I began the message with this question “If your friend, a family member or a loved one was about to die, whether it was your little brother crossing the street with oncoming traffic or a friend held up at gun point, would you be willing to sacrifice your life for him or her?” About ninety percent of the audience raised their hands expressing that they would lay down their life to save a loved one (you will see in a moment why this question is important).
We then gave the youth a survey. Each youth filled out a card that contained three questions: “What is your greatest physical fear, social fear and relational fear?” When we picked up the cards we were astonished to find that the ultimate fear by a landslide was the fear of rejection by friends and family.
In Joshua chapter one Moses is stepping down from leadership and passing the baton off to Joshua to lead the Israelites. During this moment God shows Joshua a very important lesson about life: "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
God tells Joshua over and over again to “be strong and courageous!” God wasn’t just telling Joshua to be courageous on the battle field, he was telling him to have the greatest courage—moral courage. What is moral courage? Moral courage is the ability to face your fears, your insecurities, the desires of your flesh, your doubts and do God’s will in spite of those fears. It is the ability to live for God when all your friends at school have abandoned God. It is standing for God knowing that doing so may lead to rejection from your friends and family.
Earlier I asked, “Would you be willing to sacrifice your life for a loved one if they were about to die?” Almost everyone in the room raised their hands. This is great if you would. You have courage but do you have moral courage? Here is a better question, “Do you save your friends from going to hell? Do you live God’s Word? Do you step out of your comfort zone and witness to your lunch table, your teammates? This is moral courage.” (Only a few people raised their hands).
It is astonishing that we will save our friends and loved ones from physical death but are too caught up in our own insecurities and social fears to save them from going to hell.
Why does God tell us in Joshua to be strong and courageous? The first reason is He is calling us to lead our friends to God and his promises: “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.” Your friends at your school are lost and dying. They are missing out on the promises and joy that God has for them. They are on their way to destruction. You are there to lead them out of the pit they are in!
The second reason why God calls us to be strong and courageous is so that we may obey the Bible, live it and speak it: “ Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” Imagine what we would do as God’s people if we had the moral courage to live out God’s Word. There would be nothing we couldn’t accomplish. We would be walking out God’s will achieving greatness.
Now that we know why we must live a life of moral courage we must now figure out how to. God shows us the secret in verse nine: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
This past week I was talking to Jeffrey Shao, a seventh grader. He asked me, “How do I witness to my friends? I am having trouble figuring out what I should say to them.” I explained to Jeffrey that he wouldn’t be the one with the answers for his friends but the One inside him would be the answer. The Holy Spirit is the one that wins our friends to God. We are simply God’s tool, his voice to our friends.
How are we able to have moral courage? How are we going to step out of our comfort zones and face rejection, insecurity and humiliation and live sold out for Jesus? We are able to because God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of us and he will be our light and voice!
Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
BUILDING A BRIDGE
EXCITING NEWS
This past week a few of our youth went above and beyond in the world of sports. For Band of brothers this week we got to cheer Daniel VanAlstyne, a sophomore at Stanton, on at the regional cross-country championship. Daniel led his team, finishing in the top 16, carrying his team to the state championship. He and his team will compete in the state championship this Saturday!
Blair Schiller, another sophomore at Bolles, had some incredible feats. This past week he competed at the state championship for swimming. Blair swam an incredible time of 45.33 ‘’ for the 100 Free winning the state championship. He placed 2nd in the 200 Free swimming a 1:39 (that’s blazing!!!). He then helped break the state record in the 4x50meter relay.
Hampton Jacobs, an eighth grader at Harvest, led his basketball team to victory scoring an incredible 20 points. He was 4 for 5 from the three point line!
BUILDING A BRIDGE
“God is preparing his heroes and the time is coming when they will appear and the world will wonder where they came from.” –A.W. Tozer
God is calling us to be strong and courageous and witness to our friends. We found out last week that we are called to be strong and courageous to lead our friends to God and live out God’s Word. We are able to accomplish this feat because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us.
How are we going to be effective witnesses for Christ? Yes, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, but in a practical manner how are we going to accomplish this? Ephesians 6:12 says, “…Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
According to Ephesians we are not going to win our friends over by “flesh and blood.” In other words, It will not be by our looks, popularity, athleticism, or smooth words because it is a spiritual battle that we face. It is something that is beyond ourselves and our capabilities.
As I was leading Andy Saison and Dorrion Finley in discipleship this week God gave me a great analogy to show them how to be a more effective witness. I gave this analogy to the high school. I drew a picture of two stick figures standing on two different cliffs. In between the cliffs was a valley that separated them. One stick figure had a mustache and fro representing Nacho Libre, while the other stick figure had crooked teeth representing Stephen (Nacho’s future wrestling partner). On Nacho’s side was the word “God”. Nacho represented a Christian. Stephen represented a lost person.
I then asked, “How is Nacho going to get Stephen over to his cliff with God?” After brainstorming and yelling out answers someone finally yelled, “build a bridge!” “Exactly! We must build a bridge to our friends. After we build the bridge we must bring them over to our side.”
