There’s a lot at stake. I don’t typically feel like there is when I’m just going through my day to day, driving down 35, but when I open up the Scriptures; I feel gravity.

Jesus said, “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

Does this verse bother you at all? What bothers me is that this verse doesn’t bother me more. Jesus said His coming will be like the flood’s coming in Noah’s day that swept away all who weren’t in the ark. Everybody was carrying on with the normal routine of life until the rain started pouring, then everything changed. I feel that so often we’re doing the same thing that people in Noah’s day were doing. We’re carrying on with the daily routine of life like everyone else around us, neglecting the weightiest matters in the universe. We don’t feel the weight of what’s on the line. This cannot be for the body of Christ.

There are roughly 6.8 billion people in the world, with one third of that number claiming to be Christians. Even if that number is true, that still means two thirds of the world don’t believe in Jesus Christ. And roughly 250,000 people are dying every day. There’s a lot at stake. But I think what we want to do when we hear things like this is pass off our responsibility to the sovereignty of God. But our sovereign God is the One who tells us to go everywhere and make disciples.

I have these thoughts of what it might look like to go hard for The Lord, and then have thoughts of what people might say if I actually did that. Crazy. But with verses like the one I shared above from Matthew 24, how can we not feel a burden to live crazy for God? And really, what we call crazy, Jesus simply calls obedient. If you really lived as if Christ’s coming will be like Round 2 of Noah’s Ark, people would most definitely call you crazy. Even Christians will think you’re nuts. But the One we follow tells us to deny ourselves, take up our instruments of execution, and follow Him. That’s not fluffy, that’s not light. It’s weighty, there’s a lot at stake. But it makes total sense in light of what the Bible has revealed in regards to the cross of Christ and eternity. If there were no cross and no eternity, we might have an excuse to live like everyone else. But that isn’t the case.

Revelation says, “The kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” We can live as though verses like this one aren’t in the bible and carry on with our daily routine; or we can live like it’s true and sprint in this race ‘till our lungs collapse. We must give everything to His cause. We must lose our lives for the gospel and live recklessly for the sake of Christ. We must. There’s so much at stake. Call me crazy.

Coming off a weekend of intense spiritual focus (SPIN Weekend – 2 weeks ago) tends to create the “spiritual high” that leads you to love anything that has to do with Jesus. You find yourself wanting to pray and read your Bible and hang out with other believers that encourage you in the fight of faith. The only problem is… for the majority of people, that high begins to fade within a few weeks, and you find yourself right back where you were before. You fall back into old sin. You stop coming to church, because you feel guilty or you find something better to do. You distance yourself from your brothers and sisters in Christ, and start to countdown the days until the next Bible study or retreat or camp to “get back on track.” Sound familiar?

This breaks God’s heart. For those of you that He has saved, it does not have to play out like this. Sure you are still going to struggle and fight against sinful desires. God’s people will wrestle against sin until the day that they drop. The fall in Genesis 3 really happened and it really fractured the world we live in. Through Christ, God is reconciling the world to Himself. But we are not home yet. We long for the day when we will be done battling our flesh and Christ will “make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)

The Scriptures shed some light on what happens inside of us when we become a Christian. Ezekiel 36:26-27 points to the new covenant found in Christ Jesus.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

The Bible is going to say that when you become a Christian, the Lord removes your old heart and gives you a new one. He gives you new desires. These are deep desires to worship Him in life through prayer and Gospel community and studying Scripture. You actually start to want to go to church and be around other Christians. The Lord does this crazy thing inside of you and turns your world upside down!
2 Corinthians 5:17 says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

So why the wrestle with old sin? If I have a new heart, why do I struggle? Having a new heart does not mean you have a perfect heart. You are still going to war against your old sinful nature. You will still have desires to do things you shouldn’t do. These are really conflicted desires. They are lesser desires than the deep desires God has given you. The reason it grieves God’s heart when we sit in our sin is because Christ came to set us free! (Galatians 5:1) Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can now have victory over sin. You’re still going to struggle and stumble and sometimes fall. But when you fall, get back up! The Bible is full of men and women who messed up big time that the Lord still decided to use. The next time you have a desire to sin, call it what it is – a conflicted desire. Preach to yourself and tell yourself that deep within you, you really desire Christ more than sin! Your new nature makes this a reality. And as you struggle well and the Lord sanctifies you, maybe you won’t be counting down the days until the next retreat because you are experiencing the pure joy of living in a daily relationship with Jesus Christ.

In Mark 4, Jesus gets into a boat, sits down and begins teaching a crowd a parable about a sower. The story is about a man who goes around and scatters seed that falls in different places on different types of ground. The outcome of these seeds is different, but there was one outcome in particular that caught my attention more than the others. It’s what happened when Jesus describes the result of the seed that fell among thorns. He says that these thorns grew up and choked out what would’ve been a shock of grain. He later goes on to tell his disciples that the seed sown was the word, and that the thorns are: the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things. These three are the killers that keep people from ever blossoming into ripe stalks of grain and becoming true, fruitful followers of God.

