Every teen deserves to hear the gospel! First we build relationships but then also plan organized time with teens. When we create services and programs to share the gospel and make disciples, it helps to set goals. When we build a team, each person takes resposibiility for a part of the goal. As each person does there part, we can watch our dreams come true!

We often want to reach a lot of people with the gospel. To do this, we often begin to put together events or programs to do this. This takes a plan. A vision is the dream we want to see become reality, planning is the roadmap that allows us to walk it out.

It's amazing that before Jesus began His public ministry, He put together a team of 12 people to do ministry with Him. Let's be like Jesus, let's build a team and change the world!

To build a great ministry, you must build a great team. Great leaders are strong enough to lead other strong leaders with strong personalities. Strong leaders are also able to move out of the way for others to serve in great ways!

We can always do more together than we can apart! We must have a vision that requires a team and then build that team over time. Let's make a plan and work the plan to build the team!

If we are going to build strong youth ministries, we must build strong teams. There is so much work to be done and so many gifts and talents needed to reach and keep teens. Let's work together, grow together and serve together.

Let's take a look at Psalm 23. The relationship between a shepherd and their sheep goes much deeper than most people realize. Jesus also wants a deep relationship with you!

Part of changing the world is the need for people to be uncomfortable with the status quo of society. God has called us to impact the culture of our workplace, school, neighborhood and country. It all begins with wanting more of God's will being done right where we live each day!

Sometimes the enemy of what God wants to do in our life is being comfortable! When we are comfortable, we will just conitnue in life on the same path. If we are to experience all that God has for us, we must become uncomfortable with the status quo!

Jesus was a role model to us on how to live victoriously. Jesus overcame sin, death, and much more. Through Him, we can learn to overcome whatever life throws at us. We can do all things through Christ and He came to show us how!

Many people do not really understand why Jesus came. Yes, He came to pay the price of our sins so that we could have relationship with our Father. Scripture also says it this way: He came that we may have life and to have an abundant life! Overcoming sin is the greatest reward for following Jesus but Jesus affects EVERY part of our lives!

Jesus tells us that He stands at the door and knocks. If we let Him in, He will come in and spend time with us. God will teach us His Will through the Word and His Presence. We are His children and He wants us to live out His best for our lives!

Knowing the will of God is VERY important! God has a perfect plan for you and the enemy does too! We must know God's will for our lives if we want to live it out. Let's dig into God's Word and learn how we can know God's will.

Don't settle for the little that the world gives you! God has more. Will you go and get it? Will you trust Him? God is infinite and His plan for your life will always be unfolding. God has more - and if you have an attitude of "I'm just getting started" you will continue to grow and experience God more and more!

God is infinite! Now matter how much of God's amazing plan you have experienced, He always has more! If you have been experiencing challenges or failure, this also applies. Keep going and keep growing! Whether you are walking in blessing or trials have the right attitude - you are just getting started!

Warriors have a mindset that is much different than civilians. They must have this mindset to win battles. When it comes to spiritual warfare, having the mindset of kneeling warrior can be all the difference between living in God's victory or being stuck in your current situation or losing that spiritual battle. Let's let God give us the mindset of a kneeling warrior!

We are all in a spiritual fight! The question is "are you winning?". Let's look at the importance of prayer and how through prayer we can - focus - fight and win our spiritual battles!

The world is seldom changed by one person, but most often the world is changed by many people doing small things over time. Radical Christianity is about being committed to changing the world right where you are each day. It's about being committed to love and serve until things change.

Things like loving the unloveable and serving people for no personal gain are seen as radical in our society. In a culture that is focused on self promotion and self gain, Christ is calling us to live a radically different lifestyle than what is promoted to us by the world. It is when we whole heartedly follow Christ and serve people where God's power is released and lives are changed!

