:: Re:Generation Student Ministry at Sheridan Hills ::

Hey guys!  Real quick...super pumped about the next sermon series coming up in The 705:  Call of Duty: The High School Battlefield


We'll spend 4 weeks talking about some series battles that I've seen a lot of high school Christians face as they try to live out their faith in an often very anti-faith atmosphere.


Week 1:  The Battle of Priorities
Week 2:  The Battle of Self-Image
Week 3:  The Battle of Self-Righteousness
Week 4:  The Battle of Authority


Totally pumped about jumping into this school year!


til the whole world knows,




Pastor Kevin

I had a church experience in college that I think is pretty common across the board.  My wife, Crystal, and I never really plugged into a Bible Study, Sunday School, or Small Group ministry that was a part of a local church.  We just kind of did the old "back and forth" between two churches that we liked.  We stuck to those 2 churches really because each of them had something we liked in the worship service.  


Grace Bible Church in Columbia, MO had an amazing teaching pastor named Mike Burt.  The kind of guy I could listen to for hours.


The Crossing was held in a High School auditorium, and had a pretty killer worship band.  We were never blown away by the preaching, but the music was really solid.


The thing that each of these churches had in common for us was that we never really felt like we were a part of either of them.  We knew they would be there on Sunday when we needed them, but that was pretty much as far as it went.




Having grown as a Christian, a pastor, a husband, and now a daddy...I see it all so much better.


The Christian life just can't be accomplished by going to church, hearing a message, singing some songs, and going back to your comfy couch at home.


I need people.  I need community.  I need relationships.  I need iron to sharpen my iron (Proverbs 27:17).


At Sheridan Hills, we realize how important it is for God's people to "do life" together.  Not just on Sundays, but throughout the week, we're attempting to accomplish the "one another's" of Scripture (if your unfamiliar, do a study on the one anothers found in the Bible...it's a perfect way to discover God's plan for how we are to exist within the Body of Christ!).


Small Groups @ Sheridan Hills are all about building people up in discipleship and creating authentic community in the body of Christ.


Their meant to be small, intimate groups of people that care for each other, pray for each other, and hold each other accountable in life.  


As awesome as it is to feel the Holy Spirit move in a worship service @ Sheridan Hills, Small Groups is where the life of Christ is really brought to where people live.


We're going to be relaunching our Small Group Ministry here in the next few weeks, with some exciting new changes and an intense focus on people.  Get ready Sheridan Hills...it's comin.




til the whole world knows,




Pastor Kevin

Hey friends.


As we enter into the fall @ Sheridan Hills, a huge goal of our pastoral staff is to clearly communicate what we are all about.


Very simply put, Sheridan Hills is about making disciples.  It's basic "Great Commission" stuff.  Matthew 28:18-20 gives us the motivation to go into all the nations, which are probably represented more fully in South Florida than any other place in the world, and to lead them to begin relationships with Jesus.


That's what we're about.


Now "how" we do "what" we do is also huge at Sheridan Hills.  I want to take my next 3 blog posts to talk about the things that we encourage every person who comes to our campus to be actively involved in.  Get ready for the good stuff.


Worship ::

Every Christian should be involved in a worship experience on a regular basis.  To know Jesus is to love Jesus.  Our love for Jesus leads us to worship Him.

We consider worship to be a full surrender of ourselves to the God who created us, who purchased us through the blood of Jesus.  Worship is making God the CEO of your life, surrendering the "driver's seat" to Him, and living in the victory of what He has accomplished for us through Christ.


At Sheridan Hills, we believe that all of life is to be worship.  Because the word "worship" often gets distilled down to the definition of "the music time at church" in the church context, we constantly have to remind ourselves of Romans 12:1, which says that our spiritual act of worship is literally the offering of "our selves", and not just our songs.


Prayer is worship, and so we pray.
Singing and praising Jesus is worship, and so we do that, too.
Giving back to God a part of what he has graciously given to us is worship, and so we give.
Reading the Bible and hearing it preached by anointed men is an act of worship, and so it is a part of what we do in worship at Sheridan Hills.


