Have you or your student ever used the phrase,  “The GOAT.” GOAT is an acronym for “greatest of all time.” In our culture we like to argue who is the GOAT in many areas, but none more than in sports. We debate over whether Michael Jordan or Lebron James is the GOAT in the NBA, or if Tom Brady or Joe Montana is the GOAT of quarterbacks in the NFL.  Are you aware that Jesus called someone the GOAT? And no, He did not claim to be the GOAT himself.

Check out what Jesus says in Matthew 11:11:

Jesus calls John the Baptist the GOAT, the greatest born of woman. We have spent the last several weeks in our Wednesday gathering studying why Jesus has called John the Baptist the GOAT. What is interesting though, is that if you read earlier in the passage John the Baptist, the one Jesus calls the GOAT had doubts about his faith. Check out Matthew 11:2-3:

If John the Baptist(JTB as I’ll call him moving forward), the GOAT, had doubts, then should we not expect to have doubts ourselves? Having doubts and questions is not a bad thing, and it does not make us any less of a Christian. I can remember one of my Sunday School teachers telling me when I was younger that if I had doubts I wasn’t a good Christian, but this is simply not true. 

Having doubts is not bad, it’s what you do with them that is most important. We have seen many people who claim to follow Jesus leave the faith because they didn’t handle their doubts properly. Through the story of John the Baptist’s doubts I shared with the students what we can do with our doubts, and I thought it would be wise to share them here as well, so that you may continue to disciple your student as well.

How many of you have ever had doubts or questions about what you believe? I have. I have moments where I lay up at night thinking is everything I’ve been taught about God really possible? When I go through something tough I start to wonder, man is it real, is it worth it? Have you ever felt that? You’re not alone, and it’s ok!

I just shared with you that JTB, later in this chapter, is called the GOAT by Jesus. Yet, here JTB is, sitting in prison and he has doubts. He’s questioning what he knew and what he had been taught. Why? Because things weren’t quite going the way he thought they would. JTB is sitting in prison, he’s going through something tough. 

What is it about going through something tough that causes us to doubt? It is super easy to believe when things are going well right. Like we can believe that God is good and that He’ll keep His promises when everything is going the way it should be, but the moment something turns and doesn’t go the way we think it should go we begin to question Him, His goodness, His plan, and even His existence. 

Consider for a moment Peter. If you read deeper into Matthew 14, after JTB is arrested, you’ll come to the story where Peter walks on water. Peter and the disciples saw Jesus walk on water, and Peter said if it is you Jesus, command me to come to you and I will. Jesus said come, and Peter got out of the boat and began walking on water. All of a sudden the storm that was raging caught Peter’s attention, and he began to fear, and he sank into the water. In that moment, when things got tough, Peter doubted, just like I did, just like JTB did, but Peter also cried out to Jesus and said Lord help me. Jesus rescued him. You see when Peter doubted Jesus for a moment when it got tough, but he also cried out to Jesus in his doubts.

When Peter doubted, he sought Jesus and Jesus rescued him. If you look at our passage, JTB, when he had his doubts, also sought Jesus. Read Matt 11:2 again. JTB had his doubts, but instead of letting his doubts lead him away from what he believed, he went straight to the master, straight to God, and said hey, I’m struggling, is what I believe true? 

Too often in our culture, and in our time, if you have doubts about something, whether it’s God, your job, or whatever, you walk away from it. There is a movement going through Christian circles called deconstruction. Deconstruction, as I have come to understand it, is when someone who has doubts begins to question what they believe. They start to break down every little thing they believe. In many cases those that are going through deconstruction don’t want to reconstruct, meaning they don’t actually want the answers, they just want to walk away.  I think some of this is because for many in my generation and generations before me, we were told if you had doubts you aren’t really a Christian. Because of this many walk away.

Tim Keller in his book The Reason for God  says this, “A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection. Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts.”

Doubts are not bad, in fact they help us to become more healthy Christians. It’s what we do with those doubts that are important. We need to follow the example of the GOAT, and take those doubts and questions to God, to Jesus.

As we close this story, we see that when John had those doubts, Jesus doesn’t berate or put JTB down. Instead, He answers John’s question. It may not be the answer JTB wanted, I think JTB wanted a yes or a no answer. Instead Jesus says this. Take a look at  Matthew 11:4-6:

Jesus tells John to look at what he knows about the Messiah, and what he has seen Jesus do. He does this by quoting scripture. 

