"I just wanted to thank you one last time for all that you've done this summer for me. It's been awesome and you've done great... and I know that you'll be great wherever you are."
So as many of you know, I've been interning at my church at home this summer. It's been really awesome. I had some ups where I loved coming in every morning to my internship, and I had some downs where I did not want to be there, thought I wouldn't show it, and I wasn't sure if anyone could pick up on that fact. A couple of things throughout were constant encouragements to me.
The first thing, was a growing relationship with Christ. Before my internship, I would not say that I was in a daily devotion to the One that I wanted to serve with the rest of my life. On the first day of my internship, Dewbe challenged and encouraged me to start off with that; to make sure my day started off reading scripture and praying. I took it to heart, and it has never been more satisfying. God spoke to me many times through these times where I was meditating on His word and conversing with Him. God kept revealing Himself to me in many ways, and I had the chance to communicate some of these things to students a few times. These times encouraged me, gave me peace, refreshed me just when I needed it.
The second constant was the praise and encouragement I received from my friend and mentor, Dewbe. I don't think he realizes the impact the words he has spoken to me this summer has impacted me, and changed me. Constant words of encouragement and praises to others about me filled his speech, even to people I barely know. Dewbe probably doesn't know it, but each time he said something, it lifted me, it encouraged me, it blessed me. He constantly told me that he believes that I am going to be a great youth pastor, and that I am pretty much ready. I remember each one as if it had just came off of his lips so nonchallantly. These words were so impactful because I tend to get discouraged easily and believe lies that creep into my head that tell me I'm not meant to be a youth pastor. I experienced how much God loves me and how he made me exactly for this through Dewbe this summer. The confirmation in my mind has been overwhelming from him. Don't get me wrong, I know I will fail at some things, and succeed at others, but it is all part of the learning and growing process.
In conclusion, I've had two constant encouragers in my time here in Brentwood this summer, one who was doing his best to become more like the other. These constant encouragers were Christ, and Dewbe. I love both of them dearly. Because of them, I now know the importance of encouragement in the life of the believer.
Lord, I thank you for constantly lifting me up this summer and blessing me. I thank you so much for Dewbe and his constant encouragement. I pray that you continue to bless him and the ministry he partakes in here in Brentwood. I pray that you would continue to give him a heart to encourage others and see them succeed. I pray that you would continue to pour out your Spirit on Dewbe and his family so that they may continue to love You by loving others. Protect them and bless them. I pray these things in the name of your Son: Jesus Christ. Amen.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Livin' Out Our Faith Aint Easy
So guys, in the spirit of me writing big long sermons on here... this is my latest sermon that I preached this past sunday and wednesdays at youth groups. This is basically what I typed up, but I didn't follow it to the T... but had all the same basic concepts and everything. Lemme know what you think.
Livin’ By Faith A’int Easy: 1 Peter 4:12-19
These past few weeks, Dewbe has been talking to you guys about faith. The first week Dewbe spoke about putting our faith into action—paying it forward to somebody. Last week, he spoke a little bit about what real faith is. This week, I want to talk to you about how our faith can be hard to live. Lets bow our heads and pray. Pray. So when I was a little kid my older brothers and I used to play games. We frequently acted out Bible stories to impress our parents because they thought we were kinda stupid. My older brothers were pretty mischievous, and so whenever we played together, I had to live in faith that they would not hurt me. So do you guys remember the story when James and John are on a boat with Jesus and Jesus tells them to cast the fish nets on the other side and they will have a great catch? They end up doing it and they catch so much fish that they can barely pull in the nets? Well, my brothers and I acted that story out, except… I was not James or John, but a big fish. They way we would act this out is: my brothers would climb up onto the top bunk of their bed and throw a big blanket over the side pretending it was a fish net and that Jesus had just told them to throw it out. I, being the stellar actor that I am, would pretend to be a fish, and I would “swim” into the blanket, but really I would just climb into it. My brothers would then continue the scene by pulling me up on the bed. I always had a lot of fun doing this, though it was a little bit scary. My older brothers, who are twins I must add, got a little