Esther 4:14

Encouraging teens to memorize a verse (Esther 4:14) as we study the book in Sunday School...

Become Who You Are

Our theme for youth group really, but specifically for Maine this year was Becoming Who You Are. One of the things I feel like we discussed a number of times on the trip was that this is a process. I’m not going to wake up one day and be this super Christian, but it’s a process that day by day God is shaping me into the person He wants me to be. It’s really difficult at times though because the changes are often so gradual that you don’t see them.

Perfect example, I lost lots of weight but each day when I would look in the mirror I wouldn’t notice any sort of change. In my mind, I looked the same day after day. However, I was slowly changing. I would notice that clothes were becoming too big or I’d have to put a new hole in my belt so my pants would stay up.

The biggest way I would notice the change is looking at pictures. When people lose weight they often do before and after pictures.

Bringing People to Jesus

Become who you are…

Ever feel like you can’t really relate to people in the Bible? I mean God isn’t sending angels with messages for me, He hasn’t asked me to build a boat, I’m not the Queen of Persia or King of Israel, I’m not a prophet, I’m not leaving everything I have to serve Him full-time. Now that’s not to say we can’t learn from people we can’t relate to but sometimes I just wonder where the normal people are.

As I was reading and looking into Peter I started reading about his brother. Anyone know his brother’s name?

Yea off the top of my head I don’t think I would’ve gotten that one right. In case you don’t know, his brother is Andrew. Now yesterday we talked about Peter being an ordinary guy that God was able to use to do great things. But seriously even Peter is hard to relate to… you ever walk on water? Cut off a guard’s ear? Have Jesus wash your feet? Preach a message to thousands? Heal a lame guy? Have a dream about eating cows and chicken? Ok maybe you’ve done that last one, but I’m pretty sure that’s it. So even though Peter started out as a pretty ordinary guy, he did things that may make us feel it’s hard to relate to him. But enough about Peter, we’re talking about Andrew today. Now when you think about Andrew, what do you think of?

Really… nothing? Yea me either. He’s not that popular of a guy in the Bible; he’s only mentioned a handful of times (14 times to be exact). Six of those are when Jesus is calling him as a disciple (Mt 4:18, Mk 1:16, Jn 1:40-44), four of those times is when the 12 disciples are being listed (Mt 10:2, Mk 3:18, Lk 6:14, & Ac 1:13), twice they mention his house/hometown (Mk 1:29 & Jn 1:44), once he’s listed in a group (Mk 13:3) and the other times I’m not going to tell you cause that’s what you’re going to check out today.

So first stand up and (if possible, out loud) read John 1:35-40. This is John’s account of Jesus calling the disciples. Who was the first one of the disciples to follow Jesus?

Ok stand back up and read John 1:40-43 (Don’t want you falling asleep on me). What was the first thing Andrew did once he learned Jesus was the Messiah?

So Andrew finds the Messiah and the first thing he does is tell another person.

Next mention of Andrew we’re going to look at is John 6:3-13, and of course you’re going to stand and read it. What does Andrew do in this story?

This is a familiar story to you, but how many of you remembered that Andrew was the guy who found the kid with the loaves and fish? How does this relate to the other story? While Philip is starting to fret about what they are going to do, Andrew is evidently off talking to people and somehow finds this kid and brings him to Jesus.

Ok, third story. Stand up and read John 12:20-23. Now there’s more to this story then we are actually looking at, but I just want to focus on Andrew of course. So Philip gets a visit from some Greeks and they want to see Jesus, so who does Philip take them to?

I don’t know why Philip didn’t just take these guys right to Jesus, but instead he took them to Andrew and together they all went to go see Jesus.

How do these three stories connect? Each time Andrew is focused on bringing people to Christ. Sure Peter is the one who preaches the message at Pentecost, heals the lame, and writes books of the Bible, but what if Andrew hadn’t told him about the Messiah.

From Andrew, we learn that part of becoming who you are is being responsible for the talents God has given you. Andrew may not have been the guy who was front and center of many Bible stories but he faithfully connected with people and brought them to Christ. The same is true for you. Right now you’re a pretty ordinary person—not a king, not a prophet, not a pastor—but that doesn’t excuse you from using your talents. You need to be faithful with what God has given you so He can work through you. For Andrew it was bringing people to Christ. What are the talents God has given you and how can He use them to help you become who you are?

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This is the second of the two devotionals I wrote for our Maine Missions Trip. Our focus for the week was "Become Who You Are."

It's a process...

