Youth Sunday: Setting an Example | September 21, 2025

Well, good morning, white Rock.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

I can't help but be in

touch, overwhelmed with.

How wonderful this day is going.

'cause to be honest, when we

were told that we were gonna do

a youth led Sunday, that presents

some stresses and complications

and struggles to fight through.

Especially when your youth pastor, I don't

know who he is, but whoever he is, doesn't

tell your youth group until a week out.

Thank you.

And then to watch the efforts,

the things in the background, the

excitement, the energy when presented

at a ba bam, that, Hey, by the

way, you guys are gonna lead it.

And I mean lead all of it.

Every last bit of this things

you guys are gonna dive into.

And there was no grumbling.

'cause we usually play games and we might

goof off a little bit at our bands, right?

It's youth group.

We're gonna have some fun.

We went to work.

Every last person focused in dialed in.

We got a task and we're gonna

dive into it 'cause it matters.

So what's gonna happen?

We have.

Nine speakers that have come up here

and share what's been on, laid on their

heart from our, our God, so that holy

spirit's certainly being working in them.

So the first person I'd love to invite up

to the stage with a little bit of applause

to support her is Lily Williamson.

Come on up.

And so Lily's gonna start us off

with, uh, a monologue that she

literally put together in two days.

I'm really impressed

and excited to see it.

So, Lily, here you are.

Okay.

I'm just a girl from a

small town of Nazareth.

People pass through trying to

tell us the word of the Lord.

I don't really pay attention because,

well, I just do my work and live my life.

Well, recently I've been following this

man, but he's different than the others.

There's something

wonderful yet mysterious about him.

I was at my friend's wedding

and we had just run out of wine.

There's this room full of buckets of

water for people to wash their hands in.

So just imagine people leaning over to

wash their hands to get ready for dinner.

Well, there he was sitting

and talking to someone.

Just remember it's clear, pure water.

Instantly it was wine, pure wine.

He was out talking to a group of people

and when they left, um, his disciples

went on a boat and that's when I saw it.

The most amazing thing ever.

He was walking on water, not swimming.

He was walking.

Every step was on water.

Just yesterday I went out to go

mourn from my friend's death.

And so here we all are mourning

and I hear a voice behind me,

Lazareth come out and I thought,

that's the man I've been following.

He's crazy.

We're all here mourning, and he's

just blurting out random things.

But then.

Lazareth came out, he was dead.

And now he's alive.

Alive.

This man has done miracles.

Who is he?

You ask.

He's Jesus a son of God and

he changed my life forever.

And he can change yours.

Wow.

And I don't know if I said it with

only being prompted like two days ago,

she felt inspired and called to do

something that even she didn't know.

And then she puts that together working

with her mother and I'm sure maybe

some other contributing folks there.

Incredible.

Thank you, Lily.

But now.

If I could, with another

round of applause, invite

James Hunt up to the stage.

Can't help but be curious is how

Jesus has changed your life, man.

So I'll leave you to it.

Hello.

So I have been called, I, I

believe this is directly from God.

I've felt called to speak about

fear and I've seen a lot of it

in the world and I've personally

experienced a lot of fear in my life.

Um, so I have this verse,

it is Psalms 34, 4.

I sought the Lord and he answered me.

He delivered me from all my fears.

And so fear is something

that we all experience.

Um, and it often, I mean, every day

we experience fear in some way or

another, and it often holds a spec

from doing what we know is right and.

I mean, that speaks for itself.

But, um, when we seek the Lord, he

answers and delivers us from all

of our fears, all of our fears.

And all we have to do is trust in God.

Just trust that he has it under control.

We are not in control, but God has

already overcome all the fears we face.

And like I said, all we have

to do is just trust in him and

let him guide us through life.

Thank you.

Some serious, uh, profound stuff.

I think it's neat.

I, uh, tried to be clever when

I organized who's going first,

second, third, and all that.

I tried my best to line things up,

but I didn't put him first thinking

this amazing dynamic of, he's

literally speaking about fears.

And you could imagine a couple youth

coming up here to speak in front of this

entire congregation could be intimidating.

And they get to have that as their

kind of, Hey, trust in God, guys.

So James was talking to you

guys, I do believe, and we'll

continue that conversation.

So if I could have Jed join

me up here on the platform,

and once again, I'm curious,

how's Jesus moved in your life?

Yo, what's up guys?

Um, okay.

I'm Jed.

Yeah.

Uh, I feel like I'm really

called to talk about.

Idolatry today and just kind of

talk about myself a little bit.

Um, idolatry.

