Reason for our Hope

"Powerful", "Emotional", and "Intense" were a few words used to describe tonight's worship service.  It was the Concert of Prayer service which is typically a little more serious and reflective.  We were asked to think about a person we need to share Christ with when we get home.  As the band played music we were asked to write that name on a card and pray for them and pray for strength for ourselves to share with them.  Then we went and lit a candle to represent our prayers.  1 Peter 3:15 speaks of how we must be able to explain the reason for our hope with gentleness and respect.  At all times we have to be ready to explain to others why we have the hope we do.  In discussion we talked about all the terrible things of the world and how as believers we still have hope.  Those who don't believe don't have the hope that we do, they don't get it yet.  We can't let the message end when the church service ends.  We are called to do, not to wait.  

In discussion we talked about where to go from here, now what?  Some shared that they want to talk about their faith more, show ther faith more, not be afraid to share at school.  Most agreed that the reason this is so hard is fear of judgement, one even shared that they fear they will lose ther best friend if they share with them.  Then we discussed how to get over that; a youth member responded by saying that they have to "suck it up and accept that I'm going to be judged".  People may think we are judging them by approaching them about faith, it is essential that they understand we approach them purely out of love, there can be no alterior motive .  It can be scary to share our faith.  We must understand that not everybody is ready to hear about it, but that's not for us to decide. We can't change someone, it's not our job to save them; we are called to love them and share with them.  When we are scared to share is when we must work together as a family.  We can't be afraid of who we are.  

Knowing and trusting Him in our head is easy, but knowing and trusting with our heart can by much more difficult.  God wants the sinners, He wants the broken.  We must understand in our hearts as well as our heads that no matter where we are, He wants us and He wants us to share with others. No matter what, we can find comfort in 3 things;

1) We are loved no matter what we say, think, or do

2) We are rich with blessings

3) We have hope that the next day when we wake up we will be loved that much more.

Some great individual discussions followed, it was a deep night full of growth.

Almost everyone is done with their roofs and some have even been assigned to start another project tomorrow.  Everyone will be doing work for something else tomorrow when they finish at their site; landscaping, witnessing, cleaning, etc.  It did rain a little today, but everyone pressed on through the rain in wet clothes.  One more day tomorrow of working with our crews and building relationships with our crews and our homeowners.  It will be a bittersweet day.