What is Epic Jv??

Here is a copy of my message from Tuesday February 8, 2011 (Excuse the typos and incomplete thoughts...these are sometimes a incomplete draft and I fill in things on the fly :-)


What is Epic Jv??

Epic Jv is many things I believe. First, I think this is a place where one can find friends. We talked on Sunday about how important friends are, that we all need friends. That without friends we are in trouble. Epic Jv is a place where we can find friendship.

Epic Jv is also a place where we can have fun. There is no doubt that Epic Jv is a Happy Fun Time :-)

But most important of all I believe and I hope that Epic Jv is a place where we can find faith. A place where we can seek God and begin to live for Him and Him alone. In order for us to begin to live for God there are certain things we need to do. Remember when we learned about Haggai and how the people were encouraged to begin building God’s house. They were told to start rebuilding the temple of God, a place where people could learn about and worship their creator. We need to begin to build God’s house in our lives.

Now when you build a house, the first thing you do is lay a foundation. The foundation is the most important part of the house. If the foundation is bad, the whole house is bad and will eventually fall apart. If the foundation of our life is bad our lives will fall apart. But if we build our lives upon a firm foundation, if we build our lives upon the correct thoughts and ideas…our life will stand.

The Bible says in Matthew 7:24-25 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” When we build our lives upon the words of Jesus…when we build our lives upon the thoughts of God…we have lives worth living.

Tonight, very quickly, I want to go over 7 things, some of which we have already talked about, that we need to understand and begin to put into our lives if we want our lives to be built upon a firm foundation. These are the ideas I want you to leave Epic Jv knowing and applying in your lives.

Authentic Faith

Simply put this is the belief that God can be trusted and He will do all He has promised to do. Do we understand what it means to follow God? Are we trusting God with the important areas of our life? If we want to have faith in God, and He want to live as God wants us to live then we need to understand what that means to have faith. It is knowing who God is and what He wants for our lives and for the world around us. Here is the verse you should memorize. It is Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

We should be developing an authentic faith that trusts God in all areas of our life.

Spiritual Disciplines

One of the ways we develop an authentic faith is by learning how God sees us and the world around us. When we see as God sees, we will do as God says. And how do we see as God sees? We pray and we spend time daily learning about Him by reading the Bible. The verse we need to remember is Romans 12:2

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Are you spending time daily in prayer and reading God’s word?? If not, you need to begin. It is why I text verses. It is why I post them on facebook. It is why I write my blog. I don’t do those things for me, I do them for you  I do these things so that your attitudes and behavior might begin to change as you start to see the world through God’s eyes.

Healthy Friendships

This is what we are learning about on Sundays. Your friends will determine the direction and quality of your life. The people you hang out with and spend time with the most will have a direct impact on the choices you make. You need to start finding friends and creating friendships that draw you closer to God. The verse we should remember when it comes to friends is Proverbs 13:20

“Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble”

“Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.” (The Message)

We need to learn how to build good friendships and avoid bad ones. Are you establishing healthy friendships and avoiding bad unhealthy ones?

Wise Choices

Every day you are faced with many choices…many important choices. Are you making the wise choice? Are you asking yourself “What is the wise thing for me to do?” Are you making wise choices in every area of life? Are you walking and living wisely? The verse here to remember is Ephesians 5:15-17

“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.16Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.17Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” (NLT)

“So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.” (The Message)

As we grow closer to God and learn what He wants for our lives we can then start to make wise choices.

Ultimate Authority

We tend to think rules keep us from being free when in truth it is the exact opposite. True freedom is found under authority. If we want to be truly free and live free lives than we need to realize that God is in control. Also we need to realize that God has put people in our lives that we need to submit to. Our parents, our teachers, Principal at the school, junior high pastor  As a young person you have to realize that God is the ultimate authority and that it is God that has placed people over us in our lives. The question you have to ask yourself is “are you submitting to the authorities God has placed over you?” The key verse to remember is Romans 13:1-2

“Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.”

“Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it's God's order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you're irresponsible to the state, then you're irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you're trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear.”

Others First

Selfishness comes naturally to us all. We don’t need to learn how to be selfish. Selflessness however must be learned. Jesus who is our ultimate example of how to live, put the needs of others ahead of His own. We need to do the same. Humility and service. The key verse to remember here is my favorite one…it is Philippians 2:3-11

“Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. 5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion." (The Message)

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.4Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

What’s The Point?

When you leave this room, when you leave Epic Jv, my hope is that I will stories. Stories of how you are living out your faith in God. Stories of how every day, you are reading the Bible and growing closer to God. Stories of how you are making good choices about the friends you have. Stories of how you had a friendship that was taking down the wrong path and you ended it or stories of how you were a great friend to someone else. Stories of about how when you were faced with a tough choice, you made the wise choice. Stories about how you are choosing the right thing to do. Of how you are putting others first. Stories of how you selflessly look out for the needs of others. I want to hear stories from your parents, from your friends or from you about how your life has been changed by Jesus.