Welcome to Elmwood Youth Ministries Home page!
It is wonderful that you are taking the time to read this and it is greatly appreciated! Time is so important in our busy lives. So let me ask you a question up-front: Do you know Jesus? If yes, please read on. If no, please click here.
Jesus was there when the world was created (John 1) and he is the one that created time, as well as you and me. It is interesting to think that he is Lord over time. We are not in control over our own life time and often it seems that we are not in control of our daily time as well. The minutes rush by, hours just disappear and many of us can be heard asking: "Where did all our time go?" or "Why can't we have more time?". We wish that the day had more hours because we are not able to fit everything we want to do in our schedule. But everyone of us has the same amount of hours in a day and the same amount of minutes in a hour. So why do some people cope better than us and how do they do it?
Ephesians 5:15+16 challenges us to use our time wisely, to look at what we are doing and evaluate it and that we are meant to prioritise. Paul says that the best use of our time in general is to serve our master in heaven, Jesus. (Colossians 4) This may look different for every person, one has opportunity to share their life story & Jesus with other people, another will just help an old person over the street or build a school for the poor in another country. We might do our homework every day with care or talk to our parents at all times with respect. Any and every action, word or gesture can and should be done to excellence by Christians to honour Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.
I am not trying to tell you how to live your life or what your priorities should be. You have to decide that for yourself. What I am trying to tell you is what Jesus says in Mark 8:38 "For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
The word ashamed here can mean two things in the Greek, it can mean the traditional feeling of shame as well as putting something over someone or something else, in this case Jesus.
As Christians we can not be normal, we can not just waste time, we can not say that we don't know how to prioritise or that we are ashamed of Jesus. We might be shy or not good with words, we might have two left hands or we might not know how to describe Jesus to others. But we have to use our God-given intellect & gifts and measure things against His priorities. If we are ashamed of Him, his words or his deeds, if we are not prepared to learn about what he wants and who he is by reading the Bible, listening to others and listening to his Spirit and then putting what we have learnt into practice we might have a problem. We need to do what he wants us to do and say what he wants us to say, nothing more and nothing less. Did you know that you can be busier then God intends you to be?
Think about it, do you want to stand in front of Jesus and he tells you that he is ashamed of you or even worse that he "never knew you"(Matthew 7:23)? Of course you don't want that and neither do we, here at Elmwood, and so we welcome you to this website, our church and our youth. If you want help, guidance, or advice on how to use your abilities and learn what God wants to do through you then you are in the right place.
In God's love, your brother Opa Geibel