equipped to…

what have you been equipped to do???

i’ve been going through several different studies lately. some are from the blue letter bible institute, some are from different audio sermons, and some have been in books i’ve been reading (btw, i finally updated my reading list in the sidebar). all of these studies have been encouraging, challenging, and quite helpful. one recurring theme i’m finding, though, is that of being a servant (i guess the fancy word for this is minister).

it is my firm conviction that each of us is called into the ministry.

tuesday night part II

it’s wednesday, which means we just had another tuesday night meeting…

it was probably one of the more unusual tuesday nights we’ve had in a while. check that, it was probably the most unusual ever. as i mentioned in my last post, typically a tuesday night you can find us going through a chapter or at least half a chapter of the bible. once again, we did more of a topical study. this was part II in our study, encouraging the students to live out the christian life and to share that with the people they come in contact with and run across throughout the week. last week we spent our time discussing the call, or mission, of the christian (and the church). this tuesday, we spent our time looking at how to apply it in a practical way.

i started by showing a short clip from nacho libre which i think is very funny.

c’mon, it’s related to what we’re talking about. really! well, at least its really funny. how do we go about sharing the gospel with others? is dunking their face in water enough? absolutely not. i took the students through the romans road, emphasizing three major points in the gospel presentation.

first, sin. if someone doesn’t realize their sin, how can they see their need for a savior? (rom. 3:23)

second, consequence. so i’ve sinned. what does it matter? sin bears a consequence. that consequence is eternal separation from God. (rom. 6:23)

last, the way to be made right with God. you have sinned. that sin has consequences. how do you deal with your sin? you don’t, you allow Jesus to take care of it. all you need to do is confess your sin and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. (rom. 10:9)

we ended the night by allowing the kids to practice what we talked about. it was really quite entertaining. i gave the students props and asked them to use that prop as a conversation starter and share the gospel from there. one student had a transformer and talked about our need to be transformed. one student had a tape measure and talked about the great gap between us and God, and Jesus as the bridge. all the students were quite creative in their presentations.

tuesday night

for the last 2 years, i’ve spent my tuesday night teaching the high school youth at our church…

before that, i was teaching on wednesday and sunday. ever since i started i have been going through the bible, one book at a time. last week i did something out of the ordinary, i did a topical study. i haven’t ever done that on a tuesday before. sure, there have been times at retreats and special events where i’ve taught a topical study, but never before on a tuesday night.

i’m not against topical studies, but i find that often it leads to the pastor/teacher majoring on the minor points of the bible and minoring on the majors. plus, for someone who lacks any ounce of creativity, going through chapter by chapter saves me a lot of worry throughout the week.

so why did i do it last week? God impressed it upon me. i would have to say that in the months and years that i have been able to teach the bible, i have never had one thing consume my mind in the weeks prior like i did this topic. i originally planned on tackling this topic two weeks ago, but the Lord must have had a few more things to tell me before i passed it on to the group, so he made me sick that week. looking back, i think (know) it was good, because in that week it became a lot less about my frustrations with the group and more about God’s heart for them.

so you probably want to know what the topic was, don’t you? here it is: MISSION

in the two years we have been meeting on tuesday nights, i have seen only a small handful of students not associated with our church come to youth group. to me, this is troubling. after all, part of our statement of purpose as a youth group is to equip the students so they can multiply and make more disciples. sadly, this is one thing i have noticed to be quite lacking.

we got our text from Romans 9:3, where paul says that he would willingly go to hell if only his fellow countrymen could be saved. when i read that, i was strongly convicted. i asked myself, “how many nights have you laid awake concerned about the salvation of the lost? how much time have you committed in prayer for the unsaved?” my answer, honestly, was not enough nights, nor enough time.

i firmly believe that last tuesday was a turning point for our youth ministry (as well as for myself).  i need to come alongside these kids and help them develop their gifts and talents.  even more, i need to give them opportunity to invite friends to different activities.  how can i expect the students to be doing these things when i don’t help give them any opportunities?  as a youth leadership team, we are working on finding ways that we can help our students by giving them a place where they can reach out to their classmates and friends.  our first step toward this goal is by starting a once per month outreach night for the youth; something low-key and fun where students can invite friends.

if you want to read a quick overview of our study from last week, click here.  tonight we tackle part 2 of this study, how to apply what we learned last week about the call and mission of the christian.