Student Takeover
So guys, welcome to Student takeover. My name is Derek. I'm the student pastor here. I oversee revival. So that's sixth to 12th grade. Aaron introduced himself earlier. Aaron oversees movement, which is our college young adults ministry for ages 18 to 25 it's amazing. But guys, today is just a sneak peek into what God is doing in students. And if you don't know already, God is doing something significant in this younger generation, not just here. We've seen, I've talked to a lot of youth pastors from a lot of places, and this is just a really special and significant season for what God is doing in the lives of young people. There's a hunger, there's a desperation. And we believe that's not just for this generation. We believe that it's for all generations. And what we get to do today is just kind of give a sneak peek into what he's doing and a couple specific students, but Aaron's going to set us up kind of with what we've been praying around our students, what we wanted to set you guys up with before we invite this panel up to the stage? Yeah,absolutely. And the thing today, all of it stems out of, like we said earlier, is we want to show that the same God that meets us here and the same fruit that's being produced here is being produced in revival night. It's being produced at movement. And it really all stems from we were praying around it, and this verse kept popping up. It's Colossians, chapter one, verse six, and it says, this the same good news that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it has changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace. We're here to show you guys that the same word that's being here on a Sunday morning at Mercy City is the same word that's being produced at revival at movement, and it's bearing fruit in students' lives. It's coming through in movement nights, revival nights, we talked about it. AJ did a great job of explaining our on campus efforts. We are seeing fruit, not only in people who are directly connected to Mercy city, but even those on the fringe and on the outside within our city. It's incredible to see. Soit's that phrase. It's bearing fruit by changing lives everywhere the Gospel goes. The fruit of the gospel going forward is lives changing and transforming. And my favorite part about being in student ministry is seeing lives transformed, not just students lives, but seeing parents lives, families, lives. I know that there are some of some of you in some of our rooms who are here because there has been life change that's happened in your teenager, that's happened in your kids and and I think that's so significant. When young people's lives change, their families lives change, and something that's been really cool, that's been happening all over Lincoln, Seward, everywhere that we have students, is we encourage some of our students at the beginning of the year to go to their schools 15 minutes early and to pray at their flag poles before school, literally just for 15 minutes, not anything crazy. Anybody can be at school 15 minutes before school. And what we've seen is, like, when you give like a like, kind of like a slow pitch, they'll go for it. And a couple of my favorite moments from that Ethan quake and Bush, who we meet in just a few minutes, he started praying at Lincoln southeast by himself, and was praying at the flagpole all week. There was, I think, two people at the end of the week. At the end of the next week, there were 20 people that were praying with him. And mind you, there's like four people from southeast that actually come to revival, so the rest of y'all 20, if you're in this room, if you hear this somewhere, come hang out with us at revival. It'll be amazing. But also, there was a group of East who was praying, and a mom, while she was dropping off her students, literally just came up said, Hey, thank you for what you're doing. Can I pray with you? And so there's parents that are joining students, and we want to say it's like, what God is doing in this younger generation is it's contagious. It's not just for this generation. And we wanted to give you a peek into it so that all of us can be built up today, so that all of us can be encouraged and go forward. So so Aaron's going to pray for us, and as Aaron prays for us, our panel is going to come up and join us, and we are going to get going. Y'all ready. Come on, let'sgo. Father God, we just thank you for this morning. We thank you for the opportunity to be here in your house. God, to hear what your Spirit is doing in the lives of young people. Father God, I pray that today, Lord, we don't check out, but Father, we lean into what you're saying and doing in our students lives. Father, let us see what you're doing and see how we can be a part of it in producing the next generation of people who are going to shake the earth because of your spirit. So, Father God, we thank you. We love you. We give you all praise and honor and adoration, and we pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen Amen. Let's go.
Amen Amen. Well, guys, why don't you help us? Welcome this panel up here with us, so they are going to introduce themselves. I'm gonna give them a different prompt than I gave them in first service to keep them on their toes, keep them thinking. So they are all going to share their name, their age, where they go to school, either high school or college. And then they're going to share their favorite ice cream topping. You. Flavor topping, because toppings are where it's at. So kick us off hereAll right. My name is gore. I serve on the revival team, and I go to Mercy City College, ao, and my favorite ice cream topping is gonna be Oreo.
Any Oreo lovers in the house, let's go. Okay, good.
Okay, I'm Amelia. I'm a revival student, and I'm a sophomore at Raymond Central. My favorite is ice cream topping, cookie dough all the way.
We're not straying far from the cookies here yet, but we'll see. My name is Ethan quake and bush. I'm 17. I go to southeast High School, and I would say Carmel is my
Carmel? Okay,
I'm Sammy. I serve on the movement team, and I go to Nebraska, Wesleyan, and my favorite ice cream topping has got to be peanut butter cups.
Peanut Butter Cups. Okay, okay, Aaron, what's your favorite ice cream topping?