bored of this, and so they schemed against me, like all twins would do, to drop me when they almost had me to the top. They tried a few times, but I would be sitting in the blanket and I would kinda just catch myself. They really wanted to hurt me so they convinced me to lay down and close my eyes. I made them promise that they wouldn’t drop me, and when they did I believed them… I never should’ve. So anyways, I get in the blanket, lay down and close my eyes and they start to lift me up. I get almost to the top, and they “accidentally” let go of the blanket, and I drop about 7 feet flat on my back and I hit my head really hard. I think I lost a few brain cells that day, so if I ever seem kinda slow, that’s probably why. The point is, from that day on, I lived in fear that my brothers would hurt me when we played games because I had lived in faith that they wouldn’t. For some of us, living by our faith in God can seem scary. When we actually live out our faith, it should move us to action, to do something, to “pay it forward” to someone, like Dewbe talked to us about. We start living our lives like Jesus and we start loving people by serving them because Matthew 20:28 says, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” and this can be scary to us because we don’t know what other people will do to us when they see us doing this kind of stuff. We are too afraid to sit with the loser at lunch because people will make fun of us and our “cool” reputation will be lost. We are too afraid to pray for someone because we don’t want to be called a “Jesus Freak.” You see what I’m getting at? When our faith calls us to do something, it isn’t always easy to do.
A guy named Peter wrote 2 books in the New Testament. The first book he wrote—1 Peter, go figure—was written to a group of Christians who were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. In chapter 4 starting at verse 12, he writes:
12Dear friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don't be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. 13Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory. 14If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15None of you, however, should suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a meddler. 16But if [anyone suffers] as a Christian, he should not be ashamed, but should glorify God with that name. 17For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? 18And if the righteous is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? 19So those who suffer according to God's will should, in doing good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.
These Christians that Peter is writing to were discouraged and ashamed to live their faith because of the persecutions, floggings, and insults that were coming their way because they believed in Jesus Christ. Now, I know we don’t face death like some of these people did, but I have lived through Jr. High and High School and I know how mean and hurtful people can be with their words and actions. This can be very discouraging to us if we are trying to live out our faith, and we ask God why it is happening.
There are a few things that I want to point out to you tonight. The first is that living out our faith isn’t easy because we are afraid to suffer. Just like the Christians that Peter wrote to, we are afraid to live out our faith because of the things that might happen to us. The Christians that Peter wrote to faced death, torture, insults, and other forms of persecution. We don’t face anything nearly as intense as what they did, guys. We, however, are too afraid of what our friends and others will do to us. Our pride and reputation as being cool or popular is too important to us, to humble ourselves and live our life for God and love people, study our Bibles, and even pray because they aren’t the popular or cool thing to do. We are too afraid to suffer.
The funny thing is, when we live out our faith, we will suffer! I’m not saying this to scare you guys or anything, but Peter points that out in this passage. And this is the second thing that I want to point out: that suffering should be expected. Verses 12 and 13 say, “Dear friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don't be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.” Peter is pointing out that when we experience “fiery ordeals” we should not act as if they were never supposed to happen—we should expect them. You may be thinking… Okay James, I’m getting most of what you are saying, but what are the fiery ordeals that this passage is talking about? Well, you need only look to the next verse where it says that as we “share in the sufferings of the Messiah” we are to rejoice. If you didn’t know, Christ suffered a lot. Before he was nailed to the cross, he was stripped and beaten; mocked and spit upon; insulted and ridiculed. These are the things that we are joining into with Christ when we come to believe in Him. Isn’t that kinda scary? We should expect that we might go through these things to have our faith tested? And we are supposed to rejoice when they happen?!?! That seems kinda crazy if you asked me! This leads me to the last thing I want to point out!
