This past week, Jason and I chaperoned our youth group to RYM for the 2nd year! (
last year)
It was a pretty awesome week. Lakeland took the largest group we've ever had. We had 25 guys, 16 girls, and 7 chaperones--48 people! World record as far as we're concerned.
Riding on the bus will in fact make one crazy
The theme for the week this year was "Hope in a Hopeless Age". Which I thought was a great theme for high school aged kids (& adults all the same). We do indeed live in such a hopeless time, more so than we probably realize. We all need it, but where do we actually put our hope? Who or what do you put your hope in?
I'll try not to overwhelm you with all of my notes but here are some of the key things that I learned/heard from Ricky during our large group sessions:
What is your hope? Eternal hope? Heaven is about being in a spiral of delight with God. God is delighted to have you in His presence and you are delighted to be in His presence and you are delighted, that He is delighted. That's a spiral of delight and we get caught up in that with God for eternity.
The hope of glory is that we can enjoy this, even now. John 17:20-26 says that His precious prayer for us is that we would be with Him and see His glory. The reason I exist is to share in this spiral of delight with The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
Jesus came to get me. He came for you. He comes to us--and when you believe that, it changes you. It makes you want to love people...not for them to like or accept you, you will want to love and help them no matter what because of Jesus.
Why is this world hopeless?
Because of Genesis 3, because of the fall of man and not only did it happen in the Garden of Eden but it spread to every end of the earth that day & would effect everyone.
We live in a very broken world and at it's very best, it will never satisfy me, ever.
There is hope for this world. But, it's nothing we will find in this world. It's in the Lord who had mercy when it fell.
Our churches are broken, our bodies are broken, our personalities are broken, our work place is broken, the Earth is broken--we need to talk to God about our brokenness because our hurts and brokenness hurt God too. He's been there. He's felt all of my brokenness personally when He died for me. He felt it more fully and wholly than I ever will (thanks be to God!) He voluntarily took it all, for me.
The Resurrection is the true hope for this world.
Brokenness is real, but so is the resurrection and our hope.
We believe things, most of the time, because they make us feel better--but, we have to look at history because history triumphs inspiration.
Most of us believe in the resurrection because our families do--we never questioned it--we just believed it. IF we don't question that and come to figured out and believe that ourselves, it will never have the magnitude to carry us through this life.
Don't hold on to the resurrection as tradition or inspiration, it's truth.
Doubt is okay in the bible--look at "Doubting Thomas". But, we need to doubt honestly and be sure to not stop there because it's not okay to doubt things cynically (just because). It's not okay to doubt selfishly.
There is very good reason to believe that Jesus got out of the tomb and is living with His Father:
The craziness of the claim--no one expected it. People stay dead! All but one, Jesus.
The Jews began to call Jesus, Lord--Jews would have never just succumbed to that and called Jesus Lord.
People die for this belief--Would you die for a lie? Every disciple but 1 died for this truth.
Because Jesus' influence grew after He died--How many other religious leaders can you remember who's followers grew once they were gone?
So what are we looking forward to?
A healed creation. Healed bodies. Healed emotions. Healed relationships. Healed psyche (self image).
Amen and Amen. I am thankful for a lead speaker who was able to really able to relate to our kids and allow the Lord to use him to stir their hearts.
Each day there's a large time frame of free time. There's so much to do. Go to the beach. Go to the pool. Play basketball. Play volleyball. Play Gaga ball. Take a nap. Walk around. Go to the book table. Go to the snack shop. Play Mega-Rec. I mean, we did it all!
We also sign up for two elective classes throughout the week.
Mine were both really amazing.
One was "Freedom from the Paralysis of Doubt" with Joey Stewart.
Doubt is a major problem with Christians.
Too often, when asked the question "If you died today would you be with Jesus?" there's uncertainty.
But, praise Jesus, our confidence is not found in ourselves, it is in Jesus Christ ALONE.
Are you a true believer or a self deceiver?
Where is your foundation? What is it built on?
The false security of a bad foundation: We build our lives on things that will fail us.
We place our confidence in right answers & right actions and all that does is produce false security.
