When You Have To Say Something

Anybody who preaches on a weekly basis will tell you that they would much rather have the feeling that "they have something to say" over the feeling that "they have to say something."  But what about those cases it is the latter?  What is a pastor supposed to do when Sunday is coming and the pressure to come up with some words of wisdom is growing?  My favorite times to teach our students are the weeks when I've studied and have felt like I have a lot to say, but the reality is that occasionally I have my selected topic or scripture for the week and my mind is blank.

Don't say anything new

There's nothing new.  The message that we are preaching is one that has been preached for thousands of years.  There are certainly new ways to communicate this message, but take comfort in the fact that the heart of what you have to communicate has been said by thousands of people every week.  We preach Christ crucified and risen; you may not have any brilliant illustrations this week, but your message is pretty clear.

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 1:9

Let God to the Work.

Scripture is the inspired word of God; it will speak for itself.  On those days when you feel like you just need something to say, open the Bible, read a section of scripture and help people understand what it means.  I think we often forget the words of Hebrews when it describes the Bible as "living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword."

There is a doctrine in the church that can be comforting when you feel like you have nothing to say; it's the doctrine of the efficacy of scripture.  Efficacy means effective; we believe that God's word is effective.  Be comforted that we don't believe in the doctrine of the efficacy of the preacher; it's the Word that is powerful not the communicator.  Scripture is alive and by the power of the Holy Spirit when God's Word is preached, God is at work.   Heck, God even speaks through the mouth of an ass in Numbers, he certainly can speak through you when you have nothing to say.

Photo Credit: Amy Palko

Teaching Notes: Bad Friends

This week, we finished off a 3 week series entitled "Me & My Peeps."  This series was all about friendships; since friends are important to all of us, whether we are little kids, teenagers, or grown ups, it is important to look at what the Bible teaches us about choosing friends and being a good friend.  The third and final week of the series was about what to do in the cases we find ourselves with a bad friend.  What do we do when there are people who wouldn't make good friends; should we keep our distance or still get to know them?  The best way for us to answer these questions is to dig into how Jesus responds when he is treated poorly and think about what that means for us and our relationships.

Judas betrays.

The twelve disciples were probably twelve of the closest people in Jesus' life.  The disciples followed Jesus everywhere he went; they listened to his teachings, they witnessed his miracles, and walked alongside of him as he journeyed from city to city.  The disciples had given their lives to learning from Jesus so that they could be like Jesus.  And as we enter into the last week of Jesus' life, one of the disciples who had spent years with Jesus decides to turn his back on Jesus.

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over. - Mark 14:10-11

Have you ever been betrayed by a close friend?  Have you ever had a friend share one of your secrets with somebody else?  One of Jesus' closest followers betrayed Jesus by handing him over to be murdered.  And Jesus knew it was going to happen.

Jesus knew.  Jesus ate.

Since the goal of a disciple is trying to live like Jesus, and as Christians we call ourselves disciples of Jesus, one of the best ways to learn how to respond when we have friends who have betrayed us, is look to how Jesus responds in this situation.

When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve.  While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”  “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” - Mark 14:17-21

Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him, and he still spent time eating with him.  Have you ever been in an argument with somebody and then had to spend time with them?  Nobody wants to be around somebody who has hurt them, yet Jesus knowing what Judas was about to do, chose to be with him.  In fact, this is not the first time Jesus does something like this, all throughout the Gospels Jesus is accurately accused of eating with sinners.  The people that Jesus continually chooses to spend time with are not the religious people, but the sinners.

In your friendships, it is important to have Christian friends, but what about non-Christians?  Do you only spend time with your Christian friends, or do you also find ways to get to know those who don't know Jesus... even if that means spending time with someone who might not be a great friend?  As a Christian, you want to have friends that help you grow in your relationship with Christ, but do you also have people in your life that are being influenced by your presence in theirs?

Jesus Died.

Even though Jesus knew exactly what Judas was going to do, he ate with him.  And even though Judas followed through with his betrayal, when Jesus went to the cross his death was for Judas as much as it was for the rest of the disciples.  And just as much as Jesus' death was for all the disciples, it was also for all people.

When we look at our relationship with God, we can learn more about loving others by looking at God's love for us than we can learn from looking at anything else.  When I look at my friendship with Jesus, I fail often.  I forget to make the Bible a part of my daily life.  I don't follow his commands.  I hurt other people.  I even forget to spend time talking to Him.  Yet even though I have failed, Jesus sacrificed his life for me.  Even though I am often a bad friend, Jesus continues to love me.

