Scripture referenced 5 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Matthew 7:24-27 the wise and foolish builders, used as the foundation for what Michael wants graduating students to build their lives on
24 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.
25 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand.
27 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
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Keep this verse
1 John 1:9
if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive and purify us from all unrighteousness
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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1 Corinthians 10:13
no temptation has seized you except what is common to man, God provides a way out
13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
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Romans 1:17
benediction verse, the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel, the righteous will live by faith
17 For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”
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Habakkuk 2:4
noted as the source Romans 1:17 quotes, the just will live by faith
4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Mike Demetrius, our youth pastor, brought the message on Graduation Sunday. Using Matthew 7:24-27 as his text, he asked what it looks like, day to day, to build your life on the rock rather than on the sand. The answer he worked toward was less about dramatic decisions and more about the ordinary patterns that either hold a life together or let it quietly come apart.
What was said
Mike opened by remembering what it was like to be young, the way students behave differently around authority than they do with their friends, the way language changes when adults leave the room. He was not scolding anyone. He was pointing out something he recognized in himself, that the gap between the life we live openly and the life we live privately is where trouble starts, and that it starts early.
That observation led him to name three things he wants for the students graduating out of this church. He wants them to walk in truth, meaning not just believing the right things but actually living in a way they do not have to hide. He wants them to have friendships that are honest enough to call them back when they are drifting. And he wants them to pursue purity, trusting that God's design for marriage is not a restriction but a protection.
He drew each of those three points out of his own story. Stealing Tic Tacs as a five-year-old, then lying to cover it, then needing more lies to cover those. Sneaking out at 14 in a car driven by a 15-year-old with no license, ending up in the back of a police cruiser while his mother thought he was asleep. The point in both cases was the same: his ideas, and his friends' ideas, were not as good as they felt at the time, and someone who loved him was trying to protect him from exactly that.
On purity, he was direct. He described the pressure students face when culture delays marriage later and later while the pull toward physical relationships starts as early as middle school. He used the image of a credit card, accessing something before you have actually earned or reached it, and said the effect on marriage is the same: you arrive somewhere that was meant to be special and it no longer feels that way. He was not condemning anyone. He was describing a design and saying it works.
He then pulled the whole thing back to include everyone in the room, not just the graduates. He asked whether anyone present has lies they have been carrying, whether God feels distant, whether they have even one person they could call and be fully honest with. He quoted 1 John 1:9 and 1 Corinthians 10:13, and said the temptations people face are not new or unique. The devil works through isolation; God works through community.
He closed where he started, with Matthew 7. You build your house on the rock before the storm comes, not during it. The time to establish truth, good friendships, and trust in God's design is now, while the weather is still warm.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Michael talked about students behaving differently when they are away from authority, using more colorful language and making different choices. When have you noticed that gap between how you act publicly and how you act when no one is watching, and what does that gap tell you about where you are building your house?
- Michael shared the story of stealing Tic Tacs as a child and then needing more and more lies to cover the first one. Is there an area of your life right now where lies have started to stack up, and what would it take to start clearing them out?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,042 words
Speaker 2Hey. Hey. I didn't wanna cut the trivia off early, and I don't think anything in there is trivial myself, but it is fun to do the test. Would you stand with us, and we're gonna sing together at Calvary, hymn number four ninety two. And I'm gonna invite up a favorite son here, Scott Humphrey, back after being away for a while, and he's gonna sing some harmony and maybe some melody.
We'll see if I switch over to bass because he's here. At Calvary, if you would sing actually, last week, Judy always listens. She comes up from Alpine, and she's listening in the canyon to, I guess, it's Sirius radio or something, some hymns. And she heard this hymn last week and said, I'm not sure I've ever paid attention to the words the way that I just did on the way up here, and she was in tears when she got here. So we're gonna sing this this week with renewed vigor.
Speaker 3It is so good. Listen to
Speaker 2the words as you sing them.
Speaker 3Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my lord was crucified, knowing not it was for me, he died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burden so found liberty at By God's word at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned.
My guilty soul imploring turned to cavalry. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me there my burdens all found liberty at Calvary now I've given Jesus everything Now I gladly own him as my king. Now my raptured soul can only sing of power.
Speaker 2Amen. Did it hit you different this morning?
Speaker 3Isn't that good?
Speaker 2Oh, it's so good. Mercy there and great. We're gonna sing a couple of high ones here just to challenge Scott. Actually, not this one that rests this one. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it.
