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Perisher Mt, 2015

Training the next generation

Training the next generation

By Rick Warren

Learning is contagious. You’ve got to want to learn. You must model it. As a leader, this should be second nature to you. All leaders are learners. Rick Warren

"Tell your children about these things, then let your children tell their children, and let your grandchildren tell their children." (Joel 1:3 NCV)

God says we have a responsibility to pass on what we know to those younger than us. That’s a responsibility for all of us – not just parents, but everyone. This responsibility is of extreme importance to you as a pastor. God is calling you to pass on everything he has shown to you to a new generation that will outlive you.
What have we been called to pass on? Knowledge, perspective, conviction, skills, and character.
Jesus modeled all five of these in how he trained his disciples. For the past 27 years, we’ve built Saddleback on these five building blocks as well. Whenever I prepare a message, I’m thinking about each of these five elements. But you don’t have to be a pastor to help people grow in these areas. Teachers, supervisors, parents, and just older friends in your congregation – all of us – need to be passing on these five building blocks to younger generations.
1. Help them to acquire knowledge.
Proverbs 16:16 says, “It’s much better to have wisdom and knowledge than gold and silver.” (NCV) In other words, it’s better to be smart than wealthy. It’s better to have knowledge than money.
How do you help kids or young adults acquire knowledge? There’s lots of ways you can do it. You can take them on trips with you. You can go to the library with them. You can pass on books to them that are important to you. I’m going to pass on a library of more than 10,000 books to my children. Why? It’s part of me passing on a legacy of what I think is important.
Still, the most important way to pass on knowledge to the next generation is for you to be interested in it as well. Learning is contagious. You’ve got to want to learn. You must model it. As a leader, this should be second nature to you. All leaders are learners. I’ve told my staff that for years.
What’s the most important knowledge to acquire? Knowledge about God. The Bible says in Proverbs 1:7: “Knowledge begins with respect for the Lord.” Knowledge of everything else is important. In fact, God wants us to know as much about as many different things as we can, but he wants us to know him more than anything else. The most important knowledge you can pass on to the next generation is knowledge of God. I expect that’s a vital part of your ministry.
2. Help them broaden their perspective. What is perspective? Perspective is seeing life from God’s point of view. That’s not the natural way for us to see things. We normally see life from our point of view. That’s what causes all our problems.
Perspective answers the “why” questions of life, just as knowledge answers the “what” questions. The more you get God’s perspective on life the more you understand why what’s happening is happening.
How do you help young people gain perspective?

• Introduce them to the Bible. Help them to become a Bible reader because God’s perspective is in his Word.
• Introduce them to wise people. The quality of their lives will be determined by the relationships they choose to have.

3.  Help them cultivate convictions.
The people who changed this world – for good or bad – were those with the deepest convictions. They were passionate people. When you have convictions, you can accomplish almost anything.

If kids don’t have convictions, they’ll be captivated by culture. Rick Warren

If kids don’t have convictions, they’ll be captivated by culture. This culture basically has four values: pleasure (“I want to feel good”), possessions, (“I want to make a lot of money”), prestige (“I want other people to envy me”), and power (“I want to be in control”). We can’t allow the next generation to be captivated by these values. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Hold tight to your convictions. Give it all you’ve got. Be resolute.” (MSG) So what to do we do? We share our convictions passionately. Convictions are caught not taught. If you’re excited about your convictions, those whom you lead will be as well. Convictions grab people.
More important though is that convictions must be modeled. In other words, you be what you want them to become. Jesus talked about this in the Gospel of John. John 17:19 says, “For their sake I dedicate myself completely to you, Father, in order that they too may be completely dedicated to you.” (TEV) Jesus modeled conviction for us. Now we must model it for the next generation.

Simply Youth Ministry

For resources designed to help your church develop a purpose driven youth ministry, visit Doug Fields’ Simply Youth Ministry Web site.

