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Student Ministry - August 2022

This summer has been a great time for our Student Ministry! We have seen people come to faith in Christ, lives changed, relationships strengthened, new friendships made, and people in need be served. I’m so thankful for the many ways our church has supported and encouraged our students to be intentional Christians who look for ways to live out their faith in obedience to Jesus. Many of these students will take the lessons they learn through these activities and apply them to their lives for years to come. And one day they will be the ones encouraging and supporting the discipleship of the younger generation behind them just as you are doing now.

Isn’t growing in our love for God and helping make disciples what being a Christian is all about? The thing about it is that we don’t just grow in love and disciple making on accident. It takes intentionality. We have to be Christians who are looking and planning, thinking and praying about ways we can love God and share the gospel. We cannot coast in our walk with the Lord. But if we are honest, we would all have to admit that it would be nice if we could coast a little. Maybe just put life on cruise control a little bit and just relax for a second. It can be exhausting constantly peddling the bicycle of life and always feeling like we are pressing uphill endlessly.

When life starts to feel this way, there are at least two things we need to remember so we can continue to grow. The first is that we are not alone. Just like the best bike rides, we are with others on this journey. We have our church family along for the ride, and we can encourage each other not to lose heart. But more importantly than that, we have the Lord with us constantly helping us along the way. Sometimes we can get so focused on the difficulty of life that we forget that we are on an awesome journey with our heavenly Father who loves us and will  never leave us. Just like a child on a bike ride with his dad, we can go anywhere our Father takes us. 

And secondly, we have to remember that just as cars and bicycles have different gears to handle the ups and downs on the road, we must have different “gears” to handle the ups and downs in life. The important part is that we have to make sure we “switch gears.” If we try to live every season of life with the exact same expectations and energy, we will find ourselves disappointed and overwhelmed. Sometimes life is easier and we can give less energy and effort. That surely is a blessing. But other times, life takes a lot more energy and effort. If we do not “switch gears” and have the right expectations and put forth energy, then we will stall out.

That is why we must always be prayerfully looking ahead. If you take a bicycle downhill, that can be a lot of fun. But if you don’t look ahead to the hill you will have to ride up, and if you don’t switch gears before you start your ascent, then you will feel utterly unprepared. In the same way, we must prayerfully look ahead and ask the Lord what “gear” we need to be in. Some seasons will be easy and delightful. Other seasons will be harder. But if we are in the right “gear” (meaning we have the right expectations), and if we trust in the Lord who is always with us, encouraging us all along the way, then we know we will be able to overcome every obstacle in life that tries to keep us from loving God and helping others know and love God too. 

I hope we will all remember that God is with us on our journey, so we do not need to lose heart. Also, we need to look at each season of life with the right expectations and give the appropriate energy and intentionality to each so we will not be overwhelmed. Let’s continue to grow in our love for God and encourage each other as disciples of Christ.

Student Ministry - July 2022

How does one change the world? Most people I know would say that they hope their life and work makes an impact on the world. They want to make the world a better place. Even people with extremely divergent opinions on most matters in life have the common desire to make things better. But how one goes about doing that and what “better” really means is where the difficulty lies. As Christians, how would we answer that question? How does a Christian change the world and make it better?

As we read scripture, we see that Jesus came into the world because He knew it was broken and in need of fixing. Sin is the ultimate cause of this brokenness, and its symptoms are wide and varied. Some words that scripture uses to describe the brokenness Jesus saw are “distressed and dispirited” (Matt. 9:36). People are still distressed and dispirited in the world today. They are oppressed and crushed by the sins of others as well as their own sins. They are lost without a shepherd, and many think they don’t need one. Jesus’ response is what we need to consider as Christians. Jesus responded with compassion and a commission (Matt. 9:37-38, 28:18-20, John 4:34-38). He feels for the lost in this world (something for which we should all be personally thankful), and He told His disciples to do something about it!

Of course, we know that His life, death, and resurrection is what saves us from our sins and the disappointments of this world. The Bible calls this the gospel. Surprisingly, Jesus has chosen to make this news known to people through His disciples. If you call yourself a Christian, then that means you! You are someone He has called to go into the field of the world, sow the seed of the gospel, and reap the harvest of souls coming to know Him as their personal Savior. We must remember what Jesus said about this call so we can faithfully fulfill His command.

Here are 4 things Jesus tells us about the task we have been given:

1) A lot of people need the gospel (Matt. 9:37). The harvest is large. There are a lot of people who need to hear the gospel and be saved from their sins and the  disappointments of this world (what an understatement!). Do we know this and feel this?

2) A lot of people are ready for the gospel (John 4:35). The harvest is ripe. There are many people who are ready and eager to hear the message of the gospel and be saved from their sins and disappointments of this world. Do we believe this?

3) We need more people to proclaim the gospel (Matt. 9:37-38). There are not a lot of harvesters. There were not many people ready and able to proclaim the gospel and point people to Christ in that day. And by comparison of the numbers of people living now, there are still not very many people ready and able to proclaim the gospel and point people to Christ to be saved from their sins and the disappointments of this world. Are we moved by this?

4) We need to be faithful to the work of the gospel (John 4:36-38). Working in the field of the harvest means sometimes you reap, sometimes you sow. Sometimes you are just telling people the gospel and they couldn’t care less. Sometimes you are telling people the gospel and they receive and believe immediately. You don’t know what part of God’s work in that person’s heart you are playing, but it doesn’t matter. It is all God’s harvest for God’s glory. How amazing is it that we get to be a part! Will we faithfully obey?

My prayer is that every genuine disciple of Christ would take what our Savior said to heart and respond with a desire to live in loving and faithful obedience to Him who first loved us! We have a job to do and a world to change. All we need to do is live and share the gospel and encourage and equip others to do the same. Let’s get to it!