PARENTS of High School and Middle School students,

You should have received an email from me the other day reminding you that this Saturday is our first not-so-big meeting this year.  We’re going to conduct these meetings a little differently than we’ve done in the past.  My plan for our four not-so-big meetings is to split up parents and teens so that we can spend time equipping parents of teens to do the hard work of passing on the gospel to the next generation.  I’ll be talking to parents (with assists from the other pastors) while Uncle Vinny spends time with the teens.  Here is a sneak preview of the topics I have planned:

• 09/20/08 — BACK TO BASICS: Parenting Objectives for the Teen Years
• 10/18/08 — A HEART FOR GOD: Internalizing the Gospel
• 11/15/08 — SIBLING REVELRY: When Families Rejoice to be Together
• 01/17/09 — SPARE THE iPOD, SPOIL THE CHILD: Discipline for Teenagers
• 02/21/09 — MEDIA MATTERS: The Upside of the Download.

You may know that typically, not-so-big meetings are limited to High School students and their parents.  This is still the case for students, but I want to invite all parents of teens to attend, even if you only have a kid in Middle School.  I think you will benefit from these meetings and I want to encourage you to attend, even if you are leaving your Middle School kid at home.

We’ll be starting the meeting at the usual time: 6:30, although if you would like to come early for Pizza & Ping-Pong, that begins at 5:15.  As always, these meetings will be recorded in case you wish to download them for review later.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Categories: Thursday Thoughts For Parents
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Paul Tripp has some very helpful things to say in Age of Opportunity about how Christians should interact with their culture.  On pages 143-145, he explains that both isolation and assimilation are unwise and unhelpful:

• The isolation approach says, “Evil is in the thing, so avoid the thing.”
• The assimilation approach says, “Things are neutral, so there is no harm in participating in the thing.”

He explains that we need “a third way to respond to culture, one that is the result of good Biblical thinking.”  In other words, “There are certain things we must acknowledge as we think about the institutions, relationships, media, and products of the culture around us:”

• All things that God created are good.
• All things that we encounter have been put together, or are used, in a way that carries meaning.
• Everything can be used for good or evil.
• Everything in culture expresses the perspectives of the creator and/or user.
• We never find things in the culture around us in a neutral context or setting.

The point of all this is that we must learn to analyze everything we do and see and love and want through the grid of Scripture.  There is no middle ground here: everything is either helping us love Jesus more or drawing us away from him.

• What are your favorite TV shows, movies, and bands?
• What values do they promote?
• How do their values compare to the Word of God?
• Do you critically evaluate TV shows or music CDs?  How?
• Is there anything you refuse to watch or listen to?  Why?
• What type of Internet sites do you tend to visit?
• How do you determine whether a site is worth exploring?
• Do you think your entertainment habits please God?
• What qualities do you look for in friends?
• Do you see these qualities in your current friends?
• Do your friends influence you toward godliness or worldliness?
• What does it mean to love the world (1 John 2:15-17)?
• What is wrong with loving the world?
• Why is hiding your love for the world from your parents a dangerous sign?
• What are the key ways you are influenced by the world?  How do music, TV, movies, and friendship influence you?
• How effectively do you evaluate television, movies, music, the Internet, and friendships?
• What is one way you can love the world less in the next month?
• What is one way you can love God more in the next month?
• How can your parents, pastor, and friends help you in loving the world less and loving God more?-Adapted from Karl Graustein’s Growing Up Christian, pp. 69, 75.

Categories: Discussion Questions, Thursday Thoughts For Parents
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I read this interesting quote this morning.  In light of the messages we’ve heard on evangelism, it helped reinforce in my mind the urgency of preaching the gospel:

The proclamation of the finished work of Christ is not good advice; it is good news, good news that means immeasurable joy for those who welcome it, irreparable loss for those who reject it and infinite and urgent responsibility for all. James Denney, The Death of Christ, 173

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Terri passed on to me these comments from an email by the staff at Massanetta Springs.  Well done!