When we doubt, and when we take those doubts to Jesus, we need to listen for His answer. We need to understand that that answer will come from Scripture, and it will get us to look at what God has done. When I went through my doubts two three years ago, God did the same thing to me that He did with JTB. He pointed me to His word, and showed me what He had done. He reminded me of what He had brought me through, and through His word what He had promised me. Even though things were hard at the time, and I still struggled, it gave me peace. And unlike those who have deconstructed and walked away, I was able to reconstruct what had been torn down by my doubts. 

I believe JTB had the same experience. If you jump ahead to chapter 14 in Matthew you’ll see that eventually JTB was beheaded. The story we’ve studied today occurred not too long before JTB died. I believe that JTB felt his faith in Jesus strengthened and went to his death with peace. 

Conclusion

To conclude this month’s post, I want to encourage you, and your student to understand that it’s ok to have doubts and questions. Let your student ask you questions about their faith, it’s an opportunity to share your faith with them. If you don’t know the answer it’s ok, direct them to ask me, Pastor Ken, or one of the youth leaders. You can also seek to find the answer by studying the Bible together. But remember these three things, it’s ok to have doubts, when you doubt ask Jesus, then wait for His answer. He will answer!

It is April, and in just a little over two weeks we will celebrate Easter. In our culture we celebrate by dying eggs and hiding them for our children to find, and we tell them an anthropomorphic bunny hid them. Yet, Easter is not about this anymore than Christmas is about Santa Clause. What we as Christians celebrate at Easter is the fulfillment of prophecies given to mankind throughout the Old Testament. We celebrate the conquest of sin and death through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As I consider what it is we are about to celebrate, I feel that there is nothing better I can do to equip you to minister to your family, than to review the Gospel and the purpose of that resurrection with you.

To repair the relationship requires a payment for which mankind does not have the proper currency. Paul tells us in Romans then that the wages of sin, that rebellion, is death. This is not just physical death that we all experience, it is a death that completely separates us from God. Yet, even in that moment of rebellion in Genesis, God had planned to rescue us. All through the Old Testament prophecies about a Messiah, a rescuer are given. Then, as Scripture says, in the fullness of time, God sent that Messiah, born of virgin, to come and restore what had been broken.

That Messiah of course is Jesus Christ. You can read about His life and teachings in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus came to earth, He is 100% man and 100% God. He lived a perfect life, and willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross paying the price for our rebellion. His death was the transaction that covered the cost, yet He did not stay dead. He rose again three days later, signifying that the payment had been accepted. And thus, it is as Jesus says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This is what we celebrate. Our whole faith is based on the fact that Jesus is not dead, but alive and well. Because He lives, those of us who follow Him have the hope and promise of eternal life with Him forever. So, this Easter season, I encourage you to take some time and talk about this story and what it means with your student. Or perhaps, if you find it easier, take time to watch and discuss either of the two videos I’ve provided in this post; both of them review what I’ve just shared with you, and both can be great conversation starters.

I am still a fairly new parent, my daughter is only 2. Yet, at the same time I cannot believe she is 2 already! Where has the time gone?  It feels like only yesterday that the doctors were placing her in my arms to hold her for the first time. I am sure you can relate, although, your children are teenagers now.

As the poem above illustrates, time is a fickle mistress. It seems like each year just moves by faster and faster. James discusses the brevity of life in James 4:14; "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away."

Our time on earth is short, which means our time to parent and disciple our children is also very short. We want to make sure that our children are growing to be adults that are going to contribute to society, We also need to make sure that they also have a strong relationship with Jesus.

How is this done? We must be present in their lives. I cannot tell you how often I have gone to restaurants and seen families are staring at their phones. I'm guilty of doing this too. This is not being present though. Even though we are there with them, we are absent. As I have spent my time studying teens, and how to reach them, a major theme comes back.

They want us to be present in their lives. They want to know we care. I had a close friend in high school who wanted nothing more then to have his parents present in his life. We both ran on the cross country team together. While my father and mother rarely missed a meet, his parents rarely attended one. Although he never said it out loud, it was evident in his actions. My friend had everything a teen could want, except parents who were present. He told me once that he wished his parents would come to our cross country meets like mine did.