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna break against the grain here. It's not really a topping. I love finding brownie in my ice cream, like when you get to the bottom of that Freddy's. What is it called? The the concrete, there's just brownies, bro, that's fair. What's yours? Derek, come
on, this is a dark horse. I love gummy bears on my ice cream. Yes, I love it. Yes, it makes them a little extra chewy. Yeah, just oh, it's fantastic. Y'all, y'all, are haters. All right, everybody's rolling their eyes. Rolling their eyes. If you've never tried it, try it. You might break a tooth. I don't know, but it's worth it. How about
sprinkles? Anybody in the room? Sprinkles fan, come on, keep it simple, right? Okay, a couple
sprinkles folks in the room. All right, all right. We are going to get into this real quick. So quickly, what everybody up here is going to do is they are going to share briefly, basically, their testimony. They're going to share who they were before they met Jesus, how they encountered God in a way that changed their lives, and how their life has been since then. The things that have changed since we're kind of limited on time. I really encourage these guys at the beginning with who you were before Jesus, just highlight like, some of the things that you were feeling, some of the like, maybe like, highlight one or two struggle areas. And what I want to encourage all of us in this room as we're listening to these students, sharing as they share, if you can identify with some something that they're going through, maybe you're still in that point. Now, here's, here's what we want to do today, build your faith. Because if God can do what he's done in these young people, he can do it in you. So this is not just hey, look and celebrate all that God's done in someone else. We're really believing that today is going to be an impartation of faith, where what God is doing in this generation is going to stir us, whether you're a part of this generation or not, to move forward into all that God has for you. So Gore's going to kick us off. He's going to share a little bit of his story, and we're going to go,come on. Alright. Yup, like I said, my name is Gore, and I go to Mercy City College. But that wasn't always the fact. Actually, I went to UNL for my first two years of college. And my faith journey kind of started way back. I always went to church, but I was, I was the lukewarm Christian. I didn't really lean in. I just went to church to check off the box, you know. And I got to college, and I had the dream job. I was working in videography, which is just something I love to do, and it wasn't enough for me, and I was constantly seeking more. And I just ended up being in this, this dark spot. And I just really related with Psalm 40, where it says that I was in the pit of despair, because I felt like I was at my lowest low. And while I was in my lowest low, I felt like I was just in this deep pit. And I looked up, and there God was, and he pulled me out of that pit. And so the feelings of depression and fear for what other people thought of me, and anxiety that that went away because I decided to put my faith into what God had for me.Come on, so good gore. Um,
so before I really had a relationship with Jesus, um, I just found myself like going through the motions, but like on Sunday, it was a really high high, but then I'd go back on a Monday, and I was back to my low spot, and I was just really sad and lonely on the inside, but I covered that with a lot of anger, and it was just like I would do so many things that would like I was just trying to fill the hole in My heart with just things that were temporary, but yeah, motion 2023 I was just so desperate for something that would like truly satisfy my heart instead of just temporarily. So yeah, I was just crying out to the Lord, and he met me there at my lowest. And ever since then, I've just. This, like, like, just, it's kind of confusing sometimes, just because it's like, Lord, like, Why do you give me this? Like, I've done so much, but like he's given me such a peace and a joy and just like a love in my heart. And like, even when those emotions do try to come back, I know that I have a relationship with the Lord and that I can go back and surrender those again and again, and he just continues to meet me wherever I'm at in that place.So good, so good. Ethan, what about you? Man, um,
before I met Jesus, I would say I was depressed, I was anxious, I had addictions, um, I had anxiety, I had anger issues. Ethan was any negative word, and that was me, um, and I also had suicidal like attempts and thoughts, and that's actually where God met me. I was on a walk just, you know, probably what you think I'm just going to end it because I I thought I had nothing, nothing to live for. Nothing was going my way. But while I was walking, I got a call from my mother, and at the time, she couldn't be around because of legal stuff and and she says, I need, I need to come get you. And I'm like, oh, you can't do that. And then she said, I need, I need to see my son. And that just like, hit me. Of like, Well, okay, someone, someone cares, someone cares. And I just, I just need to be with my family. But I realized is that that was God speaking, that God needs to see me as his son. And all the negative things that were me, they're not going to be me anymore. The addictions are gone, the the fear is gone, the anxiety is gone, and and I just gave my life to Jesus, and I started going to church, and four months after church, I got baptized. May 20. May 28 2023 and I'm I have I have peace, I got joy. I mean, I always got a smile on my face somehow, Grace of God. And that's just, I just, this is amazing. So far, no no suicide attempts, no thoughts. It's a loving, peaceful life. Though,so good, so good.
So before I truly met Jesus, I was just really struggling with just being sad all the time and a lot of anxiety. And I just like had a moment where I decided to go to church for the first time in years, and as I was in that church, the sermon really hit on sticking through it. And I was at a different college at the time, and I was having a really hard time between the coaches and my other players, like all that, and I just, he just said, stick through it. And I finished out that season, but decided to leave, and it was the best decision in my life, because I came to Nebraska Wesley and found a friend that invited me to Bible study. And that's when I, like truly, started getting into the Word, and through that word, I met Jesus. He was meeting me in every single moment that I had after that. And so now I'm able to walk in a lot of joy, because it's not dependent on the situation that you're in. It's dependent on the fact that I have Jesus in my life, and I also am just able to like love on everybody, because, as it says in John 316 For God so loved the world. He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Anyone who believes in Him has eternal life. So that's it. Oh, let's go. So good. So close. Good.
Something that I just want to highlight that's been the theme, a theme for the both of you is just the idea of sticking through it like, like, sticking it out, like, Hey, keep going. What I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, there are probably people in all of our rooms who are at the point we're saying, Is this even worth it? Is it even worth it to keep showing up? Is it even worth it to keep doing what I'm doing? What would you say to someone in that situation, in that circumstance today, who might have the opportunity to encounter Jesus in a real way that can change everything? What would you say to them? One thing that I absolutely learned through that whole time is that on the other side of a storm, there's always going to be rainbows. And whenever it rains, it's going to bloom flowers like, and as it says in Scripture all the time, like God gave us the rainbow as a promise to never flood the earth again. And so whenever I see a rainbow, I'm like, wow, that's God promising like, Yes, I was through a hard time, but also he's promising me never to put me through that again, because I've learned, come on,
come on. So good, Sammy,
man, so good. So So Sammy, talk to me a little bit about, obviously, you talked about your friend kind of inviting you into the Bible study, and then now you're getting connected to movement and serving and everything. But how has your life really grown or changed since being connected to movement? And then on top of that, add, what would you say to somebody who's currently not connected to an age specific ministry? What would you say to them? Yeah, so I was a student athlete. I just finished my last year of softball, and I can't play anymore, and it wasn't due to. My own decision. It was just me being out of eligibility, and I see all these other people being able to play against their covid years, and it just really hurts my heart. And once the season ended, I was just truly lost. I had nowhere to go, like I didn't know where to go. And then my friend just kept inviting me and inviting me, inviting me to movement, and I finally went. All it takes is one time, in case you're wondering, and I went, and I just walked up, and within the first like two seconds of me walking up, I had somebody like, asking me how my day was, asking me who I am, like just trying to connect with me, which is so amazing, because you don't get that a lot of places. And I found that as I kept showing up and I kept meeting more and more people, that I found more and more people that just love me and like, it's not anything that I had to fight for, it's not anything I had to prove, which in like college athletics, like I just felt like I always had to be good. I always had to be perfect, and if I messed up, then like, the coach wasn't gonna like me, or my teammates are going to get mad at me and all that. But here, if I mess up at movement, or if I mess up in life, like I have people around me that will encourage me, and I know that they're going to love me, because Jesus loves them the way that he loves everyone. So I would just really encourage anyone who's just like a little bit lost, anybody who's been getting invited to just come that one time, all it takes is one time and you're going to just have a family for the rest of your life.Oh, man, I love that. Ethan, talk to me a little bit about, you know, obviously being coming and hearing from the Lord, you're my son. How does that translate into now that you're in revival? What does that look like? Of how your life has changed since joining revival,
since joining revival, it's been amazing. It's like, changed my life. I would say the main thing is being able to serve on Revival. Like I get a I get a set an atmosphere for all the students that come in. And it's just like, it's actually a privilege. It's a it's a blessing that I actually get to do this for everyone. Like I was just in chapel, and just seeing that I get to turn on the lights for him, and just makes it, makes my day. And that's what I get for do for all the students. This is amazing, you know.
