Ah, it's good old summertime; there's just something special about summer… its freedom baby. Just the chance to open up your windows in your house and breathe in the fresh air after a long, cold winter feels freeing. Who doesn't enjoy driving in a car on a warm summer day with the windows down and a breeze blowing in, putting your feet up on the dashboard and going through a tasty freeze and getting ice cream… What kinds of things do you think about when you hear the word summer?
How many of you have made some plans on doing something extra special this summer during your break? How many of you are trying to make the big bucks and have gotten a job for the summer? And how many of you have just spent a lot of time catching up on your sleep? Summer is kind of a deceiving time; it seems like there is going to be all this time to enjoy but before you know it it's gone… did you know that you actually only have about 7 or 8 weekends left before all the fun stops and school starts up again. And normally you get back and the teachers will ask you a question…
What did you do on your summer break? So, I'd like to speak to you about your Summer Break… and how despite the fact that you don't have the pressures of school and other responsibilities –you simply cannot afford to take a break from the spiritual part of your life.
Yes, it's a time when you don't have to be up before 7 and you don't have to be in bed before 11:00 - you don't have the teachers hassling you or the coaches telling you to run another lap…you have more freedom to take the time that is always taken up by something else to really enjoy your life. And hopefully you will use some of it maybe even most of it to really begin to grow in your faith. This time of year, when things seem so green and warm and growing, I'd like to challenge you to also grow your faith. God is aware of the seasons… He created them; so how about we use this summer to really ground ourselves in His word and get prepared for the opportunities that we are going to be given to share our faith when we get back to the grindstone. For a lot of you – you've been out of school for about 3 or 4 weeks now. Let me ask you; what have you done with your summer break so far?
What goals do you have? There is a saying that goes… if you don't aim for anything you'll be guaranteed to hit it every time. My point here is to get you to aim at something; to challenge you to want more and challenge yourself to take this awesome gift of time and not just wander about aimlessly doing nothing but instead have something to show for it. Wouldn't it be amazing if you were able to look back at the summer of 08 and say that this was the time when you really grew in God, that you did something worthy like laying a firm foundation in your faith? That you spent time seeking Him, and asking Him what He might have for you to do now and in your future.
We serve a God who desires to spend time with you…He looks forward to you whispering His name in prayer… singing (even if you have a bad voice) His praises; and opening up His Word and applying it to your life. Ask yourself the question…What is it that God wants you to do?
God desires to use your life to advance His Kingdom; we are to be people of destiny- we are called to use our lives to make an eternal difference in other people's lives and not just our own. Did you ever stop and think that if you don't do what you are called to do in your generation; that you will not only affect your eternity but others' too? There are people who are going to come into your life that only you will have the opportunity to contact with; we need to remember that even though its summer and the pressures might be off; we still have to give an account for our time to the one who created all things. We really don't get the privilege of completely just kicking back and chilling. If we don't stay focused and tuned in to the time that we are given we can get so easily distracted; and that is not only dangerous to us but those around us too. Not too long ago I spoke to you about your endgame; where it is that you are going to end up someday.
You have to keep in mind that there will always be distractions. Especially, as you decide to grow closer to God and begin to seek Him out – there will be people, jobs, family, and relationships that will try to draw you away and distract you from all your intentions.
Even in yourself there will be distractions; you will find that when you decide to think on and read God's Word that is when you're mind will begin to wander. You're going to start thinking all of a sudden of how it is that you really need to start making more money, and how that new Batman movie is going to rock and….even…Wow, I really stink – and need a bath.
You will have to fight distractions…It's going to take a lot of work… you have to ask yourself if you're up to it. Remember the parable of the seed falling on the ground with the weeds…Mark 4:19 (message) says the seed in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard and nothing comes of it.
Please don't let that be you!
So when you are asked at the end of the summer in some writing class about what you did this summer – what is it that you will write?
Hopefully, you'll write something important like you've grown in your faith and relationship with God.
To do that – this summer you need to spend your extra time on ….
Reading God's word for instructions and direction.
There are times when we are driving and get lost. At that time we need to take a look at a map and see where we went wrong and plan on how to get back on the right road. Truthfully, if we drove around not knowing where we are going as much as we do in our lives we would never make it home.
Psalm 119:59; in the message… When I took a long, careful look at your ways, I got my feet back on the trail you blazed.
If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. You have to read the bible every day… make a point of it – spend some of your valuable summer time on it. You won't be disappointed in the long run.
Spend some time in quiet… not just when you're sleeping but when you're awake. When you turn off the noise in your life you will be able to hear what God is saying to you. The devil has a plan to keep us so distracted by noise that we miss all that God is saying to us… in 1 Kings 19:8-13 Elijah is on Mount Horeb and God appears - not in the storm, not in the wind, not in the earthquake…but in a gentle whisper. How often are you able to hear a whisper?
We have to be willing to fight the enemy and not just give up.
In the book Fuzzy Memories by Jack Handey he writes… There used to be a bully who would demand my lunch money every day and since I was smaller I would give it to him…then one day I decided to fight back so I started to take Karate lessons… but then I found out I had to start paying the karate instructor five dollars a lesson so I just went back to paying the bully instead.
There are way too many Christians who feel it's easier to pay the bully than to learn how to defeat the enemy.
Spend time worshipping God and Praising Him for all He's done for you.
There is an amazing thing that happens when we begin to declare Gods' greatness in our lives… He starts to declare the greatness that can be done in our life.
I grow stronger in my faith every time I use my horrible voice to tell him that I love Him.
Spend some time with us in CYM or if you are listening via the podcast or reading on MySpace - get involved in a small group… get involved in an area where you can be built up in your faith by likeminded believers. Join a smaller group; the big church calls it fellowship… we call it hanging out… whatever…just come do it – It does a body good….When you begin to see that you are not traveling this road alone it encourages and uplifts us to do even more.
Community is good; to make it successfully you will need the help and encouragement of others around you. And it should be true community where no one feels as if they aren't welcome or unaccepted.
Take some time to envision where your life is really going to end up. You cannot be careless in your pursuit of God, there's a responsibility about seeking after God and following Him to the place He wants you to go. Arriving there safely will be the result of not getting distracted with the other things that are offered up to us in life.
Lastly, don't try to do a thousand things mediocre but work on the few things that God's called you to do and do them brilliantly.
When you put God first… all the other things will fall into place. If you put something else first - God falls out of place.
So, where are you this summer break…as far as weeks left; we have about 4 down and 8 to go … what will you do with what's left? I beg of you to make it count where it counts.
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