Awanita Night 1

You are More than What you do.

Is this glass full?

*Show filled up jar/bottle with ping pong balls.

Let the students answer and take their answers, but don’t tell them yes or not, just move on whenever ready.

What are some things you fear?

I’m afraid of snakes, low key.

I have no problem grabbing them if I need to as long as they aren’t poisonous and removing them from a situation.

I have no problem killing them when needed.

I just don’t like them and fear them.

They are creepy.

Here’s a good question for you though.

What’s worse.

Spiders or Snakes?

*Debate*

You know what I fear probably more than anything right now?

I fear failure.

And honestly from what I read, I know a lot of you feel that too.

Statistically, almost all of us in this room fear that.

The fear of failure and what that could mean for your future likely feels overwhelming.

It may give you anxiety.

It may give you constant worry and stress.

It may make you feel lonely.

It may cause you to feel a lot of negative things.

Can everyone just put their heads down for a moment.

Let me ask you a question.

All eyes closed and heads bowed.

Raise your hand if you believe what you do makes up who you are?

What you do is who you are?

Can you raise your hand if you believe that even a little bit tonight?

You can open your eyes back up.

Can I encourage you tonight.

It’s a trap that your worth as a human being is closely connected to what you do.

What you do certainly says something about who you are… but it doesn’t define who you are.

If you fail at everything you try, you are still human.

A human deeply loved by God the father.

You may not believe that’s true.

You may even believe that’s too good to be true, therefore false.

Titus 3:3-5 “3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,”

Do you believe that tonight?

What are some things you want to do with your life?

What are some dreams and aspirations you have?

*Give time for students to respond*

***After they respond, Fill up the jar with the small rocks.***

Whatever dreams you have.

Chase those.

Whatever things you want to do.

Do them.

Dream big. work hard.

But through that, you need Titus 3:5 at the front of your mind.

He saves us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.

And how does he save us?

By responding to the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

This is the clearest definition of the gospel in Scripture.

And if you respond to the gospel, by trusting in the cross of Christ to cover your sin,

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

You are a new creation.

Romans 6:6-8 “6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”

In Christ, we are alive.

We are new creations

Throughout the NT Paul refers to Christians as “Righteous”

How many of you feel righteous in here today?

How many of you if I could get in your brain and see what you think about all throughout the day feel righteous?

Doesn’t that sound too good to be true?

The Gospel should sound too good to be true.

But it’s too good and it’s True!

*** TAKE OUT THE SAND AND POUR IT INTO THE JAR***

Now listen…

Is this Jar full?

We’ve got ping pong balls.

We’ve got rocks

we’ve got sand.

Is it full?

Before we talk about the purpose of this jar tonight I want to remind you of 3 points that you will dig into in your devotional time this week.

My identity in Christ can be applied to my life by recognizing these three things.

Are you looking for Jesus?

Maybe you came here this week, and you are here for the games.

Maybe your hear for the fun, for the zipline.

These are all good and fun things you will experience.

It’s easy to look for Jesus in the good days.

In a camp setting where everything we are doing is focused on Christ.

It’s easy there.

But what about in the tough moments in life?

Are we looking for Jesus on our bad days?

One of the worst days of my life happened about 4 years ago.

The child growing inside Allison, my second born.

All of a sudden he stopped growing.

A heart beating that I had heard myself several times already was no more.

Rather than precious life inside Allison now had become death.

Over the next month, Allison’s body progressively worked to eliminate what was once so hopeful, so full of life.

It was a dark time.

7 years ago, my parents divorced.

Growing up, I had a super cool house.

We had a big back yard where I played soccer, football, wiffelball.

I dreamed of one day sharing the same memories with my kids that I had shared with my own brothers.

My dad actually build the house i grew up in back in the 80s.

After the divorce, the home was sold and obviously I can’t go back there anymore.

7 years later, there’s still alot of fallout from the divorce.

