Last week we had our Youth Summer Mission…I’m still recovering!  It truly was an amazing week…for me and hopefully for the many who were involved.  The theme was REAL LIFE/REAL GOD…and I truly believe that the message of real life being found in Jesus alone came across powerfully throughout the whole week.

We served, we sang, we danced, we laughed, we cried, we listened…and as we listened I believe God spoke.

I really believe that through all that happened during the mission God spoke to us and revealed his heart to us.  

God wants us to have FUN.  We had so much fun…fun around the dinner table together, fun playing sport in the afternoon, fun when we tried to sleep at night…fun when we gathered together for worship in the evening, singing praise to Him.  There was life about our praise…there should always be life when God’s people meet to sing praise to Him…

God wants us to believe that we are WITNESSES FOR CHRIST and that we carry a POWERFUL MESSAGE…a message that really is good news, a message that saves.

JESUS SAVES.  He really does.  He rescues lives from sin and separation from God and he restores that life to God.  Tim Hughes writes (‘Jesus Saves’):

You save You heal
Restore, reveal, Your Father’s heart to us
You rose to raise us from the grave     
Your Spirit lives in us

I discovered in a really fresh way again that Jesus saves.  We witnessed Jesus saving young lives last week.  And when it happens in someones life it is an amazing miracle that brings joy and hope and freedom…JESUS SAVES!

God wants us to LOVE and to SERVE.  He wants us to make the most of every OPPORTUNITY…to love the lost, to serve others for the sake of his Kingdom…and in doing so be witnesses for Christ, taking every opportunity to speak about Jesus as Lord…

A big challenge for us is to really think like Jesus did and to really act like Jesus acted.  Words ringing around my head all week were the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 when on that day when we meet him he will say, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

We must seek out, love and serve the least of these…

And finally…for myself and all involved at Summer Mission 09…I believe we must keep moving on into the year ahead…we must not settle for half-hearted living for Christ…I believe we saw and heard the heart cry of God for us as his people.  We can never be the same.  Let’s keep moving forward and let’s believe and live out the words of Romans 1:16 that say, ^‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…’

Phil Wickham “Beautiful”

I’m just back from a week of missions work with children and young people in Sandy Row, Belfast.  We had such a good, good time…very challenging too.  I’ve got so many great memories that I’ve taken away – memories of times shared with our team (you guys rock) and memories of the experiences we had in working with the kids and teenagers.  Good days.  It is fair to say that the community in Sandy Row is close to our hearts and we intend to keep in touch in whatever way we can. 

On coming back from this week and in looking ahead to our own Youth Summer Mission next week, three phrases just keep buzzing round my head.  These phrases are really important reminders to us who are in Christ.  These three phrases were the titles of the first three bible studies we did as a team when we were away and they are the three points I brought back to our church on Sunday morning past.   These three reminders are as follows:

1. I’m a witness for Christ ‘But 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.’ 1 Peter 3:15
2. I’ve got the power of the Gospel ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes’ Romans 1:16
3. I’ve got the power of love  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  John 13:34-35

Some of you reading this will be involved in our Summer Mission next week – read these reminders over and over again and be ready to be challenged next week to live this out.   All of us who are in Christ – let’s live life in a way that shows how much we belive that we are witnesses for Jesus Christ and that we’ve got the power of his gospel and the power of his love within and behind us in all that we do for his Kingdom.