One Single Summer

Lately, we have been studying the Bible book of Genesis and watching how God began His plan to redeem the world and glorify His Son Jesus. One of the #1 lessons we have learned as we have studied how the world and humanity began is that sin is mankind's fault, and sin is a way of life for most people. Since I came to become "Minister to Students," the title printed on my new business cards, we have already had some students leave who used to be involved and seen some new students join our Bible studies and become regularly involved. One thing you can count on is that people change.

Hebrews 13:8 declares, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (NIV). The Message translation says it another way, "Jesus doesn't change - yesterday, today, tomorrow, he's always totally himself." We are not changeless my friends. We get emotional, upset, confused, impatient, self-centered, judgmental, cynical, depressed, and sometimes simply decide to give up on something or someone. We have seen that in Abraham's life as we have seen polar opposite spiritual highs and lows throughout the story of his life. One minute he trusts God to give him descendants even though he was too old to have children and his wife was barren. Another minute, he tells his wife to lie about being married to him. One minute he trusts God to help him rescue his captive brother, and another minute he tries to force God's hand of provision for a son by having sex with his wife's slave. One major truth we have learned is that we are like Abraham with ups and downs while Jesus remains a constant North star that we can rely on as we experience mountaintops and hurricanes in life.

We often forget that God knows our whole lives and futures. He is timeless. He knows what will happen to you and me long before we ever experience the future for ourselves in the form of present circumstances. The lesson behind this spiritual truth is that God can be trusted, and we do not need to worry. We should not try to manipulate circumstances and relationships in our favor. We can take all of our worries, cares, and confusion to the throne of the Lord Jesus and leave them in His worthy, nail-scarred hands. I pray for our youth group all the time that you will be able to do that: give God your burdens and let Him lead in your life.

This last Sunday I had the pleasure and honor of recognizing our graduates and challenging them, like Jesus, to use their education to "Go and make disciples of all nations" from Matt. 28:18. I charged these students to remember that their trust must remain in Christ rather than a secular education and career. If we are born again, then whatever we do in this short, fleeting life must be focused on Christ while remembering that our true "home" is never Earth-comfort but the heaven-city of Zion. We constantly seek comfort here in this decomposing, dying body rather than spending what time we have left serving Jesus with all the energy we have.

We have this One Single Summer. What if this summer is our last summer before Christ comes back? Remember, the Bible declares that Jesus' Second Coming is going to be like "a thief in the night." So, again I ask you, what if this summer was our last on this Earth? First, are you ready to meet your Savior and Lord? Do you need to repent and get right with God? Second, what have you been doing lately to tell your peers at school that Jesus loves them and paid for their sins on the cross? What are we going to do as a student ministry to reach out to our community this summer? You have more time than usual with school out to do something worthwhile, so what will you do with this one, single summer? I challenge you to step up and reach out. I challenge you to invite friends to Bible study and try to encourage other students to grow in their faith. I exhort you to take your faith seriously by studying the Bible and praying daily. Please, I am begging you, do not find yourself in August headed back to school for the Fall semester without making any progress in your spiritual journey or any spiritual impact on this community which needs our prayers, love, and service. What will you do with this One Single Summer?

James

The Call of Today's Culture

I had a fascinating conversation this week with some students on facebook. After we talked, they told me that they did not want to be friends anymore and deleted me from their "friends" account. Basically, I check up on students on facebook, just like any other normal person to see how people are doing and what is going on in their lives. I saw these two particular individuals cursing on their facebook profile messages and making a lot of crude jokes, so I confronted them about it. I told them that I did not see Christ in what they were doing and encouraged them to stop cursing and telling crude jokes and invited them to come back to Bible study. In return, they basically told me that I was unfairly judging them, that teenagers today communicate through cursing and crude jokes, and that I needed to back off, get a life, and learn how the world works because everyone sins.

