Student Ministry: Acts 1

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Each week you'll find biblical teaching, practical encouragement, and conversations designed to help you follow Jesus in everyday life.

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Now let's get started.

What's up, CBC students?

We are back with our second podcast episode on Acts One.

So if you haven't listened to our last week's episode on the Holy Spirit, definitely catch up on that because that will help you as we go forward with our conversations on acts going forward in the coming weeks.

But um we're super excited to be hanging out with you.

I don't know what you're doing, at what point you're listening to this.

Maybe you're getting dressed, maybe you're driving in your car, maybe you're sitting around the dinner table listening to this with your should be doing.

Sitting with your family, enjoying this awesome contest.

Anyways, wherever this finds you, we hope that you're having a great week.

And uh yeah, hope you know that we love you so much.

But um with this week's intro, I just wanted to get us started with a little question.

Um it's a silly question, but it's a question that I feel deeply passionate about.

And so I'll just start with Jesus and Mila.

I was thinking, okay, I was thinking about this in the car on the way here, knowing that I was gonna ask this question.

And I was like, I think I know what Mila's answer to this question is gonna be, but I think it's Jesus.

The answer better be Jesus.

What's the question?

Let's hear the question.

I don't know what Jesus' answer is gonna be, but my question is to pumpkin spice or not to pumpkin spice?

Wow.

Okay, so you said you knew Mila's answer.

I'm eager to hear it.

All right.

I think anyone who knows me knows that I don't like coffee at all.

Um, I also don't like anything pumpkin.

Okay.

So pumpkin pie?

Nothing.

I just don't like it.

So I think for everyone else, do it if you love it.

For myself, thank you.

At no point in the year do I want pumpkin spice coffee.

So the reason that I was like, there's a possibility that she might be pro pumpkin spice is because I was like, maybe that's like a cold foam option for matcha because you like matcha.

That's true.

Yeah, I think definitely for matcha, I'm very like experimental.

I will try pretty much anything.

I like matcha a lot.

So maybe I'll have to do that this week.

But is that an option at Starbucks right now?

I don't even know.

I feel like if I asked them nicely, maybe.

Yeah.

I'm like, would pumpkin spice go with matcha?

No.

Okay.

I think if you pay for it, they'll they'll they'll figure it out.

Yeah, that's true.

Okay, well, anyway.

That was what I thought you were gonna say, but I was just curious.

So all right, Pete.

Which thing, oh me, uh absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

I mean, listen, that wasn't more passionate either than me or not.

Yeah, yeah, that was that's an easy question.

Listen, born and raised in Miami, the there's like no, there's no seasons.

That's true.

So I'm not pumpkin being part of Thanksgiving, fall, holiday.

Fall holiday is the same, it's just 60 degrees and it's still sunny.

So it's like only coming to Tallahassee have I began to uh understand the seasons, right?

This would be my sixth year.

Is our sixth year?

Yeah, six years.

Our sixth year in Tallahassee.

And so now we get to understand peppermint and pumpkin spice.

That's true.

And like, what is all that?

Just black coffee, put maybe put some milk in it, and let's let's just move forward.

But the pumpkin spice thing is new.

I'm gonna tell you, I don't think I've ever, ever had pumpkin spice.

Now, my queen Monica will say to me, Stop saying never.

You can say you don't ever remember.

So that's true.

I'm going to on purpose.

I'm going to on purpose next time we go to coffee, because you know, every anybody listening to this podcast, you need to understand that we meet over coffee several different times.

Um I'm gonna try it.

I'm going to put pumpkin spice.

Can you have pumpkin spice now?

Is it there?

Do we know?

Oh, yeah.

They have a good pumpkin spice ology.

So next time we go to.

I'm gonna get my mind right and I'm gonna clear my palate and I'm gonna have it, and then let's see what let's see what rolls.

Let me see.

I'll I'm gonna tell you next week what what my pumpkin spice adventure how how to turn out.

Okay, so stay tuned for next week's episode on whether PJ is a pumpkin spice girly or not.

All right, I'll rock it.

You tell me, I'm ready to go.

Okay, well, um, if you were wondering my stance on pumpkin spice, you can probably already guess based upon the fact that that was my question for today.