We would love for you to come check out a worship service at Sheridan Hills.  
Click here for information about how to do that!




til the whole world knows,




Pastor Kevin

Hey guys!  Just thought I'd blog out my last message from The 705.  God is really moving in our staff at Sheridan Hills to renew our commitment to the Great Commission.  I encourage you who call Sheridan Hills your church home (and you who don't!)  to begin reading and meditating on Matthew 28:18-20 as we enter into the fall season.  If we can be committed enough to LOVE, brave enough to SPEAK, and humble enough to SERVE in the name of Jesus, then the gospel will begin impacting our world.


We are in a weird era of Christianity.  So many Christians are totally convinced that SHOWING the love of Christ to those whose worlds intersect with their own will be sufficient to fulfill the Great Commission.  


As long as I'm nice, giving, polite, and helpful...people will be attracted to Jesus, right?  My answer is: Possibly, but probably not.


The SOCIAL WITNESS, or living your life in such a way that people are led to Jesus, is absolutely necessary to the Christian life.  But it's one side of a two-sided coin.  The VERBAL WITNESS is talking to people about Jesus so that, through conversation, they will believe and come to know him...and to be a verbal witness to the people with whom we share the earth, we must be willing to SPEAK.


SPEAK UP:
Romans 10:12-15

 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 
13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"


How will they hear without someone preaching to them?

Giving your life to Jesus is literallly the most momentous occasion in a person's life...no single moment in life means more.  In the blink of an eye, your eternity has changed!


People won't give their lives to something they haven't HEARD about...that's why it's so important that we SPEAK UP about Jesus.


If we won't tell people about Jesus, who will?  
The media? 
The government? 
Atheists and agnostics?


William Carey, Father of American Missions, stood up in a meeting of Baptist leaders in the late 1700's.  He was a newly ordained, young Baptist preacher who was completely dissatisfied with the fact that there were no organized efforts to reach what we today would call "unreached people groups"


Pitching the idea of sending missionaries to these foreign countries, Carey was met with significant resistance.  One of the leaders, a pariticularly proud and powerful man among them, stood up and said,


 "Young man, sit down!  You are an enthusiast.  When God pleases to convert the heathen, he'll do it without consulting you or me!"


William Carey kept speaking up, and within a few years, missionary organizations began to spring up and missionaries were being sent all over the world.  People were being won to Christ all over the planet.


All because a young "enthusiast" refused to be silenced.

SPEAK OUT:
2 Timothy 4:2
                
2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.


We hear "preach the Word" and we get totally pumped...for someone else to do it!  We want to watch.  We want to be "prayer warriors".  Or we just want to wear the T-shirt and not be a true part of the movement.


Most Christians, especially teenagers, have one nagging problem running through their minds when they think about speaking out about Jesus:


"I have no idea what I'm doing."

I want to just take some blog space here and give what I think are some practical tips to help you speak out about your faith:

1.)     Always be in prayer for your lost friends

        --If you’re consistently praying for him, it will be a lot easier to talk to him about Jesus

        --When you do enter into the conversation…you can honestly tell him you’ve been praying for him.

2.)      Memorize Scripture

        --It’s not that we want to shove scripture down our friends’ throats (which you very well might be accused of doing).  But if we don’t know the Bible, we don’t know what we believe.  If we don’t know what we believe, we can’t have an intelligent conversation about it. 

4 VERSES TO SHARE THE GOSPEL
(anyone can memorize 4 verses!)

 (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 10:9)

3:23                All have sinned and fallen short (WE ARE SINNERS)

6:23                The wages of sin is death (WHAT WE DESERVE FOR OUR SINS IS DEATH)

5:8                  Though we were sinners, Christ died for us (JESUS TOOK THE PUNISHMENT)

10:9                If you confess with your mouth, believe in your heart (WE BELIEVE AND ARE SAVED)

 

3.)      Don’t bear the responsibility of salvation

        --God didn’t say, “Go save people.”  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

        --God says in 2 Timothy 4:2  “Preach the Word.  Be prepared in season and out of season…

        That’s what were supposed to be faithful to.

