God is not interested in remodeling….

I was reading one of my old journals this morning.  Something I would encourage you to do.  I am often enlightened by what I wrote down years, months, and days ago.   But this morning as I was sitting at my desk I came upon something that struck me.  Where it came from I am unsure, it looks too wise to come from  me, but nonetheless it encouraged me.

God is in the construction business.   There are four things God’s wants to do with EVERY believer:

1) Refresh:  I think of swimming on a hot day, or taking a shower after working all day in the yeard.

2)Re-Fired:  Christ yearns to light that fire of your spirit, re-ignite your first love feeling.

3)Restored:  To bring you back to original.   He has no interest in fixing you up, but wants to restore you to His original plan.

4)Refined:  God wants to Re-shape you!

How?

Through…..

1. Prayer!
2. Alone time with God
3. Worship
4. Will power

God is in the construction business. But one thing we often make the mistake with is we create the blueprints and then offer them up for prayer.  Saying, “here you go God, this is where ‘I’ want to go or this is what ‘I’ want to look like.   God is not interested in remodeling.  Remodeling is to change or alter the structure, style, or form of.

God is not interested in remodeling, but rebuilding.  To rebuild is  To build again. But rebuilding is not alway easy because it usually means to make extensive structural repairs on.  That wall over there must come out, this wall right here needs to come down.

So my friends, put “your” blueprints down.  His blueprint for your life has already been through the approval process, just submit to Him.

This has been real to me today because of the position of where God has us.  I have no idea of what tomorrow will bring, but I do know my God is faithful and full of mercy and grace.

Youth Ministry with poor focus fails!

Since I am not currently serving in a youth pastor role, I’ve had the opportunity to glance around and make mental notes about today’s youth ministry.  I’ve been visiting different ministries and loved some things I saw, and then there were the stuff I saw that made me sick.

Youth ministries with a focus on the Youth Pastor alone is a youth ministry that is sick.  And I don’t mean sick as in “cool”.  Every youth ministry takes a quality leadership team to help with the overall planning, implementation, and loving on students.  Youth Pastors that want to lead alone with out bringing the leadership team on board is doomed for failure.

Take the leadership team, love on them and involve them!   Have them included in the youth ministry, get them on stage in front of the students, have them do the opening, announcements, and a message here and there.  If your students don’t know all the leaders by first and last name it’s not necessarily the leaders fault.

Question:  If you (the youth pastor) were not attending this weeks youth service, could it still function?  If not, it’s time to re-exam.

Let’s love on students and do it together!!