Speaker 3Redeemed how I love to proclaim. I think of my blessed redeemer. I think of him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song.
Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed, redeemed,
Speaker 2Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a couple of announcements. I don't have the clicker though, Blake. So if you'll walk me through them, I'd appreciate it.
We do have Monday nights happening this week. It's kind of a home sweet home. It's an alternative service day and time. So Monday nights at first be 06:00 in the evening. Right down in the fellowship hall, we have meal, music, and a message.
Meal, music, and a message every Monday night. Are there others, Blake? Just that one. Graduation Sunday. Okay.
Sound booth volunteers. Well, I think we got a volunteer this morning, which is really good. After after I pick on Blake so much, I can't imagine anybody wanting to raise their hand and and do that, but, he does a great job up in the booth. We have prayer group, Wednesday morning, 07:30AM in the church office right here. That is a great group to get together and pray for missionaries was the was the original reason why we're getting together.
Pray for all the missionaries of churches, praying for and sending out and funding and helping. But also, if you're gonna be together with other believers and you're gonna be praying, the things that are burning your heart are what's gonna come out of, that time. So if you would, 07:30AM, Wednesday morning in the church office is that. Sunday school. Sunday school meaning children's church is taking a break during July.
So the entire month of July, we're just taking the month off from children's church. The beginning of, July, the end of June, beginning of of July is vacation Bible school from June 27 to July 1, 9AM to noon. There's a sign up back in the back back there and a little blurb. You see Christmas pillows and Christmas stuff, the theme this year is Christmas in July. They're building up at the end of June towards Christmas in July, July 1.
If you would, sign up at firstbjackson.org, or if you wanna volunteer, you can either let Liz know. Would you stand up and just wave? There she is. She's the gal to talk to about being a volunteer. And it's also graduation Sunday.
And I realized that in this service, we don't have a whole lot of senior we have some seniors, but we don't have the same kind of seniors that we're talking about. But we have graduation Sunday happening right now, and Mike is he's got the lapel, Mike. He's gonna share about that.
Michael DemetriusYes. Thank you, Ray. Super exciting. A lot of students graduated over this past weekend, so we're we're really proud of them. And just to give you some of those names, we had Savannah and Cade Shultans, they graduated.
Sarah Robinson graduated. Anna Gregg. We also had Brody Hasanak graduated from high school, and Elodie Hare also graduated from high school. So I know you guys, if you know them, you might have remembered them being smaller and younger, but they have grown up over these last two COVID years. And here's some photos of some of the other students.
Chloe Wingard is she has graduated from high school. Virginia Gerling is headed off to UVA. Her sister Caroline Gerling is headed off to Rhodes College in Cornell to study animal science. We've got Rachel Clemmer who's Carl's daughter, and she has graduated as well. Big year this year.
Sarah Tallarico graduated, headed off to West Point to be premed, and then Braden Wyrick is headed off to college as well. So a lot of students just graduated. We're super proud. This is the students that started their high school career with everything being normal and then did the COVID and the mask and the Zoom and the online and the canceled school and out early and the quarantine, the whole deal, and then came back and finished their senior year. So, super proud of these students.
Let's give them a round of applause. And, so if you don't see these students, it's because they're off at college. But thank you for being a church that cares about the next generation, and we bless them with a Bible and a journal and and and send them on their way. So thank you.
Speaker 2Mike is Mike is our youth director here, and he's gonna bring the message today. So it being grad Sunday, looking forward to hearing it again, actually. Would you stand with us? We're gonna sing how great thou art. And we'll sing whatever comes up on the wall.
Speaker 3On the last when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home. What joy shall fill my heart, then I shall bow in humble adoration and
Speaker 2the the next one is one of those that Scott actually every time we we we sing this particularly time signature, I think of him because it's a skating sort of thing,
Speaker 3and he does this
Speaker 2uncontrollably. He kinda can't help it. Control it. Paul.
Speaker 3It's a
Speaker 2song kind of rapture song. What if it were today? Hymn number seven fifty nine. If you know it, sing loud.
Speaker 3Glory, glory, when we shall crown him king. Glory, haste to prepare the way. Glory, glory, Jesus will come someday.
