Youth Weekend 2025 UNSHAKABLE, Christ Church Sermon, May 25 2025

[Music]

You're listening to a message from our

weekly worship at Christ Church in Bethl

Park, Pennsylvania. We're a United

Methodist congregation with the mission

of building inclusive community, sharing

Christ's transforming love. To learn

more about the church, including how you

can join us for worship online or in

person, visit

christummc.net. Thank you for listening.

[Music]

Today we'll be reading scriptures psalm

we will be reading chapter 125 of psalms

verses

1-2. Those who trust in the Lord are

unshakable as unmovable as mighty Mount

Zion. Just as the mountains surrounded

Jerusalem, so the Lord wrapped around

presence surrounds his people protecting

them now and forever.

Thanks be to

God. Thank you,

Hope. Good morning again. My name is

Micah Black and for those who do not

know me over in the contemporary

service, I do not play the drums. That

is my brother Liam. Just wanted to clear

that up. That seems to get confusion all

the time.

So, I joined the youth group six years

ago. My family moved here from

Philadelphia and the youth band three

years ago, but where I started off by

playing trumpet on Easter Sunday and I

was like, "Oo, I should do this for the

youth band. That'd be cool." And then I

saw my friends playing guitar and I

wanted to learn how to play guitar. So,

now I play the

guitar. And you all probably know my

mother who is normally up here giving

her sermons. So, that's my family.

Before we get into the scripture today,

I want to walk you through a night of

youth group for those who aren't

involved. So you know what we do. So

first we start every youth group on

Sunday or Wednesday. Right now we're on

Wednesdays where we have like a 30

minute welcome and dinner time where

everyone can get together and catch up

from the week

before. And then after about 30 minutes

we come together. We do the impossible

shot which you already saw. And then the

youth band will go up and we'll play a

few songs to start off the worship

night. And then after those songs, we'll

pray and then we'll sit down and Evan

will give a sermon usually from a sermon

series like like we do here in church

where it's around 3 to four weeks and

it's all related to one

scripture. And then after Evan is done,

we all go we the youth band goes back up

and we play one more song. uh usually a

quieter more solemn song to reflect on

what Evan said. And one of my favorite

parts about this experience is I get to

sit there and watch everyone worship. I

can't hear them because I have my

earbuds and listening to the tracks and

everything for the music, but I get to

see them worship, which is a unique

perspective. And you can see each person

in worshiping by themselves, just them

and God, no one else. And that's what

it's all about is is letting go of the

stress of life and coming together in

worship. And then after that we get to

what is my favorite part which is what

something we call life groups where

these junior high girls, senior high

girls, junior high boys and senior high

boys get into those groups and we kind

of spread out around the church and it's

pretty confidential what we we do in

those groups. So, I can only speak on

behalf of the senior high boys. And uh

we start off by doing like an

icebreaker. Usually, it's like a high or

a low from uh our week before and

something we want to share with the

group. And then we go through a list of

questions or things to talk about based

on what Evan said so we can kind of

share our opinions. And this year we did

a series on mental health, which is an

incredibly difficult topic for adults to

talk about. So, I was very impressed

when I saw youth that are my age giving

uh experiences and opinions on such a

deep

topic. And I think that's what's so

great about this youth group this year

is their openness and willingness to

talk and be involved and communicate.

And the younger kids are doing such a

great job of that as well. And then I

think that really stems from the three

words that we've been following since

the beginning of the year. Be kind, be

present, and be positive. So, be kind

like be kind to yourself, be kind to

others, obviously to God. Uh be

present, putting the technology away.

Each time we do our life groups, we get

a bin for our phones so they get turned

off and put somewhere else so we don't

worry about them. Um, and then listening

to others and participating goes along

with that as well. Then being positive

because it's great when we have a

positive environment to encourage people

to

participate. And that kind of leads me

into the the scripture I chose for this

year, which is the scripture for the

youth group. It's on all of the back of

our

shirts, and it is uh Psalm 125:es 1 and

2, which was read for us by Hope a

minute ago. And when I picked that

scripture, I picked it because I felt it

perfectly represented our youth group

this year. And the very first part of

verse one, which says, "Those that trust

in the Lord will be like mighty Mount

Zion." It really stuck out to me because

I'm a visual person, so I like things to

be shown to me. And a picture like that

one up there of the hill in Israel, that

is the Mount Zion. And you can see that

the Israelites very literally built

their kingdom on a firm foundation, a

rock that does not move as a symbol of

protection and a symbol of strength,

representing the center of their

spiritual

life. So when the psalm says those who

trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,

it means that they are grounded, rooted,

and stable. And God uses Mount Zion as a

shield to surround people living there,

keeping them safe and protecting them.

