

Why did he do it? Why did He go to the cross? Among other reasons, so that your sinful nature might be put to death. So that every day for the rest of the Christian's life would be days of hating sin more and loving God more. So that sin might be done away with in us and that righteousness might reign.

“By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1Pe 2:24c-25)

And here lies the central, glorious truth of Scripture. He was wounded, and we were healed. We were lost, but He came down, sought us out, and restored us to a relationship with God. And here we are on Earth, with a shepherd and overseer – a king and a ruler. For the Christian, our sin is on the cross and our lives are in His hands.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 4

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

He was short, he was unloved, but more than that, he was the epitome of what it means to be born as a descendant of Adam. Zaacheus was greedy, he oppressed the poor and he had no regard for God's authority. But he met with Jesus, and in one meal, his life turned around. His very character was transformed, and after a brief encounter with the Christ, he was a generous, loving man with a desire to look out for the oppressed. This is what Jesus does for people. And as he left his meeting with Zaccheus, these are what Jesus' words were,

“For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10)

The 'lost' is referring to us. Being described as lost is actually a beautiful thing. When you throw out a popcan, you don't call it lost – its garbage. The only things you call lost are things of value – your wallet, your puppy, your wedding ring. To be lost is to be wanted. Nobody ever called something 'lost' they didn't want to find.

This reveals the heart of God towards humanity. When Adam ate the fruit and was separated from God, God didn't stand back in eternity and shrug his shoulders at our helpless condition, but it has always been His desire to redeem and draw humanity back into relationship with Him.

We all know what it means to be saved. When you are swimming in the lake, and go one stroke too far – when you don't have the energy or strength to pull yourself back above the waves – you need to be rescued. You need someone to plunge their hand down, grab a hold of you and pull you back up. And this is what Jesus did for a 'lost' humanity. Plunged his hand down, grabbed ahold of us and pulled us back up.

Born as descendants of Adam, we are born bound by the power and penalty of sin. Bound by its habits, we do what Adam did, usurp the authority of God, but in a thousand different ways. Knowing some day we will stand before a just God we await the due penalty of our crimes – eternal death.

But Jesus came to save the lost. When the Romans nailed Him to a cross, He was dying the death that we deserve. Taking our penalty. A perfect man died in our place. Which means that you and I, sinners, are given His righteousness. And He, a righteous man, took our sin. A transaction was made – He dies, and we live.

But He did not stay dead – and we do not stay bound to the habits of sin. He rose again, and this same power that raised Him from the dead comes and dwells in our hearts, enabling us to put away sin and to become more like Christ day by day.

So what is left for you and I? Christ has lived the life you could not live, and died the death you deserved. What is left for us to do? Absolutely nothing. There is nothing you can add to the perfection of Christ, and His perfection is the only good that could possibly be seen in you. Does this mean all lost people are automatically saved? Not at all, but in fact, God extends His grace towards those who trust Him with faith.

What is faith? To have faith is to trust, and more than that, to apply to one's own life. A lifeboat is no good on a sinking ship unless a passenger knows it is there, trusts it can save him, and gets in the boat. So it is with Christ's gift. We must know it is there, trust it, and make it our own.

Thoughts from Camp - Day 3

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Whenever someone starts preaching on sovereignty, let's get real – all the Bible college grads groan. No one loves having their free will stamped on, seeing Calvinism flaunted, or having a predestination discussion in the foyer after church. But God's sovereignty, like all of His attributes, gives us much cause to celebrate.

Consider Esther – a story that unfolds all too perfectly. Esther happens to be the one girl chosen just at the right time. Haman happens to roll past the king's bedroom at just the right time so that he has to parade Mordecai around the city. And then poor Haman ends up throwing himself on the queen just as the king walks back to the banquet table. It's a too-perfect plot with a kicker-twist ending as the good guy steals the bad guys throne and the bad guy gets hung on his own gallows.

Its a story about God's sovereignty. When someone's not in charge, chaos reigns. That's why the last few chapters in Judges contain some grisly stories we don't talk about in Sunday School – no king means sinful chaos. Our hearts are depraved, and if depraved man ran the Earth, depravity would be law.

