Corona, California is a town right near some mountains in the LA area. This is the first time the team has had the privilege of being here. Pastor Shanks is a good preacher, and the team enjoyed his preaching on Sunday morning. The week was a great week, and the teens in the school were a great bunch of kids. They were sensitive to the Lord, and it was good to see many respond to the Lord’s dealing in their hearts.
Jeremy, the Marine team captain, recruited a young man at the nearby high school. He was excited about the event. Later Jeremy texted him, “Hey, can you make it out for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night?” He responded, “Yes, I’m going to be there.” He came all three nights. The first night he raised his hand, and Jeremy talked to him but did not respond to the invitation to believe the Gospel. The second night Jeremy didn’t sense he should talk to him. On Friday after campfire service, Jeremy walked up to him, burdened, and questioned him on what was holding him back. He told Jeremy he had trust issues. His dad had really hurt him and he felt he couldn’t trust God. Jeremy went through the Gospel. When he finished, he asked this young man, “Are you willing to make that decision?” He just simply breathed in real deeply, and you could tell he was thinking about it. When he exhaled, he said, “Yeah, I’m willing.” He prayed a general prayer, and Jeremy then asked him to be specific. He then prayed that God would cleanse him from his sin. When he looked up, there was light in his face, and his burden was gone. Jeremy then asked him, “OK, so now where are you going to spend eternity?” “I’m going to spend eternity in Heaven,” he responded. “Where would you have spent it five minutes ago?” “I would have spent it in Hell,” he admitted.
One student came under conviction through the preaching about his sneaking music behind his parents’ back. He was listening to music that his parents would not approve of. When he responded to the invitation, one of the team captains had the opportunity to open the Bible and show him what is the solution for this. He confessed the sin to God, and then went home and confessed it to his parents. He came to school the next day with the burden gone! On Friday he gave a testimony about it.
The testimony service on Friday was a great blessing. All the testimonies would be worthy of being printed, but a few are below to encourage your heart.
“This week…at the conference down here, he preached a message on when you have sin in your life, you’re trying to get rid of it, one of the number one reasons why you can’t get rid of it is because you haven’t confessed it to the person that you’re hiding behind their back from. And I’ve realized that I was hiding a whole bunch of stuff…behind my parents’ back and behind the principal’s back. And I went down to the principal, and I told her everything that I was doing, and everything that was wrong. And I was expecting to get punished, but she just looked at me and thanked me for finally being honest with her. And…and it was really good. And then when I told my parents, I was expecting to get punished, but they did the same thing, and they gave me mercy. And it was…it was just a great feeling. It made me feel free inside, and it…it was just great! And also I learned that when you’re trying to get closer to God, it’s not yourself doing all the work, it’s all Him. And when you’re trying to do it by yourself, you can’t do it because you have to have the will of God on your life. And you can only do it by His will or else it won’t get done.”
“I’ve had a lot of trust issues…just throughout my whole life. And I’ve had trouble, you know, trusting anybody just but myself and especially God. And this week has made me realize I can do NOTHING by myself, but I can do EVERYTHING through Christ.”
One young man, who has come to the US as a refugee, had bitterness toward those that had hurt him. He testified,
“I still had hatred towards those people who did it to me. And I had a hard time for forgiving them for that. So…today I had a talk with…Jeremy. You know, I’ve been asking God to heal the hurt and forgive those.”
“Yesterday in our ‘break out’ session, Mr. Paul made a point that really got to me. And he said, “Not every single person is called into full-time Christian ministry, but every single person, if you’re saved, is called to be a minister. And so it just got me thinking about ‘If I’m a minister, what kind of things do I need to get right in my life to be able to minister to other people…properly?’ So, just making…making sure that I get things in my life that are wrong, to get them clean. And to be the right kind of example so other people can see my life and use it as…as an example and that can be a way of ministering to other people just by the way that I live and the things that I do.”
We sure enjoyed working with this group of teens. I trust God will use their lives for His Glory!
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