Believe it or not I love Wednesday Nights for many reasons. Each week we normally have someone new who comes into church and I love taking the time to meet them or one of our team members will take the time to meet them.
I also love the fact you really never know what you are going to get. On Sunday mornings people poor in about 30 minutes late and then of to the main church service. On Wednesday's it all depends on what is going on at school. Last week people were upset and it was a week of simply talking about bad things happen and it doesn't mean that God loves you any less.
The week before a young man is in the front seat crying because of some stuff going on, one of my high school students shared his story and then that young man gave his life over to Christ in the Alsups Parking Lot in the van.
Wednesdays seem to be a rush for me until 6PM and then we chill out and simply enjoy each other and love God! My prayer is that God will move in a big way tonight!
When I think back on those who believed in me there is a huge list. So I am having a hard time just picking a few. So I am going to point out the three that really stick out to me.
My aunt and uncle no matter what it was they always had 100% faith in me. Even at my lowest point as a high school student they never stopped believing.
Mrs. Turner was the one who refused to allow me to stay they way I was in school. Lazy and not wanting to turn in work. There were times when she have a come to Jesus meeting and then other times she would simply award me for the good job, She was also the first person to allow me to work with kids.
My Church family...I put this as a group because at the end of the day I know I can go to someone there. I believe that is what makes life easier because no matter what I know that God is going to have someone there to help me out!
I am learning so much when it comes to relationships and I pray that God will continue to break me and help me see the need for him!
Today I was driving and listening to one of my billion podcast and sermons I listen to every week. God has an amazing way of speaking to me in that way and I enjoy listening to other people. As I was driving and listening to a guy named JR Vassar. The sermon I was listening to was titled "Freedom From the Fear of Man." His point was how we spend so much of our time trying to please man and we become needy people in some way shape or form. This really opened up my eyes to an issue that I have. Many times I will miss the calling of God because of the fear of looking like an idiot. Now the catch is that I have no problem with telling people about my faith. In-fact it is a gift of mine. My fear is with people who are above me and who have some type of control over my life. Mine has more to do with the fact that at times I feel that people really don't see all that I do for the kingdom of God. I am not the type of person who likes the spot light and in-fact I spend allot of time staying out of it because I believe that God has another calling on my life. I tend to have more of a personal relationship with people instead of just knowing them.
A year and half ago my church youth group started growing in numbers and in-fact it tripled in numbers. Students were giving their life to Christ left and right and I must admit it was nice and I felt like God was moving and he was. But in December that stopped and I started seeing God taking us down a new path with new I ideas. A student that I had from an early age started talking about leaving and a few months later he did. I was amazed with how I felt and others felt. Today I believe it was a sinful way of thinking because here was this young man knowing that God was calling him to serve some where else. Because he was my star student, and to be honest with you I loved him allot and put allot of time into him. People would complement how he was and I found it to be awesome that I was the person who told the youth pastor at the time to give him shot in serving. Then he leaves! I become upset and hurt...let me honest I have had kids come in and out and cared but not like this.
I owe God more with my life and ministry for many reasons. For the first time in a while my family is better then it had been for well over 12 years. My family was in church and a lady from a small baptist church reached her and I am seeing God change her heart. God had answered my prayers and here I was shaking my fist at God.
Because I wanted people to notice what I was doing for God I became so concerned with the glory of Nick and not the glory of a king. It was unfair to me, God, and his flock. Things became weird because God was doing something new. I was fighting it and I knew God wanted me to go to the cross, but lets face it when things tumble down and numbers aren't as good, you look like you are not doing your job. But through his grace and through only what God could do this started changing.
December of 2009 I knew it was time to deal with my heart and I knew it wasn't talking with a bunch of people or even a cry fest. I needed to spend time alone and begging God to show me his heart and to change my heart to see the beauty of what God had giving to me. How selfish of me and anyone else who would think that God only moves through our numbers. To think if I am just creative enough people will come and worship and we will see God move. I started seeing that God didn't need any help bring people to him, it was simple he had so much love for us he wanted to include us in it.
I compare it to when my father was teaching me how to keep the yard cut. My dad included me by taking the lawn mower and making a square and telling me to stay with in that square. Now when I look at it, i was in the way and really not helping. Even when I was five or six with my bubble mower, he put me behind him and just encouraged me by telling me I mowed all that myself. The reality was I was following his path that he already started. I was in his way and it took him a little longer.
