Teens Leaving the Church

unchristian by David
Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons

"Most young people who were involved in a church as a teenager disengage from church life and often from Christianity at some point during early adulthood, creating a deficit of young talent, energy, and leadership in many congregations. While this is not a uniquely Buster or Mosaic (16-29 years-old) phenomenon - many Boomers did this too - our tracking research suggests that today young people are less likely to return to the church later, even when they become parents." (David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons, UNCHRISTIAN, p. 23)

Parents, you don't have to watch your children do this. Equip them to live as a disciple of Jesus, not just go to church and claim to be a Christian. You are the strongest influence they may ever have, but if you don't take the responsibility seriously, Satan will be happy to influence them for you.

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How to Live Like a Vampire in a World of Mere Mortals

This weekend, “Breaking Dawn – Part 2” was released. I think it’s already grossed ½ a bazillion or something. (Guys are just thinking "it's gross".) I got to wondering why there is such hoopla over vampires, anyway.

I saw a teenager a while back, wearing a t-shirt stating her wish to be a vampire. Really? She wishes she could kill people and drink their blood? I’m guessing that wasn't what she was really thinking, or at least I hope not!

So what is it about vampires that’s so appealing? How about this: power, vampires are strong. They have power mere mortals don’t have. Also, what’s there to be afraid of if you’re a vampire, wooden stakes and garlic? Who’s afraid of toothpicks and herbs? Besides, you’re already dead – sort of. Which, is pretty cool too – eternal life…of death (or something like that).

Perhaps vampires are popular, because they offer something more than our own humanity. Too bad more Christians don’t live the life God has given them, a life of power and fearlessness. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love and a sound mind.

Too bad Christians don’t live as if they have eternity already in their grasp, instead of grasping for every pleasure this world offers. If we did, perhaps teenagers would wear “I wish I was a Christian” t-shirts. Perhaps we could show them how they could live like a vampire in the world of mere humans. We could show them how to live as children of the all-powerful God.

Do you know a vampire lover? Why do you think people love vampires? Let me know.

Carry Them to the King

Isaiah 66:18-24

And the time is coming… (vs. 18). It just sounds like a phrase of hope. It’s filled with anticipation, especially when God says it. And the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. When this was written, Israel was the chosen nation, no others. But, the time is coming…

I will set a sign among them… (vs. 19). Stop reading for a minute, and turn to Isaiah 7:14. Do you realize what this means? The time has come! No more waiting.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…” (Galatians 4:4). It is finished! Okay, not quite. Jesus has finished His redemptive work. He has brought hope for every nation and tongue. But, there’s one more part. One more reason to wait.

After God set His sign – our Savior – among us, He said, “And from them [those who have seen His glory, His salvation] I will send survivors to the nations…and they shall declare my glory among the nations” (vs. 19). Before we can say, “It is finished,” there is a task for us. We are to declare His glory to the nations.

Where do you live? I’m pretty sure you live in one of the nations that need to see the glory of the Almighty. Sure, God may want you to tell someone across the world, but I guarantee He wants you to show His glory to the ones across the street, or down the hall.

I love verse twenty. “And they [the ones sent to the world] shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on camels, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, says the Lord…” When you think about bringing an offering to God, do you think about your family, your neighbors, coworkers or friends? This was God’s plan

.

Look at how we get them to Him, horses, mules, camels, chariots, litters, however, just carry them to the King. Perhaps your family has been living in your own little world. The time is coming… no, the time has come for you to move out, to share the glory of God, to bring them to the mountain of the Lord.

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America & the Gap

America is becoming a spiritual cesspool. This once-“Christian” nation has embraced spiritual relativity, where right and wrong are situational. It has chosen tolerance as a motto, claiming that Jesus is only one way to God instead of THE Way.

People chase after every type of evil imaginable. Slave trade is one of the fastest growing industries in the country, with most of it geared toward sex commerce. Pornography is a billion-dollar a year business. Greed is the backbone of our capitalistic economy. Hatred and murder are daily occurrences, giving newscasters and Hollywood producers fodder for their film.

•   Truth has become a fleeting spectral image, not even Ghostbusters can capture.
• Justice is a word thrown out by anyone who doesn’t feel they’re getting what they deserve – even when they have done nothing deserving.
• And the American way has become a wide, straight highway that leads to destruction.

But what about God’s church in America?

The divorce rate among Christians is the same as that of non-Christians. Churches are suing pastors and vice versa.  They spend millions of dollars on beautiful buildings for their own meetings, while giving pennies to the poor. They claim love, but judge and gossip and hate.

What must God be thinking? He described another nation that sounded very similar in Ezekiel 22:23-31.

Again the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’ There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says’—when the LORD has not spoken. The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

It is a sad picture, but if we were to continue to read, the story goes downhill. In verse thirty, God said, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” There was no one to stand between the people and God. “So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done,” declares the Sovereign LORD (verse 31).

If God were talking about America, could He find anyone? Will you stand in the gap, interceding for America? Will you stand for your kids, so they can see real Christianity? Will you build the wall, preserving the people? 

If not you and I, then who?