FCA Talk 4 Sexuality
Remember, we need guardrails around us to protect us from more serious damage. If we ignore the need for guardrails in our lives, odds are we are going to get hurt.
We have a cat that sometimes wanders down to the end of our driveway hunting early in the morning. When I see her down there, I will text my daughter to warn her to drive slower than normal and to be on the lookout for the cat. I do that 1) for the sake of the cat and really more importantly, 2) for my daughter’s protection. I know that if she ran over the cat, it would be significantly impact her. That is a guardrail of sorts – guidance for her protection. Parents put up guardrails up for a reason – they tend to know more than you do. They’ve seen all the tricks and lies. The same is true for God and the Bible.
The Bible is a love letter written to God’s elect. It is a playbook of sorts – some offensive plays (reaching out to others) and defensive plays (things for our protection) – because God knows us and knows what is best for us.
Last week we briefly discussed deer hunting and how big bucks are hard to kill until the rut begins. I read this today on Buckmaster’s website, “Bucks, especially big bucks, are mostly nocturnal; they don’t travel the heavy doe trails; they don’t move around more than they have to; and they stay close to escape routes.” Guardrails.
Today we are going to talk about sex and our need for guardrails.
Sex is beautiful and powerful inside the confines of marriage. God knew what he was doing when he created Eve for Adam. Sex feels good and is, in reality, very much an act of worship. But very, very clearly God created and intended sex to held within the sanctity of marriage.
Sex outside of marriage is outside of God’s design. He knows best. He knows that two virgins uniting together on their wedding night, both inexperienced, both made for one another is the perfect design. They’ll learn together and they’ll bring no baggage nor comparisons to their marriage bed.
Unfortunately, our culture lives, eats and breathes a far different plan for sex and most of us have been seduced by that dark plan.
We talked about this a few sessions ago but our culture is absolutely drenched and saturated in sex. You are being baited and tempted every single day to the edge of the guardrail with sex.
I remind you that Americans spend $12 billion a year, $4,000 a second on pornography. The number one user of porn are boys age 12-17. If the goal is to enter marriage having never been with another woman and to learn sex with our wives, then tell me what porn is going to do a boy? What is he being exposed to? Is it “real”? Is that how sex really is supposed to be? Are women just objects to service men and fulfill the man’s lusts?
Porn is a lie. It isn’t real and every bit of it you watch and participate in stays with you like a cancer. There is a great saying in terms of computers – “Junk in, junk out”. If you program in junk to the computer, it is going to produce junk. The same is true of porn. You are ingesting junk and it will produce junk inside you.
If you are watching porn and think, “It does not matter” – you are kidding yourself and buying the lie.
Remember the Proverbs 7 story of the young man walking down the street and turning up the street toward the married woman waiting for him to seduce him.
That seems fun at the time. Surely it felt good. But it was wrong. She was married and her husband was away. The young man got lured into a trap by pursuing what felt good and soon was in a trap.
The young man was no different than Tiger Woods or Senator John Edwards or Governor Mark Sanford – they pursued what made them feel good and reaped the destruction that followed.
These men needed a guardrail. They needed a brick wall to prevent them from going anywhere near those women.
When it comes to sex, given the culture we live in, we need guardrails and we need those guardrails to be made of the strongest steel on earth.
The Bible is very clear on the topic of sex
Here's an easy verse to remember... "Flee sexual immorality" 1 Corinthians 6:8. Notice it doesn't say "walk away" or "be careful of", it says "Flee" i.e. run, escape, do not go near.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 - "You should avoid sexual immorality. Control your body in a way that is holy and honorable not in passionate lust like the heathens."
Lastly, Matthew 5:1 - "Do not commit adultery. If you look at another woman lustfully you have committed adultery in your heart."
Sex is a huge issue in the Bible and a huge issue in our culture. In 1960, 82% of Americans between the ages of 25-34 were married. Today that number is 44%. Rather than getting married the "culture" teaches us to just live together, have lots of sex and if it doesn't work out at least you haven't wasted getting time married. That is a lie. Remember, Satan is the father of all lies.
The culture is drenched in sex and if you engage now, it will never escape you. You'll never forget these hookups but odds are you might come to really regret them. Therein lies Satan's strategy -- lure you in with "everyone's doing this, it feels good" and then as soon as you do it, he'll pound you for the rest of your life with regret and guilt.
Here are some quotes from kids in the youth ministry I shared with you at our first 5th quarter on sex. If you think there is no pain, no hurt, no hooks in sex, listen to these…
I love him and I like sex but that is not the path I’m supposed to be on with God.
Dealing with pornography is so hard. It is like trying to break out of a cement box with no tools.
I feel like the loss of my virginity was a huge mistake. I am a Christian and I got caught up in the moment. I want to redeem myself and start over.
It’s just a normal thing for someone to ask you to go out and drink/smoke/have sex on the weekends. It is hard to resist the temptation.
I struggle with the loss of my virginity. I feel horrible, angry and disappointed.
I feel all guys see in me is the physical aspect. It makes me as a person feel worthless. I feel used and insignificant.
I feel trapped in sexual sin with my boyfriend. The guilt is overwhelming and I have no idea what to do. I’ve tried to stop but don’t have the courage to tell him no.
