Posted on

Are Daily Devotions Really That Important?

For some teenagers, the practice of spending time in prayer and Bible study in the mornings- devotions- has been something they have been told to do since the earliest days they can remember. For others, it is a totally new concept. Regardless, the result is often the same because it seems like we often don’t have enough time in the morning to get ready for school, let alone read our Bibles. We are already getting too little sleep to afford waking up any earlier, right? Even when we do have time, we often don’t see the urgency in doing it. Continue Reading...

Posted on

10 Things You Should Know about Shame

Shame is a tough thing to deal with. It’s a ‘feeling’ that seems to cling on to us in various ways throughout our lives. Shame is a problem. When dealing with a problem, it’s best to know as much possible as there is to learn about it. Unfortunately, shame is one of those problems that doesn’t seem to be talked about enough. Even when it is discussed, I, at least, am still left with questions. In this featured article, Heather Davis Nelson does a great job answering questions about shame such as “What is the difference between shame and guilt?” or “How does shame affect us?”. This article is a relatively short read, but one that I hope will answer questions that you may have about the topic of shame. I encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments. You can find the article Here. Continue Reading...

Posted on

7 Tips for a Better Reading Experience

This Summer, I have been making a focused effort to spend this time off from school in a productive way. A key component in doing so, as I mentioned in my Don’t Waste Your (Summer) Life post, is to read. An activity is usually more enjoyable if it’s easier and that’s the way it typically goes for reading, as well. My dad has had to do a LOT of reading through out his life with College, Seminary, and  just being a pastor so I look to him for advice. He wrote an article back in February on his blog and I would like to share it with you. He lists seven ways we can make reading better, faster and smarter by going into points such as removing distractions and ways to build speed. We are all going to have to read at some point so why not look for ways to make it easier? Check it out at davidcprice.com . Have any thoughts or suggestions? Let me know in the comments. Continue Reading...

Posted on

Excuses and Worshiping My Way Out of Despair

A couple months ago, I wrote a post entitled ‘Worshiping Your Way Out of Despair’ and it was exactly that: how to get out of those ruts. I, myself, was recently in one of these times of despair. It was a time of feeling distant from God, bogged down and stuck in sin; it’s an awful feeling. Because I had studied the topic for a blog post, I KNEW what to do, but the old saying rings true yet again: “knowing is half the battle”. My problem was making excuses such as, ‘Well, I just sinned so I should probably wait’ and ‘I’ll do it in the morning’ which would turn into ‘Eh, I’ll just do it tomorrow’. Where did this get me? Further and further away from God. What DO we do when excuses plague our thoughts and desires? Continue Reading...

Posted on

Don’t Waste Your (Summer) Life

If you are a teenager reading this, I want you to quickly do the math and think about how many summers you have left before college. If you are a parent, think about how many summers, if any, your child has. I recently realized that I only have three summers remaining (this one included!). That was a very sobering thought… three summers before I’m off to college. With only three summers left, I want to make sure I don’t waste my summer and encourage other teens not to waste theirs, either, so I thought about some do’s and do not’s to ensure we make the most out of our remaining childhood free time. Continue Reading...

Posted on

Winner of Lecrae’s Unashamed Book

Congratulations to…. Carvis Russell! All participants’ names were put into a hat and randomly drawn. I will be doing more giveaways in the future so be on the lookout! Also, I am not able to get a post up today due to an exam I have tomorrow but am hoping to be able to write one later this week. Again, congratulations to Carvis Russell and a big thank you to everyone who participated. God bless.