There probably are people in your life that have hurt you, can you love them anyways?  There probably are people in your life who won't make a good friend, can you love even people who might be bad friends?  You probably can list of people who would not help you grow in your relationship with Jesus, how can you love even those people like Jesus loved others?

Photo Credit: Julie Campbell

Building the Series Plan

[This post is a part of the Creating a Sermon Series series]

As we gather ideas for our sermon series, there will come a point when we need to begin to flesh out an actual plan.  We eventually need to get our ideas on paper so we can begin planning the minute details that are necessary for making the sermon series a successful one.  As I plan my sermon series for our middle school ministry, my goal is to have seasons planned several months before we get to them.  For me that means in November, the plans for our January to May series gets nailed down.  In April or May, I finalize our summer teaching plan.  And I do the same thing as I plan our fall series.  The following questions are very helpful to me as I try to set the framework for an individual series.

1. What's the Big Idea?

Just like an individual sermon will have an overall message, the same thing should be true of a sermon series.  In the scope of the several weeks that are tied together, what are you hoping will be accomplished?  There will be certainly differences from message to message, but what big idea is holding these all together.

2. Where's the series going?

What is the weekly progression of your series?  Be intentional about how weeks build upon the previous weeks; at the same time find ways to tie back to the current series.  Since you likely have a big idea in mind, how does each individual week fit into the big idea while also expanding upon that idea in a unique way.  If the sermon series doesn't feel like it's going anywhere, there might be a better way to lay out the indivdual weeks of the series.

3. What are the weekly main ideas?

If you knew the one thing that you were trying to communicate in an individual message several weeks before you did most of your writing, how much more creative would you be?  Work hard to figure out the big idea of your individual messages now so that you can let them sit in your brain.  The longer you have an idea and can let it be there, the more ideas you will come across that can serve your message well.

4. What's should it be called?

The content is most important, but the context of the sermon does matter too.  In essence, as we develop a sermon series, we are trying to create a brand for a group of sermons.  By creating a brand it helps people quickly recognize what we are talking about, where we are going, and it might even become a memorable set of messages.

5. How can I make it memorable?

The title and branding are certainly intertwined with this, but taking it a step further, what else can we do to make the content memorable?  It's important here that we understand, we are not trying to make an graphic or color scheme memorable, but actually make the content memorable.  What can you do with the web, with video, or graphics to help make the theme stick?

Photo Credit: Marcus-E

Teaching Notes: Sanctification

This week we finished our mini-series in our Middle School Ministry called "2 Big Words."  Certain words in our Christian faith can be difficult to understand, and in certain occasions these difficult-to-understand words are central to our faith.  This series was about defining and exploring the importance of the words justification and santification.

Faith Changes Things

Sanctification simply defined means "to make holy."  What this practically means in our walk with Jesus, is that God makes us to be more and more like him.  Sanctification is the process of being made to be like Jesus.  As we grow in our faith, we are changed to be more and more like Jesus in our attitudes, thoughts, and actions.  Sanctification is about the transformation that is taking place in us.  We are new creations.  We also read from the book "Very Hungry Caterpillar" to illustrate how a transformation takes place.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

As God changes us to be more and more like him, this becomes evident in three primary ways:

1. He changes our hearts.

As we are changed and growing by our relationship with Jesus, our hearts our changed.  We begin  to fall more and more in love with Jesus.  We desire to follow him and get to know him.

2. He changes our attitude towards sin.

As God is working in our hearts, our attitude towards sin changes.  It's not that we stop sinning, but that our attitude towards sin changes.  We begin to struggle with sin; we battle against sin as we fight to do what's right.

"For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." - Romans 7:18-20 (the do-do verse).

3. He changes our actions.

As our hearts are changed and our attitude towards sin, our actions should follow behind.  We are saved by grace through faith alone, but these things are never alone.  Good works follow closely behind.  As we are changed by grace through faith, our actions will also change to share the love of Christ with the world.

Photo Credit: Logical Progressions

Choosing What To Preach

[This post is a part of the Creating a Sermon Series series]

How do you decide what to preach?  Is it based on a moment of creative inspiration or is there a more methodological way of going about preaching calendar?  Whatever way you come up with ideas for what to preach, it is critical that are being intentional with what we are going to say over the next several weeks or months.  I believe there are two main categories that our preaching falls into: sermons that people want to hear and sermons that people need to hear.  The "want to hear" sermons are the ones that speak to felt needs, topics like friendships, families, stage of life issues.  The "need to hear" sermons are the ones that speak to the docrine of a specific belief or even teaching through an entire book of the Bible.