Speaker 2Y'all can have a seat, and I'll ask the ushers to come forward. And would you pray with me? God, we are thankful for those who are hitting significant milestones and humbly proceeding from there, Lord. These graduating seniors are on my mind, Lord, but also there are a lot of different mile markers in life. You have brought us through significant experiences in this valley, Lord.
Some of your people are passing through and they're here gathered with the family of God. And some of your people who've been here since the seventies, Lord, are moving on from this place. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask that you would bless them as they proceed forth from here. For as a church, Lord, we're thankful for the time that we get to spend with people. And we're thankful, Lord, to just keep on preparing the table and keep on preparing a feast, Lord, each Sunday of your word.
I pray, Lord, that you transform us through that. That the word even the word spoken today, Lord, that Mike's gonna bring, that you would be chiseling away anything that is not Christ like from our lives, Lord. We pray for the transformation that only you can bring about. We ask, Lord, that through your obedient servants, humbly acknowledging the gifts that you have given, Lord, we want you to take back some of what you've given to us and advance your good gospel here on earth. Lord, may it be in agreement with what you have for us by the power of the Holy Spirit allowing us to walk out the steps you've prepared in advance, Lord.
But I pray that it would be that the gospel goes forth because of what we're doing and not in spite of it. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this offering. Amen.
Michael DemetriusAlright. There we go. Welcome. Glad to see you guys. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Michael Demetrius.
I'm the youth pastor here at First Baptist Church, and I'm excited to be sharing with you today. We've got a lot going on this weekend with senior Sunday and all these seniors having just graduated. It's a a good time for me to kinda reflect and think, man, as a church, what do we want our students to leave going off into college in the next phases in life? What do we want them to know? What do we want them to leave with?
And as I've thought back over that, we're gonna be in Matthew seven today. We'll be in Matthew seven, so turn there, but but let me ask you this. Do you remember your high school years? Do you remember your middle school and high school years? And what what were those times like for you when you were in high school?
I mean, did did school work did it come easy to you, or was it was it hard? Did you dread those assignments, the end of year projects or or was it something you breezed through and couldn't get enough of? Was what was it like making friends? I mean, was it easy? Was it hard?
Did you did you maybe get into any trouble when you were younger? You know? And it it's interesting to me because I'm around a lot of students and and right now there's there's a lot of graduation parties and and I was at a actually, a 15 year old's birthday party last week and and I just like to kind of be a fly on the wall and observe kind of these subcultures if you will. But what I noticed is I met this birthday party and and it's a 15 year old birthday party and students start to trickle in and and as they come in, the the first thing they wanna do, hi, hi, and then they, like, find the food and they just grub down on a bunch of food. They eat a bunch of food and then and then they're kind of a little awkward and they they they just wanna huddle up and then get their group of friends and then get away from all the adults.
So they find themselves out in the garage, like, maybe throwing darts or out to the trampoline and they're sitting on the trampoline or jumping, but they they kinda go off in these different areas. And I remember I did that too. And another thing I noticed about about these students is sometimes when they're off by themselves, the language that they use is a little different than they did back when they were in the main house. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Kind of the it gets a little more colorful if you will.
And the content, the things that they talk about, it's a little bit different. They're what we wouldn't call table time conversations, right? It's always a it's just a little bit different and that made me realize that like, gosh, when I was that age I knew the rules too. You know, you know where you can use that foul language and where you can't all fairness, I've chewed on more than my fair share of soap bars in my day, but for the most part, I knew when it was acceptable and I knew when it wasn't and students at this age, they do. They know it.
When they get with their friends, they do certain things but when they're when they're around authority or someone that's going to say, hey, you're not going to do that, they they follow the rules. Right? But let us go by ourselves, man. We're turning that music up a little bit louder. The expressions might change a little bit and I just I thought that was interesting and sometimes I feel like I'm alone in this but was it like that for any of you guys?
Did you ever get with your buddies or your friends and kind of say some things that maybe you wouldn't want your mom and dad to hear or I think this is a common thing in life and and I noticed this trend start, you know, in middle school and kinda carry on through high school and we we've all done it at one time or another but as our students graduate, I was thinking, what do I want them to leave with? And Matthew seven, we'll go there, we'll be in verse 24 and we'll we'll start here and it says this, this is Jesus. He's already spoken lot to him and he says this, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And guys, that's what I want for our students.
I want them to build their spiritual house on the rock. But how do they how do they do that? You know, it sounds like a great idea. I mean, everyone will look at this passage and go, yeah, I don't want my house to collapse. That doesn't sound fun or cool at all.
