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It’s More Than Obedience

November 26, 2012 — Leave a comment

OBEY! I don’t know about you, but when I hear that word at first, I cringe a little bit. Do what you tell me to do? Come on. But this word is essential to our faith as Christians. This word is more than just do what your parents tell you to do, it is more than a list of commands, it’s even more than a popular clothing brand, it is a word which is the essence of the Christian faith.

Obedience is defined as “dutifully complying with the commands, orders, or instructions of one in authority.” Even looking at this definition from the dictionary, we can see how this word fits right into the biblical definition God lays out for us. “Dutifully” means we are responsible to obey God, just as Jesus fulfilled His duty of dying on the cross for us. “Commands, orders, or instructions” refers to the Bible and all of the teachings God has laid out for us in this amazing book. “One authority” is God Himself whose authority overrides anything else in this world. For the Christian, obedience means complying with everything God has commanded because it is our duty to do so.

There is a difference in straight up obeying and the spirit of obedience.  If your parents gave you a list of things to obey and do and you just get it done because you have to do it, your relationship with your parents would seem like a burden because they just tell you to do certain things and if you don’t obey you will be in trouble. If you are obedient to them because you love and respect them and trust they know what is best for you then your relationship with them would be much closer because you obey them because you WANT to. Same with God, if you were to look at obedience like a list of things to get done because you HAVE to do them, of course you are going to resist it and think it is a burden. When you have the mind set of of love and respect for God, and have the spirit of obedience, you obey because you WANT to our of love for Him.

Because of Jesus, all of the Old Testament Laws and rules were fulfilled. Jesus calls all of us to a new law to abide to. A law He summed up in two commandments. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments’” (Matthew 22:36-40).

We are not going to do this perfectly. We are imperfect people. But if we love God, we will obey Him to the best of our ability and have the desire to do so our lives will be evidence of that desire. When we love God and obey Him we naturally have love for one another. Obedience is commanded by God, it is a must, but not only because it glorifies Him, because His commands are best for us to follow. Obedience brings joy, comfort and peace in a world where such things are hard to find, mainly due to disobedience and rejection of God and His Word.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9-“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

John 15:14- “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jesus’ speaking)

Galatians 5:13-14- For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

John 14:23-24- Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

Ask yourself:

  • Am I obeying God? What has He prompted me to do that I have not yet done?
  • What are things in my life that I have not listened to God about?
  • Have I even been open to what God has to say about my life?

Today, pray:

  • That God will give you the spirit of obedience.
  • That you will serve and obey Him because you want to out of love.
  • Others will see love pouring out of you because of your obedience to Him.
  • For God to reveal anything in your life that He has called for you to do but you have not been obedient with.
  • That you do those things He commanded for you to do.
In Devotional, God, high school ministry, Ministry Idea, organization, personal growth, student ministry, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , ,
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Grace Speaks Louder

November 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

Romans 5:20b-21- “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This verse has been haunting me all this week. I say haunting because when I think about it, I think about how bad I have been at this idea of extending grace more than being upset when someone sins continually against me. That is such a foreign thing for us because the normal reaction when people keep sinning against you and hurting you is to get angrier and more upset when they do so.

“But were sin increased, grace increased all the more”, what a thought. I realized we are extended this grace every single day in our lives from God. We sin every single day and instead of getting more and more mad every day, God extends more and more grace to us every single day because of His love for us. This is the greatness of His love for us.

Have you ever seen someone just have a peace about them when they are going through difficult times with difficult people? You ever wonder how or why they seem to have this peace about them? I believe it is because they understand this verse and live it. This is what makes them different, this is what makes them stand out and this is why people want to know why.

Sometimes the best witnessing tool is not our words, but how we deal with and handle things in grace. The more issues, the more grace. It stand out and shouts to the people around you what God does with us every single day. People respond to that. People notice that. People want that grace and to know where it comes from.

If we were to model this grace, I wonder what our lives would show for it. Probably would be pretty amazing. This is my prayer from now on.