Do you see Satan’s strategy in all of this? You go in because you love him or it feels good and as soon as you’re in….you are stuck in a cement box with no tools to get out. You feel like you’ve made a huge mistake and want to start over. You feel horrible and angry. You feel trapped.
There it is….trapped.
What are some guardrails?
1) No porn ever. Period.
Porn is, quite simply, a complete and total LIE. Satan is the "father of all lies" and he is driving the business of porn. Porn is an emotional drug more powerful and more destructive than cocaine. If you are tempted, put a filter on your computer or turn the computer off. Go outside. Go look at the clear blue sky or a night, go look at the stars. There is something about the bigness of the world that kills the smallness of porn. If tempted just walk away.
2) No sleep overs ever. Period.
Never, ever sleep over. This isn’t as much of an issue today but it will be at college. Never put yourself in a situation where you are sleeping in an apartment or dorm room with a member of the opposite sex – even if you are just friends. And don’t say, “You don’t understand our culture, this is what we do”. Nope. That doesn’t make it work.
3) Hands off/no skin.
If you are dating, no touching. Foreplay is designed as the on ramp to sex. God gave us sex and He gave us foreplay. If you think you can start the foreplay without it leading to some form of sex, you’re kidding yourself. Don’t play with fire. Don’t light the match. You’ve got your whole life to enjoy sex with your spouse, don’t start it now.
4) No "soul mates".
If you are a girl, don’t make a boy your soul mate confidante and vice versa. Your confidante should be your parents or a friend not your boyfriend. What we crave in life is intimacy not sex. Opening our heart and our inner most hopes and fears to a member of the other sex opens the door to sex.
You may think these are too extreme. If so, I have three questions for you….
1) What do you want for the person you will eventually marry? Do you want him to have been hooking up with dozens of girls in high school in college? Is your deepest dream that he’d be sexually educated and experienced? Probably not. And so if you don’t want that for your husband, why are you pursuing it?
2) What do you want for your little sister? If you think this is bunk, is all this hooking up what you are eager to see your little sister doing in a few years?
3) Let’s say you think all of this is dumb and you just keep on going. In two years you wake up and think your girlfriend is pregnant or you are totally addicted to porn – that you are in a sexual disaster because you decided to step over the guardrails and foolishly decided to pursue feeling good – what then? Where will you be then? Will you cry out to God? Will you pray, “Lord, if you let her not be pregnant, I promise I’ll never do this again?” Probably. Save yourself that future anguish but putting up the guardrails now. A pastor who has counseled hundreds of people trapped in sexual disasters told me, "I've never had one person - not one person - say to me, "You know, I am so glad I got into sex at an early age, so glad I got hooked on porn, so glad I slept around with all those guys. Never once have I heard someone rejoice in those decisions."
If you establish these guardrails, I can guarantee you that you will not regret it. These really aren’t that extreme in a culture consumed and drunk with sex. The culture is trying to rip you to shreds and tear you apart. These guardrails should be a given for you to protect you from what is on the other side.
Lastly, what if you’ve already crossed over? Is it too late?
No! You can never get your virginity back but you also never have to do any of that again until you are married. We all make mistakes – some are more costly than others. But if you are convicted that this behavior is wrong for you and you are committed to turning a corner, God will forgive you.
In turning away from this past lifestyle, you can actually become a strong witness for the Lord. You can say, “I’ve made huge mistakes – don’t go there” to the younger kids around you.
No matter how bad your sin is, God will forgive if you break and give up and give it over to Him.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
FCA Talk 3
If you’ve been with us – this is the context in which I share this message from the Lord
1. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are a masterpiece. God created you and God delights in you. The enemy hates you. He despises you. He is the father of lies. He seeks to steal, kill and destroy you…the masterpiece God created. There is a battle underway for your soul.
2. Because you are God’s masterpiece and He is your father – He has written you this book as a love letter. Its primary message is not damnation and this book is not a rule book. It is a love letter written to His children. It is a playbook like the football players have to play football. There are plays in here for offense and plays in here for defense. This is a living breathing document written to you for a full, abundant life.
At some point in your life you will be around friends moving in a different direction. Your friends can ultimately determine the direction of your life
In Proverbs 13:20 – “Walk with the wise and become wise but the companion of fools suffers harm.” The companion of fools suffers harm.
Your greatest regrets in life don’t revolve around your enemies but rather your friends
It is the foolish friend that gets us in a whole lot of trouble. A fool is someone who knows what the truth is…and doesn’t care.
I can prove this – it isn’t you that your parents lay in bed worrying about….it is the fools you hang out with – whose car you are riding in, whose house you are going to
This verse says that if you hang out with wise people you will become wise – hang out with people making good decisions and you’ll end up making good decisions
The verse does not say “if you hang with a fool you will become a fool” – it says you will be impacted by them
“But I’ll never do the things they do so it won’t impact me.” The Bible says you are wrong.
If you think you are too cool, too connected, too rich that this won’t impact you…you’re wrong
If you have friends who don’t care about their life, don’t care about their reputation…they are not going to care about your life, your reputation
The companion of fools suffers harm.
So we need some guardrails to protect us from the cliffs.
Once you experience going over the guardrail and over the cliff – you’d give anything to go back and do it over again. THAT is what we are trying to avoid.
Here is a critical principle – NO ONE ever sees the accident coming. Accidents just happen. You can’t predict when it will happen. But if you drive 80 mph on a winding road, you greatly increase the odds you’re going to have an accident.