And if you have been to my apartment recently, you know that I absolutely am a pumpkin spice curly.

And um I make it a point every year to get a pumpkin spice latte from all of the coffee shops that I frequent in Tallahassee.

So I love that.

I'm a big pumpkin spice girl.

Well, listen, no, you can't you can't say that.

Now I'm gonna have to ask the question.

Okay, okay.

Where?

Where is the best one?

Because because if you're gonna have me try it next week, you gotta take me to the best one.

Right.

So I need to know where I'm going.

So far, the best, like just purely pumpkin spice latte, because there's a bunch of different like specialty lattes at different coffee shops where it's like got some kind of pumpkin flavor, but it's not a true pumpkin spice latte.

Um, my favorite pumpkin spice latte has been from Ology.

It was so good.

I mean, it wasn't like overly sweet, but that's typically like Ology's thing, is that they just you can actually taste the coffee.

So um, if you're a student and you don't drink real coffee and you like it sweeter, you might not like it from Ology.

You might like it from Frother's daughter.

So yeah, that would be my recommendation too.

That's good to know.

Different degrees.

Okay, that's good to know.

So all right.

Well, listen, um, Nola, I I've asked actually Nola if I could uh kind of uh take control of the front end of this particular podcast, knowing that Nola gave us yesterday's message on Acts One.

So Nola, let me ask.

Um, thank you.

Thank you so much for doing that.

It was wonderful.

You know, one of the things we're looking to do in student ministry is not just make it another class, right?

Just a hundred percent lecture.

That's my style, that's what you'll get.

But Nola gave us a nice little refreshing look where she highlighted certain points of acts, but then she also brought up, I think we had three to four different students kind of come up and you kind of walked us through something.

I just wanted to highlight, I guess, uh, the primary scripture verse that kind of just led your conversations.

And then based on that, man, I'd love to find out how you got to the point on how you wanted to deliver it, um, how you approached the students, right, to give them the strength to kind of come up and share.

Um, but let me let me give everybody the scripture verse.

This is sitting in in um Acts chapter one, verse eight, and it says there But you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Talk to me, Nola.

I want to find out your story on this one.

Yeah.

So um there's a lot of different things that I could say led me to the point where I was like, I gotta get other students involved in this lesson.

Um first, first and foremost, I will absolutely say prayer was committed to.

Um the lesson just as it always is.

I know that's one of your first go-tos as you're preparing the lesson, as well as just like seeing the Lord.

What how do you want me to present this lesson?

How can I creatively present this lesson in a way that is helpful for um all listeners, but certainly students to be able to not just hear another sermon, but to connect deeply with the word of God.

And so um prayer led me to the decision.

I I also really uh one of the things that my home church was like super big on missions and getting people involved in missions.

And uh, so I grew up going to a bunch of different mission missions, like conferences and stuff like that.

And so one of the things that missionaries would always say over and over and over again is like our primary goal whenever we go into a uh, you know, a different culture, a different language is to disciple somebody one-on-one to help them to understand the gospel.

And then once they understand the gospel, we immediately train them.

You've got to learn how to teach somebody else.

Okay.

Um, and so uh, and the reason being is that people who speak the same language that share the same culture are able to communicate biblical truths better than an American coming into an African culture, right?

So kind of a similar heartbeat behind last night when I had uh Peyton and Tara come up and then have Kate come up and Jameson come up.

Unfortunately, they were all girls because I just work with girls.

So I'm sure there was a bunch of boys I could have asked, but um, but the heartbeat was what better way to communicate what I know to be true of these verses um than to get students involved who speak the same language that in a way, like I obviously live in an American culture and I communicate in an American culture, but there almost is a little bit of a it's not a generational gap because I'm Gen Z, but I'm old, as my girls like to remind me on the on a regular basis.

And so um I it's it's kind of far removed from me what it's like to be in high school.

And it's different now for high schoolers than it was when I was in high school.

So um I just I wanted our middle and high schoolers to hear from other people who I can say all day long, you absolutely do are equipped with the Holy Spirit because it says in Acts 1.8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

But it's a very different thing to hear from somebody who has who can say, like, I know this is true because I've experienced it, I've lived it out, and I want you to also know that you have the the Holy Spirit, right?