How awesome is it that God uses us and wants us to simply follow him and join in on what he is doing. However God is different from my father, he doesn't want me to pretend that I did something that he was responsible for. God knows what you and I need, and that is to be rescued from our way of thinking.
Now there are only three main focus points in our youth group:
Honoring God in all we do
Serving our God in all we do
Worshiping God in all we do
At this point all we do is small groups. I believe this will change sooner then later because I see God bringing up a new group of students. I believe we have healthy relationships with these students and because of that we can do some more group stuff soon. But I must admit it's nice, because I no longer have that burden on me. At the same time we must maintain a healthy learning environment and having students follow rules has become easier. It's simple I am not worried about if they like me or not. We have three simple rules and I expect them to follow those rules: Respect God, Respect others, and Respect yourself. It's amazing they get it now. We allow not sexual talk or dirty joke in our youth group not because it is sinful, but because it takes away from what God is doing. The freedom is awesome in that and I found that students have really opened up to that. My point is that I don't believe I need to do anything but follow God to make it attractive.
Titus 2 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 1and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
My prayer: God save me from my selfish way of thinking, help me bring honor to you in all that I do.
Last week two of my friends lost people who had such an impact on their life. One was a mentor and the other was a grandfather. It hurts for us to even understand why death has to happen. I know what some of you are going to say, if you believe in Christ there is no such thing has death. You are right and that is the beauty of the cross. However coming from a back ground of losing people I will tell you, there is that sadness in all of us.
So after hearing about these two people and what I found to be an awesome staff meeting this past week, I have asked God to guide and show me words of comfort for these two. I don't want to say the same thing we all say. Words that come from God and his word.
Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
It's a blessing to live here on planet earth, but here is where we long to be home. In our death we gain life and in our life we must die. We have a purpose here and that purpose is to run the race the best we can. Right now we have limits and we have events that set us back. The beauty of those set backs and time of being disappointed is that we are able to see God flex and show us who the boss is. When I read that I find comfort in knowing that I am running th race the best I know how too.
While I am here I must admit there were a few times last year that I thought I was through with the race. I was hurt and beat up and it happened one to many times. I don't mean in a way of taking my own life, but stepping out of the ministry world. I later found out that through all of that God had purpose and I needed to man up and get off my soap box. I had been called by God and he gave me the people and his word.
I say all of this because my pastor and friend posted a video on his blog that is on the link bellow that was touching. Has he battled the question Why? The question should be why not me? Doesn't it show great faith to take the slap in the face and to continue with the race?? My prayer is that we all would rise up and be the light in a world that is dark and is need of a savior.
It's amazing how God has giving us the grace to be who he wants us to be. But I must admit in the last year I have been struggling with our language about people and those who are in the faith. To this day I can tell you of two of the best worship expierences I have had in my life. One was in a big setting and the other was in a small setting.
Small Setting:
It was 2003 when I went on a Mission Trip to Mexico. While I was there I spent allot of time finding more out about myself and what God would want for me. One night we had this worship service and I wasn't able to understand the lyrics because it was in Spanish. It was the best setting in the world and to this day I would put in a highlight of my times with Christ.
Big Setting:
Two years ago in Houston with 2000 people at a Hillsong conference. Behind me was a guy who was worshiping and singing loud in Japaneses. I was amazed with how big God was to make a song that has an impact on me to have the same impact in a different language.
We have the freedom to be us, but we strive to be like other people. We strive to be "big time" but how many small people are there for every big name? Do we believe that God only uses the big or do we believe he uses all? We of course you said yes, then Why? Why do we focus on the big but not the small? As I read through my Bible God used all people, but who were his 12 disciples??
Peter, Philip, James, John,and Andrew were fishermen.
Matthew aka Levi was a tax-collector
Nathaniel a Noblesman
Thomas was a servant
Judas was a bookeeper
Paul was a tentmaker
Simon was a zealot, a rebel
The Bible really doesnt say what Bartholomew did
My point is sometimes we need to be careful of what we glorify. I believe it is awesome how God has blessed Hillsong. But I also still know some people over in Mexico and it's amazing how God has blessed them. We are free to be us small or big! My prayer is that we focus on the calling that God has for us and not the cause that the world wants. May we understand that God uses all big and small!
He is our God" and since he is our God what does he command from you and I? For so many people the Bible has more to do with what we are to do and not to do. I believe most of us would understand "the rules" but do we truly understand what it takes to live as our God? We read about his son on the cross and how to the end he loved. He was a man that was spit on and looked down on. Before we he was sent to that cross he was beat and was a savior that went last so you and I could be first. The cross is something that should be celebrated by his people and at the same time we should show the cross to others.