The first killer I want to attack is the cares of the world. This is the first thorn Jesus mentions, and that for good reason. In 1 Peter 2, the writer tells us that Christians are classified as aliens and strangers in the world. Believers are to be concerned and caught up with the affairs of a world, just not this present one. The outcome of the seeds sown among thorns shows that the gaze is not toward the city that is to come, but the distractions of this age. The obsession with the glitter of the here and now has caused a preoccupation with things that are passing, not eternal things. Paul calls this getting “entangled in civilian pursuits.” This is what happens when we get too excited about and consumed with created things rather than the Creator. Our pursuits, our cares and our concerns become shallow and we end up with what John Piper would call “a wasted life.”

It seems to be a popular topic of conversation among some Christians to talk about the kingdom of God being right here, right now, which is fine; it’s partly true. But I think it the idea is run with so far that people will say that heaven is “not a place we go to when we die.” I think what we need to remember is that the kingdom is already here, but it’s also not yet. The rule and reign of Christ exists now in the hearts of those who believe, but we’re still in tents, or what Paul would call a “body of death.” He himself said to depart from this world would be a gain for him. And he also states that if it’s only for this life that we have hope in Christ, people should pity us more than anybody else. I believe the proper perspective to hold is found in Colossians 3. We’re told, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” We’re called to put our minds in heaven as our bodies work fervently in a country not our own. Minds above, bodies below. What Jesus warns against in the thorns analogy is minds below, bodies below. The worldly focus has its mind set on all that is passing away. But the call of the Christ-follower is to live like this world is not home. The call is that of a sojourner in a foreign land that lives differently than those around him who do belong to this world. We must pledge allegiance somewhere. It’s either the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of heaven; no dual citizenships. The call to the believer is to hold a temporary visa in this world and citizenship in heaven.

Any attempt to belong to this world, while claiming the name of Christ, will be choked out and prove unfruitful, as Jesus said. Our interests must not, indeed cannot, be divided. No one can serve two masters; no one can belong in two worlds. A.W. Tozer says that for many of us, our problem is that we feel “too much at home in the world.” We don’t feel that holy homesickness, were content with the forms and fashions of this world. They’re enough for us. But this shouldn’t be. The saints of old didn’t have their cares wrapped up in the world….they didn’t care about the cares of this world. They were too busy fastening their gaze on their God, their treasure, who prepared a city for them. They were homeward bound. The scriptures even say that the world was not worthy of them. These pilgrims, aliens and strangers had their faces set like flint toward heaven, and now, they’re Home. May our feet follow in their steps while our eyes are fixed on Jesus, because, “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is it come.”

At the beginning of the month our staff has a time of worship, teaching and prayer called Restore. During our time of prayer, the youth staff was talking about how we wanted to be more like Elijah. The main story we were focusing on in our conversation was in I Kings 18:20-40 when God sent fire from heaven to burn the sacrifice that Elijah had built. The reason we were talking about this was because when God burnt the offering no one turned to Elijah and started worshiping him, rather all the people fell on their faces and worshiped God. This is how we want our ministry to be. We want God to do amazing things, even supernatural things that only point to Him and not to us.

After we were finished talking we began to pray, and as we were praying God gave me a very vivid vision of myself. The vision was of me standing in front of a water soaked altar with a bucket in my hand that had water dripping out of it. Above the altar were numbers, plans and schedules flying around, symbolizing all of the things I needed to get done in order for God to burn up the altar. As I saw myself standing there I could hear the Lord shouting in my mind, throw water on the altar! As I thought about this vision I could see all of the plans and schedules that I needed to go through in order for God to do a big thing among our students. But the one thing that stuck out was God saying throw water on the altar.

The reason I think this stuck out so much was because it doesn’t make sense to throw water on the altar if I want it to burn up. Throwing water on the altar was not part of my plan, but that is what God wanted me to do in the vision. I understand this is just a vision, but I really think God is trying to tell me something about myself. The real question is, would I be willing to throw water on the altar if God called me to it? Would I really be willing to go against my plans if God called me to do it? In your life and in your job are you willing to go against your plans if God calls you to do so? It’s easy to see in I Kings 18 what happens when a man of God follows God’s plan instead of his own; people worship God! But are you willing? What is God calling you to do for His glory? It may be time to throw water on the altar and forget your plans.

Series: I am going to spend the next few weeks blogging my thoughts about Paul David Tripp’s book Age of Opportunity. I want to encourage all parents and youth workers to read this book and glean from Tripp as he lays out a Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens.