Um, so yeah.

So I guess those are the two primary reasons.

It was a point of prayer, but then it was also like, what better way to communicate to students, hey, you can do this than by having other students who have experienced it.

They've had to lay some uh social, you know, comfort on the line.

They have had to have some uncommerce uh uncomfortable conversations within their own family.

Uh, they've had to give up time over their summer where they could have been spending that doing something else.

If they're hearing that from me, they're like, No, look, you get paid to go to summer camp.

So like, you know, uh, it just doesn't have the same amount of weight as it does coming from somebody in the same like season of life, same whatever.

Like, I mean I say culture, but it you know what I'm saying.

So anyway, that's really that's that was my but also I I feel very deeply, and if you know me, I feel passionately about equipping students to be able to like teach also.

So I try to get and those and those and those are excellent, excellent skills, right?

We talk about different cultures, right?

The middle school culture is different than the high school culture.

The middle school culture at Monford Middle is different than Deer Lake Middle, right?

Child's High compared to Lincoln High, compared to Leon High, right?

So it's nice when you know we we tap, I guess we call those in the mission field, right?

Our students, right?

Our students are in the mission field, right?

We are equipping them to go into the mission field.

That's what the Bible asked us to do.

And um it was very nice how you talked about how you kind of just separated the three networks, right?

You you kind of connected in in your message uh Jerusalem tied to your close network, right?

Then you said Judea and Samaria, maybe being those that are near your sphere of influence or inside your circles or somewhere near you, but are technically over there like outsiders, maybe even some folks that are like your actual enemies, like going against you.

And then you talked about going to the ends of the earth.

Talk to me about how you know you you thought through that, and then and then I I'll reveal to everybody where Mila was at that point.

Because I got a lot of kids saying, Hey, where's Mila?

Where's Mila?

I'll explain that a little later.

Okay.

Um, yeah, so anytime I am preparing to teach, as I mentioned, I pray through it, and then I read through it, and then I study through it.

And so um, I had actually already heard this, I've heard this passage taught many, many, many, many times before.

So um, so I the idea of Jerusalem being your immediate circle, Judea being you kind of branching out to your community, uh, Samaria being people that are maybe your enemies or people you're different from culturally, and then to the ends of the year, like I had already heard that broken down.

I couldn't tell you who I listened to, but I know that it was probably at my home church at some point.

Anyways, so that wasn't foreign to me, but as I was studying, I typically will go through it with a commentary, go through it with um my ESV study Bible.

So shout out to those two um resources.

If you don't have a study Bible, that's a really helpful tool to be able to have.

Jesus literally has a study Bible sitting in front of him right now.

That's right.

I have the answer book to the answer book.

So tools like that are helpful for being able to kind of break that down further and give you context to like, okay, uh I at first glance, I'm not gonna know uh when it says uh Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria.

Uh what does Samaria mean to me?

You know, I don't even know the geography of Florida very well.

So like so, how would I know at first glance that um for that to fall on Jewish ears, that would have been like, you want me to go to Samaria?

You want me to go talk to people I don't even like?

Like, I I'm good with sharing the good news with people that's in my immediate circle, but then you're you're talking about me talking to people that are not even really worthy of the gospel, right?

And so um, anyways, those kind of tools help you to get the context that you need to be able to then communicate it to modern listeners and modern readers.

So, does that answer your question?

It does.

Okay, it does, it does.

Excellent, excellent, excellent.

So uh I had said that um as Nola talked us through what Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and the ends of the earth kind of look like and and how she brought that in.

I said I was gonna tell you where Mila was.

Yes.

Well, you may or may not know this.

Well, you do know this.

I have no idea what you're talking about, right?

Okay, okay, here it is.

It's coming, it's coming.

So if you recall, we had Peyton Smith.

Yeah, right?

Peyton Smith's Peyton Smith was one of our speakers, right?

I didn't mean to throw the last name out there.

If I'm not supposed to do that, beep, beep.

It doesn't matter to matter.

Yeah, I agree.

Peyton, Peyton would give it a thumbs up.

That's right.

And so what happens, you know, Peyton Smith has just, you know, just been on fire, right?

