Fine Arts 2010: Detroit: Thursday Service

A Glimpse

So today Zach Pogue sent me this picture. His grandfather just moved to India. He is a minister to this country. Take a good long look at this picture. Can you say that WE ARE BLESSED!! WE ARE SOO COMPLACENT!! Lets thank God for all that we have! Lets pray that God does something amazing for people that are lost. I have a huge heart for India!!

Turning an assingment into a preaching opportunity

So today in Speech class, I had to present a speech on my favorite holiday! Well being Easter weekend, I talked about the TRUE meaning of easter! It was soo much fun! I now that the students were impressed. Here is the speech or what I call a sermon improv!

Easter
Easter. What is Easter? To some people this holiday revolves around a fluffy white bunny that brings them tons of candy. Children of all ages become extremely active from eating all of the sugary sweets and don’t realize that there is more to this holiday then just candy. (Pause) The true reason why we celebrate Easter is due to the ultimate sacrifice a man made many years ago.
Since Adam and Eve sinned, God knew that He needed to provide a pure and holy sacrifice in order for mankind to spend eternity with Him. In the Bible it states that God sent his Son to save mankind from their sins. Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice since he never sinned.
In the Old Testament, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son on Mount Moriah. Abraham obeyed God and went to sacrifice his son as instructed. However, God spared Isaac’s life at the last second. God told Abraham He would provide the lamb.
Thousands of years later, on that same mountain now known as Golgotha or the place of the skull, Jesus Christ climbed up and offered himself to pay for the sins of mankind. Jesus Christ is the lamb that God spoke about and Jesus was human without original sin.
Jesus was sentenced to death for our sins. Jesus did not know how to sin. He was a person full of love and compassion for humanity. When he was being persecuted by us and He asked God to forgive them, for they did not know what they were doing. Jesus even loved Judas even though Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
Let me ask you something. If you were among the twelve disciples and found out that Judas betrayed Jesus, how would you react? (Pause) Would you kill Judas? Or would you show love toward Judas and forgive him of sins? Judas had a weakness. Money was his kryptonite. He was a very greedy person.
So overall, Easter is about the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for humanity. Because of His sacrifice, we can spend time in heaven with Jesus forever! The Easter holiday means so much to me. This event shows me that I am loved by God. God loved me so much, that He sent his only Son to die for me. Whenever I watch the movie, “ The Passion of The Christ”, I cry when I see my Savior being whipped and ridiculed. He was willing to die for my sins. I placed him on that cross of terror. How can He love a person like me that sins daily? God can love anybody because God is Love. God does not know how to not love a person. God is like of a river of love flowing through the earth. He is everywhere and He will NEVER leave. Overall, our God is an awesome God for loving us so much!

The Prodigal Son Testimony!!!

So this past month has been really amazing!! God has really been moving in my school. This student that I have class with has been struggling with faith very much. She was a critical point in her life. She was in a huge downward spiral. I am not going to go into any details but you get the big picture. Well, she was gone last month for two weeks straight. May I remind you I have been praying for her on a daily basis. I ask her why she does not care about God at all. Well when she came back after the two weeks, I saw a COMPLETE NEW PERSON!! She came to me all excited saying that she rededicated her life to God. Tears began to come to me. God has shown me that is STILL at work in peoples lives. She told met that she gave up all the junk!! She showed me that she bought a purity ring with the words 1 Thesalonians 4:3-6. I was sooo happy!! In just the way she talks I know that she has changed. She is soo pumped up about God and everything else. I thank God that He gave her a second chance. She was just about gone two weeks prior. She almost died. BUT!!! God changed HER!! This shows that can use anyone!!!! I can't wait to see what God has in store for her!!! Her name is Savannah Farthing. Please pray for her that God continues to give her guidance.

WINTER JAM ROCKED!!!!

So for all who went to winter jam, we can all say that IT ROCKED!!!!!! The bands were amazing. Except I thought that Fireflight was a little to much screamo. I knew that this years jam was going to be good considering Third Day, NEWSBOYS, tenth avenue North are going to be there! It was awesome. Me and some other of youth decided to go down to the floor and stand the whole time. It was really loud!! I think I lost my hearing after the first band which was fireflight ofcourse. When the newsboys came, IT REALLY ROCKED!! Michael Tait from DC Talk was the lead singer, he did an amazing job. He sang Jesus Freak for the close and it rocked!! He decided to go crowed surfing and I was the one who helped him surf. Can you say at the right place at the right time!! Overall, this night was really good. Third Day did a great job closing the show out. I loved the song Revelation. It was really good. The best part was that about 1,000 people prayed the sinners prayer!!!! God is good!!!
I cant wait for next year!!

Being Watched

So this week pastor Marc said that as we grow in our relationship with Christ, we will begin to allow opportunities to come as we begin to live it out. This week I have alot of questions. More specificly, last night at Scholar Bowl, I was on the best coming home from East St. Louis. A senior came up to me and just started to talk to me. She was asking me about college and etc. Eventually this conversation turned into a time of witnessing. She asked me many question about faith and church. I asked her if she would like to come to youth group, she said she would love to. YEAHH!!!!! God is soo good. After that I gave her my book, "The ten most common objections to christiainity" This book rocks btw. Then we got back to school, I asked if I could pray for her before she left. I did that. As I was praying, the presence of the spirit was coming upon me. This was really cool!!! She told me after I prayed that I am really a true man of faith. This really helped me because it showed that I am making a difference in my school. God is good!!!

What's The Problem?

So I have been thinking alot recently. I have been wondering about some statistics that I have found. I just don't understand the majority of Christians. In the book, "The 10 most common objections to Christianity", it states that 80% of all people(both non-believers and believers) believe that there is more than one way to heaven. 91% of CATHOLICS, agree with this view!!!! 68% of evangelical protestants(aka us,) says that a good person who is of a different faith will go to heaven. And 65% of evangelical teens say that you cant be sure which religion is right!!
So my mind was boggled when I read this. How can this be? I mean for example, the Catholic church teaches that the bible is true, right? But on the other hand they believe that there is more than one way to heaven! There is something wrong with this statistic! Also, the fact that over 65% of evangelical teens say that you can't be sure which faith is right is just messed up to. Then if this is the case, then whats the whole point of going to church? If you dont believe in the bible then your faith is dead. I feel that Christians of all denomenations have decided that you dont need to be radical. You can be like everyone else. With this behavior it will cause the so called "Christians" to develop an opinion based off of a secular view. If Christians don't believe, then they should just leave. I know this is blunt, but God says that He does not like anyone luke warm. He rather you be hot or cold. If you are luke warm he will spit you out. He would rather know if you are not going to follow Him rather than be a hypocrite. Whats the problem? Is the meaning of Christianity been twisted? Is the definition of being one is just" I believe in Jesus, but I can still act like everyone and behave the same way'. Well to me that is MESSED UP!! We as a youth group need to step out and start making a difference. These statistics can change only if we answer God's calling. If we go after the situation, these stats WILL change!! God is able. I pray that people will begin to realize that time is short. Lets GO ALL IN FOR GOD!! I go back to school towmorrow, Im ready for battle, are you?

Happy New Year!!!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!! God has alot in store for us this year. Lets go all in. Don't look back, look forward! Greater things have yet to come!!! Have a great new Year!!