Devotion

ME

I've been a youth pastor for over 15 years. I've taken a lot of trips with teens during that time.

And I've had some interesting experiences with kids over the years.

ET District Campground pic

With our group in TN, we got stuck in the East TN Mountains bc the church van (MY DODGE Ram) wouldn't start. So we hung out all night at the District Campground down the road. I had been asleep for a while, when I hear these goofballs Levi Patton and Zack Jones dancing to some Miley Cyrus song, and the other kids taking the bunk bed mattresses, getting a running start and sliding 30 ft across other mattresses until they crashed into the wall.

MVNU Oakwood Hall Pic

With our group in West Virginia, we were at Regional BLAST (like TNT) in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

I was chaperoning the high school guys, and Alan Jones was chaperoning the middle school guys. The middle schoolers threatened to prank us. And all I told them was: "You don't mess with us, you won't get destroyed."

They were middle school boys, who amazingly don't have the ability to listen to much of anything, so they tried some lame prank.

And after these guys went to sleep, we went and duct taped all their stuff to the ceiling, saran wrapped their toilet, and did some other shenanigans.

THEY GOT GOT!

And there have been many memorable experiences with our group here.

Like the time I "lost" the church van at Big TNT in Nashville, or the time Tommy Wombles dabbed on the entire city of Nashville during Mission Nashville.

But I will NEVER, EVER forget The Tail of The Dragon.

The Missions Conference last month was awesome.

We had a blast ziplining, on the ropes course, rock climbing wall, gaga pit, three man swing, hanging out at the mall in Knoxville, and God spoke to our hearts in powerful ways through the worship services and small groups with the great counselors there.

But there was one thing that was not fun AT ALL.

Like one of the worst experiences of my life where I thought I was going to die 100 times.

My friend Trevor told me about this road that I absolutely needed to avoid on the way to North Carolina.

And I'm a dude so I completely forgot... until I got on the stupid road!

*Tail of the Dragon pic*

This road is 11 miles of sheer terror.

With things like "Samsquatches," crazy bikers, and random creeps taking your photo at every other curve.

Speaking of curves: there are 318 of those on this road.

And when you're driving an old church van full of teens with a loaded-down trailer behind, it's just the WORST.

And to complicate things even more, my lovely wife was driving the other van full of teens behind us.

I made everyone be quiet on my van so Jesus and I could have a long talk about this situation.

I was like "Jesus, please keep us safe, don't let us die, help these precious children to shut their mouths."

And every time it got real quiet on the van, our guy Choo would say something random in his old man voice like "those Samsquatches!"

I wanted to be mad but it made me laugh in the midst of my terror so I couldn't get mad.

But my prayer life got better that day, we conquered the dragon, and we have a sticker on the back of the church van to prove it.

That was no joke one of the scariest hours of my life... but I had faith that God would keep us safe on that road... and He did.

WE

Can you think about some scary moments in your life?

Maybe you got totally embarrassed at school and didn’t want to go back and face those people again.

Maybe you were scared that a family member or friend or that you were going to get really sick during the pandemic.

Faith- complete trust or confidence in someone or something

At some point, you had faith in something or someone that told you that you were going to make it through.

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Faith gets us through when we don’t see a way out.

GOD

A lady named Martha had this kind of faith.

Let’s check out her story:

Her brother Lazarus has just died.

It’s a sad, sad scene, with Martha and her sister Mary and many people all mourning over the loss of this man that they loved.

And now, the one man who could have prevented his death shows up on the scene.

Check out what this man says:

John 11:21–27 NIV

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Resurrection NOW

Resurrection was not just a future hope. Everyone who believed in Jesus was already living that resurrected future.

You may hear older Christians talking about how they can’t wait to “Go home” to heaven.

And heaven is going to be amazing!

But Jesus offers us this new life right here and right now!

And this new life is beyond death.

You see our bodies will give out one day and our hearts will stop beating.

But believers in Jesus are living a life that they will never stop living!

Lives empowered by the Holy Spirit of God.

Lives guided by Jesus.

And death can never have a hold on this kind of life.

1 Corinthians 15:53–55 The Message

In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

Death can’t stop someone who believes that Jesus is the resurrection.

So next comes the all-important question:

Do you Believe This?

“Do you believe that a young, poor traveling preacher is larger than your death? Do you believe that death is nothing more than an entrance ramp to a new highway?”

-Lucado

*Title Slide*

Jesus asks Martha the most important question ever: “Do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life?”

This question either makes or breaks people for eternity.

It’s a leap of faith for Martha just the same as it is for us.

Show Pic

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

In the movie, Indiana is trying to get to the Holy Grail to get water to heal his father who has just been shot. To get there he must overcome obstacles. The last and most terrifying obstacle is to cross a chasm. After staring at it, Indiana realizes that “it’s a leap of faith,” while in the background, his father is saying, “You must believe.”

*Show Video*

He takes the “leap” and lands on an invisible bridge (directed by Steven Spielberg [Paramount Pictures, 1989], 1:47:07). That is the type of leap that Jesus is calling on Martha and all of us to take when we find ourselves in the chapter called death. It is a leap of faith across a chasm of doubt where we cannot clearly see how we will survive this—but we make the leap anyway. We make it because we trust in Jesus that what he is saying is true.

And how does Martha respond to Jesus?

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

TRUSTING JESUS IN EVERYTHING CHANGES EVERYTHING

YOU

TITLE SLIDE

How have you responded to this question?

Do you believe that Jesus is all that He says He is?

Do you know all that He said about Himself because you’ve read the Bible?

Do you place all of your hope and trust in Him?

Do you know that He is the giver of everlasting life?

DO YOU BELIEVE?

It’s the most important question in your life, whether you know it is or not.

What’s your answer going to be?

*Prayer*

WE

What if we who believed lived like it?

What if Jesus and His resurrection life was something that we thought about and talked about and shared with others?

We would become infectious to others in the best possible way.. others would want to know why we are the way we are.

Why we live life full of life.

And many, many people would come to experience this life that Jesus gives.