In Devotional, God, Leadership, personal growth , , , , , , ,
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Missing Miracles

September 18, 2012 — Leave a comment

I have been reading through the Gospel of John lately, and in chapter two I found something that I never really noticed before that sort of stopped me in my tracks. John 2:1-7 says,

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.”

We all have heard this story before. Jesus turns the water into wine. It is His first miracle that He does in public, but I do not want to focus on that. I want to focus on the servants who filled up the water jugs. Think about it, they were given the “blah” job. These were jars that held around 30 gallons of water EACH! It was heavy times six jars. Not a glorious job by any means but they did not say “This is not our job” or “This is not necessary”, they just simply obeyed and got to be apart of a miracle.

“His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.”

By simply obeying Jesus by what seemed like a menial task the servants got to be apart of a huge miracle that launched Jesus into ministry and His name was spread. If we do what we feel Jesus is calling us to do, no matter how small and insignificant the task seems, we can have the opportunity to be apart of a miracle in someones life simply because we obeyed.

Doesn’t matter matter what it is, don’t miss out on a potential miracle because you thought yourself too good for a certain task. My prayer is that I always carry out what Jesus calls me to do, no matter the task, so that I may be able to be apart of the miracle to have His name spread like in John 2.

In Devotional, God, Leadership, personal growth, Uncategorized, worship , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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GUEST POST: Humble Beginnings

September 13, 2012 — 3 Comments

Recently I accepted the position of Saddleback Huntington Beach Student Ministries Director. I cannot begin to tell you how surreal that sentence is.

I come from a church in a small town where you are bound to run into at least ten people you know on a daily basis wherever you go. I had the honor of being the Jr. High Director for my home church for almost two years. I watched our ministry start with a handful of students and grow to 300+ in the course of a year. I’ve seen God do incredible things in our students lives on a daily basis.

Coming from a ministry where everyone “gets it” to a ministry where you have the challenge of starting from scratch really teaches you about humble beginnings. “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” - Zechariah 4:10 NLT

I have the privilege of taking these handful of students back to the basics. I get to teach them why it’s important to read their bibles, why they should take notes, why they should serve, and why they should reach out to their friends.

Was it always an exciting feeling to start from scratch? To be honest… No. I knew it would be a challenge, but I also knew that God had called me to this and I also knew that He would be there every step of the way. I know ministry can be discouraging when you feel like students aren’t getting it, or when you feel like what you’re saying is going in one ear and out the other. I encourage you to celebrate the win.

What do I mean by that?

Every week I remind my students to bring their bibles and journals. For the first couple months I got nothing. The other day I had a student walk up to me and say “Hey Brenda! Look! I brought my bible and journal!” You better believe I celebrated that all morning! I even gave him a shout out during service for setting the example.

These things may not seem like a big deal, but to a ministry that is going back to the basics to build a solid foundation it is a huge step in the right direction. I celebrate that they stepped out and talked to someone. I celebrate that they invited a friend. I celebrate when they take notes. I celebrate the first time a student raises his or her hand in worship.

What gets rewarded gets repeated.

We may not be celebrating that we had 100′s of students show up on a Sunday morning (yet), but I am celebrating that they are making progress. If you aren’t moving forward then you’re standing still.

My advice to anyone in ministry: Celebrate the WIN. We so often as ministry workers tend to hear and fixate on the negative. I pray that we start recognizing that even if just one student gets something out of your weekly message then you’re doing something right and someone’s life is being changed.

Brenda Medina is the Student Ministries Director for Saddleback Huntington Beach. She is a lover of Christ. Encourager. Over analyzer. Writer. Reaching the next generation with passion and heart. Devoted to building up leaders, Brenda is available for any suggestions or comments.