Now for the building of the bridge. How are we going to build this bridge? What is this bridge going to be made out of and how are we going to put it together? We know from Ephesians that it is not going to be our smooth words, looks, or popularity. God gives us the material for the bridge in I Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Love is the main material that connects our friends to God. What does this mean? It means that we first must be patient with our friends because love is patient. When they get on our nerves or cut us down we must be patient and trust God to change them. We must not be full of ourselves and cocky because love does not boast, it is not proud. We must be kind to our friends and encourage them. We must not get bitter at them for wronging us or rejecting us because love keeps no record of wrongs. We must listen and not always talk about ourselves but be interested in others lives because love is not self-seeking. We must protect our friends, not lose hope and always persevere to love them because these are what love is.
Another important aspect about building this bridge that you need to know is that the bridge is not built overnight. You can’t love your friends for one day and expect them to come to God the next day. This bridge of love is built over time one brick at a time. For example, let’s say we have scale from -10 to +10 (-10 representing someone sold out to the world, completely lost, while +10 representing someone sold out for Jesus). Your friend is at a -9. Your are most likely not going to get your friend from a -9 to +10 in one day. Rather, your goal should be to get your friend from a -9 to -8, then from a -8 to -7 and so on.
How do you make this practical? A simple smile may bring your friend one step closer to God. Encouraging them when they fail a test or complimenting them when they excel on one may take your friend from a -4 to -3. Eventually the bridge will be built. It may take a month or years but never forget love is patient.
After building the bridge you must bring them over. How do you bring them over? The Holy Spirit will draw them over. It says in John 6:44 that no one comes to Jesus unless God draws them. Unless the Holy Spirit draws your friends to Jesus all your work is in vain. This is why it is so vitally important to rely on God and not yourself—because YOU cannot do it! It says in Psalms, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle but the victory rests in the Lord.” Notice it doesn’t only say the victory rests in the Lord. It still says that the horse is prepared. We also must get prepared for Lord’s victory of winning our friends to him. We must get in our prayer closets and battle for them. We must pray without ceasing on our campuses, over our lockers and lunch tables because God is going to work through us if we are prepared.
A group of heroes that built a bridge were Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Roger Youderian and Ed McCully. During the 1950s these five men decided to give their lives to the cause of reaching the savage Indians of Ecuador known as the Auca. Prior to this time no missionary had been successful in bringing the gospel to these head hunters. They were infamous for their killings. Jim Elliot and his crew felt God was calling them to bring Jesus to this tribe. In order to make friends with them Nate Saint would fly his plane over the tribe in a circle while someone would lower on a line a bucket of gifts. At first the Indians feared the plane and the men, but after three months the five men saw progress. Now the Indians were not only accepting the gifts but giving back gifts, such as hand made clothes and even parrots.
The five men felt it was time to make face to face contact with the tribe. On Tuesday, January 1956 it took Nate Saint five landings to get all five men on the sand bar located near the Auca tribe. Jim Elliot radioed in to his wife their success and that they would radio back to them at 4:30PM. 4:30 came and went and no radio. After a day the wives of the men knew something was wrong and sent a search crew to look for them. The next day they found five men with lances in their bodies floating in the river.
You may say, “What a waste? How foolish to try such an attempt!” People all around the world said the same. But we find that the truth is the building of this bridge was not in vain. Thousands around the world heard this story and decided to go to South America to preach the gospel and finish the bridge Jim Elliot and his crew started including his own wife Elisabeth Elliot.
You may be thinking, “What about the Auca? How was this not a waste? Did they even find God?” Later investigation showed that the Indians had realized these men could have killed them if they wanted to but they did not. As the Auca were attacking the men one of the 5 pulled out a gun and fired warning shots. When the Auca discovered the power of the gun and how it would have destroyed them they could not fathom how someone would sacrifice themselves like this.
Later on when Elisabeth Elliot and others came with the gospel the Auca were surprisingly receptive of it. Why was this? “The Auca believed the gospel preached because they saw the gospel lived.” (Jesus Freaks II).
Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader
This past week a few of our youth went above and beyond in the world of sports. For Band of brothers this week we got to cheer Daniel VanAlstyne, a sophomore at Stanton, on at the regional cross-country championship. Daniel led his team, finishing in the top 16, carrying his team to the state championship. He and his team will compete in the state championship this Saturday!
Blair Schiller, another sophomore at Bolles, had some incredible feats. This past week he competed at the state championship for swimming. Blair swam an incredible time of 45.33 ‘’ for the 100 Free winning the state championship. He placed 2nd in the 200 Free swimming a 1:39 (that’s blazing!!!). He then helped break the state record in the 4x50meter relay.
Hampton Jacobs, an eighth grader at Harvest, led his basketball team to victory scoring an incredible 20 points. He was 4 for 5 from the three point line!
BUILDING A BRIDGE
“God is preparing his heroes and the time is coming when they will appear and the world will wonder where they came from.” –A.W. Tozer
God is calling us to be strong and courageous and witness to our friends. We found out last week that we are called to be strong and courageous to lead our friends to God and live out God’s Word. We are able to accomplish this feat because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us.