Like, yeah, build my house on a solid rock. I'll do it. What does it look like? Day to day, what does it look like? Because he also says this and he says, and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. I mean, think we can all look at this and go, yeah, we want our students to build their house on the solid rock and we don't want their house to collapse. But what does that mean? Tangibly, how do we carry that out? What does that look like on a day to day basis?
So as I've kinda thought through this, just thought, man, there's there's three things that I really want for our students and and those things I walk around. I'm sorry. Those things are we want our students to walk in the truth. You know, we come believing that God has set the foundations of the earth in place and when he did, he kinda gave us a bit of a rule book and he said, hey, here's how this thing works. You'll do well to follow these things.
Like, he set his boundaries in good place. We believe that our God put boundaries in place not to inhibit us, but actually to give us freedom. He's saying you can freely operate in these areas, but if you color outside these lines and you go in these other areas, there could be danger, there could be harm. So we we want our students to walk in God's truth. We also want them to walk in not in their own truth in the sense that they create their own truth, but we want them to live a life that they agree with, that where they're not living lies.
I shared a story with the first service and I'll share it with you. When I was a kid, my parents were divorced when I was younger and I'm I'm riding in the car with my mom. We stopped by the convenience store, the grocery I think it was the grocery store and I I go in and does anybody remember Tic Tacs? Those orange Tic Tacs were so good. Right?
And I love them and I pick some up and I say, mom, can I have these? And she said, no. We can't have those. And I said, okay. Well, we're riding home in the car and I opened up some Tic Tacs and I started eating Tic Tacs that my mom did not purchase.
At this point, I'm not employed, you know. So my mom, she goes, Hey. Where did you get those Tic Tacs? No. What did she say?
Yeah, where did you get those tic tacs? And I said, Dad gave them to me. I'm thinking, Nailed it. Right? I had this action I'd stolen.
Okay? Let's call it what it is. I'd stolen. But now, I have to back up my actions and the way I backed them up was with lies and I think this is pretty common. So I said, dad gave them to me.
Got it? Mom, they don't talk that much. I got this. I'm gonna eat these Tic Tacs. Things are gonna be good.
She goes, oh, really? Where'd your dad get them? I said, Dad sells these now. It seems foolish now, but in my five year old mind this thing was ironclad, okay? This was we could take this to the bank.
So it's just so interesting but the reason I bring that up is because sometimes our actions require lies to back them up and our lies require more lies to back them up and I desperately do not want our students to live lives of lies where when they get that phone call and someone says ring ring, hey. I need to talk to you about something. They're not running through that checklist of all the lies that they have. I don't want that for our students. I want them to live lives where they go, yeah.
What's up? Where their life is open. It's up front. There's no skeletons in the closet that they can actually stand behind what they've done. The second thing that we want for our students is we want them to have good quality relationships.
We know that our friends determine the direction and the quality of our life and that if we have good friends around us that walk in the type of truths that we're talking about and friends that'll say, hey, I noticed this going on earlier. I think you're kinda getting off in a dangerous area or hey, you said this earlier. Can we talk about it? That will call you, not in a way to beat you up but to kinda guide you down the road, to have good relationships, to know the criteria to pick a friend. I mean, I think that everyone should have criteria for why they're willing to dump a friend.
The reality is a friend that could do something where you go, hey, man. Need to let you know I don't know if we're gonna be hanging out anymore. Based upon what you're doing and what you're getting into and what you've said and what you've done, I think I need to take a step back from you. We need to have criteria and standards for our friendships, not just, yeah, man. Whatever happens, we're going together.
That's not it, to have criteria for our friendships. So we want that for our students. The last thing is, this one's so so important, is that we want our our our students to partner up with their parents, to partner up. The the reality is a bunch of students graduated yesterday. I don't think it would have happened if those parents hadn't wrestled them up out of bed in the morning.
They wouldn't have graduated. They wouldn't have got their homework done. You know, it's just students need to be kinda guided along and a parent is a crucial if we left it I have a theory. You guys tell me what you think. If we left it up to teenagers and their friends to determine when and how they went to school, think it would be very different environment.
Would you agree? It would look different, the attendance would be way down, activities in class would be way different. Okay? But parents come alongside and authorities come alongside and say, hey. Here's how this is gonna go.
I know you were up too late last night playing video games or talking or whatever. It's time to get up and go to school. Right? And that has to happen. Parents kinda bring it back.