We are called to be a prayer warrior in God's army! Are you a civilian? A reservist? Enlisted soldier or special forces? God's army is a spiritual army that win's it's fights through faith and prayer! Where are you now and where do you want to be in the days ahead? Much of it is up to you. As you grow in your prayer life, you will advance in your effectiveness in God's army!

We are all in a spiritual fight. Many people choose to be spectators in this battle. The problem is that in our spiritual war, if you choose to just watch, you are not only a spectator, you are a casualty. Let's look at our spiritual war and then to how Daniel won so many huge spiritual battles because of his prayer life!

Tithing is a powerful principle that has great benefits both to the giver and the local church. Let's look at some of the benefits of tithing which begin first with a giving heart.

Giving begins in the heart. We serve a God who held nothing back in giving us His Son! Giving is a crucial part of our faith that truly demonstrates the condition of our heart. Let's take a look at the heart and how it impacts how we give.

Nehemiah saw a problem that existed for years! The difference between him and others who did nothing was that he had vision! God will use you to do things that should have been done years ago if others had vision from Him. Will you just see the problem or overcome the problem? Its all a matter of vision.

Many people and many churches have dreams, but few have vision.  Vision is when you have a picture of a possible future that drives you to order your life to make that picture in your mind come true. We must have both personal and corporate vision as a church!

God's word teaches us many things. One of them is that His will is that none shall perishc - 2 Peter 3:9.  Secondly, when we pray anything according to His will - He will do it - 1 John 5:14-15.  We can expect people to come to Jesus when we pray for them to come to Jesus!

Jesus #1 reason for coming was to save the lost.  As his followers, our role is to play a part in what Jesus wants to do. There are many ways God wants to use us but in this message, we are focusing on prayers that will lead to people being saved.

So many people are frustrated with where they are at and it seems they don't have the power to overcome their situation.  Fasting is one way that helps people to connect with God and walk in His power in greater ways.  Its available - do you want it?

The kingdom of God is not about talk - but about power.  Many of us long for more spiritual power.  Power is released when we seek God with all of our heart.  Fasting is one way that we can commit to seeking God with greater intensity and all of our heart!

We have been called to walk in the power of God!  We have been anointed, which means the presence and power of God is smeared all over us as we follow Him which empowers us to do what Jesus did! Jesus came to seek and save the lost and we are part of that plan!

We are not called to be spectators!  There is something within us that desires to make the wrong things right. We know inside that we are called to do something and to make a difference because God had created us to be a part of the great rescue!

Join us as we conclude our 3 part message on Psalm 23.  The Lord is our shepherd and there are places that we can only go when Jesus leads us.  As we learn to follow in greater ways, we will experience greater life change!

God will take care of us in both good and bad times, even giving us a banquet in the midst of our enemies!  God is not distant, He is there to guide you each and every day.  As we spend time with Him, we can experience ever-growing depth in this relationship!

Let's take a look at Psalm 23 in great depth.  The Lord is the Great Shepherd!  Let's take a few minutes to really dig into what that means in our daily lives!

We are in a spiritual battle and as in any war, whoever takes and controls strategic grounds, has the advantage in winning each battle.  Let's talk about how prayer can be applied to every day situations and we can take spiritual ground in all areas of our life!

Most Christ followers would say that they have some type of prayer life but not all that follow Christ would say that they use prayer as a weapon.  One of the greatest weapons we have in winning our spiritual battle is prayer!  Let's grow in our prayer lives and grow in victory!

Pain is a universal condition that we all have to face! Overcoming struggles, pain and disappointment is part of life. Learning to trust God while still in your pain is the first step to overcoming the very thing that caused the pain! Parts of this message are taken from Jack's book:  Wounded Heart: Keys to Overcoming Life's Pain and Disappointments.

There is a huge difference between being a church goer and being a person of faith!  People of faith have learned that God they can trust God and have learned to overcome the many struggles of life!  Let's become greater people of faith.