So you might have what you might have missed right there, that Ethan just said, he said, When I was in chapel, I was getting Ethan, he serves on lights. So he does the lights for the stage. Today, before he got up here on stage, he was upstairs in chapel serving on lights, because he loves serving so much. And here's the thing we say all the time, okay, the people that are in front of house who are moving faders like you're not just doing you're worshiping. It's an extension of worship. And Ethan apologized for this last service before he realized that he didn't need to apologize for it. Every single run through on Sunday night, he's not doing the lights at all like he's, you know, we're supposed to be running through it like he's literally just on the ground praying for the people who are going to be there. And what I want to say is, man, I honor you for the way you serve. But he's gotten a revelation of praise and worship, not through being in the front row, but through being in the back of the room, serving, putting his hand to something, understanding that someone's life is going to change because of the atmosphere that's being created. Man, I honor you for that. It's a big deal so good. Can
we give it up for Ethan one more time? Come on.
Let's start awesome,
guys. Awesome. God Amelia, talk to me. Talk to me. A little bit about since you know you, your life has changed with with becoming connected at revival. What? What has changed in your life? How does it look like to be connected to community? And honestly, what would you say to somebody who's not currently connected to revival?Um, before I came to revival, I was in a lot of friendships that just weren't the best. I was kind of living a double life, like I'd be one person on Sunday and then I'd be back at school with those people on a Monday, just gossiping, making fun of people, everything you can imagine. I was doing that with my friends because I wanted to impress him, and I wanted to get their approval so I could feel satisfied as a person. But just as I've gotten connected to revival, the Lord's given me specific friends who encourage me, who are also pursuing the Lord just like I am, but also like, don't give me the easy way out when I'm struggling, like they tell me what I don't want to hear, and in the moment it's so annoying, I'm like, stop like, just tell me the easy thing to do. But like, looking back, like, those friends have, like, truly, like, drawn me close to the Lord, and like, have always been there to support me, and also, like, the Lord's really shown me, like, like leadership while I got connected to revival, like he showed me that, like I'm called to lead other people to Jesus. And like he's done something in my life, and like other people need to hear that, which is just like, so cool. So yeah, he's done a lot in me,on the on that leadership note, something I shared last service, we had a our first ever leadership city group that we. Ever did for young people. We did about three years ago. Amelia had just finished her sixth grade year, and we opened our city, that city group, to, I said, Anyone who wants to join. And so we had a bunch of juniors and seniors, and we had Amelia. And so this little, like, just going into seventh grade, and then you've got, you know, it was, it was hilarious, really. And I went in really nervous, like, Oh my gosh. Like, I hope she just doesn't feel intimidated. The whole time, Amelia led the whole thing. Like, literally every question she was the first to answer, she always led with vulnerability. So before we move on, Amelia, what do you do? Because I'm sure all of us have been in situations where it's been intimidating to live out our faith, where it's been intimidating to proclaim the name of Jesus, where it's been intimidating and scary to be vulnerable about what's really going on in our life. How did you get there so quickly, and what would you encourage everyone in this room of how to get there?So I guess before I really knew I should be a leader and really walked that out, I like, disqualified myself a lot. I was just like, I can't do that. This has happened in my family, whatever, whatever, anything you can imagine. I said I couldn't do it because of that, but I've just really prayed for a confidence and a boldness from the Lord, and knowing that that's like eternal and that's not gonna fail, has just really empowered me. And knowing, just like, when I come to revival, like, like, the Holy Spirit is just there. And like, obviously, it's not only at revival, like, it's in my bedroom, it's at my school, whatever it is. But like, just like, the spirit of like, love is just like, so strong. They're like, I just love everyone and everything when I'm about at revival specifically. And it's just like, like, wanting other people to feel that, like, just enormous, like little like hug from Jesus when they're at revival. Like, that's what I want other people to feel because I know what it feels like to be really low, and now that I know Jesus, I know what it feels like to be really high and be stable in that.So good, so good. Awesome. Gore.
Gore. You were, you were talking to us about man. God met you in the pit. He met you right there in the midst of it, and then brought you out of that. What, what's been, what's some of the biggest changes that you would say after getting connected to movement, God meeting you there. What's the biggest differences, you would say, and how has your life
changed? I started praying. Come on, yeah, um, prayer was like, I I'm this isn't even like, I know. We just finished a series on prayer, guys. Prayer changed my life. Literally. I was praying for friends. I was praying for people to come into my life that that love the Lord, that we're going to be aligned to what he wanted, and that we're going to help me be aligned to what God wanted. What God wanted, and and the Lord delivered, you know, like God is going to deliver, he, he promises to deliver. You ask, and you will receive Amen. And I ask for friends, and I receive friends, you know. And people say, show me your friends, and I'll show you your future, man, at some point, I was trying to find friends that would help me to have a successful future, and now I've seen that the friends that I have aren't to help me have a successful future. My friends that I have are to help me find Jesus. You know, so, so show me. So if I show you my friends, my future isn't going to be multi millionaire Jesus. Name, please, multi millionaire, whatever. Like, my future is going to be Jesus. My future is going to be the things of Jesus, the things of God, the things that God wants for me. And that's what I found in movement, and that's what I found with the people at revival. I don't just hang out with my 20 something your old friends, I hang out with my revival boys, I hang out with my young life boys here like I hang out. I hang out with people that are younger than me. I hang out people that are older than me. Because there's, there's just strong bonds in community. We're not called to do life alone.
Man, so good. Come on. What a beautiful transition to kind of this last piece of our 45 second speed round. What piece of helpful advice or guidance Have you received from your parents or grandparents' generation, the generation that went before you that you would like to encourage those of us in the room with what's that generation done for you that's encouraged you that you just want to see more of in the world?Yeah, so if you can't tell I love the Yap. I'm a talker, and I love stories. So the biggest, like, the best thing that's ever helped me is just hearing stories from the generation that came before me, from the older people. I'm going to read it from here. I'm praying for supernatural scripture memorization in Jesus, name, Revelation, 1211, in the message, translation says they defeated him through the blood of the lamb and the bold word of their witness. They weren't in love with themselves. They were willing to die for Christ. And we just live in a in a world right now where young people are so in love with Jesus, and they just want everything to do with Jesus. And. Just, I just wonder what the world would look like if all the generations came together and wanted all the things of Jesus, you know? What if? What if we were sharing our stories to kids in elementary school and they were getting saved at 12 instead of being lost and in a pit at their 20 Psalms, at their 30 Psalms. You know? What if? What if kids in elementary school were being saved at that age and being baptized at that age, instead of having to wait until they're at their lowest low. So I just, I just believe that we're going to be people that share our stories, and we're going to be people that go out and make disciples of all nations, because that's just what we're commanded to do. So good, so good.