And the shield isn't temporary for

whenever we're doing good or doing

right. It's permanent and

forever. Now, this isn't to say that

when we trust God, we don't face

trouble. We still will. But it's saying

whenever a trouble comes, we don't fall

apart. We are grounded in God's mercy

and his love, something larger than

ourselves.

And those things are not based on

circumstances, yet they're based on God

who never changes. And that's what makes

our faith unshakable. Now, everything

around us is changing all the time.

School, work, relationships, the

weather, the the pirates coaching

staff. But God doesn't change. He is

always going to be the same, and he

always has been the same.

And the image of Mount Zion reminds me

of the story of Noah's ark. Noah built

the ark at God's command. And once he

built his ark or his foundation, the

flood came and he was ready to not only

support himself, but he was able to save

all of the animals from the flood as

well.

So just like Noah, when we have a strong

foundation in Christ and trust in his

truth and in his love, then we can not

only support ourselves through hard

times, but support others as well. And

to me, that is a great example from the

Bible of having unshakable faith just

like Mount

Zion. So none of us are probably

building a real ark, but if you are,

that's pretty cool and I want to see it.

But we can all build our metaphorical

arcs to stand on. So if we put our whole

selves into God, we can be closer to him

and have a better connection with him

through the ins and outs of life and

have a better relationship with others

through Christ. And I'll say that for

me, I didn't really start to put my

trust into God until not super long ago.

Now, going back for the rest of my life,

as long as I can remember, because it's

since I was born, uh my dad preached as

a preacher in the Presbyterian church

when we lived in Florida for the first

seven years of my life. He was one of

two pastors there. And then we moved to

Philadelphia for 4 and a half years. And

he was the preacher there as well. So

then we moved here and we took a brief

hiatus and then my mom decided to become

a pastor here. So for like 80% of my

life, one of my parents has been the

pastor every time I go to

church. But for me, it didn't really

click until fall of 2023, a year and a

half

ago. I was gearing up to take the SAT

and I had gone through this twice a week

n monthly class for about a month to

prepare for the test. So once a week was

English and once a week was math. And

then the night before came and I could

not sleep. I had the jitters. So, I

tried everything and I I went up and I

got a drink of water. I I took a walk. I

came back upstairs and I laid back down

and I still couldn't sleep. And

something you should know about this SAT

that was different than others was this

was the first one to be completely

online. So, there was no essay for

English. We didn't do any writing. And

then we had the calculator for the

entire math section. So, you'd think

it'd be easy, but none of us knew that

at the time because none of the

proctors, none of the teachers giving

the classes during the week or the

students, even the ones that had already

taken the SAT, none of them knew what

this would really be like. We didn't

know if it would be hard or difficult or

easy because it was the first one

online. So, I was lying there in bed. I

didn't really know what to do. Couldn't

get myself to calm down and relax. And

then all of a sudden

prayer jumped into my head and I was

like at this time well this at this time

prayer wasn't really a big thing for me.

Um I would pray if I did for big events

that went on natural disasters war and

things like that or I would pray for a

friend who was going through a hard time

but I didn't really pray for myself and

I didn't really pray very

often. But then this thought came to my

head. I was like, "What if I pray?" So I

did the one thing you're not supposed to

do, which is pray for good

grades. But I was like, "It can't hurt

anything, so I might as well

try." And so the next day, I woke up and

I went in and I took the test with this

new peace and calmness, knowing that I

prayed over everything. God was there

and I'm going to be okay. So, I took the

test and a few weeks later they released

the scores and it was at like 8 a.m. on

a Saturday. So, I was like, "Okay, I'll

get up that early. Why not? I get up

that early for church. I might as well

get up that early to check my phone."

