If the world is against you, that’s not necessarily a bad thing
by Barrett Vanlandingham
(Fort Faith, August 26, 2008)

One day, as I sat and thought about the peer pressure the kids in my youth group are under, my thoughts began to form the word and music to this song based on the Gospel of John 15:18.
(verse 1) Walking down the halls at school, feeling like everybody’s fool, wondering why my blue skies have to turn gray. Well, they laugh and poke fun at me, because I practice Christianity. Some things never change, I guess it’s meant to be.
(chorus) Cause Jesus said no slave is greater than his master. If the world hates you, know it hated me first. And he said don’t fear. I’ll be with you always, holding your hand until your final day.
(verse 2) So I walked on to class with pride, my Bible held close to my side. The Crucified One’s been raised yes the battle’s been won. I don’t worry about a thing. I put a smile on my face and sing. And let the people know about my Savior and my King.
(to chorus then refrain) Sometimes I worry about this and ‘bout that, and then I begin to pray. That’s when everything’s okay.
(chorus) Cause Jesus said no slave is greater than his master. If the world hates you, know it hated me first. And he said don’t fear. I’ll be with you always, holding your hand until your final day.
(ending) That’s when I know everything’s gonna be okay.

My youth group took went to a rally the other day, and one of the nights before we went to bed we had a devotional with just us. One of the things they kept mentioning as a prayer request was to hold each other accountable for their actions during the school year. I must say I was a little taken back at their level of maturity on this matter. Peer pressure is such a mountain to overcome for all of us, especially for teenagers who are still young in the faith. I was amazed that they not only recognized the fiery darts of Satan, but that they also came up with a biblical solution and asked God to bless their dedication with a successful outcome. Siding with God and walking with the Lord will not guarantee an easy life or even a happy one, but the promise of a real future in heaven because of Jesus brings us true joy even now in the present.
After the youth rally, my wife and I went to eat at a Braum’s in Muskogee. I was already so deliriously tired from the trip that I was on the verge of laughing or crying at any moment. But what pushed me over the edge was this: the very enthusiastic young man behind the counter taking our order asked me if I was a youth minister. I said yes. He immediately had a bigger smile on his face, shook his head slightly, and said, “I love God.”
I’m sorry folks, but I thought for a minute I wasn’t going to be able to keep from crying right there in the middle of Braum’s at such an honest answer coming from such a transparent and cheerful person. I do not know the young man who waited on me that day, but I just wanted to shout hallelujah at his enthusiasm for the Lord.
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

Spiritual Warfare
by Barrett Vanlandingham
(Fort Faith, August 19, 2008)

The kids are back in school, mountains of peer pressure have begun to pile up on them. Meanwhile, parents and grandparents are left trying to figure out how to help those young souls they love so much make it through those tough years of adolescence.
Read Nehemiah 4:13-23. There are three things you should know about spiritual warfare that you can find in this passage. Here they are:

1. Do not be afraid
2. Remember the Lord
3. Fight

In about 600 BC, Nehemiah, the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in the palace of Susa (in modern day Iran), had prayed to God and then received permission from the king to re-build the wall of Jerusalem. But the evil and jealous Sanballat the Samaritan was intent on preventing this from happening. The wall had been destroyed when the Jews were booted out of their city by the Babylonians.
Nehemiah used half of his workforce to build the wall, while the other half stood guard, paying special attention to the lowest points of the wall, and where there were families. This was done to make sure that Sanballat, along with several other bullies and their forces were not successful in stopping the re-building of the wall, which surrounded the very centerpiece of Jewish civilization.
Nehemiah said to the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." Later he said, “20. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!"
You know, it’s easy to forget that even here in little Fort Gibson, we have a heavenly guest who wants to be part of our lives everyday. He’s the same God who was with Nehemiah 2600 years ago, and who helped him re-build the Jerusalem wall in only 52 days (6:15).
When we are walking with the Lord, we have every reason to be confident, not fearful. When we are constant in prayer, we can’t help but to constantly remember the Lord. And when we are fighting on the Lord’s side, we will find that the Lord is faithful to us, and will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.
The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that when we use our Christian armor the way it was intended, we will be able to do three things: fearlessly make known the Gospel, we will pray in the Spirit continually, and we will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. That's the same basic message that Nehemiah taught 600 years earlier.
In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, the apostles Paul says,
“3. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
May God give each of us the perseverance to make sure we are in that number when the trumpet sounds and the Lord gathers us home. (end)