In a world that is more emotionally challenging for teens than any other time in the history of the world, how can a teen maintain being emotionally healthy?  Teens face greater temptations and opportunities than ever.  A relationship with Jesus and a life based on God's Word brings stability like nothing else.

Our world is full of people. These people experience so much pain.  The way to overcome life's pain is to experience, God's power.  Let's talk about how God wants His power to work in your life in greater ways!

Trusting God is a heart issue.  Many times life has so dissapointed us that in our heads we can't think we can trust God.  God is bigger than how we think or what we have been through.  Let's learn to trust God with our heart and our thinking will catch up when we see Him move on our behalf!

Learning to trust God is one of the greatest things we can ever do. The reality is that for most people, they have trusted many people and been disappointed.  Many people then have difficulty trusting God because after being let down by people, they then target their distrust towards God.  Let's not let how man has disappointed us hinder us from trusting God!

God always keeps His Word!  He says that we will reap what we sow.  Most people always take the negative side of this.  We can rejoice in the good side of this reality.  When we sow good things, we will reap good things.  This is powerful!

There is power in our words and actions.  Everything we do and say is a seed to our future.  People often look at the negative side of sowing and reaping and express to people they get what they deserve when they do wrong.  Let's look at the other side of the coin. When you sow good things, you will experience and reap good things. We can have confidence in this promise of God!

When storms of life hit, they provide a time to re-evaluate the big picture.  Many storms are not caused by God, but when we go through them, God doesn't want us to go back to the way things were before them!

Storms of life will come and they create problems and destruction.  The question is not if they will come, but how we will react to them.  This message was spoken a week after Hurricane Sandy and applies to all storms of life!

We will all go through storms.  The reality of whether or not we will stand is the foundation that we stand on.  Let's learn to stand on the rock of Jesus through every storm!

Forgiveness is not only about setting someone free of their sin, it is about you being set free from the sin they committed against you. Listen to learn about what forgiveness is and what it is not. True forgiveness ends dysfunctional behaviors and improves life while maintaining and even building healthier boundaries.

Can you imagine that Jesus while hanging on the cross was able to say: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do"?Jesus was able to walk in the freedom of forgiveness even through the worst imaginable circumstances. Learn how you can also walk in the power of forgivess.

The gospel is meant to tear down barriers and build bridges.  It first does that between us and God and then between us and people.  As the gospel infiltrates every part of our lives, we begin to change in many different.  Lets explore how when Jesus met the women at the well, cultural and racial barriers needed to be torn down so that she could receive the gospel.

God is looking for people who have ears to hear.  God is a speaking God and wants to direct you in greater ways.  Position yourself to hear from God and get ready for God to speak!

We begin this message with God calling Samuel.  At first he didn't understand it was God.  What is amazing was that God kept calling His name unitl he understood it was God calling.  God is calling, do you understand its Him?

Fasting allows us to be focused on God in a way that quiets down our flesh and opens our spiritual ears to hear from God. Fasting is one of the most important things we can do if we are serious about our spiritual growth.

The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk - but of power.  How is that power released? One of the ways is through fasting.  Let's take a good look at how fasting releases the power of God in a believers life.

How would your life be different if you continued to pray until you achieved the needed breakthrough?  The Bible is full of stories of delayed answers at times to prayer.  What if Daniel quit praying after a week?  What if Jacob stopped wrestling in the middle of the night and walked away without his blessing.  What does God have for you that you need to wrestle for in prayer?

Everyone wants to say a prayer one time in faith and see it answered.  But what do you do when that doesn't happen?  Let's look into Jacob's life when he wrestled all night until he received his blessing and breakthrough so show us an example of what breakthrough prayer can be like.

The more we grow, the more stable our lives become. We will also not be blown around by the trials of life. If we want something more - its time to grow. If we want something different - it's time to grow! 