So, I checked and the the score I got

was a 13:30, which was much better than

I thought I would do and much better

than I did on the practice tests. And so

my first words, which I can't remember

if I said out loud or not, was, "I can't

believe that

worked." And for all the times I had

been in church and heard my parents

preach and other pastors preach every

weekend, it took me until then to

realize I might be on to

something. Uh, but seriously, that

kickstarted the trust that I have in God

today.

And at one of our retreats this year

called Current in January, our speaker

talked about feeling the nudges from

God. So that night I prayed. God gave me

a nudge to pray and then I was

okay. And that's when I started to

really take church seriously, more

seriously than I already had, and commit

to strengthening my faith and my

relationship with God and with Jesus. So

I got to work. I got a Bible for

Christmas, started reading it more

often, started praying more often, and

even started the routine of praying each

night before I go to bed, just like I

did the night before the test over the

day I just had and the day ahead.

I also started listening to worship

music a little bit more often in the car

with like Caleb and um incorporating

music into my playlists so that when

Spotify's shuffle lands on a worship

song, I get another nudge and it brings

me back. And I've since built up what I

would say is a pretty solid relationship

with God considering it used to be

fairly

one-sided. And obviously, by no means am

I done. I will keep building my

relationship with God for the rest of my

life. And so now my takeaway for all of

you today is to build your foundation

with Jesus so that when your troubles

come like the

SAT, you're going to be okay knowing

that God's got your back. He's going to

be there with you and you're going to

make it through. Now, it's not always

easy. Trusting God can be very hard

sometimes. And as humans, it is in our

biology to try and handle situations on

our own to gain

confidence. However, from my experience,

and I'm sure many of you can agree,

trying to handle things alone does not

always work very well. So, work with

others around you. The people sitting on

your left and right right now can help

you with everything you're going

through. And sometimes it just takes

reaching out and asking for help.

And one of my favorite ways to

strengthen your relationship with God is

through giving of your time. This church

is incredible and it has so many

different events and ways and things you

can do to volunteer and to help others

in the community around you. Um, one of

my favorite things that we're doing is

as a youth group, we're going to

Virginia Beach this summer to work with

a group called Fuge Camps. And what

we're going to do is we're going to meet

a whole bunch of youth just like us from

all over the country who share different

experiences and opinions and views on

the Bible and

Jesus, but they're all the same age as

us. So they we get to communicate with

youth from all over the country that

have the same opinions and views, but

different opinions and views as well.

So, we're going to help in the local

community, stay at a local

college, and um do activities and games

to grow together and to praise God. And

we get to go to the beach. So, it

doesn't get much better than

that. And it doesn't have to be

something like going to Virginia Beach.

It can be something like right here,

even

today, helping out with volunteering in

the church. All there's a whole bunch of

youth pretty much as many as I know and

can name that are helping out. We had

special music this morning and every job

that is being done this weekend is by

the youth. So they are giving of their

time to volunteer for all of you

today. And all the things I mentioned

today is just the tip of the iceberg. It

just gets better from there. One of my

other favorite ways to get involved is

to join a class or to get confirmed or

join the church. I did that and it's a

really neat process. You get to see what

all of the things in this sanctuary

mean, all the columns and the cross and

everything. And you get to learn more

about the United Methodist faith in

particular and how it came to be. And

you can work with pastors and leaders to

ask any questions you might have and

learn more about the Methodist Church.

And so what I want you to all walk with

walk away with today is that you should

grow in God and grow your foundation.

Build it up so that you can be

unshakable in your faith just like Mount

Zion, just like Noah's ark, and just

like our youth group. Let us pray.

Dear Lord, we thank you for gathering

everyone here today to come grow and

learn more about you and your

word. We thank you for all of the youth

volunteering this weekend and doing

everything they can to help out in the

community around

them. We thank you for all of the gifts

we have been given in our life. We know

that they are only gifts from you and

that we need to give them back to you

because everything belongs to you. And

we thank you for everyone around us that

can help us when we are in our lows and

when we are in our highs. And we look

forward to growing with you in the

future. We thank you for all these

things in your son's name. Amen.