 I am trying to get us to consider is, what are we missing when we're not present? Are we missing our teens games? Are we missing important moments? What are we missing when we're not present, either by playing with our cell phones or other things?

If we are to disciple our families, we need to be present. This means that we have to make it priority to be there when they need us. This year as you disciple your family, take time to be there for them. Go to their events, set aside time for you to eat meals as a family, ask them questions about their day(not just yes or no questions), really take time to be present. Be present because your teens need it, and it is a great way to show them God's love, as God is always present as well.

I recently had a great conversation with a friend of mine who is also a pastor. He and his wife have three kids, and their oldest began to reject Jesus and Christianity. Now, their son is only about 8 or 9 years old, but it troubled them.

There were a number of reasons why their son was doing this. But, the biggest reason was that he put a lot of pressure on himself to be like others. His younger sisters took to the faith with little to no problems, and he felt that because he had questions, because he wasn't developing his faith the same way they were he must not really believe in Jesus.

Once his parents figured out what was going on, they were able to encourage him and help him to understand that different people grow in their faith differently. They also helped him to understand that having questions is not a bad thing, rather it is something that helps us to grow.

This is a great reminder to me, and I hope you, that all of us are different. God created us to be different. Because of that we will grow in our faith differently. Yet, it can be discouraging to students when see their siblings or friends seemingly have a stronger faith than they do.

Our job is to help our students understand that in the same way that each person grows or matures differently than others, their spiritual growth will also be different than others.  We should then be encouraging our students that it is ok to have questions, it is ok that their faith journey looks different than their friends, because that is how God designed them.

We recently taught a lesson on having faith like a mustard seed. Mustard seeds are, according to Jesus, the smallest seed on earth. Yet, when planted they grow to become an impressive plant. The same can be said for us. Our faith may start small and humble, yet as we grow closer to Jesus, He can make us into something great that honors and glorifies Him.

1st Thessalonians 5:18 says, "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." This is a wonderful time of year, where we all take time to give thanks for the blessings we have. Although it has been a tough two years, we do have much to be thankful for.

One of the best ways to grow closer to God is to give thanks for all that He has done for us. One of my professors from seminary tells a story of how he was able to help prevent a woman from committing suicide by getting her to name all the things she was thankful for.

Having an attitude of gratitude should not just be something we focus on during one month of the year, it should be part of our lifestyle. Recently, my wife and I have started writing down in a journal what our family is thankful for. We even ask our 2 year old daughter what she is thankful for, and include it in that journal. This journal then is a record of all the blessings God has given us. We can then go back to that record and see what God has done, and we can know that He will always provide for us. Seeing how God has provided for us helps strengthen our relationship with Him.

As you help your student to grow in their relationship with God, I want to invite you to start asking what your student is thankful for daily, then share with them something you are thankful for and express those things to God through prayer. You do not have to write it down in a journal like my family does, but if you do, it is a great tool to review God's blessings in your life.  

In Christianity, discipleship is the process by which someone grows in their faith and walk with Jesus. Being discipled is key to the growth of any believer. Discipleship isn't simply a program, or being taught something, it is learning to live the Christian life modeled by someone who is a more mature believer. This is what the above video addresses.

Discipling your student is our main concern as leaders of this student ministry. We strive to do that by modeling Jesus in our daily lives, and teaching them lessons straight from the Bible.

During the average week, your student will probably only spend about one maybe two hours with us here at church. Each time we meet with them we do our best to help them to develop a deep relationship with God.There is always more to teach than time will allow.

In 2nd Timothy, Paul talks about Timothy's spiritual heritage. Timothy was a disciple of Paul's, but in chapter 1 verse 5, Paul mentions Timothy's mother and grandmother. They were the first ones to share their faith with Timothy. He would go on to be a disciple of Paul's and to be a leader in his church. But first, he was discipled and lead by his family.

This passage shows us that church leaders and families share in the responsibility of discipling children. As parents you will have a bigger impact on your student than I or any other leader of the church will. If you show to your student that your faith in God is real and valuable to you, then your student's faith will become more real and valuable to them as well.

The question then becomes, how do I model my faith for my child at home? You can start by praying together and having a family devotional time where you all gather together and read the Bible. You can also share with your student how you came to faith in Jesus.

The most important thing to remember is that we should never underestimate the impact you as a parent can have on your student's spiritual life. If you take time to intentionally invest in your student's spiritual life, we will see them grow in ways we cannot imagine.