She goes, she loves the Lord, she goes on local mission trips, then she goes on international mission trips, and now she's like in working in children's ministry.

So, you know, what we decided to do is hey, if we're gonna borrow Peyton Smith out of children's ministry, it it we need to we need to fill a void that we're creating just for the moment.

And Mila kind of stepped up in terms of her service and said, you know what?

We need Peyton Smith from front to back all tomorrow.

I will start the day off, right?

I will get the discipleship team and the lead team, I will shoot them off and then boom.

So, Mila, if you don't mind telling us what was yesterday like for you as you serve just in a different capacity.

Yeah, so I got to be with children's ministry.

They're so cute.

I love all of the little disciples that are in kids' stuff, so that was really cool.

Um, I got to be with that staff, but honestly, more importantly, be with the kids, hang out with them, just talk with them.

And it was really nice to just relate to their hobbies and talk about their older siblings who are in student ministry.

And I was like, hey, I know this sibling, I know that sibling.

Um, so they were talking about missions, and it was just very, very fun to see the kids light up as they were speaking and worshiping and singing.

It was just a beautiful time in kids' ministry.

Excellent.

Well, that's good to know.

I mean, I all I did I saw you at the front end and then I saw you at the back end.

And I myself for a moment forgot because students were asking, what do you mean where's Mila?

She's not going to your class.

No, I haven't seen her.

And I was like, oh, yes, that's right.

She just spoke to me a few minutes ago about leaving.

But anyway, I just wanted to say that for those of you that um asked me and I didn't have an answer at that moment where Mila was.

That's funny.

I had no idea.

So go team.

Yeah, we're just switching and moving some things around.

No, let me ask you.

So next week we're gonna be going into chapter two.

But one thing I do want to say about chapter one before we leave, and I'm probably gonna say it as we dive into chapter two.

When you look at Acts, Acts is actually chopped up that way.

Acts is gonna give us how the church expanded and how it started off in Jerusalem, and then we'll find out what happened to get it to bounce out of Jerusalem.

Then it's gonna go into Judea and Samaria, and then we're gonna see what happened to make it bounce out of Judea and Samaria.

So you could technically jump into that Acts 1.8 and just almost see the structure of this whole document, which Nola very nicely said was you know, Luke's second book, right?

So you can look at volume one being the gospel of Luke and then volume two being Acts.

So I'm excited about chapter two.

Holy Spirit steps into the equation, right?

The disciples are are waiting.

So let's see what happens when the Holy Spirit steps into the equation.

Is it gonna be something that's gonna generate a fizzle or is it gonna be something that's gonna generate massive forward movement?

I guess I guess we can put that as a poll.

Hey, poll.

Here's a poll, an immediate poll, instant poll.

What's gonna happen when the Holy Spirit lands on these disciples?

Are they gonna still be the same people as they were before?

Running away from this and running away from that, or is something gonna happen?

Let's find out.

Yeah.

Um since you brought up the structure of the rest of Acts being Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth.

Um I guess my question is how were small groups yesterday.

Do you feel did anything come up in terms of just like my ultimate question is what area do you feel like students struggle the most with?

Or do you feel like it's not necessarily one struggle for every student?

It just kind of depends on person to person.

Was there anything that surfaced in your small groups yesterday that was like, you know, I really feel like students struggle with Jerusalem because of this reason?

Or I think, you know, uh a bunch of our students were kind of struggling with what is my role in getting the Great Commission to the nations?

I'm literally a middle school.

I don't make money, I can't support anybody like so.

Did any kind of interesting conversations surface and what did that look like?

Yeah, so we actually did not get past the first question.

The first question for us held all of our conversation, and that was who has God already placed in my life that needs to know about Jesus?

And so immediately um it was a little quiet, and then one of the girls was like, you know, I have a friend and I just really need to ask them what they believe in.

And I was like, Yeah, that's a really good place to start, and just because they are a friend, start that conversation like, hey, this is what I believe in.

I want to know more about you because I care.

And then from there, everyone had multiple people.

It was sisters and parents and brothers and friends from school.

And I was so impressed with the fact that each of the girls, the seventh and eighth grade girls, could name somebody like that they needed to talk to.