Here are some red warning flags to look out for…
If you get in a car with a bunch of girls and the driver is texting or singing/dancing and not paying attention….
If you have never gone to the drinking/drug parties and you go and say “I’ll go but I won’t participate…”
If you hang out with bad folks with bad reputations and you think, “But I like them and it won’t harm me to be their friend”
When you start hanging out with people and cannot be yourself – you start to act how you think they expect you to act. They are playing on your insecurity.
If you feel pressure to compromise a core belief – drinking, sex, drugs, cheating, sneaking out of your house – when these things have never been a temptation and you are suddenly considering them
Here’s a big one – When you hope the people you care most about….don’t find out where you’ve been. When you start to create an excuse just in case you get caught…
These are warning flags of impending danger and why you need to put some guardrails up.
If you’ve been with us – this is the context in which I share this message from the Lord
1. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are a masterpiece. God created you and God delights in you. The enemy hates you. He despises you. He is the father of lies. He seeks to steal, kill and destroy you…the masterpiece God created. There is a battle underway for your soul.
2. Because you are God’s masterpiece and He is your father – He has written you this book as a love letter. Its primary message is not damnation and this book is not a rule book. It is a love letter written to His children. It is a playbook like the football players have to play football. There are plays in here for offense and plays in here for defense. This is a living breathing document written to you for a full, abundant life.
At some point in your life you will be around friends moving in a different direction. Your friends can ultimately determine the direction of your life
In Proverbs 13:20 – “Walk with the wise and become wise but the companion of fools suffers harm.” The companion of fools suffers harm.
Your greatest regrets in life don’t revolve around your enemies but rather your friends
It is the foolish friend that gets us in a whole lot of trouble. A fool is someone who knows what the truth is…and doesn’t care.
I can prove this – it isn’t you that your parents lay in bed worrying about….it is the fools you hang out with – whose car you are riding in, whose house you are going to
This verse says that if you hang out with wise people you will become wise – hang out with people making good decisions and you’ll end up making good decisions
The verse does not say “if you hang with a fool you will become a fool” – it says you will be impacted by them
“But I’ll never do the things they do so it won’t impact me.” The Bible says you are wrong.
If you think you are too cool, too connected, too rich that this won’t impact you…you’re wrong
If you have friends who don’t care about their life, don’t care about their reputation…they are not going to care about your life, your reputation
The companion of fools suffers harm.
So we need some guardrails to protect us from the cliffs.
Once you experience going over the guardrail and over the cliff – you’d give anything to go back and do it over again. THAT is what we are trying to avoid.
Here is a critical principle – NO ONE ever sees the accident coming. Accidents just happen. You can’t predict when it will happen. But if you drive 80 mph on a winding road, you greatly increase the odds you’re going to have an accident.
Here are some red warning flags to look out for…
If you get in a car with a bunch of girls and the driver is texting or singing/dancing and not paying attention….
If you have never gone to the drinking/drug parties and you go and say “I’ll go but I won’t participate…”
If you hang out with bad folks with bad reputations and you think, “But I like them and it won’t harm me to be their friend”
When you start hanging out with people and cannot be yourself – you start to act how you think they expect you to act. They are playing on your insecurity.
If you feel pressure to compromise a core belief – drinking, sex, drugs, cheating, sneaking out of your house – when these things have never been a temptation and you are suddenly considering them
Here’s a big one – When you hope the people you care most about….don’t find out where you’ve been. When you start to create an excuse just in case you get caught…
These are warning flags of impending danger and why you need to put some guardrails up.
Friday, September 10, 2010
FCA Talk 2 - Who are you matters
We had a Son rise service this morning at the Chapel on campus and had about 35 kids there. We talked about how important your internal boundaries are in life. Who you are on the inside will ultimately determine what you'll be.
If you don't think that matters - look no further than this past year with Tiger Woods, Mark Sanford and John Edwards. Here are three attractive, very talented, very powerful men that led dark double lives. As an observer we look at them and say, "If I had all that power or all that money or that beautiful wife and family there is NO way I'd be so reckless with my private life. These guys had it made." They did.
But evidently they didn't have a good grasp on who they were on the inside and where their boundaries were.
The irony with all three of these is that they were incredibly visible, public figures. John Edwards was running for President. Running. Out there campaigning. Visible. The media was all around him 24/7. And he thought he could pull off an affair with a staffer while all this was going on? And oh yeah, by the way, his wife was in the middle of a very public battle with cancer. And you want to say, "Really? Did you really think you could pull that off and keep this thing a secret? He really thought he was that special that the media wouldn't turn on him and crucify him?"
Mark Sanford was the sitting Governor of South Carolina and left his office for 4 days to supposedly hike the Appalachian Trail. He thought he could just walk out of his office and not tell anyone and in reality, he was in Argentina with his girlfriend. Mark Sanford's wife is this very attractive, polished, smart woman and he has three beautiful sons and he walked out on them for what he calls his "soul mate" and he was so blind that he thought he could disappear and no one would discover his secret. And you want to say... "Really? Did you really think that would work?"