What People Want to Hear

What are the felt needs of the people you are preaching to?  Are there things going on in their world that need to be addressed?  Are there issues being raised by the culture around them that need to be talked about?  It's not likely that people are bringing these ideas to you and asking you to preach on them, but there would be little difficulty in seeing how these topics speak to a practical need in their life.  We need to find ways to help people navigate through their immediate felt needs.  For example, a common felt need among church-goers might be family relationships.  How could we in the midst of a sermon series help people understand the importance of family and how to deal with family relationships bibilically?

What People Need To Hear

We cannot only give people what they want to hear; that can be a very dangerous slope.  It may not even be best for the "want to hear" sermons to be a majority, but it should certainly have a presence as you plan.  What are the things that are not on the front of a person's mind that they need to hear?  What doctrine do they need to be reminded of?  As you read through the scriptures, sometimes the Bible speaks to felt needs of the people and other times it takes some education to realize how important something is.  When I think about what people need to hear, I tend to try to ask, what doctrines that my students need to be reminded of?  What books of the Bible would it be helpful for me to teach through?  What might a middle school student need to hear, but not want to hear?

If you only give people what they want to hear, you are in danger on being nothing more than another self-help guru.  And if you only give people what they want to hear, what do you do when you get to issues like sin?  Most people don't want to hear they are depraved, sinful beings that deserve the wrath of God.  But they need to hear that.  So the tension becomes balancing what people need to hear and what people want to hear and finding the right way to speak to the totality of what the scriptures speak of.

What are some things people want to hear?  What are some things people need to hear?

Photo Credit: Zanthia

Getting Ideas for a Series

[This post is a part of the Creating a Sermon Series series]

One of the most difficult, yet also most rewarding parts of building a sermon series is getting ideas.  Anybody can come up with great ideas for a teaching series; the reason that oftentimes people don't is because it takes a level of discipline and practice to do so.  It can be very hard work, but when you work through planning a series and know that the the theme will connect with the students, it is well worth it.

Learn to Steal Well

Great artists steal.  Steve jobs said it, picasso said it.  Let's be clear, I'm not talking about plagiarism.  I think it is terrible for any artist, especially those in the church, to rip off somebody else's idea.  What a great artist will do, however, is learn to take ideas from several different sources and use the ideas of others transform it into an entirely new creation.  When you watch TV do you see ideas that could become inspiration for a series?  When you walk through the grocery store, what do you notice about people and the objects you see, could those inspire an idea?  When you listen to other preachers, what ideas start rolling around in your head?  Generating ideas for sermon series in large part requires us to be intentional about paying attention to everyday occurances because anything might be worth stealing from.

Write It All Down

We have all had situations where we wake up in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea and are sure that we'll remember it in the morning.  Then the morning comes.  And the idea is lost forever.  It doesn't matter how good your idea is, you need to write it down.  You won't remember it in the morning; you might not even remember it an hour later.  Even it you have an average idea, write it down because it might later inspire other ideas.  Find tools that you can use to write down any unfiltered ideas that you think could be used for something.  You may not even know what you will use an idea for; it might clearly not fit as a sermon series idea, but it might be good for something else later.

Give It Time

Anytime I have a great idea, I want to use it right away.  I look for ways to bring it into my upcoming teaching even when it seems to be a stretch.  It's a natural part of creativity; you get excited about sharing your ideas, but learning to be patient with ideas is critical.  As you begin to generate ideas, learn to give your ideas time to grow.  Your idea may work good now, but 3 months from now it may be incredible.  Give your ideas time to grow as you reflect on it and add to it.  Once you write down your idea, let it sit and percolate until the perfect moment when it would make no sense to not use it.

How do you come up with ideas for your sermon series?

Teaching Notes: Justification

This week we began a new mini-series in our Middle School Ministry called "2 Big Words."  Every now and then we come across big words that are difficult to say or understand.  In Christianity, there are a couple of words that are not only central to our faith, but because the words are uncommon we might not realize how important these concepts are.  In the two weeks of this mini-series we will be talking about justification and sanctification.

Let me justify this...

