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Tag Archives: Steve Camp

Jeremiah 23:21-17

25 Jun


21 “I have not sent these prophets,
    yet they run around claiming to speak for me.
I have given them no message,
    yet they go on prophesying.
22 If they had stood before me and listened to me,
    they would have spoken my words,
and they would have turned my people
    from their evil ways and deeds.
23 Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the Lord.
    “No, I am far away at the same time.
24 Can anyone hide from me in a secret place?
    Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?”
    says the Lord.

25 “I have heard these prophets say, ‘Listen to the dream I had from God last night.’ And then they proceed to tell lies in my name. 26 How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say. 27 By telling these false dreams, they are trying to get my people to forget me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal.

Jeremiah 23:21-27

Dear God, verse 24 was the verse of the day for Bible Gateway, but I wanted to bring in at least the verses around it. Of course, this is you talking about the false prophets in Jeremiah’s time who were selling the people what they wanted to hear. They were doing it for all the wrong reasons. Acceptance. Influence. Notoriety. Power. Maybe even money. I wonder how many of them took their own hopes and simply ascribed them to you and then told the people, “Jeremiah’s wrong. God loves us. It’s all going to be okay.”

There are people speaking on a national level right now who I don’t trust. I guess it goes back to what Paul said in Galatians 5 about evaluating people based on their fruit. If I see someone claiming to speak for you but their fruit is “19b sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21a envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these,” then I reject them. But if I see “22b love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23a gentleness, and self-control,” then I am more likely to give them credibility.

A couple of weeks ago, I remembered this song from Steve Camp. It basically talks about believing in the wrong people. It made me wonder what he’s been up to lately, and, frankly, I was disappointed to see that nearly 35 years later it seems like he and I would disagree on who is to be trusted and who isn’t.

Father, I am fallible. I make mistakes. I can have bad judgment. I can believe in the wrong people and even the wrong things. I can defend the indefensible and ignore atrocities. Please forgive me. Please, Holy Spirit, help me and teach me. Help me to be what you and the people whose lives my life touches be blessed by you working through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 25, 2026 in Jeremiah

 

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Letter to the Church in Laodicea – Revelation 3:14-22

11 Jul

14 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation:

15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. 18 So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. 19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. 21 Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.

22 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”

Revelation 3:14-22

Dear God, reading this passage is like watching Casablanca. You just hear all of these lines you’ve heard somewhere, but you didn’t know the source. “Here’s looking at you, kid.” “Of all the gin joints in all the world…” “The problems of two little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this world.” In this case we get the stuff about being lukewarm and spewed out of Jesus’s mouth. I correct and discipline everyone I love. I stand at the door and knock. Anyone with ears to here… Yet, with all of this ingrained familiarity with these words, do we heed them?

Every time I hear about the church in Laodicea, I think about the Steve Camp song from the 1980s called “Living in Laodicea.” I just stopped typing to go and listen to the song and, frankly, it didn’t line up with this passage as much as I hoped it would. The song was more about drifting away from you. I don’t think that’s what the church in Laodicea was doing from what is described here. I don’t think they were the world’s friend. I think they were just maintaining the status quo and so inwardly focused that they were losing their saltiness.

For me, it seems like the best way to guard against this is to stick to those top two commandments: Love you with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself. In my mind, that is the best antidote to being lukewarm. That is the best way for me to hear you. And I have to keep them in that order. If I start to lead with serving others then I can get totally distracted by that and you will start to fade. But if I start with you and then lean into seeking your leading in loving others then I think I will find the balance you call me to.

In consulting The Communicator’s Commentary by Earl Palmer on Revelation, he pointed out what a prosperous city Laodicea was. Apparently, a lot of trade happened there and there were many prosperous. Interestingly, I live in a city that many see as prosperous. We are a tourist town with a lot of visitors just about every week of the year. The town has a wonderful veneer and a lot going on because of the tourists. We have a robust community theater and a lot of good restaurants. It’s abnormally sophisticated for a town of 11,000 people 60 miles from the nearest large city. And a lot of wealthy people retire here. Our churches are filled with people who seem to fit the description of the residents in Laodicea. But there is a huge impoverished population here too. Our school district is 62% free or reduced lunch. Our uninsured rate for health insurance ranks 229th out of 255 Texas counties. There are a lot of resources here, but there are a lot of people who need our help and love.