For me, just like, like, if you've been at Mercy city, you've heard like from everybody like that, the Holy Spirit's not limited to your age, and that's been so powerful for me, because I've been told that so many times, like I said, when I disqualify myself, I know that no matter how young I am, I can still be bold and share Jesus with everyone. And just knowing that I have wisdom from the older generation, but also, like, we're called to have childlike faith. So like seeing older generations have that same fire in their heart, like teenagers have, like, is so cool to me. And just like seeing like that, like their encouragement, like, also burn a fire in me. And just like having conversations, because, like, the older generation has been a teenager before, like, it's not like they don't know, like what we're going through or like what we struggle with, like, they've been there before, which is so cool. And like seeing how, like, that fire in their heart that lit whatever, like as a teenager, like, has carried them as old as I've been, I guess. And just like, yeah, just like, seeing that like, they still have that childlike faith. And it just encouraged me to like, encourages me to like, just keep pursuing the Lord. And like, like, no matter how young or how old I am, like, I just want to be praising Jesus. Come on, come on. Ethan, let's talk about it. Um, help.
I would say, is that older generation can ask for help, and I do the same and advice, something that I've learned is that I'm gonna get advice, I'm gonna learn and I'm gonna put it into my life. I led a group, and after they gave me advice, and I had a lot of like, pride, I was, like, very serious, and it took me a day to realize that they were actually helping me. It took me. It took me, like, 24 hours be like, hey, this ain't about me. This is about helping other people. It's about helping this other generation. So I was just say, ask for help for the whole generation. Ask for help the older generation. There's no age doesn't disqualify you for asking help. Man,
so good, so good, same.
So my advice is that people are people, and we all belong in the same community. And first, the Lopes this, yeah, the Solium, the sole, Thessalonians, we're getting there. We're getting there. Five, Verse 10. It says that He died for us, awake or asleep, um, to all live in the same community, and that means old or young, like we're all meant to be in the same community. We're all meant to interact with each other. And it doesn't matter who you are. So good, so good.
Come on. Can you guys? Can you give it up for these guys? I
so as we close one of the lines, we have a we have a declaration here as a church. And one of the lines in that it says we bridge every gap that separates the lost from the found. And I think so often we think of that through the lens of bridging the gap outside of the four walls of the church, but bridging gaps outside of the walls of the church begins with bridging gaps inside of the walls of the church. The reason that we're doing student takeover today isn't just to highlight all the amazing things that God is doing in a young generation. It's to bridge the gap between all generations. Because it's not lost on us that these guys aren't here. Their lives weren't created in a vacuum. The thing that's happening in their lives, the fruit that we're seeing in our student ministry, didn't happen just because all of the sudden God breathed on a generation. It's because of the faithfulness of the people who went before us. It's because of those who sowed seeds. It's because of our pastors, who are youth pastors, starting in 1999 and sowing seeds into the generation before them. It was because of their youth pastors. It was because of parents and grandparents who have faithfully stewarded the Word of God so that the phrase that's been on my heart that I just want to leave to all of you before Pastor Matt comes up and join us, joins us and closes us out, is, let's do this together. Those of you in the room who think that your voice might not hold weight to a young person anymore, I love what Ethan said is like, I want that. I didn't love the correction in the moment, but I realized 24 hours later, oh my gosh, they were trying to help me. I know exactly the moment that Ethan was talking about, and that was the turning point for his life. That was the point where Ethan was right here, and then his life just but it was because there were a couple people who went before him, who. Willing to not shy away from saying a couple hard things in love, speaking the truth in love, and he grabbed onto it. This is a generation that's hungry for truth, that's hungry for relationship, that's hungry for your voices. So we just want to say, let's do this together, and in whatever way this looks like, as you're praying over the next week. God, what can I do to sow into this next generation? But guys, let's give it up this panel one more time as they walk off, and let's welcome pastor Matt up here to close this out,everybody, you could stay up on your feet if you're already up. I just, I want to, I want to encourage, if you can, leave the lights up for a minute. I want to be able to see everybody's faces. That's okay. Throw you a little curveball. So I want to, I want to dispel a lie, if I can. And the lie, specifically, if you're older than 25 this is, this is a lie we begin to believe. Is when we reach a certain age, we're starting to age out, or phase out from having any kind of real impact or being fruitful. Okay, we live in a culture that we're all about our kids. We're all about our kids. We will go to the ends of the earth to make everything happen for our kids. We could possibly make happen, and that's fantastic, but the lie that comes with it is, when you're not a kid anymore, well, now you just have to pay for your kids to do whatever they want to do. See what I'm saying, and we do that, except for when it comes to faith, except for when it comes to faith. And so because of that, what we've begun to do is we've begun to be spectators, rather than participators, in our kids lives. And during first service, I was worshiping over here, and I felt like the Lord said to me, Matt spectation, without participation will only create separation. And the reason that we have separation between young people and old people, the reason that we as parents don't feel like our kids want to listen to anything that we say, or the reason that our kids feel like our the parents don't have anything to invest other than we'll give them a little money, but they really want time. We'll get we'll we'll drive them to this sporting event, but we won't give them any advice. You see what I'm saying? We won't, we won't help them avoid some of the pitfalls that we have fallen in ourselves, because we're believing a lie that we're separated. We don't have to be separated if will simply participate, not just spectate. Now I will say, I will say, I will say, it's not for you to get back on the field. It's not for you to get back on the court. It's not for you to get back and go back and act like you're 20 or 19 or 17 or whatever the case may be, but it is for you to stand closely on the sideline and cheer them on, and you're spectating, but you're participating at the same time. There's no separation. Do y'all hear what I'm saying? Psalm 92 says this, I love this scripture. I've preached it since the day we planted this church. 92 verse 12, says, but the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like leader, like cedars of Lebanon, for they are transplanted to the Lord's own house, and there they will flourish in the courts of our God, we say all the time, we exist to connect people to the heart and the house of God so that our lives will flourish. But here's verse 14 that I don't talk about as often says this, because even in old age, they will still produce fruit. They will remain vital and green. See, we live in a culture that's convinced us. You hit 40. Well, you're you're over the hill. 50, about to be washed up. 60, you gone. You know what I'm saying, and that's what I'm talking about. But here's the reality of the situation, you are only as old as the investment that you will, you will or will not make in the next generation. If you'll see your life as an opportunity to invest in the next generation, your fruitfulness will only multiply. See, when you were young, you could only do a handful of little things, but now that you're old and have wisdom, you have the opportunity to invest in a handful of people that can do a handful of things, and so your influence multiplies. See, this doesn't have to be a separation of generations. It can be a generation of participation. Okay, you don't have to, you don't have to just sit there and cheer. You can sit there and cheer. You can fire it up, but you can