4. Help them develop skills.
Skills answer the “how” of life. And today’s youth need our help in developing both learning skills and life skills. They need to learn how to do things from figuring out their multiplication tables, to how to make their bed, to – eventually – how to raise children and get along with a spouse. You see, hard work doesn’t guarantee success. We’d like to think it does, but it doesn’t. I know a lot of people who work hard and are not successful. Why? Because it’s not hard work that brings success. “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success.” (Eccl. 10:10 NIV) The Bible says skill will bring success.
So how do you help people develop skills? There are three ways.
First, identify their S.H.A.P.E. (spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences). It’s how God has wired us. Want to change the destiny of a young person? Help them understand what they’re good at.
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go.”(NIV) The Hebrew there literally means “in his natural bent,” the way he’s naturally wired by God. If you try to train a young person in a way that opposes his S.H.A.P.E., you’re doomed to failure.
Once you’ve helped them figure out what they are good at, you help them practice what they are good at. The only way you develop skill is by doing it over and over and over again. Whether the skill is hitting a baseball or preaching a sermon, the more you do it, the more skilled you become.

If you treat kids like babies, you’re going to have to diaper them the rest of your life. Rick Warren

Then you trust them with responsibility. You’ve got to let them do it on their own. People respond to responsibility. If you treat kids like babies, you’re going to have to diaper them the rest of your life. 5. Help them establish character. This is the pinnacle. God says you’re going to take your character to heaven so that’s what’s important.
The Bible says, “Take on an entirely new way of life, a God-fashioned life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.” (Eph. 4:23-24 MSG) This is one of God’s five purposes for our lives – to grow up and develop the character of Christ.
How do you help young people establish character? There are many ways. Let me just give you two.

• Protect their minds from evil thoughts. Garbage in – garbage out. Proverbs 15:14 says, “A wise person is hungry for truth while the fool feeds on trash.” (NLT) The Bible says we want to keep youth innocent regarding evil, so that they become mature in what is good.
• Don’t protect them from difficulty. As I wrote in chapter 25 of The Purpose Driven Life, we grow through tough times. We build character not by having everything go our way. Failure is not fatal. Everybody’s got to learn that. Allow your kids to learn from their failures.

Anytime you’re around somebody younger than you, you can do these five things. Whether it’s a kid in your church, one of your own children, or a neighborhood kid that needs an older person in his life, there’s someone in your life that needs you to help acquire knowledge, gain perspective, cultivate convictions, develop skills, and grow in character.
A lot of what we do isn’t going to matter five minutes from now much less five years or 500 years from now. But when you’re building into a life, that’s the most important thing you can do. It’ll last for eternity. It has eternal implications.
Who can you help?
Until next week,

God fashioned You

My study as I seeking and waiting for God and wondering about who am I in Him.
God brought me to these scriptures and shown me how he created and formed me in my mother's womb.
I'm sure that we all very familiar with these verses. But for me, it is a revelation to find out who am I. and it is more to these scriptures that I jotted down here. when we, in this is me, myself desperately wanted to know what God has  for me, one of my dear friend suggested to me, why don't you studied about who you are in the Lord. Its made huge different once you know who you are. and this is how this study happened.
I believed God reveals it in the deeper way just for me to see and understand. and I shared this because I believed good things are to be shared and witness for His honours and glory. Thank you to the Holy Spirit who teaches and shows me the truth. so, here the scriptures I came across as I did my study.

Psalm 139:13
For you created my innermost being, You knit me together in my mother's womb.

Psalm 119:73
Your hands made me and formed me

Job 10:11
Clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones ane sinew.

Isa 44:2
This is what the Lord says
he who made you, who formed you in the womb and who will help you.
v.24 This is what the Lord says - Your redeemer, who formed you in the womb. I am the Lord. who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heaven, who spread out the earth, by myself.

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb, I know you, before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nation.

Isa 46:3
.....You whom I have upheld since you were coneived, and have carried since your birth.

Psalm 139:4
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works ae wonderful. I know that full well.

Psalm 145:10
All you have made will praise you, O Lord.

