WEDNESDAY, April 30th, 2008

Great Job Yesterday! It was cool to see some new faces. You all had some incredible thoughts about yesterdays devos. Keep it Up you guys!! See you tonight at church!

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Sarah: Hey Girl! Good to see you on here! I hope you are feeling good! You are right on in what you said yesterday. Satan doesnt only want to fight us at school but at home too... and anywhere else he can manage to tempt us.
Josh LaPerriere: How in the world do you come up with this stuff. You have one of the most unique minds I think I have ever heard. We need to get together and let you write another message and you can use that passage. You really did have some great thoughts about it. And yes, you now have the trophy for the longest devotion. Sorry Kacey :)
Amy: I love the way that you said: "We must use the (S)Word of God in that battlefield! Very Cool!
McCue: Glad you are back in town man! How did everything go? I love your image of the "physiological, mental, and spiritual behemoth!!"
Rachel: Ha! You are so funny! I loved your "Pamphlet"

Ephesians 6:21-24

21 But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you;
22 whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts.
23 Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

Well this passage is simple but important. We see Paul writing the conclusion of his letter to the church of Ephesus. He tells them that He is sending this letter to them by way of his "faithful minister" Tychicus. Let me explain to you what Paul tells us about Tychicus. Paul said that he was a beloved brother, and a faithful minister. The greek words for "faithful minister" literally meant Tychicus was an "Active Servant". Tychicus, although he had a wierd name, :) was a wonderful servant. He was Pauls right hand man at this time, willing to serve Paul in whatever he could. People that are active servants (like tychicus) are priceless! Think about it, we need people like Tychicus today, Pastor Chip, Pastor Dick, and even your Crazy youth Pastor (Pastor Lee)... ((Me)) need people who are willing to be ACTIVE SERVANTS for Christ!!!
Would you consider yourself an active servant? Do you do things to help Christ's Church? Do you build it and help it grow? or do you use all the resources for yourself?

Let me put it like this? What do you do to serve God at your church? You may think... WHAT CAN I DO? I'm only a teenager! Well, I am glad you asked! Get involved. Join The Choir, Play in the Orchestra, Help with Wednesday Night Teen Services, Clean the Teen Room after the service, Greet visitors and make them feel welcome! Help start a teen choir or praise team... I can think of a hundred things that you could do to serve the Lord.

As we finish this book of Ephesians, lets consider this as our challenge. Even we, as teenagers, can become ACTIVE SERVANTS for the Lord and His church!
Also... as the last verse says: Are you sincere in your love for God... Is it real?

GREAT JOB EVERYONE! WE FINISHED ANOTHER BOOK!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's saying if your in the word and you love jesus and don't have any affairs like for say you don't love buddah that's having another god before ours


joshua sandefur

Anonymous said...

hey guys sorry i can't come tonight let god be with you

joshua sandefur

Rachel☺; said...

well theres not much to say about this accept how we should demonstrate the same serviceable Christian lifestyle as this guy. Tychicus' (or whatever his name was) whole purpose, it says, was pretty much to be a messenger of God. thats kinda cool. obviously im not saying we should all be just like him but to be servants in all of the other ways we can be. ive herd talents be referred to as 'God given' and if thats true we should give back and use them to glorify Him. im not sure if i have any talents or anything i m good at for that matter
lol, but if you ever need help or just for people to do something pastor Lee, ill help :]

see yall tonight♥

Kacey! said...

These verses are the conclusion and P.S., per se, of Pauls letter. He is talking about how great of a servant Tychicus is. ~Random thought: I wonder how you pronounce that name.~ Paul is saying that he is giving Tychicus a report on how he is doing and Tychicus will tell the church. He will also comfort the people of the church. I'm guessing that we should strive to be like Tychicus. Not the part that says he is informing the church about Paul, but the parts that say he comforts the people of the church and he is a servant. When we see another person that is crying or hurt emotionally, we need to comfort them. Wether is be going to them and helping or just by prayer. As the family of Christ, we need to be there for other Christians. Also, we need to be servants. Servants to God and to the church. Servants are selfless, not selfish. I know I am struggling with being selfish. Most of the time, I am only thinking about myself. That's not how I should be.


"Are you sincere in your love for God... Is it real?" That is a great question Pastor Lee. I know so many poeple who say they are Christians but outside of church, you wouldn't even guess it. We need to be real about loving God. Some kids that do their devotions on here may not be 'real' about it. I know some that just want to go on the reward trip. That should not be you goal. Your goal should be to get closer with God, and by doing it on here, the youth group. Ok, I tried to word that without offending anyone. If that did offend you, you need to ask yourself if getting on here and doing your devotions is 'real'.

McCue said...

Sweet. You know this kind of brings up a point for me. In the past weekend at Drum corps camp we talked a lot about a team acting as a unit to build each other up. I think this passage is referring to a brother that Paul can count on for strength and know that he will be there to help him and to help tychicus too. Just as in drum corps we eat, sleep train and perform as one knowing at all times and trusting that every individual won't let the others down. So should be the church body. Not does one become stronger in the Lord for oneself but also for the entire church unit. We act as one and where one fails we all fail. Where one succeeds we all succeed. If we motivate ourself to be strong examples of Christ for each other for ourselves and for the entire church body at sun coast as well as around the world and we act as a unit trusting in each other to help grow and provide service for each other then we'll be a light for Christ.