participate by putting your arm around so every one of these young people, I guarantee you, if you ask them, Hey, would you. Would you like to get coffee? You buy it. You say yes, and then they'll take it. Okay, y'all hear what I'm saying, and then they'll take it. Share your story. Listen to their story. Don't tell them what they should do. Tell them what you wish you would have done. Let them learn from your experiences. Don't control them, coach them. Y'all hear what I'm saying, and I believe that that's what we're called to in this season. This today was not about the students taking over. This today was about an opportunity for us to see what is God doing among all of us. We want to allow the Spirit of God to take over all of us as a generation. Listen, we know that many of you are here this morning for baptisms that are going to follow service going to begin at 1130 which we're so excited about. We believe this is an opportunity for people to make a next step of obedience in their faith. Okay, and this is a great opportunity for those of you who didn't plan on staying to maybe stick around, maybe stick around creating an opportunity to embrace or have an opportunity to speak into somebody from the next generation. Y'all ready? Come on. Let's be people who participate, not just spectate, sound good. Let's pray. And then we're going to end with some praise, Father, we love you. We're so grateful for the wonderful opportunity we have to be in your presence. We do not take it lightly. It's a big deal. So we pray today that we would see you for who you are, and we would respond in kind God bring us out of the seats onto the sidelines so that we can spectate and participate at the same time, creating no separation but faith in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Amen Amen. Well, guys, why don't you help us? Welcome this panel up here with us, so they are going to introduce themselves. I'm gonna give them a different prompt than I gave them in first service to keep them on their toes, keep them thinking. So they are all going to share their name, their age, where they go to school, either high school or college. And then they're going to share their favorite ice cream topping. You. Flavor topping, because toppings are where it's at. So kick us off hereAll right. My name is gore. I serve on the revival team, and I go to Mercy City College, ao, and my favorite ice cream topping is gonna be Oreo.
Any Oreo lovers in the house, let's go. Okay, good.
Okay, I'm Amelia. I'm a revival student, and I'm a sophomore at Raymond Central. My favorite is ice cream topping, cookie dough all the way.
We're not straying far from the cookies here yet, but we'll see. My name is Ethan quake and bush. I'm 17. I go to southeast High School, and I would say Carmel is my
Carmel? Okay,
I'm Sammy. I serve on the movement team, and I go to Nebraska, Wesleyan, and my favorite ice cream topping has got to be peanut butter cups.
Peanut Butter Cups. Okay, okay, Aaron, what's your favorite ice cream topping?
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna break against the grain here. It's not really a topping. I love finding brownie in my ice cream, like when you get to the bottom of that Freddy's. What is it called? The the concrete, there's just brownies, bro, that's fair. What's yours? Derek, come
on, this is a dark horse. I love gummy bears on my ice cream. Yes, I love it. Yes, it makes them a little extra chewy. Yeah, just oh, it's fantastic. Y'all, y'all, are haters. All right, everybody's rolling their eyes. Rolling their eyes. If you've never tried it, try it. You might break a tooth. I don't know, but it's worth it. How about
sprinkles? Anybody in the room? Sprinkles fan, come on, keep it simple, right? Okay, a couple
sprinkles folks in the room. All right, all right. We are going to get into this real quick. So quickly, what everybody up here is going to do is they are going to share briefly, basically, their testimony. They're going to share who they were before they met Jesus, how they encountered God in a way that changed their lives, and how their life has been since then. The things that have changed since we're kind of limited on time. I really encourage these guys at the beginning with who you were before Jesus, just highlight like, some of the things that you were feeling, some of the like, maybe like, highlight one or two struggle areas. And what I want to encourage all of us in this room as we're listening to these students, sharing as they share, if you can identify with some something that they're going through, maybe you're still in that point. Now, here's, here's what we want to do today, build your faith. Because if God can do what he's done in these young people, he can do it in you. So this is not just hey, look and celebrate all that God's done in someone else. We're really believing that today is going to be an impartation of faith, where what God is doing in this generation is going to stir us, whether you're a part of this generation or not, to move forward into all that God has for you. So Gore's going to kick us off. He's going to share a little bit of his story, and we're going to go,come on. Alright. Yup, like I said, my name is Gore, and I go to Mercy City College. But that wasn't always the fact. Actually, I went to UNL for my first two years of college. And my faith journey kind of started way back. I always went to church, but I was, I was the lukewarm Christian. I didn't really lean in. I just went to church to check off the box, you know. And I got to college, and I had the dream job. I was working in videography, which is just something I love to do, and it wasn't enough for me, and I was constantly seeking more. And I just ended up being in this, this dark spot. And I just really related with Psalm 40, where it says that I was in the pit of despair, because I felt like I was at my lowest low. And while I was in my lowest low, I felt like I was just in this deep pit. And I looked up, and there God was, and he pulled me out of that pit. And so the feelings of depression and fear for what other people thought of me, and anxiety that that went away because I decided to put my faith into what God had for me.Come on, so good gore. Um,
so before I really had a relationship with Jesus, um, I just found myself like going through the motions, but like on Sunday, it was a really high high, but then I'd go back on a Monday, and I was back to my low spot, and I was just really sad and lonely on the inside, but I covered that with a lot of anger, and it was just like I would do so many things that would like I was just trying to fill the hole in My heart with just things that were temporary, but yeah, motion 2023 I was just so desperate for something that would like truly satisfy my heart instead of just temporarily. So yeah, I was just crying out to the Lord, and he met me there at my lowest. And ever since then, I've just. This, like, like, just, it's kind of confusing sometimes, just because it's like, Lord, like, Why do you give me this? Like, I've done so much, but like he's given me such a peace and a joy and just like a love in my heart. And like, even when those emotions do try to come back, I know that I have a relationship with the Lord and that I can go back and surrender those again and again, and he just continues to meet me wherever I'm at in that place.So good, so good. Ethan, what about you? Man, um,
before I met Jesus, I would say I was depressed, I was anxious, I had addictions, um, I had anxiety, I had anger issues. Ethan was any negative word, and that was me, um, and I also had suicidal like attempts and thoughts, and that's actually where God met me. I was on a walk just, you know, probably what you think I'm just going to end it because I I thought I had nothing, nothing to live for. Nothing was going my way. But while I was walking, I got a call from my mother, and at the time, she couldn't be around because of legal stuff and and she says, I need, I need to come get you. And I'm like, oh, you can't do that. And then she said, I need, I need to see my son. And that just like, hit me. Of like, Well, okay, someone, someone cares, someone cares. And I just, I just need to be with my family. But I realized is that that was God speaking, that God needs to see me as his son. And all the negative things that were me, they're not going to be me anymore. The addictions are gone, the the fear is gone, the anxiety is gone, and and I just gave my life to Jesus, and I started going to church, and four months after church, I got baptized. May 20. May 28 2023 and I'm I have I have peace, I got joy. I mean, I always got a smile on my face somehow, Grace of God. And that's just, I just, this is amazing. So far, no no suicide attempts, no thoughts. It's a loving, peaceful life. Though,so good, so good.