Brenda Medina. Student Ministries Director | Saddleback HB

T: @_Bren_

F: BrendaSays

B: BrendaSays.blogspot.com

In creativity, Devotional, God, Guest Post, Leadership, service programing, student ministry, Transitions, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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GUEST POST: Expectations for Youth Leaders

September 11, 2012 — 4 Comments

In any position, expectations are important…very important! The person applying for a job needs to know what is expected of him first. If the boss does not lay out the expectations from the get go, he cannot expect for his employee to meet those expectations. Therefore, I blame this on the boss. In student ministry, it is important that you lay out the expectations for the youth leaders ahead of time. When I came to this student ministry, we already have had youth leaders in place, and I have not had to go out recruit much, but when I do, this is important. Lay out clear expectations for your youth leaders. Okay, we got that…now, what are some expectations that I should have for our youth leaders? Here are a few of those for you to start out with:

  1. Maintain a healthy growing time with Jesus- Youth leaders time with God will show in how they approach their ministry! If they have not been growing in the Word, you will see it lived out in youth group, and you cannot have this! Youth leaders must be steadily growing in their relationship with Jesus if they ever want the students to grow.
  2. Be faithful to church/youth group- This is a no brainer in our minds, but let me tell you from experience, the youth leaders need to hear it! It is important and vital that you stress this. We cannot ever expect our students to be faithful to church if we cannot be faithful. Tell your leaders that you expect them to be at church when the doors are open so that is applicable to however your church does its service times.
  3. Attend youth events- Now, there are going to be times when some youth leaders cannot attend certain events throughout the year, but they should be at many throughout the year for sure! This is their responsibility. Attending youth events is one of the best ways to build relationships with the students. They love seeing their leaders at stuff. It is tough, but from experience the leaders with the best relationships with their students are the ones who try to come to every youth event!
  4. Build relationships with their small group students’ parents- This is HUGE. I actually had a breakfast meeting this morning with one of our youth leaders discussing how we can be more involved in the home and the parents lives. I am learning that we are ministering to our parents as much as the students and your youth leaders must understand this from the get go! Therefore, they must try their best to talk with the parents and build a solid relationship with the parents throughout the year.
  5. Participate with enthusiasm- This is important to me. The reason is there is nothing worse than you being excited and no one else is. That is awful for the student pastor. If you have leaders (and you should), this should never happen! Meaning as long as leaders are there, there should never be a dull moment in youth group. If there are, it is the leaders responsibility to kick up the enthusiasm and energy. Expect this from your youth leaders.
  6. Follow Rules & boundaries of church- Every church and youth group have certain boundaries. Sometimes they are crazy and far-fetched, but every youth leader must know that they are responsible for teaching the students to follow rules whether or not they agree with them.
  7. Offer suggestions for improvement- I desire this from every youth leader. If you have 5 youth leaders, that is 5 different perspectives that you need to hear! I love hearing feedback from our youth leaders, but you should expect every leader’s feedback, not just the same few every single time.
  8. Attend training and leader’s meetings- This is another big thing that we struggle with. If you have a leader who skips out on all of the meetings that you have, they are not going to be much good. It is your responsibility to find the best time for the most leaders to attend and schedule it. Schedule them far in advance so that the leaders can plan accordingly. After that, it is the youth leader’s responsibility to attend! They must plan around important meetings.
  9. Follow through on responsibilities- If you give them a responsibility, follow through with it! Youth leaders who sit on things for a long while are not going to be good leaders. Find leaders who are eager to get things done for you. Also, if they suggest for you to do something, you must follow the example and the expectation of getting it done in a timely manner as well.
  10. Pray daily for the student ministry- This is another no-brainer, but it sometimes goes unnoticed. We expect so much when it comes to the program, but when it comes to the biggest thing like praying, we do not stress this! Every youth leader should be responsible and held accountable that they are praying daily for the student ministry!

I could go on and on, but these are 10 expectations that you must have! Remember to lay out the expectations early. The student pastor’s who are frustrated with their youth leaders and their performance are normally the ones who have not laid out the expectations that they desire!

*Josh Evans is the student pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church in the Winston Salem, NC area. You can connect further with Josh on this blog or send him a direct email at joshhevans@gmail.com.

In creativity, Guest Post, high school ministry, Leadership, organization, service programing, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Building Our Kingdom vs. God’s

August 14, 2012 — 2 Comments

 

Look at that sand art! It’s amazing isnt it? All the time and the effort that was put into this awesome piece of art. The detail. It’s beautiful. But the crazy part about this beautiful sand piece is that tomorrow… it is going to washed away with the waves. It is going to crumble and fall because it is only made of sand. There is no solid foundation.

