YPP's Blogish...
For those that don't know, YPP stands for Youth Pastor Paul (Superman is already taken).

12-09
Is it Even Possible to Live a Christian Life Anymore?

Have you been trying to live a Christian life? Are you succeeding? Why do you think you are having trouble? Is it because of your friends; your schedule; your family? If you think hard enough, you can come up with an excuse for just about anything. Excuses for failing to live a Christian life are no different than excuses for anything else.

Grudges are hard to let go of. Gossipping is hard to stop doing. And lying? Forget about it. Most people tell lies everyday, whether they realize it or not. Some lies are small and seemingly harmless. Other lies are huge and have the potential to hurt others.

I am reading a book by A.J. Jacobs right now (I know you are shocked that I am reading). The book is about his one year quest to live a life following the Bible literally. I haven't made it very far through book yet but I am enjoying it. He is not a Christian and has no real background in the church to help him. I appreciate his quest but as he soon finds out, some of the laws in the Old Testament were specific to that time period and no longer apply today.

Figuring out how to read the Bible can be a tough task but not impossible. It is so important to understand the context of the passages you are reading which simply means asking yourself and looking for help from experts; what was the original meaning of this Scripture and how does it apply today.

What things are keeping you from living for Christ? Is it your own selfishness or is the guilt of failure causing you to give up? Satan loves to point out our failures and make us think we have no shot at living a holy life. We have to realize that we are human and must pick ourselves up off the floor when we fall and move forward. The holy life is a process of trying harder each day to keep from making the same mistakes over and over.

- YPP

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8-3-09
Old Junk
Paul McKee

I am sitting in my room while new carpet is being installed in my house. We have spent the last few days getting the house cleaned up and rid of a bunch of junk so we could have the carpet installed. Have you ever looked around your house or even your room and thought about all of the useless junk that you have collected over the years? It is a ton of stuff.

As I looked through some of the junk that was in my house, I started trying to remember why I kept some of it. Some of it is JUNK and other stuff is useless or out of date now. Why do we hold on to stuff that we don't need?

It is the same thing with emotional junk. We hold on to stuff we shouldn't. Instead of forgiving and forgetting it; we keep it and use it later to remind someone of the pain they caused us. We hold on to grudges or mistakes that others have made and bring them up whenever we feel it is convenient.

2 Timothy 2:15-16, says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly."

Stay away from the ungodly stuff and make a positive difference for the Kingdom of Heaven. Get rid of that old emotional junk you are holding on to and stop sharing it with everyone who will listen. And while you are at it, go through that junk in your room and give away what is worthwhile and toss or recycle the rest.

- Paul

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2-17-09
Loving Others
Paul McKee

Did you know that you make a difference for the Kingdom of God everyday? If you are a Christian, that statement is true. The question is whether you are making a positive or negative impact on the Kingdom. How can you make a negative impact on the Kingdom of God? It is easy. Just show everyone that you meet that you are not what you claim to be.

Here is a quick question for you...Do your friends or those that you see almost daily know that you claim to be a Christian? Here is another one for you...Can those people tell that you are a Christian by your actions and love?

If not, chances are that you are making a negative impact on Kingdom. People that don't go to church are watching you whether you realize it or not. Some want you to fail so they can point fingers at you while others really want to see if it is possible to live out the Christian life.

Atheist groups are full of people that tried church but couldn't stand church people.  Why would someone want to believe in a God that selfish, rude, and hateful people claim to serve?   Selfish and hateful attitudes are killers. Gandhi is quoted as saying, “I love your Christ.  I don't like your Christians though.  They are nothing like your Christ.”  So maybe each of us should take time to examine our own hearts to make sure we are doing what we are supposed to be doing.  Like I said above; each of us makes a difference every day for the Kingdom of God .  The question is whether we are making a positive or negative impact. 

Be Christlike as much as possible and pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you and convict you everyday to help you grow as a Christian.

-- YPP

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12-15-08
Sick of the Same Ole, Same Ole
Paul McKee

Here we are in Christmas season again. There are sales going on at the stores and great bargains to be found. Most of us are putting up our Christmas trees and decorating our homes in some way or another.

As we close out yet another year, we usually begin to reflect on our lives over the past year, years, decades (if you have lived that long), and wonder if we are accomplishing what we have set out to do. As teenagers, it is easy to think that you have the rest of your life to figure it out so why hurry. Well you do have some time but there is nothing wrong with planning for the future.

I have never really liked new years resolutions because they rarely are followed through on and many times they are unrealistic anyway. I remember one year I resolved to make a million dollars. Well, I failed to put together any type of plan that would even accomplish making over my normal salary. So what does it take to follow through on goals? It takes writing them down and making some sort of plan to accomplish them. It takes following through on them no matter how tough it gets. But the most important thing to goal setting is making sure that it is in line with God's will.

How do I know what God's will is for my life? Prayer, reading the Bible, and having patience are among the top priorities here. It is so important to communicate with God through prayer. Whatever goals you have need to be measured against what Scripture tells us. Read your Bible. If your goals go against Scripture...get new goals.

Jer 29:11-12 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

Trust in God and give your future to Him. Then get ready for Him to take you places you have never dreamed.

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10-2-08
Sick of the Same Ole, Same Ole
Paul McKee

It isn't necessarily anything new but it is different and effective so I just want to share. Last night in our youth service I decided, after some prayer, to change things up a bit. I am a bit tired of the traditional church services. I have been growing that way over the past few months. I love singing hymns (when those around me are loud enough to hide my voice in the crowd), I love hearing God's word, and I love worshiping God. The thing I am growing tired of is the complacency of it all. I am tired of feeling like church is routine.