And Tiger. Oh Tiger. I lose track of the women - 13...15...18 - how he kept track of them all, no one knows. But here is the best golfer in the history of the game, the most marketed sports figure ever, followed by the media 24/7 and he really thought he could lead this double life and no one would ever know? He really thought he was that "good" to pull this off? Did he really think any of these women were attracted to him? They weren't...it was his money that attracted every single one of them. In using all these women, Tiger was the one really being used. Look at this life Tiger had -- look at his wife! And you want to say, "What are you thinking?" He wasn't.
Here's the thing - the world/culture is baiting us with temptation right up to the edge of the abyss. We are saturated as a culture with sex. Look at the clothes the 12-13 year old girls are being marketed...short, short skirts, low cut tops. Andy Stanley says that 50 years ago, given what the women wore then, that these girls dressed like this would have looked like hookers. And they are our little girls!
They are being baited right up to the line. Look at Victoria's Secret. Look at the movies and TV shows we watch. We're being baited and tempted right up to the line and then when we step over that line and fall, the world throws its hands up and won't touch you. You are suddenly alone. A creep. A pervert. You took the bait and did what the world wanted you to do and yet, you fall all alone. You become toxic. The TV show that tries to catch child molesters...I'm all for that show because it exposes those that prey on young girls. These guys are absolutely tourqued up by pornography and chat room sex and our culture has now created a TV show to bait them into a home to meet a 15 year old girl for wild sex. Hidden cameras capture every moment of the destruction of these men's lives and then the TV guy steps out and says "You are busted". Everything they've hidden is permanently exposed to the world in a flash.
Look at Tiger. He's toxic right now. The companies that fawned all over him and paid him millions to hawk their goods have all abandoned him. When we think of Tiger now we remember his great golf skills but we also can never forget the shame. John Edwards will forever be known as the politician that cheated on his wife while she was battling cancer. Mark Sanford was a rising star in the Republican party and a likely Presidential candidate. Not any more.
The enemy is just trying to trip you up. And 13-14-15-16 year old kids would have the tendency to think "Not me, I'm young, I'm supposed to have fun, none of this stuff has hooks in it." Really?
Americans spend $12 billion a year on pornography. That is $4,000 every second. The number 1 consumer of porn is boys ages 12-17. It matters. You've got to make some choices about who you are on the inside before you can determine what you'll be on the outside. You've got to know your boundaries, what you will do and what you won't do. You've got to know what your non-negotiables are...where your line in the sand is.
This stuff matters. The world is coming at you hard and you are kidding yourself to play dumb and think you don't have to worry about it. You all are so incredibly blessed. You go to this great school. You have this great Chapel. You have world class athletic facilities, parents who give you just about anything you want and many of you drive nicer cars than I do. You are so blessed and if you don't think this stuff matters and you don't have anything to lose, you are kidding yourself.
Some of you have already stumbled and made huge mistakes. There has already been sex and drinking and drugs. Some of you have already decided you hate your body or that you have no friends. You are bound up in guilt over your past failings.
The good news is that in John 10:10 Jesus said "the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that they may have abundant life." Life. Life. Freedom. No matter how much you've already screwed up -- and I've screwed up too -- there is freedom, great freedom in Jesus. He'll wipe away every sin, forgive every screw up, wipe away every tear and heal your broken heart.
All you've got to do is ask. Ask Him into your heart to be the Lord of your life. Admit you've made a mess of your life trying to run it yourself. Admit you cannot navigate and negotiate life anymore alone. Admit your weakness. Admit your desire for HIS strength and invite HIM into your life as your Lord.
A grand new chapter begins. Your past is past. The Son has risen!
Soar!
We had a Son rise service this morning at the Chapel on campus and had about 35 kids there. We talked about how important your internal boundaries are in life. Who you are on the inside will ultimately determine what you'll be.
If you don't think that matters - look no further than this past year with Tiger Woods, Mark Sanford and John Edwards. Here are three attractive, very talented, very powerful men that led dark double lives. As an observer we look at them and say, "If I had all that power or all that money or that beautiful wife and family there is NO way I'd be so reckless with my private life. These guys had it made." They did.
But evidently they didn't have a good grasp on who they were on the inside and where their boundaries were.
The irony with all three of these is that they were incredibly visible, public figures. John Edwards was running for President. Running. Out there campaigning. Visible. The media was all around him 24/7. And he thought he could pull off an affair with a staffer while all this was going on? And oh yeah, by the way, his wife was in the middle of a very public battle with cancer. And you want to say, "Really? Did you really think you could pull that off and keep this thing a secret? He really thought he was that special that the media wouldn't turn on him and crucify him?"
Mark Sanford was the sitting Governor of South Carolina and left his office for 4 days to supposedly hike the Appalachian Trail. He thought he could just walk out of his office and not tell anyone and in reality, he was in Argentina with his girlfriend. Mark Sanford's wife is this very attractive, polished, smart woman and he has three beautiful sons and he walked out on them for what he calls his "soul mate" and he was so blind that he thought he could disappear and no one would discover his secret. And you want to say... "Really? Did you really think that would work?"
And Tiger. Oh Tiger. I lose track of the women - 13...15...18 - how he kept track of them all, no one knows. But here is the best golfer in the history of the game, the most marketed sports figure ever, followed by the media 24/7 and he really thought he could lead this double life and no one would ever know? He really thought he was that "good" to pull this off? Did he really think any of these women were attracted to him? They weren't...it was his money that attracted every single one of them. In using all these women, Tiger was the one really being used. Look at this life Tiger had -- look at his wife! And you want to say, "What are you thinking?" He wasn't.
