I mean seriously. Isn’t this one obvious? Acient characters coming back to life, getting to experience their personalities, and history connecting with the future. They made this movie because they figured, “how amazing would this be?” Who wouldn’t want to watch this? Who wouldn’t want to experience this? Who wouldn’t want to get to know past war generals, ancient warriors, and people from every major century and event in history? Well, since we’ll never get to experience it…we might as well make a movie on it to show everyone what it could be like. But hold up…what the world is crying for…only believers in Christ will get to experience! Since Jesus was raised from the dead, so will we who hold to the gospel (Romans 6, 1 Corinthians 15). We will get to be enjoy real relationship with God and with others who have believed in Christ in the past and who will believe in Christ in the future. But it won’t be the chaos in the first hour and a half of the movie. It will be more like the last scene. It will be an amazing party (or as we baptists call…fellowship) of people from all decades, centuries, and millennia chillin out together, getting to know each other, and living life together for ever and ever amen. And one more thing…the animals. I just had a little girl come up and ask me last Sunday if her pet would get to go to heaven. I had to sweetly had to tell her that God loves people so much that He has a special plan just for us…resurrection. But there will be animals on the new earth which in the new heavens (Isaiah 11, 60, 65, etc.). The animal kingdom will be restored to its submissive role to all human beings (Gen 1:26-28). They will be under our rule, our dominion, and our reign…as we are ruling and reigning with and under Christ. So there you have it…a theological treatise of “Night at the Museum. RESURRRECTION…what the world is screaming for, only the believers in Christ will get to experience for all of eternity.
Monthly Archives: February 2009
Storyline #36: Joshua 5-11 “How to Fight Like a Christian”
Free files for youth pastors:
2 – Joshua 5-11 – Fight Like a Christian (outline)
2 – Joshua 5-11 – Fight Like a Christian (fillout sheet)
2 – Joshua 5-11 – Fight Like a Christian (mp3)
2 – Joshua 5-11 – Fight Like a Christian (ppt)
(intro video – go to youtube and type in “cbsmmedia joshua intro”)
We about got our butts kicked! I remember walking the beaches of Pensacola as an 18 year old college freshman with about 5 other buddies. We walked up to a huge pack of about 80 college kids who went to the University of West Florida. One of the smallest guys came out of the crowd asking if we wanted to play football. “Let’s do it,” we said. About then, 5 honking-huge dudes stood up, and walked out to play against us. At this point, we just wanted to play hard enough not to look stupid. After many cheap shots, the crowd cussing at us, and a bloody nose…we decided to forfeit to avoid a fight.
I wonder how many times we as Christians do that spiritually. We feel that the enemy is too huge, the persecution is too great, and the fight is too hard…so we forfeit and let the enemy win. We have got to remember that we’re in a spiritual battle vs. sin. Continue reading
a double dose of some tasty eschatology
Over the next few weeks our students are getting a good and health double dose of some tasty eschatology. After a lot of prayer, I believed that God was moving me to bring in a solid understanding of eternity as we go over the book of Joshua. At the same time, God was totally doing a similar work in our pastor. As he’s taking our people through the book of John on Sunday mornings, he too is going to focus on some sweet details all about eternity. So our teenagers are getting this double dose. I think its awesome. Eschatology is one of my favorite doctrines to study, think about, and worship Christ for. Do you think much about eschatology? Do you view eternity as a physical place…a new earth? Do you view the holy citizens of the new earth with renewed physical-human bodies? Do you ever wonder about the new culture that will be present, the different languages spoken, the work we will be doing, how we will rule and reign with Christ, and our power over all creation? Its so much to think about. It’s gonna be crunk…thats for sure!
Storyline #35: Joshua 1-4 “Passing Over to the Promise Land”
Free files for youth pastors:
1 – Joshua 1-4 – Passing Over (Sermon Notes)
1 – Joshua 1-4 – Passing Over (order of service)
1 – Joshua 1-4 – Passing Over (ppt)
1 – Joshua 1-4 – Passing Over (mp3)
1 – Joshua 1-4 – Passing Over (fillout sheet)
Many, many moons ago, when I was about 19 years old, a good friend of mine (Joey) got a boat. We used to love taking it out on the river, fishing, pulling each other on the tube, and…picking up rednecks?! Actually, that only happened once. One day while boating around, we passed some rednecks just floating in the water. One of them kept saying that he wanted us to pull him in our tube. I can remember Joey whipping the redneck across the river, and watching the tube catch air…and slam against one of the concrete pillars of the bridge. Scared out of our minds, we quickly turned the boat around to go back and check on the Billy Bob. We found him in the middle of the river laughing, “Boys, it sho is a good thang I fell awf back thur…that prolly woulda hurt!” Continue reading
The Unveiling
Sounds like a cool new horror movie, huh? Actually, its how I’m looking at tonight. We’re unveiling a lot tonight. First of all, we’re unveiling our 3 major summer trips that we’ll be taking the student ministry on. One is a trip to Georgia for a week of summer camp. The second is a mission trip to Detroit for a week of training in missions and evangelism. The third is a mission trip to San Diego for a week of missions and evangelism with a church plant out there. I really believe our students are going to love each trip. But even more, I really believe that this is what God is leading us to do in order to grow us more into the image of Christ and rock this world with His fame!