Whether we are 10 years old or 50, when we begin our relationship with Jesus, we are spiritual babies. How much we grow will be determined by the amount of time spent with God, His people and how much "spiritual food" we eat. Unlike our physical bodies, we will be growing spiritually for the rest of our life! So whether you are new to Christ or have been serving Him for years - it's time to grow!

Imagine if every Christian took prayer seriously and began to pray for their city.  Not trying to change everything in a day, but each person trusting God to change one thing at a time.  The problems in our cities took time to build.  As we win one victory at a time through prayer, we can see our cities changed!

You have the ability to change your city through prayer!  Whether it is a person's life, a school, a crime issue or the overall spiritual atmosphere, prayer changes things.  As you live your daily life, watch for things that are outside of God's will, pray that God's will takes place in that persons life or in that situation.  Pray that God brings order where chaos exists, and that His love and Presence would rule and reign in your city!

Too many people sit back as their friends and family go through life without Jesus.  You can be the bridge that connects people to God.

Jesus came to be the bridge back to God the Father.  When Jesus went back to the Father He commissioned us to continue His work and be bridges to Him!

This message started with discussong that Jesus was constantly growing.  During His life and with the resurection, He overcame everything inclduing Satan, sickness, pain, rejection, brokeness, the sin of the world and even death!  His overcoming was connected to His growth.  If you need to overcome some things, commit to growing and watch what God will do!

Jesus left heaven to walk the streets of planet earth because He cares about us!  He spent His life caring for people. As His followers, we are to grow to be more like Him. One of the things that people seldom think about is the growth of Jesus.  Jesus spent a good amount of time in prayer, in scripture, serving, working and growing! This is our example.

God's grace is amazinig.  It forgives the unforgiveable and empowers us to do what we can't do in our own strength.  Grace changes us to be more like Jesus!

Champions are built when no one is watching.  God sees and is cheering you on even if no one else is! Champions are people who give everything they have and at the end of life, it makes all the difference!

Becoming a champion takes time.  Whether in the natural or the spiritual nobody becomes a champion overnight.  Champions are built day by day and year by year!  Keep growing and keep going!

Knowing Christ is a progressive relationship. The more you pursue Christ and spend time with Him, the deeper the relationship will be. There is no such thing as knowing Jesus too much!

Christ came that we may have life and have it abundantly!  But living well is a process that takes time. Lets engage in the process and see what God has in store!

Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly.  Much of following Christ is about service, sacrifice and putting others ahead of ourselves, but there is a component that Christ came that we would enjoy and live life to the full!  Let's live well!

Life is so much different when you give all that you have! Christ came that we may have life and have it to the full but we have to get up and go for it each day. Let's live lives that speak of not regretting what could have been!

The happiest and most fulfilled people I have ever met have one thing in common, they have given all they have!  When you give all you have and leave it on the field, you can live life without regrets!

Giving is a blessing and the happiest people are those with giving hearts!  An amazing thing also happens when people join together to give.  Whether it is focussed on a church or a ministry, when giving is combined, it goes a lot further than when any one person gives!

God is a giver God!  For God so loved the world that He GAVE!  Giving is in our spiritual DNA and the happiest people are those with giving hearts!

God created you with a purpose but the challenge is discovering what that purpose is and then walking it out. Lets take a journey as we not only line in our purposes but walk each day on purpose!

Jesus Christ is the greatest CHAMPION of all time!  He defeated sin, Satan and death! We are made in His image to overcome and live in victory as He did!

Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly!  He is the overcomer and wants to teach us how to live and walk in His overcoming power!

Part of being a FATIH CHAMPION is living for something that is bigger than yourself!  In order to live fully, you have to die to self!  CHAMPIONSHIP faith is all about never quitting, doing what you need to do and dieing to self to that you can live your destiny!

The first step of being a faith champion is that FAITH CHAMPIONS DON'T QUIT!  The world will hand you all kinds of issues and problems but when you make a decision to be a faith champion and that you will grow and do what it takes to build your faith, God will give you the strength to NEVER quit.

