I am the Gate…a poem by a student

One of the things we’re trying to be more consistent with in our Student Ministry is getting teens involved, on stage, with our Student Ministry worship service. One of our junior girls is an excellent public communicator and has a talent for writing poetry. So this past week we studied John 10 and Jesus’ “I AM…” statement: “I am the Gate.” She wrote an original poem based on John 10:1-10.

“I am the Gate”

The world shoves us down paths, dead-end roads, and into corners.

Constant decisions,

Whirlpool of confusion-

A thief- stealing breath,

Satisfaction,

Life.

A wonder we do not drown-

Traveling further and further into the mazes, open one door then on to another,

Gate after gate, turn after turn

until we’re buried and left peering into the windows of life.

But where does that get us..

See while we are running, trying so hard to find what’s best, what the universe says is right,

Our savior is pursuing us- calling us into, not gates, but THE GATE

Arms stretched out saying I AM the WAY.

Saying come to me all who are broken and weary,

And I will give you rest..

Salvation…  Life.

A life that you can live to the fullest.

So, when are we going to stop running, and live it?

3 Thoughts from Nehemiah

A little over a year ago Greg Stier did a chapel series for the Dare 2 Share staff on Nehemiah, specifically the leadership principles we can learn from Nehemiah. The book has been in the back of my mind since then to read and “marinate” on so I recently took time to dive in and soak it all in.  While I’m wrestling through the text and applying it to my life and ministry let me share 3 quick thoughts I’ve learned from Nehemiah over the past week or so:

1) You have to have a vision and burden for what God is calling you to do (Nehemiah 1). Nehemiah was burdened for Jerusalem and rebuilding the wall (Neh 1:4). Nehemiah was moved emotionally for the task he was called to do.

2) Interestingly enough, even though Nehemiah had a heavy heart and clearly had seen what he was called to do, he was patient as he approached the task. He didn’t dive right in to rebuilding the wall when he got to Jerusalem, he walked the city and observed (Neh 2:11-15).

3) Even though he alone had received the vision and calling, Nehemiah knew he couldn’t go it alone (Neh 3). At first, as I read this chapter, I was bored with laundry list of people and tasks and was quickly reminded of those geneology passages of scripture where someone begat someone who begat someone…But then it hit me, in this case, the list of names and specific tasks was critical. Nehemiah needed a team significantly bigger than himself to accomplish the task at hand.

I’m grateful to God for His Word, what He chooses to reveal to us, and when He chooses to do so. There is great power and wisdom in the book of Nehemiah.

“I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life” Sermon Review

INTRODUCTION:
This week I opened the message with another Vintage 21 Jesus video, Video #4 to be exact. It was perfect timing for this video for 2 reasons: 1) It was Palm Sunday and the video is set on that Sunday, 2) the question posed humorously in the video was a question that John 14:6 addresses – how do we get to heaven?

After the video I got a student volunteer (impromptu) to read John 14:1-14 for everyone. I am finding that students will listen to their peers read a scripture passage more intently than they will listen to me read that same passage. The bonus is that it’s another way to get a student involved in the worship service.

2 QUESTIONS:
John 14:6 is a bold statement that screams exclusivity in two different ways. 1) The word, “the,” in the context of “the way, the truth, the life,” exhibits exclusivity in that Jesus is not an option – “a way, a truth, a life,” but He is exclusively THE! 2) The exclusivity of Christ is reinforced in the 2nd half of this verse: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” As a result of looking at John 14:6 I posed the first question to the students:

• These are all things everyone wants to find: the way, truth, abundance of life. If these are all things we are looking for why aren’t we satisfied when we find them in Christ?

I let the question “hang in the air for a minute,” like a friend and role model in ministry, Derwin Gray, will say from time to time. And I did just that, I let the question go unanswered from the stage and challenged believers, especially, to wrestle with this truth.

I then transitioned by asking two students to come up on stage to get a FREE CD, no  string attached. One student received a Pillar CD, the other a Starfield CD. However, on of the cases didn’t have the CD in it. I got booed by my kids as I really didn’t give the student the CD, just the case. I used that awkward moment to talk about how their friends, and even them, may carry the “Christian” label but that doesn’t mean then are a Christian. I also took advantage of the way they responded in distress over an empty CD case and asked if they cared near as much for their friends who say they are “Christians” but aren’t. It was awkward, but I believe God used it for something awesome. I reinforced John 14:6 and that by believing in Jesus alone is the only way that we have access to the Father. Then I challenged them with John 14:12,  “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” Which led to question #2:

• What does the fruit of your relationship with Christ look like?