So before I truly met Jesus, I was just really struggling with just being sad all the time and a lot of anxiety. And I just like had a moment where I decided to go to church for the first time in years, and as I was in that church, the sermon really hit on sticking through it. And I was at a different college at the time, and I was having a really hard time between the coaches and my other players, like all that, and I just, he just said, stick through it. And I finished out that season, but decided to leave, and it was the best decision in my life, because I came to Nebraska Wesley and found a friend that invited me to Bible study. And that's when I, like truly, started getting into the Word, and through that word, I met Jesus. He was meeting me in every single moment that I had after that. And so now I'm able to walk in a lot of joy, because it's not dependent on the situation that you're in. It's dependent on the fact that I have Jesus in my life, and I also am just able to like love on everybody, because, as it says in John 316 For God so loved the world. He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Anyone who believes in Him has eternal life. So that's it. Oh, let's go. So good. So close. Good.
Something that I just want to highlight that's been the theme, a theme for the both of you is just the idea of sticking through it like, like, sticking it out, like, Hey, keep going. What I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, there are probably people in all of our rooms who are at the point we're saying, Is this even worth it? Is it even worth it to keep showing up? Is it even worth it to keep doing what I'm doing? What would you say to someone in that situation, in that circumstance today, who might have the opportunity to encounter Jesus in a real way that can change everything? What would you say to them? One thing that I absolutely learned through that whole time is that on the other side of a storm, there's always going to be rainbows. And whenever it rains, it's going to bloom flowers like, and as it says in Scripture all the time, like God gave us the rainbow as a promise to never flood the earth again. And so whenever I see a rainbow, I'm like, wow, that's God promising like, Yes, I was through a hard time, but also he's promising me never to put me through that again, because I've learned, come on,
come on. So good, Sammy,
man, so good. So So Sammy, talk to me a little bit about, obviously, you talked about your friend kind of inviting you into the Bible study, and then now you're getting connected to movement and serving and everything. But how has your life really grown or changed since being connected to movement? And then on top of that, add, what would you say to somebody who's currently not connected to an age specific ministry? What would you say to them? Yeah, so I was a student athlete. I just finished my last year of softball, and I can't play anymore, and it wasn't due to. My own decision. It was just me being out of eligibility, and I see all these other people being able to play against their covid years, and it just really hurts my heart. And once the season ended, I was just truly lost. I had nowhere to go, like I didn't know where to go. And then my friend just kept inviting me and inviting me, inviting me to movement, and I finally went. All it takes is one time, in case you're wondering, and I went, and I just walked up, and within the first like two seconds of me walking up, I had somebody like, asking me how my day was, asking me who I am, like just trying to connect with me, which is so amazing, because you don't get that a lot of places. And I found that as I kept showing up and I kept meeting more and more people, that I found more and more people that just love me and like, it's not anything that I had to fight for, it's not anything I had to prove, which in like college athletics, like I just felt like I always had to be good. I always had to be perfect, and if I messed up, then like, the coach wasn't gonna like me, or my teammates are going to get mad at me and all that. But here, if I mess up at movement, or if I mess up in life, like I have people around me that will encourage me, and I know that they're going to love me, because Jesus loves them the way that he loves everyone. So I would just really encourage anyone who's just like a little bit lost, anybody who's been getting invited to just come that one time, all it takes is one time and you're going to just have a family for the rest of your life.Oh, man, I love that. Ethan, talk to me a little bit about, you know, obviously being coming and hearing from the Lord, you're my son. How does that translate into now that you're in revival? What does that look like? Of how your life has changed since joining revival,
since joining revival, it's been amazing. It's like, changed my life. I would say the main thing is being able to serve on Revival. Like I get a I get a set an atmosphere for all the students that come in. And it's just like, it's actually a privilege. It's a it's a blessing that I actually get to do this for everyone. Like I was just in chapel, and just seeing that I get to turn on the lights for him, and just makes it, makes my day. And that's what I get for do for all the students. This is amazing, you know.
So you might have what you might have missed right there, that Ethan just said, he said, When I was in chapel, I was getting Ethan, he serves on lights. So he does the lights for the stage. Today, before he got up here on stage, he was upstairs in chapel serving on lights, because he loves serving so much. And here's the thing we say all the time, okay, the people that are in front of house who are moving faders like you're not just doing you're worshiping. It's an extension of worship. And Ethan apologized for this last service before he realized that he didn't need to apologize for it. Every single run through on Sunday night, he's not doing the lights at all like he's, you know, we're supposed to be running through it like he's literally just on the ground praying for the people who are going to be there. And what I want to say is, man, I honor you for the way you serve. But he's gotten a revelation of praise and worship, not through being in the front row, but through being in the back of the room, serving, putting his hand to something, understanding that someone's life is going to change because of the atmosphere that's being created. Man, I honor you for that. It's a big deal so good. Can
we give it up for Ethan one more time? Come on.