Well, my only verse I'm using

today is Exodus 20, I believe three

without, outside of no Gods before me.

One of the 10 commandments, you know?

Um, sorry.

Um, and kinda what I've been

thinking about lately is this idea

of seeing idols in your life that

you didn't really know you had, like

hidden idols, I guess in a sense.

And I would say

for the past two years, probably at least,

I, I've felt I've had very cool moments

with God and I've had very disconnected

moments with God in my lowest of lows.

You know, and I think we all experience

stuff like that that's completely normal.

Um, but

over the past week and a

half, I've really seen.

What I believe is kind of the core source

for me, at least, of it being idols in my

life that I didn't realize I had for me.

Um, kind of embarrassing.

But for me, that's been my

relationships with girls.

Uh, um, uh, I would say,

sorry, sorry, sorry.

Um,

shut up, Finn.

Um,

I've let, um,

I've let my, I mean, it's a normal

teenage guy thing to like girls.

That's, that's normal.

Y'all, y'all know that.

Yeah.

Um.

Uh, but I have let that get into my

life to a point where it completely

consumes me and it consumes my wake

in time, my time that I devoted to

read my Bible, to spend with Jesus.

It takes over all of that.

It really separates me from

my relationship with God.

Um,

let me whip out this note real quick

'cause I forgot where I was going.

Hold on.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Uh, love you guys too.

Uh, yeah, so that's kind of my deal is

over the past like week and a half, I've

really like, come to that conclusion.

Really looked deep into my life

for that stuff, and I'm really

trying to take steps towards that.

And I would not, if you would've

asked me two weeks ago, do you

have any idols in your life?

100%. I would've just been

like, no, God, God's king.

Right?

But that's not true.

I wouldn't have felt like I was lying

in the moment, but I would've been.

'cause I've let that get to

a point in my life where it

overpowers my will to follow God.

Um,

but that's not, that's

not all there is, right?

For me, that's been the core source.

That's definitely not, you got

pretty much anything can be an idol.

Money, cars, I don't even know.

Alcohol, substance abuse, like all that.

It can completely control your

waking time, your moments.

And I would say this has been a

struggle with me for two years at least.

Um, and I really wish I would've come

to this conclusion two years ago,

'cause it would've been way easier to

kind of change the course of my life.

Um, but I'm just grateful

that I got to see it now.

But my deal is, uh, if you have something

in your life that you don't think is

really a problem, I would just please ask

you to take a deeper look at that because

it could be, I did not think this was

a problem until a week and a half ago.

And then I'm realizing like this

controlled every waking moment of my life

and it is way easier to stop now compared

to a couple more years down the road.

It's way harder then, and I'm just

glad I found out about it now.

But, uh, yeah, that's kinda all I got.

Well, I certainly appreciate Jed being

honest with some personal things in

his life, some personal things that.

He knows, steered him a certain direction.

When he noticed he took action,

he turned the opposite direction.

So I kind of wanted to celebrate A fact

that he didn't put out there is he's, he's

not just saying this, he's taking action.

There's things he's doing in his

life that are challenging now.

For example, maybe the phone allowed him

communication opportunities and sorry if

I'm getting too personal here, but he's

got, he's doing a phone fast because he

recognized that's a source where when

he should be reading this phone, he's

like, I keep talking to these girls.

The texts, he coming in, the

communication is about nonsense.

Keeps distracting.

And this kid said, I'm

gonna leave that alone.

Well done.

Well done.

Well, I'm now gonna invite

Wake Burkhart up to the stage

and we're all curious, how's

Jesus changed your life?

Click.

So this is pretty much like my whole

journey with God, my like four year span

about of falling away and then coming back

and pursuing relationships

that went worth it.

So I had like a year

span of a lot of girls.

I was, there was a lot of like

bad things that happened just like

saying inappropriate stuff over

the phone and it was just not good.

And then it got out to people

and then rumors started

spreading that were way worse.

And then it really happened.

And then I gotta the point where I

didn't care much about church and youth

group anymore and just didn't really

want to go and then felt far from God.

So like I wasn't reading my Bible,

wasn't praising, wasn't praying,

just all the worldly things.

Didn't believe anymore, started

filling my Gods size hole with like

women, bad music, stuff like that.

And Luke 1521, the son said

to him, father, I have sinned

against heaven and against you.

I'm no longer worthy

to be called your son.

And that's kind of how I felt where I

just felt like I wasn't worthy for him.

And I was all caught up in bad

stuff and couldn't get away from it.

And then here's the turning point.