We've made His laws "humanly achievable" which they aren't. He does not demand that we do our best, He demands that we do His best and that's done only through Him.
Jesus is the only solid foundation upon which we can build our lives and He alone fulfills God's demands for us. Jesus came and basically told me to enjoy His joy, forever through what He's done.
Our struggle with sin
What is saving faith? It is knowledge and understanding of the gospel, agreement that the gospel is true, and trust and reliance in it.
A life with Jesus is a life of struggle with sin. Regardless of our sins we need to know (and hold on to) the fact that God does not love me more because of a good day or less because of a bad day. He loves me because of Jesus, and Jesus alone.
Union and Communion with Christ
You can never lose your salvation once you have it--bottom line.
But, what are the benefits that Jesus has won for us?
The benefits we can enjoy now: God's love, peace of conscious, joy in the Holy Spirit, growing and persevering in the grace of God.
The benefits we will enjoy in death: we will be made perfect in His holiness, we will immediately go into glory, and our bodies will have rest until the resurrection.
The benefits we will receive at the resurrection: We will be raised up in glory, we will be openly acknowledged and acquitted, we will be made perfect and be in full enjoyment of God forever.
A lot of people look at all of this and it's so abstract to them that they don't long for these things. We don't fully understand them and see the magnitude of it. The truth is, the full enjoyment of God that comes with the resurrection is better than anything this world can/will ever offer us.
Jerry Bridges wrote: 'While our union with Jesus can't be taken away; the enjoyment of it comes from communion with God"
Being in prayer and daily reading of The Word is God's way of drawing us closer to Him and His heart for us. When reading scripture, ask yourself "what does this scripture say about the heart of God for me; because of Jesus?"
Rest for the weary
If we are not grounded in The Word of God, we will run when doubt and difficult circumstances come our way.
We need to remember the truths about God and His heart for us.
Remember His Goodness--Psalm 23:4-6
His power--Isaiah 40:12, 2 Timothy 1:12
His love--Zephaniah 3:17
When we doubt our salvation we are not doubting ourselves, we are doubting God and His promises. It is arrogant. It is saying that you understand the gospel and that it might be true for everyone else but what God did isn't big enough for you and your sins. God didn't pick and choose. What He did is big enough to cover ALL sins.
My other class was entitled "The Hardest Prayer You'll Ever Pray" with Jean Larroux.
I was so excited about this class. It was all about The Lord's Prayer and the meaning of it all. I chose this one because as a congregation we recite that prayer every Sunday and I wanted a better understanding of it.
Matthew 6:5-15
vs. 9-13--"This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name"
The two words, Heavenly Father change everything. When we see God as our father, it changes everything. "If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means he does not understand Christianity very well." J.I. Packer
Think of the magnitude of calling the God of the universe, your Father.
Jesus says, "Yes, He is holy!", "Yes, He has all power!", 'Yes, He is a consuming fire!", But when you address Him...When you are so bold as to even speak to Him...When you pray, you call Him Father; your Father.
Does that change the way you pray? We usually feel the need to talk to our parents, you want to talk to them and tell them things. God is greater than the worst father and the best father earth has to offer.
When we are praying "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.." we are taking His name upon us and when we do that it must mean something. It's weighted; it's heavy.
"Your kingdom come, you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"
When we are praying "thy kingdom come" we are asking God to arrange the world as He meant it to be. To petition God to usher in His Kingdom is a request of rightful ownership--all that He created, all that He intended, all that He decreed, thy kingdom, thy monarchy, thy people, under thy hand--Thy Kingdom come.
The most sweet and most bitter truth of in the kingdom of God is that Jesus is coming back.
There are two parts to this section of the prayer: a statement and a modifier.
The statement: "on earth". The modifier: "as it is in heaven".
When we pray, "thy will be done" we are essentially saying that whatever He decides is okay with you. It's as if we are saying, "I don't understand this, but I do trust Jesus".
When we pray "thy will be done," we are showing our submission to God's control, not giving Him permission to be in charge.
Asking God to make our lives just like He wants it to be is part of what makes this the hardest prayer you will ever pray.