I let that question hang in the air a little bit longer than the last one. And I left it there.

CONCLUSION:

We then wrapped up with a time of communion and worship in which I encouraged the students to wrestle with that question in light of what Jesus did for them so that they could have eternal life and asked them what they were doing with their lives to thank Jesus for His sacrifice. I presented the Gospel in that moment as well and students were instructed to go to 1 of our 4 communion stations or come talk to me about pursuing a relationship with Jesus.

I didn’t anticipate that the sermon would go so heavy and to the heart in my preparation but it definitely did. I didn’t anticipate students being so upset over an empty CD case but seized that moment to challenge them why their hearts didn’t break near as bad for their friends who say they have it all together but inside are dying. Sometimes the most powerful moments in worship are the ones we don’t plan.

“I AM the Light of the World” Sermon Review

I’m a few days late in getting this posted but better late than never. We are continuing our series, “Who do you say I AM?” journeying through the “I AM…” statements that Jesus made as recorded in the Gospel of John. This past week was, “I am the Light of the World.”

As I prepared for the sermon I was struggling to see how to make this sermon come to life. It’s a pretty straight forward statement and one that doesn’t seem to need much explanation. Boy ,was I wrong. As I studied the passage, the context, and what it all meant I as blown away by the magnitude of what Jesus was saying. Truth is, I was in awe.

OPENING:
This week we dove right into the text and I had a student volunteer (on the spot, not prepped) come on stage to read John 8:12-20.

HISTORY LESSON:
That’s right, we got deep into the history of the Old Testament, specifically unpacking the Festival of the Tents/Tabernacles/Shelters, since this is teh festival that was taking place when Jesus made this statement.We went to Leviticus 23:42-43 to begin our journey and then I shared a personal experience our family had the past fall celebrating the Festival of Tents with our Local Outreach Pastor and Messianic Jewish friend, Larry Stamm (serves on staff with me at GFC). I then pointed them to Deuteronomy 1:32-33 which describes how God went before the Israelites on the Exodus as a pillar of fire by night. I then showed the kids a floor plan of the Temple and where Jesus stood as He made the statement, “I am the Light of the World.” He was standing in the Temple Treasury (John 8:20) which happened to be the courtyard in which the celebrated this festival by lighting 4 75-foot-tall oil lamps and the Jewish men would dance all night holding torches in their hands. The light was so powerful from their torches and the oil latterns that all of Jerusalem was illuminated by the light they put off…do you see how it all fits. Jesus made His statement of being the light of the world in the midst of this light celebration during the Festival of Tents. He was explaining in a very tangible and real life way to the people in that setting that He was God and the fullness of the light God provided to the Jews and that they celebrated during this festival. Wow! Blown away!

I then talked to the students about the Power and the Purpose of Light, reading through Psalm 119:105, 2 Cor 4:6, and Isaiah 9:2 connecting the dots all over Scripture. It was really cool and a lot of fun.

VIDEO:
As a counter measure to the point I was making we showed our students on of the classic Vintage 21 Jesus videos to demonstrate that Jesus didn’t come as light of the world to expose us our sin and leave us to deal with it but to expose us to truth (which in turn will expose our sin) but His purpose was to illuminate redemption, not condemnation. It was a humorous but powerful climax.

CLOSING:
I read both John 8:30 and 8:59 showing in that same chapter the two ways people responded to Jesus and then gave students to respond in 1 of 3 ways at the end of our service:

1. non-believers could come talk with me during worship about beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ, stepping out of darkness and into light.
2. believing students who found themselves in a dark place could seek out our adult leaders around the room (standing against the walls during the invitation) for prayers over them that God would reveal Himself as a powerful light in the midst of the dark season of life they found themselves in.
3. we challenged our students to sign up for our summer mission trips as an opportunity to be a light to the world themselves.

I also have to hand it to our new Student Ministry Worship intern, Ryan Hughes, who knocked it out of the park selecting songs that reflected the theme of our sermon: All My Fountains, Marvelous Light, Here I Am to Worship, and You Are the Light.