Secondly, we’re unveiling the book of Joshua. Its going to be such an awesome study. Reading, thinking, praying, and studying through this book…I already can’t wait to teach through it all. Think about it…just as Joshua led God’s people from the edge of the wilderness, through the Jordan River, and into the Promise Land…Jesus is the true leader of God as He leads everyone from their sinful state, through their Christian lives, and into the eternal Promise Land. Joshua’s name means “Jehovah is salvation.” Wanna hear something crazy? Joshua’s Hebrew pronunciation is YESHUA, and Jesus’ Hebrew pronunciation is YESHUA. Jesus’ name means “He will save His people from their sins.” I’m convinced that Joshua is far more than just a Veggie-Tales cartoon of morals all about how to be a good, little Christian. Rather, Joshua is a clear picture of the gospel, its a painting of what a life of following Jesus looks like, its an unveiling of what we’ll go through as we’re passing over to the promise land!
Flyin High at 10,000
Looks like its official. The ol blog just rolled over 10,000 hits. Technology amazes me, intrigues me, and scares me. I’m both totally stoked and completely humbled that God would use this blog. The whole reason I started this blog was because I wanted to make a huge impact for the kingdom of Christ in student ministry. With so little student ministry resources, curriculum, and materials that were truly biblical, theological, and centered on Christ…I wanted to supply some for youth pastors, teenagers, parents, churches, and Christian school teachers. Everything we do is from God’s inerrant Word and is for the glory of Christ. Its so interesting that the 10,000 mark hit when we finish up the Penteteuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy). My prayer is that this blog will continue to provide resources such as mp3′s, fillout sheets, outlines, sermon notes, service orders, and powerpoints for all those who are passionate about preaching and teaching Christ to teenagers. So all of this to say, thank you all for stopping by, poppin a squat, and taking a look. I truly pray that God uses it in your life to bless the socks off some teenager for the cause of Christ. IN fact, if you’ve used the blog and/or its resources in any way for youth ministry, I’d love to hear about it (chippernet2@yahoo.com). Always feel free to email or comment anytime with questions. Tell others about it as well…for those that want to make a difference for the Kingdom of Christ!
Every Senior Pastor Should Beat Their Youth Pastor (as mine does me)
As I’m out to town for a counseling conference, our students had their worship service without me last night. Honestly, that can often be a huge fear for a youth pastor. What if they like the guest speaker better than our week-to-weak preaching? I told our students all last week that they had a very special guest speaker as a surprise while I’m gone. Many of them were begging me to tell them who it was going to be. After the worship service last night, they all facebooked and texted me that the worship service was AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, and LIFE-CHANGING. Again, that can often be a very scary thing for a youth pastor. But here’s the cool part. I loved hearing that! First and foremost because that meant that they worshipped and grew in Jesus. But secondly because of who the speaker was. Who was it? Read on… Continue reading
The Proof Of Jesus’ Existence
I received a GREAT email from a student who asked: “Hey Chip,
I think this is really crazy but God has put on my heart that I should prove to myself that Jesus existed.I was wondering if you could help me.”
What an awesome quesetion! This students wants to be rock-solid confident of the existence of their Lord and Savior. They want to serve their King whole-heartedly. I wanted to share with you my reply for when you get this question as well… Continue reading
Storyline #34: Deuteronomy 29-34 “The Witnesses”
Free files for youth pastors:
5 – Deuteronomy 29-34 – Witnesses (order of service)
5 – Deuteronomy 29-34 – Witnesses (outline)
5 – Deuteronomy 29-34 – Witnesses (ppt)
5 – Deuteronomy 29-34 – Witnesses (fillout sheet)
5 – Deuteronomy 29-34 – Witnesses (mp3)
Driving my vehicle and following my parents on Christmas day as we were traveling a five-hour trip from Tuscaloosa, AL to Pensacola, FL, the seventy mile-an-hour traffic came to a sudden stop. Going with the flow of traffic, I had to jerk my car into the right lane in order to avoid slamming into the back of my parents’ car. I stopped right beside them, looked out my drivers-side door window right at them in the lane next to me, and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Right at that moment…a huge Ford Expedition rammed into the back end of my parents’ car which caused them to run into the rear end of the car in front of them. I saw it. I was an eye-witness. I passionately told police writing up the report that my parents were fully stopped. “It was not their fault!” Continue reading
ARE YOU NUTS?: Critiquing the Controversial
So many books right now are out that are biblical (spiritual) that the world seems to be reading. They are super controversial in the conservative-theological world. I’ve always wanted to read them, never could find the time, but would find myself in conversations about them all the time. I kept doing something I never really wanted to do…I’d debate on the validity of these works without reading them. All I had to go off of was what I heard – and you know that doesn’t hold a drop of water with the readers! So I’ve found a way to get into them…audio books on my ipod touch! In the last week I’ve gotten to go through “The Shack” by William P. Young and “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller. I’m finally finding time to go through these books that are sweeping and swarming the world spiritually…but may not be full of the truth that they claim. So over the next few days I want to write a couple blogs on what I’ve learned and found in these books that are true and that are dangerous. So stay tuned…same blog time, same blog channel.