-Jacob C. Price

Posted on

Impacts and Observations From T4G

If you follow me on social media you probably already know that I got the opportunity to go to a pastor’s conference from the 12th of April to the 14th called Together for the Gospel (T4G). It was a truly astounding experience that included getting to meet Dr. John Piper, learning more about the Reformation, and having new desires when it comes to topics like theology. If you have read my ‘About Me’ page at the top of the blog, you would know I said this is not some teenager’s ‘glorified diary’, so I’m going to stick to that. I will not give you a play-by-play of what I did or saw but instead, I hope to achieve two things:      1) Pull back the curtain a little bit on what these conferences are like           With the schooling opportunity, I have this year (Online at Wilson Hill Academy), I have opportunities others may not and one of those is getting to go to conventions. I hope to show a little of what they are like because I know I find interest and know that is also the case with some of you.    2) Share some very valuable lessons I learned This post is not going to dive into the sermons of Dr. John Piper, Dr. Mark Dever, and others, this post is going to lessons I learned from observing the atmosphere and generality of the conference. One of the biggest impacts the conference had on me was the change of role models. Going into the conference, if you had asked me who two of my biggest role models are (other than my dad, of course), chances are I would have told you something like ‘Steph Curry’ or ‘Dak Prescott’. However, that is no longer the case. Getting to watch and listen to the likes of Matt Chandler, Dr. Ligon Duncan, Dr. John Piper, David Platt, and others made me realize these are the guys I want to be like. Not because they are famous, but because they are very wise and well-educated. Because of the way they have studied God’s Word. In my opinion, the youth of America would instill a lot more hope in adults if we looked to imitate great theologians. Sure, I still pull hard for Steph Curry, and I really want to see Dak Prescott do well but when it comes to copying one’s every move, we should be looking to those who God has chosen to speak through. When you start to look up to someone, you start to imitate them, you begin the desire to do what they do, talk like they do, like what they do. One of the things that I really noticed was my deepened love for theology. Theology and philosophy have always had a place in my heart but during that conference, I found a very deep love for understanding theological and philosophical ideas and worldviews. The reader will hopefully notice my topics will begin to get deeper and deeper into challenging thoughts and concepts that I will explore and then state what this may look like for teens. Remember, while a majority of my audience are adults for the time being, this blog is really geared to discover what life looks like through the worldview and eyes of a Christian teen with other teenagers. This not only helps a fellow teenager understand these concepts but also gives adults a look at where we are coming from. Along with this newfound love for theology, I learned the importance and meaning of another I’ve begun to love: hymns. The church I’m raised in is a contemporary Baptist church, so the most I’ve really been exposed to hymns are during Summer trips to my grandparents’ church in Mendenhall, Mississippi, which is a traditional Baptist church. This has played a big role in my views on hymns which are not my favorite. In case you haven’t noticed, there is a little bit of a pattern forming here. At the conference, the music sung is all hymns. I’ll admit, I didn’t realize how much of an impact this would have on me. Picture yourself in a college basketball arena with 10,000 other people singing worship to God just for being God (if you can’t, don’t worry, the videos are on my Twitter ). I had heard about it and it didn’t really hit me until about halfway through the second day but when it did, wow. There were times when you just had to stop singing because it was so overwhelming. That night, some of the theologians had a panel about it and I started to realize that hymns are an important aspect of worship. The main focus of this conference was the Reformation which makes sense considering it’s a Protestant conference. As a result of this  focus, my understanding of the reformation grew much deeper in the sense of different reasons for the reformation, some of which I had never known or considered, ways martyrs acted as they were killed, and even some specific martyrs’ stories. This has given me the interest to know more about these martyrs and the Reformation, itself, through books such as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. All of these new desires motivate a central action: reading. I have always loved reading but not in the way that it does now. I no longer just want to read an interesting thriller, but want to read a theologically centered book, an autobiography, or even Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. I feel we, as teenagers, should start filling our spare time with content that is beneficial and Gospel-centered. I did not feel as strongly about this going into the conference, but now, after seeing people like Dr. Albert Mohler and Dr. John Piper, I see how much reading good content can affect you. This may sound boring but I challenge you to try it; this goes for adults, too! I will have book reviews and free contest. giveaways (one very soon) on books that I have read and liked. I want to grow in my understanding of who God is and hope you join me. Overall, the conference was a great experience and I would recommend checking with your pastor of your church if there are any conferences that are available for the congregation to go on. I hope I have given some insight on what these conferences are like both through my blog and Social Media. Have a good day! (Check out the content below)

 

Posted on

Minor Deceptions

     With the elections and primaries among us, understanding what we think is very important. A lot of times what we think, especially if we are undecided or not confident in our decisions, is swayed by what people around us think. This can be good and bad depending on the people and the decision itself. But what if we don’t actually know what other people think? Even though we may think what other people know and what the majority is, as the article below explains, we can very easily be wrong. As you read the article, keep in mind that this doesn’t just apply to politics, but can be applied to many different scenarios which range from silly questions like ‘Are baseball caps trendy?’ to very serious topics like ‘Is homosexuality Biblical?’ Next time you are on the fence for any topic, remember we can easily be swayed to the minority vote simply because it looks like the majority vote. Link: What Are People Really Thinking? .
Posted on