Here's the thing - the world/culture is baiting us with temptation right up to the edge of the abyss. We are saturated as a culture with sex. Look at the clothes the 12-13 year old girls are being marketed...short, short skirts, low cut tops. Andy Stanley says that 50 years ago, given what the women wore then, that these girls dressed like this would have looked like hookers. And they are our little girls!
They are being baited right up to the line. Look at Victoria's Secret. Look at the movies and TV shows we watch. We're being baited and tempted right up to the line and then when we step over that line and fall, the world throws its hands up and won't touch you. You are suddenly alone. A creep. A pervert. You took the bait and did what the world wanted you to do and yet, you fall all alone. You become toxic. The TV show that tries to catch child molesters...I'm all for that show because it exposes those that prey on young girls. These guys are absolutely tourqued up by pornography and chat room sex and our culture has now created a TV show to bait them into a home to meet a 15 year old girl for wild sex. Hidden cameras capture every moment of the destruction of these men's lives and then the TV guy steps out and says "You are busted". Everything they've hidden is permanently exposed to the world in a flash.
Look at Tiger. He's toxic right now. The companies that fawned all over him and paid him millions to hawk their goods have all abandoned him. When we think of Tiger now we remember his great golf skills but we also can never forget the shame. John Edwards will forever be known as the politician that cheated on his wife while she was battling cancer. Mark Sanford was a rising star in the Republican party and a likely Presidential candidate. Not any more.
The enemy is just trying to trip you up. And 13-14-15-16 year old kids would have the tendency to think "Not me, I'm young, I'm supposed to have fun, none of this stuff has hooks in it." Really?
Americans spend $12 billion a year on pornography. That is $4,000 every second. The number 1 consumer of porn is boys ages 12-17. It matters. You've got to make some choices about who you are on the inside before you can determine what you'll be on the outside. You've got to know your boundaries, what you will do and what you won't do. You've got to know what your non-negotiables are...where your line in the sand is.
This stuff matters. The world is coming at you hard and you are kidding yourself to play dumb and think you don't have to worry about it. You all are so incredibly blessed. You go to this great school. You have this great Chapel. You have world class athletic facilities, parents who give you just about anything you want and many of you drive nicer cars than I do. You are so blessed and if you don't think this stuff matters and you don't have anything to lose, you are kidding yourself.
Some of you have already stumbled and made huge mistakes. There has already been sex and drinking and drugs. Some of you have already decided you hate your body or that you have no friends. You are bound up in guilt over your past failings.
The good news is that in John 10:10 Jesus said "the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that they may have abundant life." Life. Life. Freedom. No matter how much you've already screwed up -- and I've screwed up too -- there is freedom, great freedom in Jesus. He'll wipe away every sin, forgive every screw up, wipe away every tear and heal your broken heart.
All you've got to do is ask. Ask Him into your heart to be the Lord of your life. Admit you've made a mess of your life trying to run it yourself. Admit you cannot navigate and negotiate life anymore alone. Admit your weakness. Admit your desire for HIS strength and invite HIM into your life as your Lord.
A grand new chapter begins. Your past is past. The Son has risen!
Soar!
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
FCA Talk 1 September 3, 2010
I’ve been praying about this night and asking God what he wants me to tell you.
Over and over the answer is very clear – “Tell them I love them”
“I am not a task master with a bunch of rules of don’t do this, don’t do that
I am not an angry God – I’m not always looking to catch them doing something wrong
I am not a far off, distant, removed “being” who doesn’t care
Tell them I love them. Over and over….I love them.”
The Bible tells us that you were fearfully and wonderfully made (PS 139:14)
I call it a Masterpiece. God took a blank canvas and a palette of colors and dreamed you into being.
He had a vision for each of you. He dreamed you into being. You are different from every other person on earth. 6 billion people and every one of us are unique. You each have your own talents and abilities and your own path.
Each one of you is a work of art…a treasure.
God dreamed you up just like He dreams up each sunrise and sunset. Each one is different than all the others.
You are a dream come true.
But many of you don’t believe it. You life doesn’t feel like a dream, it feels like a nightmare.
You feel like the whole world is against you. You feel alone. You feel betrayed. You feel orphaned. You’ve joined in with the crowd to be accepted and yet, you still feel alone. You’ve done things that you were told would make you feel better and for a time, it does feel better but then you wake up and things don’t feel so good.
So God dreamed you up and considers you a Masterpiece and after all this activity, you feel a piece of trash. There’s a reason…
We have an enemy. Satan is called the “father of lies” in the Bible. John 10:10 says he comes to “steal, kill and destroy but Jesus came that we might have abundant life”.
Satan takes this masterpiece that is your life and whispers into your ear lie upon lie…
Cheat on the test…everyone does this
Lie to your parents….they’ll never know
Sneak out at night….you’ll never get caught
Sleep with this boy…he really does love you and it won’t hurt anything
Watch porn…it can’t hurt anything to watch it
Spread gossip about a friend…after all everyone’s out to get you
When you walk into a room…everyone is looking at you. You are vulnerable.
Don’t be an individual….you’ll stand out too much and people will notice
When you see a wrong, don’t say anything….you don’t want people to think you’re a traitor
Smoke pot…it’s cool to be stoned out of your mind
See just how drunk you can get….it’s a blast to be trashed
Conform to the world….or you’ll be cast out and alone
Another lie of his… “I’m not here…this pain you feel is just life. Life just sucks”
Or even more diabolical… “There is a God and he’s turned his back on you. He’s angry with you.”
