One of my favorite things to do with my youth group is have late night worship. These are the times when we get rid of all of the craziness of daily life and focus solely on God and worshiping him. They are some of the most impactful times in our relationship with God.
We all show up at our church at 10:00pm and listen to worship music, have times of prayer, read scriptures and just spend our time in worship of God. Sometimes we would take breaks for snacks and time to fellowship with each other. However, most times we were just so in the presence of God that we don't realize how fast time was going past.
These times were when we would be able to refresh, to get back on track with God. It's when we were able to put aside whatever was going wrong that day or week and to just be in awe of who God is.
Worship is what we were all born to do. Whether you worship by singing, painting, dancing, playing an instrument, it is what we are on this Earth for. We are not here to make a lot of money or to have the most stuff, our entire life and being is to glorify God.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Irritating the Old
One thing my youth group loves to do is talk to other people about Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the way that He works in our lives and in our youth group. We all love talking about Jesus and worship and just being active members of the Body of Christ. However, the older people in our church do not really appreciate it all as much as we do. They do not approve of the worship music we listen to or the idea that we talk a lot and function in the Holy Sprit.
As a youth group we decided to have a youth Sunday. This meant that the youth were in charge of the whole service. We decided on the songs, we told testimonies, we picked the scriptures, we said the prayers, and Ryan gave the message. It was totally run by the youth and our youth pastor. The best part was we never told the congregation before hand that we were doing this, we didn't tell them so that the old members would still show up.
Most people in our churched loved the service. A lot of them were amazed by the testimonies we had of the total strangers we prayed for. Quite a few came up to us saying "I can't believe you guys prayed for total strangers. I never would have had the guts to do that". It was very cool to hear how proud of us they were. However, it was a little disheartening to hear that they didn't think they would be able to do the same thing.
The biggest disappointment about the whole service was that most of the older people couldn't get past the music. They could not see beyond the fact that we played music that had drums and lots of singers and was incredibly up beat. That was all they focused on, they did not see anything about the rest of the service because they only saw the loud music.
I think this happens to a lot of us. We see one thing about a church, a person, or whatever it might be, and that's all we focus on. We do not allow ourselves to look beyond those things and then we miss out on all the incredible things the person, church, or group has to offer.
As a youth group we decided to have a youth Sunday. This meant that the youth were in charge of the whole service. We decided on the songs, we told testimonies, we picked the scriptures, we said the prayers, and Ryan gave the message. It was totally run by the youth and our youth pastor. The best part was we never told the congregation before hand that we were doing this, we didn't tell them so that the old members would still show up.
Most people in our churched loved the service. A lot of them were amazed by the testimonies we had of the total strangers we prayed for. Quite a few came up to us saying "I can't believe you guys prayed for total strangers. I never would have had the guts to do that". It was very cool to hear how proud of us they were. However, it was a little disheartening to hear that they didn't think they would be able to do the same thing.
The biggest disappointment about the whole service was that most of the older people couldn't get past the music. They could not see beyond the fact that we played music that had drums and lots of singers and was incredibly up beat. That was all they focused on, they did not see anything about the rest of the service because they only saw the loud music.
I think this happens to a lot of us. We see one thing about a church, a person, or whatever it might be, and that's all we focus on. We do not allow ourselves to look beyond those things and then we miss out on all the incredible things the person, church, or group has to offer.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Coming Back To Reality
This week I am going to talk a little bit about what it was like coming back from our week down in North Carolina. Honestly coming back is one of the hardest things. When you are at a retreat or a work camp you are in a little bubble where you are constantly surrounded by Worship and people who are just focusing on God. We did not have our phones so we didn't have any outside influence. The whole week was just purely focused on God and doing work for His kingdom.
The worst part about coming back is being bombarded by temptations and evil. During the week we were in North Carolina when we had free time we would read scripture or play games or be in times of worship. There was not Facebook, no Twitter, no T.V., there was no media of any kind. Coming back home and having media all around you again is incredibly draining. We were so connected with God that week because we were free from the distractions of media and other such things. Once we were back home we were all under attack from the enemy and just distracted by media and the stresses of everyday life.
In order to keep that solid connection with God we had to work so much harder than we did during the work camp week. To be honest, I don't think any of us succeeded. It is so incredibly difficult to be so connected to every one and everything and still have such a strong connection to God.
I want to challenge you to take an hour, a day, or a week and disconnect. Wether you do it now, or sometime this summer, you should definitely try it. Taking a step back from social media, your cell phone, T.V., movies, and secular music can do amazing things to strengthen your relationship with God. Now, just because you aren't doing those things doesn't mean you should fill all of that extra time with random things, or just nothing at all. You should spend the extra time you have in prayer, reading scripture, and listening to worship music. It is a wonderful way to become closer with God and start a more personal relationship with Him.
The worst part about coming back is being bombarded by temptations and evil. During the week we were in North Carolina when we had free time we would read scripture or play games or be in times of worship. There was not Facebook, no Twitter, no T.V., there was no media of any kind. Coming back home and having media all around you again is incredibly draining. We were so connected with God that week because we were free from the distractions of media and other such things. Once we were back home we were all under attack from the enemy and just distracted by media and the stresses of everyday life.
In order to keep that solid connection with God we had to work so much harder than we did during the work camp week. To be honest, I don't think any of us succeeded. It is so incredibly difficult to be so connected to every one and everything and still have such a strong connection to God.
I want to challenge you to take an hour, a day, or a week and disconnect. Wether you do it now, or sometime this summer, you should definitely try it. Taking a step back from social media, your cell phone, T.V., movies, and secular music can do amazing things to strengthen your relationship with God. Now, just because you aren't doing those things doesn't mean you should fill all of that extra time with random things, or just nothing at all. You should spend the extra time you have in prayer, reading scripture, and listening to worship music. It is a wonderful way to become closer with God and start a more personal relationship with Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)