What We Are
Sep 2, 2009 Website Stuff, teens set apart
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First Kiss, Last Kiss…Only Kiss
Aug 18, 2009 Girls, Guys, Honoring God, dating, teens set apart
The following post was written by a user of Teens Set Apart. This post may not necessarily reflect the views of T.S.A.
We live in a society where being first is important. Being first in line, being the first to buy a hot item, being first to watch a hit movie at a midnight screening, being the first to make a record… It’s all about being first. But sad to say, when it comes to love and relationships, we are hoping to find the last person we will love, the last person we will kiss, the last person who has meaning in our hearts. Even during proms, it is the last dance that means the most because the first one is just a “warm up.”
It says a lot about our priorities, doesn’t it? When it comes to being the best, we want to be there in the front, ahead of everybody; but in what matters in life, such as love and relationships, we push it to the last and say it was important because we gave that person the last bit of us. To me “last bit” means leftovers. It’s nothing important it’s just the extras, scraps.
Vanessa Williams’ song “Save the Best for last” is one of my favorites because I like how it sounds but upon a closer look, I decided it wasn’t a song for me. It is about a woman in love with her friend but he is busy with other women…until the last possible moment when he realizes that she is the last person he will love. It is cute if you think about how sometimes we are just made to wait but the wait is worth it. In that sense, I agree in. However, the guy already gave his heart (and most likely his body) to the women before her, leaving only the “last bit” for her. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to have the whole package, not leftovers!
As Teens set Apart, how does this affect us? We should save our firsts for the man or woman who will also be our last. Let’s not throw away our heart, minds and bodies leaving only last bits for the person God made for us. Don’t you think being the first, last and only one in someone’s heart is great? Don’t you think your future husband or wife would be thankful that you saved everything for him or her? It starts today, at this moment. If you’ve already given away your first away, do not despair. We have a God who is faithful and just to forgive us our past mistakes but do not continue to throw away what you have because you will run out eventually with nothing to give to your future spouse.
Treasure your heart, your body, and your mind. They are precious jewels to be valued and cherished, to be given as a gift only to the one who is your first, last, and only.
Tags: apart, dating, honor, kissing, love, romance, set, sex, teens, teens set apart
Whatever
Aug 6, 2009 Honoring God, change, different, teens set apart
The following post was written by a user of Teens Set Apart. This post may not necessarily reflect the views of T.S.A.
Whatever! Whatever you say
Whatever! I will obey.
Whatever! Lord, have your way.
Cause you are my God. Whatever!
Before Rush of Fools, Reilly, and a number of other great artists were out there singing the Gospel, Steven Curtis Chapman was already on it (and still is!), singing about life as a Christian. Ten years ago, he released his album Speechless. One of the (classic) songs on this collection is “Whatever” – all about Steven’s plans vs. God’s plans. It’s about the need to submit to what God has and give up your own desires to answer His call. When I look around in the Church today, I find a lot of teens who are all about plans – plans with friends, with family, with church, with school, with life. And I have to wonder…how about their plans with God?
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that Christian young people don’t care about God. Many of them do. They go to church a little, they pray a little, they read their Bibles a little. Where’s the plans, though? In Ephesians, the apostle Paul was writing to a church who really didn’t understand much about God’s plans. They were saved. They loved Jesus. They even loved and shared with other Christians. But they didn’t understand that they were not just God’s people. They were a called people. They were marked by the plans of God and it was not their own work, their own idea, but it was in the heart of God from the beginning. That’s why Paul was writing to them. He tells them in Ephesians 1:18-19 that he prays “that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe…”
Later on he would go on to tell us what this looks like. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10). God had a plan from the beginning to save us when we didn’t deserve it. He had a plan to give us faith in the work of Jesus on the cross and by the power of His resurrection to raise us to a life that never ends. He planned this without getting our take on it. He planned this without seeing how well we would perform. He planned it and He made us to carry out His plans – and those are plans for good works – Gospel-driven things done for His glory and the good of other people.
We don’t always know what those good works are going to be. So, this is where I really appreciate Steven’s song because it’s a continual reminder to me that I need to go to God and submit to Him and say, “God, whatever it is You want me to do is what I want to do. Please help me to do it well so that people will praise You.” The best part is that this isn’t something we can do with our own strength. God has to do it. Those of us who are believers of Christ have received the Holy Spirit and have Him dwelling in our hearts. The Holy Spirit gives us all the power and guidance we need to live and to do the things God has for us. So, we have one charge: lovingly submit to the God who called you, planned you, and has made you to do all the good things He has planned for you and for others.
Tags: apart, called, change, different, Ephesians, Gospel, grace, help, Honoring God, music
An Open Letter to the Youth of the Nation
Jul 12, 2009 Evangelism, teens set apart
The following post was written by a user of Teens Set Apart. This post may not necessarily reflect the views of T.S.A.
I wanted to write a blog to address the youth of this nation. I wanted to tell you something. It might seem harsh, it might seem critical; take from this blog what you wish but understand that what I say is written to encourage you, to motivate you, and it’s to help you grow.
So here it is…
You are not stupid.