And so I had a few of them text me last night and be like, hey, keep me in prayer.

Tomorrow I'm gonna talk to my siblings.

And I was like, dang, you guys are on fire.

And then I had one girl around 30 minutes after we finished small group text me and was like, I just invited my friend to church.

I was really scared, but I think that that's exactly what God had me doing.

And I know that it's on purpose that I was here tonight, and I want to make sure to be bold.

And I was so impressed with her because I was like, wow, I want to be more like that all the time, and how quickly they were to name out people and and understand that they were once there.

And there were people who had to reach out to them and friends and youth group who reached out to them, parents who invited them to come to church.

And I think once they started thinking about that part of the question of like who helped me, then they kind of got eager, like, oh, I also want to help somebody.

And so immediately they were chatting away and we didn't get to any other question, but I prayed us out and I just felt the spirit.

I was so calm in the fact that these girls were not just gonna leave and never think about this question again, but that they were gonna leave and really put into practice what we just had talked about.

So that was my good conversation.

It was awesome.

Yeah, on my end, uh no lie, I didn't go into the groups.

So one of the things that I I tend to do is uh when I give the message, sometimes I find that when I go into one of the groups, whether it's middle school or high school, the kids kind of quiet down just a little bit.

But I've been really involved since the whole summer jumping in.

So I was ready to rock and roll.

But because we didn't live stream, Carlos, who tends to run our high school group, was immediately available and Pastor Dennis was there, and so they ran the groups.

And so, you know, there are times when I gotta give folks the time and the space to do that.

Uh I will follow up with both those men with that question, only because, you know, it it's gonna be centered basically while we're all in acts.

Like what are we doing?

What's the Lord stepped into our lives to have us do?

Right.

And so uh I look forward to uh pursuing that answer into uh into those groups.

That'll be good.

Yeah.

That question was more actually kind of rooted in a conversation we had earlier with a local youth pastor from Canopy Roads.

His name is Jace Dubos.

Um, some of you may know Jace from maybe an FCA or uh just recognizing him at uh United D now weekend.

But um, anyways, he's getting his doctorate and he did um some research over the summer where he interviewed myself and Jesus and uh several other youth pastors in the area, youth ministers in the area, um, and was asking the question why do students struggle to accept the gospel?

And across the board, most of the student pastors, student ministers um kind of said something along the lines of they struggle with communication, like they struggle with articulating what exactly the gospel even means and how that works and what that does for them personally.

Um, but when he interviewed students and did that side of the research, the research showed that they were afraid of what that would look like for them socially, um, how that would impact their friend groups, how that would impact their relationships and what that meant that they were gonna have to give up in order to be friends with certain people.

So I thought I just thought that was very interesting.

I'm sure there it there is truth in both of those things because you know Yeah, I mean, I mean, if if I can if I can add, you know, we're adults looking at the students.

Right.

And our first jump is they don't know enough.

You talk to the kids, they're like, I know it, I just don't do it.

Yeah.

And then they explain to you why they don't do it, right?

So so again, there there's sometimes a disconnect, you know, we're constantly providing information, and um the issue isn't about information, about application.

And so this is what we're looking to do in this acts series, right?

You started it off very well, bringing the students up, asking how have you applied it.

So that whole application piece.

So this is an information both for the students and for the parents that are hearing this particular podcast.

What you need to know is for a good stretch from this point moving forward, application is gonna be a major player in our ministry, right?

So obviously we'll be sharing information, but we'll be talking about, you know, uh having small group conversations and actually creating opportunities to apply, right?

And so, yeah, I mean, if the kids are saying, listen, this is about survival in these middle school, high school streets.

I can't walk around here doing this Jesus Christian thing because I'm just gonna get boxed out.

I'm gonna be pushed out.

Okay, so now we're gonna have a chance to talk about that because we're dealing with in Acts a new people, right?

Christians booted out of Jewish communities, booted out of Greek communities, booted out of all over these places.

And so we're gonna chance, we're gonna get a chance to see uh who helps them as they are being transformed, as they are becoming new, as they're putting aside the old and putting on the new.

Right?

In these in these settings where, you know, it isn't like, oh, my friend group's not gonna like me.

