To rally, equip and deploy Bay Area Youth to serve in the Kingdom of God as a Biblically-sharpened and spirit-filled positive influences to win souls for Jesus Christ through transformed lives.

Encounter Bay Camp is a Christian Summer Youth Camp with the purpose of preparing young people for the adversity they will face in their formative years to adulthood. The camp provides an environment to equip the youth with foundational teachings toward a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and to provide them wit a memorable and life-changing experience.

Encounter Bay Camp is a collaborative partnership of local Bay Area Christian churches that seeks to unite Bay Area youth in fellowship with Jesus Christ. The youth between the ages of 12-21 gather for a time of Biblical teachings, powerful praise and worship, and fellowship between like-minded believers in Christ Jesus.

Encounter Bay Camp is a time for young people to experience passionate praise and worship, form lasting friendships through fellowship with others, and learn how to deal with life challenges from a Biblical perspective, and gain spiritual refreshment, renewal and transformation through the Love of the Lord.

Encounter Bay Camp's purpose is to ground the youth in God's Word while inspiring them to live for Jesus Christ. The camp will feature powerful, relevant and entertaining messages that lead the youth to have a meaningful understanding of God in their lives, their relationships with family and friends, and to live lives rooted in faith in Jesus Christ. The camp will also include small group sessions to provide a more interactive setting to discuss what was learned and minister to each other in an atmosphere of prayer and meditation. In addition, workshops dealing with topics such as sexual purity, prayer, worship, family, and the power and influence of the media, will be presented to address specific needs of youth believers.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Jesus is Your Qualification for God's Blessings

Deuteronomy 28:2
2And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you... 

God loves to bless you.  He has even declared that “blessings shall come upon you and overtake you.”  This means that you can’t run fast enough to escape them!  When you turn one corner, there is a blessing waiting for you.  When you turn another corner, you run smack into another blessing!

Now, you may think that you don’t qualify for God’s blessings because of the preceding verse which says that these blessings will come to pass only if you diligently obey God’s voice and keep all of His commandments.  You know that no matter how hard you try, you just cannot keep all of God’s commandments.  In fact, the Bible says that if you fail to keep just one commandment, you fail to keep all.  (James 2:10)

Friends, I have good news for you: Jesus is the one who qualifies us for every single blessing because He is the One who kept all of God’s commandments.  When He died for us on the cross, He not only fulfilled all of God’s commandments, He also redeemed us from the curse of the law.  (Galatians 3:13)  Note that He did not redeem us from the blessings of the law, so the blessings are still ours today!

As you read the list of blessings in Deuteronomy 28, starting with “Blessed shall you be in the city...in the country...the fruit of your body...your basket...when you come in...when you go out...”  (Deuteronomy 28:3-13), I believe that Jesus is saying to you, “Like the blessings?  Then take them by faith!”

You may say, “But I don’t deserve them.”  Yes, you don’t deserve them, but you still get them because of Jesus.  That is God’s grace!  The law says, “You must deserve the blessings.”  But the law is no longer here.  Grace is here.  So take the blessings by grace through faith.  Believe God for the blessings.

Today, it is no longer a question of how much or how well you have kept God’s commandments.  It is a question of how much you can believe God for His blessings.  All the promises of God in Christ are “Yes”, and because you are in Christ, you can say “Amen!” to His blessings!  (2 Corinthians 1:20)  No ands, ifs or buts...JUST BELIEVE and you’ll RECEIVE!  Amen!

God Loves You and I Love You! Pastor Erwin

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