Here’s the assignment for our next Growth Group meeting on March 7:
It was great being with you last Saturday for another six14 parent-youth corporate meeting! I hope you enjoyed our time as much as I did. I always come away so encouraged by our youth and the grace of God in their lives. Thank you, parents, for your faithful gospel-centered discipleship of your youth; God is using your faithfulness!
Since we don’t record these messages (just to keep things simple), I am posting my manuscript from the message. You can download it here. It’s a little rough, but it is essentially what I said on Saturday. There are some things in it that I skipped over, including (to my regret) this great quote by John Newton, author of the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Near the end of his life, Newton said: “Two things I remember: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior!” That’s the take-away from our meeting: we are great sinners, and Christ is a great, great Savior! May all of us, parents and youth, see our need for Him and so grow in our love for Him.
Below are the questions and fellowship points we gave out as well, in case they serve you.
Thanks so very much!!
DISCUSS – with your discussion group
APPLY – in fellowship with your parent(s)
Suggested fellowship points to continue the conversation…
Join us at the six14 meeting this Saturday, Feb. 21, for part two of the “My Peers” series. We’ll focus on how we can be an influence on others, specifically an influence for a passion for God by cultivating passion for Him ourselves.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. (contact Mike Wiersema about getting in on the potluck buffet), and the meeting starts at 6:14 p.m.
We hope to see you there!
For this Thursday Thought, I want to provide you with a book recommendation: Get Outta My Face! by Rick Horne. I was skimming it earlier this week, and you might want to order one for yourself. It’s subtitled “How to reach Angry, Unmotivated Teens with Biblical Counsel.” You may or may not have an “angry, unmotivated teen” (let’s thank God if our teens are doing well!), but all of us can benefit from Mr. Horne’s helpful advice. The book is essentially a very practical guide for building relational and conversational bridges in the midst of hard conversations with our teens.
The preface gives you a feel for what the book is all about: “Far from dismissing or sugar-coating sin, this approach opens wide the door to evangelizing the unsaved teen and to helping the Christian teen grow in holiness and wisdom. This book will teach you how to build a bridge to young adults on the basis of ways in which their desires and actions reflect the image of God and the blessing of common grace.”
The book is focused on the practical side of these conversations, and not on the heart. You’d want to read this alongside of a book like Age of Opportunity or War of Words, so that you don’t miss the vital biblical category of the heart – the source and reason why our conversations with each other are difficult at times. Nevertheless, I’m helped by pragmatic books like this as well. When I read something along these lines, I look for one or two helpful take-aways that might adjust how I’m approaching a particular issue. I also find that anytime I’m reading a book on parenting I’m helped because it brings the issue of parenting back to the forefront of my attention.
If you’ve ever had a hard conversation with your teen (and who hasn’t at some point?), then this book could help you at a very practical level.
With you in this holy task!
- Tab
Why not a little more follow up from our last six14 meeting?!? As we talked about the reality of influence from Proverbs 13:20, we applied that not only to our personal companions but also to what we called our media companions. If we spend a lot of time with a certain movie, radio or TV personality (through that particular media means), that person becomes a companion who inevitably influences us – for wisdom or folly.
The same is true of our music. This isn’t an argument for certain kinds of music; I’m simply reminding us that the musical artists that we spend a lot of time with become media companions for us. To that end, I thought this brief article by Bob Kauflin would be helpful. Bob wrote an excellent chapter for the book Worldliness (which I highly recommend – see last week’s post); below are his thoughts summarized for the Next conference (formerly New Attitude) webzine.
Enjoy!
by Bob Kauflin
Have you ever noticed how people who know hardly anything about music can still be really opinionated about music?
You don’t have to have a music degree or play an instrument. In fact, you can be absolutely tone deaf and still know exactly what kind of music you prefer.
In fact, some of us find pleasure in putting down people who don’t like our music and hanging out with those who do.
But do you ever wonder what God thinks about the music we pump into our heads for hours each day? Does he even care?
Absolutely. As followers of Christ, everything we do is an opportunity to bring glory to the One who redeemed us from the wrath of God and this present evil age (Gal. 1:4). Whether we eat, drink, or listen to music, we’re to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
So how do we listen to music for the glory of God? Do we restrict our music diet to worship choruses or only listen to songs written and sung by overtly Christian artists? No. Non-Christians can write songs that are good for us, expressing God’s common grace and his unlimited creativity. Christians can write songs that are bad for us, due to bad theology or inferior musicianship.
Here are six words I’ve found helpful for determining whether the music I’m listening to is “good” for me.
Music is not ours to use however we want. It never was. It’s a gift to be celebrated and received with gratefulness. Because the God who gave us music for our enjoyment ultimately gave it to us for his glory.
At the end of the day, God wants us to see that the highest purpose music for which music was given is to point us to the wonder and breathtaking beauty of the Savior who died in our place to purchase our forgiveness and to earn us a place among those who “no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:15).
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Bob Kauflin is Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries.
You can download Bob’s message on this topic given to Covenant Life Church’s Parent/Youth ministry here.
