Committed The SER Experience

This week we started a four part series based on The SER Experience, called Committed. We discussed Luke 9:23 which says this: (NIV)

²³Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

We talked about things in our lives that seem to get in the way, things we find are a higher priority than God. Some are even a higher priority than family or friends. We are told in Luke to deny ourselves. This was the name of your first weeks lesson Denial. You must first deny your self those things that get in the way. Those things that lose our focus on God. It isn't easy and it will take time and strength. But if you conquer them with the help of God you will grow closer to Him.

Our next weeks lesson will be titled: "On Your Knees!" This journey will help us get closer to understanding how to be committed to Christ and how to witness effectively in our culture.

The SER Experience was inspired by a young man who sacrificed his life helping others. He was committed to loving those around him and most importantly he loved God. This experience will be an amazing journey for those willing to commit. So check us out on Wednesday nights at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Riverside, Ca. We look forward to serving you.

Thomas

The Empty Void

Do you wish you had purpose? Do you struggle with a lonliness feeling inside? A deep void inside you that needs to be filled? Well I used to struggle with that when I was in Jr High. I struggled with the anger that consumed me. The lonliness of not fitting in with the more popular kids. The feeling of losing close childhood friends to a different clique. I started finding solace in the darkness. I saw the light but felt it didn't give me what I needed. I felt it had abandoned me in my most needed time. I felt that God had left me in the desert of life, without water or shelter.

Many of you feel this too. Many of you feel a huge hole in your life and try to fill it with worldly success. Some push themselves to sports, others to money and still some to power. These things become our god. They consume us. We spend our lives chasing the next best thing. Then there is that time when we start to feel alone and lost. Some how that hole in our soul that we have been trying to fill with our worldly pursuits can not be filled by those things. We then feel that we have no purpose in life. We strive to fit new things into that hole. We find drugs, sex and alcohol. But then we are addicted and overcome by this new god. We can't get ourselves out and then the true lonliness sets in.

How are we to overcome this? What is our true purpose? How do our lives get so messed up so quickly? Why are we so alone? I struggled with those feeling so many years ago. I had put so much anger in my heart for my circumstances that I started to fill my God shaped void with items that wouldn't fit. I wanted to be popular and cool. I wondered why God wouldn't give me the things I so desperately wanted. Why God would keep me in an abusive home. Why God wouldn't let me live with my father who loved me so much. Why I had to keep staying in a place where I felt so alone and unloved. I didn't understand it. So I looked for other ways to feel my void.

After high school I started selling drugs and doing drugs. I started partying and then I started to focus on making money. All these things didn't make me feel any better. They just kept getting me in to trouble. I felt guilty, I felt even more alone. Most of the friends I had during that time never really cared fo me. A few stole from me. But not one filled my void.

I remember going to this building one night. The preacher came out in shorts and a ball cap. I had never been to church like that. But that night I found something out. For most of my life I had been the one abandoning God. I had been running from Him. I was scared to finally admit that my anger came from myself. That my void could only be filled by the one true GOD. I surrendered that night. What a feeling that washed over me. My problems stilled existed. They didn't just vanish, but something did. My guilt, my shame the darkness finally came off. I was alive. I finally didn't feel alone anymore.

Today I still struggle with feeling God in my life. I struggle with understanding God's will. But now I do it knowing that He has my best interest at hand. He wants the best for me. Yeah I still struggle and feel alone. But I get to come back to Him and I get to walk next to Him. I only feel alone for as long as it takes for me to ask Him to hold me.

I hope that you can understand these things. Those feelings are normal. We all feel alone once in a while. I don't begin to understand how God works. I just know that He does work for me. You may be struggling with a void in your life. You may be struggling with a hurt or a pain. You may be running. But that night at that church I realized He is standing right there just waiting for you to ask Him to hold you.

Jeremiah 29:11 says this:
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

So even before Jesus came God promised us this. What other religion or what other god can boast that promise. God gave us the hope through Jesus Christ. If only we are to believe in Him can we be saved from the death of sin. How easy, yet how hard to do. Most of my issues stem from pride. I keep thinking I can save myself. I can give myself peace. I don't need anyone to help me. But that only brings me to death.

