I wanted to give a quick update and glimpse into our student ministry as we come to the end of another school year. I really need to be better at appreciating the time we have because it feels like just yesterday I was outlining the Thessalonian letters for our upcoming sermon series. And now, roughly 14 weeks later, we concluded that series.
To briefly summarize the series, I called it the Instruments for Transformation. While we looked through Paul’s letters to the Thessalonian church, we were able to study and know of several ways to grow in our relationship with God. Take for example one sermon I called “Hope in Christ’s Return”. This sermon revolved around the text of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and gives us a glimpse of the return of Christ. Now, this topic of Christ’s return actually divides theologians and Christian circles. Topics and words like premillennialism, postmillennialism and amillennialism will come up. The good news, however, is I did not dive into any of this with our students. I instead kept with the facts of the Text: Christ will return, He will descend from Heaven with a mighty show, the dead in Christ will rise first, then the Christians who are alive at the time will also rise “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air”. What a great encouragement this is to us believers. And that is what I shared with the students. The facts are that Christ is in control and He will take us home. There is no need for extensive theological debate here, Paul makes it pretty clear. Thus, we can live content and know that we rest within Christ’s hands even when He returns.
Another sermon I preached to the students was called “A Life Pleasing to God”. And in our ESV Bibles, it was the name of the section of Scripture just before 1 Thessalonians 4:13. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 is such a sweet Text that I couldn’t pass it up and had to share. I really wanted to challenge the students and ask: “Do you know the Lord’s will for your life?” I then followed by explaining the Lord’s will is our sanctification and we should control our bodies and pursue holiness, always. I challenged them in the conclusion of that sermon to go from now on and live a life pleasing to God and understand how we can follow His will for our lives. If we combine the lessons from this sermon to the walk of our lives, we truly could walk closer to God. Now that’s some instructions for transformation.
Finally, I’d like to share the near future for our student ministry. We have a lot going on and have some big events planned for this summer. We have a Holiday World day trip planned for June 6th, student camp June 15th-19th, middle school mission week July 14th-18th, a canoeing trip August 1st, and a few other smaller events. First, I would love and appreciate all of your prayers for each of these events. Each event is a little different than the other, but all of them are opportunities for our community to grow and Christ to be magnified. Also, please specifically pray for our student camp. We are already on the brink of another record high number of students attending. What a joy this is and a humbling responsibility, my leaders and I are incredibly excited for the Lord to work!
With our upcoming events this summer, if you would like to get involved, chaperone, volunteer, etc, please reach out to me! We have a lot planned and will be happy to take all of the help we can get!
His Glory Alone