 

4.)      Practice “gentleness and respect” (1 pet. 3:15)

        --Just about anyone will listen to just about anything from someone who is gentle and         respectful


5.)      Be okay with rejection

        --If your neighbor’s house were on fire and they were inside, would you not pick up the phone for fear that they wouldn’t believe you or would laugh at you?

        --You may not realize it now, but every person eventually comes to the conclusion that they’re not as cool as they think they are.  A Christian teenager who is really going to change the world and do something that matters for Jesus needs to realize that before high school is over.

 
6.)     Good relationships lead to open and honest conversations…SO MAKE GOOD RELATIONSHIPS.


        -- God uses our relationships with people to open up lines of communication for the gospel.

        --When you’ve earned someone’s trust and respect, you’ve earned the opportunity to tell         them the truth of the gospel.

        --A lot of people call this “relational evangelism” which is actually one of the core values at         Sheridan Hills

        --A good relationship with a non-Christian is a waste if we don’t care enough to share Jesus with them.


SPEAK OFTEN:
1 Peter 3:15

                15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who
asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…


§  ALWAYS:  We know what this word means.  It means every minute of every day…have an answer.

 If you feel overwhelmed by the idea of reading enough or studying enough to answer every theological or spiritual question anyone asks you…

Forget about all that for a second and focus on being able to answer ONE QUESTION: 

“Why do you have the hope that you have?”

§  EVERYONE:  This implies and assumes that you’re going to be asked by more than one person!

 Peter doesn’t say, “For those of you who are going to tell people about Jesus…” 

It’s assumed that God’s great love for you has absolutely transformed your life, and so you’re going to be letting people know about that! 

That’s what I mean when I say SPEAK OFTEN. 

The reality of the fact that God has saved you through the work of Jesus on the cross is never going to stop being true! 

So we should never stop telling people about it!

§  HOPE:  This HOPE is what the Great Commission is about.  

You have the greatest HOPE the world has ever known, and you happen to share that hope with about 648 million people currently living on this planet.  Current statistics say that there about 648 million people in our world that believe the Bible is true, and believe in Jesus as the payment for sin and the way of salvation. 

That leaves well over 5 billion people who have either false hope or no hope at all.

 

How many of those are your friends?

How many of those are your family members?

How many of those are waiting for you to SPEAK?


Hope this encourages you to SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT, and SPEAK OFTEN about Jesus!


til the whole world knows,


Pastor Kevin

Just thought I'd let everybody in on the books I'm reading right now:


Pastor Dad (Mark Driscoll)
A very short, web published ebook aimed at helping dads understand what it means to be a Biblically faithful father.  Us Dads are to pastor our wives and our kids and exercise our role as the primary spiritual leaders in our families.


The New Strong-Willed Child (Dr. James Dobson)
Let's just say I need to be reading this book RIGHT NOW.  We have a strong-willed little guy, and we're seeking wisdom about how to cultivate his spirit.  Good stuff.


TEACH: The Ordinary Person's Guide to Teaching Students the Bible (Dr. Allen Jackson)
As a pastor and a person who attempts to communicate the gospel to teenagers ever week, I'm constantly trying to refine that craft.  So far this is pretty strong.  Very practical, very readable.  


The Last Oracle (James Rollins)
Guilty pleasure historical, fictional thriller.  Don't ask.


Reaching the Campus Tribes [an opening inquiry] (Benson Hines)
I actually just finished this one, but I thought I'd throw it in there because it is EXTREMELY good.  If you're passionate about College Ministry, as I am, this is very informative and eye opening.  Benson spent an entire year travelling the country, witnessing various college ministries in action, and talking to those involved with those ministries.  Great information.


Exodus (God//OT)
Jonah (God//OT)

Check 'em out and let me know what you think!


til the whole world knows,




Pastor Kevin