So like the whole 180 back to Christ.

So it all started where my mom signed

me up for, uh, never too young.

And we went there and like worshiped and

they did like sermons and everything.

And the Holy Spirit really moved that day

and I was, I was tearing up and actually

singing, which I had never done that.

And that was the first

time I actually spoke.

Spiritually full.

I like called my mom

telling her all about it.

And, and after that, like I started

singing at church and worshiping.

'cause I was always like too nervous

to do it in front of people 'cause I

didn't want to like think I was weird.

And then after that got baptized

about later on that year, a few months

later, and Luke 1524 for the son of

mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost in his fad.

They began to celebrate

and then purpose filled a block.

And then like the next two years was

just me like growing and getting closer

to God, like getting outta my comfort

zone and learning more about him.

I stopped caring about what people

think now, like I'll actually

raise my hands and sing and dance

and do all the weird people stuff.

Um, and then we got music choices, which,

like when I went to public school, like

all we'd listen to is like, Lil Baby, Lil

Techo, all this, all this stuff that's

not like you should be listening to Now.

I listen to like, try to listen

to like Forest Frank and Christian

artists 'cause you should fill

yourself with like-minded people.

And Summer retreat out one,

that was, that was fun.

We got, we had a lot of good

sermons and gotta hang out with

everyone, which was a lot of fun.

And then we had this one sermon

the night before and there

was a lot of crying for sure.

Especially from me and I don't cry.

So it was, it was, it was new.

And then after that it was

trying to get in the word daily.

Just get word from God and learn

more and then started inviting others

to youth group to, I don't know.

'cause why wouldn't you invite others

if that's the best thing you have?

And then this verse, the Lord

is good to those who hope is in

him, to the ones who seeks him.

I feel like, like that was probably

the best thing I've ever done, is

just like, put my hope in him and

seek him and try, yeah, seek him.

And I certainly agree to that.

Well, something I wanted to kind of

point out to everybody first, in the

beginning of that story last night, the

Burkharts came over to the house till

the wee hours of the morning to do work.

They came there to get some work done.

Whole family.

It was fun.

And throughout this week, as I've

talked with Wake, he's had so many

subjects and things on his mind and his

heart of what to share and trying to

figure out the dynamics, have a notes

on this and this and this and this.

And we sit there, we see his

notes, all right, we have

this plan and we move forward.

And then it's just not it.

It's not what he's talking about.

And then more scripture comes

up, there's more reading, more

investment, more time, right?

And three or four different sermons

later, this is where he fell on, we

got personal about what's going on in

his own life and in those interactions.

I was sitting there and he talked about

this moment where he called his mom.

That was a pivotal 0.1.

I couldn't have been just more

excited 'cause Cory sitting right

there showed her excitement.

And when he called me, I freaked out

and I ran over, what was it, Jackie?

He's like Jackie, right?

She got all excited at the house and

was freaking out and she was celebrating

'cause her boy just called her.

And the Holy Spirit have gotten

ahold of him for the first time.

How cool that was.

That's amazing.

And then when he talks through

his walk, I couldn't help.

But, uh, wanna point out he's not bragging

at the end of that Wake's trying to walk

the walk and none of us are perfect.

None of these teens, no.

Up here is perfect.

But he's really trying.

And the amount of folks he has brought

into our youth group kind of getting wild.

He's, I mean, he's not kidding.

He invites people.

He goes out on a limb.

He isn't afraid of the

weird people we are anymore.

And he's stepping into

it and I'm proud of him.

Well done, man.

Well, we have another young man

gonna step up on the stage by

the name of Jonathan gr Jonathan.

And I was gonna very quickly, uh,

preface this with, at our lockout,

we did a camping event with the

youth, maybe a week or so ago,

or two weeks, we all stayed out.

And for the week leading up to that,

I was like, what am I gonna speak on?

I read scripture, prayed

and could not find it.

Literally the day of, I asked Josiah that

morning when I was setting everything up

and I'm like, Josiah, you got anything?

He's like, not now, but I'm sure

something's gonna come to us.

And I was like, I have

confidence in our Lord.

Something will come up

literally in the event.

We're like two hours into it.

And who walks up to me, Jonathan, Hey,

I have something that I'd like to say.

I brought a projector, my computer

and a couple of slides and I'd

like to speak to the youth group.

And this is what he talked to him about.

So as he said, um, we went a week

ago on Friday, we had a lock out.

Um, and I felt as though God

wanted me to talk about this.

Because in Proverb six six it says, go to

the aunt New Sluggard, consider its ways

and we wise, which talks about how we

need to go out and work and be eventful.