"Give us today our daily bread.
In this prayer, we request that God only give us enough today to keep us dependent on Him tomorrow.
When you look back in Exodus 16:1-5, 12-26 we read about the manna that would come daily to God's people and how they had to depend on God daily for the bread they would eat. Which then cause daily dependence on God. Why would God do that? Because in Exodus 16:12 He says: "Then you will know that I am the Lord your God!"
God gives His people only enough to keep them dependent on Him--daily.
Are we really ready to pray for daily bread? Are we ready to ask God to only give us enough to keep us dependent on Him?
"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors"
In the Lord's prayer, with regard to forgiveness, Jesus reverses the order and teaches us to pray saying: "forgive me like I forgive others."
Think about making that kind of request from God: "Dear God, I want you to forgive me, but please Sir, first look at my heart, look at how I have forgiven others, and then forgive me like that."...makes you think!
When we forgive others we are showing them that we have tasted salvation and we want to share that with them.
We need to leave justice to Jesus and show evidence of a forgiven heart by forgiving others.
Jesus' point is that if we can not, do not, or will not forgive those who sin against us, then it's likely that we have not tasted or seen the true forgiveness of God in Christ."
This isn't hard praying, it's impossible praying...except that God served up our forgiveness first!
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
Genesis 6:5 informs us that when we are left to ourselves we will chase our sins until it kills us--we've been freed, in Christ, from the consequence of sin, but we need to be freed from it's control as well. Jesus is our master, our "debts" have been forgiven, and we live with Him, but many of us "sit on the porch chasing every car that comes by--it's in our nature. It is our basic instinct to sin. Without restraint man will naturally do the very thing that will end his life.
Keep us from deceiving ourselves.
This is a prayer or protection for our souls from the very thing that almost killed us forever, sin.
The only thing more attractive than our sin is God's grace and His mercy He's had on us.
The world, the flesh and the devil will convince us of everything that God doesn't want us to believe. The devil doesn't care what you do, as long as you don't love Jesus. The only virtue sin has is its emptiness but for some reason, we are drawn to it.
You abuse your body, abuse your heart, lust, worship your "idol" of the week, have deep discontentment, and discontentment with the fact that your heart is discontent, you repent, but take pride that you repented, and then repent of your repentance and hope God noticed how well you knew your sin...Who will deliver us from lives like that?
Jesus did.
When we say Amen we are just as well signing a contract, we are committing, we are agreeing.
Think about what we are agreeing to--
To call the God of the universe our Heavenly Father
To keep His name holy and set apart
To live for and desire His kingdom
To tell others about the return of the King
To let Him be the pilot, the co-pilot, and the air traffic control
To submit to His will
To content myself with daily bread
To ask for only enough today to keep me dependent on Him tomorrow
To measure out forgiveness the way He measured it to me
To have Him restrain my natural tendencies towards sin
To "protect me from the world, the flesh, and the devil
and to that you say, "amen, amen, and amen"
Something super exciting happened during our free time one day! We won our first sporting event at RYM! (at least since I've been going). Our volleyball team did some kind of awesome!
Look at these winners! So proud of our Lakeland team pulling out a W for us.
Loved having this beautiful lady as a chaperon with us this year!
The ever so delicious Wednesday night BBQ.
Every church that comes to RYM is assigned a meal to either serve/clean up after or do both.
Thursday night is the "night out" at RYM where the groups get to go out and eat, shop, see a movie, whatever they please. Our group makes this night extra special and we give it a theme and then everyone (most everyone) dresses up accordingly. Some of our guys are still "too cool" for that. ;) This year's theme was cosplaying and/or superheros.
To end the week, RYM puts on a big ole' dance on the beach.
I love it and the youth love it just as much!
I am so thankful for the week I got to spend with the youth hearing wonderful teaching, singing amazing songs, having fun, playing on the beach, and worshiping together.
I want to end with this awesome video.
Hearing hundreds of student's proclaim that they "are bound for the promised land" tops the charts of wonderful things to happen this past week!
What a joy it is to serve such a gracious, good God that gives us that promise!
