response to 11/9/08 lesson

hey guys. i kinda wanted to add something to what Mr. Morris talked about on Sunday, but i didn't have a chance, so i guess i'm going to say it here.

do you remember what he said about what would happen if you took away all of Bill Gates' money? he would probably be able to get most of it back, just based on the way he thinks. i think it's a pretty common story for entrepreneurs... they make money, and even if everything ends up falling apart, they are able to take a step back, look at things, start again, and get their money back. for Bill Gates, he has a lot of riches and blessings, but it also has something to do with his mindset and his heart.

mr. morris mentioned how it was like our external circumstances shouldn't control our internal circumstances - how we think, how we act. you can take someone's riches away, and how they respond will most likely tell you something about their heart. in a walk with God, everyone eventually screws up, and you see this time and time again even in the people that Jesus called to walk with Him or with David in the Bible or our own lives - what matters is how we act after we have fallen, what we do when things get tough.

so the problem isn't always exactly the circumstances, and the focus isn't exactly on the circumstances either. it's where your heart is. things can be great and you can be dead inside, and you can come alive in the storm.

the problem isn't solely the circumstances, though it is oftentimes the excuse. [you can't really do whatever you want just because you have a bad day. there's such a thing as anger management.]

so with youth group, the circumstance of leadership isn't the sole problem. we had mike, and it was like we had a fortune. take him away, and will we just crumble? if you want to get something out of it, it will sometimes have to flow out of your own heart. one random Saturday night this past summer, i talked to Billy and we both agreed church had been sorta stale, and we agreed to pray and to say that, even if nothing happened, we were going to be looking for God to move. we were going to be looking for Him just like we looked for Him when we went to Acquire the Fire or Michigan. and we did. it was difficult, but we saw God, by His grace.

i guess it's pretty clear that circumstances help and hurt - when circumstances are good, things will be going well, and vice versa. when we had mike, things were obviously easier. now that we have mr. morris, things are obviously a bit tougher. that doesn't mean you replace mr. morris with someone else who makes everything easier for you. but if you say, "i'm only going to start enjoying youth group when we have a new person in charge" or "i'm only going to start listening when we talk about something more than salvation," the attitude of your heart is in the wrong, and it's dependent on the circumstance. as long as it's God he's preaching, can there really be anything wrong with it?

then the question might be why or how long you should keep yourself in a circumstance that may only hurt. and i guess i would respond by saying that i think we should listen to God, to find something like God-sufficiency, rather than self-sufficiency or church-sufficiency or youth-pastor-sufficiency. be completed by God - the point of everything is relationship with God, more so than comfort or convenience. if God keeps you at TCCC, even if you are reluctant - well, you should follow God and you go where He leads you. as followers of Christ, we should follow Christ, and we should be willing. if God moves you to a different church, who are any of us to argue with God? the most any of us can ask is that you are right with God.

i love having everyone together at church. i love the community that we have and the bonds that have been formed through the years...the parties we've had, the music we've played, the laughs we've shared. but it's not worth it if we miss out on God. we must be right with God.

and if God moves you to take an active role in the youth group, then take it. you'll be rewarded. but don't take your eyes off Him. don't move out of selfishness, but glorify God in all things.

thanks for reading, take care :)