It seems like we do things in a certain order all the time and we have this little check list of things that we have to get into our services to make them “official.” What should our goal be in church? I believe it ought to be to worship God and come away with people that are charged or recharged and ready to serve God.

I am not talking about a pep talk or rally necessarily, but I am talking about getting to the business of worshiping God in a real way. I have talked to my teens about "playing church" quite a bit lately. We come to church and talk the talk and put on a show for other “Christians” around us. But is it real? Are we truly living lives that reflect the direction of our Lord and Savior? Can the people that see us everyday tell that we are Christians? Can the people around us notice a difference in our lives? Do we truly seek God in our day to day lives or do we reserve that for Sunday and Wednesday church services?

In my message last night, I talked about the influence of sin in our lives. Sin is so powerful because it is so enticing. Sometimes we feel like we can't get away from it because it is so much a part of our daily lives. We can get away from it although not away from temptation entirely. But it isn't through our own power that we can do this. It is through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ that we can be free from sin.

If you have ever seen the movie Spiderman, you know that Peter Parker was just an average, somewhat nerdy kid until a special breed of spider bit him. After the bite, the venom raced through his veins until the poison had taken over his bloodstream. Peter was no longer an average kid. He was now a spider-man. He could do things that spiders could do like climb walls and make webs. Although he didn't use biting as a weapon (that I know of) but wouldn't that be funny?

When Eve took a bite of the apple way back in the beginning of mankind and then shared that apple with Adam, the same type of thing happened. The venom of sin raced through their veins until it completely changed their spiritual DNA which also changed ours. We are now born into sin which makes us lean toward sinful things.

The good news is that Jesus Christ put on human form to come to earth and “Save the Planet.” When our world talks about saving the planet, they are talking about recycling plastic bottles and paper and other things. When Jesus came to save the planet, He came to save us all from a fiery death in Hell. He came to bring life and bring it more abundantly (see John 10:10). Jesus saved us all by His death on the cross and His resurrection. We now have hope and the promise of eternal life if we just believe (see John 3:16).

So what did I do different last night? I stripped away the normal youth service. I got rid of the game time and the typical preaching stuff. I still gave a message but I did it from a chair and with the teens in a half circle. I had them get up, one at a time and walk to an area where another teen washed their feet. I had them do that as quietly as possible because it was during the message time. As I began the message time, I had them all kick off their shoes and socks. There were a couple that refused to do it but I expected that.

As I spoke about the need to stop playing church and live a holiness lifestyle, I asked them to go to that area and get their feet washed and then to come back over to our meeting area. It was great. Almost all of them did it and each one loved it. It brought a different atmosphere to our service. They were more relaxed which brought with it a more reverent feel.

After the message, I had them go to 3 different stations. I took a page from the Nazarene centennial material on a couple of the stations. The first was a table with clay on it. That station was designed for them to shape and mold things out of clay as they thought about allowing themselves to be molded by God. One of our sponsors picked up a piece of clay and poked at it with her keys. She pointed out that the holes that once existed in her life were now taken away by God's grace. She worked the clay until those holes went away. I thought that was pretty clever. The teens had a great time working with the clay.

The next station was a table with paper and tape. The table was placed next to a wooden cross hanging on the wall. The teens were encouraged to write any past sins or present sins and burdens that Christ has taken care of or that they need to turn over to God. By taping the papers to the cross, they were physically giving them over to God and releasing them from their own control.

The final station was the Altar. They couldn't come to the altar until they had gone to the other two stations although our altar was open through the service to this point and had already been used during prayer time. Around the altar, I borrowed an idea from Pastor Tim, our associate Pastor. I had them get into groups of 2-3 but no larger. They shared 2-3 things with each other that they need prayer on. Then I had them pray for each other. I waited until they seemed to be finished and then closed out the service.

In closing, I asked them about their experience from the service. Did they enjoy praying for other people? Did they give up any burdens at the prayer wall? Did they see how God could mold them into anything if they just let Him work?

They all talked about how it felt to pray for others. They felt like they had let go of some crazy stuff that they were holding onto. After they left, I collected the papers from the cross. As I read through them, I noticed that most of them put down some pretty serious things that they were dealing with. Overwhelmingly they wrote down that they were playing church and were tired of it. Some were lying to their parents while others were not forgiving their friends for things.

I will spend time praying for each of these over the next week. Only one of them put their name on the paper but God knows who each of them are and all I will do is lift up the burdens to God and ask Him to work in their lives.

I was so tired of being traditional and had become so bored with regular church and frustrated with the results that something had to change. I like the new direction and I believe I will make the prayer station available each week. I am also thinking a lot about the foot washing station. There is potential with this station. I don't want any of this to become routine but as long as the teens are responding to God, I will continue to use the things that foster that environment.

I was truly frustrated with my teens and how they were just “playing church” that I was about to give up and move on to another church. After talking and praying with the Pastor, I asked God to either open the door to leave or slam it shut and get some serious ministry going. I want these teens to be so on fire for God that the adults start asking them what is different in their lives. Our teens can lead our church in a revival if we let them. Please pray for them that God will get a hold of their lives and never let go. And while you are praying, you might pray that He would do the same with your own life if He hasn't already.

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