This is what happens when we do not have a solid foundation as well. In our human nature we are selfish. We are self-kingdom building machines. Pretty much everything we do we are building up ourselves. We care more about our popularity than we do making Gods name the most popular name. We care more about the stuff we have and the clothes we wear than making sure everyone in our community has clothes to wear. We care more about what others think of us rather than what God thinks of us. These are all self-kingdom building attributes. Building our own kingdom is building up our own selfishness. Pleasing people will ALWAYS fail just as sand castles will ALWAYS crumble. When we focus on pleasing people, we build our own kingdom. Building our own kingdom is living in a way that God has not intended for us to live.

Our biggest form of worship is self-surrender. Building our own kingdoms will fail. Always. Submitting under God’s because His plan for your life and will for your lofe is far better than you can ever imagine.

GOD CARES FOR YOUR FUTURE AND RELATIONSHIPS WAY MORE THAN YOU DO.

Why don’t we stop trying to please others? Why don’t we stop worrying about what others think? Why don’t we put aside our selfishness and stop cutting others down so we can show how important we are to everyone else?

Daniel 4:3b, “His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.”

God instead wants us to join His kingdom. Because his kingdom will never be going away. It will never crumble. It will fail us, leave us, or forsake us. It is going to outlast everything and living by it through His Word (the Bible) we are invited to come into it and join His kingdom instead of building our own.

We have to stop building our own kingdoms because like all of the great earthly empires we learn about in history (Romans, Persian, Babylonian, etc) they only last as long as their king. Same with us. What we build on our own only lasts as long as we do. Submitting to God’s kingdom because we know he will do way more with our lives than we can is the ultimate form of worship.

Matthew 7:24-27

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

In Devotional, high school ministry, Leadership, personal growth, student ministry, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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How To Keep The Camp High

July 31, 2012 — Leave a comment

For both students and for leaders, there is always a camp high when we come back from a camp. It is during those times in which we feel so much closer to who God is, what He is doing in our lives and it always seems to be a rekindling  of a relationship between us and God. So how do you keep that? How do you not lose that when you come home and have it fade away?

If you really think about it, there are 5 major things we do at a camp or retreat everyday that we tend to not do when we get back. 5 things in which we are supposed to do on a daily basis which we tend not to do at camp or retreat. It is these 5 things that give us that spiritual “high”, but if we were to do these everyday we would be able to have that feeling everyday.

  • Pray- We pray everyday at a camp or retreat. that communication between us and God is key to our closeness with God. If we are having a struggle on determining where God is wanting you to go, what better way than to have a conversation with the One who made you.
  • Quiet Time- At a camp or retreat you have a quiet time with God every single day. You study the Bible for at least 30 minutes everyday you are there. This is something I myself struggle with on a daily basis and I know it is a reason in which the “camp high” fades when I come back.
  • Community- You are in a great community of people everyday. You are around people who you are comfortable talking to and opening up to and being able to talk openly about struggles that you are having and being able to pray with them right then and there.
  • Worship- There is worship session every single day (usually in the form of music). But its time where you and God connect and you can just worship Him for who He is.
  • Laugh- We let loose at a camp or retreat because we are not worrying about anything besides just being there with God. Jesus says why worry about tomorrow, today has enough worry for its self. When we are at camp or retreat we can just have fun and laugh with everyone around us and not worry about anything.

All of these things happen at retreats and that’s why we get that extra close feeling to God. Because these are the things that we are called to do on a daily basis, so that “camp high” doesn’t need to go away…ever! We have to stop doing these things just at camps and retreats and not on a everyday basis. No wonder we don’t have that feeling when we come back because we forget to do this when we are back.

That’s my goal as we just got back from camp, to continue to do these things to keep that “camp high”.

In creativity, Devotional, God, high school ministry, Ministry Idea, personal growth, Relational, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Blotted Mercy

July 24, 2012 — 2 Comments

When you look at the ink blot above, what do you see? What do you focus on? The blot? The space around it? What?