What about atheism? We are so smart that we decide there is no God.
Or Deism? We decide there is a God but he isn’t the God of Bible, he’s this being out there that wants me feeling good about myself.
So here we have this Masterpiece, this divine work of art being torn to shreds by Satan’s lies.
The power of sin, the nature of sin is that it entraps you. It starts small and it feels good and then it grows. Before you know it, its hooks are deep inside you. Porn is a classic example. But so is pride, envy, ambition, lust.
Satan pulls all these tricks to separate you from God.
But here’s the good news, Jesus loves you. God isn’t angry with you.
How can God be mad at a Masterpiece he dreamed up? He isn’t.
God wants relationship with you. If you’ve turned away from God in pursuit of the things that make you feel good, God wants you back.
God is pursuing you. He sent His only son here to die for our sins. Jesus was a man – he felt pain, he hurt, he was desperately lonely, he was betrayed by those closest to him, he was humiliated, he was tempted and he was hungry. Anything you feel, Jesus, the Son of God felt.
Through Jesus if you accept him as your Lord, your sin has been dealt with. Psalm 103 says “The Lord has removed it from you as far as the east is from the west”.
As a believer and follower of Jesus, I know I have been bought with a price.
His blood was shed for me.
He came to pay the ransom for me.
So God dreamed you up from nothing.
He has this great life planned for you.
He desires relationship with you.
He is, after all, your creator.
God created this Masterpiece that is you. You were fearfully and wonderfully made.
Satan is trying to destroy you
Jesus comes and is willing to take the bullet destined for you.
God loves you THAT much.
All you have to do is believe. All you have to do is admit you can no longer do life all on your own and confess your need for Jesus to take control of your life.
Let me end with the story of Anna...
Anna and the teenagers
We just came back from a weekend camp at YoungLife's Sharptop Cove in North Georgia.
A lot of families from Columbus were up there to witness the camp.
I love kids - especially small ones - so it was fun for me to engage with these kids during the weekend. One family had three beautiful daughters ages 4-7. The middle child, Anna was especially captivating. I know both sets of grandparents and she has the eyes of one of her grandmothers. She has a sparkling personality and a great smile. I had fun goofing around with Anna during the meals and later ran into her in the YL store. She smiled at me and said "Hey, what are you doing here?" I think she thought I only existed in the dining hall! I told her I was looking for stuff and she said, "I am getting a harmonica" and she showed me her blue harmonica. "Wow" I exclaimed, "That is the coolest harmonica ever" and she smiled and went on her merry little way.
That harmonica never left Anna's side the rest of the weekend. She was always playing it, always smiling. At dinner Saturday night, she was sitting at the table with all the chaos of a YoungLife dinner (300 kids in one very loud room), minding her own business, playing her harmonica. I looked over at her and she saw me, smiled (she always smiles) and kept on playing. I told her that she was so good at the harmonica and she said, "I know my Mommy and Daddy think I should take lessons" and she kept right on playing. The next day at breakfast she was doing the same thing. Her Dad told me that she spent all day Saturday playing the harmonica and that the teenagers were always circled around her. As Anna played, the teenagers followed. When I was talking to her Sunday, I again commented on her harmonica and again told her that she was very good and she replied, "Some people think it is my talent". Big smile followed.
So here is Anna - beautiful, sweet, happy and very much in love with life and her harmonica. Anna is extraordinary. Anna knows she has a "talent" and she is looking for it. Anna knows she has something special to contribute to the world. Contrasting that are the lives of 300 teenagers. They too are extraordinary but very few of them believe it any more. They very much now believe they are just ordinary. Life comes at the teenagers very hard these days - MUCH harder than I think many of us even realize.
There very much is a battle underway for the souls of our children. Anna, at this point is safe and happy but we know what is coming - we can see it in these teenagers. Don't get me wrong - I love teenagers too but you can very visibly see the scars of battle on them already. Many of these kids have already lost their sexual purity. The vast majority has already started drinking and it is shocking how many are already using drugs. Many of them have bought the world's lies. Religion is simply whatever is relevant to them at that moment - "God just wants me to be happy" or "God is seen through my boyfriend or my friends - and I have a lot of friends so God is happy with me". They live their lives in the pursuit of happiness and for many of them, it has taken them into some very dark places.
It was striking to witness the vast gulf between Anna and many of these teenage girls. Anna is free. They are in bondage. Anna pursues happiness in her own little world and it is innocent...as innocent as happiness found in her harmonica. Anna doesn't understand peer pressure. Anna is happy in her own skin. Teenagers pursue happiness by trying to fit in and by doing whatever the crowd tells them is "right". We witnessed a dozen or so girls all showing up on Saturday morning all dressed just alike. It was freezing cold but they all had on shorts and Ugg boots. Someone in that group decided this is what they were going to wear and like robots, the rest followed. Teenagers have very little tolerance for extraordinary. They crave ordinary. They want to all look alike, act alike, dress alike so they can all blend in and numb the pain that can come from standing apart from the crowd. Many will seemingly sell their soul just to fit in - just to be a part of the "in" crowd. And so...they all become ordinary...just like all the rest of the group. When the group starts having sex, you have sex. When the group moves beyond beer to pot, you start smoking pot. You conform or you are cast-out.
