Who Are You Investing Your Life In?

By Adam Forsberg

Luke 12:48b: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

Usually when we read this verse our mind jumps right to money and the financial aspect of our Christian life. While this verse does pertain to our finances, I also believe that it applies to our knowledge of God, and the growth in our relationship with Him. The more that we know about God, the more that we need to be passing on to others. This is a biblical concept know as discipleship.

A discipleship relationship is when a Christian who has been growing in their relationship with Christ comes alongside of a younger believer to help them grow in their faith. The main goals of discipleship are for the younger believer to develop Christ-like character, and for Spiritual maturity in Christ to be taking place. This is more than just sitting down and having a Bible study, it’s being a part of their life. There are two ways that the discipler impacts the person he’s discipling- transmission of information, and transmission of example. Paul is a great example of this. In 2 Timothy 2:1-16 we see him doing this with Timothy. Paul talks about the experiences that they shared together in ministry (vs. 2 “and the things you heard me say in the presence of many witnesses…”), and then goes on to give Timothy information about God and how to apply it. Paul teaches Timothy by example and by passing on information. It is also crucial to remember that God’s promise, working, Spirit, grace, and Word are ultimately what is changing people’s lives.

My challenge to the church is to find somebody to invest your life in. This past year I had the privilege to disciple two guys in the youth group, and it has been an amazing experience. It’s been awesome to see them grow in their faith throughout this past year. I get so excited when I think about how much spiritual grow can take place in our church if discipleship became a part of everybody’s life. I’m in still in college and am very new at discipleship, and I still saw God work in big ways, so I get so pumped to think about people who are way more spiritually mature than me discipling others.

It can be hard to start discipling another person, but it is definitely a worthwhile experience that helps you grow in your faith as well. In the fall the Grace Community Church will be having a discipleship class that teaches people how to be involved in a discipleship relationship. Please consider taking this class, and then start pouring your life into others, helping them grow closer to Christ.

Promises...

By Adam Forsberg

This past week my family and I went to California on vacation. We headed out to the airport Saturday morning for our 11:30 flight, only to find that our flight was delayed by about two hours. We were promised that we would take off at 1:30 PM, and that we would still make our connecting flight. As expected, we didn’t take off until almost 4 PM, causing us to miss our connection. Luckily there was another flight later on that evening, but we were stuck in Minnesota for a few more hours. Going to California was amazing, seeing the beaches in LA, to huge redwood trees, to the mountains at Yosemite. But all throughout the trip, promises were made to my family that were either were not fully kept, or were just flat out lies. Some of these things were information about hotels and their amenities, departure times, ticket prices, food quality, and lots of other little things. After a while, you start to become disappointed, and start to loose faith in any promise that is made to you.

This really got me thinking about how great it is that all of God’s promises are true. We can put our full hope in what God says, without ever having to worry about Him lying, not keeping His promises, or coming up short. What a relief it is to know that the things that God promises us in His Word are completely, one hundred percent true. God gives us multiple examples of this throughout the Bible. A few are to Abraham and Sara (Genesis 21:1 “…and the LORD did for Sara what he had promised.”), to Paul (Acts 9:15 “…This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.), and to us, our resurrection from the dead to live with Him forever (1 Corinthians 15).

We can trust what God tells us, so there is no need for us to worry about our lives, what will happen to us or others. Because we know that all His promises are guaranteed, we can have peace through every part of life, and have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Listen to this song that reminds us of God’s promises. Afterwards, look up different promises that God has made to us (Romans 15:13 for example), and dwell on the fact that they are completely true and trustworthy.

Summer Intern - Adam Forsberg

Hello, my name is Adam Forsberg, and I am the Youth Intern for this summer. I’m really excited to be working with the youth group, and to see God work in the lives of the teens. I graduated from Walkersville High School in 2008, and went to Word of Life Bible Institute in New York for a year. After studying the Bible for a year, I took classes at Frederick Community College this past year, and will be attending Liberty University in the fall. I plan to major in communications and minor in youth ministry. My favorite book of the Bible is Philippians. I love how Paul teaches us that we can have joy in any situation because of our salvation from Christ. God has been using Philippians to teach me a lot in the past few months, showing me that my focus in life needs to be completely on Jesus.

This summer I will be working with the student leaders, helping them plan out lessons and games for Wednesday nights, and discipling guys in the youth group. Discipleship is definitely a passion of mine, so I am really looking forward to pouring my life into these guys this summer. I will also be planning outreaches for the Wavorly community, and encouraging the teens to work in this ministry as well. I honestly believe that God is going to do huge things this summer in our youth group, and all throughout Frederick County. I’d like to ask for prayer from the Church Body as I’m working in this ministry this summer. Here are a few ways that you can be praying for me:

*Humility - that this summer would not be about me at all

*Wisdom - when meeting with students

*Opportunities - for the students in the youth group and myself to share Christ with unsaved people

*For the youth group to truly be a lighthouse to the community

*That everyday I would be amazed by what Jesus has done for me and that my Christian life would never become so routine that I forget about the wonder of the Cross

I want to thank the church for giving me this opportunity to serve. I’m really looking forward to this summer and for the big things that God has in store for this youth ministry.