This week I've heard a lot of God references at work. Either people talking about going to church or just talking about Jesus in general. Some of the coworkers get offended though and talk about how that kind of stuff is fake.
I don't want to start a fight, so I just keep quiet about the whole situation, but I feel like God wants me to keep quiet about it. HE WANTS ME TO SHOW THEM. That's one way you can be a witness for God and thats by showing through your actions why you believe what you believe, so people turn to you and say "I want what that person has." I've had several people who come into Culvers' and will recognize me from my church. Like in the past month every day I've worked, I've had someone who had recognized me from Church. That's a way to not only be quiet about it and not force Christianity (Which I actually hate the phrases Christianity and Religion but I'll get to that for a later blog) in other peoples lives.
There are just so many people that need Jesus in our world. Jesus can turn all of my co-workers lives around if I go out to the unknown and show them why Jesus is the better choice then drugs, sex, alcohol, or Pornography.
That's something that you can do with people from your school, work, or even church. Show them why Jesus is the better choice. It's easy for us to judge them based on their sin, but if we are not acting on it as an opportunity to witness and show them what Jesus can do, then we are commiting the bigger sin.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Testing of Faith
Man, these last couple of weeks have been really tough. I have been tested to the very limit by God. It is so weird that God would be testing my faith at the age of 15, but he is and he is doing some incredible things through me because of it.
My Worship Pastor for our Youth Group had talked to me and a few other of the guys about reading the book of James, and I did. I was kind of confused when I started reading it because honestly I was not going through any hard trials or temptations at that point. However looking back on when I read it, it was good that I was reading it then, compared to admist the trials.
The reason being is that I could refer to James over and over and love that book over again. One verse that I have been looking over for a while is James 1:2-3 which says, "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith creates perseverance." This was the first verse(s) that I went back to within these last couple of weeks.
I just very lately haven't felt like myself. I have spent a lot of time at work, and at my church. Sometimes I even work a 11-2 (which might not seem long, but I work at a fast food restaurant where you need to be on your feet and moving constantly and its tiresome) and then head home to pack up my guitar and then go straight to church. At one point I was even thinking about quiting my job so I wouldn't be so stressed out.
However something that I have realized is sometimes God calls us out to just focus on him. When I think of focusing on God, all I can think is Peter walking out on the water to Jesus. Sometimes we like to focus on the "storm" in our life instead of on Jesus. The truth is when Peter walked out onto the water it could've been perfectly beautiful out, but the truth is if Peter didn't focus on Jesus, he would've still sunk.
That is kind of like life. No matter if we have a storm going on in our life, or if it is perfectly fine we still need to focus on Jesus. Jesus, yes tests our faith, but it will only prove perseverance for the future and it will be worth it in the end. God knows what he is up to, and it is really cool to see God's plan unfold right in front of me!
My Worship Pastor for our Youth Group had talked to me and a few other of the guys about reading the book of James, and I did. I was kind of confused when I started reading it because honestly I was not going through any hard trials or temptations at that point. However looking back on when I read it, it was good that I was reading it then, compared to admist the trials.
The reason being is that I could refer to James over and over and love that book over again. One verse that I have been looking over for a while is James 1:2-3 which says, "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith creates perseverance." This was the first verse(s) that I went back to within these last couple of weeks.
I just very lately haven't felt like myself. I have spent a lot of time at work, and at my church. Sometimes I even work a 11-2 (which might not seem long, but I work at a fast food restaurant where you need to be on your feet and moving constantly and its tiresome) and then head home to pack up my guitar and then go straight to church. At one point I was even thinking about quiting my job so I wouldn't be so stressed out.
However something that I have realized is sometimes God calls us out to just focus on him. When I think of focusing on God, all I can think is Peter walking out on the water to Jesus. Sometimes we like to focus on the "storm" in our life instead of on Jesus. The truth is when Peter walked out onto the water it could've been perfectly beautiful out, but the truth is if Peter didn't focus on Jesus, he would've still sunk.
