yours: Week 2

If you have been around church for a long time, you have probably seen some interesting interruptions in a church service. Like have you ever been in the room when the moment is practically silent, the pastor is in a very serious part of the message when all of a sudden someone in the front row rips the loudest fart you have ever heard.That's hilarious.

Just a few months ago, at one of our campuses the power went out. They were in the middle of toilet paper dodgeball when all of a sudden, the lights went out. It looked like a warzone, people screaming, toilet paper flying in the dark. It was epic.

Once at one of our campuses in the middle of the remix service the building's alarms started going off. Everyone panicked and they had to get every student out of the building just to find out it was a false alarm. Finally, after we got the all clear we were able to go back in to finish the service.

One of my favorites is when in the middle of a very serious part of one of our Remix services an entire Jenga set came crashing to the floor. I am pretty sure everyone in the room had a heart attack at that moment. Everyone was convinced it was something much worse. When they found it was just the Jenga set they all thought it was hilarious but they were never quite able to focus again.

Those are all just silly little distractions and interruptions that we can all laugh about now. But in all the years I have been involved in church I have seen distractions and disruptions that were a big deal. I have seen and heard stories of churches divided by drama and gossip. I have experienced services where no one learned anything because everyone in the room was distracted and disruptive. I have heard of people leaving ministries because of the way they were treated.

Those aren’t funny little stories like the ones we shared before. No, these are moments where instead of the church being the place it was meant to be. A place where lost people can find Christ and Christians become better followers of Jesus. The church became a place for arguments and gossip and drama. It became a place that hurt people instead of helping them. And if we aren’t careful Remix will do the same exact thing.

If we aren’t careful Remix will become a place where everyone is distracted. No one is learning or growing. No one cares about anybody but themselves and no one has any desire to learn from the God of the universe. Everyone just messes around and wastes time.

If we aren’t careful, we will become divided. We will argue about stuff that doesn’t matter. We will treat people like they aren’t good enough for us, and we’ll tear each other apart.

If we aren’t careful Remix will just become another place for drama. A place to gossip about each other. To get in fights with your friends. To talk about people behind their backs. It will become a ministry that’s so full of cliques that when a new student walks in they realize very quickly they aren’t welcome here.

If we are not careful, we will allow Remix to be ruined. All the time spent here was wasted and we won’t benefit from any of it.

No one wants to see that happen to their ministry. No pastor wants that to happen to their church, no student pastor wants that to happen to their student ministry. They have a stake in the game so they have to do everything in their power to prevent these things from happening.

Well like we said last week. You have a stake in the game. Remix is yours. The success of this ministry is highly dependent on how you decide to treat it. What happens or doesn’t happen here is up to you.

Which means it is up to you to stop Remix from becoming the place we just described. If you want to grow and learn here. You have to commit to eliminate distractions and disruptions. You have to focus. If you want this place to be drama free so everyone feels safe and welcome. Guess what? You have to make that happen. You have to commit to stop gossiping. You have to commit to being welcoming to everyone. You have to avoid fighting over stupid things. In other words, you have to:

Refuse to be used by Satan

We are in the middle of a spiritual war and we do have an enemy. An enemy who hates the idea of a healthy church. Satan doesn’t want Remix to be healthy. A place where people can hear about Jesus and learn to follow Jesus. That’s the last thing he wants. He wants to mess with the church in such a way that we actually do the opposite of what we were created to do.

Just so we are really clear on this, I want to look at some verses and see what Satan is really all about.

John 10:10 says,  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

1 Peter 5:8 says,  "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Satan is looking for people to devour and to destroy. People to use for his purposes and then chew up and leave off to the side with nothing left. That doesn’t sound like something we want to be a part of to me so when I say refuse to be used by Satan the question is:

What is he trying to use you to do?

Think about the kinds of things that mess up our student ministry.

I think he will try to use you to create division in our student ministry. I have seen it happen. Where a couple girls in a small group will be fighting over the same guy or guys fighting over the same girl and all of the sudden the whole small group is divided. No one trusts anyone and everyone is taking sides.