But the interesting thing is is we need students to partner up with their parents and say, yeah, me and my friends have it all figured out, but I need you to come and help guide me. So for for students to invite parents back into that relationship and not let that gap grow between who the parent thinks they are and the life that the student is actually living. We don't want that gap to get too wide. So partnering with parents, choosing good friends, choosing them wisely. And the the the last thing that we we say of this little three parts is is we want our students to walk in purity.
We want them to walk in purity. We say that we believe the Bible when it says that marriage is something that is special. It's for two people. I mean, it's the God has instituted marriage in such a way that he says, this is gonna be a time where two people come together. They make a covenant, a one way commitment.
Says, I'm gonna love you forever. Not a contract that says, if you will, then I will. No. A covenant that says, I'm gonna love you forever. Another person says, I'm gonna love you forever.
And when we have two people fully committed to doing life together, this is the environment that God wants to bring human life into the earth. Okay? And we say that marriage is either gonna be the areas of the greatest fulfillment and joy and happiness in our life or it can be the area of the greatest hurt and pain and sadness if it's not done right. So it's these areas as we we encourage students to walk in purity. That means waiting and dating for marriage is kind of the goal that we have set.
Not because they're not gonna have thoughts and feelings that are gonna make wanna make them make decisions prior to that, but that God's word is true despite our feelings. And when here's the thing. Did anybody ever cheat in school? Did anybody ever cheat? I'm not that smart so I cheated.
I'm just gonna be honest. It's the idea that that when our math doesn't match up with God's word, we're gonna take his answer over ours. We're gonna say that his answer is time tested and true and ours is let's face it, a lot of my ideas, my worst ideas, they were formulated by me and my 13 to 15 year old friends. They're just it's not a really good case study there. Okay?
We made some really really poor decisions. I shared with Lord, we're gonna go here today? Good again. It's it's it's fun the ideas that young men get in their heads. Okay?
And the reality is they're not all good. They're not all time tested. And when I was young, I had some buddies and we would get into trouble and somehow we thought it would be a good idea to sneak out in the middle of the night. And my buddy decided to take his grandma's car. So we would do this and mind you, my mom thinks that I'm asleep in my bed.
It's her job to keep me alive, right, and to keep me safe, But I think it's a brilliant idea. Why don't me, being 14 year old, get in a car with my 15 year old buddy and let's go drive around? So we're driving around about 03:00 in the morning, we get pulled over And what does an officer say when he pulls someone over? Not that you guys have ever been pulled over but maybe like from a movie or something. What does he say?
Yes. He asked for driver's license and registration. You know what you say when you're 15? Same thing my buddy said, I don't have one. And he goes, You don't have one or you don't have it?
And he goes, I don't have one. So then my mom gets the phone call, ring ring, 03:00 in the morning. Hi, miss Demetrius. Do you know where your son is? Yeah.
He's downstairs asleep. That's interesting. He's in the back of my cruiser. Why don't you come down here and talk? Ouch.
Not every idea I've had has been good. Not every idea me and my friends came up with when we were over here away from authority having our brilliant ideas. Not every one of them was good. The reality is is when I hit sixth grade I was going to private school. When I hit sixth grade, I told my mom, mom, wanna go to public school.
I wanna make more friends. I was looking for trouble. I was looking for trouble. Okay? And I found it around every corner.
But the reality is is that my mom wanted to keep me safe. Me and my friends' ideas put us in danger. And it's looking back, can see it so clearly. But man, did we have some brilliant ideas? These these ideas, you know, to to encourage kids to walk in truth, to not live lives of lies, to have good friendships, friends that are gonna lead them in the right direction, tell them when they're wrong, partner with parent, a parent that loves them so much and would say, hey, this is really dangerous.
You should not go out tonight and drive around with people with no license. No wonder you're tired in the morning. Do you to to walk in purity, mean, these good things to share with our middle schoolers and high schoolers? Could these be helpful for them? I see some nods.
I think some of us agree that this could be this could be helpful. As I've been thinking through this, the reality is that I think, man, isn't this what God wants for us? Isn't this the exact same thing that God wants for us? As I look back over my life, you know, if I'm about to do something that I know I probably shouldn't, kinda leave God there. I go do it.