It has been said lately that family in America is under attack. There is much truth to this statement as we can see the carnage all around our communities. Perhaps the foundation of this catastrophe lies in the fact that many have lost the definition of family. Family was intended to be more than just a group of people living under the same roof. Family has a specific function in the world. When we lose sight of this particular purpose our homes can easily become nothing more than a place for denizens. We must get back to the biblical design for the family in order for it to function properly. This begins with us as parents. We cannot assume that our children will behave if we don’t understand what our role in their lives must be. Simply put, our role in their lives is to biblically inform and prepare with intentionality. The first problem is that so few of us actually have a plan for this. Paul David Tripp says it plainly, “that most parents are more organized, more intentional, better researched, and more goal-oriented when planning their vacations than they are in raising their children.” Now that we’ve had our teeth kicked in let us move on to a better understanding of how our families should operate.

We must first begin with the all important understanding that the family is GOD’s primary learning community. This is clearly stated in Deuteronomy 6.4-9. I believe that GOD outlines two avenues for us to biblically inform and prepare our children here. One is a formal training, while the other is informal. This formal training refers to specific times set aside for informing our children about GOD’s truth. This may look like a family worship time or a devotional time at the breakfast table. The text also describes an informal setting as we are commanded to teach our children as we walk by the way. I see this as biblically informing them as we go about our day, as situations arise, we insert biblical truths into their lives. These moments are unplanned and usually the most effective. Both of these avenues for communicating GOD’s truth are imperative for preparing our children with a biblical worldview. This great task falls primarily on the parents to make sure that the family functions as a learning environment. We must use every moment, every problem, every conflict, every question, every joy and every sorrow to biblically prepare them.

As a Communication major in college, one of the first things that I learned in my class work was that in order to effectively communicate, you must know your audience. Therefore in order to biblically inform and prepare our children, we must first understand them. There are three apparent things about children that we must take note of in order to effectively inform and prepare them biblically. These three things are that children were created for a relationship with GOD, that they are natural interpreters and that their behavior flows out the heart.

First, children were created for a relationship with GOD. They were made to know, love, serve and obey Him. We have all been created like this. If we are not loving, serving and obeying GOD, then our hearts will quickly find something or someone else to love, serve and obey. This is worship. Every person is a worshiper. The question we must answer is what do they worship. This is easy to detect through observance. We must take notice of the things that they do, what they desire, the choices they make, the relationships they pursue – these are all indications of where their worship is directed. Our children, like us, will worship and serve GOD or they will worship and serve something else. Those are the only options; see Romans 1.18-32 for proof.

Secondly, children are natural interpreters. This means that children will in fact make assessments and conclusions about life, right or wrong. GOD says that there is a right way and a wrong way to think about life, and that whatever you think about life will shape the way you act. You may want to read that statement again to grasp the weight of it. It’s saying that if our children think incorrectly about the things of life, this will cause them to act out in a way that is harmful to them and even worse, unpleasing to the LORD. For instance, I have dealt with so many students that have naturally interpreted their life circumstances as being that no one loved them, including GOD. These students had incorrectly interpreted the pain in their life and determined that they were unloved by all of those around them. This false interpretation led them to accept a pseudo-love in place of an agape love, which they so desperately needed. This is just one common scenario. The way that we combat this is to do everything we can to get our children to think out loud. This will allow us to see their thought pattern and correct any kind of erroneous interpretations that they might have derived. This happened to me recently with my three year old son. I was busy in the kitchen and had my back to him. Unaware that he was sitting right behind me, I accidently stepped on him. My mind was focused on my task at hand and so I didn’t think much of it at first. I then turned around to find him walking away slowly with his lower lip sticking out. I then engaged him, telling him that I was sorry that I stepped on him. That didn’t seem to help much. I then asked him, why he was so sad and what was he thinking. He gave me his interpretation of the event, that I intentionally hurt him and was ignoring him. I quickly corrected the misunderstanding and gave him some attention and love and we went on to have a good time that evening. That is a simple story but it displays the importance of allowing your children to reveal how they interpret things. This is vitally important as it allows you to insert truth into flawed thinking. We must biblically inform our children. This is done by inserting the Word of GOD. Study 2 Timothy 3.16-17 for more on how this is done. Without the truth of GOD’s Word, we cannot interpret life properly.

The final thing to understand is that children’s behavior flows out of their heart. So many people miss this and strive towards the goal of getting their children to do what is right. Many accomplish this through control tactics that are tiresome, unloving and have only short term effects. I am not saying that students don’t need boundaries, as they desperately do! But these boundaries are not our end goal, they may function as a means to an end, but never the end. The goal remains that they have hearts for the LORD. After all, the thoughts and motives of the heart shape the way people act. Matthew 12.34 says this best, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” It’s simple math really, right beliefs plus good desires equals right behavior. It is your responsibility to instill these right beliefs straight from the Scriptures. This is the easy part. The hard part is constantly seeking our children’s hearts to ensure that they have good and righteous desires. Their nature, like ours will not be for good and righteous things. This is where we make war for them. We fight for them. We love them. We shepherd them. This is not easy or comfortable, but parenting was never promised to be so. This is the family that GOD has intended for us to be.

