A commentary on one small verse.

Proverbs 19:2 says:
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.

While I was on my way to a family outing, I read my bible in the car and thought about this. And I wrote my thoughts down and wanted to share them with you, because I think God gave me something that all of us can apply. But do not think that I am telling you what to do, this is just to make you think.

Enthusiasm is good, enthusiasm for knowing the Lord; but if we take matters into our own hands and do what we think God wants us to do, without first finding out what God actually wants, then we miss the point. Serving God is about doing what He wants, when He wants is, not what we want or what we think He wants. The timing of our obedience is also crucial. Note that the proverb says: zeal without knowledge. The Israelites acted without knowledge here and because of that they doubted the Lord. Then they were punished for it here. The Israelites naturally have one of their characteristic pity parties, crying about their mistakes. Then they decide that they're going to obey God. But they received a warning, which they disobeyed, and then Moses' prediction comes true: They disobeyed God, even though they thought they were obeying him, and thus they were punished for it. The lesson here is that delayed obedience is really disobedience. Now, Jesus seems to contradict this here, and my interpretation of that is that delayed obedience is better than no obedience, but true obedience is best. But who can say that that is always true? It isn't. God may give us the opportunity to witness to somebody, and we will probably decide that we don't want to do it right then. Maybe if the other person lucks out we get to it later. But that means that we wasted the moment that God gave us. That person's heart and mind would have been most receptive in that moment, that's why God wanted us to do it then. But if we miss the moment, then it may not have the results that God planned for.

So, then, what is the answer? What can we as a youth group do to help our ministry become more fruitful? Well, first, I will speak to the couples, and if anyone reads and doesn't like what I say, I challenge you to have a response that says why this idea will not work. (And I say in advance that if you have a problem with it, then it means that you really don't want to do it, you really don't care about those lost and going to hell around you, and you're not willing enough to make the sacrifice necessary to serve God whole-heartedly.

Couples:
1.Stop placing such a high priority on so called "quality time" that mostly consists of watching movies, eating out, talking, or making out. Who does that benefit? Absolutely nobody. Daily quiet times matter, but if that's where your Christian life stops, then your Christian life has stopped indeed. Christianity is supposed to be all day, every day, not when we feel like it, not when our boyfriend or girlfriend is not around, not when we're not working, not when we don't like somebody. We are always under all circumstances called by God to be the same kind of person at all times, showing them how devoted we are to studying the scriptures to become more like Jesus and to serve God wholeheartedly. Don't ever say something 'Christian' to make your other happy, because that's what you think they want to hear. Rather, serve God first, and be honest in front of him and your other, because you can't lie to God. So start serving God first, and be willing to go through the doghouse if that's what it takes.
2. Stop persecuting the other. Stop calling and making a nuisance of yourself if your other is trying to do something for the Lord. Are you trying to be first in his or her life? That's not where we belong. At the absolute highest, we should be second in his or her life, and that's only after marriage. Before that, we need to be further down the ladder. God, ministry, and family should all come between you and your other until marriage.
3. Get more comfortable around our same sex. Until we are married to our boyfriend or girlfriend, we are still only brother's and sister's in God's eyes. Therefore, we should still spend more time with our own sex than that of the other one. Otherwise, we will have no ministry because we will have no connection to the people that God wants us to minister too.

4. Understand that Satan's most powerful weapon for persecution will be to use the other to persecute us. Who has the most influence on you? The other. So if Satan can convince your other that they're not being selfish when they ask or make demands of your time, then he's succeeded in keeping you from doing something that God may have wanted you to do. That's why it's so important to have a properly balanced Christian life, one that does not revolve around the other. Who do you plan your day around? God, or your other? Does God get a little time in the morning before work? Maybe a couple minutes spent in prayer before bed? Or should it be the other way around? Should God get most of the day, so we have so much ministry going on that five-15 minutes is all the other is able to get? Does this seem impossible? It only is if you make it so for your other...

Singles:
1. Do you take your faith to work? I didn't ask if you took your bible to work, I asked if you take your faith to work. There is a difference. McDonald's employees are probably used to seeing Lewis and I's bible sitting around. Any effect that they may have made is probably lost. So, Lewis and I need to sit down and talk about how we can continue to minister in McDonald's. Do you do the same? Are you a Christian at your job? Do you care about making a difference amongst the coworkers that God placed you with?

2. Sacrifice more time. You do not have a boyfriend or girlfriend to please, so the bible says that you are able to devote yourself completely to God. Spend time in prayer, spend time reading God's word. Volunteer to do things. Don't just sit ther like a lump on a log letting other people run everything. God has something for everybody to do, and you can serve God being single.

