In 2017 our team had the privilege of being at Lancaster Baptist School for the first time. When we arrived this year, I had a couple of young men who were students in the school in 2017 tell me that the Lord used that week to be life changing for them. That was such an encouragement! The team went into the week with a sense God was already working. We had a blessed week and are grateful for all the Lord did in hearts!

Austin, the captain of the Marines, talked to a young man who was struggling with assurance of salvation. After Austin helped him get his assurance settled, the young man opened up about bitterness in his life. The coping mechanism for his bitterness was internet issues and he realized he needed to talk to his parents and confess. After he confessed to his parents he told Austin that talking with his parents was not as bad as he thought it would be. 

Joe, the captain of the Rangers, talked to one guy on his team who was struggling with bitterness against his dad for coming in and out of his life so much. Because of his bitterness he had run to moral impurity. He realized the importance of honesty about his sin and was able to talk to a Godly mentor as well as his mother about his issues. The excitement on his face after he dealt with his sin was incredible.

After a couple days of team meetings on the Seals team, it seemed to Stephen, the captain, like there was no breakthrough. In an early midweek prayer meeting, the team knew that they were in crisis mode and prayed accordingly. After the chapel message on bitterness, a high school senior came back sobbing about his sin, and Stephen had a great counseling session with him. This was definitely a direct answer to prayer! Pray for this young man to take the next steps forward to victory.

Isabelle, the co-captain for the Rangers, was able to counsel a girl who had been hiding sin from her teachers and parents. At the end of the chapel message on hidden sin, she was the first person to stand up and head to the back for counseling. She knew that getting right with her teachers and her parents was the next step, and she didn’t waste any time in doing it. She called her mom and spoke to her teachers that same afternoon. When Isabelle spoke to her later that evening, the peace of God was all over her face! She said that her mom and dad responded with grace, as well as her teachers. It was a privilege to see God give the mercy that He promises to those who uncover sin. 

There was a girl on the Marines team whom Bethany, the co-captain, did not notice any response from during the morning chapel sessions. On Thursday afternoon, Austin, the captain of the Marines, preached in their team meeting and challenged them to not holding back if there was anything God was dealing with them about. At the end, Bethany asked this girl if she needed to talk as she had raised her hand during the invitation indicating she still had things to deal with. The girl broke down in tears and agreed to talk, revealing she had listening and reading issues which had led to a sinful thought life. She understood that her actions needed to be confessed to her mom but was fearful. After talking and praying through her next steps, the girl agreed to talk to her mom that day. Early the next morning, she texted Bethany and said that she told her mom and was grateful for the counseling. Later she indicated to Bethany that after getting right she experienced God’s peace!

I thank Bethany for talking to me yesterday about some of the things that I was sinning against my parents, about bitterness, about, you know, just growing my relationship with God. And I praise God for everything, forgiving me, the fear of him, and not the fear of man. And…I want to praise God and just…stand up for him because it’s the best thing in the world.

Here are a few more testimonies from Friday chapel.

I wanted to talk to you guys about the message about anger and how it leaves a place for the devil in your mind. That’s so powerful, but anger is not the only thing that can leave a place in your mind. Fear can, too. When you’re more scared of the future than you have faith in God, that leaves like a place for the devil in your mind. But I wanted to share that both fear and faith require you to believe in something you can’t see. You just have to pick which one. …if you’re so scared of the future, that you don’t trust the person who holds the future, that’s a problem. You have to trust him, you know. He has a plan for you, and he promises that he’s going to be with you everywhere you go. So just don’t look at the weight. Look at God because he’s the real deal, you know? He’s not…going to be like, I’m just kidding. No, he’s the real deal. When he promises something, he’s gonna do it. So have faith in God.

I’ve been struggling with a lot of anger and bitterness against people, who honestly deserve it. But…it wasn’t hurting them. It was only hurting me. And I realized that…I gave that to the Lord, but then I took that burden back. And it was worse than it was the first time. But I just wanna say that God is your Father. He’s got you, and there’s nothing in this world that can take you out of his hand. No matter how much people fail you, or they’re not there for you then they should be. Just know that God is there, and he loves you.

The Lord has worked on my heart a lot this week. The first message he talked about being the light of the world, and the salt, and, just…all throughout the week, God has been working on my heart with the same thing. He talked about on Wednesday night, the fear of man. And I feel like those two messages really go hand in hand, because if you are so scared of what people think about you, you’re not willing to stand up for the one person who loves you, and who died to just to save you. You can’t be the light of the world if you’re so worried about what other people think.

I want to encourage every one of you that God has a purpose for your life. God has your future in his hands…I was doubting that, and I said, Lord, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but here am I, you send me, God. And God has a plan for every one of you.