Straight Back In

After a short break to rest and recuperate we are delighted to announce that G.P.S will begin again THIS FRIDAY the 23^rd of January. After much prayer and guidance from our amazing God, our leadership team is excited and ready to commit our lives to the discipleship of the next generation. This year our goal is to see a shift in emphasis from a Friday night event to a life on life community. We would love to extend an invite to any and every high school student who feels lost, insecure, hurt, broken, confused or isolated. Come along and discover the only way to live a JOYFUL and FULFILLED life. We also invite anyone who is happy, excited, jovial and joyful and we will point you to the one who can make those feelings last forever!

Romans 8:18:

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Come and join us for an awesome year where God will be put first and we will follow him everywhere he leads us. We are here to pray FOR you and WITH you. We are here to bear your burdens with you, support you, laugh with you but most of all we are here to be your friends. We are beyond excited to love God, love people and make disciples.

 

Reign Over Me

Rain. Nothing emphasises human diversity better than rain. As the clouds darken and the sun disappears the obsessive prepare for battle, closing all the windows and doors, unplugging all the potentially deadly appliances scattered throughout the house promising death to any who dare to tempt fate. The poets pour a glass of wine, prepare their notebooks and sit in a dimly lit room eager to document the scene unfolding just outside their window. Nervous Mothers scare their kids indoors with tales of disease. Enthusiastic fathers jump at the opportunity to get muddy and multiply the load of dirty clothes to be washed the next day, ironically those fathers also multiply their chances of being banished to the couch. In the Shawshank Redemption Andy Dufresne fell to his knees and embraced the rain as he celebrated his freedom. As someone who intends to one day fall into the ‘enthusiastic Father’ category, I struggle to understand people who avoid rain, as well as people who are willing to observe it but never experience it. I have often found myself in situations where I have ruthlessly defended my childish love of playing in the rain. Just like rain, human diversity is further exemplified in the way people perceive God. This begs the question, do we approach God in the same way we approach rain? And if so how does it affect our relationship with God?

1)   God cannot be avoided

Social media, radio stations, news programmes, talk shows, comedy nights and concerts make up a small percentage of a large list of situations in which the weather is constantly spoken about. Whether it’s Shakespeare using it as a loving metaphor or the Beatles awaiting its arrival, the weather is a big part of everyday life, especially when it rains. The moment the first drop falls Highveld Stereo 94.7 encourages you to ‘lead with lights’, cricket players run to get the covers over the pitch, and thousands take cover. And while there are many ways to stay dry, no one can deny the fact that the rain is falling.

Jer 23:23-24 (ESV):

²³ “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴ Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

God cannot be denied, even those who try to deny him tend to dedicate their lives to writing about him. God is powerful and no matter how hard anyone tries He cannot be avoided. People can choose to fear him and obsessively avoid acknowledging him at all costs, people can lie about him to keep others from acknowledging him, some will admire from afar but never enter into relationship with him and others will fall on their knees and celebrate him and the freedom he won for us. While there are different ways to react to him, there is no way to deny him.

2)   Gods omnipresence should not be seen as a threat, but rather as an opportunity

Luke 18: 15-17 (ESV):

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the childrencome to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it”

How do children react when the thunder begins to rumble and the rain starts to pour? Do they sit down around the table and draw up a document weighing up the pros and cons of venturing into the rain. Hopefully the answer here is a resounding NO! Children love the rain, and they create memories in the rain which are often shared at the dinner table years later. They love the rain so much that they become drenched in it, wetting everything they touch afterwards. And that is how we are to receive God. When the son of God came to Earth and died for us he restored our innocence and freed us from guilt. This means that rather than being scared into obedience by a God who is everywhere, we have the opportunity to enter into his presence and build relationship with him. As many will know there is no moderation in childhood, one second there’s a table full of sweets in the garden, and the next second there is just a table in the garden. And when God called us to come to him as children I believe he called us to become completely engrossed in his presence and taste all He offers. Do not be intimidated by God’s presence, be excited by it.

3)   Have you ever hugged a wet person?

My dad, the troublemaker, often loved throwing me and others into the pool at family get togethers. The best and most appropriate form of revenge would often be to wrap our arms around him and not let go until he was as wet as we were. The fact is that when you are drenched, any contact with others will drench them as well.