When we suffer for our faith in Christ, we are blessed! This seems crazy too!!! How can we be blessed when people are hurling insults at us, humiliating us, and degrading us to the bottom of the food chain at school? The next verse says, “If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” Be encouraged guys!!! I wish someone would have told me this sooner, or I would have taken my faith seriously sooner and had come upon this verse earlier in my faith! For so long, guys, I wondered if the Spirit of God was in me because I didn’t do anything and I didn’t love other people; I was afraid to live out my faith because I didn’t want to get made fun of or be labeled as a stuck up, judgmental Christian. Guys, don’t be afraid to live your faith out at school in front of your peers! Be bold and know that even if you are insulted, ridiculed, mocked, or looked down upon because of your faith in Jesus Christ, that the Spirit of God is inside of you and people recognize it in you. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power and love…” You guys have the power inside of you to do great things for God through your faith because the Spirit of God is inside of you if you believe in Him and aren’t afraid to live your faith and love people.
I want to tell you guys a story of a girl who was not afraid to live her faith and believe in God, even at the threat of death. Some of you may have heard about this girl before. About 10 years ago, in 1999, two teenage male students walked into Columbine High School’s library with semi-automatic weapons and opened fire on students, killing 12 and injuring many others, before they shot and killed themselves. Before they had killed themselves, they found one girl, Cassie Bernall underneath a table. One of the gunmen pointed a gun at her head and asked her a question. He asked Cassie, “Do you believe in God?” Her answer was, “Yes.” Before she could say anything else, the gunman immediately shot her and killed her. You see, it took Cassie a lot of faith to answer yes to that question in the face of death. Out of fear for her life, she could have answered “No,” and possibly lived. Instead, with the power she had through the Spirit of God, she answered “Yes,” because she understood that she was blessed in that moment, and that she was going to go to heaven to be with God himself if she was killed.
You guys, I’m not trying to scare you guys with all of this. I want you guys to realize what God has given you in the Holy Spirit. I want you guys to realize that you do not have to be afraid of being insulted or mocked or ridiculed because you choose to love people and serve them. Livin’ out our faith aint easy guys. I’ll be honest with you right there. It aint easy. That doesn’t mean we have to live in fear. You see, we are God’s children. We belong to Him. He wants us to live out our faith in power. We are blessed when get insulted, mocked, or ridiculed because we are living our faith in power. Don’t be afraid guys.
So what does this mean for you guys???
Maybe you love God, yet faith seems easy for you to live. You read your Bible every morning and pray, yet at school you do nothing to show the love that God has for people. Or maybe you just hang out with your other Christian friends, and so living your faith in these ways seems easy. I want you to encourage you guys to step out in your faith and love someone that doesn’t know God. But realize this, you may get discouraged by your peers around you who don’t know God and don’t understand what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid of that happening. Know that it might happen. But be encouraged when it does happen that you are blessed and God’s Spirit lives inside of you. Maybe you’ve stepped out and “paid it forward” to someone and you didn’t suffer anything for it. That’s cool, but don’t stop there. Keep stepping out, and don’t be surprised when the mockery and insults come. Know that you are blessed because the Spirit of God is inside of you. Maybe you have tried to live out your faith, and you did get mocked or insulted because of it. Don’t let that stop you from continuing to live your faith out. Know that it was supposed to happen. Know that you are blessed. Know that the Spirit of God lives inside of you and gives you the power to continue to love God by loving other people. You guys, the last verse in this passage says, “So those who suffer according to God's will should entrust themselves to a faithful Creator and continue to do good.” Entrust yourselves to God and know that He has everything in control, and continue to love people in the face of hardship. Let’s pray!