And sometime, most of the time, uh, our

main excuse as to why we don't work is

I just have so much, I don't know what

I am, should do first 'cause and then

we will always end up putting something

off because we just don't have time.

So I have a few special guests.

Uh, so never put off until tomorrow.

What can be done today?

I know a few of us grew

up with, uh, Ninjago.

Um.

It says, don't put it, don't put

off what you can do tomorrow.

We don't have enough time in the

day to put everything off or to put,

we need to do some.

We need to do things today and

we need to work as much as we

can, but we can't do everything.

So we need to figure out

what we want to put off.

'cause time is a gift.

We only have so much.

Um, so we need to use the time that God

gives us wisely if we just go out and try

and work as much as we can, as we can.

But we don't have a plan.

We're not gonna get very much

done, and we're probably going to.

Pull out our phone and doom scroll

and, oh look there, there goes half

our time because we were overwhelmed

and we just needed a break.

And then we spent more time not

working than we did working.

So we need to plan out what we are gonna

put off, whether it be our video games

and scrolling and whatever, um, and figure

out what we do want to do in our time

because we can't do all the good things.

I talked to Sarah and after I did it on

Friday after I said the same thing and

she has things that she can't do in a day.

Well, that's why we plan.

Um, one person who worked

really, really hard for God.

Was Charlie Kirk.

He, um, made a very big impact

as I'm sure a lot of us know.

And in my original slide plan, I

didn't have him and this amazing

picture, uh, that I had planned.

But he really helps shows going

to the ant and working hard.

He's a great example of what we

are supposed to do and how we

are supposed to spend our time.

And the enemy was scared of him.

They, they tried to take him out

and all that ended up happening was

multiplying what he was doing and

getting more people to do it because.

If the enemy doesn't want us to

share our word in an impactful matter

if he'd be good with us just staying

to the side and being the silly group.

But if we are actually being

impactful, that's scary to the enemy.

And it can be scary to us, but it's so

terrifying to the enemy of us stepping

out of, yeah, I go to church, uh, and

I'll just do whatever with my time.

I'll have more.

But if we actually use our time as wisely

as we can and we go out and we work

hard, the enemy doesn't know what to do.

Um, 'cause if he tries to take

us out, then that just shows.

How meaningful it is, and then

that multiplies and if he tries

to not do anything, then we're

going out and we're sharing God's

word and then it's multiplying.

We're fighting a winning battle.

He's fighting the losing battle.

The only tactic that he has is fear

and using other things to get us

to spend our time doing whatever

that said.

Well said, well said, man, I got nothing

else for that and that's beautiful.

I appreciate that, Jonathan.

Thank you for sharing.

I also appreciate the next speaker

coming up here and that would be Gabriel.

Come on up, Gabriel.

And everyone's curious how Jesus has,

uh, maybe influenced you this week.

So here you are.

Okay.

Curious.

Oh, go ahead.

You're good.

If you wanna set up

that button that's a

little bit roughed up.

This one underneath the edge of the side.

Okay.

When COVID to 19 was in full effect,

we were probably a more concerned

about the virus itself rather than

all of the impacts of the isolation.

But during those many months there, 25%

more people felt anxiety and depression.

15% more people felt severe loneliness.

8% increase in suicides Among people aged

15 to 24, there was a 30% increase in.

Suicide attempts aged 10 to 19.

And these fear, loneliness, and

anxiety and depression aren't

just uncomfortable feelings.

They have their own negative impacts

on other parts of your being, on your

body and on your spiritual welfare.

25% said their social skills decline.

Now, that's not as important as the

other ones, but it shows that this

impacts us on every part of our being,

our, our mind, our body, and our spirit.

So the verse that, uh, first led me to

this topic was Proverbs 18, one, whoever

isolates himself seeks his own desires,

he breaks out against all sound judgment.

You know that, that's a

very strong state statement.

All sound judgment.

It is one of the most foolish things

you can do to isolate yourself

and make yourself vulnerable.

And though you might not be deliberately

trying to depart from God's way

and go into a way that's sinful and

evil, when you isolate yourself,

that is what you are going to do.

So we can talk about what is fellowship.

The, uh, word in Greek is

Nia, and the root word is ko.

And this means shared or common.

It does line up a little bit.

So the co there and the co ko of the,

the coen common have the same origin.

So it's that idea of cooperation,

um, and sharing here.

So then we can look at fellowship.

We have fellow and ship, and now

fellow we know is like a, a partner.

A partner, a comrade.

