Second Chances Presentation

Introduction:

* My wife Debbie and I consider this a great honor to be asked to come before you tonight and share our burden for work that God has called us to do.

* It is a great joy to be able to leave our church and fellowship with you dear folks at Harriman United Methodist Church tonight. I believe that the opportunity to fellowship with Gods people, is one of the greatest benefits of our salvation- and we’re going to be doing a lot of that when we get to heaven!

* This is the first opportunity Debbie and I have had to be away from our church and, the youth camp, in over 2 years, and we are so thankful for this opportunity tonight.

* For those you who have not yet met us tonight, My name is Bill Woody, I am the pastor of Blue Springs Baptist Church in Philadelphia, TN. And my wife Debbie is here with me tonight.

* Our church, and Second Chances Youth Ranch, are in Roan County, just the other side of Paint Rock about 7 miles from Sweetwater.

* Debbie and I are here tonight to share with you dear folks the burden, and the vision, that God has impressed upon our hearts to build a youth ranch.

* With God’s help we are endeavoring to build a campground that will gather boys and girls and young adults from Roane County and wherever else the Lord will enable us to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

* My wife Debbie has prepared a short video to share with you what the Lord has already done during our first year at Second Chances Youth Ranch.

Video Presentation:

* As you have seen in the video, the Lord is already blessing the ministry of Second Chances in a great way.

* We have tried to seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to make Second Chances Youth Ranch a ministry that will last beyond our lifetime and reach young people with the Gospel for many more generations if the Lord tarries his coming.

* Our church is heavily involved with the camp, but we have endeavored to set the camp ministry up in such a way that we can be a blessing to many churches, and many churches can help us grow this ministry.

* We have godly men and their wives that make up our board of directors from a variety of vocations, some pastors, some experienced Equine professionals, some who God has given the ability to manage business and finances.

* One of our board members is your friend, and fellow church member, Brother Scott Mason. Brother Scott has been a blessing Second Chances, and an encouragement to Debbie and I as well. Debbie has been a special education teacher, and works for Brother Scott at Midway High School.

Our calling and message.

* It is our mission at Second Chances to create an environment where we can bring boys and girls and young adults out of the world with all its peer pressure, and temptations, and share the love of God with them.

* The love of God always begins with the gospel. It is our ultimate goal to build a preaching shed, where at the end of every camp day, local pastors will preach the Gospel and extend an invitation to come to the Lord for salvation.

* Our lesser goals are to be a full time youth ranch, with horse stables, and show arena, ball fields, archery range, catfish pond, and a western town with boardwalks and hitching posts. We would like to start having our own youth Horse Shows in the very near future as well.

* We center much of our activity on horses at the ranch for a reason. The horse is an excellent object lesson to teach young people about their relationship to God.

* In Psalms 32:7 the Psalmist uses the illustration of horses and mules to paint a vivid word picture of how God desires to lead the young person into a life of blessing:

Psalm 32:7–10 (KJV 1900)

7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 9 Be ye not as the horse, Or as the mule, which have no understanding: Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, Lest they come near unto thee. 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.

* Just like the horse was created for the benefit of mankind, God has also created every young person for his own benefit as well.

* When a horse or a mule is young, they are like a blank slate, ready to be made into what would benefit their master the most.

* When a child is young, he also like a blank slate, ready to be made into what God has intended for him to be.

* We use the object lesson of the horse to teach young people that God has made them for His benefit, not to defile their bodies with drugs, sex and alcohol.

* Like the horse or the mule, they must submit themselves to God like the horse submits to the trainer.

(Psalms 32) 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

* God is to every young person like a person that trains the horse or mule. He will instruct the young person and teach them the way that they should go. In this verse God promises to guide the young person with is eye.

* I hear people often say “Young people today have so much more to deal with than when we were growing up.” This is a very true statement.

* We use the horses as an object lesson to teach young people that God desires to guide them away from all these troubles and dangers in life.

9 Be ye not as the horse, Or as the mule, which have no understanding:

* We use the horses to illustrate to the young people that if a horse is left to his own it will develop bad behaviors that will cause injury to its self and others.

* We use the horse to show that unless they open up their heart and allow God to give them understanding, they will also learn bad behaviors that will cause shame and harm to themselves and their families- Bad behaviors like abusing drugs, abusing alcohol, abusing their bodies, stealing, bullying and so on.

(Psalm 32:9b) Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, ‎ Lest they come near unto thee.

* We teach young people that they must learn to use the God’s Word like a bit and a bridle to exercise self-discipline and self-control in their lives to guide them in the right paths of life.

(Psalms 32) 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.

* Using the horses and mules as a living object lesson, we teach young people that if they don’t listen to God’s training, they will have many unnecessary sorrows and problems that God never intended for them to have.

* Now in this passage God promises to guide us through life, but the Lord makes a difference between horses and mules- and this is for a good reason.

* God knows that horses and mules represent two very different kinds of young people.

* Horse and mules represent two extremes:

1) The horse rushes ahead impulsively and gets himself and his rider in all kinds of trouble. We use this truth to illustrate what happens when we get ahead of the Lord and foolishly rush out to do the fun thing without considering the consequences of our behavior.

* Some young people are like the horse, that when you climb on his back he takes of like a bolt of lightning! Oh, he rages and twists and bucks and is impatient!

* When you begin to train a horse you have to work hard to teach him to stand still!

* Some young people are like horses. You can't get them to stand still long enough to teach them anything!

* We use the horse to teach the young person not to impulsive, but to think about what they are doing and consider the consequences of their behavior.

* Two things about a mule:

1) He is always against everything!

* It doesn’t matter what it is, if it wasn't his idea, he is going to be against it. As a pastor, I have met a lot of church members like that!

* Many young people are like that.

* This kind of disobedient, stubborn young person can destroy a family.

2) A mule is stubborn.

* We teach the young person not to be stubborn, and refuse to listen to their parents and those in authority.

My brother John.

* My father, who was a church planter, had raised his family in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but as children sometimes do, my youngest brother strayed from the Lord.

* As my brother John began to run with the wrong crowd and do the things they did, I would from time to time plead with him to straighten up, and come back to the Lord.

* One Saturday, a few months before his death, there was a knock on my door very early in the morning. It was my brother John.

* When I opened the door John rushed in and began to say “You were right! You were right! I finally listed to you and I got right with the Lord last night! You were right this is some much better than the way I was headed!

* John left that morning full of Joy and happy to be alive.

* I don’t have the time to relate the full story this evening, but I want to tell you the important part.

* A few months later, my brother came to me very discouraged and ready to backslide on the Lord. When I inquired as to what had him so upset, he began to tell me a story that I will never forget.

* John told me that He had been trying to straighten his life up, but our church, instead of encouraging him had turned a cold shoulder to him.

* He abandoned the friends he had while in the world, only to find that the youth group was treating him like an outcast, and had shunned him.

* A few weeks later, John had made an agreement with my father to move back home and let dad help him straighten his life out.

* My brother John didn’t show up on the day that had agreed on, so my father went to check on him. My father found him dead in his apartment. He had apparently taken his own life with a shotgun.

* In my grief, I resorted to the woods to pray, and there the Lord over 35 years ago, placed the burden to build a youth camp to reach young people like my brother John.