You may not know a lot about justification, but you have probably heard someone say something a long the lines of "let me justify it."  Perhaps it is an unusual love for Justin Bieber music and someone has the need to explain their reasoning behind listening to that kind of music.  Often it will happen in situations where somebody did something wrong; so someone will try to justify their wrong choice by explaining the reason behind their actions.

To justify something simply means "to make right."  When we try to justify our actions, we are trying to make them okay.  When we talk about our Christian faith and the idea of justification, we are talking about how our relationship with God is made right.

We all are guilty.

There's not a single one of us who aren't guilty for something.  We could go through the commandments one by one and list out the reasons that we are guilty of breaking them.  We are sinful and this sin has separated us from God.  God is holy and cannot be where sin is, so because of our sin, we have a problem.  God cannot be near us.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23

What can you do to justify your guilt?  What can you do to make things right with God?  Is there a certain amount of good things you can do to outweigh the bad decisions?  Is there any way that you can justify yourself?  Fortunately, the answer is no.  We can't justify ourselves, but God is not content with letting us be separated from him, so in his great love for us, God makes right our relationship with him.

The unfair trade.

When I was younger, I collected all kinds of trading cards.  Occasionally my uncle, who was a garbage man, would deliver boxes filled with trading cards that he found in the trash.  My two brothers and I would take the boxes and have to distribute them amongst the three of us; we'd all take turns picking the ones we wanted.  Sometimes my youngest brother would end up with a card that I wanted for my collection.  Since he was young and didn't know much and I was older and smarter, I contrived a way to get the card I wanted without losing other ones I loved.  I traded.  Now it was never a fair trade, I somehow would convince him that a rookie card for a rookie card was an even trade.  Even if one was a Shaq rookie card and the other was never heard of.  I got all the benefits while Corey got none of them.

When we talk about justification, we are also talking about an unfair trade.  Nobody gets tricked in this trade, but it is certainly not an even trade.  When Jesus goes to the cross, he is making the biggest unfair trade in the history of the world.  Jesus trades his righteousness for our sin.  We receive all the benefits; we get a right relationship with God.  And Jesus becomes sin.  Our relationship with God is made right because Jesus justifies and by faith we receive this gift.

Photo Credit: Calaggie

Preaching Using a Sermon Series

[This post is a part of the Creating a Sermon Series series]

In churches all over the world, it is common for the preaching to be organized in groups of sermons called a sermon series.  Youth pastors, senior pastors, and children pastors often will look for common threads to organize how they teach the scriptures in a memorable way.  As I've worked through putting together several sermon series for weekly programs and retreats, I have found using a sermon series to very helpful for both myself and those listening to me.

It Helps People Remember

Branding matters.

If you look around any department store, spend a couple minutes watching television, or do a couple searches on Google - you will without a doubt be bombarded with brands trying to find ways to make sure you remember their brands and products.  The reason they do this is because they learned that creating a recognizable brand is effective.

I'm not suggesting we start advertising in all these different ways, but as we are preaching the Word of God, we are trying to communicate the message in way that people will remember.  As you create a sermon series, not only are you opening up the Word of God, but you are wrapping the life-changing content in a context that will hopefully make the message memorable as people listen.

It Let's People Know Where You're Going

When you use a series, people probably aren't coming to church simply because they are excited about the sermon series.  It may happen, but it's not likely.  Even if people aren't coming because of the sermon series you are teaching, there is an element of comfort for people to know that you have an idea of where the next few weeks are going.  If you want to be effective in your teaching, it is important that people can trust you.  If they have an idea that you know where you're going, they are going to be much more likely to trust you taking them there.

It Builds Momentum Around a Given Topic

If you could spend 1 day or 7 days on vacation with your family, which would have a greater impact on you and your family?  In the same way, spending 1 week or 5 weeks, significantly changes the amount of impact that you might have as you talk about a specific topic or book of the Bible.  As you spend multiple weeks going to the same book and working through it, momentum begins to build as people hear the words, think about them, live with them, and come back without having to shift their way of thinking.

It Helps Creativity

Whenever I work on a sermon series, on of the things that I have noticed about myself is that creating a theme that I am trying to preach from within helps me creatively.  Some might argue that putting yourself in a box, restricts creativity, but I would argue that the clear focus and concepts allows more room for creativity.  Having clear goals and definitions allows you to let some ideas sit in your brain and percolate.

What are some reason that you see that using a sermon series can be helpful?

