So I wanted to share with everyone about what happened last
night in Reset. Decided to do something a little different and we all went
outside to have service. We waged through all kinds of night time bugs as we
pressed into worship. Though it was
difficult with the distraction our students really started to press in and
worship God.
I then went into the sermon. As I begin I had one of my
leaders pull out this broken white plastic table and had him put it on the wall
behind me. I started off by explaining
the atmosphere of the world we live in. As I shared statistics I wrote them on
the table.
I shared things like how 55 million babies have been killed since
abortion was legalized. We talked about how the world is trying to redefine
what marriage is. I pointed out that it’s not just the fact that the world is trying
to say marriage between two people of the same gender is ok. It’s also how they
diminish the role of the father. I shared that 71% of teenage girls and 64% of
teenage boys believe it’s perfectly fine for women to get pregnant and have
children yet there be no father in the life. In fact 40% of babies born have no
father in their life!
I talked about the liberalization of the media. Not just how
tv is pushing a “liberal agenda” but even in written formats. I mentioned how “50
shades of grey” is a top seller even for teenagers and yet it’s really nothing more
than pornography in book form.
I talked about how 2 million of the US population is in
prison. I talked about how 91% of teens report being bullied and how that has
helped to lead to the fact that the 3rd most common cause of death
in teens is suicide. I also mentioned how 20% of teenagers have reported that
they have sent nude or seminude pictures to other people via their cell phones.
I explained how this is the world that we live in. I then
went into my own personal testimony. As I did I begin to write on the board the
different things that had become part of my life; things like rage, hatred, forgiveness,
and hurt. I explained how growing up I was destined to become an alcoholic, a
drug addict, a woman abuser.
However! Christ had other plans for me. I explained to the
students how we cannot get people saved. As much as we love people, as much as
we hate the evil in the world we cannot personally save the people. The only
person who can save people is Jesus Christ! So where does that leave us as
believers?
I picked up a paint roller and talked about how that roller
could not change the look of that table. Rather it was the instrument used to
bring the change! You and I are, if you will, a point roller in the hands of
God. Our job is to carry God’s presence to the world and to the people around
us that it can be Reset to the way that God had intended.
I pointed out how the only thing that can cover sin is
blood. I showed them Hebrews 9:22
Indeed under the law almost everything is purified with
blood, and with out the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
I then pointed to Christ, how he was the spotless lamb. He lived
perfectly yet He went to the cross for us! I showed them 2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake He[God] made Him[Jesus] to be sin who knew no
sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God
Christ literally took on every sin, every vial evil, then
went to the cross, suffered and died so that we wouldn't have to. He did this
because He loves us.
I then had one of my leaders step up to the table and run
the roller over the statistics and the notes from my testimony. That red paint
covered those things so well that you could not see them! They were gone! I
explained how that table represents the world and our personal lives. When we
allow the painter [God] to use the roller[Us and other Christians] to bring the
paint [His presence and His Son] then things change dramatically!
I asked the students “is there something in your life that you've been fighting, some anger, some pain, some sin; that you’ve been holding
on to? Do you feel God calling you to release it so that it can be placed under
the blood of His precious Son? If so I invite you to come up, take this marker
and write it on this board.” I explained that we are going to worship while
they do this and when they were done we were going to go up and paint over it.
I was nearly in tears as nearly everyone of them went up to
write on the board, symbolically giving up whatever it was they were fighting,
over to God. We they were done one of my
volunteers walked up with the roller and he covered that entire board with a
thick layer of that beautiful red paint.
Now that sounds like a good stopping point for this sermon…
but it wasn't.
I explained how this broken table was probably going to be
thrown into the trash. How when people see things that are broken that their
first instinct is to trash it. Similarly people believe that if they have all
kinds of stuff in their past that they are worthless to God, that they have no
purpose. But that’s not true!
You see we are taking that broken table and we are going to re-purpose it. We are going to turn it into
a game for our fall carnival. A
game that can be used for our kids camp. We are turning it into something that
will be a blessing to our kids. We are giving it a new purpose. A purpose that
could no one would had ever thought about it when they saw it mere broken
table. In the same way, after we allow God to paint over us, He re-purposes us.
He gives us a mission, He gives us importance.
I then explained to the students that they are called to be
the paint brush in the hands of God. I explained how if they allow Him to use
them to bring His presence to their friends, to their schools, to the world
around them, then all the junk, all the sin, all the guilt can be covered.
People and the world can be re-purposed to the glory of God.