I don't necessarily let my church friends know if I'm gonna be misbehaving. I isolate a little bit. It's the reality that God always works in community and the devil always works through isolation. And it's it's up to us to build that community with other believers, other people. I mean, do you have anyone in your life right now that you could call and say, hey, I'm struggling with this Hey, I've got some lies in my life and I need to start emptying them out.
Hey, I'm struggling with purity myself. I mean, is there anyone in your life? If not, I encourage you to find some people here in this church. It's been funny. I shared with the first service and guys, I thought I was getting in trouble by myself and this was unique to me.
You wouldn't believe the amount of stories I've heard of other people that have got some really good ones. Okay? They're not all guys but I'm just gonna say the stats point to guys having not good ideas. Okay? So what do we do?
What do we do? I think we have to start by just being really honest. Honest with our self to start. We gotta go, do I have some lies? You know, as as Mike was talking today, do I have some lies in my life?
And if you do, they came up. They came up. They popped up. You've got some areas of your life that you kinda put behind the curtain. Would you be willing to bring that out into the open and just look at it again and go, these are the people that are involved in whatever I'm lying about.
Would you make some phone calls and say, hey, you think it was like this, it was really like this, I'm sorry. I'm not willing to live a lie. If this hurts our relationship, it hurts our relationship and I'm not gonna live this lie anymore. I've gotta get these skeletons out of this closet. Maybe maybe you're here today and God feels like he's a million miles away.
Maybe God feels distant. Maybe God's distant. I'm just gonna go out on a whim here. Maybe God's distant because something didn't go right in the past and you thought, how could a good and loving God ever allow this to happen? And if you're there today, I just wanna invite you.
Take a step back towards God. Take a step back towards him. The Bible tells us this, no matter what we've done, like, we've gotten really good at coloring outside the lines as humanity. Right? We've gotten out there a little bit.
God's gotten really really good at forgiving us. He welcomes us back. I if I had one piece of advice to offer our students, it would be simply this. No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, God will take you back. If you have one truth, if you could hold on to one thing, I don't care what you've done, I don't care where you've been, never ever ever believe the lie that God will not take you back because the devil is sowing that one constantly.
You've gone too far, you're too dirty, no one will ever want you, And God is going, come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. On.
Come on. I never went anywhere. I never went anywhere. The one thing that we all need, and it's it's promises that we have. First John one nine says this, if we, so conditional, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
A question for you. What kind of unrighteousness will God purify us from? Say it again. All. All unrighteousness.
We draw boxes around stuff and make it unforgivable. God does not do that. As I've been thinking this week, you know what I've been thinking? Would God have forgiven Judas? Would God have forgiven him?
There's some evidence to say maybe he would have seen how the other people that actually put him on the cross, he prays, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. God, there's nothing that we've done that's too bad or too far. Take a step back closer to God. It's the it's the idea, you know, was talking to some parents before and they go, man, I'm so scared that my kid's gonna get some of these ideas and stray and I'm not gonna be able to speak into that situation. I go, yeah.
We gotta have a community. We gotta have a community of believers and the one thing that I've deemed will stop us from taking things to God is one it comes down to one question. This one question will determine if you're gonna take things to God or not. Do you trust God? Do you trust that his boundaries really are in good places?
Do you trust that he has designed, created you, created the life, and that he knows what's best for you. Otherwise, we will continue to create what Eve did where we'll say, Adam and Eve, where we say, I think we can create a better life than the life God has for us. We'll be like that horse in the pasture with his head through the fence eating that little piece of grass on the outside. I think that if we trust God, we'll take stuff to him. But if we think God's holding out on us, we'll probably go after something different than what God has to offer us.
So I think we have to start by being honest. Take a realistic assessment. Where are you at with God? Where are you at with others? I mean, our relationship with others, people that are walking in truth in our relationship with God, if those things are right, it's gonna transform our life.
And if they're off, man, it's tough. It's tough. So our friends, we tell our middle schoolers and high schoolers that the friends that they choose will determine the direction and the quality of their life. And I say the same thing for you. I'm hard pressed.
I bet you I couldn't find one issue that someone is dealing with in this room that someone else isn't either dealing with or has dealt with. From divorce, through miscarriage, through you name it. But the the devil will try to make you feel like you're the only one. You're the only one that experiences this because God devil always works through isolation. God always works through community.
Let me share this with you. First Corinthians ten thirteen says this, no temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful. He won't let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you're tempted, he'll also provide an escape or a way out so that you can stand up under it. The reality is that no temptation has seized us beyond that which is common to man.
