Ten- AKA Seniors Don’t Be a Fool
Last Night @theSwitchtweets we had our first Senior Night… I’ve been a Youth Pastor for just over three years- these kids were freshmen when I started… Nothing makes you feel older than watching students who were just a freshman a few years ago graduate and you still look at them like kids…
But to honor the students who have been here the last three and a half/ four years we had a Senior Night, everything was geared toward them, so just in case you missed the talk or don’t subscribe to the podcast here’s my notes…
“Seniors you are about to graduate… Some of you have already had your last day of school- Some of you are getting ready to have that day. The cap and gowns are ready to go… pomp and circumstance is playing in your mind, but before you walk across the stage and get that fake piece of paper- that’s really not your diploma I thought it would be nice to step back and give you what I think could be the most important lessons for the next ten years of your life…Because my goal as a Youth Pastor is this- that in ten years from now in one decade from now you will be more passionate, more fervent, more zealous, more in love with Jesus Christ than you are right now.
Let this verse become your lifeblood:
Proverbs 2:1–7 (ESV)
1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
So that being said let’s jump into our top ten list!
1. It’s not all about you
This is a mistake that unless you learn it- and I mean have this deep down inside of your heart that you will make over and over again-Because the world does not revolve around us and how we feel. But, we can become so self focused that we lose sight of being focus on what God is trying to do, not only within our own lives but in the worlds that we live in. Satan our enemy our adversary will come in and try to make you think that you are so very important that you can be God- And I know our initial reaction to this is going to be- NO I would never do that… And you may never say that actually say I AM GOD with your mouth, but I promise you that your actions will speak volumes of the condition of your heart… It is not about you-
2. The credit card is not worth the t shirt
The Bible says be a debtor of no man- that the man who is in debt is a slave to the lender… The issue with debt is this because some of you will never hear this again: debt stops you from following God’s plan- it stops you from picking up and leaving when God says go- it will stop you from being a generous giver- it robs you of the blessing of that! The debt is not worth the crappy t-shirt they are willing to give you
3. The stakes are higher
Because you need wisdom- These next ten years of your life will bring about the greatest changes for the rest of your life- No other ten years of your life can say that-
4. The drama doesn’t stop
You think it will- it won’t this is a lesson you need to learn
If someone comes to you- and wants to tell you something anything about someone else… Ask them- is this what your saying? They say yes- okay well let’s sit down a time and talk about what you said with so and so…If they don’t want to meet then politely tell them to shut their mouths then… because they are gossiping…
Do not give an ear to gossip
Matthew 12:36 (ESV)
36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
5. The patterns you set now only intensify
If you think that you will fall into discipline… and on some magic day you will automatically learn everything you need to know about the Bible… You are wrong…
If you are lazy about reading your Bible/ lazy about prayer/ lazy about fasting… it will only get worse…That’s why We talked about the vow so very much- that’s why my focus has and will always be on being a youth group that prays- If you are lazy spiritually now… You will only get worse unless you truly commit and learn to discipline yourself.
6. You will never see your friends again after you graduate
And if you do they are the exception not the rule… Don’t live your life trying to be and become what everyone else expects you to be. All your doing is robbing the world of who you are truly supposed to be- Because if you show me one person truly walking in God’s will for their life… I will show you someone who is making a greater impact than the thousands of other students who will be walking around on your campuses…
7. Your parents Jesus is not enough anymore.
If you are going to be passionate followers of Jesus Christ- you have got to make a conscience decision that he is going to YOUR God- Not your parents God… Not something that you just do- But your God… Jesus cannot be a priority on your list- He has to BE your list! He cannot be something you give part of your time to- He has to be your time…Our tendency is to say God I’m giving you my life my whole life- but this one thing- I’m going to hang onto… this one relationship (it just makes me feel better), this one habit… it’s not technically a sin-
He has got to be YOUR GOD
8. He world doesn’t care about your self-esteem.
And it won’t… ever… And honestly neither should you…
You were created in the image and likeness of God… You bear His image to the world: and if you bear his image then you have infinite value- your value to this world has no end- because you bear the image of the God who created this world…
Low self esteem lowers how you perceive God’s image in your life… So if you’re a Christian that’s wrong- You are an image bearer of God… Your not lowering how you view yourself, your actually lowering how you view God
High self esteem cockiness arrogance does the opposite, it lifts your image above Gods…That’s part of the reason Paul said that he had learned to be content in all things…Whether rich or poor- high or low… it didn’t matter because he knew whose image he was bearing to the world…
Your confident is because you bear HIS image!
9. Television is not real life
That’s not really in the Bible anywhere but you need to know it!
10. Life is not fair get used to it
Life isn’t fair- But you’ve got to know that it’s not going to be… It hasn’t been for anyone yet. But we have this mentality that we are the exception instead of the rule…There will always be people who you think are getting something they are not supposed to get, and maybe they are but you can never let that become an excuse to become bitter or angry, because implicitly you are thinking that somehow God loves them more than he loves you. And that’s just not true. God is not a respecter of persons
You don’t know what God is trying to do in that person’s heart- you don’t know what God is trying to accomplish in their life or in yours for that matter…
So there it is- the top ten things I think every single senior needs to know…