Uh, but it originally meant one

who puts down money and we can

see the cognates with fee and low.

So, um, first of all, I'd like to say

this shows us that you guys need to tithe

more, give more money to the church.

But, um, what I want to get from

this is, um, the idea of commitment.

That we are putting down our

resources, our time, our energy,

our um, our, our money and, and

we're, uh, contributing to a goal.

So there's also this oneness

'cause we are united in this.

Um, so this was originally one

who puts down money for a journey.

So we are putting down our resources and

we have a direct, uh, direction in mind.

And we can also see this in

Acts 2 44, the relation there,

they had all things in common.

Um, yeah.

So that, I think that's a very, uh,

cool to see that there and ship.

Then we have, uh, you know, we

know that's, uh, a vessel that goes

out on the water and it's this one

structure that has people in it.

And so there's that idea of a body,

but, um, and we can use that here,

but also ship Immers meant to create,

to form or a point, and the cove

is with shape to shape something.

So, uh, this gives the idea of

something that is up building, but

also that this fellowship is like

a corporation with a point here.

It's a corporation where

everyone in it has their own

duty, and it's this whole body.

It's a corporation

directed towards a goal.

And there's, there's multiple

levels to fellowship.

There's this whole fellowship here, but

we can also have smaller groups within it.

We have small groups and I can have

personal relationships with someone.

So I'm talking about all of these here

and some other common images, um,

that we all know that we are a body

and we all have our own parts and

you cannot separate the parts of

the body, but that body will die.

And then we're also sheep,

which means we're in a flock.

We're all together united

under the shepherd.

So, uh, three verses.

These three verses, I think

best emphasize the idea behind

fellowship that I want to give.

So I have encouragement,

prayer, and that constellation.

So first, encourage one another

and build one another up.

Confess your sins to one another and

pray for one another that you may be

healed and bear one another's burdens

and still fulfill the law of Christ.

So with with Constellation, you can

see, um, it's not just that we're

separate from other people's experiences

and we're, oh, I'm praying for you.

You're over there.

I'm over here.

It's, it's an empathy and it's a, it's a

sharing, it's a unity in the experience.

Now, that is a kind of strange

thought, um, but we see in Romans 1215.

Rejoice with those who rejoice

and weep with those who weep.

And

yeah, I think that's all I

have to say for this sled.

Okay.

Ecclesiastes four, nine through

12, I think is a great, um,

picture represents the, the power

and the necessity of community.

Two are better than one because they

have a good reward for their toil, for if

they fall, one will lift up his fellow.

If one of us is struggling and

sin has fallen down in a struggle,

another person can come, can pray

for him, can support him, encourage

him, give him advice, and, and lead

him, lead him in the right direction.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls

and has not another to lift him up again.

If two lie together, they keep warm.

How can one keep form alone?

And though a man might prevail

against one who is alone,

two will withstand him alone.

As a single sheep, we can be

devoured, we're vulnerable.

We cannot, uh, necessarily

prevail by ourselves.

Satan can come, but

two will withstand him.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

And another passage that shows the power

in community, though it's often used, uh,

to show other, other things is Genesis 11,

where everyone united to build a tower.

But, and, and God said, um,

nothing will be impossible for

them, but their community was,

did not have God as the leader.

And they, it was, has the

goal of rebelling against God.

So its general idea was

evil, but it had great power.

But obviously we're not

more powerful than God.

So now finally, how can we act this out?

Um, so this idea of fellowship is very

close to the idea of service because

often when the, the idea of the body of

the church is brought up in the Bible,

it's, it's right, uh, it, it's there

to introduce the idea that each of

us have our own gifts and talents and

our own function and role in the body.

And it discusses a role.

So that's another topic to

discuss and that'd be interesting.

Um, so first of all, we can

partake in small groups.

I said that, uh, fellowship can be on a

small, smaller level within the church.

So we have small groups.

It'd be great if you can partake in them.

We also have, you can build

friendships, you can strengthen your

relationships, and you can make new ones.

Personal relationships between one person

can be very powerful and pray continually.

We need to hear other people's sufferings

and let our sufferings known to others

so we can be there for each other.

And most importantly, put down your money.

Put your fees low.

Keep each other warm.

Okay?

So we all have, um, our

own ways we can love.

You know, one person loves one way

and another person loves another.

And you know, that's go back,

it goes back to service.

How can we, um, individually, uh, use our

own abilities to benefit the community?

Okay, so don't break out

against all sound judgment.

We are here as a whole body and we

have our own smaller groups within it.

