Are YOU Smoking What You're Selling?

Greetings my fellow Americans! "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what YOU can do for your country." haha. That's not what my post is about. Just thought it would be something funny to share since I started the post off addressing you as my fellow Americans. Our 5th grade teacher made us write that quote 50 times for everytime we said "yeah" instead of "yes." Needless to say, I will never forget that quote.

Anyway....what my post is really about. The topic Pastor Corey chose for youth service on Wednesday night was "Are You Selling What You're Smoking?" He compared our Christian walk with selling drugs. Pretty hilarious! It was an excellent sermon. So, I will give you some points he went over for something to think about over the weekend :) For now, pretend that you're a drug dealer. Wow... That sounds so wrong! But do it.
*please note that these are not my own words, some are, but I am sharing what Pastor Corey shared with us.

*If we hope to get other people hooked, which is our main responsibility, we have to be hooked ourselves. -Like everyone who does Atkins- you have to believe in your product.

*Addiction-- Are you addicted to God?
-"Nic fits"- Can you tell when you have gone too long without spending time with God?
-Smokers have tell tale signs.

An example of "someone who was not smoking"...
David and Bathsheeba. If you do not know what this story is about, I encourage you to read 2nd Samuel 11:1-5, as I don't really want to explain ....sorry!
It mentions that David got out of bed late in the afternoon after taking a nap...which shows that sometimes we allow ourselves to get distracted and lazy, and it becomes easy to lose our focus!, etc. He did other bad things, but you'll have to read the story to know.

An example of "someone who WAS smoking"
"He was blameless, a man of complete integrity. Job feared God and stayed away from evil."
-Just like addicts stay away from the police, we should stay away from evil!!

I think this next verse is so SWEET!
Job 1:21 "He said, 'I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be stripped of everything when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had, and the Lord as taken away. Priase the name of the Lord!"

Okay I don't know about you guys, but if everything I had was taken away from me.."Praise the name of the Lord" would probably not be the first thing I thought about or said. I think that is amazing that he said that!

-To say something like that, you have to be smoking something. It just doesn't fit.

How do you know if you're smokin'?
*You genuinely care about others and their eternal destination.
*You are the same person everywhere you go.
*You spend time everday getting your "God fix" (pray, Bible fast, worship, tell others)
*You invite people to youth group & other events
*You push past your fears and talk to people about Jesus
*You do things you know you are supposed to do, even when you don't feel like it. It's not faking if you're not in the mood, it's disciplining yourself because you know it is the right thing to do!

So I'll leave this thought with you....

Are you smoking what you're selling????

Have a great weekend everyone!