This is a term I’ve been using to refer to what I see as a very popular view of God in our day. I don’t think what I’m seeing for the most part is predominately unbelief, but apathy. We just don’t care. We’re unmoved. What happens as a result of this is The Lord ends up being seen as “the necessary obligation.” We’ll go to church because we have to, pray cause it’s good to, read our bibles ‘cause we should. But Christ is not our everything. He’s not what we long for. He’s not what we’re desperate for. He’s seen as a distraction from real life. So we rush through “paying our dues” to Him to get on to “the good stuff,” when in reality, He is the good stuff!

I look at someone like the apostle Paul and can’t help but think what a freak that guy was for Christ. He shows us his passion for Christ in the book of Philippians when he says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” So Paul is saying this of the same Lord – the same Christ – that so many of us see as stale and unexciting. It’s not that he served a different Jesus; he just had a different view of Jesus than many of us possess. The problem is not with God, the problem is with us. Our view of Him is distorted, our vision is off. We’re not seeing Him as He is. We’d rather feast on lesser things than taste and see that The Lord is good. Other things in this world seem appealing to us, whereas God just seems….boring.

Paul would go so far as to say that even the best stuff in his life wasn’t just second to the Savior, but a loss compared to Him. Paul had an enormous view of God that rocked his world and changed everything. He realized that this savior who died for him wasn’t a ladder to something greater, Christ himself was the greatest. In the same way, we need is a deflated view of things, and a massively enlarged view of Christ. There are a million things everyday that compete for our allegiance – created things that we gladly allow to sit enthroned in our lives. But what we need is to see visible things as temporary, and the invisible God as glorious. C.S. Lewis would tell us that God finds “our desires not too strong, but too weak.” And listen to the fanatic in Psalm 73 who just couldn’t get enough: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Over and over in the scriptures you see believers who could not function properly without more of God. They didn’t just scratch the surface with The Lord; they couldn’t breathe without Him. They didn’t see Him as a distraction from what they really wanted; He himself was everything they wanted. He wasn’t “the necessary obligation,” He was their glorious treasure, their all-in-all, their “portion forever.” May He be that for us as well.

I am directing this post toward our students and their parents who are in the process of making the important decision of education after high school, but I’m hopeful that the content will apply to all us regardless of what season of life we are in.

I have had several students approach me recently with worries about what college God wants them to go to. In each of these conversations, the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” has come up. This is a phrase we hear over and over again from Christians in regard to many important decisions in life. Who should I marry? Or where should I live? Should I take this job or that one? All are important questions, and any Christ-follower would like to be in line with God’s will for his or her life in regard to these things.

Kevin DeYoung has written an excellent book on the will of God called Just do Something. DeYoung points out that many Christians tend to over spiritualize decisions and turn God and the Scriptures into a magic 8-ball. The problem with this is that it tends to produce passive Christians who feel paralyzed when it comes to decision-making. DeYoung provides an alternative to this passivity in one of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Live for God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you’ll be walking in the will of God.”

I love it. The call to live for Christ, and sit under the authority of the Scriptures produces confidence in Him. As we walk with Christ, and He reveals His character to us through His Word, we can make decisions without having everything mapped out for us. This doesn’t mean we don’t pray. This doesn’t mean we don’t ask wise questions. I have encouraged our students to pray James 1:5 and to seek godly counsel in regard to their college decisions. I encouraged each of them to look for a gospel-centered, Bible-believing, Christ-exalting church in the city they are looking at going to college in. And after they’ve prayed, sought godly counsel and done their homework, I’ve told them to go where they want.

Every Wednesday I eat lunch with the kids at Lewisville High School. As I was leaving lunch today a mom was yelling and cursing at her daughter in the middle of the hall for everyone to hear. It was at that moment my heart broke. I realized how big of a role we as youth pastors and volunteers play in these kids’ lives. These high school kids look up to us sometimes more than we can even imagine. I began thinking to myself these kids just need someone to LOVE on them, give them encouragement, ask about their day and genuinely take an interest in them as an individual. I believe when we as youth pastors and volunteers genuinely show these kids LOVE it allows the gospel to penetrate their hearts. It makes them ask questions of why is my youth pastor or my small group leader so interested in my life. Where is this LOVE coming from that they have for me each time I talk with them?

I write this just as an encouragement to all the youth pastors and volunteers. Keep LOVING on the kids. They need it more then we know. We are making a impact on the kingdom.

The answer that immediately comes to mind is, “Yes, God is absolutely enough,” but do our lives reflect the truth that the Scriptures testify about God being all that we need? Last Wednesday in my Basic Training class (Basic Training is an in-depth Bible study for high school students), we came across Jeremiah 2:13 “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” As we talked about this verse and how God is the Fountain of living waters we started talking about God being enough. It seems simple to say that God is enough when things are going good or you are not being tempted. The real challenge and the thing that tells the truth, more than our mouths ever will, is what do we choose when temptation is set before us? Do we run to God, the fountain of living water, to satisfy our thirst for joy, satisfaction, pleasure, comfort…? Or do we run to the broken cisterns that will satisfy our thirst for a moment? How ironic would it be to see a man standing next to Niagara Falls with a cup that has no bottom on it begging for water because he is about to die from dehydration? The water is plentiful, but the man is looking to the wrong source to quench his thirst.