That is kind of like life. No matter if we have a storm going on in our life, or if it is perfectly fine we still need to focus on Jesus. Jesus, yes tests our faith, but it will only prove perseverance for the future and it will be worth it in the end. God knows what he is up to, and it is really cool to see God's plan unfold right in front of me!
Summer NTS Camp
In around a week I'll be packing for a Summer Camp I am going to called NTS (Never The Same Camp). I am personally really excited to go next week. We will be down in dordt college from Sunday till Thursday. It's really going to be a huge privilege for me to go. I went to a summer camp last year called "Mest Up" and it was a lot of fun going and getting to meet new people, people that I am still close to, to this day.
I think it will be very fun and I am personally really excited to go. To get away from the wordly things especially and just put all my focus on Jesus. The only downside is having to go to Church practice literally right when I get home, not even knowing/preparing for what songs we might be playing. However I still think it'll be a lot of fun and I will try to keep you guys updated with what is going on at NTS. When I get back that Thursday, I'll post a blog detailing everything that happened at NTS and what I took away from it. It'll be a lot of fun!
I think it will be very fun and I am personally really excited to go. To get away from the wordly things especially and just put all my focus on Jesus. The only downside is having to go to Church practice literally right when I get home, not even knowing/preparing for what songs we might be playing. However I still think it'll be a lot of fun and I will try to keep you guys updated with what is going on at NTS. When I get back that Thursday, I'll post a blog detailing everything that happened at NTS and what I took away from it. It'll be a lot of fun!
Thursday, June 18, 2015
What is Worship?
Hi, My name is Seth Short! This is my first blog post and I am excited to start blogging. For my first blog I just wanted to talk about what worship means to me. I am a worship leader at my church Celebrate Community Church in South Dakota. Worship has been something I have fallen in love with ever since I became a member on my Youth Groups Worship Team as well as our main services Worship Teams.
It's really hard to describe what worship is since worship can be a very personal thing. As a worship leader my Number 1 Goal is for no one in the room to miss out on the presence of God. That's why I can jump around, that's why I can raise my hands in worship. Not for an outward showoff, but because that is how Jesus has shaped my life.
As a teenager, often people don't understand. I've had a lot of adults who come up to me and are like "I could never get up there and worship like you when I was younger" and I just always tell them thats how Jesus has changed my life.
Last February I had the opportunity to lead worship at a Youth Winter Retreat for my Church. Something that I will never forget is for one of our sets we did really great songs. The thing is at the end we did a whole spontaneous worship segment. It was really incredibly and kind of emotional. At the end we played a song called Set A Fire which is a lot about for Jesus to Set A Fire down in our souls, so we can get out of our comfort zones and just praise him.
That's what worship is. I heard it said once that when you get out of your comfort zone in worship, Jesus steps in. That is so true though. I have also head it once that raising your hands in worship isn't for spiritual showoff, but its what a child does when they want to be held by their dad. I am so excited for what God is going to do in this blog and in my church as well.
It's really hard to describe what worship is since worship can be a very personal thing. As a worship leader my Number 1 Goal is for no one in the room to miss out on the presence of God. That's why I can jump around, that's why I can raise my hands in worship. Not for an outward showoff, but because that is how Jesus has shaped my life.
As a teenager, often people don't understand. I've had a lot of adults who come up to me and are like "I could never get up there and worship like you when I was younger" and I just always tell them thats how Jesus has changed my life.
Last February I had the opportunity to lead worship at a Youth Winter Retreat for my Church. Something that I will never forget is for one of our sets we did really great songs. The thing is at the end we did a whole spontaneous worship segment. It was really incredibly and kind of emotional. At the end we played a song called Set A Fire which is a lot about for Jesus to Set A Fire down in our souls, so we can get out of our comfort zones and just praise him.
That's what worship is. I heard it said once that when you get out of your comfort zone in worship, Jesus steps in. That is so true though. I have also head it once that raising your hands in worship isn't for spiritual showoff, but its what a child does when they want to be held by their dad. I am so excited for what God is going to do in this blog and in my church as well.
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