Allow me to share a few reflections I have had on this experience. First, I admit that maybe facebook chat or messages is not the best place to resolve differences with someone. I actually apologized about that, and I was forgiven for trying to change someone using a social media tool. Second, I also realize that many times people do feel judged for what they do unfairly and that is why they will cut off a relationship or stop communicating with someone. Third, my understanding is that Christians are supposed to keep each other accountable and call each other out when they see another Christian being a hypocrite. I mean, if we do not stand up for what we believe in, then I do not know why we have any faith in the first place. Fourth, all teenagers do not communicate using curse words and inappropriate jokes. Teenagers use the culture as a standard for what is acceptable rather than what the Bible says or what their parents taught them. Using the culture as a standard has never been nor will it ever be a wise plan. Fifth, even though it is true that all people sin, we are never given permission to use that as an excuse to sin freely. The whole point of Jesus' ministry was to set sinners free from bondage to perpetual sin.

Jesus said in Matthew 15, "The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean'." Jesus says that you and I are responsible for sin and I literally "put my money where my mouth is" because I talk about what I value. If I use curse words and speak lies, hate, or lust, those sins have come from who I am: a sinner in need of salvation. The process of redemption in the Bible is not to sin and then ask for forgiveness so that I am free and clear to sin again. The process of redemption is sanctification, which means that I spend my whole life trying to sanctify my life, to 'become holy', to seek to become like Jesus. If I want to be like Jesus, then I should hate less, lust less, curse less, and boast in myself less and less over the course of my life.

I wanted to share these truths with you because they were on my heart, and we need to recognize as Christians that today's culture calls us to be self-centered. Today's culture calls us to "have it your way...right now!!!" Today's culture wants you to focus on yourself. Jesus' culture from two thousand years ago is still the only way out of becoming enslaved to the call of today's culture. Jesus invites us to recognize our sin, repent of rebellion against Him, and renew our lives daily as we seek Him in Bible study and prayer.

Please, I beg of you, do not listen to the call of this culture anymore. The call is sweet like honey, but the pay off is a filthy mouth and lifestyle and fake friends. Let Jesus shape your heart, and let Jesus shape your words. I love you and I pray for you. May you hear the blessed call of our counter-culture Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

James

Waterlogged and Spiritual Fog

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 7 relevant to our recent Nashville freak flood incident. From the Message interpretation, "These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit - but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."

Whether or not we realize it, this flood was a test of faith for many people. The flood was not sent by God to destroy our city in order to find out who still had faith after devastation. However, in the same way that God allowed storms, raids, disease, and destruction to rain down on Job in the Bible book Job, God allows the world to throw storms at us because we have caused the earth's groans. If you think for even a second that we can live however we want without consequence, then you are a fool. God allowed this flood to happen because natural disasters are a consequence of mankind's sin and rebellion against God. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. are all our fault for rejecting God and living independently of His will. The Bible can handle the questions people have stemming from natural disasters because God can handle our sin that we fail to acknowledge and confess.

Know this: many people in this city survived the flood without trusting in God and His providential care. I read a quote recently from someone unknown that said, "Sometimes God calms the storm, and other times God lets the storm rage and calms His people." When disaster strikes, God calms His people and gives the human-logic-defying peace and grace to conquer heartbreak and loss of physical possessions with faith, joy, peace, and love.

This world is not our home, and disasters make us put our money where our mouth is. If we confess Christ but mourn the loss of anything we can't take with us to heaven, then we're showing what we truly care about. Listen to me, my friends: God is love, and He is the only One worthy of our hope and trust. He cares for us, goes with us through valleys of despair, and leads us as our Good Shepherd who knows our needs and comes to rescue us from wolves when we wander off. He loves His people more than you and I love each other, and the only way to learn how to love someone more is to learn more about how much God loves us!

This waterlogged city revealed that a spiritual fog exists, keeping many families and individuals from trusting in Christ because when disaster struck, their hope was in homes built on sandy beaches rather than solid rock. Our church has been planted in this community in order to help people know how to build on the solid rock of faith in Jesus Christ: Savior of mankind and King of Heaven. If we don't understand our purpose as born-again believers, then we will simply drift through a lifetime of spiritual fog as empty shells of lost potential. You can be waterlogged AND have a firm foundation under your feet. Yet, even flood insurance can't insure our assurance of eternal life. Christ alone can help us permeate the spiritual fog and find meaning in the middle of the storm. Trust in Him and share with others the peace found in Him.

I am praying for you and I hope you are praying for me. We've got a big summer of ministry. I hope you're ready to reach out and love our community like never before.

James