Mark 16:15 (ESV):

¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation

Sound familiar? If you are a Christian I hope it is. This is what is known as the great commission. Matthew expands on this and encourages us to make disciples of all nations. We cannot make disciples of the nations without being disciples ourselves. If we plan to effectively witness to others we need to be so filled with the spirit of God that boldness isn’t an issue. When we are filled with the spirit and are constantly reading the word, we begin to desire the same things the spirit desires, we begin to desire to love in the same way as Jesus did. When we become soaked in the spirit and presence of God it will rub off on others.

Ultimately it can be said that we are called to enter the rain with reckless abandon, become drenched and hug others. As we begin to desire God more, we become bolder and more empowered and this will result in an excitement that cannot be contained. We will become like children playing in the rain, and trying to wet those too scared to join us. Instead of obsessively avoiding the rain, run outside fall on your knees and celebrate it. God is an amazing God and He deserves to be worshipped unashamedly.

 

Why Youth?

In my time as a leader in various youth ministries I have been regularly confronted with specific questions regarding youth such as “Why have Church on a Sunday and a Friday?”, “what is the difference between youth group and Church?”, “Is it more important to be part of a youth group or a church?” and my personal favourite “Why go to youth on a Friday when it is prime party time?”. The irony is that in my attempts to answer these questions I began to realise more and more that I actually had no clue! The truth was that I had been wrestling with these issues for the vast majority of my years as an attendee of youth groups and even into my early years of youth leadership. I began to feel unsettled and insincere, How could I promote something that I myself did not understand? This led me to begin my inquiry into the matter, picking at the minds of my amazing mentors who God had so lovingly placed into my life. It was during this time that I began to understand and acknowledge the importance of generational awareness. This post is going to deal with the wisdom I received during that time of my life as well as a few things I have learnt along the way. My hope is that the information given in this post will be able to inform people dealing with the same confusion and disillusionment that I once experienced, and as a result inspire and motivate people to get involved in Christ centred youth ministries passionate about glorifying the name of Jesus Christ.

–         Teens don’t need youth groups, teens need God!

 When evaluating the importance of youth ministries in the context of the local church many will refer to the simple fact that the youth is “the church of tomorrow”. At a single glance this would appear to be a profound and powerful statement, however upon further inquiry it can be easily proven to be fallacious. Referring to the youth as “the church of tomorrow”, “or the future of the church” makes as much sense as referring to a simple pile of wood as a future house. The truth is, that pile of wood is only going to become a house if it falls into the hands of someone who plans to use the wood in that way. Should the wood fall into other hands it may be used as firewood, it may be used for a television cabinet or, in a depressing turn of events, it may not be used at all.

Judges 2v7-10 (ESV):

⁷ And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. ⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹ And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰ And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

This passage perfectly states the importance of generational awareness, as well as the consequences of generational negligence. In the hands of Joshua the people were taught and led to depend on God. This resulted in a generation of humble, and God serving people, passionate about a truly amazing God. However after the death of Joshua we see the people fall into incapable hands ultimately resulting a generation of people who did not know or serve God i.e. an unused pile of wood.

The fact of the matter is that every teen in the world could be part of a youth group. They could be meeting regularly playing awesome games, singing awesome songs and soaking up each other’s awesomeness (Mean Girls quote, completely intentional), however this would result in a generation of dry, dead and lifeless bones. Youth groups are only an important part of church life if they are investing into the eternities of each and every teen that enters their midst.

Ezekiel 37v 1-6 (ESV):

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;  it was full of bones. ² And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³ And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.⁶ And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Someone with a true passion for God will take this passage of scripture very seriously. Life is given by God and God alone, one can be saved by God and God alone and one will only ever be sanctified through God and God alone! A youth group that is excited and deliberate about seeing the advancement of the gospel is a successful youth group. In the same way that a pile of wood can only become a house or a T.V cabinet if someone deliberately sets out to use the wood in that way, the youth is only the church of tomorrow if someone deliberately guides and disciples them. The first and most important reason we are so passionate about youth here at G.P.S is because we are passionate about God and about making God known, we do youth, not because teens need a youth group, we do youth because teens need GOD!