So often we will do the same thing running around with a cup that has no bottom trying to get someone or something to fill that cup only to find it empty again. Jesus speaks of this in John 4:10-14 telling the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” A relationship with God is the only thing that will satisfy this thirst that all of us have inside of us. You have to ask yourself this question, “Do I live my life like God is enough?” We know that God is enough, but often we don’t live like he is. So often we will run to the things God has created to satisfy us, rather than running to the creator who has made the desire to thirst. Logically it is easy to see, it makes sense to go to God to satisfy our thirst because he created the thirst in us. Yet even with this knowledge our practice does not reflect what we know. We continue to run to the created rather than the Creator. What needs to change? How can we stop running to the wrong source?

This is a question I, by the grace of God, can only answer for myself. You will have to allow God and His word to examine you to see where you are not running to Him to satisfy your desires. The Scriptures are true and we can trust that God is absolutely Enough!

When I was a freshman in college I took a course that would radically change the trajectory of my faith. I had grown up in church and by the time I walked into Intro to Philosophy I had been a believer for six years. I had complete confidence my “genuine” faith. That all changed by the third week of the semester. “Why” can be taxing from my three year old, but my philosophy professor wielded it like a sword, and he could inflict serious pain. He questioned everything, but the major power behind his line of questioning always lay in the why. Which loosely translated meant “Why do you believe what you believe?” always followed with, “now defend yourself, Mr. Daniel” One little word spoken by someone far more educated and 40 points north of me on the I.Q. scale forced me out of an “inherited” faith and that ultimately led into a personal one.

As a student pastor, I spend a lot of time discipling students just like me. Students who have grown up in church and can recite the proper Sunday school responses, but when pressed have no real relationship with the God of the bible. It is just another trait that they inherited from their parents or grandparents, and in the end is no more meaningful than their eye or hair color. The problem with this “faith” is that it does not save, it does not bring Joy, it does not sustain in times of difficulty, and often it lends itself to a skewed view of the character and nature of God. Glenn Packiam, author of Second Hand Jesus, writes “I have come to the uncomfortable realization that I have believed rumors about God that have kept me from him, kept me from really knowing him.”

This rather poignant confession can be easily understood when we look at the evangelical landscape. Parents, I feel I can safely say that many of your children are living out their faith vicariously through you. We say it at The Village all the time, one can easily know about God and never truly know God. So, what is the difference between knowing about God and knowing God? I defer to Job to answer this question. Job suffered, and not just a little, he suffered a lot. He had the bad day to end all bad days, but he remained faithful. In chapter 42 God has just finished calling Job to the carpet for his audacity and in verse 5 Job responds to the holy, perfect, God of the universe, “I had heard of you as with the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

I want students to see God and to see themselves in light of Him. I ask them hard questions, I press them, not to frustrate or discourage, but rather to challenge them to evaluate if their faith is their own or if it is mine, or a parents, or a grandparents. I do it because I do not want them to realize in 5, 10, or 15 years or after some life altering catastrophe when they are bitter and angry at God that they had, like Glenn Packiam, really only believed rumors about Him. I pray that, like Job, students will see God in a real and tangible way, that they would be rooted and grounded in the truth that they have found in Scripture and that they would be able to spot the rumors.

My philosophy professor had no intention of jumpstarting my faith, but I am thankful that he did. I am also glad that my grandfather was not afraid to answer and ask tough questions and point me to the Scriptures for further study. As a parent, I know that these are discussions I am already planning with my boys. I never want my faith to be all the faith they have. I want them to have their own faith, their own encounters with the Lord; I want them to experience God’s grace in their own life. My hope is that you would discuss this with your students often. That you would lead by example, that you would encourage them to ask difficult questions and then be ready to give them answers. Never assume their faith is a foregone conclusion.

Every week I go to Marcus and Flower Mound High School to see our students at their school lunches. Almost every week I talk to a guy or girl who is upset or frustrated at their boyfriend or girlfriend. The story that I am told is different almost every time, but the source by which this story has developed is almost always the same. One of the main problems, besides our sinful nature, with high school relationships is found in the way students are raised.

I have talked with several girls bawling their eyes out because their boyfriend broke up with them or cheated on them, and they don’t know why. The ironic thing about them being confused about this is just two months earlier I told them it would happen. I find it very interesting that parents are encouraging their students to date when they put no other responsibility on them in any other area of life, and then they think that their student can handle the responsibility of a relationship. When most of our guys are raised in an atmosphere where they get everything they want and have to do nothing in return, it’s no surprise to me that these relationships end with wounded hearts and purity taken. By doing this we are raising boys who do not know how to cultivate anything and want everything given to them. And when they stop getting what they want, they simply move on to the next best thing.

