Category: Jesus

Fitting in. It’s one of the greatest desires of every teenager. That’s why teenagers form into sub-cultural groupings (emo, surfer, skater, computer nerds, rugby boys, war hammer club, North Shore Princess, mountain goats, wannabe gangsters, etc…) so that they can fit in. Teenagers will sometimes do stupid things so that they can be liked. All people just want to be accepted and ultimately to be loved.

How do you know someone loves you? And the most important question any person can ask – HOW DO I KNOW GOD LOVES ME? The Bible says with certainty that God loves us. God doesn’t just say it, but he shows it:

Continue reading “Does God love me?”

Christians should have favourite sermons. We have favourite movies. Favourite books. Favourite songs. Favourite Bible passages. We play our favourite songs again and again on our music playing devices (inclusive language to include the record and cassette generations!), why shouldn’t we also replay our favourite sermons?

I heard a sermon recently that was helpful in thinking through our motivations when we listen to sermons from celebrity preachers on our iPods. So we ought not have favourite sermons because they have been delivered by the latest celebrity preacher, but rather our favourite sermons are the ones (whether they are delivered by the celeb or your local pastor) that help us to see Jesus more clearly, proclaim Jesus more boldly, love Jesus more deeply and cling to Jesus more tightly.

I can think of at least one sermon 10 years ago that I played again and again. Have you got any favourite sermons?

It’s not wrong for Christians to be liked by the world. But it is wrong for Christians to do ungodly things to make themselves more likeable. For Christian teenagers there is a great temptation to be liked and to succumb to peer pressure.

Jesus makes it clear in John 15 that the world hates Him and His followers. There are times when Christians, like their master Jesus, are hated for no apparent reason. It’s not often nice to be hated! And so when you know that the world hates you, the temptation is even greater to do stuff to try impress people and so be liked.

What should you do when you’re tempted to be liked for the wrong reasons?

Continue reading “Temptation to be Liked”

Tickets for Burn Your Plastic Jesus with Mark Driscoll have just gone on sale. 7pm Wednesday August 27 Sydney Entertainment Centre.

The promo video is below. Stay tuned for more updates on Driscoll on the Coast…

Continue reading “Burn Your Plastic Jesus”