Sermon Notes from Heartland’s 2012 Youth Conference

Wednesday night, Bro. Michael Jones preached on zeal out of 2 Samuel 16:5-14. He defined zeal as “an energetic enthusiasm, especially for a cause or purpose.” In other words, having zeal for God is the same as being on fire for God. We shouldn’t pur water on anyone’s fire…we should encourage them to keep that zeal and continue to increase their zeal.

Zeal is passionate

   – Peter was fiercely loyal to the Lord and we should have that same zeal

   – Everybody is passionate about something. What are you passionate about?

   – Allow the things of God to wholly consume you

   – Apathy toward God is a result of passion toward something/someone else

Zeal is purposeful

   – Zeal doesn’t stand in speech alone; it is found in action as well

   – Doing something for God is the first step in doing everything for God

Zeal is prudent

   – Gain wisdom with your zeal. Don’t decrease one and let the other grow.

   – Zeal needs to be for the right purpose, in the right way, in the right time

Thursday morning, Bro. Michael Jones preached again over magnifying the Lord (using Philippians 1:19-26). He said that if you become heavenly minded, you’ll become a blessing to the earth. Paul prayed for the people long before he prayed for himself or asked others to pray for him. Why should others pray for us if we don’t pray for them? Why would God do a work if other people pray for our needs, but we don’t (living a prayerless life)? Magnifying Christ should be our earnest expectation and hope.

There should be an aspiration to magnify the Lord

   – Magnify: to make great or become large

   – God doesn’t need us; He wants us

   – We magnify Him in the world where He is minimized

   – He isn’t #1 on your list; He IS your list!

There’s and agent for magnifying the Lord

   – Your body is the agent for magnifying Christ

   – God wants to possess, control, and influence your life…but so does Satan. Who are you gonna let run your life?

There’s an advantage for magnifying the Lord

   – The man who lives for Christ has EVERYTHING to live for

   – If you don’t have the joy of the Lord, you’re not living your Christian life right

Thursday evening, Bro. Dave McCracken preached out of Proverbs 18:24, 1 John 1, 2 Corinthians 6:14, and Ephesians 5:8. He said that light is an emblem of purity and holiness, therefore, we know that God isn’t THE Light…GOD IS LIGHT. Nothing in Him could dim/mar His righteousness & perfection. Everytime He’s present, there’s Light. His truth is illuminated. Since in Him, there is no darkness, He cannot tolerate/fellowship with those that are not walking in the Light. If it’s questionable, DON’T DO IT! Some people profess some things, but practice something else…your profession and practice should be the same, or it’s not real. If we’re gonna walk with God, there can’t be any hidden agendas. “It has to be perfect, or it ain’t God’s.”

Friday morning, all of the high school students went into a session with Bro. John Lande (new staff that teaches the Heartland Singles class at Southwest Baptist Church). He preached from Nehemiah 8:1-6 about a change in thinking.What you think will affect what you do and how you feel. We need to know God’s thoughts about life. Every word & action is a result of something you were thinking. In the world, you are constantly bombarded with thoughts and ideas that are contrary to God’s Word, but you need to bombard your mind with God’s Word. The Bible is the ONLY answer to life. True success is measured by how well you obey God. If you bombard your mind with Christ, you’ll realize that He wants you to seek Him, serve Him, praise Him, glorify Him, and worship Him. It’s essential to be in God’s Word daily if you are going to bombard your mind with God and His thoughts about life. If we were to only eat 3 times a week, we would starve to death. The reality is that a lot of “Christians” only eat 3 times a week (Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night). They’re not feasting on God’s Word daily. Without reading God’s Word, we’re starving ourselves to death.

In the Friday morning service, Bro. Dave McCracken preached on the blood of Christ out of 1 John 1:4-7, 1 Peter 1:18, and Hebrews 9:11-12, 24-28. It’s only through the blood that we are able to serve Him. His perfection condemns me of my sins. It’s His SHED blood, not His LIVING blood, that Saves us. If you start to doubt Creation, you’ll start to doubt that the BLOOD washes away your sins. God purchased us with HIS OWN BLOOD!!! (That’s pretty amazing!) Through His blood, we have eternal redemption. In order for it to be eternal, it was only done once, but will last forever! The blood gives us peace. His blood was so perfect and so powerful that He only had to shed it ONCE for us to have ETERNAL redemption.When you see “-eth” in the Bible, it means that it’s continual…like “His blood cleansETH away ALL sins.” His blood continually cleanses us from our sins. The blood will never lose its power! God doesn’t call you because you’re so awesome; He calls you because He’s so awesome!