Our girls are raised in an equally dangerous atmosphere where fathers are not present or active in their life. Because of this missing father figure, our girls are out on a search to feel loved by any male figure they can find, and they will give anything to get that love and attention. Having our students raised with this mindset is a disaster waiting to happen. We have guys running around who can’t cultivate anything and all they want is for girls to fulfill their physical desires, and we have girls running around who want any form of male affection they can find, and we get lots of hurt students and angry parents who don’t know why this is happening.

My hope in writing this is that parents would see where they are failing their students and students would stop looking to each other to fulfill these desires. I understand that everyone’s situation is different and that there are lots of other reasons why high school relationships don’t work, but for the sake of not writing a 10 page blog, this is all I want to focus on for now. My encouragement to our students is to take this time in life to focus on God and their relationship with him. Most of the time your relationship with that guy or girl is going to mean the end of your relationship with God. I know this is not what you want to hear but, if you will hear me then you will most like save yourself a lot of pain and regret.

To our parents out there, I don’t know if I could ever beg you enough to love your students well. Don’t let your sons just sit on their butts and do nothing but play Xbox. Make them get a job or have responsibilities at home. Don’t just let them be consumers who never work for anything, because they will become lazy and cultivate things that are destructive. Fathers please spend time with your daughters, show them that you care, and don’t let a little boy come into their life and replace you!

CRAVE is our weekly gathering for high school students every Sunday night here at The Village. Our students know that they are going to be in the Scriptures week in and week out. They aren’t surprised when one of their pastors gets up to teach and tells them to open their Bibles.

I grew up in the Bible belt and went to church every week. I have very few memories of anyone in my youth group opening their Bible during the sermon. It’s almost comical to me looking out and seeing our students engaged in God’s Word. There was a point in my life where I felt like high school students and the Bible just didn’t mix…now I don’t see how they don’t.

We teach and preach the Scriptures each week because as a staff, we believe Hebrews 4:12:

“For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Living. Active. Sharp. These words are full of life and powerful. They describe the word of God in a way that makes you expect change. If we didn’t believe in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, we wouldn’t be in them. If we didn’t believe that God’s Word pierces the hearts of high school students, we’d have a hard time preaching it wouldn’t we??

Each week we unapologetically preach the Bible. We pray and beg that the Holy Spirit would move and stir and change hearts. We are totally dependent upon Him to cause change. In the end, our job is pretty simple. As Paul charged Timothy, we are to “preach the word.” (2 Tim 4:2)

I cannot tell you how encouraged I have been by the growth that I have been able to see in the lives of our high school students. To see them grow in a love and knowledge for Jesus Christ is an absolute joy to me. To see a hunger and a thirst in them for the Scriptures is invigorating. I praise the Lord for the growth He is causing in the students of this community through the power of the Holy Spirit. I am humbled to be a part of His work here.

He is alive. He is active. And He is sharpening the lives of students here at The Village.

I recently got a road bike and have been obsessed with watching videos of Lance Armstrong, watching bike races on TV and reading up on everything on how to be a faster rider. I have almost become a FANATIC for this new hobby. I go to bed early so I can wake up and be rested for a good morning ride. I try to hang with the “fast guys” on the rides while almost killing myself. I idolize the athletes that excel at this sport along with the “fast guys” I see out on the weekends. I tell myself I could be good at this. I am a FANATIC and determined I can do this.

Watching myself get obsessed with this new hobby makes me think how we should be FANATICS for CHRIST. What is stopping us from waking up early to get plenty of time with the Lord and ne in the Word in the morning? What’s stopping us from opening our Bible and praying knowing we are going to be spoken to? Where has our excitement for Christ gone that we first had? What happened to when we were so excited about what Christ is doing in our lives we told everyone and didn’t care what people thought? Why aren’t we doing this? Why do we come to Church and not worship the Lord with all our hearts but just go through the motions. Why are we not excited to worship the Lord? Why are we not anticipating the Lord to speak to us at church? Why aren’t we spreading the Gospel to everyone?

We have become lazy! Church is not a hobby! This is bigger than any game, and the consequences are eternal. It’s time to be FANATICS for Christ. It’s time to act on the convictions you have been brushing aside. It’s time to wake up early and meet with the Lord instead of pressing snooze three more times. It’s time to invite the guy to church that you see every day in the gym. We have to be Sold Out, On Fire, and FANATICAL CHRISTIANS that make a difference in this world. Going to Spin, camp, Focus, Basic Training, Crave and other events all get you more of God, but you cannot beat Lance Armstrong by just taking the Trek out for the weekend ride. The race is daily and the fight is on your knees so PRESS ON!