Sarah Watkins said...

to me its saying that give all of yurself 2 him not just 50% or 75% but 100% 2 serve him and by doing that He will help you threw everything you need.also everyone has a talent somewhere you just have 2 find it and when you do you can serve God by your talent.

Anonymous said...

To me its just a sign off to a letter and hes telling them just to be good in the Lord.Theres really not much to say about this passage.
Jonathan Massey
P.S. I think are next book we do should be a book with a story like Job or Eshter.(However you spell it)

weird high school kid said...

So paul is all like yo I'm gonna send my buddy Tychicus to you so yall can know whats going on on this end(slightly gangster with a hint of red neck). The sole purpose of why i sent him is so that you may know whats going on, and so that he may comfort your hearts(serious). Peace and love man(hippie). And for thee that hast believeth in thy savior and loveth him with all thy heart may he giveth unto thee grace(chivalrous knight).

Hey sorry i didn't come, but when i asked my dad if we're going at 6:42 he was sitting at the computer playing spider solitare and said NO!

Jessica M said...

Short passage today but I know that this is the end of this book!!! How exciting, the next book we start will be my third book. Sweet!!!
Short passage with little meaning but what I thought was that Paul is just giving a closing statement I guess you could say about how in the church we need to be a servant for Christ. I help right now in the nursrey but I KNOW there is more that I could and should be doing!
BUT YES PASTOR LEE WE NEED TO START A YOUTH PRAISE TEAM! I'LL JOIN AND HOW MUCH FUN WOULD THAT BE! Anyway we were all given talents and if we don't use them for God than thats abusing the whole reason why we even have talents in the fist place(to glorify God)

Just let me know if you need my help Pastor Lee!


Jess

FoOtBaLl XtReMiSt (cary) said...

wow.... that weird.. jessicas post was added at 9:12 and my computer said the time was 9:11 that was weird. she posted it before she posted it :0 this passage is telling us that we have god-given talents and we should use those talents to nake him noticeable in our lives. we should use our talents to display his goodness through us!! :) once again, short, but i got the point across :) peace out.............teehee :)

Rachel☺; said...

hey! i was just thinking,
tomorrow is the national day of prayer :]
so pray fer all your friends guys!

Daemis WolfBorn said...

This passage says to me that we have to give our whole self to Jesus. Also we all have talent, and we should use our talent for the good of Jesus Christ!

Btw Cary your just confizzled with the time... :P

Mines always the shortest >.<

Amy :) said...

I should be giving the Lord 100% of my time and dedication to Him. As a teenager its very hard to consentrate on different things we can do for the Lord and sometimes we forget (like doing your devotions) We need to still be faithful and make sure we dont forget to serve the Lord in the church. Help your church and be and example to others. because if you do something to help your church other people will think that is cool so they will do it too. As I read this passage I think to myself. What can I do for my church / youth group? - the first thing that comes to mind is help selling those cards for the Wilds (for Suncoast of course) and I dont even think I am going to the Wilds with you guys but I want to really bad. For you Pastor Lee it must be pretty hard for you to be a youth pastor, a dad, a husband, and a friend to your teenagers. I bet it piles stress on you. I defienitly consider you a "Servant of Christ".

Jillian said...

well first off we need to give our all to praise and glorify God =]
and if we do that then everything will fall into place just how He planned
and serving in the church is one of the things we are called to do every single one of us christians

and i agree with jessica it would be cool to have a youth praise team but sorry i wouldnt be in it cus i have a horrible voice lol
but anywhere else i will help =]

Tylermon33 said...

hey what this passage says is that Tychicus is a great man that follows the Lord in whatever he does. also somebody sent people to him so they could know God and get comfort in their hearts. finally it says peace be with you where ever you go.
this passage is confusing...

PS. Pastor Lee please pray for our family. we are going through a hard time and our parents aren't getting along and people are yelling and other stuff. so please keep us in your prayers. thank you!

Anonymous said...

I agree w/u pastor lee. There's MANY things that we can do to help serve the lord=] Cary & I can play guitar, the massy's can sing! Rachelle's got a AMAZING personality & her smile is INFECTIOUS & is kinda like our pep squad of the youth group!

Everybody's got SOMETHING & there's NO BETTER WAY 2 use ANY of ur talents than 2 please god=]

Aznricerunr[PN] said...

This is saying that you should be kind to your brothers or all the people you know because god would do the same. At least I think thats what it means. It also said that you should be a servant of god and do everything he tells you to! Like if he asks for full time service thats what you should do.

HADOKEN!!! said...

This is pretty much Paul telling the church why it's been sent and by what way. The end of the passage sounded like the president signing off on a state address. Something like "God bless Amerrica good night".

*yes I said Amerrica(A-mer-ick-uh) cuz it sounds like something a southerner would say

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