I know, it’s not what you thought it would be. I know it’s simple and you might even agree with it…but it’s true. You are not stupid.
Here is another truth…
There are lots of older people in this country who really believe that you are dumb. They believe that you cannot understand complex theology. Really. I am not joking.
These people make a lot of money selling your youth pastors this stuff called curriculum that “dumbs down” the scriptures because the writers believe you are not smart enough to understand it.
These people actually believe that in order to understand the Bible you have to be some sort of genius. They believe that when God wrote the Bible, He wrote it with the intention of solely using them to dumb down the scriptures and spoon feed you nutrition-less masses of junk food.
But you’re smarter than that.
Have you looked at how old the youth were when God used them in the Bible? David, Mary, Jeremiah, Samuel and Joseph were used by God in many advanced ways as teenagers.
God did not make you stupid.
So here is my request to you.
Demand from your youth pastor that he teach you big words like sanctification, regeneration, and justification.
Demand it from him! It’s your right!
Demand to your Youth Pastor that he end the silly little games.
Demand that your youth pastor grows up and acts like he has a leadership role in the Christ’s Church.
Demand that your youth pastor teach you what rebuke means, and then rebuke him for not teaching you earlier!
You’re an intelligent human being, created in the image and likeness of God, created specifically with a brain built to study all the depths and knowledge of God for all your earthly existence and eternity.
So do so.
Open up your Bible. Open up a commentary and educate yourself. Dig deep into the rich and vast knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Start a ministry. Start preaching the Gospel. Do something. Don’t waste your youth. You could die tomorrow and you’re going to be guilty of doing nothing for God all your life because you thought you could wait till you graduated from college.
Other youth your age in other parts of the world are being slaughtered, persecuted all because of their love of Christ. Meanwhile you go to church to meet friends, and play games.
Stop it. You’re not stupid.
Don’t waste your youth and don’t let your youth pastor waste it for you.
The Good Movies
Jun 29, 2009 Honoring God, Speech, teens set apart
The good movies are always rated “R”. Always.
I want to see “Grand Torino” really bad. I can’t. It’s rated “R”.
I want to see Transformers 2, rated “PG-13″. Not sure if I should; it’s rated “PG-13″ because it contains sexual situations and other content that would not be good to watch.
The list goes on… it seems like every movie that’s not for toddlers has objectionable content. What are we, as Christian teens trying to live for God, to do? Movies today are declining in quality more and more. Sexuality and foul language are becoming the “norm” in movies today.
But you do have options.
Foul language is becoming common even in PG movies – though it may not be the worst, it’s certainly not wholesome. But did you know that you can buy a DVD player with a language filter? It’s called TV Guardian. You might have to pay a little extra, but it will bleep out all of the language for you.
Unfortunately, TV Guardian doesn’t take out the sexual situations. In my opinion, that is the worst of all of the negative things in movies todays. I’m okay watching a movie with a few curse words, but I really do not like it when I am in a theater listening (because I close my eyes) to people having sex. That is very rough. It puts bad thoughts in my mind. Lustful thoughts.
I try to steer clear of the movies that have sexual scenes, at least in theaters. When I have the DVD, I can obviously just fast-forward through the scene. However, it’s still a temptation. What happens if you’re bored and everyone’s gone from home? Or if you’re up late after your parents go to bed, and you’re flipping channels on the TV? Suddenly, it’s very difficult to leave the DVD alone. It would be all too easy to sneak the DVD in and watch that part. Maybe once – or maybe more than once.
Now I have a question for you. If you watch a move that is “R” because of sex or language, what is going to happen? What’s going to happen is you’re going to start getting into bad habbits. If you are exposed to bad language fairly often during movies, you might start saying some of those words. If you’re seeing or hearing sexual sitations in movies, you’ll have a really hard time controling your emotions, lust, and mind. ”PG-13″ moves still have some rough things in them, but usually they’re not as bad. But you still have to watch out.
Before you buy or rent a movie, make sure you check why the movie is rated what it is. Then ask yourself, “why am I watching this?” If your answer has anything to do with sin, even for a second, don’t get that movie.
While right now it seems that all the movies that are out that look good are rated R or PG-13, rest assured that there are other alternatives! Not all “G” or “PG” movies are kiddie or boring. That’s not to say that PG movies are perfect, but check out the reviews and I think you’ll find that some of those movies are actually pretty good.
If you want to check on movies before you rent or see them, check out http://pluggedinonline.com for detailed reviews from a Christian viewpoint.
Tags: cussing, dvd, Movies, sex, temptations
Called Higher
Jun 9, 2009 different, teens set apart
I am going to talk about standards in this post. I am not going to list rules on whether or not such and such a movie is bad because of so and so or such and such clothes are immodest because of so and so. That would be wrong. However I am going to show that Christians are called to a higher standard than just above the world’s current morals.
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”
~Galatians 5:16-18
Are you a born again Christian today? If you are, you are called to live by the Spirit and not to indulge in any sin. You cannot serve two masters. You will hate one and love the other. We are called to live by God’s standards of living, not just a wee bit better than what the culture currently thinks is right and wrong.