I teach a Foundations class each week to a small group of High School students for a discipleship program we call Basic Training. It is one of the most exciting times of my week. I really love the interaction that we have as well as getting to know students and where they are with the LORD. For the past two weeks our discussion has ended up centering upon the gospel message of Christ. Not to my surprise, most of these students do not have a good grasp on what the gospel message is. Let me add at this point that most of these students are not new to the faith and most would even be considered leaders in our ministry. Unfortunately, this group is not an anomaly. I had a group of about 20 student leaders last year that I asked to dictate to me on paper what the gospel was. About three of these High School leadership students could do so accurately. I was shocked to say the least. After all, these students were all known on their campuses for knowing and loving Jesus. Not only that but they were all very involved in a church that teaches gospel-saturated messages on a weekly basis. How could this be? How could we have produced such disciples that have missed out on the most central teaching?

Perhaps the problem is that we have moved past the gospel to seemingly more important matters of sanctification and riveting topics such as eschatology. We view the gospel as elementary; much like a Pre-Cal student would view addition and subtraction.

The problem with this view is that we will never outgrow the breadth of the gospel message. Its scope and sequence stretches so far and so deep that we will be hard pressed to grasp its entirety in this lifetime. We now live in an age that the gospel is assumed. We simply gaze at each other across the sanctuary and assume that everyone knows and understands this marvelous truth of the gospel. Truth be told, our assumption doesn’t usually stop there. It ventures out into our community, into our work places, our classrooms and onto the ball fields. We believe that because we live in “Christian America,” everyone knows about Jesus and what He has come to earth to do. How He has atoned for our sins and how His resurrection has made our faith valid today is a prominent truth. This is a dangerous place.

The great theologian D.A. Carson suggests that the next step for a culture after it has assumed the gospel is to become antagonistic toward the gospel. Has our culture already arrived at the place of antagonism? Even worse, has the church followed so closely? We must get back to what Paul calls in 1 Corinthians 15 “of first importance” – “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to…many.” This truth is not only foundational to our faith, it is all-inclusive. Put plainly, the gospel affects everything.

The Gospel affects how I handle relationships in that I can forgive people that offend me because Christ forgave me first. It changes how I view people in that everyone is inherently valuable because GOD loves them and has created them in His image. Now I am able to love people and serve them because of the love of Christ in my life and in theirs.

The gospel affects my attitude on this life because my hope is in Christ not in what job I have or how well I perform. The gospel affects how I spend my money because I want to invest in eternal things that will last not something that moths and rust destroys and where thieves break in and steal. The gospel affects how I pray and pursue GOD because I have been saved by His grace and not by my own merit. The Gospel affects everything.

Maybe it’s our lack of understanding of this great truth that is the root of all of problems. Perhaps this is the source of our arrogance in thinking that this life is all about us. Maybe since we don’t grasp the grace of the gospel we have grown ungrateful and act unforgiving toward those around us. Maybe it’s because we don’t understand the price that has been paid for our sins that allows us to trample on the grace of GOD and use it as a license for sin. Or could our resistance to authority be because we haven’t put our hope in Him but rather our current circumstances? Perhaps we have become lazy at growing in our faith because we have mistaken the work done on the cross on our behalf. Could this also be the reason that we have become even more lazy in sharing our faith?

The gospel affects everything. May it affect the next time you pray with your kids. May it affect the manner in which you discipline them. May it affect the way you love and forgive and talk and simply do life. Our focus at times may move onto other subjects but we will never move past the gospel’s affect on those subjects. Let us cease to assume the gospel and begin to remember it on every occasion being grateful for it and thus living it out. After all, it is of first importance.

It is the end of the first six weeks of school, the beginning of fall, and the semester is at full tilt. The student ministry volunteers have been hard at work building relationships, building community, and building trust with the students. As many of you know, working with high school students is a unique calling. Very often the fruit from the time, energy and effort these volunteers are putting in may not be seen while they are in the student ministry, but the foundation that hopefully started at home is reinforced there. With all of that said, please take a moment to pray for the student ministry volunteers. They are in the trenches warring with and for students on a weekly basis, and they need encouragement and strength.

If you are a parent, please take the time to get to know your student’s leaders. Invite them to dinner, take them out for coffee, or just call them up to have a conversation. Since you are your child’s primary discipler, our goal as a student ministry staff is to provide you with as many resources as possible to impact your student and point them toward Christ in whom they live and breathe and have their being. Our student ministry volunteers are an amazing resource for you. They often have the ability to stand in the familial gap and assist in conversations or situations that are difficult. Make no mistake these men and women love your child and are serious about seeing students grow in godliness.

As always we are praying that our great God and King would continue to be gracious in bringing faithful men and women who love the gospel and want to see that same love explode in the hearts and lives of students. Please pray with us. Have a great week

Following the challenge from Pastor Matt this weekend, I thought it would be helpful to point parents to some practical means by which they, along with their students, can answer the When and How of personal Bible reading and study.

First – the When.

I know mornings can be hectic in a home full of kids, but personally I can’t suggest a better time to press into God and seek to hear from Him. Every morning I wake up, I know it’s a new day and with it a new fight to kill the desires of my flesh and seek the things of the Spirit. If I delay prayer and Scripture reading it’s almost as if I give my flesh a head start on things. Try to make morning prayer and Bible study a routine for your kids. Wake them up early with the smell of breakfast (I suggest cinnamon rolls ☺) and use that time to teach them what and how to read. Turn off the radio and use the drive to school to talk about what they read. Ask them what they think it means and what God is saying through it.