The lie is that if you become ordinary that you will fit in. What you find as you become ordinary is that you have stripped away all that God made you to be. You have given up what an Extraordinary Creator used to make you unique so that the other ordinaries will find you pleasing.
I don't write this to judge any of them. I understand. I was there not long ago. But I write this because it stands in such stark contrast to Anna. She is happy being Anna. She thinks she can play the harmonica and she plays her heart out. She doesn't obsess over dressing like her friends or wearing too much make-up or straightening her hair like "everyone else" does. She has no concept of text messaging, cell phones or Facebook. She is just Anna. She is just one very happy kid. It simply breaks your heart to see the damage the world does when it strips the kid out of a young person and makes them look like every other ordinary young person.
Christ came that we might have life and have it to the full (abundantly). He wants us to be extraordinary not ordinary. He wants us to stand apart from the crowd and to be independent of the world. He wants us leaning on Him. He offers us freedom - great freedom - in the extraordinary life while it is just so obvious the bondage - the terrible bondage - of the ordinary life.
Anna and her harmonica have life to the full. It is no wonder Christ said we must come to him as a child. Eyes wide open, trusting, dependent, every day another great adventure to live and a new audience for our harmonica.
God wants that for you. You ARE extraordinary. You ARE a Masterpiece. He does not call you to be ordinary or like the crowd. He made you fearfully and wonderfully. He loves you. He sees you every day. YOU matter to Him. All you have to do is ask Him into your heart to be the Lord of your life.
I’ve been praying about this night and asking God what he wants me to tell you.
Over and over the answer is very clear – “Tell them I love them”
“I am not a task master with a bunch of rules of don’t do this, don’t do that
I am not an angry God – I’m not always looking to catch them doing something wrong
I am not a far off, distant, removed “being” who doesn’t care
Tell them I love them. Over and over….I love them.”
The Bible tells us that you were fearfully and wonderfully made (PS 139:14)
I call it a Masterpiece. God took a blank canvas and a palette of colors and dreamed you into being.
He had a vision for each of you. He dreamed you into being. You are different from every other person on earth. 6 billion people and every one of us are unique. You each have your own talents and abilities and your own path.
Each one of you is a work of art…a treasure.
God dreamed you up just like He dreams up each sunrise and sunset. Each one is different than all the others.
You are a dream come true.
But many of you don’t believe it. You life doesn’t feel like a dream, it feels like a nightmare.
You feel like the whole world is against you. You feel alone. You feel betrayed. You feel orphaned. You’ve joined in with the crowd to be accepted and yet, you still feel alone. You’ve done things that you were told would make you feel better and for a time, it does feel better but then you wake up and things don’t feel so good.
So God dreamed you up and considers you a Masterpiece and after all this activity, you feel a piece of trash. There’s a reason…
We have an enemy. Satan is called the “father of lies” in the Bible. John 10:10 says he comes to “steal, kill and destroy but Jesus came that we might have abundant life”.
Satan takes this masterpiece that is your life and whispers into your ear lie upon lie…
Cheat on the test…everyone does this
Lie to your parents….they’ll never know
Sneak out at night….you’ll never get caught
Sleep with this boy…he really does love you and it won’t hurt anything
Watch porn…it can’t hurt anything to watch it
Spread gossip about a friend…after all everyone’s out to get you
When you walk into a room…everyone is looking at you. You are vulnerable.
Don’t be an individual….you’ll stand out too much and people will notice
When you see a wrong, don’t say anything….you don’t want people to think you’re a traitor
Smoke pot…it’s cool to be stoned out of your mind
See just how drunk you can get….it’s a blast to be trashed
Conform to the world….or you’ll be cast out and alone
Another lie of his… “I’m not here…this pain you feel is just life. Life just sucks”
Or even more diabolical… “There is a God and he’s turned his back on you. He’s angry with you.”
What about atheism? We are so smart that we decide there is no God.
Or Deism? We decide there is a God but he isn’t the God of Bible, he’s this being out there that wants me feeling good about myself.
So here we have this Masterpiece, this divine work of art being torn to shreds by Satan’s lies.
The power of sin, the nature of sin is that it entraps you. It starts small and it feels good and then it grows. Before you know it, its hooks are deep inside you. Porn is a classic example. But so is pride, envy, ambition, lust.
Satan pulls all these tricks to separate you from God.
But here’s the good news, Jesus loves you. God isn’t angry with you.
How can God be mad at a Masterpiece he dreamed up? He isn’t.
God wants relationship with you. If you’ve turned away from God in pursuit of the things that make you feel good, God wants you back.
God is pursuing you. He sent His only son here to die for our sins. Jesus was a man – he felt pain, he hurt, he was desperately lonely, he was betrayed by those closest to him, he was humiliated, he was tempted and he was hungry. Anything you feel, Jesus, the Son of God felt.
Through Jesus if you accept him as your Lord, your sin has been dealt with. Psalm 103 says “The Lord has removed it from you as far as the east is from the west”.
As a believer and follower of Jesus, I know I have been bought with a price.
His blood was shed for me.
He came to pay the ransom for me.
So God dreamed you up from nothing.
He has this great life planned for you.
He desires relationship with you.
He is, after all, your creator.
