Youth Rally
So much to write, so little time.
This time in the semester is the worst. So I'm allowing myself about 10 minutes here to jot down some stuff I want to remember.
I will do my best to come back and fill in the details in a later entry.
I want to write about the night, many years ago, that the Lord took me into the Holy of Holies. Remind me to do that later.
Last nights youth group was the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
For about 15 minutes during the night, we divide up into smaller "living room groups" to talk about our week, do prayer requests, etc. Sometimes Pastor A gives us "leading questions" to help guide the discussion.
I would like to start off by saying, I LOVE MY GROUP. Mostly guys, a couple girls, they are absolutely amazing. I see so much potential in all of them.
So the questions last night were pretty generic: "What did you do for Thanksgiving?" "What has God been doing in your life?" "What are you doing for the holidays?"
So we get through the Thanksgiving questions and on to God and Christmas.
So I start out by asking, in kind of a silly way, "Why do we celebrate Christmas?"
A say silly because I assumed all of the kids knew the answer, and I was going to use the answer to lead into the next question.
"God"
"Jesus"
"It's Jesus' birthday."
"No it's not! This is just when we celebrate it! It's not for REAL His birthday!"
"Yes it is, foo'!"
Then, sitting directly across from me, D asked the sweetest question, "Is it for real God's birthday?"
Everybody laughed because they thought he was being funny.
The Holy Spirit quickened my heart - he was really searching for an answer.
So I started asking, "You all know Jesus came to earth, right?"
Yeah.
"Why?"
To save us.
"But why couldn't God just save us all from Heaven? I mean, He had all the power you could imagine up there? So why is it better for Him to give up all that power and become a man to save us? Does that make any sense?"
Somebody said Jesus was showing us how to live a good life.
That was the only answer they gave.
So, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I went back to Adam and Eve.
The fall of man, etc.
"So God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of that fruit, they would die. This means eternal separation from God. Bu God loved them, He was their friend, and He didn't want to be separated from them.
"Still, He is a God of His word. So if He says something will happen, He has to make it happen.
"So God said, 'I told you that you would die, but I love you so much I don't want you to die. So instead of you dying, I will put a spotless lamb in your place. Then it will die as your substitute; I will still be a God of my word; and we can still be friends."
Then I equated that with Jesus' death.
"We all deserve to die because we all have sinned. That is why Jesus came and acted as our substitute on the cross. Now God can say, 'Jesus died as your substitute; I am a God of my word; and we can still be friends."
I saw lightbulbs. It was way cool.
Anyways, so then, the next question was "What has God been doing in your life lately?"
"Helping me get up in the morning."
"Helping me resist temptations that some of my friends have fallen into."
"He healed my mom when she was sick."
It was all so precious to me.
Then, once again, the Holy Spirit quickened my heart, "Tell them what I was talking with you about on the way here."
"The Lord told me on the way here tonight, that some of you are seeking Him. There are those of you who are trying to live for Him, you're searching for Him, you're pursuing Him. And now He is getting ready to relelase some of you in your giftings."
Some knew what that meant, others didn't.
So I told them about the Holy Spirit - who He is, what He does, the gifts, the power, everything.
And in the end, I asked, "Does anybody want to pray for that releasing of the gifts?"
V did.
This kid has been kicked out of youth group numerous times. He is always talking. Even during our small group I had to keep telling him, "Be quiet. Listen! Shhhhh! V!!!!!"
But he said right there in front of everybody that he wanted the release of the Holy Spirit in his life.
So we brought him to the middle of the circle, and we prayed for him.
It was not some big emotional hoop-lah. But it was sweet. And a seed was planted.
That was the good part.
The bad part was that after church, some of the kids (none from my group) got in a fist fight out in the parking lot.
Those use to happen a lot, and we lost a lot of kids to other churches because they were scared to come to ours.
God is doing a new thing in this group, and Satan is coming against it full force.
Not on my watch.
Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.
We are more than conquerors.
Anyways... I'll come fill in more details later.
*hugz*