I believe the one thing that would have changed my life growing up would be someone showing me the cross. I must admit, it is so hard to show. We make it seem easy but it's not. That day on the cross it was so much more then just a man hanging there....it was man hanging there calling us out of death and into life. To think at one point I was dead and now I am alive is not easy to understand. But what I do understand is that my life should show the same dedication.
1John 7-8My dear friends, I'm not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you've known it from day one. It's always been implicit in the Message you've heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!
In 2010 when I look around I ask myself is this what God had in mind? I know God knew what would happen and what is to happen. But the last couple of weeks with an earth quake in Haiti and mud slides in California it makes you think for a minute, is this the way God wanted? I believe the answer is NO! However I am understanding what God wants more and more.... I believe he wants the cross to be a blazing light in a dark world. When I read about human tracking I ask myself, "What can I do?" I believe showing that God is love and allow the cross to do it's job will make the true difference.
The last year of my life I believe I have made a huge change in how I think and believe. I believe so many times we make the cross selfish and we feel that God is most satisfied when we feel good. I am understanding more and more, when I don't feel very comfortable that is when God has me right where he wants me. Please hear me, I am not saying we are bad people because we want the American dream. I am saying I believe God has something bigger for you and I. I believe it has more to do with how we respond!
So with Haiti how will I respond? We'll last week I did my # whatever to give but I believe I am going to follow the lead of a fifteen year old I know. He was at lunch one day and was thinking about the people in a land of poverty and distress and how they were living before an earthquake. So he made the choice to still take the lunch money from his parents but use that to give to a fund. His friends started follow his lead and now there is a lunch table at a local school with a bunch of students who throw there lunch money and a bucket and have started to fast from food one meal so someone else could get the help they needed.
You see at the cross we find something more then just love, we see what sacrifice should look like. I have kids in our youth group that is going to start fasting so that they can give. I believe with all of my heart God has called his people to so much more then just living a life and Going to a Bible study so we can grow spiritually. I believe we must receive from him so we can give to others. I now believe that is a time for God to show up and rescue his people from what Satan meant for evil. This is our chance to fulfill the will of God and to open our eyes to what God has for you and I.
My prayer: Dear God please help us and rescue us from ourselves and what we believe to be comfortable. God show us what it means to carry our own cross.
i was online looking at FoxNews.com when I cam across this article from a pastor from Arlington. I find it amazing for many different reasons, it's 2010 and we're still trying to figure it out. The more we live the more we should search. Always keep it in mind that no church will ever get 100% because we are human, however keep in mind that God word never changes!
I must admit if I knew what I know now I am not sure if I would have giving my life over to Christ. When I first grace I thought I was "good" because all I had to do was go to church and sing a couple of songs and I was done. The more and more I went to church the more I found myself asking....is there more? I must be careful because I love serving and I believe that is how I learn as a person. I set in a church maybe three months not serving. Now I don't believe I am a better person because of it, I believe that is what God has called me to and I still believe it is working with teens. I am not a youth pastor trying to climb up and become a senior pastor...At this point in my life God has called me to it and has not put that passion in my heart. My goal is to serve Christ to best of my ability because God has giving me that gift and I must obey it. However should serving be painful? I have asked God why did you give me this? I first years of serving were awesome and I loved it. I had the chance to sit down with two of my old students who are now in college or graduated from High School and I was amazed at how much of an impact the church and God had on there life. I was never sure if it was or not, but it was working. The trips, camps, dinners, movies, and all of the talks worked because of the relationship I had with the student. They are not the only one with the stories and I am so amazed with all that God has done. But what about the student who doesn't get it?? The student that loves to push your buttons and you grow frustrated with them, students, and life!
That has been me the last few months and I now understand why it was all because of who I was serving. I was serving them, trying to change them, and trying to be the "best" when God never meant for me to do so. My plans and God's plan was not matching at all and I was not cool with that! I know I had fights with God on it and I was making plans on how to solve their issues before looking at mine. You see serving will bring you great joy but it requires some suffering!
"Psalm 126:5 5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him."
I believe with serving you must also serve with some tears and begging God to change you so that you might be a light in a dark world. I believe it means more to the people you are serving when you stick around and you cry the tears with them and you allow them to see you in pain. Wait....I believe that, but I have to play Mr. Tough guy all the time and show no pain. Wow it shows that I am human. So when did I start looking into this?