In any way, we are able let

us one love, one another, and

receive one another's love.

Thank you.

Very, very, very impressive.

Well said.

And uh, certainly for a 2:00

AM finale that is well said.

I can't help but, uh, sit here and

think about what Gabriel's talking

about this community we have, right?

There's a lot of faces that

are coming back to the Lord and

they're looking for that Lord here.

There's people who have been here a

long time, maybe not so long, but that's

seriously encouraging that you are.

It is okay to ask for help.

It is okay to put this stuff out

there that is draining you and

crushing you because this is a family.

This is White Rock Fellowship,

and although the fellowship

means you gotta tithe more of

the baskets in the back, sure.

It is a family.

So we're here to support each other

and sometimes you need the support.

So seek it and this family

to take care of you.

Alright, our next contestant that's

gonna come to the stage is Finn Teigen.

Come on up here.

Finn,

you need this.

Thank you.

Huh?

Hey.

Alright, so, okay, I'm gonna be talking

about respect and honor today, which,

if you guys all know, I'm like the

most respectful kid in the world.

No, that's a lie.

I'm sorry.

I am.

It's a constant battle

with me being respectful.

Especially to my beautiful mother

who puts up with everything I do.

But, uh, yeah, respect

and honor Exodus 2012.

Honor your father and mother that

your days may be long in the Lord and

uh, the Lord your God is giving you,

who here has a problem like

respecting their parents?

I feel like a lot of hands

should be raised broke.

Abby, come on.

Alright, that is, uh, clearly in

the Bible that you should respect

your father and mother and it's just

sometimes really hard and you gotta

ask God for help a lot with that.

Um, Luke 6 31 and as you wish that

others would do to you do so onto them.

That's something about honor.

Honoring somebody is, oh,

I gotta flip the page.

I'm sorry.

Honor is a two-way street.

Uh, the Bible doesn't say that, uh,

to receive honor, but to give it,

sorry, I just had a brain fart.

Um, Romans, uh, 1210.

This is short and this isn't the

whole full thing, but, uh, be devoted

to one another above yourselves.

Devote yourself to everyone else and

treat them with honor and respect.

Don't just treat them like they're a

piece of trash, like they don't matter.

It clearly says in the Bible that

we're a group of people and that we

need to respect and honor each other.

Humility is key.

Uh, love and respect are inseparable,

and it's an act of choice to respect

and to honor somebody is your choice.

If you're choosing not to do that, then

you're standing right in front of God.

Everybody has a chance to be respected.

Everybody should be respected

because we're all beautiful

children In the eyes of God,

no matter what your background is,

no matter what you've done, no matter

what your beliefs are, he loves you.

And we should love that

person, group of people.

It doesn't matter the man

who killed Charlie Kirk.

Honestly, I hope that he finds God.

I hope his he's saved, and I hope he

goes to heaven, and I hope him and

Charlie can find each other up there and

they can embrace and praise the Lord.

So yeah.

Thank you.

Powerful statement.

Praying for your enemies.

Very powerful statement that we all

gotta be reminded of when you're all

in social media and someone says,

says something snippy about whatever,

political something, something or another.

Not really your enemy, right?

Not really.

Pray for 'em.

They need it.

We need it.

I hope they're praying for us.

'cause all of us for fall

short of the glory of God.

So pray for each other.

We'll keep on marching along.

Another young man to come to

the stage would be Van Burkhart.

Come on up here, van.

Alright y'all, you need this?

Oh, I keep putting it away.

You grab it.

I'll stand here and run my mouth.

I'm getting tired.

There you go.

Get it all set up.

Alright, well I'm excited to

hear what you have to say when

it comes to your walk with Jesus.

Hello.

So today I wanted to talk

about the idea of love.

Love is patient and kind.

Love does not envy, or boast is not

arrogant or rude, is not insist on its

own ways, is not irritable or resentful.

I just, I just want to look at

the definition of what's then.

So love waits.

Love is generous.

Love is not jealous, and love

does not talk behind your back.

Love is not self revolved

or disrespectful.

It is not lean on its own understanding.

It is not annoying, it's not unfair,

and it does not celebrate wrongdoing.

It celebrates the truth.

I just wanna talk about how the

devil has twisted the idea of love

and how it's twisted it to being

like money, love, or money and lust

and uh, treasures and also loving.

Just 'cause someone else loves you.

Love isn't just a feeling.

You can feel like when I praise to God,

I can feel his love, but I don't choose

to love him just 'cause he loves me.

I choose to love him 'cause I love him.