Let's start awesome,
guys. Awesome. God Amelia, talk to me. Talk to me. A little bit about since you know you, your life has changed with with becoming connected at revival. What? What has changed in your life? How does it look like to be connected to community? And honestly, what would you say to somebody who's not currently connected to revival?Um, before I came to revival, I was in a lot of friendships that just weren't the best. I was kind of living a double life, like I'd be one person on Sunday and then I'd be back at school with those people on a Monday, just gossiping, making fun of people, everything you can imagine. I was doing that with my friends because I wanted to impress him, and I wanted to get their approval so I could feel satisfied as a person. But just as I've gotten connected to revival, the Lord's given me specific friends who encourage me, who are also pursuing the Lord just like I am, but also like, don't give me the easy way out when I'm struggling, like they tell me what I don't want to hear, and in the moment it's so annoying, I'm like, stop like, just tell me the easy thing to do. But like, looking back, like, those friends have, like, truly, like, drawn me close to the Lord, and like, have always been there to support me, and also, like, the Lord's really shown me, like, like leadership while I got connected to revival, like he showed me that, like I'm called to lead other people to Jesus. And like he's done something in my life, and like other people need to hear that, which is just like, so cool. So yeah, he's done a lot in me,on the on that leadership note, something I shared last service, we had a our first ever leadership city group that we. Ever did for young people. We did about three years ago. Amelia had just finished her sixth grade year, and we opened our city, that city group, to, I said, Anyone who wants to join. And so we had a bunch of juniors and seniors, and we had Amelia. And so this little, like, just going into seventh grade, and then you've got, you know, it was, it was hilarious, really. And I went in really nervous, like, Oh my gosh. Like, I hope she just doesn't feel intimidated. The whole time, Amelia led the whole thing. Like, literally every question she was the first to answer, she always led with vulnerability. So before we move on, Amelia, what do you do? Because I'm sure all of us have been in situations where it's been intimidating to live out our faith, where it's been intimidating to proclaim the name of Jesus, where it's been intimidating and scary to be vulnerable about what's really going on in our life. How did you get there so quickly, and what would you encourage everyone in this room of how to get there?So I guess before I really knew I should be a leader and really walked that out, I like, disqualified myself a lot. I was just like, I can't do that. This has happened in my family, whatever, whatever, anything you can imagine. I said I couldn't do it because of that, but I've just really prayed for a confidence and a boldness from the Lord, and knowing that that's like eternal and that's not gonna fail, has just really empowered me. And knowing, just like, when I come to revival, like, like, the Holy Spirit is just there. And like, obviously, it's not only at revival, like, it's in my bedroom, it's at my school, whatever it is. But like, just like, the spirit of like, love is just like, so strong. They're like, I just love everyone and everything when I'm about at revival specifically. And it's just like, like, wanting other people to feel that, like, just enormous, like little like hug from Jesus when they're at revival. Like, that's what I want other people to feel because I know what it feels like to be really low, and now that I know Jesus, I know what it feels like to be really high and be stable in that.So good, so good. Awesome. Gore.
Gore. You were, you were talking to us about man. God met you in the pit. He met you right there in the midst of it, and then brought you out of that. What, what's been, what's some of the biggest changes that you would say after getting connected to movement, God meeting you there. What's the biggest differences, you would say, and how has your life
changed? I started praying. Come on, yeah, um, prayer was like, I I'm this isn't even like, I know. We just finished a series on prayer, guys. Prayer changed my life. Literally. I was praying for friends. I was praying for people to come into my life that that love the Lord, that we're going to be aligned to what he wanted, and that we're going to help me be aligned to what God wanted. What God wanted, and and the Lord delivered, you know, like God is going to deliver, he, he promises to deliver. You ask, and you will receive Amen. And I ask for friends, and I receive friends, you know. And people say, show me your friends, and I'll show you your future, man, at some point, I was trying to find friends that would help me to have a successful future, and now I've seen that the friends that I have aren't to help me have a successful future. My friends that I have are to help me find Jesus. You know, so, so show me. So if I show you my friends, my future isn't going to be multi millionaire Jesus. Name, please, multi millionaire, whatever. Like, my future is going to be Jesus. My future is going to be the things of Jesus, the things of God, the things that God wants for me. And that's what I found in movement, and that's what I found with the people at revival. I don't just hang out with my 20 something your old friends, I hang out with my revival boys, I hang out with my young life boys here like I hang out. I hang out with people that are younger than me. I hang out people that are older than me. Because there's, there's just strong bonds in community. We're not called to do life alone.
Man, so good. Come on. What a beautiful transition to kind of this last piece of our 45 second speed round. What piece of helpful advice or guidance Have you received from your parents or grandparents' generation, the generation that went before you that you would like to encourage those of us in the room with what's that generation done for you that's encouraged you that you just want to see more of in the world?Yeah, so if you can't tell I love the Yap. I'm a talker, and I love stories. So the biggest, like, the best thing that's ever helped me is just hearing stories from the generation that came before me, from the older people. I'm going to read it from here. I'm praying for supernatural scripture memorization in Jesus, name, Revelation, 1211, in the message, translation says they defeated him through the blood of the lamb and the bold word of their witness. They weren't in love with themselves. They were willing to die for Christ. And we just live in a in a world right now where young people are so in love with Jesus, and they just want everything to do with Jesus. And. Just, I just wonder what the world would look like if all the generations came together and wanted all the things of Jesus, you know? What if? What if we were sharing our stories to kids in elementary school and they were getting saved at 12 instead of being lost and in a pit at their 20 Psalms, at their 30 Psalms. You know? What if? What if kids in elementary school were being saved at that age and being baptized at that age, instead of having to wait until they're at their lowest low. So I just, I just believe that we're going to be people that share our stories, and we're going to be people that go out and make disciples of all nations, because that's just what we're commanded to do. So good, so good.
For me, just like, like, if you've been at Mercy city, you've heard like from everybody like that, the Holy Spirit's not limited to your age, and that's been so powerful for me, because I've been told that so many times, like I said, when I disqualify myself, I know that no matter how young I am, I can still be bold and share Jesus with everyone. And just knowing that I have wisdom from the older generation, but also, like, we're called to have childlike faith. So like seeing older generations have that same fire in their heart, like teenagers have, like, is so cool to me. And just like seeing like that, like their encouragement, like, also burn a fire in me. And just like having conversations, because, like, the older generation has been a teenager before, like, it's not like they don't know, like what we're going through or like what we struggle with, like, they've been there before, which is so cool. And like seeing how, like, that fire in their heart that lit whatever, like as a teenager, like, has carried them as old as I've been, I guess. And just like, yeah, just like, seeing that like, they still have that childlike faith. And it just encouraged me to like, encourages me to like, just keep pursuing the Lord. And like, like, no matter how young or how old I am, like, I just want to be praising Jesus. Come on, come on. Ethan, let's talk about it. Um, help.
I would say, is that older generation can ask for help, and I do the same and advice, something that I've learned is that I'm gonna get advice, I'm gonna learn and I'm gonna put it into my life. I led a group, and after they gave me advice, and I had a lot of like, pride, I was, like, very serious, and it took me a day to realize that they were actually helping me. It took me. It took me, like, 24 hours be like, hey, this ain't about me. This is about helping other people. It's about helping this other generation. So I was just say, ask for help for the whole generation. Ask for help the older generation. There's no age doesn't disqualify you for asking help. Man,
so good, so good, same.