So praise the Lord that He's in charge. You can fight about free will if you wish, but God's hand always intervenes in time to see His purposes accomplished. Consider Mordecai's words to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Est 4:13-14). Essentially what he is saying is this, God is far too good for His plans to fail because of your fear, failure or incompetence. Your mistakes do nothing to slow down the will of God.

And what is the will of God? It is incomprehensible as a whole, but He has revealed His desire to see the redemption of the lost and the sanctification of the church. He didn't just have a master plan to save the Israelites from Haman, He had a master plan to bring His Son Jesus to the world to provide forgiveness of sins to all men, and to bring his children closer to perfection.

When God is king, depraved man no longer reigns. Which is why the earth still functions and global anarchy hasn't made our world a Lord of the Flies set. But more than that, it's why the depravity of our own hearts isn't consuming us, and why we trust the Lord life's crazy situations end up making us more godly and not more discouraged. God's good when you're not. When the storms of life rage, the God of the weather is sanctifying you. When the battle seems overwhelming, the God of victory is ready to intervene. When the need looms near, the God who provides is ready to give His children all that they need.

So the lost continue to be drawn in. And the redeemed continue to be made holy. Because God is sovereign. And His sovereignty is worth celebrating. As the Christmas carol goes, 'He rules the world with truth and grace.' And when we let Him rule our hearts, the dark shadows of our own vileness begin to flee away and our good king begins to see His will accomplished in our lives. May we praise the Lord today for the goodness of His sovereignty.

Lessons from Camp - Day 2

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

God had warned them – He had told them judgement was coming. The prophet Jeremiah had been telling Israel to repent or face judgement for years. But after being beaten, thrown in a well and rejected by his own family, Jeremiah could only watch as the country of Israel was invaded by Babylon. Would Israel be completely destroyed? It is what they deserved. But our God is a good God, and He preserved a remnant – a precious few taken captive in Babylon.

Among them, four brave young men – Daniel, Hannaniah, Mishael and Azariah. And three of those men (presumably Daniel got out of this somehow) were willing to follow the Lord even unto their death. You know their story – although of course, you know it by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They didn't bow down. The furnace heated up. Three were thrown in the furnace, but four were inside. Nebuchadnezzar saw and believed.

There's a reason why they got to walk with that fourth man in the fire. Its where He always is - at the end of a road of self-sacrifice and total commitment. These three were willing to go there. Willing to die for the sake of following the Lord. And the reward was to meet the Lord Himself.

As descendants of Adam born in the days of a disobedient Israel these men should rightfully have had hearts to cold to feel any love towards their God. But without faltering. they picked up their crosses and followed Him.

Which is what we are called to do. God has asked for nothing less than our whole lives. He demands to be our top priority. He demands the entirety of our service and the entirety of our lives. He demands we choose the flames before bowing a knee to another.

This kind of faith is contrary to our nature. This kind of love for God is not born naturally in our hearts. And we can flip through Psalm 63 and find out how much David loved God, but we don't naturally muster that kind of excitement about the Lord. About deities we imagine, perhaps, but even then only when they appear to have done something that appease our proud and selfish hearts. Not when they call us to fiery furnaces.

So what does it take to follow this God into the flames? Where does that kind of love and self-sacrifice come from? Because no amount of prayer, time in church or understanding of Scripture will produce in us the kind of faith these three men had.

It takes the work of God. The one that created the universe must create again. We need to have new hearts created in us, or we can not even have the kind of faith we need to pick up the cross He is telling us to carry. He demands something from us that He Himself enables. Which is why salvation is such a mysterious and marvellous mystery from our wonderful God.

Kevin Deane
Posting from Camp Mini-Yo-We
Muskoka, Ontario

Lessons from Camp - Day 1

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

When I think of working at camp, I think about bringing an end to conflict. I feel like that's how a cabin leader spends most of their time – splitting up campers who are angry over cheating or mistreatment of each other. Age, race and gender don't seem to affect this problem– it is simply the human condition to have an inherent ability to engage in conflict easily. More than this, as we conflict with each other, we do so while appealing to some understanding of both morals and rules - as we accuse the other of being in the 'wrong,' we assume there is a 'wrong,' and that they should understand it. The human condition of conflict and morality is surely no coincidence – I believe we all share common roots in both our corruption and our desire to see a standard followed.