• I have seen entire groups of students leave because they couldn't stop fighting with other people here.
• I have seen new people come in, realize that their bully goes to Remix and they haven’t come back since.

We cannot let this continue to happen. We have to be quick to forgive and quick to apologize. We have to realize that what we are doing here is more important than a boyfriend or girlfriend or popularity or petty fights. We can’t let Satan use us to create division.

Another thing I think Satan will use us to do is waste time. A lot of us come in here during the week and we sit in the message and talk and talk and talk. Or we play on our phones and completely tune out. When we get to a small group, if you even go to a small group, we don’t want to discuss the Word of God. All we care about is goofing off or talking about the drama at school.

Let me be clear, Remix should be a fun place. You should be able to goof off and catch up with your friends when it's appropriate. But when it is time to learn we need to be paying attention. Just like last week when we talked about bringing our best to God. We have to do that because Satan wants the opposite. He wants us to just treat this like another place to goof off with our buddies and never take this stuff seriously.

Another thing I have seen and I believe he wants to use you to do is lead your friends away from the things of God. There are all kinds of temptations in the world. Whether it's gossip or lying or drugs or partying or lust or just wasting time, Satan is going to throw all kinds of things at you. To try and get you to fall into sin. But not just you. I believe his ideal situation is to trap you in some sinful habit and get you to bring your friends along with you. You have to hear this, those things will leave you empty and hurting. If you are struggling with any of those bad habits make sure to talk to a student leader so they can pray for you and help you get out of it so Satan can’t bring you down or use you to bring anyone else down.

He will do everything in his power to cause division and hurt in the church, and because we are humans and we are imperfect we fall for it all the time. But we have a choice. We can choose to get caught up in all the drama or we can refuse to be used by Satan and do everything we can to live differently.

Being a part of a ministry like this is a gift. A lot of people don’t have this luxury. Let’s not take it for granted. We need to appreciate this ministry for what it is and take it seriously. If we do, we will have the opportunity to see major impacts in this ministry, in our schools, and in our city. All because Jesus was willing to use us and we refused to be used by Satan to mess it all up.

So where do we go from here? I think as a group we need to do 4 things.

Repent:. We need to all repent for wasting time. We need to repent for the times we have allowed gossip and drama to run rampant in this place. We need to think about the people we may have hurt and ask God for forgiveness for that. We need to ask God to forgive us for taking this ministry for granted. We need forgiveness for the times we have paid more attention to the cute girl or boy sitting next to us than we paid attention to the Word of God. The great thing about God is He will forgive us. 

Refuse to be used by Satan: We commit to stop allowing gossip in this place. We commit to be kind to everyone that walks through these doors. We commit to take the word of God seriously and stop distracting others when we are supposed to be learning. We commit to be peacemakers who are quick to forgive and slow to get angry at each other. We commit to bringing our friends with us and we commit to making this place a place that we are all proud of. 

Pray: We can’t do this on our own. We need to ask God to help make Remix the best it could ever be. We need to pray and say “God help me to avoid Satan’s temptations and live differently.” Ask Him to help us be kinder, more patient, and more passionate about God’s Word than we have ever been. 

Step up and give our best to the one who gave his best for us: We need to take this seriously. We need to realize that Heaven and Hell are in the balance and we have a choice. To either be in a student ministry where lives are being changed, or waste our time every week in a place that is full of drama and division and hurt. You choose. Remember Remix is yours so you have to Step Up and be the difference here.
If we commit to this this year, I really truly believe we will have a better student ministry than we have ever had. Your lives will be changed and I believe the lives of your friends could be changed too.

So let’s do those four things right now. I am going to pray and as I pray in your head and your heart you pray too. Repent for where you have failed in this area, commit to living differently and ask God to help us step up. The Bible says when two or more people are praying about the same thing and it is in God’s will He will answer their prayer. Let’s all pray this right now and let’s continue to pray this year and see how God might use us to change Remix and change our city.