In your relationships, if you get in

a fight, you don't get mad at them.

Say, I don't love you anymore

'cause you're disagreeing with me.

You don't love me anymore.

You choose to love them

even if they're your

enemy in Matthew 5 44.

But I tell you, love your enemies.

Bless those who curse you.

Do not.

Do good to those who hate you and pray for

those who mistreat you and persecute you.

Jesus is saying to pray for your enemies

even if they're trying to kill you.

'cause that's what Jesus did on

the cross when he was dying and

we were all screaming crucify him.

He didn't say, I don't love you

anymore 'cause you guys are killing me.

He said in verse Luke 2334, and

Jesus said, father, forgive them for

they know not what they do and they

cast lus to divide his garments.

Love can be hard.

Jesus loved us even when we

didn't deserve it, but we have to

choose to love even if it's hard.

So choose to love 'cause

he loved you first.

Well, I can't help, but, uh, wanna

praise him for that leading with love.

What a great example

Jesus has blessed us with.

And what a fine example of

being up here on this stage.

All these youth share with

you what's on their hearts.

We do have one final speaker, so

I'm gonna invite you to the stage.

That's Elliot.

Darnell, where ya at?

Come on in.

Well, I guess I have one question for you.

Do you need that stand?

Alright, go ahead.

I'll stand here.

I'll fill that space that

I'm really good at filling.

Alright, let's see what

Jesus put on your heart.

Uh.

I've written out my whole message

'cause I don't wanna forget what

I have to say, so I'm just gonna,

I'm gonna read it.

11 days ago, Charlie

Kirk was assassinated.

That made me really upset.

It was unjust, unprovoked,

and just plain evil.

It's the most shocking thing

that's happened in my lifetime.

His only crimes that I could

find were telling the truth.

Holding open debate, and being a

Christian, I was sad and angry for his

wife who just lost her husband for his

children, who just lost their father

for the right of freedom of speech

that has just been so egregiously

violated and for the United States

who have just lost a beacon of light.

However, I wasn't sad for him.

I had no doubt that he went to heaven.

I wondered how I felt that.

So sure about that because to be

honest with you, sometimes I don't

know if I'll go to heaven when I

die or I feel like I don't know.

So how do you know if you'll

go to heaven when you die?

Do you need to run a $200 million company

and talk in front of hundreds of thousands

of people or do some sort of great deed?

No.

Romans 10, 9, 10 tells us if you

confess with your mouth that Jesus is

Lord and believe in your heart that

God raised him from the dead, you

will be saved for what the heart one

believes and is justified and with

the mouth one confesses and is saved.

So we are saved through faith not works.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't do works

though on the contrary, James 2 26 says.

For just as the body apart

from the spirit is dead.

So also faith apart from works is dead.

And in John 15, five and six,

Jesus says, I'm the vine.

You are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him,

he it is that bears much fruit for

apart from me, you can do nothing.

If anyone does not abide in me,

he's thrown away like a branch and

withers and the branches are gathered,

thrown into the fire and burned.

This isn't saying that works

are what grants you salvation.

It's saying you can't have

faith and not bear fruit.

So what is this fruit

you're supposed to bear?

I believe it's the fruit of the spirit,

which according to Galatians 5 22 and 23

is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

and self-control against these things.

Sir, it's no law these fruits.

Aren't given by our spirits, they're

given by the Holy Spirit, and it should

be evident in the life of every believer.

So I'll leave you with this question.

It's not me asking you.

It's us asking ourselves,

am I bearing fruit?

Yes.

Am I bearing fruit?

Just like I asked you, there's so many

different kind of fruit out there.

I don't know if you're an orange or a

grape, but there's different ways to serve

in this church, whether it's helping with

itty bitty kids, loving on a baby, so

mom could have a few moments, uh, without

being clung on, pulled on hair snagged.

Maybe it's a volunteer with the,

the youth mentorship that's gonna

be happening right after church.

You could be in that meeting

and see what that's about.

Maybe it's just helping serve coffee.

So it's not always on Scott.

So he has a little bit of

freedom from the coffee bar.

But ask yourself, that's

a real, real question.

And he doesn't, he doesn't

say that to be cruel or mean.

It's 'cause he loves you guys and he

thought it was important enough to share.

It's like, man, we, we know with,

if you really have faith, there's

gonna be some sort of works.

There's gonna be some sort of fruit.

Am I bearing any fruit?

Well, I absolutely love this youth group.

Woo.

I do.

I am, uh, tremendously proud of

them for one week putting together.

