So, I guess you are wondering about the title of the blog? Well, it kind of came to me tonight as I am rocking my daughter to sleep. We started reading through the book of Genesis as a family tonight. I am fascinated by this book on so many levels. On the kid level, it is great because it is stories of people doing great things with the power of God manifested in their lives. This relates to all people and especially kids. They are the best kids stories. On a much deeper level, this book opens up so much of theology that makes you sit back and just stand in awe of our Creator. I remember as a child when reading stories of Moses parting the Red Sea and David defeating Goliath thinking how cool it must have been to be those guys. I mean, David, a little teenage boy, hears Goliath mocking his God, gets made fun of for being so small and then picks up a stone and kills a man. How cool! Seriously, what little boy doesn't read that story and think that they can be David and overcome giants in their life. I remember thinking those exact thoughts. "If David can defeat Goliath, I can...(fill in the blank)"
The sad part is, I believe we have been teaching our kids an incomplete truth of what these stories actually represent. David and Goliath is not about us overcoming giants, but the reality is that it is a foreshadowing of what Jesus was going to do. Jesus came and defeated sin and death. The issue is that we desire for it to be about us. We want our lives to have meaning, we want to know that we are here on this earth for a reason. That our lives make sense. And so, we teach kids that they too can overcome giants just like David. We do this all the time, and I have been guilty of it myself. I remember as I was moving into the role of being youth pastor, I was told to make the teaching times quick and light. Don’t go too deep or you will lose the kids. Don’t talk too long or they will become disengaged. Don’t teach the hard truths because they won’t understand. So, just before God moved me from being a youth pastor at the church I was a part of for over six years, to becoming a new member of a church plant, I went back and evaluated what I had done over the course of the three years of being a youth pastor. I saw that I was teaching the kids partial truths. The majority of what I was teaching was that God is Love and we are to love others. Even though this is true, there is so much more to who God is, and kids don’t want to try and understand a God that is Just to forgive and Just to punish. They want to be filled with the cotton candy Gospel that is all fluff, but no fillers. So what happens is we graduate these kids off as seniors, and send them to college where they soon discover that God is not just Love, or that somehow the tiny box I gave them to put God in busts open for them to see that there is so much more. This happened to me, and this is my beginning…
About 12 months ago, Alisha challenged me to take the youth I was leading through a book of the Bible. I thought that was peculiar because I had never heard of such a thing. I was taught that you pick a topic that you want to share with the kids, find some verses that support your topic, find a movie clip or song that can pull everything together and there is your lesson. I soon realized this was not the way to teach. I began listening to many podcasts and there are two that stick in my mind and heart that I hope I never forget. The first is by John Piper, where he is preaching to college students and is teaching from Acts 20:26-27. “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” I can only think of a couple of time that I taught the youth that they needed Jesus in order to be saved and that Jesus is the one that saves you. Not yourself or how good you think you are. I was very timid to do that, because I didn’t want to scare anyone off. These verses challenged me to take a whole new approach to youth ministry. From that moment on I would not stop letting the kids know that they needed Jesus. I could see God changing myself during this time. The next podcast the resonates in my ears continuously is one that I hears from C.J. Mahaney. It is entitled “The Pastor’s Charge.” He explains that we are to teach from the Bible, and that our points will come from the text we are going through and the text will support the points, as will the points support the text. This was a whole new concept to me. I didn’t know how to teach from the Bible and keep the kids attention, but I was going to be obedient to what God was teaching me. We spent five months going through the book of James. Where we uncovered some very hard truths. As I was teaching and preparing the kids I soon realized that the tiny box I placed God in burst open. This was the beginning of searching to find what I truly believe God to be saying through scripture, who I believe God to be and what my theological convictions are.
So, as I was reading through the story of creation to my little girl, I was imagining what questions I am going to have to answer someday. I don't want to mislead my daughter into thinking that she can put God in a box that she can understand, because the reality is that I don't believe we will ever fully understand or even comprehend the entirety of who God is. I want her to continue to search scriptures to grow closer to Jesus. That is what I desire. I want to point her to Truth and not just read her truth. I want her soul to be rescued by the Rescuer. I want her to fall in love with Jesus, because He will never fail her.
And so, as I read through the book of Genesis, I am reminded of Jesus. I am reminded of what He has done for me. He came to earth and became human. He subjected Himself to ridicule, humiliation and persecution. He was crucified by us, so that He could save us. Then, He raised Himself from the dead. No one has ever done that. No one has that power other than Him. He then took His rightful place at the Fathers right hand and has rescued me from death to life. I am no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. I am a new creation. And for that, I praise Him.
This is just the beginning...
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