Like these particular pokes are being thrown in front of lions for sport.

Yeah.

So so there's a lot more on the line here.

So I look forward to doing that.

And you know, something that we'll do, definitely us three, you know, Mila, Nola, and I, we'll we'll dig deeper in terms of creating more application opportunities, both in our small groups, maybe even from the message up in the front, and then also just creating opportunities that, you know, going to parks, evangelizing, sharing, doing a couple of different things.

And so, yeah, yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to that.

Yeah.

So yeah, I that was just kind of something that has continued to stick with me throughout the day.

And uh I I guess the encouragement that I hope that the kids are coming away with after last night, not only out of my mouth, but really primarily I just want them to know this because God's word says it.

So it's final and that's you can take that to the bank every single time.

So it's it's gotta be true.

Uh, but certainly from the model of the students last night, uh my prayers at the takeaway is that there is no friendship that is worth sacrificing not being where you need to be with the Lord, right?

Not being obedient to him because you don't want to you don't want your friends to think you're weird.

Um there is no, there's no family member, which is even that's a crazy thing to say, right?

To be like, there's no family member that's or or tension in your home that's worth not being or being disobedient to the Lord for.

Um Jesus Christ himself says that in the gospels, right?

Like if you love your father or mother more than you love me, you were never my disciple to begin with, right?

Like um, he tells us time and time again, like, I am worthy.

And it's not even only that I'm worthy, I want to step further because I love you and I I equipped you with the spirit, I equipped with you with everything that you need for life and godliness.

So I'm not just throwing you out here to the wolves to be like, see ya, you got this.

Um, but I've given you everything that you need for obedience.

So, anyways, yeah, and and uh what what I'll do is if you don't mind, um let me just flip that coin just a little bit and then we can slide it over to Mita to close us with a blessing.

Is that all right?

Yeah, I'd love that.

So let's flip this coin just a little bit.

There is no friendship not worth presenting the gospel to if it's a genuine friendship.

Do you understand?

Yeah, this is a friendship in a very temporal place.

If you want this friendship eternally, you have to bring the gospel.

That relationship focuses on both your family and your friends.

So you're here thinking, I can't be this Christian because I'm a I'm I'm I'm gonna be out of this loop.

And I'm here to say to you, okay, that's a reality, right?

Nola just shared that with us.

But on the flip side, if it's a friendship that you want to keep forever, man, you put Jesus in front of that.

And let's see what happens, man.

Yeah.

Sometimes we panic before there's uh a need to panic, right?

If there's ever a need to panic at all, right?

So yeah, we're looking forward to it.

We're looking forward to just creating very uh uncommonly mature Christians here at Celebration Baptist Church.

We ask you to bring your kids, bring your kids' friends, bring your kids' friends' friends, bring your friends, bring yourself into Wednesdays and so and Sunday.

So Mimi.

Yeah, um, let's see.

I think the most intentional thing that I can pray for for the students and also us is just understanding the love that God has for us, because that's the love that we should be showing to others, right?

And in loving that person is when you reach out to them and when you find the boldness to have gospel conversations with them, um, and when you care enough to just know who they are, also.

So um the biggest thing I want to pray for for the students is yes, that they will be bold, but that they'll grow an understanding of Christ's character because we should be be modeling our lives after him, and he loves you so much, and he loves your friends so much, and he desires for you to be bold and brave and have these gospel conversations with your friends and your family.

Yeah, make it happen.

Lead us in prayer.

Yeah.

Um, dear God, you are so good.

We're thankful to serve a father who loves us, who cares for us, who wants us to be bold.

We thank you for the book of Acts.

We thank you that this is something that we have as a tool to be studied.

And I pray that these students can apply the love that you have for them in just everyday life with their family members, with their friends, um, even with acquaintances.

I pray for a boldness for each one of the students or parents who are listening to this.

We thank you and we love you.

In your name I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Deuces, we love you.

Peace.

Pumpkin spice till we die.

Thanks for joining us on the Celebration Baptist Church podcast.

We hope today's conversation helps you take another step in your faith journey.

For more resources, upcoming events, and to join us live, visit iCelebration.org.

Until next time, keep connecting with God, connecting with others, and living on mission.