In the beginning, God created everything. He made the world, and it was perfect. He created two people, Adam and Eve - the source of our commonality. When God put them on the earth, He gave them one rule - 'do not eat the fruit of the tree.' Now God is an eternal God. And this is an eternal rule. Naturally, the punishment for breaking the eternal law of an eternal God must be an eternal one. No amount of time in prison (or other finite punishment) is going to satisfy an eternal God's justice. The only punishment that could fit the crime was an eternal one - someone had to die.

But God is a good God, and He had mercy on Adam. Someone had to die, so God took a lamb, killed the lamb and clothed Adam and Eve. He counted the death of the lamb as Adam's death, and Adam lived.

What Adam and Eve had done was tried to take the place of God. They had made their own rules. They promoted themselves to the position of God. They usurped His authority and this condition – this desire to be better than God – was passed on to their children. It became the permanent condition of humanity to, in our hearts, replace God with ourselves. Adam and Eve's first son killed their second son, because even after one generation he wanted to take the position of the Creator and be the one to decide who could live and who could die.

Several years later we come to the story of Noah in a day when men are described as being continually wicked, day in and day out, and this grieved God. God was going to judge, again. They had broken His rules, and they deserved to die. Men were breaking the eternal law of an eternal God - they deserved to die. But just like God had been willing to make a way of escape for Adam, He was willing to do that again. He told Noah how to build a boat, and there was a way of escape from the coming judgement.

For us today, not much has changed. We are born with this corruption and desire to make our own rules. We don't believe we are made in God's image, we imagine a god created in our own image. For example, take a look at the ten commandments and compare them to your own life. Keeping the ten commandments does not make us righteous, but breaking them does show us we are unrighteous.

But God has provided a way of escape. And this plan has been unfolding throughout time and throughout Scripture. The Bible, in one masterful story, reveals to us the character of God and the condition of humanity. But more than that, it reveals God's slowly unfolding plan to redeem all men and draw them back to Himself. It reveals His ultimate plan to provide not a lamb and not a boat, but His Son to be the way of escape from the coming judgement of God.

Thought of the day:

We are corrupt, and because of God's perfection deserve His punishment. But He offers a way of escape. If you crack open your Bible, you'll see His plan slowly unfurled throughout history. 

Kevin Deane
Posting from Camp Mini-Yo-We
Muskoka, Ontario

A Proper Fear of God

"And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite." (2 Samuel 6:6-10 ESV)

The ark was a symbol of both God’s Presence, and His glory. Regulations for carrying the ark had been outlined in Ex. 25, 37, and in several other places in the Torah. In this case, almost every regulation was being broken. Uzzah and the other men were completely dishonoring this important symbol of God’s glory.

This is not a sin of ignorance, it is a sin of disrespect. Uzzah is trivializing God's holiness. He's treating God's commands with carelessness. He has no fear of God. With full knowledge of what He is not supposed to do, Uzzah shows no care for what God thinks. He comes too close and presumes too much. And as they step onto a threshing floor, God 'threshes the wheat,' and Uzzah falls over dead. He has no fear of God, and he dies.

When David sees this, He is immediately terrified. He wants nothing to do with the ark anymore. God just knocked a guy over dead for a simple mistake. And he's like, I don't want go near that kind of God. He sends it to the house of a Gentile because he does not want it in Jerusalem. He's the king of Israel – he is supposed to have it, but he's too scared.

Both Uzzah and David make a mistake in their attitude towards the glory and presence of God. Uzzah has no fear of God, and David is downright afraid of God. God has freely invited men to come into His Presence – He has opened up the door for us to experience His glory, but we must come on His terms and on His conditions. Uzzah has no regard for God’s terms, and David is too terrified to come at all.

When we consider God, we must have a proper fear of Him. We must respect Him, without making Him impersonal. We must care about His rules, without becoming legalistic. Have you ever messed up and felt so guilty you were sure God was going to condemn you right then and there? Don’t be like David and forget God’ love! Do you ever feel like God loves and forgives you, so sinning isn;t a big deal? Don’t be like Uzzah and forget about God’s holiness! We must understand the seriousness of God’s holiness, without forgetting about His love.

We don’t need to live in paralyzing fear of God. But, we also need to be careful to respect and obey Him as the Almighty. We must not be like Uzzah. We must hold God in proper respect. Honour His holiness. We must not be like David. We must not be afraid of God. Remember His love. Fear God without fearing God.