So I'll share this with you. I'm at a gas station the other day and my son would tell I have a three year old now, okay? And we're at a gas station and he comes to me and he's like he grabs this pack of crackers, these little peanut butter crackers and he loves them, okay? They're like his thing. So he grabs this pack of crackers and he goes, Daddy, daddy.
And was like, No, no, we got lunch. We just need to get our stuff and go to the car and pay him for some gas. We get back out to the car and I go to pick him up to put him in his car seat and he goes, What do you think he has in his hands? He's got a pack of peanut butter cracker in his hands. Looks very similar to the one I told him he just couldn't have, right?
And I look at him and I go, Man, how mad can I really be at him? I said, Hey, we don't do that. That's called stealing. We gotta take him back in and the loop is completed. No temptation has seized you beyond that which is common to man.
The way devil's coming at you is the way he's coming at you. The lies that you're gonna get fed or the lies that you're gonna be fed. Temptations you're gonna see is what you're gonna see. Mean, it didn't originate with my son. It didn't originate with me.
My dad probably stole something. Who knows? That's right. There is no new news. There's no new news.
We say this in the church. There's no such thing as new news. It's just old news happening to new people. That's the first time he's ever stolen. It's the first time he's ever counted.
It's not the first time it's ever happened. You know what happens? You know what I see? Year after year, these teachers in these schools, me as a youth pastor, you know what we see? Same tricks coming up.
It's the first time these kids have ever seen it. It's the same thing. It's just new news happening to new people. Their first relationship, the first time they go to a party, the first time they start I mean it's all new, but next year it's going to be the exact same thing. It's just new news happening to new people.
Old news happening to new people. So it's like one of my goals as youth pastor is just to get in there and go, woah woah woah woah woah. They're going to offer you drugs now? Call up there. I think about it like this.
We we tell our kids to walk in purity and I walk with me on this illustration. We've got a minute. I picture marriage. We'll pay make it a box right here. Right?
And we say, a lot of times like, right now, do you know we tell kids kids are sexually active ready around the ages of 14, call it. Right? Yet we're telling them, do you know when they can get married when our culture says they can get married? Just think of the pressure that we're gonna put on them. Ready?
You can't get married in middle school. K? Even though you're 14 in the school, you can't get married there. Okay? You can't get married in high school.
No. No. No. That's Tucson. You got your whole life.
You gotta figure it out. We need you to go to college. You can't get married in middle school. You can't get married in high school. You can't get married in college.
After college, in the workplace. '22, '23. What are gonna do with these eight years? How are gonna answer? What kind of answer are you gonna have?
People are gonna start having sex. People are gonna get involved in relationships. What are we gonna say? How are we not gonna I look at it as a youth pastor and go, woah. Woah.
We gotta address this because it's no more high school sweetheart getting married at 18, start having kids, get a job at the factory, at the plant. This is a different day and age. We put this expectation in. Can I just tell you something? 99.99999% of relationships in high school do not go the distance.
Yet it will be the area of the greatest heartache and pain. Anybody in here remember their first real break up? Did you date different after that? Did you guard your heart Because it's the deepest wound you ever got. Car wrecks can't compare.
They don't go away. Would you wanted someone to know, hey, this relationship looks like fun. It's more like a crab trap. It's easy to get into, and it's terrible to get out of. It might kill you.
Would you wanna know these things? Absolutely. Marriage. God has said it and he's like, this is gonna be for when two human beings make one way covenants with each other, saying they're gonna be with each other forever. They're gonna come they're gonna then finalize it with some acts.
Okay? But what we've discovered as a community is that we can access it early. Anybody got one of these? Little credit card? Little credit card.
Right? Funny thing about a credit card is it's linked to your bank account. You spend money off this thing and you never see it come out. Right? You swipe this thing everywhere.
It's fun. It's easy. We got people accessing that marriage box before they get there. And as a culture, when we get there, we say, no big deal. It's not that special.
No kidding. No kidding. To the student to the kid who looks at all their Christmas presents before Christmas morning, Christmas morning is not very special. There's a certain way that God set it up. You date for fun, you end up with far different results than if you date for keeps.
We tell our kids to date and to wait for marriage which means we're aiming for the one we wanna spend the rest of our life with. It's just that's the way God set it up. But if we date and break up and date and break up and date and break date and break up and date and break up and, yeah, you're great. Mary. And break up because that's the easy way we've done it in the past.