He fashoined Eve. He didn't simply made you . He fashioned you with extra special care and meticulous details. You are a thing of beauty, a sight to behold, and one of His most spectacular masterpiece - a work of art, a valuable original, a one of a kind.

Took me more than two years to put this on my blogs.

Jesus Calls You

Jesus Calls You
taken from Meet Me In The Meadow

Don't be foolish or slow of heart, I will not pass you by.
Sit with Me.
I am your healer, the restorer of your soul, and the One who forgives.
Turn to Me.
I will lead you to still waters and quiet resting places.
Walk with Me.
I wait for you with outstretched arms to assure you of My love.
Run to Me.
Let My words be as a flame of love that burns deep within you.
Sup with Me.
 
Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise so easily?
Look to Me.
 
I am your song, I want to fill your heart with My praises.
Delight in Me.
What I have told you, I am faithful to fulfill.
Rest in Me.
 
Let Me open your understanding so you can know all I have done for you.
Learn of Me.
 
I am glorified and have sent you the promise of My Father.
Drink of Me.
 
I will be your source of joy and fruitfulness. You will never be empty.
Abide in Me.
I speak to you the promises that come from My Father’s heart.
Trust in Me.
I place My hands over you and pour out my richest blessings upon you.
Receive from Me.

Prayer of Hope

Prayer of Hope
taken from Meet Me In The Meadow

Father, thank You for being the God of hope and my hope. You alone are the source and the reason for my hope. Because of You, I can pray in hope; walk in hope; believe in hope; endure in hope; overcome in hope; live in hope.
When I look to the future I have hope because You are already in the future. I have a future that is secure because You are my future. Father, it is Your hope that frees from the despair of hopelessness and the insecurity of false hope.
When I look ahead, I do not see the details clearly, but I see You, the One who is in all the details of what is ahead. I believe in Your plan and purpose for my life. You have assured me that I will never be disappointed as I trust in You.
Thank You for the confidence Your hope gives me to be faithful today and to move forward in the pathway You have for my tomorrows.  I put my expectations, not in others, but in You. I am confident that all Your desires for me are good. The hope You give me brings happiness and rejoicing to my heart.
Thank You, Father, for being the author of all the chapters of my life that are yet to come. Thank You that my life will have a happy ending because I will be with You forever, in the place that You have prepared for me and for all those who have put their trust in Your salvation through Jesus Christ.
 Amen.
Scriptures: Psalm 31:24, 39:7, 71:5, 14, 130:5,7, 146:5; Romans 5:5, 8:24-25, 12:12, 15:13; 1 Corinthians 13:13; Galatians 5:5; Colossians 1:5; Titus 1:2, 2:13

Prayer for Guidance

Prayer for Guidance
taken from Meet Me In The Meadow
Heavenly Father, You have promised to guide me, instruct me, and direct my steps. I need to hear Your voice, know Your will, sense Your guidance. I acknowledge You as the One who is wholly and uniquely able and qualified to lead and direct my life. I thank You that You have not asked me to try and figure everything out, to trust in my own reasoning, or to rely upon my understanding of what is best for me.
Father, I receive Your wisdom, knowing that every decision You make is the right decision and the one that is always the best that can be made. You do all things well! I trust in Your timing to bring into my life the right things at the right time, and to keep from me anything I am not ready to receive, no matter how good it may appear.
I believe that as You guide me I will find strength in Your grace, power in Your Spirit, assurance in Your Word, contentment in Your provision, fulfillment in Your purpose. I ask that You will open every door that needs to be opened and close every door that needs to be closed. Lead me and bring me into Your desired place. I want to walk each day with Your peace in my heart. Thank You, Father, that no matter what, I can put my complete trust in You.
Scriptures: Psalm 23:1, Psalm 25:5, Psalm 32:8, Psalm 51:6, Psalm 119:133, Proverbs 3:5-6, Ecclesiastics 3:11, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Acts 1:8, 1 Timothy 6:6, Colossians 3:15, 4:3, Revelation 3:8