Scruffy and Chiquita tag teamed as our speakers for the Senior High Winter Snow Camp!
Both our camp director and program director are constantly looking for opportunities for further education. In a lecture (Kara Powell) that challenged youth workers to stop asking the questions kids are not asking themselves and to look at what teens are actually wondering, Scruff and Chiquita delved into a Biblical look at the top three things that are troubling teens today.
The first question . . .
Who Am I?
Thankfully, the Bible has a lot to say about this!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 NIV
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
The main passage that Scruffy and Chiquita looked at when considering the question, “Who am I?” was John chapter six and the feeding of the five thousand.
“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” John 6:9
Imagine being that boy with the small lunch. It’s clearly not enough. He isn’t enough . . . but when he places that simple gift into the hands of Jesus, suddenly it is. His lunch is enough. His gift is enough. He is enough to be part of one of the most mind-boggling miracles in the Bible!
“Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” John 6:11-13 NIV
Now, Scruffy’s favorite answer to the question “Who am I” comes from the life of Moses.
In fact, when Moses kills an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, he is asked something very similar.
“The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” Exodus 2:14 NIV
Forty years later, God speaks to Moses from the burning bush and asks him to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses response, the very question the campers were considering.
“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’” Exodus 3:11 NIV
Now, Moses has a variety of excuses. But what is God’s answer to Moses’ question, “Who am I?”
“And God said, ‘I will be with you.'” Exodus 3:12a NIV
The second question Scruffy and Chiquita looked at with the campers was, “Do I belong?”
God addresses this question within Christ’s very name.
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).” Matthew 1:23 NIV
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 NIV
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,” Ephesians 2:19 NIV
The third and final question that Scruffy and Chiquita delved into with the Senior High Snow Camp campers was, “What is my purpose?”
“For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
I Corinthians 3:9
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” Matthew 28:18-20
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1 NIV
After an amazing weekend full of crazy games and fellowship together, they finished up with this thought: “Our purpose comes from knowing we’re invited into God’s greater story!”
From Moses and his doubts to Jesus last words to his disciples, God has so much to say about the questions that trouble us. Just like this group of amazing teens, may you leap into God’s word today and discover all of the ways that the Lord is pursuing a relationship with you!
