Last week, the men focused on Prov. 24:10 from our BIBS, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” We related it to doing right when it’s easy AND when it’s hard.
Some of the guys mentioned marriages failing because a man couldn’t stay committed to his marriage any more.
Then it got real. Because none of the teen guys were married.
Where can YOU be committed? Where have YOU failed when the work gets hard?
How about BIBS? How about your daily devotions?
I mentioned to the guys that during our six weeks off class (when we met in the sanctuary for combined services), almost everyone’s numbers dipped. Almost every person was less consistent with their daily devotions. When we got back to our weekly meetings together (accountability), your numbers picked back up!
One of the main things I emphasize in the Teens of Faith is that you—YOU—should have a relationship with God. A personal walk with Him. It has to be real to you. He speaks through His Word, and it’s the main way to hear His voice. A good relationship with God is impossible without a consistent diet of God’s voice.
I like Mrs. Wilson’s testimony from last week. She told the ladies that when she was newly saved, someone told her that she should read the Bible through each year, and Mrs. Wilson was just crazy enough to believe it would help her! So she has…thirty-something times!
That’s pretty cool. Adversity has come to her, I’m sure, but she hasn’t fainted yet! I’d say her strength is pretty not-small.
-Bro. Ryan
Bro. Ben’s Salvation Testimony
I can’t believe I’m in California! Every day I get a title more used to it but I never thought I would ever come here; thankfully God had different plans. My salvation testimony is not a necessarily an “amazing story of absolute revival in the heart of a wicked man as I!”…No, I was just a little, ” innocent” boy when I accepted Christ.
At the age of six, our church, like most, had separate classes for
different ages. I was in the first grade, which was Mrs. Molly’s class for Sunday school. After Sunday school, all the kids went to the big classroom upstairs for our “junior church” program. Bro. Joe almost always taught the lesson. After every lesson, Bro. Joe would ask if there were any kids that felt like they needed to get saved… Well I raised my hand, of course! Every Sunday… for about three months. So no real decision had been made, as you might’ve guessed.
It wasn’t until one day that something was different. I can’t tell you the date or what the lesson was about, but one thing is certain: I knew I needed to be saved. So, that Sunday morning after the lesson Bro. Joe (like always) asked the same question he always did. This time, I went with him and about twelve other kids into the next Sunday school room. I knelt down on my knees and asked God as simply as a child can to save my soul. I got saved! Even as a little church boy, Christ was there for me too! He has never since that moment left nor forsaken me. And oh boy what a journey it has been. Just look where I am now! It’s definitely a little different from the corn fields of Iowa…