If you brought your Bibles, I want you to hold them up in the air and repeat this after me:
This is the Bible
It’s the Word of God
And it has the power
To change my life
God help me to understand it
And to live it out in my daily life
In the past several weeks we have been reminded of why we exist as a Student Ministry. We’ve learned that we exist to provide students a place to come and worship the Lord. That’s one of the reasons we have WOW! I want this time on Wednesday nights to be a time where you can escape from the cares of this world and totally find yourself alone with God worshipping Him. That’s why we have someone leading you in worship each week.
We’ve also learned that we exist to offer students a place to plug in and be a part of a ministry. In case you haven’t read the church newsletter, we are going to begin conducting Backyard Bible Clubs at Meadwood Apartments every Monday night from 7-8 p.m. So that means that you’ll be given 5-6 ministry opportunities a month just at Meadwoods’. We’ll also continue with our monthly visits to the senior adults in our church and participate in local World Changers’ projects when they’re available.
Students, listen---I’m serious about us being involved in ministry---in missions and that’s why we give you so many opportunities.
Last week we looked at the importance of Christian fellowship. Another key reason we exist as a Student Ministry is to provide you with Christian fellowship. To give you opportunities were you can surround yourself with people who are going to encourage you in your relationship with God. One of the most frustrating things for a Christian teenager is to not have opportunities to hang out with Christians their own age. It’s so much harder to resist Satan’s temptations when we are not given an alternative.
Soon it is my hope that we can open the doors of this building and make it into a Christian Café. A place where students can hang out and not have to worry about giving into the temptation of placing themselves in a Christ less atmosphere.
Christian fellowship---it’s so vital. And without it you open yourself up to so many attacks from Satan.
Well, tonight, I want us to look at another reason why we exist as a Student Ministry and that is to evangelize.
In Matthew 9:12-13 Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The message translation reads, “I’m here to invite outsiders, not to coddle insiders.”
Students, we’ve done an excellent job of coddling insiders (inviting those who are already Christians to our church) but we have done a lousy job of reaching the lost.
Listen, I know that evangelism is tough for the majority of you because you live in constant fear of rejection. You’re afraid that you won’t be understood, that you won’t have all the right answers, or that you’ll be labeled as a Jesus freak!
But listen, Jesus didn’t make evangelism an option when he said in Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses…” It’s time that we get off our lunch break when it comes to evangelism and begin to see it as a biblical command.
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” ALL is quite a few people! Listen, it’s not my intention to be the largest student ministry in town, but to fulfill what Jesus has commanded every Christian to do in the Great Commission and that is to evangelize the lost.
We give you opportunities to be involved in evangelism through Student FAITH every Tuesday night at 6:30. It’s a time that you are taught how to share with people how they can have a relationship with Christ. But not only are you taught how to share your faith but also you’re given the chance to practice what you’ve been taught by visiting with students who have recently attended our church.
You’re also given the opportunity to be involved in evangelism by having activities to invite your friends to. The institute for American Church Growth reports that 79% of people come to church because a friend or relative invited them.
You need to understand that when you fail to invite your lost friends to church and when you choose to remain silent in essence you are saying-- you’re not worth my time and for all I care you can GO TO HELL!
My friend, I stand in Judgment now and feel that you’re to blame somehow
On earth we walked and talked but never did you tell me of the second birth
You could have kept me from this fait
But because you failed to mention Him
I’ll spend eternity in Hell!
Students, it’s time to take seriously the commission that God has given each of us to share our faith.