Our worship team at Church started singing "How he loves us" and it is a powerful song with such a powerful message. Two weeks ago I was in worship and standing next to one of my students who has tested me the past few months and he said the following that brought me to tears and made more of an impact on my life that made me think about where I was at.... "Nick I know that this past year we have not been the best and it has been hard, but thank you for sticking around" At first I was like okay???? So I asked him what he meant by that comment and what he said struck me and I had to ask myself has my attitude been that of Christ. He went on to tell me that his girlfriend was talking to him and she had told him her church had gone through four youth pastors since she has been their. She had only been there for three years and she didn't trust anyone at Church.
That morning something changed in me and I started asking God to change the way I was thinking. I started asking myself what has changed in me and the answer was clear...it was love! I started begging God to change my heart for him and his people. So the weak before Christmas I set out to spend time in two different areas of my life...
A. With God which meant I must spend time with him and not just learning about him. I must slow down and and know that he is God. This seems easy but I believe it was hard....through that time I found out something awesome about not only me but God as well. It was something so easy and simple but however it became hard to understand for some odd reason. HE IS GOD AND I AM NOT! This means ups and downs and this means times of laughter and times of tears. No matter what the day brought I could rely on the fact he never changes. What I learned about me...I was trying to be God of my life when nothing belongs to me and it all belongs to him. Hear me on this, I am not talking about STUFF! I am talking about time and the future. Stuff is gone in two years, we pay one car off and we but another one. My time belongs to him as well and I believe that is the most important gift.
B. God had told me I needed to spend time with some students one on one. God made that happen for me in a way that I found to not only be awesome but to give me some relief. I went to the movies and had dinner with them. (If I see Blindside one more time I have paid for half of their budget) I had a great time. I started learning more about them and where they were at and thinking back on my teen years and where I was at. The more and more I would listen in the car, the more I knew God was changing something in me. It was simple I needed to be me and that was okay.
Then on Wednesday the night that I found to be awesome, we had this event plan and some how the plans didn't go like I wanted them to. We had ten students go, but I will tell you this I had a blast with them. I started seeing something different in them, in order to really make an impact...we must have a relationship. How awesome is it in life to be able to say I made a difference....it's huge!
How do we serve??? Through the love we have for Christ. We must always keep in mind that God is God and we are not!
I am not sure if I am the only one that feels this way, but it's amazing to me what God is trying to save us from. All of us have our labels in life and that is what we live by with out even thinking about who we really are in Christ Jesus. Jesus didn't come so we could remain the same, he came so that wecould leave different. The older I get the more I see that a relationship with Jesus is estential. I am not talking about attending a church or 15 Bible studies. I am not even talking about all the acts of service you might do in one week. I am talking about seeking God and trying our best to live for him. When I first gave my life over to Christ, I did all the right things. I only listened to Christian music because I felt that is what a good Christian did. I didn't see a movie that fighting, kissing, or anything else. As I did all that my relationship was struggling....In the last seven years I have been out of church on a Sunday three times. Since I have been the youth pastor I have only called in sick once. I am dedicated to what I do, but am I dedicated to the creator? You see when we read the word of God it's tough and it was amazing the other day when I read in Acts how this story jumped out......
Acts 3 1-5One day at three o'clock in the afternoon, Peter and John were on their way into the Temple for prayer meeting. At the same time there was a man crippled from birth being carried up. Every day he was set down at the Temple gate, the one named Beautiful, to beg from those going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the Temple, he asked for a handout. Peter, with John at his side, looked him straight in the eye and said, "Look here." He looked up, expecting to get something from them. 6-8Peter said, "I don't have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up. In an instant his feet and ankles became firm. He jumped to his feet and walked. 8-10The man went into the Temple with them, walking back and forth, dancing and praising God. Everybody there saw him walking around and praising God. They recognized him as the one who sat begging at the Temple's Gate Beautiful and rubbed their eyes, astonished, scarcely believing what they were seeing. 11The man threw his arms around Peter and John, ecstatic. All the people ran up to where they were at Solomon's Porch to see it for themselves.
You see the begger though he knew what he needed, but God had a different plan. I love this because we are able to see the power of Jesus and his desire for us to make a change and how he doesnt always give us what we want. Also Peter and Paul taking the time to talk to this guy because someone had to carry him to the gates....my question is why did they leave them there? We I know we understand that this guy was the least of these and what gets me the most is how Jesus used Peter and when people saw this begger walking people notice.
I believe that is what makes our story so powerful. When we hear what God can do with his people if we allow him is amazing....me must come as we are, but leave different!