So my advice is that people are people, and we all belong in the same community. And first, the Lopes this, yeah, the Solium, the sole, Thessalonians, we're getting there. We're getting there. Five, Verse 10. It says that He died for us, awake or asleep, um, to all live in the same community, and that means old or young, like we're all meant to be in the same community. We're all meant to interact with each other. And it doesn't matter who you are. So good, so good.
Come on. Can you guys? Can you give it up for these guys? I
so as we close one of the lines, we have a we have a declaration here as a church. And one of the lines in that it says we bridge every gap that separates the lost from the found. And I think so often we think of that through the lens of bridging the gap outside of the four walls of the church, but bridging gaps outside of the walls of the church begins with bridging gaps inside of the walls of the church. The reason that we're doing student takeover today isn't just to highlight all the amazing things that God is doing in a young generation. It's to bridge the gap between all generations. Because it's not lost on us that these guys aren't here. Their lives weren't created in a vacuum. The thing that's happening in their lives, the fruit that we're seeing in our student ministry, didn't happen just because all of the sudden God breathed on a generation. It's because of the faithfulness of the people who went before us. It's because of those who sowed seeds. It's because of our pastors, who are youth pastors, starting in 1999 and sowing seeds into the generation before them. It was because of their youth pastors. It was because of parents and grandparents who have faithfully stewarded the Word of God so that the phrase that's been on my heart that I just want to leave to all of you before Pastor Matt comes up and join us, joins us and closes us out, is, let's do this together. Those of you in the room who think that your voice might not hold weight to a young person anymore, I love what Ethan said is like, I want that. I didn't love the correction in the moment, but I realized 24 hours later, oh my gosh, they were trying to help me. I know exactly the moment that Ethan was talking about, and that was the turning point for his life. That was the point where Ethan was right here, and then his life just but it was because there were a couple people who went before him, who. Willing to not shy away from saying a couple hard things in love, speaking the truth in love, and he grabbed onto it. This is a generation that's hungry for truth, that's hungry for relationship, that's hungry for your voices. So we just want to say, let's do this together, and in whatever way this looks like, as you're praying over the next week. God, what can I do to sow into this next generation? But guys, let's give it up this panel one more time as they walk off, and let's welcome pastor Matt up here to close this out,everybody, you could stay up on your feet if you're already up. I just, I want to, I want to encourage, if you can, leave the lights up for a minute. I want to be able to see everybody's faces. That's okay. Throw you a little curveball. So I want to, I want to dispel a lie, if I can. And the lie, specifically, if you're older than 25 this is, this is a lie we begin to believe. Is when we reach a certain age, we're starting to age out, or phase out from having any kind of real impact or being fruitful. Okay, we live in a culture that we're all about our kids. We're all about our kids. We will go to the ends of the earth to make everything happen for our kids. We could possibly make happen, and that's fantastic, but the lie that comes with it is, when you're not a kid anymore, well, now you just have to pay for your kids to do whatever they want to do. See what I'm saying, and we do that, except for when it comes to faith, except for when it comes to faith. And so because of that, what we've begun to do is we've begun to be spectators, rather than participators, in our kids lives. And during first service, I was worshiping over here, and I felt like the Lord said to me, Matt spectation, without participation will only create separation. And the reason that we have separation between young people and old people, the reason that we as parents don't feel like our kids want to listen to anything that we say, or the reason that our kids feel like our the parents don't have anything to invest other than we'll give them a little money, but they really want time. We'll get we'll we'll drive them to this sporting event, but we won't give them any advice. You see what I'm saying? We won't, we won't help them avoid some of the pitfalls that we have fallen in ourselves, because we're believing a lie that we're separated. We don't have to be separated if will simply participate, not just spectate. Now I will say, I will say, I will say, it's not for you to get back on the field. It's not for you to get back on the court. It's not for you to get back and go back and act like you're 20 or 19 or 17 or whatever the case may be, but it is for you to stand closely on the sideline and cheer them on, and you're spectating, but you're participating at the same time. There's no separation. Do y'all hear what I'm saying? Psalm 92 says this, I love this scripture. I've preached it since the day we planted this church. 92 verse 12, says, but the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like leader, like cedars of Lebanon, for they are transplanted to the Lord's own house, and there they will flourish in the courts of our God, we say all the time, we exist to connect people to the heart and the house of God so that our lives will flourish. But here's verse 14 that I don't talk about as often says this, because even in old age, they will still produce fruit. They will remain vital and green. See, we live in a culture that's convinced us. You hit 40. Well, you're you're over the hill. 50, about to be washed up. 60, you gone. You know what I'm saying, and that's what I'm talking about. But here's the reality of the situation, you are only as old as the investment that you will, you will or will not make in the next generation. If you'll see your life as an opportunity to invest in the next generation, your fruitfulness will only multiply. See, when you were young, you could only do a handful of little things, but now that you're old and have wisdom, you have the opportunity to invest in a handful of people that can do a handful of things, and so your influence multiplies. See, this doesn't have to be a separation of generations. It can be a generation of participation. Okay, you don't have to, you don't have to just sit there and cheer. You can sit there and cheer. You can fire it up, but you can participate by putting your arm around so every one of these young people, I guarantee you, if you ask them, Hey, would you. Would you like to get coffee? You buy it. You say yes, and then they'll take it. Okay, y'all hear what I'm saying, and then they'll take it. Share your story. Listen to their story. Don't tell them what they should do. Tell them what you wish you would have done. Let them learn from your experiences. Don't control them, coach them. Y'all hear what I'm saying, and I believe that that's what we're called to in this season. This today was not about the students taking over. This today was about an opportunity for us to see what is God doing among all of us. We want to allow the Spirit of God to take over all of us as a generation. Listen, we know that many of you are here this morning for baptisms that are going to follow service going to begin at 1130 which we're so excited about. We believe this is an opportunity for people to make a next step of obedience in their faith. Okay, and this is a great opportunity for those of you who didn't plan on staying to maybe stick around, maybe stick around creating an opportunity to embrace or have an opportunity to speak into somebody from the next generation. Y'all ready? Come on. Let's be people who participate, not just spectate, sound good. Let's pray. And then we're going to end with some praise, Father, we love you. We're so grateful for the wonderful opportunity we have to be in your presence. We do not take it lightly. It's a big deal. So we pray today that we would see you for who you are, and we would respond in kind God bring us out of the seats onto the sidelines so that we can spectate and participate at the same time, creating no separation but faith in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Posted in Student takeover, Youth, Youth ministry, Students, College age ministry, Revival, Movement, Generations, Colossians 1, Age Specific ministry, student panel discussion, mentorship, Jesus, Friends, God, Revelation 12, Testimony, Holy Spirit, Leaders, Youth Leaders, First Thessalonians 5, Generational gap
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