Solid Night #2

HEY

The year was 2005 and I was in Jackson, TN. There was a teenager girl named Jamie and she came from a solid family and a strong spiritual family. She had been dating a young man named David for a year or so. But David was not a believer and he would come a few times over that year period. One Wed Night similar to one of our Wed Nights that we have during the school year I was preaching on Colossians 3:12-17 and David came over to me and handed me a 4 page letter. The man was a great writer. I am not a big fan of surprises and such. I put it in my backpack and when the students had left the worship service, I ran to my office and read the letter he had written to me. I knew that it was a big letter because his Girlfriend Jamie had given me like a nod or such with a tear in her eye.

I took the letter and read it through twice. David wrote a lot of information to me and I will share those highlights now, but I went and laminated this letter and still keep it in my office. Here is the highlights of the letter:

Scott I always respected you but I hated when you asked me if I had a relationship with Jesus

When you preached I felt like I need to change things but didn't know what to change

You asked me last week if I was saved and I said no.

You treated me the same and respected me. You never judged me

I wanted you to know that I have given my life to Christ tonight. Thank you for not giving up on me this past year

Why do I share David’s story with you. Because I believe there are two relationships in our life that we need have SOLID before we head back home.

Our Relationship with God

Our Relationship with Others.

I am going to be preaching to you here at our last night of summer camp about LOVE GOD. LOVE PEOPLE. A simple idea and a simple point, but will be the hardest thing we have talked about this week.

YOU

What makes you a Christian? What makes someone a Christ follower?

At camp this week we have been looking at some different elements of Solid Faith, Solid Walk, Solid Mission, and now tonight we will look at Solid Relationships.

Have you ever examined your walk with God?

How about your relationship with other people?

I know what you are going to say or think right now. Scott you are talking about a DTR aren’t you? Well actually I am not. I do believe DTR’S are important would always encourage you to have one with God, but in this case I want you to think about:

What makes you have a relationship with God?

What makes you have a relationship with others?

I love hanging out with people. Like I get more energy the more people there are around me. But I have discovered that you and I have different relationships with people. Here are the types of relationships I have found that we have:

God

Friendships

Dating

Social Media

Tech/Gaming world

School

Family

In which of these relationships does the person really know you? Which one knows the real you?

I have discovered that many Christian Teenagers do not let there friends know that they are a Christian and they blend in (do not take a stand) because they do not want their friends to know that part of their life. I believe that is a huge issue among teenagers.

WRITE ANY NOTES HERE

Let us push past all of this and get to what should you look like in your relationship with God and with others.

LOOK

Let us turn to Colossians 3:12-17 and read this text.

When I first read this text preparing this message I wrote down questions. I have preached this text 50 times I believe now, but here are the questions I wrote while preparing to preach to you.

What attributes do I represent as a Christian?

How do I have a compassionate heart?

How am I doing in the realm of kindness, humility, meekness, and patience?

How do we bear with one another?

How do we forgive? How should we forgive?

MONK ILLUSTRATION

What does the word LOVE mean in verse 14?

How do I let the peace of Christ dwell in me?

Do I have thankfulness in my hearts when teaching and singing? How about worshipping?

What do my words and actions say about me?

What do my words and actions say about what I believe to be true?

DO