Father, it starts with me. And it’s honestly pretty simple. Love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and love my neighbor as myself. And I have neighbors who need loved. Some of them are friends in need. Some of them are strangers I encounter along the way. I don’t know everything they need, but you do. Help me to hear your voice as I spend time with you and you call me to love them.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 11, 2025 in Revelation

 

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“Living Dangerously In the Hands of God”

08 Jul

“Living Dangerously in the Hands of God” by Steve Camp

How easily Jesus is forgotten
Amid the comfort of my life
How the flames become a flicker
And faith a brilliant disguise
Oh, Sundays become a holiday
Prayer an empty exercise
And the cost of real devotion
Seems so foreign to my life

Oh, to gladly risk it all
Oh, to be faithful to His call
Abandoned to grace
But anchored in His love
Living dangerously in the hands of God

Our Lord, He is a hiding place
His hold is strong and sure
Though the storms may rage around me
In His love I stand secure
So let me live like I believe it
And though my faith is prone to fail
Though I cower under trial
By His grace, I shall prevail

Oh, to gladly risk it all
Oh, to be faithful to His call
Abandoned to grace
But anchored in His love
Living dangerously in the hands of God

There’s safety in complacency
But God is calling us out
Of our comfort zone into a life
Of complete surrender to the cross
To live dangerously
Is not to live recklessly but righteously
And it is because of God’s radical grace for us
That we can risk living a life
Of radical obedience for Him

You’ve got to walk on
For the Lord, He walks with us
You’ve got to walk on
Oh, though it costs you everything
You’ve got to pray on

For the eyes of the Lord
Move to and fro throughout the earth
That He may strongly support those
Whose hearts are completely His

Oh, to gladly risk it all
Oh, to be faithful to His call
Abandoned to grace
But anchored in His love
Living dangerously
Are you living dangerously
Oh, we ought to be living dangerously
In the hands of God

Are you living dangerously
In the hands of God

Dear God, as I get ready to preach later this morning, I feel like this song holds the key to the message you want me to deliver today. I’m preaching to a church in peril. It is hard to come in as a once-a-month preacher and feel like I am doing them any good. Is  there anything I can possibly say today that will have an impact? Will I leave them with words from you? Am I preaching to an audience of one (you), or is there just one person in the audience this morning who will hear a word from you? I cannot waste this opportunity. 

I want to reference multiple parts of this song this morning. I have some time, so I’m going to try to sink my teeth into this song and see how it might apply to the sermon I’ve already prepared.

“…And faith a brilliant disguise…”

One thing I’ve known about myself for a while is that sometimes my faith in you can become more a philosophy by which I live my life rather than a relationship that draws me into pure and true worship. Worship in my words and from my heart, but also worship in how I live my days, relying on you for directly and strength. One of the real dangers is that I put up such a veneer of “faith” that I use it to mask how empty my life is.

“…the cost of real devotion seems so foreign to my life…”

Some would look at my life and see someone who does a lot of giving, but have I really allowed my devotion to cost me what you’ve called me to give up? The answer to this question might be yes, I am doing exactly what you’ve called me to do. But I also know there are times when I subconsciously throw up walls and don’t allow myself to go down a road that might lead to suffering, even if it might be you calling me down that road.

“…though the storms may rage around me, in His love I stand secure…”

I heard a pastor a couple of weeks ago talk about the disciples in the boat with Jesus when there was a big storm and Jesus gave the “Peace, be still” command to the wind and ocean. He said of Jesus talking to the disciples afterward that he didn’t tell them there was nothing to be afraid of. Instead he asked, “Why were you afraid?” Storms are going to come in my life. “In [your] love I stand secure. So let me live like I believe it. And though my faith is prone to fail.”

“…to live dangerously is not to live recklessly, but righteously…”

If I will wake up every morning and seek you, repenting for my mistakes and embracing you in worship then righteous living will lead me exactly where you need me to be. I will make mistakes. I will miss opportunities. But the Holy Spirit will move me as I work out my faith with fear and trembling. I will be drawn to you. I will be moved. 

“…abandoned to grace, but anchored in His love…”

Father, I am abandoned to your grace because it is my only hope. But my abandon does not just allow me to foolishly live my life, taking advantage of your love. My grace and my life and anchored to you. You are guiding me and leading me. You are calling me in every moment. I fail at home with my wife. I fail with my children. I fail at work. I don’t have a right to that failure. That failure is mine and I own it. BUT there is a grace. There is grace in your plan, but if I am going to be at all tolerable in any area of my life, I had better set my anchor straight into you and hold on. I must learn to draw deeper and deeper into you so that I might really understand what to do in any given moment and others might be blessed by my life.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 8, 2018 in Hymns and Songs

 

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