So many incredible thoughts, and I pray

that God use that Holy Spirit to maybe

soften your hearts in some areas where

potentially you could serve better.

Maybe your fruit.

You can find the love,

peace, and patience.

It needs to be a little

more abundant in your day.

But I can't help but just wanna have

one last, one last, uh, applause.

And then I'll kind of

close this in prayer.

But one last applause

for this youth group.

What an incredible job they did.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, youth group, look,

look, look, look at 'em.

They love you and they're proud of you.

Look at 'em.

I, I told Josh it was gonna be a game

time decision, and if it didn't go

too long, I wanted to say one thing.

And it went way too long.

But listen, the teens were perfect.

It was all the old people who made

Brent run all around this room, right?

You guys made church long.

So look at each other.

Don't look at these guys.

They were perfectly timed.

I just wanna say this, man, we've

been watching over the last couple

weeks, and there is a revival

happening amongst young people in

this country and around the world.

Things are moving and things are shifting.

Charlie Kirk talked

about courage and faith.

And what you saw this morning was a

bunch of teenagers being courageous

about their faith in this space.

Broadcast all over the internet

so all your friends can see.

Whoa, just told you about that.

My bad.

But the reality, the reality is,

man, you guys, you guys are legit.

Drake's sister Mia called me this

week and we talked about church a

little bit 'cause she's been kind of.

Up at college at Taylor, navigating

what do I do as this young lady?

Now I'm my own person trying to find

church and she was talking about

what to look for and some things, you

know, and just what it's about, you

know, just concept, all this stuff.

But she said something really

special that I kinda latched onto.

She said, everywhere I go, I

tell people about White Rock.

It's the closest thing I've ever seen.

To what the church in acts look like.

And I gotta say like this

morning, we didn't come for a

show or a program or a message.

You got like 20 of 'em, right?

But this is what church is.

It's the body of Christ.

It's the fellowship of

believers, as you said, Gabriel.

It's God's people.

Sharing, being open and honest,

encouraging one another, challenging

one another, confessing our sins to

one another and asking for prayer.

And then also giving praise to

God for what he's at work doing.

And I believe this with all my heart.

Our teenagers are not

the church of tomorrow.

They are the church of today.

And we're gonna see more of

them up here because we need

that as older people, right?

Timothy, in that scripture, it speaks

very clearly as Paul says to this young

guy, Timothy, Hey, don't let anybody

look down on you 'cause you're young.

But instead, set an example

for the believers in faith, in

speech, in conduct, and in purity.

And you guys are not perfect.

Some of you live in my house and I

know this, but at the end of the day.

You also live with a bunch of other people

who aren't perfect and church, it was

so encouraging listening to Roger share

about some older guys kind of popping

into church today that were part of this

youth group when he was trying to help

pour out and love that means something and

watching you guys today stand for Jesus.

That means something.

So hope your encouraged church by

the message of the morning from

this awesome group of young people.

Please grab a prayer calendar.

Please put it on your fridge.

Let's pray in earnest that God

continues what he's doing, moving

and shaping the lives of our young

people and transform in our culture.

'cause God is on the move.

He is on the move, and the old miserable

people who just don't care can sit

in the corner and whine about it.

But how about the people who

really love Jesus and who are

excited about what God wants to do?

We get on our knees about it and

we pray and we ask God to move

and to continue what he's doing.

Let's start with this.

Lord Jesus, thank you for

this incredible morning.

Thank you for your church, your body,

your family, for the words that were

shared and encouragement, the struggles,

the pains, the heartaches, the joys.

God is so good to just be with

your people and to be with you.

Thank you for these young people

who let us in worship, who let

us in prayer, who let us in

speaking and sharing your message.

God, this morning there was something for

everyone in this room that through the

power of your spirit you wanted to say

and you didn't say it through old people,

you said it through teenagers who spent

time with your Holy Spirit and with you

to just learn and to know what to say.

So thank you for their faithfulness and

God I pray it would light a fire in them.

If you can stand up in front of a

microphone and talk to a crowd, you can

talk to your friends a little bit in

those moments where you speak Holy Spirit.

So God, I pray you to encourage our

young people, strengthen them, Lord,

bless them for what they share with

us today and help us Lord, who maybe

are no longer in that teen category.

To be maybe a little convicted

about how much we speak and how

much we share, and how much courage

is on display from our faith.

Help us to walk in that today, Jesus, and

to keep flowing this awesome movement of

your spirit that's happening around us.

Fill us, bless, and Lord, just thank you.

'cause you are so good.

In Jesus' name.

We pray all these things.

Amen.