Cultivating Change

I have never really thought about the idea of CHANGE that much. Well, let me rephrase that, I have never really thought about a process for change. For some reason I have always thought that CHANGE happens on a dime. Right?

You have been smoking for 25 years and on a dime you know you need to CHANGE.

You have been a bad father and decide to CHANGE  to being a good father.

You have lived your own way and decided that you need to CHANGE the way you live.

You have been cheating in school and decide you need to CHANGE and start doing your own work.

CHANGE is one of those ideas or concepts that seems happens all the time and it could be for many different reasons. Have you ever thought about CHANGE in a different way? In a way that shows there are steps to CHANGE? A process that allows CHANGE  to happen?

As a youth worker, CHANGE is not always the easiest nor the most welcomed concept. Students are not always interested in CHANGE.  CHANGE means:

Not the comfort I’m used to

Having to do something different

Losing some of their friends

Dressing Differently

Talking Differently

Watching Different Movies

Unfortunately, I don’t know if we paint the concept of CHANGE in the right way. We fall into this temptation that CHANGE is a huge dramatic decision and occasion in our lives. However that can be true. But for those that have had to CHANGE will probably tell you that CHANGE  is not something that happens overnight, every time. There are some decisions that we will make that will CHANGE you or someone you know over night. But that is not every time CHANGE comes up in our life.

 CHANGE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE DRAMATIC CHANGES.

CHANGE is something that with little decisions in our lives can make a large difference. For instance:

If you want to lose weight, stop eating McDonalds 2 out of 3 meals and eat at home.

If you want to be a runner, run a little bit more than yesterday.

If you want to change how you talk, start with one word.

If you want to learn about Jesus, start slowly and learn slowly.

If you want to learn how to blog, start 1 post at a time.

Change does not have to be dramatic. There have been way to many times in my life that I have seen change as something that has been painted as this crazy dramatic decision. Now, I dont want to discount any sort of change that is large and dramatic. Those changes are life changing and heartfelt.

When we look into our Youth Ministry, how are we cultivating change? 

There are 3 pieces of change that one of my professors from college, JK Jones taught in a sermon a few months ago. JK Jones is the pastor of Spiritual Formation at Eastview Christian Church in Normal, IL. Here are those 3 things that have started to make me think about the way I view CHANGE in our spiritual lives:

1) CHANGE starts through GENUINE HEARING.

       - Acts 2:37a — This was after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples and people of many tongues, many different languages heard the message of Jesus. What is amazing about this text is that the people that listened to Peter and the disciples were amazed at what they HEARD. Even though many different languages, many different people, people of different ages, shapes, sizes and maybe color, HEARD  the message of Jesus. Here is why: GOD is Eternally Articulate. God finds ways in all of our lives that will allow his voice to be HEARD.  The question is what are you going to do when you genuinely HEAR God’s calling in your life?

2) CHANGE happens through CONVICTION.

      – Acts 2:37b — It’s amazing to think about how much can be in one passage of text. The second half of verse 37 has the phrase “cut to the heart”. When you look up that phrase in Greek, you find that the word “cut” is actually meaning “pierced”. So what these people have in the lives are words that they have HEARD from God, that has pierced their hearts. If you know anyone that has given there life to Jesus, you know that CONVICTION  happens at some point in there life in order for them to give up their life. Conviction is a pretty powerful tool. When you are convicted of a crime, you are either paying a fine or your paying some jail time. When you are convicted of cheating on a test, you are given a 0 and never cheat again. When you are CONVICTED by God, you own what you have done wrong and know you need to live differently.

So when someone HEARS God’s voice and is then CONVICTED to own up to our sin…..there is one more stop

3) CHANGE happens THROUGH AUTHENTIC FAITH.

     Acts 2:38-41 — Once the people that were listening to Peter and the message of Jesus, they heard God and were Convicted to live differently. So they ask: “what shall we do?” That is the best question that Peter could hear. It opens up a conversation of what it is that God will now call them too. Peter goes on to tell these people to Repent and be Baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Authentic Faith gives us the ‘gitty up’ to make the next step in our lives.

So in the book of Acts in chapter 2, we see that there were a ton of people that listened to Peter and the Disciples about the message of Jesus. There are people that listened that didn’t really listen, but then the some that GENUINELY HEARD the words of God. Once they HEARD the words of God, they were CONVICTED to the sins they had in their lives. Once they HEARD the words of God and they CONVICT themselves TO AUTHENTIC FAITH. That is when CHANGE takes full effect.

So here is my question:

How do we as preachers, cultivate CHANGE  in our sermons? 

How do we cultivate a culture of CHANGE in our churches? 

How do we as youth pastors cultivate CHANGE  in student’s lives?