Acts 16- Mentor

In Acts 16 we see the beginning of a friendship and mentor ship between Paul and Timothy. We aren't given too many details besides, "the brothers spoke well of [Timothy]. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey" (vs. 2b-3a). So who knows the reasons behind the friendship? But their friendship does stand out this morning as a call to similar relations in our lives.

Who is your Paul? Who in your life can you look at and determine to imitate? Who is that godly man or woman that you look to for guidance?

Sometimes the best way to obtain this sort of relationship is ask people... Maybe you are lacking a christian role model so I want to encourage you to find someone at church that is living out their faith and walking with Jesus and ask them to mentor you.

It might also serve you well to say this: maybe you need to find a Timothy. There are always those that are coming behind us in the faith that we should be investing in... maybe its a jr high student or maybe an underclassman. But invite them to be a part of your life. Have a bible study, share your insights, do whatever it takes to teach others what Christ has taught you.

Acts 15- Men Who Will Risk Their Lives

After reading through this portion of scripture I want to ask, "what kind of man or woman are you?" In the text the disciples were sending a hand written letter crafted during the council of Jerusalem that was to be delivered to the Gentiles to encourage them... In addition to the letter they wanted to send some worthy men that would be faithful to deliver it and encourage the believers. What was the description of these men? Verse 26 tells us; "men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The early church was persecuted and they knew that it was costly to follow Christ... But, do you know that? Do you know that it is still costly to follow Jesus. That it will potentially cost you your reputation, your acceptance, your comforts? Or have you made yourselves a hybrid faith that is easy going and lukewarm? The gospel makes people uncomfortable and uneasy. It is not a set of morals. It does not say you need to be a bible-belt christian that attends church functions and does certain christian things. Following Christ costs you something. At very least it cost you your will. Remember how we lay down our lives to follow Jesus and we don't look back? Many of us have become way too comfortable with casually following Christ. What I want to ask is; would you risk your life for our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you willing to go all out even at the expense of your life? Would you be willing to set a course that says you will take the gospel to the ends of the earth no matter the cost?

Unbalanced

I know this might seem contradictory to the previous article but so what? It is truth. There are certain areas that I want to be unbalanced. And some areas where I don't have a choice. hehehe



The area that I want to be most unbalanced in is my pursuit of Jesus. This is an all out lopsided crazy pursuit at the expense of joyfully giving everything. I think a major theme can be missed in Jesus' teachings; you might not make the cut. Pastors might not make the cut (1 Timothy 4:16), apostles might not make the cut (1 Corinthians 9:27), disciples might not make the cut (Acts 5), and prophets might not make the cut (Jeremiah 23).



Jesus shares so much about the narrow road and narrow gate that only a few find. Broad is the road and wide is the gate that leads to destruction. Narrow is the way that leads to life (Matthew 7). "Are only a few going to be saved," one person asked Jesus? His response: "Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate because many will stand at the door and knock and I will say to them plainly, "away from me I never knew you (Matthew 13)."" Wives, jobs, property, and many other things will all be a distraction from God (Luke 14). Jesus speaks plainly about this and I apologize that pastors do not speak more boldly on this subject. It should make us all cringe at the thought of people saying, "but Jesus you taught in our streets, we prophesied in your name, and even drove out demons" but He will tell them plainly, "away from me you evil doers" (Matthew 7:21-23 and Luke 13:26-27).


Not every one who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom. -Jesus


Ok, tell me if in light of those texts you want to hold anything back in following him? No way! That makes me want to go crazy and if someone tells me that I am too radical in my pursuit then I will show them why, "I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (1 Corinthians 9:27)." I might be unbalanced. But, I think I am justified in doing this. The man who found the treasure in the field joyfully sold everything so he could purchase the field. The merchant who found a pearl of such great value sold everything he had so he could have that pearl (Matthew 13). That is how it is with God. When you realize what you get, you joyfully give up everything for him. You become unbalanced, you throw caution to the wind, you recklessly pursue Him, and you do it in a way that others might think you are crazy... But here is the truth: You would be crazy not to.

Luke 7- Wisdom is Proved Right by her Children

Last night I was telling several students how I am so blessed and have gotten to do so many cool things with my life. Jordan's response was a sarcastic, "yeah, and now your stuck here." To which I said, "it is good to be here and now I get to live through you guys. You are my glory(somewhat jokingly)." Danny said, "I am going to have a t-shirt made that says 'Cory's Glory.'" ... That would be funny but please don't do that. I will be struck down in my arrogance. Here is the concept behind this though... what you guys do with your lives shows how well I did my job as a pastor. If after high school all of the students go to college and forget their convictions and beliefs and fall away, then I suck. I did a bad job at shepherding you to respond to the voice of the King. But, on the other hand, I can live through each of you with how well you follow Christ for the rest of your lives. You are my glory. Even writing that makes me smile. It is such a funny way of thinking. But, you are my spiritual sons and daughters and my goal is to raise you in righteousness. I need to use every thing I possibly can to help you to become a mature believer and the way I do it might be different than other youth pastors. In fact some might say, "He has a demon (vs. 33)" and others might even say, "Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners' (vs. 34)."

This is a concept that I have been wrestling with lately. I feel like the trend with youth ministry is to provide a fun program to get people into the church (as if a building can save?!?). I believe this is the strategy that a pharisee from verse 30 would buy into. However, my strategy is to simply get students to Christ, to disciple them, to help them walk with Him, and to even put them in situations that will stretch their faith and prove their commitment. And, it might be frowned upon. Here is my argument though... "wisdom is proved right by all her children." This may not seem like the most logical strategy in the eyes of men, but I am OK with that because I am focused on ..."the things of God (Matthew 16: 23)." My wisdom will be shown by a small amount of students that actually live their lives for God. Some will be missionaries, some will be pastors, some will be worship leaders, and a bunch of them will actually change whole companies because of their faith. They will be passionate Christ followers and they are my glory! And to make my argument a little more pointed I firmly believe the current American youth ministry system is broke. If 80 percent of students after finishing youth ministry fall away from their "faith" (quotations added to emphasize that it is an illusion of faith), then what is the point of groveling to provide fun activities for the 80 out of 100 students that will stand at the gates and hear the words, "I never knew you?"

Here is my proposal... let's focus on discipleship and make sure that we are making passionate followers of Christ. When someone totally gets that Christ is the greatest treasure ever, they can't help but to share that with others! I have done evangelism ministry for the past 5 years and I totally see the value in it... God desires that none should perish and we need to be telling others all about Him and His benefits. But, as a ministry we are committed to making disciples and not just having a fun program. I am not the first to feel this way; check out what Oswald Chambers, a minister of Christ from the early 1900's, has to say on April 24th.
http://www.myutmost.org/04/0424.html
and if you want to read more his book is available for online viewing
http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php