Creating a Sermon Series

Preaching is an important part of youth ministry.  We spend large portions of our time creating, writing, and giving sermons to our students because we believe that God's word is powerful.  As you work with students, you likely not only want to preach God's word, but you want to do so clearly and creatively.  You want students to be engaged with the scriptures, not bored by something that they think doesn't relate to their life.

One of the most valuable ways, in my opinion, to preach through the Bible is by organizing it in a sermon series.  This isn't something mandated by the Bible, so it is by no means the only way to organize your teaching calendar.  A sermon series is in essence a way to organize a group of messages that are tied together by some common thread and preach through those in succession and with a similar branding so that the messages are more memorable for the hearers.

The Creating a Sermon Series series is meant to help anyone who preaches.  It will discuss topics ranging from the value of using a sermon series in preaching to the practical elements of actually figuring out how to brand your series and package it together in a creative way.

This post will serve as the general Table of Contents for this series and be the place to reference all of the posts that are a part of this series.

Upcoming Posts

1. Preaching Using a Sermon Series

2. Getting Ideas for a Series

3. Choosing What to Preach

4. Creating the Series Plan

5. Branding the Series

6. Sermon Series Branding Questions

7. Writing Messages as a Part of a Series

8. And more...

If you have any ideas for topics that you would like to see discussed as a part of this series, let me know in the comments.

Photo Credit: Lars Hammar

Luther on Preaching

Throughout history God has used the spoken word to transform lives.  Preaching has been an avenue that the holy spirit has worked through for thousands of years.  Certainly over these years, many elements of preaching has changed.  The context of the preaching is significantly different than it once was, yet at the same time many elements of preaching have held true over time.

The great reformer, Martin Luther was not only a fan of preaching, but specifically of preahcing simple and clear sermons.  Luther commonly would not concern himself with spending time educating about Hebrew and Greek words, but instead explain the same words in everyday language.  In a time where the wealth of information that is accessible at the click of a button, I think we must be reminded that our goal shouldn't be to say everything we can about a subject, but to teach one thing in a clear, simple way.

"To preach plain and simple is a great art: Christ himself talks of tilling ground, of mustard seed, etc; he uses altogether homely anad similitudes.  Cursed are all preachers that in the church aim at high and hard things, and neglecting the saving health of the poor unlearned people, seek their own honor and praise...When I preach, I sink myself deep down.  I regard neither Doctors or Magistrates, of whom, are here in this church above forty; but I have my eye to the multitude of young people, children, and servants, of whome are more than 2000.  I preach to those."  - Martin Luther

The Art of Preaching

I love to preach.  I love standing in front of my whiteboard during the week and start writing and sketching out my ideas for the sermon that's in my head.  I love getting up in front of our students on a Sunday morning or one of our retreats and opening up the scripture together.  When Luther speaks of preaching in a plan and simple way, he describes it as great art.  Anybody can come up with something to say, but to say it simply... that's art.  Anybody can talk about the hypostatic union of Christ (well, maybe not anybody), but to do it in a way that doesn't put a twelve year old to sleep and instead engages him...that's art.

My hope as I continue to preach to our students is that I don't get caught up into try to spew out all the information that I can learn, but to craft messages that speak clearly and simply.  That I can like a great artist leave piles of great ideas behind for the sake of saying one thing really well.

What's the most difficult part  for you about preaching plain and simple?

Photo Credit: John14:6

Teaching Notes: Lion King

This Sunday we entered the third week of our sermon series for our middle school ministry called "Now Showing."  Each week we are taking scenes from movies and using those to point to Jesus and what it looks like to follow him.  Recently, Disney re-released Lion King and because of that I wanted to include that movie as a part of our series; the scene we used to teach was full of great lessons that are all throughout scripture.

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"You don't even know who you are."

When Rafiki is talking to Simba, Simba is at the point where he has no idea who he is supposed to be.  Simba is in the mddle of an identity crisis.  This is true of Simba in this scene, and it is often true of many of us as Christians.  We may at times look at ourself and see ourself based on the friends we have, the sports we play, or for parents, the jobs that we have.  Anytime that our identity is founded in something other than Jesus, we are in danger of not knowing who we are.  How often would we describe ourselves simply as a child of God?  By the love of Jesus, we have been adopted into the family of Christ and we can know exactly who we are, God's children.

"He's alive."