Become who you are…

When I think of people in the Bible who did a great job as a Christian, I must say Peter is not one that comes to mind at first. Think about the stories we hear about him most often—sinking as he walked on water, denying Christ (and three times), cutting off the guard’s ear, being called Satan by Jesus—not very positive stories. Honestly though these stories are probably the reason we can relate to him the most. Think about it, Peter was a pretty ordinary guy. He had a job as a fisherman. As we can see from the Bible stories, he made lots of mistakes. But that’s not the end of Peter’s story. He also did get things right many times. He went on to preach sermons that saved thousands in the early church. He even wrote two books of the Bible. For starting out as such an ordinary guy, he ended up doing great things, or more accurately God was able to do great things through him. Peter is an example of becoming who you are in Christ.

So what can we learn from Peter? There are so many lessons we can learn from Peter, but the one I’d like to focus on is how Peter learned from his experiences.

I know how sleepy you can feel reading these devos, so stand up and read Matthew 17:24-26. (If no one is close enough to you to be distracted, read the verses out loud.)

Who are the three characters in this story?

Did Jesus have to pay the tax?

Every year tax was collected to support the Temple. So the tax collectors come to Peter asking if Jesus is going to pay the tax. Peter doesn’t think Jesus should have to pay the Temple tax—why? Well no king collects taxes from his son, so Jesus, being the Son of God, shouldn’t have to pay the Temple tax. So Jesus doesn’t pay the tax, right? He’s a son and sons are exempt.

Ok read verse 27. What’s Jesus tell Peter to do?

Jesus pays the tax. He demonstrated to Peter the importance of respecting earthly authorities. If you were Peter what part of that story would you remember? If it were me, I’d be telling all my friends about how I caught a fish that had a coin in its mouth that, get this, had the exact amount of money Jesus and I needed to pay the tax. My focus would definitely be on the fish. But what did Peter learn from this experience?

Stand up and read 1 Peter 2:13-18. What does Peter write—all about submitting to the king or anyone in authority over you, whether that person is good or evil.

Peter learned from his experiences. He didn’t just walk away with a good story about a fish. He learned that Christians should obey the law and respect their authorities.

Now don’t think that he learned this once and that was it. In John 18:10, Peter doesn’t respect his authorities and cuts off a guy’s ear. So don’t be disheartened if you revert back to old behaviors. Becoming who you are is a process. James 1:2-3 talks about how we will encounter trials that will test our faith, the question is will you allow Him to use them to become who you are?

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This is the second of the two devotionals I wrote for our Maine Missions Trip. Our focus for the week was "Become Who You Are."

Valley Forge Battlefield

My freshman year of college I saw a poster that the Senior class was planning a picnic at Valley Forge Battlefield. I found it rather amusing because a simple Google search would inform you that there was no battle at Valley Forge, it's just where George Washington and the troops spent the winter of 1777-1778.
I was running in Valley Forge the other day and chuckled to myself as I thought about that erroneous poster.
But then starting thing that the lack of a battle does not mean a lack of significance. In US History my sophomore year of high school, I learned that the winter at Valley Forge was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The troops were unified by the time together and trained by Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. It was during this winter that they were transformed from a group of colonists to the Continental Army.

Which got me thinking... the turning points in life are sometimes winters of preparation, not battles.

You shall know the Truth...

I am quite active helping with the youth group at my church. A few weeks ago we did a High School Girls Retreat to talk about purity. I wrote a devotional book for the girls to use and taught two lessons. A few had to leave early, so I turned my Sunday morning talk into a devo to send them. Here it is; I pray it's an encouragement to you. (Oh and I may not have been the best at citing my sources, so if it sounds like I didn't say it, I probably didn't.) Let me know what you think.

What words describe you? 

When I did this I put words like teacher, daughter, and youth leader, but also words like smart, sarcastic, and reliable. Did you use words like "beautiful", "loved", "valuable"?

My guess is you know what the Bible says…You know that God loves you and you are valuable and all that. BUT I also think most of us don't really believe that—our actions don't show it.

What's your next step?

What's your next step? That's been then theme of youth group these days. The last topic we discussed is the next step may be evangelism and sharing your story.
In Sunday School yesterday, I gave the teens the opportunity to tell us their story. I went first. Here's my story:

I grew up and a Christian home. One time in elementary school, I had asked my mom if I was going to heaven and she told me I had accepted Jesus into my heart when I was little. So when people asked me how I got saved, I would tell them that I was saved when I was little but that I didn't really remember it, but I knew I was saved. Throughout middle school and ninth grade, I wasn't serious about God. I was a Christian Sundays and Wednesday nights, but not the rest of the week.

Two things changed this.