Livin’ By Faith A’int Easy: 1 Peter 4:12-19
These past few weeks, Dewbe has been talking to you guys about faith. The first week Dewbe spoke about putting our faith into action—paying it forward to somebody. Last week, he spoke a little bit about what real faith is. This week, I want to talk to you about how our faith can be hard to live. Lets bow our heads and pray. Pray. So when I was a little kid my older brothers and I used to play games. We frequently acted out Bible stories to impress our parents because they thought we were kinda stupid. My older brothers were pretty mischievous, and so whenever we played together, I had to live in faith that they would not hurt me. So do you guys remember the story when James and John are on a boat with Jesus and Jesus tells them to cast the fish nets on the other side and they will have a great catch? They end up doing it and they catch so much fish that they can barely pull in the nets? Well, my brothers and I acted that story out, except… I was not James or John, but a big fish. They way we would act this out is: my brothers would climb up onto the top bunk of their bed and throw a big blanket over the side pretending it was a fish net and that Jesus had just told them to throw it out. I, being the stellar actor that I am, would pretend to be a fish, and I would “swim” into the blanket, but really I would just climb into it. My brothers would then continue the scene by pulling me up on the bed. I always had a lot of fun doing this, though it was a little bit scary. My older brothers, who are twins I must add, got a little bored of this, and so they schemed against me, like all twins would do, to drop me when they almost had me to the top. They tried a few times, but I would be sitting in the blanket and I would kinda just catch myself. They really wanted to hurt me so they convinced me to lay down and close my eyes. I made them promise that they wouldn’t drop me, and when they did I believed them… I never should’ve. So anyways, I get in the blanket, lay down and close my eyes and they start to lift me up. I get almost to the top, and they “accidentally” let go of the blanket, and I drop about 7 feet flat on my back and I hit my head really hard. I think I lost a few brain cells that day, so if I ever seem kinda slow, that’s probably why. The point is, from that day on, I lived in fear that my brothers would hurt me when we played games because I had lived in faith that they wouldn’t. For some of us, living by our faith in God can seem scary. When we actually live out our faith, it should move us to action, to do something, to “pay it forward” to someone, like Dewbe talked to us about. We start living our lives like Jesus and we start loving people by serving them because Matthew 20:28 says, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” and this can be scary to us because we don’t know what other people will do to us when they see us doing this kind of stuff. We are too afraid to sit with the loser at lunch because people will make fun of us and our “cool” reputation will be lost. We are too afraid to pray for someone because we don’t want to be called a “Jesus Freak.” You see what I’m getting at? When our faith calls us to do something, it isn’t always easy to do.
A guy named Peter wrote 2 books in the New Testament. The first book he wrote—1 Peter, go figure—was written to a group of Christians who were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. In chapter 4 starting at verse 12, he writes:
12Dear friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don't be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. 13Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory. 14If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15None of you, however, should suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a meddler. 16But if [anyone suffers] as a Christian, he should not be ashamed, but should glorify God with that name. 17For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? 18And if the righteous is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? 19So those who suffer according to God's will should, in doing good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.
These Christians that Peter is writing to were discouraged and ashamed to live their faith because of the persecutions, floggings, and insults that were coming their way because they believed in Jesus Christ. Now, I know we don’t face death like some of these people did, but I have lived through Jr. High and High School and I know how mean and hurtful people can be with their words and actions. This can be very discouraging to us if we are trying to live out our faith, and we ask God why it is happening.
There are a few things that I want to point out to you tonight. The first is that living out our faith isn’t easy because we are afraid to suffer. Just like the Christians that Peter wrote to, we are afraid to live out our faith because of the things that might happen to us. The Christians that Peter wrote to faced death, torture, insults, and other forms of persecution. We don’t face anything nearly as intense as what they did, guys. We, however, are too afraid of what our friends and others will do to us. Our pride and reputation as being cool or popular is too important to us, to humble ourselves and live our life for God and love people, study our Bibles, and even pray because they aren’t the popular or cool thing to do. We are too afraid to suffer.
The funny thing is, when we live out our faith, we will suffer! I’m not saying this to scare you guys or anything, but Peter points that out in this passage. And this is the second thing that I want to point out: that suffering should be expected. Verses 12 and 13 say, “Dear friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don't be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.” Peter is pointing out that when we experience “fiery ordeals” we should not act as if they were never supposed to happen—we should expect them. You may be thinking… Okay James, I’m getting most of what you are saying, but what are the fiery ordeals that this passage is talking about? Well, you need only look to the next verse where it says that as we “share in the sufferings of the Messiah” we are to rejoice. If you didn’t know, Christ suffered a lot. Before he was nailed to the cross, he was stripped and beaten; mocked and spit upon; insulted and ridiculed. These are the things that we are joining into with Christ when we come to believe in Him. Isn’t that kinda scary? We should expect that we might go through these things to have our faith tested? And we are supposed to rejoice when they happen?!?! That seems kinda crazy if you asked me! This leads me to the last thing I want to point out!