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole Christian faith is dead.  Our faith is not based alone on the fact that Jesus died on the cross, but also that he rose again 3 days later.  The God we worship is a God that is alive.  He conquered not only sin, but death and the power of the devil.  Death couldn't stop Jesus!

"And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." - 1 Corinthians 15:14

"He lives in you."

In Rafiki's amusing conversation with Simba, he mentions that Mufasa continues to live on in Simba.  As a Christian one of the things that I often take for granted is that God actually lives in me.  When is the last time you thought about the fact that God lives inside of you?  God is with you wherever you go, amidst the choices you make, and the things you say.  As we live our life as Christians, the presence of God is living inside of us.

"Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst." - 1 Corinthians 3:16

Teaching Notes: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

This Sunday we continued our middle school ministry's sermon series entitled, "Now Showing."  Now Showing is all about taking films that are not meant to be about Christ and using them to point out and discuss what a life with Christ looks like.  This week our movie for discussion was based on the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; the main idea being that God doesn't look at what the world looks at.  The following is an overview of the main ideas that we taught for the sermon.

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The Caramel Onion

If I hold up a caramel apple in front of you and show it off, it's likely to look very tasty.  If I also hold up a caramel onion in front of you and show it off, describing it as the same caramel apple, you are probably not going to notice any difference.  A caramel onion on the surface looks exactly like an ordinary caramel apple, but as soon as you bite into you would realize that it is not anything like a caramel apple.  On the surface it may have looked like one thing, but below the surface it was something different entirely.  What we see when we look at the surface is completely different than what is on the inside.  The same thing can be said of people.  Often the way wee see a person on the outside is completely different than the way they are on the inside, which is what God looks at.

Sam Sparks, David, and the Woman at the Well

In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, one of the main characters is a young woman named Sam Sparks.  Sam throughout the movie puts on an act as she tries to mask herself to seem like an attractive, dumb-blonde weather reporter while in reality Sam is a nerdy, brilliant meteorologist in love with the science of weather.  On the surface Sam Sparks is a dumb-blonde but below the surface she is someone entirely different.

When speaking of David to Samuel, God spoke, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  When the world looked at David, they saw a young boy not a powerful King.  They saw a shepherd-boy not a pivotal piece in the line of the Messiah.  Based on David's apperances, nobody would have picked David, but God saw something different.  And even when David sinned, being a murdering, adulterer, God saw David with grace as a man after God's own heart.  What the world sees is not the same as what God sees.

The same goes for the woman at the well.  When Jesus encounters the samaritan woman, he doesn't look at her the same way that the rest of the world looks at her.  She has had many husbands.  She is a samaritan.  And she's a woman.  She goes to the well in the middle of the afternoon and encounters Jesus and Jesus looks at her differently.  He's not affected by her race, by her gender, or by her terrible sin.  Despite what others think, Jesus sees her as a child of God.  Despite her sin, Jesus looks at her with grace.

How Does Jesus Look at You?

No matter what your classmates, co-workers, or neighbors think of you, Jesus sees beyond the surface.  No matter what names and thoughts that you have put on yourself, God doesn't look at the things that people look at.  No matter how bad of sin you have in your life, because of the power of Jesus' death and ressurection, God doesn't look at you as the sinner that you are, but sees you with the righteousness of Christ.

You know how Christ looks at you, how do you look at others?

Photo Credit: OctoberDreaming

Teaching Notes: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This Sunday we started a new sermon series for our middle school students entitled, "Now Showing."  The idea with the series was to take movies which are not meant to be films about Jesus and use them to talk about Christ.  Over the course of the next several weeks, we are going to be spending time discussing scenes from various movies and talking about how our Christian faith relates to what comes up in the film.  This week our movie for the week was Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which in my opinion is one of the best movies at showing the life of a young middle school student.  The following is an overview of the main ideas for our lesson from Sunday.

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The Bathroom Incident

When I was in sixth grade, I will never forget the embarrassing, angst-filled situation I got myself into.  I asked to be excused from class for a bathroom break and shortly later I found myself trying to figure out how to get back into class without anyone noticing that I peed on myself.  I didn't pee my pants, let me be clear, but I did pee on my pants.

I found myself freaking out in the bathroom trying to figure out what I could do to save myself from embarrassment.  I could wash the urine out at the sink, but that wouldn't change the big wet spot that still looked just as bad as the pee spot.  I could stay in the bathroom for the next few hours until the day was over, but eventually somebody would notice I was missing and come look for me.  Eventually I came to a decision and went back to class carefully usingn my notebook as a shield to hide the stain on my pants as I went back to my seat.  It was a moment of great stress for me as I had to figure out not only how to save myself the humiliation of being laughed at when I walked back into the classroom but how to hide it for the entire day?

