Teen Visitation, Mission Trips, Summer Stomp, Bus Ministry.  These are just some of the ways you can get involved in our youth group to serve God.

But why do you serve God?

In Zechariah 7:2-13, we see a clear picture of people who served God on the outside. For 70 years the Israelites fasted for two months out of the year (that's 60 days with no food !!!) and put on ashes and sack cloth. On the outside they look religious. They looked like they were close with God. The unfortunate story in the opposite. They really did not care about God or the things of God. They did not serve for the right reasons.

How about you? Are you serving for God or yourself. Are you serving for your friends, parents or just to make yourself look like a Christian. Maybe your parents make you or you just do it because your supposed to (It's your duty). I Corinthian 3:10-15 teaches that the wrong motivation of service does not get reward in heaven. It is all just wood, hay and stubble that get burned with fire.

We need to realize that our service/ministry has nothing to do with us, it is about God and His glory. After all it is God's ministry. It is God's youth group and it is God's church.  

Mathew 15:7-9 makes it quite clear. We need young people with all the outward conformity ("the look") of a Christian. Not for a show but with the desire to please and serve God.

Take this simple example.
God says to dress modest. This is a rule. If we decide to ingore this rule then we sin against God. Rules without relationship always leads to rebellion. In this case, rebellion against God.

The problem is that to many young people have a religion but they do not have a relationship with God.

Let's get our relationship with God right and serve for His glory.

 

In II Samuel chapter 11 we find 4 things that caused David to sin in his sin with Bathsheba.  These are also 4 things that can cause us to sin if we are not careful .

1. Wrong Place (II Samuel 11:1)
   When you get away from serving God, it is easier to leave andallow sin to enter your life. When you find yourself in the worng place be assured that the Devil is close by seeking to destroy you.
   
 
2. Taking the 2nd Look (II Samuel 11:2-3)
   Once you find that you are in the wrong place, many of us stay and participate rather than leaving. If you go to a party and there is smoking or drinking then you know you are at the wrong place. The next step is the most important, do you leave right away or do you stay and partake? Remember, an alcoholic or drug addict never took his first drink/hit hoping in his mind that he would become addicted that that very substance. It was the act of taking the 2nd look that hooked them.
   
   
3. Covering up Sin (II Samuel 11:11-13)
   We do whatever we can to try and hide our sin, when in fact the act of covering up sin actually invite more sin in. We need to confess our sin and keep short account of sin with God. We cannot hide from GOD: God see's ALL
   
   
4. Compounds Sin (II Samuel 11:14-17) 
   Sin is just like a tiny snowball at the top of a mountain. Once you start down the mountain the snowball collects more snow and  gets bigger and bigger and bigger and harder to stop. Sin is the same. Sin causes more sin which then causes more sin and so on. The compounding nature of sin is what make it so destructive to our lives. What starts out as a "little" lie turn out to be an huge fabricated story that never was true from the beginning.   

We just focused on the bad and how sin causes destruction in our lives. What about the good? In Proverbs 13:13 we find the 1 thing to help keep us from sin.

Obey God's Commandments

1. Love God
2. Love others
3. Go and Tell

Philippians 4:7 tells us to get out heart and mind right. What better way than obeying God's Commandments? Matthew 28:19-20 tells us to go out a preach Christ. You see if we are obeying God's commandments and our life is preaching Christ, then we will naturally avoid sin.

Living for the Lord is not in vain

 

Depending on what poll you look at, the average stay for a youth pastor is somewhere between 1 - 4 years.  Why is the time so short? There are many reasons why youth pastors leave but there are just as many reasons why youth workers and the teens themselves leave also. Some of the reason are reasonable while other are lame at best. Plain and simply said a lot of people are not where they should be. Church and God just are not important enough anymore.  

You can be assured though that living for the Lord is not in vain. Youth group is not in vain. Your service for God is not in vain. Read though the next 3 points to see why.

1. Your faithfulness helps point people to Christ
   In Acts 9 the bible records the very time that Paul 's life changed. From that point until his death, he was constanly pointing people to Jesus through his service and faithfulness to the Gospel of Christ.
   BIG QUESTION: Who are you pointing to Christ?
   
 
2. You will receive awards - Your service and faithfulness gain crowns of reward in heaven
   Matthew 6:20 says to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven". All the money and possessions in the world will eventually fade away but treasure you have in heaven will be eternal.
   
   
3. It's about God's glory - Your service should be for God's glory not for self or the glory of man.

Make a commitment to still be in your place this time next year. Then make that very same commitment year after year.

Stay the Course - Be in Your Place - Serve God

Is the Grass is always greener on the other side?

We always find something to complain about. Christians often start complaining when we start comparing ourselves to the things of the world. As the saying goes, "The grass is always greener on the other side". Is it really??

In Acts 17:27-29 we find a progression of three things that happen when you start to venture off into worldly things.

1. Blinded by the world- We often miss God because we are blinded by the world. Our focus is on the latest, greatest cell phone, getting a texting plan or the fact that I need a car when I turn 16. We tend to focus on these worldly things rather than focusing on God. In eternity, the thing that really matters is what you have done for Christ.
   
   
2. Bondage by the world- Once your focus is off God, the next step in the progression is bondage by the world. You can only take so much of the world before it brings you down spiritually. Sin has its way of sinking its sharp hooks into you and keeping you from serving God. You will not meet a alcoholic or a drug addict who as a young child said they wanted to be addicted when they grew up. Of course not, it is the bondage of the world that took them too far down the path of the addiction.
    
3. Brood by the world- The Webster's dictionary define the word brood as "a group having a common nature or origin" or "the children of a family". The bondage of the world leads us to the last step of being part of the world. You become no different than the world around you and the world is controlling your life. It even gets to the point that you can't leave the world behind when you come to church.
   

You may find yourself at one of these points in your daily life. The beauty is that no matter where you are God is always looking and waiting for you to come back into his open arms. In Luke 15 we read the story of the Prodigal Son. We find that while the son walked down all aspects of this worldly process, the father never stopped waiting for him to come home. In verse 24 we read "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry."

Bow down to God and his perfect will for your life not the things of the world.