We're forming habits. So we want our students to walk in purity. Not that we all don't have the thoughts and feelings that don't align with waiting. It's just that God has set it up to work a certain way and historically, it's worked pretty good. Our encouragement for our middle schoolers and high schoolers is really no different than the encouragement we have for you.
It's to build your house on the solid rock. To build your house on the rock. That's what God's calling us to. And it's not about what we think is a good idea. It's about what God is calling us into.
He's given us his word. If I could change it, I would, you guys. I'd make it way more fun. If I could change middle school and high school, the structure of my I would. I'd make them way more fun.
Can't. This is the way it is. God set his boundaries in good places. We'll do better to work with the system than to fight against it. Maybe you're here today and you need to clear out some lies.
Would you write them down? Would you be willing to pray about it and start making some phone calls and clear that stuff up? Maybe you're here today and it feels like God's a million miles away. Would you be willing to just be honest about that? If you're mad at God, can you be honest about that and just say, God, I'm mad at you because this happened and I don't feel like you were in it.
I feel like I'm mad at you because how could you let this happen to them, to that? Would you be willing to take a step back closer to God? The reality is we all need each other. We we are a community. We need to be in community with other maybe you're sitting here and you're going, my life's fine.
I don't need anything. Maybe someone else needs you. Maybe there's someone in this church that needs you. There's a lot of wisdom in this room. You guys know nobody gets through this thing without having experience.
It's the best teacher. We're all not that different. I'll invite the band back up and I just wanna I just wanna pray and invite you guys to continue to find your community here, to allow their people in and then to to engage other people. Yes. Oh, my last thought is this.
When you build your house on the rock, you have to build for the storm while the weather is warm. That means, no one didn't start building when it started raining. You gotta start building before you need that house. Before you need the wind and the waves and all that stuff coming, you better start building your house on the rock while it's warm. So let me pray for us.
Heavenly father, we love you. God, thank you that you've given us your truth. God, I pray that you'll break the lies and deception. Show us things for what they truly are. God, if we can see as you see, we'll do as you say, but, Lord, we have a wandering heart and we need your help at aiming it.
God, help us with our 13 year old minds that come up with our own brilliant ideas and help us to trust your your truths over our feelings and thoughts. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 2Amen. Mike said in the first service, he said the same thing he said to y'all. Look around. If you're struggling with something, there's somebody here who's been through that. There's somebody here who knows what you're going through and probably has come out the other side and can help you with it.
He also said, hey. If you can't find them in this room at the 09:00 service, he said that those 11:00 folks have a a lot of experience. So that that is the truth. We have walked through it. There's a reason why the older should be training the younger.
That's the way that it is. Would you stand, and we're gonna sing I need thee every hour. Every hour. I need thee every hour. Most gracious lord.
So I have a benediction verse that will be up there in just a second, but I also have something I wanna go through. And it's a little more formal. Actually, I'm stealing it, straight up stealing it from an Anglican priest who happens to be my daughter's favorite teacher. He teaches AP Latin and AP art history and all kinds of stuff. But he wrote this and he moved I was so moved by yesterday.
I wanna kinda pronounce a blessing over. May I do that? Considering the graduating seniors and a lot of other folks going through significant milestones. In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. Oh Lord, our God, you who assured our father Abraham of your great love for him and for his children by faith.
On this occasion, Lord, I pray that you would send your grace upon the children that you have given us for a while. Keep them, Lord, we pray, from the temptations of the adversary, from error, from impurity, from overworking in the service of mammon, from vainglory, and from the pride of life. Multiply the fruit of our imperfect labors as parents and teachers and church folk and bring from them, Lord, a harvest of righteousness that at the last you may be well pleased with them as they are conformed into the image of your son, Jesus. We ask these things, Lord, in his name. Amen.
Now the benediction today is from Romans one seventeen. It quotes Habakkuk two four, which actually Habakkuk was just being honest with God. That's what we talked about last week and the week before. And Paul is picking it up in Romans. He says, for in the gospel, the good news about Jesus, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is actually revealed.
It is a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written, the righteous or the just will live by faith. Lord, may it be so with us and through us, may you spread that good gospel. Amen.
Topics
Building On Solid RockCommunity And FriendshipLiving HonestlySexual PurityTeen RelationshipsTrusting God
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