Source SM Recap: Volume #33

Current Series: RecklessTitle: “Reckless Faith” The Word: Daniel, 3:8-28, Ephesians 3:20. Main Thought: Students can change the world when they believe the truth of what God says about them!

Message Explanation:  Life is a continual display of choices. What do I want for lunch? What will I order when I get to the restaurant? What time should I wake up? Regular Coke or Cherry Coke? With all of the different decisions surrounding us, we REVEAL what we place our FAITH in daily.

Reckless series verse: "Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." 1 Timothy 4:12.

When it comes to faith, many people have more faith in CONFORMING to the culture instead of influencing culture! The 6 traps the fear of man: 

1.     Idolatry - When we care about what other people think more than what God thinks, we turn people into idols that we worship—seeking to please them in order to earn their approval or respect. We become obsessed with thinking about how to get their attention and approval and not think of much else.

2.     Ineffectiveness – When we care more about what others think about us than what God thinks about us we sometimes abandoned what God has gifted us at to get their approval.

3.     Fakeness - If you’re overly motivated by the opinions of others, you won’t act like yourself. You’ll be a chameleon, adapting yourself to any situation for the sole purpose of fitting in. Your identity will be contingent to who you are with and not on who you really are.

4.     Apathy – Fear of man paralyzes you from taking risks because of the potential for embarrassment or failure. You’ll never do much of anything. You won’t speak up when you know there is something wrong and you won’t confront sin in the lives of your friends because you are afraid they will stop liking you.

5.     Dishonesty – The fear of man turns you into a liar because you will constantly be afraid that the truth will cause them to be offended and they will abandon your friendship. The fear of man will get you so caught up in lying that you will lose track with who you told what. The repercussions of your dishonesty have greater long term damage than the short term benefits.

Background: What was Babylon like?  Around 2600 years ago a King named Nebuchadnezzar created a statue that was 90 feet high and 9ft wide. Everyone was ordered to worship the idol. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had a choice to conform or stand for God.  Their original names were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The Babylonians changed them to Beltashazzar, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego. The men were around the age of 14-17 years old.  In the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they were left with a HUGE decision. They were reckless. 

How do we have reckless faith?

1. They refused to follow the crowd (v. 8-12)

2. They trusted God no matter the outcome (v. 16-18)

3. Jesus will stand with you no matter what you are going through (v. 19-28)

Proverbs 29:25: “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”Ephesians 3:20 “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think”.

 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were blessed because of their FAITH. You have an opportunity to have this type of FAITH in Christ in this generation!

They REFUSED to follow the crowd. Are you living for God or other people’s approval? They TRUSTED God no matter the outcome. Are you willing to serve God no matter what? Jesus STANDS with us no matter what!

If you are a follower of Christ, are you living a life of RECKLESS Faith in Jesus?

Element of Fun: The middle school students played the Cheetos toes game! It was fantastic and gross. Just like middle schoolers like games! 

Music: Not Ashamed, Your Voice is Hope, One Thing Remains, How He Loves.

Favorite Moment: Hearing about students following Christ! We are looking forward to baptisms at our Easter services! Praise God!

What’s Next: We will begin a new series in April called, "Imitate Christ."

To watch any of the "reckless" series messages, check out the vimeo page.