My hope for you is to understand that the feelings of hopelessness are human. But the feelings of hope are divine. God Bless you today. Remember you are never alone.

Thomas

Hating Myself

Romans 14-16 I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.


These words echo my own life. I struggle with wanting to do what is right. But I fall on my face almost everyday doing what is wrong. Sin is so tempting and easy that you get hooked on the high of sinning. Thus creating a huge addiction to recreating the high. I remember when I first smoked Marijuana, it was an awesome feeling. The only thing is that I spent the rest of my time smoking weed chasing that feeling again. Sin feels great the first time you do it. But after you start getting numb to it and the rush isn't the same. I get addicted to wanting that feeling again.

I have struggled with sinning since I was born. I struggle daily with it. I am defeated by it constantly. I let it over take me to crush me to pieces. It consumes my very being. I get lost. I get numb and then I start forgetting what really matters. I get farther from the voice inside me. The one that says "Don't Fear, I am here." The voice that is so inviting and innocent. The voice that sounds like a mountain stream on a hot day. The voice that belongs to Jesus.

He calls me to Him. He tells me that I am forgiven. That He has overcome my sins. That I don't have to be a slave to them anymore. I am free in Him.

Yet my body still yearns for the dark, muddy sinful waters. I yearn to do what is right yet I keep falling flat on my face. By grace when I look up, I am staring into my Saviours face.

Jesus takes me in His arms and tells me I am alright. This feeling is so much more powerful than any drug or sin I have ever experienced. It lasts as long as I am near Him. Only when I choose to go after that fleeting feeling do I lose that Joy that Jesus gives.

What an awesome God we have that allows us to choose Him. That gives us free choice to turn from Him and follow our sinful desires or to crawl up into His arms and find sanctuary and rest.

I am so tired of falling on my face. Are you? God sent His Son Jesus to take our sin from us. To give us the opportunity to crawl into His arms. He forgives you, do you forgive you?

When I read those verses I am reminded that one of the most respected biblical scholars and apostles is just as weak as I am when it comes to sin.

It says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But that through Christ we can be saved. This gives me hope to know that every time I fall down, He will pick me up.

Let God pick you up this week as we discover forgiveness. Pray that God can help you forgive and be forgiven. You are going to fall down but don't forget that the voice keeps calling even if you think you can't hear it. It is never too late to start over. There isn't a maximum number of do over's. Just learn from the mistake and find life change.

I love you all and pray that God will teach you that He alone saves.

T

Daily Struggles

Daily struggles with our faith are normal. Don't feel like you are a loser cause you can't remember to pray every day or better yet at least once a week. You are in the same boat as most of us. I even struggle with my time with God. It is so easier to watch TV or play a video game than to get deep in my bible or prayer time. God seems to go farther down on my priority list all the time.

You don't have to feel like a failure cause you don't have good habits. You can change habits over time. I personally have been trying to start a in home bible study with my wife and kids for over three years. Every time we start we quit. If I were to keep blaming myself and giving up I will never succeed. Now I try to make sure I first read the word and then move to the next step of getting my family involved in the process.

Here is what I suggest: Read one verse a day. I think Proverbs is good cause there are 31 chapters. You could take a chapter a day and then if you miss you can pick up on the chapter that is the same as the day you are on. Pray for 5 minutes a day. In the shower is good as you won't be distracted and you can enjoy the hot water for a bit. Whatever you choose as your way to go good habits, know this: BABY STEPS. Don't try to be a theological scholar overnight. It takes time to establish good strong habits.

What you start today will help you for the future. The bible says we are to study the word to be able to answer to what we believe. I encourage you to not give up and take it one step at a time.

T

Lighting Up The Fog

I recently had an interview with a local Rescue Mission. While preparing myself for the interview I happened across a blog from the CEO. In it he talked about a fog. I was much impressed and touched by his illustration of how the fog comes into our lives and how some of us can't cope with it or overcome it.

So many of us struggle with finding our way in the fog. That feeling of loneliness can overwhelm us. I have talked before about feeling alone and that God abides in us if we choose to have Him in our lives. But what about your friends who don't know God. What can we do for them?