In both of these times,

I was still a youth pastor.

In a lot of ways, my identity was a youth pastor.

I had to show up and teach you guys from the Bible on Wednesdays and Sundays, but in my spirit and in my soul I was a broken man.

Whether it was the loss of a child or the continual destruction of my family, at various times I have been looking for Jesus, and other times I haven’t.

When we aren’t looking for Jesus, we are trying to fill a void that only Jesus can fill.

Where are you at this week?

Are you looking for Jesus in good times and bad times?

If not, guess what.

2. JESUS IS LOOKING FOR YOU.

Titus 3:4-5 “4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,”

By His kindness, Jesus is looking for you.

In all your discouragement

In all your pain

In all your insecurities

In all your loneliness and frustrations

All your burdens.

All your shame

All your fears.

Jesus is looking for you.

Because he doesn’t just love you, he likes you and he wants you.

Jesus can handle your pain and hurt, discouragement, burdens, loneliness, frustrations, shame, imperfections, and fears.

And that’s it.

It’s the very fact that I CAN’T HANDLE IT.

I can’t be perfect.

I can’t be burden free.

I can’t be perfectly satisfied in my friendships

I can’t hide my shame from Him.

Jesus sees all that and he loves me and… He wants me.

I’m more than a youth pastor, more than a husband, more than a dad.

I’m a child of God.

Even when I’m not looking for Jesus, if I’m in Christ, my identity is in Christ even when I don’t feel like it.

Spurgeon has a great quote related to this.

“We all want to walk through heaves gates on a feather bed, but we must enter limping.” - Spurgeon

When I’m broken and at my worst, Jesus is still there.

We sometimes feel like we want life to get easier, but at the end of the day, an easy life isn’t the most important thing in life.

A new life in Christ is the most important thing.

A life that has crucified in Christ will be with Jesus in heaven.

And your life might show up in heaven broken and bruised from your life experiences, but friend, Jesus is there in the brokenness of life, and He will be there eternally after.

I may have felt far from God, you may feel far from God for a short time there, but Jesus was never far from me.

Jesus is never far from you.

*Pour water into the jar.

This is the point of the jar tonight.

The ping pong balls represent big things in your life.

Good things, bad things.

Those things make up who you are, BUT, they aren’t who you are.

The rocks and the sand make up lesser things.

This also makes you you.

It contributes to your personality and your desires.

But the water.

The water touches it all.

Without the water, the jar will never be full.

There may still be empty space in the jar even when it’s got the balls, rocks, and sand…

But once the water is introduced into the jar.

There is no space, no ball, no rock, no piece of sand that the water doesn’t touch.

The water is in it all and it infiltrates even the deepest part of who you are.

Because the water IS JESUS!

If you are in Christ, Christ is in you!

John 7:37-38 “37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.””

3. Showing Christ to others.

The water of Christ in us is living water.

Life isn’t easy.

Life is tough and I would do you a great disservice is I led you to believe life is always going to be easy.

But here’s the beauty.

In the midst of all the mess, the gospel is too good and it’s true!

It’s the water.

It’s what matters most.

If I’m in Christ, it doesn’t matter how frustrated and defeated I feel.

It doesn’t matter how happy and content I feel.

My life is in Christ.

Galatians 5:13-15 “13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”

If I’m in Christ, I’ve been looking for Him, when I found Him I see how he’s always been looking for me, and now I can show Him to others.

Galatians 5 says that if I’m free, I can serve one another humbly in love.

How are you serving your friends?

The best way we can serve them is to show them where to drink.

John 7:37-38. said that streams of living water are flowing from those of us in Christ.

But here’s the key for tonight:

You can’t show someone where to drink if you’ve never drank the water yourself.

And friends,

Whether you realize it or not, Jesus is looking for you.

He will never stop looking for you.

Are you looking for Him?

Is your identity in Christ?

Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, he came to make dead people alive.

Are you alive in Him today.

Let’s pray.