We just finished up our January series here at the Roots youth ministry and God has made Himself known throughout our youth ministry, it has been evident in individual students lives and also in my life personally. Here are some of the highlights that were covered and the results we have seen, followed by a personal story that clearly defined for me personally what "Greater Things" truly are.
The backbone of the series title came from John 1:43-51 (the calling of Philip and Nathaniel). This passage had been on my heart for a few months and I have started to take notice that when a selected topic or passage settles in your mind, God will use different avenues to communicate. Here is a general outline that I went by for the 4 week series.
1. Jesus, finding Philip
a. He finds us - He knows our location and has already found us
b. We don't find Him - He has never been lost. There are passages the say "seek me and you will find me when you seek Me with all of your heart." This is very true, even God's words to us, but it refers to our response of Him already finding us.
c. We aren't playing some cosmic game of hide and seek with God. He isn't hiding behind a planet or a solar system.
2. Philip went and found Nathaniel
a. "Found people find people" - I listened to a podcast of NewSpring Community church during this time and they used this passage to set up their core beliefs in their church and this was a very memorable statement.
b. Skeptics - Not every time we open our mouths about the Good News, will we get a positive response in return. I have found it to be rare that the reception is positive. Nathaniel was a skeptic but how Philip handles this situation is HUGE!
c. "Come & See" - Philip didn't whip out the Torah and point out the obvious to his friend, he didn't get angry with him from what we can tell, he didn't get discouraged and walk away. He simply made the statement, "come see for yourself."
d. Witnessing made easy - Sometimes we believe that someones salvation and eternity hang on the very words we offer in a sharing situation or moment. What I believe Philip does here is the greatest example of successful evangelism in the whole Bible (aside from Jesus, haha!). We can't do what the Holy Spirit is supposed to do, convict the hearts of those who seek and bring forth repentance and regeneration.
3. Follow Me
a. Philip - Jesus says follow me and Philip does
b. Philip shares with Nathaniel - because that is what followers do
c. Nathaniel doesn't believe at first and then Jesus freaks Him out by mentioning that He knows him and Nathaniel become a believer.
d. Jesus says - "you believed because I tod you I know you? I will show "Greater Things" than this.
e. Difference between believing and following. Jesus indicates that there is a difference in this passage because it begins with the calling of Philip, "follow me"....not "believe in me." Believing is obviously the start and also where many stop. Following changes not just our heart but it also begins to change our life and purposes in life. Our purposes become His purposes. We begin to care about what God cares about....and in the moment, the lost.
4. Angels ascending and descending. (reference to Genesis 28)
a. what a weird way to end this story. (I used to read this and wonder what He was talking about it)
b. Jesus was a Master teacher - these men would have been brought up in teh Jewish educational system and at that time, they would have been required to have memorized the first 5 books of the Bible, the Torah. They would have known immediatley what Jesus was talking about.
c. The story of Jacob - He was a cheat and a thief (stealing his brothers birthright and blessing) and was on the run. His dad was upset with him, his brother wanted to kill him and his mom told him to run away.
d. While on the run, he laid down to sleep because it was evening and he was tired. He had a dream of angels ascending and descending upon a ladder. He woke up, freaked out and began following God. He was promised a blessing, greater than he could have imagined. All people of the earth would be blessed because of him. His descendants would be numerous and blessed.....the only catch, he wasn't married and had no kids.
e. Unearned - Up until this point, Jacob was pretty much a louse...He hadn't done a single thing to have been promised such a blessing. There is nothing Jacob did to "earn" this blessing. No act of righteous of good deed brought this on. It's God, the giver of all things "Greater" asking Jacob at this time, in a dream, "follow Me"
If you follow the next 3 years of the ministry of Jesus, you do see, very clearly, that these men saw "Greater Things." They were eye witnesses to everything Jesus was doing but the greater promise in all of this was simply, they were walking with the "Greater Thing"...Genesis 28 says angels were ascending and descending upon the earth....John 1, Jesus says that angels were ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Jesus is the fulfillment of that story. He is the "Greater Thing" and all "Greater Things" begin and find purpose in following Jesus.
We opened up the first night by asking students to think about, pray for and begin inviting friends to church. We set up the last part of the 4 part series as "invite night." Each week, the students wrote the names of the students on colored sticky notes and placed them around the stage as reminders. Here is a picture of night 1....
We also entered into a weekly reading of the Bible as a challenge for our Wednesday night small groups. For those who wanted to take the step to "follow," they had assignments to read Ephesians and Galatians.
The final night of the series was just 2 weeks ago and on a night where we usually average 75 or 85 students (60-70) during January - March, we had 130+ students attending our youth worship experience on Sunday night. It was a great visual to see "Greater Things" coming to life through the "come and see" principle that Philip used 2,000 years ago (and people say the Bible isn't relevant today).
God truly does want to show us "Greater Things" and they begin with and are found in following Jesus! My fear and what I know to be true is this, how do we know we are seeing "Greater Things" and what if we miss them?
I will post my personal, life changing experience later this week, where God made these "Greater Things" so evident in my life and how I was seeing it all wrong.