By the way, last year one of your pastors said you all aimed to be the best group to come to Massanetta.  I do believe you hold this title for 2 years in a row now!  What a wonderful group of people and some of the nicest and well-behaved youth I have seen here.  (I’ve been here for 12 years, so there is some weight to this praise!)  Please let everyone know this!!

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This is a question that can be hard to answer.  Faith, especially, can be a difficult concept to pin down.  J. I. Packer has a great answer:

It needs to be said that faith is not a mere optimistic feeling, any more than repentance is a mere regretful or remorseful feeling.  Faith and repentance are both acts, and acts of the whole man.  Faith is more than just credence; faith is essentially the casting and resting of oneself and one’s confidence on the promises of mercy which Christ has given to sinners, and on the Christ who gave those promises.  Equally, repentance is more than just sorrow for the past; repentance is a change of mind and heart, a new life of denying self and serving the Saviour as king in self’s place.  Mere credence without trusting and mere remorse without turning, do not save.  -J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, 70-71.

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TRUST AND OBEY

Parents, I was reviewing a portion of Paul Tripp’s Age of Opportunity today, and came across this passage that is so helpful. It’s a lengthy section, but I’m offering it here for your review, because I think these concepts have the power to clarify the (often murky) agenda that confront parents and teens in real-life situations. Enjoy.

We need to teach our teenagers what it means to live for God where they live every day, in all those unspectacular moments at home, at school, or with friends.  There are two questions that, if regularly asked, will bring God into every one of those moments.  We want to ask them of our teenagers until they learn to ask them of themselves.  They are summarized by these two words: trust and obey.

Let me start with the second word.  In every situation we want our teenagers to have a heart for God.  We want them to have the goal of living to please him.  So we must encourage them in every situation to ask, “What, in this situation, are the things that God calls me to do that I cannot pass on to anyone else?”

This question requires them to be concrete and specific in the way they think about their calling from God.  One the teenager has biblically clarified those responsibilities, the only proper response is to obey.

The word trust points the teenager to the fact that he has limits.  There are important things in every situation that need to change, yet are outside of the teenager’s control.  They are not his responsibility because they are beyond his ability to produce.  These areas must be entrusted to God.  So we need to get our teens to ask this question: “What, in this situation, are the things I need to entrust into God’s capable and loving hands?”

Teenagers tend to get these areas confused (and so do adults).  They try to do things that are God’s job and they forget to do the things that he has called them to do.

-Paul Tripp, Age of Opportunity, pp. 60-61.

Try this at home!  The next difficult situation that arises, engage in a discussion:

• OBEY: “What, in this situation, are the things that God calls me to do that I cannot pass on to anyone else?”
• TRUST: “What, in this situation, are the things I need to entrust into God’s capable and loving hands?”

Categories: Thursday Thoughts For Parents
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A fun first meeting of the year!  It was great to talk about evangelism.  Let’s be real clear: 2 Kings 7 is not about evangelism per se.  But there is something we can learn about the impulse that is in every human heart to share good news.  Here’s what we learned:

1. First, this story is about four men who were saved from certain death.
2. Next, this story is about the unexpected salvation that comes from God.
3. Finally, this story is about the recognition by these lepers of the desperation that faced those in their community, and their responsibility to proclaim that good news.

Do you see how this story is a shadow of the gospel and the our part in evangelism?

For teenage Christians—whether you find yourself surrounded by non-Christian peers or largely isolated from unbelievers—one of the best ways you can prepare for evangelism is to grow Christ-likeness.  By cultivating character now, you can create a platform to preach.  This is what brings credibility to the message.  We’ve heard before how God calls us to be “distinct, but not separate.”  By God’s grace, you can do just that.

There are a lot of ways you can get started.  Begin by seeing who God has given you to reach out to.  Then think through together as a family: how can we interact with non-Christians as a family, or invite them along in what we are already doing?  Try it out.

And send me your testimonies!  I would love to hear about what your family is doing!

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