3. Be content. Be content with what God has given you. God may or may not have called you to be single for life, but He has called you to be single for right now. So be content, and serve Him until He gives you something better.

The Report

To the official leaders of IVCF youth group and anyone else it may apply:

I was asked to compare our Youth group with Faith assembly's and this is my report:

I’ve been think about this and have drawn a conclusion, our routines and traditions, so-to-speak, have become a problem. We started out as a group of people wanting to put God back into the hearts of the youth through having fun with games, singing some fun songs, and having a little devotion and prayer to sum everything up. This was what Sunday nights was/were/and still are suppose to be like. We used to use those Sunday nights as a fun and very subtle way to introduce God and Jesus to young people. They could come and decide for themselves without pressure, if they wanted to know Jesus. We won them for God by just being there, having fun, and showing them love and friendship. Tuesday night Bible study was for those who believed and wanted to grow in faith and to learn more about God, Jesus, the apostles, and their histories. Now, we have merged these two nights together. We don’t play games anymore, nor do we subtly introduce God. We are making it impossible to feel welcome if you don’t believe in Christ are if you are not the most social. Where has our love gone? We find ourselves in a daze of comfort in our traditions and rituals. We use this excuse,"Well everyone who comes on Sunday nights is a believer, so why not do nothing but spiritual things on sundays?" way, way, way too much. If everyone was a believer than why are we now sitting at an attendance of 4-10 when we were having 18-27 as an average. I’ve been at youth group for over three years now, before Dee Anne was there, and I have watched youth group grow enormous, shrink to original leadership, and grow again. I know we have our slumps, but this one shouldn’t be over looked. How ever, lately we have had some new people. This great, and I hope and pray that this continues. We love one another, and we love God, but are we loving the lost like ourselves? Are we a dying church, or are we the living, thriving, illuminating, loving, caring, enduring, sacrificing, everlasting body of Christ? I urge you, my brothers and sisters, to live for Christ and not yourself. Only in this will the light prevail over darkness in this world. Christ didn’t suffer so we could sit back and watch Hell and it’s demons corrupt, defile, and kill his sheep. Don’t think that Giving blood at the local Red Cross blood drive is going to help when your blood type is A, B, AB, or O. The only blood type that matters is "G-O-D Positive." Let’s get back on the ministry wagon and not let a soul be won by the darkness, starting with our youth!

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I was just thinking

I was just thinking about what's been going on in the youth group, and what's not been going on in the youth group. And I'm not going to write a post loaded with bible verses with fancy links, that other people might think that Ed wrote. But this is something that I was talking about with somebody recently. What happened to our group? Why do we have so many lukewarm Christians? Why is there only a select few who are truly dedicated to the group? I've heard it said that it is not a sin to miss youth group. And the same people who say that would probably also say that it is not a sin to miss church. And I'll agree with those people to some degree. But I argue that it's not the action of missing church or youth group that is the sin, but rather what kept them away that is the sin. I believe that someday, when we have to give an account to the one who judges the living and the dead, He'll ask us the same questions that that people we know already ask us. And since we won't have any other answer, we'll have to answer with the same excuses that we told ourselves and our Christ family members and leaders. "I was eating with my parents. I had to work. Work called me in. I had to spend time with so and so. I forgot what time it was. I had something come up that wasn't planned." You know, all these sound great and fine and dandy now, here on earth, but I'll bet you a paycheck they won't get very far with God. And you know something else? I could make a lot more money than I do by working on Sundays and Tuesdays. I could spend a lot more time with my family than I do if I just skipped church or youth group whenever they wanted me too. But you know what? God comes first, so that is not an option to me. And it shouldn't be an option to you, either. If you want to take on responsibility in the group, I encourage you to do so. But that means being there almost all the time; and if you start something, then you should finish it. If you have something going on that keeps you from doing things, then I suggest that you cut it out. Quit. If we are doing things that God wants us to do, then our plate won't be too full and we won't be double booking ourselves. But if other things come up that keep us from our Godly commitments, then something has to go, either one or the other. You can't serve God and the world. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. If you are going to have the ambition to fill the shoes of leadership and responsibility, then you need to have feet big enough and strong enough to do all of the walking required. God will give you bigger assignments when you prove faithful with the small ones. But if don't, then you will have less and less to do. How much are we really devoted to serving the youth group? Are we willing to give things up? Make sacrifices? Isn't it true that time is more valuable than money? If that's the case, then how we spend our time with God, with ministry, and with other people is far more important than how we spend our money. And we need to have the time to make ourselves available for the things that we say we are going to do. We need to grow separately from the group before we can grow together as a group. I know that God wants to do something mightily in us, and the only thing that's stopping is us.