Back To School Challenges

 

Whether you go to public school, private school, Christian school, or you’re homeschooled there may be a few challenges you will face this year, and, as your pastor, I wish to address them. :)
1. You will have the temptation to forget about God. It can be easy to forget Someone Who you’re never around..stay faithful to the things of God.
2. It will be a challenge to make God first. I encourage you to practice Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Then make it a point to practice the following things:
  • Get in the Word of God.
  • Have a real prayer life.
  • Make it a point to be in church when the doors are open.
  • Choose to serve God over other things.
  • Honor God with you giving.
3. You will be tempted to become worldly. Remember, this world is just our home. We’re just a passin’ through…our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue! 1 John 2:15-17 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof:but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
4. You will be tempted to follow friends who don’t honor God. This will be one of your biggest obstacles as most personalities crave friendship, but you must recognize and realize that the majority of friendships that can be made may not be Godly or goodly for you. Seek friends that desire to honor God as well, and then encourage one another to live for God’s glory!
5. You will be tempted to forget about souls. Why are you here? Why are you in school? Besides living to glorify God, which is first and foremost, and besides going to school to get smart, you are where God has you as a believer to evangelize the lost - to tell them about the abundant life that is in Christ! Please, do not forget about souls this year at school…you can make a difference! Jude 22-23 “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
Well, there you have it…be challenged, and, please, leave this blog with renewed desires and a heart for the things of God!
Thank you for reading and heeding, 
Pastor Justyn Smith
P.S. You can view the video that goes along with this via our church app (search “Crossroads Baptist Peoria” in your devices app store), or you can click here to be redirected to the video via vimeo. Thanks for your time!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three "Musts" For Missions Revival

Image
  Three "Musts" For Missions Revival I'm really excited about getting in on everything God has in store for us this week at our 2016 Missions Revival, "REACHING THE NATIONS," and it's my desire to prepare you to be ready for our missions revival this week by giving you the "Three 'Musts' For Missions Revival." I'm so thankful for the many who have volunteered their services in many different ways (food prep, basket items, decorating, 5K sign up, etc), but there is still a few things that need to be done. Let me list them so you can help us all be ready for a great missions revival this week! I. We must be  Pure !  There's no need for us to wait for tonight to "get things in order spiritually." Get them in order now. Let's search our hearts and our lives. We'll find out the meeting will be "that much better" if we are where we need to be spiritually, which is, in right standing before God with no deceitful...
Read more

2021 End Of The Year Update

Image
  2021 End Of The Year Update CLICK HERE TO PRINT THIS NEWSLETTER Thank you for reading about, giving to and praying for all that God has allowed us and is allowing us…it’s all for His glory! Jude 1:24-25  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. This newsletter is simple and to the point. We wish to deliver the highlights from 2021 accompanied with the anticipated plans for 2022. Rejoice points for our 2021 END OF THE YEAR totals: ~We were blessed to have 60 different events! We were thrilled to be with 14 NEW CHURCHES this year. This also means we had the tremendous blessing of continuing to build relationships by revisiting 46 churches. We want to express our gratitude for each new pastor and each reoccurring pastor that allowed us to visit their churches and minister to their ...
Read more

December 2019 || Ministry Update

Image
Dear Family and Friends... The Work of our December ministry was exciting and extremely blessed by the Lord!  Our hearts are full, and we are marveling over our Saviour's birth! We are rejoicing over so many things to report...first, thank you for your faithful prayers, love and support. NOTES:  We ARE CURRENTLY in Alaska visiting family and ministering the Word of God through the first week of February. Please take note that any support sent by mail may take a little longer to be deposited. Also, our envelopes need to be reprinted due to an old address on them. If you don’t know it already, please take note of the new address for correspondence on our website. We will attempt to produce an annual “report” newsletter after the first of the year, but this may not be accomplished until we return from Alaska the first part of February. We shall see! REJOICE POINTS: 1. We were gifted a trip to Branson!  We got to meet and fellowship with the lovely people of Calvary Baptist C...
Read more