Love

We had Valentines a few weeks ago and I am now engaged to the most wonder girl in the world. But I want to just talk for a few minutes about love. I hear the term “I love you,” and I hear it so much and wonder if people really know what it means to love. To truly love someone you have to have the love of God. It you don’t know God; then you don’t know the true meaning of love. I know that I love God and God shows his love back to me. What greater love, is for someone to lay down their life for me and that’s what Jesus did. We don’t deserve it and can never repay it, but he loved us so much that he gave his life for us.

Prayer

Tonight, I spoke on prayer and I found myself preaching to myself. As a youth pastor I find sometimes I get more out of the message than the teenagers do. I know that I need to pray more than I have ever prayed before. I think the quote that E. M. bounds said, “Prayer is talking to God about people and getting up and talking to people about God.” Prayer is composing a love note to God, singing to Him, and walking with Him.

I think it speaks to me as a Christian. If we never pray then we will never know what God has for our life, if I never talk to him. Also, if you become slack in your prayer life your relationship with God becomes slack. What is preventing you from becoming close to God? How long has it been since you spoke to him.

How long should I prayer? When you are with someone special you don’t look at the clock you spend as much time as you want.

The Great Commission!!!!

Someone said or commented on how to make a church grow or even a ministry to grow. I think about that question and most pastors and student pastor want the live bands, cool media to go with their sermons, and even develop cool sermons with cool titles. That is great and I would love to have a live youth band. But my question is does that work? I believe it’s relevant, but it’s like our pastor said last night in a meeting, does it point people to Jesus? I know that most would probably say that it does because it's worship. But is it? Are the teenagers really worshiping or do they just like the sound of the music and beat. I think it depends on the teenager of course. I like the praise and worship and I feel that I can worship freely with the praise and worship, but what about the people that like the hymns. Do we just dump them because every church in America has dumped them? Are the hymns out of date? Can we worship with the hymns?

I think we should concentrate on telling people about Jesus and spreading the gospel, before we need to pump money into music. Praise and worship is great and is very much needed, but putting a show or concert on doesn't save people. The Word shows and directs us how we should live. Praise and worship is just an added when we come together to worship and praise our God. The Holy Spirit is the one that moves us, but when we are there to only hear and listen to awesome music then we miss the mark and fail in the great commission.