God has given us a command to go out and find the lost in the fog. But you are probably asking yourself: How can I go out and find someone in the fog when I am lost in it myself? Well you have one thing that an unbeliever doesn't have, Jesus Christ our Lighthouse. When I am feeling overwhelmed by the fog I spend time in prayer, seeking out the light. When I feel the most desperate I seek out my Redeemer, Jesus Christ in prayer. Prayer is a great way to seek out the Light. Jesus has promised to never forsake us. He has promised to guide us through the fog of our lives.

You would think that He would just remove the fog. But then you wouldn't need His will. His will is what He has prepared for you in advance. He has the path all laid out. You just have to trust Him on where you are going. I know I spent a lot of time in my life fighting Him. I lost out on some pretty awesome opportunities because I thought I could navigate my way through the fog better than Him. Here I am in the dark and the Lighthouse, who can see my path and is there to keep me from harm, is lighting my path yet I still go out to struggle and fall.

We are so stupid sometimes, so arrogant. We believe we know better than the Lighthouse. Could you imagine if a cruise liner captain with a boat full of people were to have that much pride. Especially if you or loved ones were on the boat. If that captain decided he didn't need to follow the lighthouse or foghorn warnings and steer his boat any where he wanted to go. I can bet you he would run a ground and sink that boat. Well it is the same with our lives. Jesus has given us the chance to have a personal Lighthouse and better yet GPS!!! Can you imagine what adventures and lifestyle you would have if you completely surrendered to JESUS?!?

Why do we choose to struggle in the fog? Why do we choose to ignore our Redeemer, King, Father? To make it through with out bumps, bruises, cuts or broken bones, we must follow the Light.

Pray this week that Jesus can show you how awesome following His beacon can be. Pray this week that Jesus reveals how lost your friends are to you. Pray this week that you have an opportunity to reveal the Light to others. I will pray for you that He shines brightly for you.

Pastor Thomas

Pondo 09

Camp is coming fast and furious. You need to get a $50 deposit to Pastor Thomas ASAP if you want to go this year. Deadline for comitting and getting a discount price is fast approaching. If you would like to give a scholarship to those is need please let me know as well. Pondo was awesome last year and we saw some great changes. This year will be no different and is a great time for teens to meet new people and get the word of God by some amazing staff. If you would like to be a part of this please contact me asap.

Thomas

A New Year Approach

As a New Year begins we have switched focus on a new chapter at Revo Student Ministries. With our Vision complete, (Revo Student Minstries is striving to become the most Relational, Enduring, Veritable and Over the top student focused ministry in it's area.) To accomplish this we will slowly be starting to intregrate an amazing Purpose statement to define us. We will be switchin our style to a more Purpose Driven Youth Minstry to streamline and keep us on track with our goals.

As we started out this New Year we have begun a Journey to understand, define and give tools to our sexuality. This series will delve into the facts on what God intended sex for, how we as followers of Christ can protect ourselves and how awesome sex can be if done in a Godly manner. So far this series has given even me some new insights into how powerful, beautiful and Godly sex can be. We encourage parents to drop in on our open sessions. Do ask that they give their teens some privacy on our break out days, so they can feel comfortable enough to ask questions. If you would like to recieve any of the material from the series please see Pastor Thomas.

2008 was a very rocky road for alot of people. I personally struggled with my finances, job, marriage, parenthood and my walk. It was a year that we say gas prices soar out of control and then tumble just as fast. Uncertainty at any level is very uncomforatble but this is when God works His best. Lets learn from our struggles and move to a new and exciting year for Revo Student Minstries.

I challenge each and everyone of you to pick up your cross daily and seek the prize for which we are working towards. It only takes one step at a time to get there. You don't have to drive a plane. Break your struggles down to little obstacles and let God help you over them. He has been showing me this in my life as I start towards gaining new employment and as I reorganize our ministry. God is in control if we like it or not. We just need to get on the bus and let Him drive.

I look forward to this next year with you all. Remember I am always here for you whenever you need to talk, cry, scream or eat. I love each of you and pray as often as I can for you.

God Bless,

Pastor Thomas