Then – the How.

The Bible can be an intimidating book (especially if the only copy you have is one of those twenty-pound family Bibles with the naked baby angels on it). There really isn’t a designated place to start and finishing it quickly doesn’t benefit you like it would if you were reading say a novel. The end goal of reading Scripture is to hear from and be guided by God. So start small. Below is a link to a daily Bible reading plan that takes you through the entire Bible in one year. I like it because it has you reading from different books each day. One Old Testament, one New Testament, and a Psalms or Proverbs. Use this plan together as a family to keep you all in the same place so discussion about what you are reading is familiar to everyone.

http://www.navpress.com/uploadedFiles/15074%20BRP.dj.pdf

Now that you know what to read, here are some tools to help you gain from it. Last February we went over different spiritual disciplines with your students and one of our lessons focused on studying the Bible. Here is exactly what we shared with the kids.

• Pray. Before you do anything, quiet your soul by closing your eyes and ask God to speak to you. Say something like: God, help me to focus on you and what you want to say to me. I need to hear from you. Speak to me.
• Read. Take your time reading through the chapter or book that you’ve picked to study. Don’t rush, the object isn’t to finish as fast as you can with the reading. The goal is to hear from God. It’s okay if you only make it through 3 verses before you have to stop. When certain words or sentences pop off the page and grab your attention, stop and highlight them. They are jumping out at you for a reason. God might be speaking to you.
• Write. Now open up your journal and write out the words or verses that you highlighted. Think about them. Read them over and over and start writing out what you think God is saying to you through them and why you think he wants you to remember them. Think about specific things that are going on in your life and how these verses might apply to them. Maybe God wants you to change something or maybe he wants to use these verses to comfort you or bring you peace.
• Pray. Now that you’ve heard from God write out a short prayer to him about what he spoke to you. Be specific. Talk to God about what you’re going to change or do because of your time spent with him.

Another great resource is the How to Study the Bible seminars available on the web.

I pray this is helpful and gives you a place to start if you need some direction in this area. And I’d love to hear about your efforts and how you are seeing the Lord work in this area with your family.

Matt

V-Games was a HIT last night! We had five fields consisting of 10 teams of dodge ball being played simultaneously! It was an all around knockout with nonstop action. Dodge ball was one of my favorite V-Games yet. The Gray Team caught first place and were the champions of Dodge ball. This was a big win for the Gray Team because they have been in the top three all throughout V-Games but not taking first place.

The overall Champion of V-Games ‘09 is the Blue Team who started out as the underdogs earlier this V-Games season and came back to win it all. So you may be asking what did the Blue Team win? The Blue Team won a free all expenses paid trip to Schlitterbahn Waterpark this Saturday! We are all looking forward to it; it’s going to be a splash!

V-Games was ROCKING last night while each team performed at Village Idol! Rockband was set up on the big screen at Building 9 along with three other TV’s and surround sound. Each team performed for the crowd while being critiqued by a panel of three judges. This is a great non athletic event at V-Games. The Blue Team took first place this week with the song “I’m So Sick” by Flyleaf. They had the crowd on the edge of their seat. The White Team, being the runner up played “Cherub Rock” by The Smashing Pumpkins. They scored over a million points and the drummer sang while playing the drums! The Gray Team finished with third place!

Next week is Dodge ball with an Award Ceremony afterward to find out which team is the winner of the Schlitterbahn trip on August 13 and 14! I cannot wait to see everyone at our last V-Games event of Dodge ball next week at Victoria Park!

Jonathan Hurley

V-Games was HOPPING last night! We played “Flamingo Football” where the guys have to hop on one leg and the girls get to play like normal. This is a great event for the girls because they have the advantage, and it’s always fun to watch the guys get blown out because they cannot run. Two games of Flamingo Football were played with the third game of regular two handed touch football for some added fun. The Blue Team took first place this week with the White Team being the runner up! Next week is Village Idol! Rockband will be set up on the big screen at Building 9 and each team will rock out while being critiqued by a panel of judges. I cannot wait to see everyone perform live next week at Village Idol!

Last night at V-Games was a blast!!! We played “Bigger and Better” and the students got some crazy stuff. Every team started with a pack of kool-aid, and we had a wide variety of things brought back. To list a few: the Orange Team brought back a pink toilet, the Blue Team brought a “fog machine” (that was really a floor fan – they didn’t know the difference), the Gray Team brought a ping pong table, the Black Team brought a massive fish tank, and the Red Team won with a fully functional air hockey table. Next week we are going to play Flamingo Football. In Flamingo football the guys have to hop on one leg and the girls get to play like normal. This is a great event for the girls because they have the advantage, and it’s always fun to watch the guys get blown out because they cant run. I cant wait to see y’all next week.