Easter camp was a truly awesome time for many of us. There is no doubt about it. Some of us just had lot’s of fun, some of us met new people, some of us felt bonded with the rest of the youth group. Some of us made life changing commitments to Jesus, some of us made recommitments after going astray. Some of us simply came away with food for thought. No-one left Easter camp untouched by God’s work.

It was fun, it was exciting, and at times it was so nice to be living in a world for 5 days where everything seemed holy and righteous, everything seemed so God centred, we could let God be number one and there were 2000 other people who would support it. We could go up to people and talk about our church and youth group with a sense of pride, we weren’t embarrassed. We could tell our Christian jokes, and wear our Christian t-shirts, we could feel like we were part of something that would change the world. And it was inspiring.

We saw the Holy Spirit move, we saw demons being exorcised, we talked about God and about Jesus and about how we really felt that life would be different now. We came back and we repented before him, because we sensed that he was at work.

For 5 days, God was the best thing ever.

20 days have past. How do you feel now?

We deliberately left this service till three weeks after camp because we know that what you are feeling now is radically different to what you felt straight after camp.

One week back at school and Easter camp seems like distant history. 20 days. 20 days people and what we felt at Easter camp seems to have got lost somewhere.

The difference between Easter camp and what we experience everyday is dramatic for most of us, so much so that I read on the Easter camp forums on the internet that someone wished that every day was like Easter camp.

But the reality is far from the truth.

I want to quote a guy named “CREEDY” who posted on the forum.

i LOVE eastercamp! problem is, i also LOVE street racing/burnouts, sex, and alcohol. i like the christian ideals, i go to youthgroups but i can't seem to stick to these principles etc. BUT at the end of the day i will pray for forgiveness, but then i go on living my life the way it is i'm sure there are many others who are in a situation like mine! after eastercamp, i went off, clocked my bubble wagon at 190kph and had sex! Hmm not the ideal way to act after an awesome christian experience such as eastercamp! oh well that's my testimony! sorry peoples.................

I don’t think he is alone. And I suspect that many in our youth group and church community share the same issue. There’s a sense where we go come along to something like Easter Camp and get caught up in the moment but when we come back to real life, things are no different.

At camp they have bright lights, incredibly experienced musicians, a pumped up atmosphere and they have amazing speakers. All of that is great – for a youth camp and that’s all. It should be a highlight and a good time. And it should be a time when decisions are made. But don’t be fooled. God never intended our Christian lives to look like Easter camp all the time. We went to Camp expecting God to move, our hearts were open to him and we heard. But that’s not Easter camp that did that, it has more to do with the attitude we took there. My theory is this, that when we expect God to move, when we are open to his spirit, then we will find that he does. It’s not often that we will be blinded by a light from heaven without our expecting it.

Over Easter we escaped into a different world. We took time out from our normal lives, which is a good thing, but our normal lives are what we live the rest of the time. And if you are anything like me, it’s a challenge to be a Christian during the rest of life because when we’re honest life isn’t always easy.

I think that nowadays we tend to go from conference to conference as Christians. Highlight to highlight. Hype to hype. And it’s dangerous, because the amazing plan that God has for us is this: Love God and love people. That’s actually not very fancy at all.

And that is the crunch. Because everyday we have got to make the gritty decision to love the people who hate us or don’t like us. Everyday we have got to make the decision to love the people who are poor not just financially, but also emotionally. Everyday we have got to make up our minds to not despise people because of their differences to us : the physically impaired, the immigrants, the geeks and nerds at school, the bullies and the rednecks. Yep, Everyday we have got to make up our mind to submit ourselves at the foot of the cross and let Jesus teach us how to love everyone how he loves them. That is hard work when you are living normal life.

World peace won’t come from going to conferences and Easter camps, it will come from each of us making a stand for God’s rule everyday.

And that is difficult because it’s costly. Because it means saying to someone, especially someone that you think is cool, “I don’t think you should make fun of that person.” “Don’t mock Jesus in front of me.” “I am a Christian and I’m serious about my relationship with Jesus.” “I’m not going to work on Sunday, or over Easter because those days are religiously significant to me.” The risk is, and it’s often the way, they will look at you like you’re a religious fanatic. They might even say that they respect us . . . but they will still marginalise us. I know that. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have the right to say it. Those who mock and despise us should not be the ones who dictate the importance of our faith.

That’s part of God’s amazing plan for our lives. To live our faith in the midst of those who don’t know Jesus.

There is the problem, because that is not Easter camp or conferences : it’s not even church. It’s living our faith in the day to day drag of life. That is scary but its also where the rewards are. Because it is at the ordinary level that this world will change.

That’s the first of two things I want to say to you. That God’s amazing for your life is to love him and love people. That’s it. Everything else stems from there. What you do job wise, sport wise, relationship wise, church wise, youth group wise has it’s is measured against that purpose for your life. Love God, love people.

The second thing I want to say is that it is very difficult to sustain a meaningful faith without being part of a church.

Do you remember that verse that got quoted at Easter Camp from Jeremiah 29? “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the lord, “plans for good and not evil, to give you a future a hope?” It’s a great verse that has been prayed over people for years. And it’s cool because people take it personally as being that God has a special plan for them to give them a future and a hope, and they look at their future jobs and stuff and work out whether it’s in this plan. And on one level that’s cool because submitting your choices to God is part of loving him and people. God does give me a future and a hope : I trust in him to lead me through life. But thing is that that is only a part of what the verse is about.

