I’m going to take this opportunity to go on a bit of a rant and I hope it’s a righteous rant. But, here goes…

Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Jesus die for ALL my sins, actually, ALL the sins of the World? Didn’t He, on that Cross long ago, know every single thing that I’d struggle with, every single thing that you would struggle with? He died for them. And When He saw the woman caught in Adultery He met her right where she was and told her to “Go and sin no more.” Here’s that story in context:

Even though someone said “Teacher,” “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” He stood up and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

Why then, based on even this passage, and the example that Jesus set long ago, is the Church still condemning their flock? Have we lost the importance of What He did when He said “Go and sin NO MORE!” Where is this council? Myself, being a fairly young person, along with many of my friends in their 20’s have been ‘’Hurt” by the Church. Unfortunately, we have fallen under the condemnation of Leadership in the Church and have been asked to step down from serving in our church family and community. It breaks my heart.

So we appear to be living in a church where any kind of fault immediately disqualifies you. Let’s consider the great chunck of scripture found in Hebrews 12:1

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,”

Walking with Jesus is no easy task, it requires perseverance, and in some cases long suffering. So when you trip over a rock you aren’t immediately disqualified from that race but you persevere with all the witnesses around you cheering you on! Wow, what a great picture. I feel like the enemy is trying to snatch, take out, disqualify, and prevent young people from staying in the church. Why? Because we are the next generation! The ones that have already felt the next movement of the Holy Spirit, unlike generations before us, we are experiencing our faith in a new way. and this is in no way unheard of, the youth have always been the first to feel this new movement, and the youth are often used by God. take for example David from the old testament, a man after God’s own heart, by God’s own words. David was only a boy when he killed a giant!

1 Samuel 17:42 – “And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.”

Goliath, a giant among his people, an authority and the first one in battle looked at the youth of The soon to be great david, The greatest of kings in the eyes of most theologians and historians, and found him immediately unimpressive. We all know how long goliath skepticism lasted, mere minutes.

1 Peter 5:5-9 – “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”

I believe God is giving this next generation dreams, visions, strategic plans, and new songs. He is instilling something in this generation like never before. The enemy is trying to distract us from JESUS! With all our technology, Facebook, and Twitter, we are becoming numb. This is where we are most vulnerable, and right where the enemy wants us.

Our Elders, Teachers, and Pastors NEED to be caring for their flock and for this next generation cause we will be next in line to lead. The duty of the elders and leaders of the church has been clear in scripture, to discipline, lead, love, and encourage. Not to restrain and punish.

Part of the problem is this word discipline, which has come to mean corrective punishment in the modern age, its literal meaning in scripture is best defined by R.C. Sproul, he writes,

“The church is called not only to a ministry of reconciliation, but a ministry of nurture to those within her gates. Part of that nurture includes church discipline . . .” The idea of church discipline is totally consistent with the basic purposes of the church—evangelism and edification. Evangelism ministers to those without the church who are in bondage to sin to bring them to faith in Christ where the transformation process begins. The edification process is designed to build up believers so they can be conformed to the image and character of Christ. Church discipline as a part of the edification process ministers to those within the body of Christ who are dominated by some area of sin so they can experience liberation from its power through fellowship with Christ. How then do we define church discipline? Carl Laney states, “Church discipline may be broadly defined as the confrontive and corrective measures taken by an individual, church leaders, or the congregation regarding a matter of sin in the life of a believer.” Discipline in the church is not punishment. It is discipline and discipline is designed to train and restore.”

It worries me that there might not be any more young people left in the Church. Our generation yearns for the Truth, longs for depth, longs to be accepted and challenged, and inventive. To not go along with the norm but to become so unique and authentic. True to ourselves. God is rising up Young People for this very thing. I believe Jesus is speaking to the young people like never before and theres a shift thats taking place in Churches where the Youth is like a rapid raging fire or it’s like a flickering light that is barely lighting the room. The Church needs us to shine and allow us to shine. The Lord is depositing things in this next generation that the old and elders have no explanation for but are the very things that God is doing. It’s going to look different, sound different, be different. But it is the next wave of the Spirit. People are going to love like never before, dream like never before because its what the LORD is doing. We have no grasp to what God’s economy and government looks like. Its unimaginable and unexplainable but I believe that He is allowing the Youth to see just a glimpse of it, he’s entrusted this next generation with it. Theres been things that have been unsettling in our hearts but it for a reason. Because God is about to pour Love and forgiveness over this World like never before. He already did that long ago but people are actually going to see and witness exactly what that looks like in this day and age through young people. but there is also a warning, that with this type of movement there is going to be battle like never before waging on in the spiritual realm. The saints and angels are never endless in their intercession and fight for us because as we start waking up, the enemy will try and take us out but we must stand firm in Jesus, our Identity is in Him. We must ever fix our eyes upon Him for He is always moving and we can’t miss out on what he’s doing.