The middle school years are filled with angst-filled moments like these.  Maybe it's not exactly the same, but there are a variety of things going on in the life of a kid in junior high that make it a stressful time.  Ask any adult if they'd like to go back to being in middle school and my guess is that they would all say no.  Middle school is a time of change.  Changing friends, teachers, schools, responsibilities, faith, bodies, and more.  The amount of things going on in the life of a student in middle school gives us a lot of reasons to be anxious.

And then we read the words that Paul writes:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Phil 4:6-7

Seriously?  Is that really even realistic?  I think if we are honest a lot of times, this seems like the complete opposite of life.  For example: Go to school and deal with loads of homework, but don't be anxious.  Deal with friends talking behind your back, but don't be anxious.  Try to figure out the opposite sex, but don't be anxious. Or for adults: raise a teenager, but don't be anxious.  Pay your bills on time, but don't be anxious.  Paul knows this and tells us not only not to be anxious, but he gives us some actions steps to quickly follow this command; he tells us to go to God with prayer and petition.

God's Peace Protects Us

Paul tells us not to be anxious, but instead to approach God and bring your requests to him.  As we present our request to God, Paul tells us that peace will guard our hearts and mind in Christ Jesus.  Have you ever seen the president on TV surrounded by the secret service?  Or maybe when the president was in town, you've seen the barrage of cars and secret service going out of their way to protect one man.  I like to use this picture to think of how God's peace, in Christ Jesus, protects us.

"The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." - Psalm 23:1-4

As we go to God in these times we are anxious, we can be reminded of two things.  We are reminded of who our God is and who we are.  We are given peace because we are reminded that we have a God who created us and knit us together in out mother's womb.  We are reminded that we have a God who loves us, cares for us, and protects us.  We are reminded most importantly that no matter what we've done, regardless of how other people look at us, that Christ paid the price of sin on the cross and defeated death in his resurrection, for us.

And we are also reminded that because of this gift, we are God's child.  We are reminded that regardless of whether or not we get good grades, whether or not we are popular, or whether or not we make the team we are His.  Regardless of what other people think of us, we have the peace of being God's child not because of what we have done but because of what He has done.  And as we go through life, whether it be in our jobs, in our families, in our schools, or neighborhoods, that peace that comes from Christ protects us.

Photo Credit: Ario Fredewagon

Stand Up, Speak Up, and Shut Up

One of my favorite things to do in my job is preaching.  I look forward to spending time brainstorming how to creatively talk about an idea that our students need to hear.  I get fired up when we have a room full of kids that I get to open God's word with.  Martin Luther has an incredible quote that I want to use as a jumping point for 3 thoughts on preaching.  In reference to preaching, Luther said, "Stand up, speak up, and shut up."

Stand Up

The best way to improve the craft of preaching is to do it often.  One of the great things about youth ministry is it is common to preach at least once a week and often even more than that.  The best way to learn a skill, especially public speaking, is to do it often.  In any sport, it's common to spend countless hours getting in reps to improve at your position.  If you are teaching the Bible or have a desire to teach the Bible, are you getting in your reps?

Speak Up

Often the scriptures speak of things that make people uncomfortable.  People to wake up in the morning thinking about their desire to be told how terrible of a person they are.  Nobody looks forward to feeling guilty about the poor they overlooked this past week.  People don't like to be called out on their sin.  But the role of the preacher is not to tell people what they want to hear but what they need to hear.  When you study the scriptures, what needs to be taught?  Teach it boldly.

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." - Timothy 4:3

Shut Up

When I first got started in youth ministry, one of my biggest concerns when preaching was having enough to say to speak for a whole 20 minutes.  I look back now and can laugh at the idea of not having enough to say; I have a feeling people would be a lot happier if preachers didn't have enough to stay instead of always having too much to say.  Learning how to refine a message can be one of the most tedious tasks of putting together a message.  Anybody can come up with things to talk about, but it takes work to figure out how to say one thing clearly and concisely.  I find that more that I cut out of a sermon, the more effective what I leave in becomes.

"Creativity is substraction". - Austin Kleon

Which is hardest for you: standing up, speaking up, or shutting up?