When we suffer for our faith in Christ, we are blessed! This seems crazy too!!! How can we be blessed when people are hurling insults at us, humiliating us, and degrading us to the bottom of the food chain at school? The next verse says, “If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” Be encouraged guys!!! I wish someone would have told me this sooner, or I would have taken my faith seriously sooner and had come upon this verse earlier in my faith! For so long, guys, I wondered if the Spirit of God was in me because I didn’t do anything and I didn’t love other people; I was afraid to live out my faith because I didn’t want to get made fun of or be labeled as a stuck up, judgmental Christian. Guys, don’t be afraid to live your faith out at school in front of your peers! Be bold and know that even if you are insulted, ridiculed, mocked, or looked down upon because of your faith in Jesus Christ, that the Spirit of God is inside of you and people recognize it in you. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power and love…” You guys have the power inside of you to do great things for God through your faith because the Spirit of God is inside of you if you believe in Him and aren’t afraid to live your faith and love people.
I want to tell you guys a story of a girl who was not afraid to live her faith and believe in God, even at the threat of death. Some of you may have heard about this girl before. About 10 years ago, in 1999, two teenage male students walked into Columbine High School’s library with semi-automatic weapons and opened fire on students, killing 12 and injuring many others, before they shot and killed themselves. Before they had killed themselves, they found one girl, Cassie Bernall underneath a table. One of the gunmen pointed a gun at her head and asked her a question. He asked Cassie, “Do you believe in God?” Her answer was, “Yes.” Before she could say anything else, the gunman immediately shot her and killed her. You see, it took Cassie a lot of faith to answer yes to that question in the face of death. Out of fear for her life, she could have answered “No,” and possibly lived. Instead, with the power she had through the Spirit of God, she answered “Yes,” because she understood that she was blessed in that moment, and that she was going to go to heaven to be with God himself if she was killed.
You guys, I’m not trying to scare you guys with all of this. I want you guys to realize what God has given you in the Holy Spirit. I want you guys to realize that you do not have to be afraid of being insulted or mocked or ridiculed because you choose to love people and serve them. Livin’ out our faith aint easy guys. I’ll be honest with you right there. It aint easy. That doesn’t mean we have to live in fear. You see, we are God’s children. We belong to Him. He wants us to live out our faith in power. We are blessed when get insulted, mocked, or ridiculed because we are living our faith in power. Don’t be afraid guys.
So what does this mean for you guys???
Maybe you love God, yet faith seems easy for you to live. You read your Bible every morning and pray, yet at school you do nothing to show the love that God has for people. Or maybe you just hang out with your other Christian friends, and so living your faith in these ways seems easy. I want you to encourage you guys to step out in your faith and love someone that doesn’t know God. But realize this, you may get discouraged by your peers around you who don’t know God and don’t understand what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid of that happening. Know that it might happen. But be encouraged when it does happen that you are blessed and God’s Spirit lives inside of you. Maybe you’ve stepped out and “paid it forward” to someone and you didn’t suffer anything for it. That’s cool, but don’t stop there. Keep stepping out, and don’t be surprised when the mockery and insults come. Know that you are blessed because the Spirit of God is inside of you. Maybe you have tried to live out your faith, and you did get mocked or insulted because of it. Don’t let that stop you from continuing to live your faith out. Know that it was supposed to happen. Know that you are blessed. Know that the Spirit of God lives inside of you and gives you the power to continue to love God by loving other people. You guys, the last verse in this passage says, “So those who suffer according to God's will should entrust themselves to a faithful Creator and continue to do good.” Entrust yourselves to God and know that He has everything in control, and continue to love people in the face of hardship. Let’s pray!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)