In prayer I think we sometimes focus on all of our problems and not the widespread mercy of God. For example, if there was a blank white page and there was an ink blot right in the middle of it, because the page was blank, the ink blot will stand out to us and that will be the thing that we focus on. But the ink blot doesn’t take over the whole page, its just a small section compared to the rest of the page. There is still a lot of white on the page. The ink blot is our sin, and the rest of the page is God’s mercy. In prayer we only focus on the ink blot, our sin, and that’s the one thing we focus on. The rest of paper, which is far bigger than the ink blot, is God’s mercy, and that is what we should be focusing on. We always pray for and focus on our sins, which is only tiny compared to the rest of the page of God’s mercy. THAT’S WHAT OUR PRAYER SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON, THE VAST MERCY THAT SURROUNDS OUR SIN.

Proverbs 28:13

People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

In creativity, God, Leadership, personal growth, student ministry, sweet articles, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , ,
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I Would Rather Sink

July 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

We all know the story of Jesus walking on water. Jesus meets his disciples in the middle of the lake and Peter calls out to Jesus asking him to come out on the water as well. Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk on water but then gets scared and sinks and has to be saved by Jesus. Fail.

In the Gospels, Peter seems to be better known for his failures. But if you compare his actions to the rest of the disciples in the walking on water scene, he is the only one who actually steps out of the boat. He stepped out of the boat when Jesus called when it made no sense.

We always forget about the disciples in this story. Where were they? In the boat, not doing a thing. Just watching Peter step out and do an amazing feat. Doesn’t mater what happened with Peter because Peter still gets to say he walked on water. No one else but Jesus can say that. Because the other disciples stayed in the boat, maybe that is why we forget about them in the story. They were spectators.

Sometimes following God, He bids us to take a risk and step out of the boat. I would rather sink than stay on the boat. But in the end, these risks reap the greatest reward. If it weren’t for the risks that Peter took he wouldn’t have experienced the incredible things that he did.

I want to have an experience like Peter, not the other disciples. With my life and my ministry, I want to try to not get into the same routine and play things safe when it comes to my relationship with God and my ministry for Him. I am trying to constantly step out for Him and try new things knowing that if I am doing them faithfully, God will pull me up out of the deep water just like He did with Peter.

Let that be a challenge to us all.

In Devotional, high school ministry, Leadership, personal growth, student ministry, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , ,
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31 Sermon Series Topic Ideas

July 12, 2012 — 8 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, we met to lay out our Fall series schedule for Saddleback High School Ministry. What came to the table was amazing. Here are just a few that we considered. Hope these help in any way or spark some ideas for some amazing series. Our fall series is still being worked on, so I’m sure we will get them up soon:

  • Do Something
  • Taboo: What Church Isn’t Talking About
  • Things Jesus Didn’t Say
  • Grace Mob
  • Brotherly Love (cross out love, over it “wars”)
  • How To Survive High School Guide
  • Identity Theft
  • YOLO
  • Irrestistible Revolution
  • Life Apps (going off the iPhone. Could be fruits fo the Spirit or the Bible is the first and best app)
  • I Want Your…
  • Poser
  • Can You Hear Me?
  • Rewind
  • WWID? – What Would I Do?
  • I am _______________
  • Jesus: Liar, Lunatic or Lord
  • I Am Legend
  • Abandon Ship! – abandon sin, self
  • Wasted – Growth, Heaven, Hypocrisy, Possessions
  • Forever Alone
  • God is…
  • Eyes Wide Shut
  • He > I
  • > Greater Than
  • Booty. God. Booty (From a blog post of Jon Acuff)
  • Nothing – God makes something out of nothing. If you are nothing, God can make something out of you
  • AWE/SOME – God is awe/all, we are some
  • Get Dirty
  • IDK (I Don’t Know)
  • Things Jesus Did Say

If something sparks you that creates another amazing series, let me know! I would love to hear what you came up with as well!

In creativity, Free Stuff, high school ministry, Ministry Idea, service programing, student ministry, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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