yours: Week 1

Have you ever been so passionate about something? So determined that you are going to succeed, you won’t let anything get in your way? We love to hear stories about people who are so motivated and driven that they work hard at it every day. They do everything in their power to make sure whatever it is they are so passionate about is successful.

It makes me think of Nick Foles in 2017 with the Philadelphia Eagles. Now some of you know his story, but he was the backup Quarterback this year. If you haven’t heard much about Foles, he tells it like this year was for sure going to be one of his last. He was there to help the new up and coming stars, and lead his way to retirement. Well that year, the Eagles had a great season, and the starting QB Carson Wentz was on his way to an MVP season. Well as the playoffs approached, Carson Wentz had a season ending injury and it put the unexpected Nick Foles in the driver's seat again for the Eagles. Everyone thought the season was over. Wentz had carried this team in so many ways to where they were, and people thought maybe Foles had a game or two in him, but no way he could do much. But Foles explains how the whole year, his work ethic and mindset never changed, and he was ready to be the next man up when the time arrived. Foles grinded and learned all the details of the offense, and sure enough that year fought to win the super bowl over Tom Brady.

Now that’s a story of working for something and giving your best until you get the desired result!

I know you do it too!

• I know you work hard at practice every week. Determined to work well with your team and succeed.
• I know you study for weeks to get the grade that you need to get into the school you are applying to.
• Some of you are so determined to get the girl/guy that you like that you will go to extreme lengths to impress them.

When we really care about something we do everything we can to make it work. Whatever it is.

My question is do we do the same thing with our student ministry?

• Are we as passionate about our student ministry as we are our sports team?
• Are we as dedicated to making this place better as we are to other things in our lives?
• Are you so committed to the kingdom of God that you don’t let anything get in the way of you obeying God and making an impact in the people around you?

The early church had that level of commitment. After Jesus ascended back into Heaven the disciples got to work. God filled them with the power of the Holy Spirit and they began to share the Gospel with anyone and everyone. And the church grew. Thousands upon thousands of people were becoming Christians and joining the movement, daily. And they were beyond passionate and dedicated to the church and its mission. Nothing was going to get in their way.

Acts 2:42-46

Look at the way their lives were described.

• They had everything in common
• They were all together every day
• They were devoted to the apostles teaching
• They gave up everything for the cause of Christ.

That’s commitment. These people went all in for the church and because of that they saw God do amazing things. Estimates are that the early church in Jerusalem grew so fast and so rapidly that almost half the city gave their lives to Christ. That is over 200,000 people.

Everywhere they went they saw God move on their behalf and they made an impact on this world that is still felt today.

Imagine what God could do through us if we were as serious as they were. Imagine the students whose lives could be changed. Imagine a move of God that was so great that only God got the credit for what was happening.

What do you want this student ministry to become? What kind of impact do we want to make with the one shot that we have been given? Dream a dream of what we could be and what we should be and I promise you God will outdream you.

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

What kind of impact do we want to make? I believe God can do a lot more with Remix than we could even imagine. I believe we could go on an adventure of a lifetime. Don’t you want that? To be a part of something bigger than yourself? Aren’t you tired of just showing up here, not participating, not learning and not growing?

I think you want more than this. I believe we can make Remix a place that is worth believing in. A community that you are proud of. I believe we can grow spiritually like we never have before. I believe we can see our friends who would never be interested in Jesus come to Remix and give their lives to Christ. But here is the thing. If we want to see that happen.

We have to Give our best to the One who gave his best for us.

How do we do that? We have to take ownership of this place. Notice, we titled this series “Yours” because you have to understand Remix is yours. Remix is yours to make great or it is yours to ruin. Your attitude, your effort, and your passion for God and for what we do here make or breaks how powerful and effective we can be.