God created this Masterpiece that is you. You were fearfully and wonderfully made.
Satan is trying to destroy you
Jesus comes and is willing to take the bullet destined for you.
God loves you THAT much.
All you have to do is believe. All you have to do is admit you can no longer do life all on your own and confess your need for Jesus to take control of your life.
Let me end with the story of Anna...
Anna and the teenagers
We just came back from a weekend camp at YoungLife's Sharptop Cove in North Georgia.
A lot of families from Columbus were up there to witness the camp.
I love kids - especially small ones - so it was fun for me to engage with these kids during the weekend. One family had three beautiful daughters ages 4-7. The middle child, Anna was especially captivating. I know both sets of grandparents and she has the eyes of one of her grandmothers. She has a sparkling personality and a great smile. I had fun goofing around with Anna during the meals and later ran into her in the YL store. She smiled at me and said "Hey, what are you doing here?" I think she thought I only existed in the dining hall! I told her I was looking for stuff and she said, "I am getting a harmonica" and she showed me her blue harmonica. "Wow" I exclaimed, "That is the coolest harmonica ever" and she smiled and went on her merry little way.
That harmonica never left Anna's side the rest of the weekend. She was always playing it, always smiling. At dinner Saturday night, she was sitting at the table with all the chaos of a YoungLife dinner (300 kids in one very loud room), minding her own business, playing her harmonica. I looked over at her and she saw me, smiled (she always smiles) and kept on playing. I told her that she was so good at the harmonica and she said, "I know my Mommy and Daddy think I should take lessons" and she kept right on playing. The next day at breakfast she was doing the same thing. Her Dad told me that she spent all day Saturday playing the harmonica and that the teenagers were always circled around her. As Anna played, the teenagers followed. When I was talking to her Sunday, I again commented on her harmonica and again told her that she was very good and she replied, "Some people think it is my talent". Big smile followed.
So here is Anna - beautiful, sweet, happy and very much in love with life and her harmonica. Anna is extraordinary. Anna knows she has a "talent" and she is looking for it. Anna knows she has something special to contribute to the world. Contrasting that are the lives of 300 teenagers. They too are extraordinary but very few of them believe it any more. They very much now believe they are just ordinary. Life comes at the teenagers very hard these days - MUCH harder than I think many of us even realize.
There very much is a battle underway for the souls of our children. Anna, at this point is safe and happy but we know what is coming - we can see it in these teenagers. Don't get me wrong - I love teenagers too but you can very visibly see the scars of battle on them already. Many of these kids have already lost their sexual purity. The vast majority has already started drinking and it is shocking how many are already using drugs. Many of them have bought the world's lies. Religion is simply whatever is relevant to them at that moment - "God just wants me to be happy" or "God is seen through my boyfriend or my friends - and I have a lot of friends so God is happy with me". They live their lives in the pursuit of happiness and for many of them, it has taken them into some very dark places.
It was striking to witness the vast gulf between Anna and many of these teenage girls. Anna is free. They are in bondage. Anna pursues happiness in her own little world and it is innocent...as innocent as happiness found in her harmonica. Anna doesn't understand peer pressure. Anna is happy in her own skin. Teenagers pursue happiness by trying to fit in and by doing whatever the crowd tells them is "right". We witnessed a dozen or so girls all showing up on Saturday morning all dressed just alike. It was freezing cold but they all had on shorts and Ugg boots. Someone in that group decided this is what they were going to wear and like robots, the rest followed. Teenagers have very little tolerance for extraordinary. They crave ordinary. They want to all look alike, act alike, dress alike so they can all blend in and numb the pain that can come from standing apart from the crowd. Many will seemingly sell their soul just to fit in - just to be a part of the "in" crowd. And so...they all become ordinary...just like all the rest of the group. When the group starts having sex, you have sex. When the group moves beyond beer to pot, you start smoking pot. You conform or you are cast-out.
The lie is that if you become ordinary that you will fit in. What you find as you become ordinary is that you have stripped away all that God made you to be. You have given up what an Extraordinary Creator used to make you unique so that the other ordinaries will find you pleasing.
I don't write this to judge any of them. I understand. I was there not long ago. But I write this because it stands in such stark contrast to Anna. She is happy being Anna. She thinks she can play the harmonica and she plays her heart out. She doesn't obsess over dressing like her friends or wearing too much make-up or straightening her hair like "everyone else" does. She has no concept of text messaging, cell phones or Facebook. She is just Anna. She is just one very happy kid. It simply breaks your heart to see the damage the world does when it strips the kid out of a young person and makes them look like every other ordinary young person.
Christ came that we might have life and have it to the full (abundantly). He wants us to be extraordinary not ordinary. He wants us to stand apart from the crowd and to be independent of the world. He wants us leaning on Him. He offers us freedom - great freedom - in the extraordinary life while it is just so obvious the bondage - the terrible bondage - of the ordinary life.
Anna and her harmonica have life to the full. It is no wonder Christ said we must come to him as a child. Eyes wide open, trusting, dependent, every day another great adventure to live and a new audience for our harmonica.
God wants that for you. You ARE extraordinary. You ARE a Masterpiece. He does not call you to be ordinary or like the crowd. He made you fearfully and wonderfully. He loves you. He sees you every day. YOU matter to Him. All you have to do is ask Him into your heart to be the Lord of your life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)