Worshiping Your Way Out of Despair

An article recently published in the Gathering Chattanooga's Roadsigns.
    Have you ever just been so frustrated or that you just want to hide in the corner and cry? Maybe not even to that extreme, maybe it’s where you just aren’t feeling God; you need a break. You aren’t alone because I am willing to bet that everyone has had these experiences. We are about to take a look at a man who was, “after God’s own heart,” and had this experience.
 
     David was a man who wrote everything down. His thoughts and feelings of good times and bad can be found in the book of Psalm. Psalm 77 is an example of one of those bad times. Psalm 77:3, "When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints.” He is at the point where he feels God may have given up on him. We see more of this in verses 7-10,
 
“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”
 
     Now he is doubting God’s faithfulness. He is in complete and total despair; the devil is using this feeling he has to lead him away from what he had earlier proclaimed in Psalm 52:1,
 
“Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all day.”
 
     How then do we get out of this despair? This feeling of hopelessness? Let’s see what David did:
 
11 "I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph.”
 
     David combats this with worship. He “remember(s) the deeds of the Lord.” He calls upon God’s faithfulness in the past to change his attitude in the present. That’s how we get out of these times; we remind ourselves of all God has done. Do you think David just did this because he felt like it? No, look what the verse says, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord,” he made himself remember. Then what happens? He starts to build and build as he remembers what the Lord did. As you read this, you can start to see the change in attitude, it gets stronger and stronger until he reaches the climax in verse 20: “You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." He got out of his despair by making himself worship.
    
     Why do we need to? We already saw how the devil attacked David in his thinking when he was down, but let’s look at 2 Timothy 4:1-2, "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: (2) preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” “In season and out of season.” We always need to be ready. We are called to preach the Word to all the nations and how can we do that if we are not, ourselves, spending time with God?
     
     In conclusion, we are going to find ourselves in those times of despair; we need to get out of them. How? By worshiping God and acknowledging all the great things He has done in the past. Why? Because Satan attacks when we are not constantly spending time with God and we can’t tell others of the Good News if we are not currently experiencing it ourselves. God Bless.
 
 
 
Posted on

The Struggle Of The Seed Pt. 2

    In the first part of this two-part series, we talked about tilling the soil and the time and patience it may take while we are preparing the ground and planting the seed. Once the seed has been planted, or the Gospel has been told, it can be really frustrating (not to say that tilling the soil isn’t frustrating as well). Once they have heard the Gospel, it’s easy to want everything to happen immediately. To expect, even, as soon as they hear the Gospel they are immediately going to accept it, immediately going to change. We think, “All that hard work tilling and now this! I thought this was the easy part!” Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen immediately. Let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 3:6,
“I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

    The way that this is worded leads one to believe this process took time. There is a chain of events we can follow to determine this as fact rather than speculation.  We are going to momentarily be looking in Acts 18, where it explains the founding of the Corinth church.

           Acts 18:1-2 talks about Paul coming across Aquila and Priscilla, “After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, where he found a Jewish man named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla…” Acts 18:9-11 is when Paul was about to leave to go to the Gentiles, “Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, ‘Don’t be afraid, but keep speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.’ And he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” Paul stays for a year and a half in Corinth. In this time, the Church (in Corinth) is formed. Paul is now leaving Corinth in Acts 18:18, “So Paul, having stayed on for many days, said good-bye to the brothers and sailed away to Syria. Priscilla and Aquila were with him.” Take note that Priscilla and Aquila go with him. Verse 19, “When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and engaged in discussion with the Jews.” Paul has now left Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus while he continues his way. This is where we find Apollos. In verse 24 it reads, “A Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was powerful in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus” As you keep reading, you will find how Priscilla and Aquila took him in and discipled him giving him more understanding of scripture. He then wanted to go to Ephesus so they took him there. This is where it all comes together: In Ephesus, Apollos ministers over the Ephesus church which is what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 5:6, Continue Reading...