If you show up every week, sit by yourself, scroll on your phone through the message and never get to know the people around you, you will always feel empty when you leave here, it will always feel like a waste of time. If you sit there and never participate in the game, if you critique everything we do and pick it apart and talk about how bad it sucks, then guess what it is always going to suck to you. And I want you to know that that attitude is going to screw us up. No one wants to be around a bunch of people who are lame.

No one is going to say later today, “Hey let’s go over to John’s house. That dude is so lame. I love to hang around him. He hates everything.”

When we don’t give our best to Jesus, we are literally stopping people from wanting to be a part of what we are doing. We have one shot and if we aren’t excited about what God is doing here how can we expect someone who is new to get fired up about it. I’ll tell you what new people will do. They will see how uninterested we are and they will never come back again because no one wants to be around a lifeless student ministry.

People want to be a part of something that is fun and exciting. And if we don’t lean in and get fired up those new people will come one time and never come back again and their eternity is on you because your attitude turned those people away.

But if you show up excited to learn. If you show up passionate about what God is doing here. If you come willing to participate and build relationships with the people that are here. God might just use this place to change your life and the life of someone else.

I want you to know as your student pastor that I am going to bring my “A” game every week. We will play the best games and have the best videos, and we will have a blast together and I will work hard to give you the best message I can. But I can’t pull this off without you. I need your help.

I need your best enthusiasm and I need your best attitude, and I need your best attention. When we get serious, we get serious. When we open up God’s word, open up your heart. Don’t be a distraction to those around you.

Pay attention. Not because I am up here and I want you to listen to me so I can boost my ego. No, pay attention because the bible is a gift. What we have at Remix is a gift. The chances you will ever be a part of something like this ever again in your life is slim and none. This is our time. This is our shot to be extraordinary. Let’s not take what we have for granted, Instead let’s give our best attention by doing these things:

• Listen during the message.
• Take notes so we can go home and study further.
• When I pray, you pray. Pray in your head and heart for God to speak to you and for God to make himself real to those around you.
• Take the challenges we give you.

If we encourage you “Go home and pray every day.” Or “Read one chapter of the Bible every day” or “practice serving others this week.” We don’t say those things because we are just looking for a way to end the talk. We challenge you because we really believe when we do those things our lives and the lives of those around us change. So don’t just blow it off but give it your best effort. You want to see your life really change? Take this stuff seriously.

Let me recap. Remix is yours. It’s what you make of it.

• The games we play are what you make of them.
• When we worship together your worship experience is only as good as your attitude.
• Your small group discussion will be as deep and impactful as you allow it to be
• The energy in the room will rise and fall on your enthusiasm.

And if you will bring your best, your best will be contagious for others to bring their best too. Let’s be honest for a sec. We are all crowd followers. It happens every week here at Remix. Instead of coming in and leading the charge we sit quietly and watch everyone else and we respond how everyone else responds. If everyone is into the service, so are you like when we are at Rally or One Night.

If everyone is sitting lifeless in their chairs like a bunch of dead bodies, I bet you are right there with them. We all do it. We all follow the crowd. The question is. Do you really want to be a crowd follower for the rest of your life? Or do you want to lead?

I don’t know about you guys but I want to be different. I want to be excited about life and what God is doing in it. I want Remix to be a place where when you walk in the room you can feel the buzz of excitement to see what God is going to do in us this week.

How many of you have been to one of our big Remix events? Like Summer Kick Off or Rally last summer? Do you remember what that room felt like? Everyone was excited, everyone was on the edge of their seats for the message. Everyone was ready to make friends and hear God’s Word. What if we didn’t have to wait until Rally for that energy? What if we gave our best to the One who gave His best for us?

Jesus was the best. He came to rescue us from ourselves. He lived a perfect and sinless life and was crucified on a cross so that we might be forgiven of our sins and yet we get more excited about a video game than we do about him. We give better attention to some guy or girl that we think is hot than we give to the one who died and rose again for us. I don’t know about you but I can’t do that anymore.He deserves my best. He died for me, so I will live for him. Let’s give our best this year.