The elements of something are the simplest building blocks which are required to build it.  Lets look at 3 building blocks of faith: 1) A faithful God  2) God's unchanging Word and 3) The hearer of the Word.  The first 2 never change, the one that changes is the hearer!  Let's grow as hearers, absorbers and doers of the Word!

In order to exercise our faith, first we must believe that God will do something for us! The next step is beleiving that God will do something in us.  When God does something for us and in us, the next stage is believing that God will do something through us!  God first changes us and then uses us to change the world!

Faith is like a muscle.  If you use it, it grows and gets stronger.  If you don't use it, it becomes weaker and weaker over time.  Faith must also be current, yesteday's faith doesn't count today! The beginning of faith is in believing in God to do something for us.  We must believe God is our source and expect Him to meet our needs and be present in our lives on a daily basis.

We are made for community but community doesn't happen by accident! It must be intentional.  Our society and culture consumes so much of our time and energy that at the end of the day, we often just want to be left alone.  But many are living disconnected lives where parts of their emotions slowly die.  It is in community where we flourish best!

We are busier than ever and have more connections than ever but even with that, George Gallup did a study that showed Americans are some of the loneliest people on the planet!  We need real relationships that can only be built in community!

There is a cure for sin sickness and we have it!  God is not passive and neither should we be.  Jesus left the presence of the Father to bring the cure to planet earth.  We are then to bring the cure of Jesus Christ to every nook and cranny of planet earth! As individuals we can go places that the pastors in our church can't go. We can talk every day to people who may not go to a church to hear the message of the cross!

Our world is suffering from sin sickness and we have the cure! Even though we have the cure, statistics say that 90% of those who consider themselves born again Christitans, have never led someone into a personal relationship with Jesus!  This must change.  I invite you to become a greater soul winner in the days ahead!

It is God's will that none shall perish!  And God says that we are His ambassadors!  The key to effective words is effective prayers beforehand!  Many Christians have the right words but have not overcome spiritual obstacles and barriers through prayer.  Let's pray for souls and then go win them!

God has created each of us to be soul winners in our daily lives right where we work, live and play! But long before we go to people about God, we should go to God about people. Our prayers will begin to break the hardness of people's hearts long before we even speak to them about Jesus.

We continue in this second half of the message to look at some practical steps on how we can build our prayer lives.  We have to pray continually, persistently and also in faith.  Our prayers have to be bigger than our circumstances because God is bigger than our circumstances!  Not only that, but we get to know God and are empowered to do His work through a life of prayer!

So many people are frustrated with life but many of these people either don't pray or don't effectively pray to see God move powerfully on their behalf.  When we have a lifestyle of prayer, God moves in us and through us on a regular basis.  Join us to learn how to pray more effectively!

Are you tired of just taking what life hands you?  We have the power to change our reality and the world we live in through our prayers.  Prayer is a spiritual weapon created to restore God's power and plans in our daily lives!

We need to spend time praying in power, because prayer is a weapon to win victories in our daily lives.  The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.  It is in prayer that the power of God is released.

The kneeling warrior is a picture of humble strength.  Man's humility unleashes God's power!  A lifestyle of powerful prayer is the key to a lifestyle of God's power flowing in our every day lives and situations!

Prayer unleashes God's power!  Let's grow as prayer warriors and see God move powerfully in our lives on a regular and ongoing basis!

Join us for the completion of this message designed to help you lead a lifestyle of building your faith.  Your actions and spiritual disciplines will greatly affect the strength of your faith!

Faith is something that is built over time.  Each day, we can choose to build our faith and see God move more powerfully in our lives!

Many people stop with faith at salvation and are satisfied.  God has so much more for us if we will believe and receive it!  Lets talk about faith based on God's Word and experienced through the leading and power of the Holy Spirit!

True life changing faith is not a decision or choice, it is a lifestyle.  If you want God to powerfully move in your daily life, you must live the faith life!