"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Do we really believe Hebrews 13:8? Sure we believe He’s been around from the beginning and will be there at the end but do we live every moment of every day with the faith that He is right there alongside of us? Something causes us to lose the everyday sight of Him and begin to live with a dependence on each other,
worldly things, ourselves – In other words, an independence from Him. To live in a true dependence on Christ, we must believe and rest in His promises and qualities that are forever true.

Day 1: Forever my Redeemer

• Supporting passages: Ephesians 2:8-10, I Corinthians 1:30
• Jesus Christ makes redemption available to his people, allowing the lost to be forgiven of their transgressions and be made whole to live a life glorifying to God. Accepting this gift of grace is often portrayed as not only the initial but also the final step. Obviously the acceptance is vital but also important is believing and resting in the fact that you are now a child of
God who cannot be separated from His love. While we should not “go on sinning” because of this, we should revel in the ultimate timeless love of our Redeemer.
• Goals:
o Using Jesus’ life, expose and explain the ideas of grace and
redemption to the campers.
o Give the campers a clear picture of a life lived under grace. Convey
how a life lived in freedom is different than a life lived under
condemnation.
o Set up the counselors to be able to give the gospel message during Talkback, allowing campers to respond if the Holy Spirit is leading them.

Day 2: Forever my Refiner

• Supporting Passages: Malachi 3:3, Psalm 66:8-12 & I Corinthians 3:11-13, John 15
• Jesus’ nature never changes. He is the one true constant we can rest in. Our nature however should change. Jesus desires to trim and prune us to be vessels to bring glory to His name. We all have ugliness in our lives but when we allow Him to refine the ugliness, not only will we reach the ultimate goal of glorifying Him with our lives, but we will be “brought to a place of abundance.”
• Goals:
o Using Biblical examples, lay out the refining/pruning process
showing the purpose being a love for us and God’s glory.
o Give campers an understanding of the difference between a Biblical
“place of abundance” and a worldly place of abundance.
o Push campers to look for the areas in their life where refining is needed and set up counselors to be able to dig into these during the nightly Talkback.

Day 3: Forever my Comfort

• Supporting Passages: Psalm 23:3-6, II Corinthians 1:3-5, Psalm 136, Romans 5:1-5
• Residing in Christ in no way excludes us from experiencing pain, suffering, trials and tribulation. We will experience times of mourning, bewilderment, anger and hurt. As opposed to non-believers however, we have a hope in something bigger and can rest knowing that the love of our Creator endures forever. There is a higher purpose in the trials that allows us to find hope for ourselves and for others in even the bleakest of situations.
• Goals:
o Breakdown the idea that while the trials of believers and non-
believers may look very similar, the eternal comforting nature and hope in Christ is what should bring Christians through differently.
o Provide campers applicable scripture, truths and tools to aid them when trials come in their life or in their friends’ or families lives.
o Help set up counselors to be able to share during Talkback and Testimonies about the times in their lives where Christ has been their comfort.

Day 4: Forever my King

• Supporting Passages: Psalm 47:7, Luke 4:8, Luke 9:23, John 18:36-37, Philippians 2:9-11
• In our society it’s hard to imagine what it was like to follow a true king – an unquestioned ruler over our lives. But scripture makes it clear that Christ is that ruler, the King who’s words and life are our example. But what truly does Jesus mean when he says “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”? Do we really have to deny our own desires at times and submit to the cross? If we are
a part of the Kingdom of God, then He is our rightful King and we must follow His lead.
• Goals:
o Show campers the worthiness of Jesus as our King with the goal of encouraging them to follow Him wherever they are, in whatever circumstance they are in.
o Explain what it means to truly live out Luke 9:23.
o Set up counselors to be able to push campers specifically toward seeing the need for and a willingness to live out Luke 9:23.

Day 5: Forever my Calling

• Supporting Passages: I Peter 3:15, John 13:13-15, John 15:13, II Timothy 1:6-7, II Peter 1:10, Ephesians 1:17-20, Ephesians 2:10
• Assuming we now understand the eternal nature of Jesus as our Redeemer, Refiner, Comfort and King, we must now decide how we are going to respond to that knowledge. Scripture outlines a number of ways we can serve Him with our lives but how do we specifically know when, where and how to be involved with His mission. Of course this is not an easy question but is an important one to help us answer the question of
“What’s next?”
• Goals:
o Communicate that we each have a calling from Jesus and get
campers to begin exploring what this calling may be.
o Give tools to help kids answer the questions of when, where, what, how in regards to answering God’s calling.
o Set up counselors to continue on these questions during Talkback, also using their own lives and callings as examples for the kids.