How are we going to be effective witnesses for Christ? Yes, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, but in a practical manner how are we going to accomplish this? Ephesians 6:12 says, “…Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
According to Ephesians we are not going to win our friends over by “flesh and blood.” In other words, It will not be by our looks, popularity, athleticism, or smooth words because it is a spiritual battle that we face. It is something that is beyond ourselves and our capabilities.
As I was leading Andy Saison and Dorrion Finley in discipleship this week God gave me a great analogy to show them how to be a more effective witness. I gave this analogy to the high school. I drew a picture of two stick figures standing on two different cliffs. In between the cliffs was a valley that separated them. One stick figure had a mustache and fro representing Nacho Libre, while the other stick figure had crooked teeth representing Stephen (Nacho’s future wrestling partner). On Nacho’s side was the word “God”. Nacho represented a Christian. Stephen represented a lost person.
I then asked, “How is Nacho going to get Stephen over to his cliff with God?” After brainstorming and yelling out answers someone finally yelled, “build a bridge!” “Exactly! We must build a bridge to our friends. After we build the bridge we must bring them over to our side.”
Now for the building of the bridge. How are we going to build this bridge? What is this bridge going to be made out of and how are we going to put it together? We know from Ephesians that it is not going to be our smooth words, looks, or popularity. God gives us the material for the bridge in I Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Love is the main material that connects our friends to God. What does this mean? It means that we first must be patient with our friends because love is patient. When they get on our nerves or cut us down we must be patient and trust God to change them. We must not be full of ourselves and cocky because love does not boast, it is not proud. We must be kind to our friends and encourage them. We must not get bitter at them for wronging us or rejecting us because love keeps no record of wrongs. We must listen and not always talk about ourselves but be interested in others lives because love is not self-seeking. We must protect our friends, not lose hope and always persevere to love them because these are what love is.
Another important aspect about building this bridge that you need to know is that the bridge is not built overnight. You can’t love your friends for one day and expect them to come to God the next day. This bridge of love is built over time one brick at a time. For example, let’s say we have scale from -10 to +10 (-10 representing someone sold out to the world, completely lost, while +10 representing someone sold out for Jesus). Your friend is at a -9. Your are most likely not going to get your friend from a -9 to +10 in one day. Rather, your goal should be to get your friend from a -9 to -8, then from a -8 to -7 and so on.
How do you make this practical? A simple smile may bring your friend one step closer to God. Encouraging them when they fail a test or complimenting them when they excel on one may take your friend from a -4 to -3. Eventually the bridge will be built. It may take a month or years but never forget love is patient.
After building the bridge you must bring them over. How do you bring them over? The Holy Spirit will draw them over. It says in John 6:44 that no one comes to Jesus unless God draws them. Unless the Holy Spirit draws your friends to Jesus all your work is in vain. This is why it is so vitally important to rely on God and not yourself—because YOU cannot do it! It says in Psalms, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle but the victory rests in the Lord.” Notice it doesn’t only say the victory rests in the Lord. It still says that the horse is prepared. We also must get prepared for Lord’s victory of winning our friends to him. We must get in our prayer closets and battle for them. We must pray without ceasing on our campuses, over our lockers and lunch tables because God is going to work through us if we are prepared.
A group of heroes that built a bridge were Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Roger Youderian and Ed McCully. During the 1950s these five men decided to give their lives to the cause of reaching the savage Indians of Ecuador known as the Auca. Prior to this time no missionary had been successful in bringing the gospel to these head hunters. They were infamous for their killings. Jim Elliot and his crew felt God was calling them to bring Jesus to this tribe. In order to make friends with them Nate Saint would fly his plane over the tribe in a circle while someone would lower on a line a bucket of gifts. At first the Indians feared the plane and the men, but after three months the five men saw progress. Now the Indians were not only accepting the gifts but giving back gifts, such as hand made clothes and even parrots.
The five men felt it was time to make face to face contact with the tribe. On Tuesday, January 1956 it took Nate Saint five landings to get all five men on the sand bar located near the Auca tribe. Jim Elliot radioed in to his wife their success and that they would radio back to them at 4:30PM. 4:30 came and went and no radio. After a day the wives of the men knew something was wrong and sent a search crew to look for them. The next day they found five men with lances in their bodies floating in the river.
You may say, “What a waste? How foolish to try such an attempt!” People all around the world said the same. But we find that the truth is the building of this bridge was not in vain. Thousands around the world heard this story and decided to go to South America to preach the gospel and finish the bridge Jim Elliot and his crew started including his own wife Elisabeth Elliot.
You may be thinking, “What about the Auca? How was this not a waste? Did they even find God?” Later investigation showed that the Indians had realized these men could have killed them if they wanted to but they did not. As the Auca were attacking the men one of the 5 pulled out a gun and fired warning shots. When the Auca discovered the power of the gun and how it would have destroyed them they could not fathom how someone would sacrifice themselves like this.
Later on when Elisabeth Elliot and others came with the gospel the Auca were surprisingly receptive of it. Why was this? “The Auca believed the gospel preached because they saw the gospel lived.” (Jesus Freaks II).
Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Madison and Homer
Me and Homer