Hear me out on this. One of the biggest problems with the English language is that the word “you” is both singular and plural. If I say to Julia and we’re at home “you are incredibly loving” she knows I’m saying that she’s incredibly loving. if I say in this pulpit “you are incredibly loving” then you all know that as a congregation, I think you are incredibly loving. You means two different things depending on the context.

In some ways I wish that we could dumb down the English language to make the difference more clear. If I could say “yous are incredibly loving”, or “y’all are incredibly loving” it would that would help.

The word you in the verse of Jeremiah is you plural. It could read, “for I know the plans I have for y’all. Plans to give y’all a future and a hope.” “for I know the plans I have for you all. Plans to give you all a future and a hope.” How different is that? Radically different.

It means that God’s plans in this verse were for a group of people. It was a purpose for a nation, to give a nation a future and a hope. Individuals will feel it, sure, but they are part of a greater this thing. It’s a hope that is sourced in a group of people.

If you think I’m being obscure, reread the New Testament. All of the letters that are addressed to churches : Romans, Corinthians, Philippians, Galatians etc are to a group of people. 1 john, 2 John, 3 John all written to groups of people. In fact the only books that don’t use the word you in plural form are the letters to Timothy, Philemon and Titus. The New Testament is mostly written to groups of Christians in churches.

When you as an individual become a Christian you are becoming part of this bigger body of people. The bible uses the idea of the church being the body of Christ made up of many parts. We all have important and distinctive roles and functions. But it’s better than that.

God is working in the world through not just you as an individual. But through the church which is made up of all of us! The world does not depend on you as an individual for it to be saved, but on us as a group of Christians. Thank goodness for that!

It means that our problems are the church’s problems. It means that we need to support each other. Our decision to be Christian is something that affects everyone here. Our personal choices actually have a broader effect. We are part of a community. Look around you. Actually look across the aisle. We are all in this together. That person opposite you is part of your church community and they have something precious to offer you.

We have made commitment to Jesus a very personal and individual thing. And as a result of that we often start thinking what difference am I going to make to this world. But I think it needs to be more than that. I think we as a church should be saying “what difference will we be making to this world.” How can we do this with all the gifts and talents at our disposal. Suddenly we start supporting each other. Because we make a decision as a group of Christians to make a difference in this world.

You see, I think that if we are not careful these conferences and highlights in our Christian journey make our otherwise hum drum lives seem insignificant and less spiritual. We expect God to work in those big events. But we don’t come to church expecting to experience God’s presence : even though his presence is still here! We don’t go home to our bedrooms expecting to sense God’s presence, but his presence is still there! God is accessible 24/7. we don’t need special events to tap into him—though they can be helpful—but they are not necessary. God is accessible to us 24/7. The reason he seemed so present at Easter camp is because we expected it to be that way.

So the problem isn’t that we need to go to conferences, we need to learn to expect Jesus to be just around the corner in the everyday stuff and the hum drum of a church that doesn’t do hype very well, but it does do support and discipling incredibly.

Mt Albert Baptist doesn’t do tribal wars. Mt Albert Baptist doesn’t have a wicked polished worship band. Mt Albert Baptist doesn’t have amazing speakers who really inspire us each week. Mt Albert Baptist is a church that exists with a mission: to equip and send out followers of Jesus to impact our communities and the world. There’s nothing flashy about that, but it is truly wonderful because that is loving God and loving people.

We pray for each other, we support each other, we help each other through the tough times through listening or helping. We are focussed on those who need help. We are committed to loving those around us and supporting each other when that is just too hard. When people come through those doors, they bring with them pain, and failure, and insecurities, and even sin. And we ought to be encountering God’s love in each other because we should be dishing out his love in huge quantities. And we do, and we can do better. But the point is this: we need to be expecting God to be working in our church here and now. Because this is the body of Christ.

I’m going to be blunt. If you can’t feel God’s presence during the worship, my guess is that it’s probably not the band that has the problem. This is God’s church. Warts and all. My opinion is that if you can’t find what you’re looking for here, I doubt you’ll find it anywhere else.

I think that if you commit to sticking it out with this church—even though it’s not as flashy as some other events, I think that you will discover that God works in mysterious ways. But you need to throw yourself into it. Don’t just dip your toes in the water and say it’s too cold. Jump in and be refreshed. There are some exciting things ahead for this church. Don’t wait to be a part of what is happening.

So I’m going to challenge you. Are you prepared to stick at it for the long haul? Are you prepared to start expecting God to work in the day to day rather than just in the hype? Are you ready to start nailing your colours to the mast and make the decision to follow Jesus at every point of every day? Are you prepared to let this church support you through the journey? Are you prepared to support the others in this church?

Are you prepared to commit to God’s amazing plan for your life : to love him and love people? It’s costly. And some of you already know that. But will you commit?

Come down to the front and write your name and address on one of these envelopes. Write the biggest stumbling block in your life on the piece of paper and put it in the envelope and seal it. Then lay it at the foot of the cross. At some point in the future you will receive your letter back. If you want someone to pray for you, then come and sit down here and myself or a pastor, or someone from the prayer team will come and pray with you.

BLESSING

You are God's servants gifted with dreams and visions.

Upon you rests the grace of God like flames of fire.

Love and serve the Lord in the strength of the Spirit.

May the deep peace of Christ be with you,

The strong arms of God sustain you,

And the power of the Holy Spirit strengthen you in every way.

Amen