Jack Valenti, former president of the MPAA, stated in a speech broadcast on C-Span several years ago that the rating system for movies is not an oak, but a willow. It bends and bows for however the current morals of the culture are. (Worldly Amusements by, Wayne A. Wilson, pg. 199.) However God’s rating system is inflexible. If he is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever, his morals of what is right and wrong will be the same.
So, where do we find these morals that Christians are called to live by? God’s standards are defined in his word. I do not go looking up what kind of horn the Cape Horn is in a biology book. That way I would get the wrong answer. The same way, we don’t look at the world to find out how to live a holy life pleasing to God. We look to God’s word.
Now here is where it gets difficult. Your standards may not be the same as mine. You might conclude from the fact that God’s standards never change that Christian’s standards are always the same. It is not that easy. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul talks about eating food offered to idols and how for some that could be a stumbling block while for others it doesn’t affect them. Sometimes there is certain things that might not be sin for another person, while it might defile another’s conscience.
Here is a modern example of what Paul is talking about. I personally like listening to Christian rap music. My mom doesn’t because it reminds her of secular rap, which has to do with gangs, violence, and other sin. I don’t have that past experience. Rap music reminds me of Christian artists like tobyMac. My mom and I have discussed this, so now whenever my mom is around I do not play that style of music. I am not hiding it from her, I am not listening to it when she’s around because she doesn’t like it. [Disclaimer: I'm not saying rap as a style of music is bad or good scripturally, I'm just giving you an example from my own life.]
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” The Holy Spirit guides our standards of whether or not to watch this movie or listen to this music or to wear that. God gives us in his word certain things that we are to and not to talk about, look at, or participate in, but we need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us discerning hearts in the application.
I encourage you to read, pray, discuss, and apply. Read the Word of God to see whether or not to talk, watch, listen, or wear. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide your decision. Discuss with your parents and mature Christians how you can apply the scripture’s standards in your life. Apply God’s higher standard in you life, in order to live as the spotless bride of Christ. In this life we won’t perfectly attain God’s standards, but we need to continue pursuing them nevertheless.
“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Tags: born again, called, different, higher, standards
Helping or Hurting?
May 28, 2009 Evangelism, Honoring God, teens set apart
Janice met a new girl at church. She and Grace had a lot in common. Janice liked Grace and wanted to build a friendship with her. They began chatting online, texting, calling, and eventually hanging out together at each other’s homes. As time went on, Janice began to notice that something was not quite right. Eventually she learned that her new friend had a problem. Grace was horribly disrespectful to her parents and showed a blatant disregard for authority. As she began to realize this, Janice felt her heart being tugged. She wanted to help Grace. She started trying to figure out what she could say or do, or what kind of help she could offer Grace.
Soon Janice’s parents sat her down for a talk. They told her they were concerned that she was spending too much time with Grace, and Grace’s attitudes were beginning to rub off onto Janice. Janice couldn’t believe it. She was shocked! She had only been trying to help Grace – could it be true that in the midst of trying to help her change, Janice was the one changed? As Janice began to go over the past few days and weeks, she realized it was true. In an effort to help her new friend, she had slowly slipped into the same sin.
Now she had a dilemma. Janice still loved Grace like a sister, and wanted to be her friend – and wanted to help her! But how could she do that while staying true to her own values and convictions? As she prayed about it, she realized she couldn’t have the best of both worlds, and a compromise was needed.
Going to Grace, she told her what had happened. Janice told Grace that rebelling against authority, all authority, was not only disrespectful to the authority, but also to God. Then Janice apologized for not being a better example to Grace, but instead letting herself become the same way.
“I should’ve been honest with you from the beginning,” she said. “Instead, I tried to secretly change you just by being around you all the time, hoping I’d rub off on you.”
Then Janice told Grace that, for now at least, she thought they needed to spend a little less time together. “I still want to be your friend,” she continued, “and I still want to spend time talking to you, but right now, I need to get my attitude straight.”
At first, Grace was pretty surprised at what Janice said. Then she felt offended. Why hadn’t Janice told her she had a problem with her to begin with? But the words Janice had spoken planted a seed, and she slowly began to realize the truth in what she had been told.
Janice and Grace continued being friends, though spending considerably less time together. As God began to change Grace’s attitude, they became to spend more time together. Their relationship deepened and they became even closer sisters in Christ. They constantly prayed for each other and encouraged each other. And if they noticed an old attitude or practice popping up, they were quick to warn each other and stay accountable.
How about you? How far is too far? When does helping your friend cause harm to yourself? Or even possibly to your friend? Janice didn’t know how to tell, and it hurt her, it hurt her family, and it hurt her friend.
Maybe your friend’s problem is something simple, like slipping cuss words every now and then, or being rude to his parents. Or maybe she has a bigger problem like sleeping around or using drugs or alcohol. Either way, good intentions are not good enough.
-Before you do anything else, pray.
When your friend has a problem, one of the first things you need to do is pray for them. Don’t just pray something general like, “help Thomas be nice today,” but really pray for them. Pray that God will open their eyes and hearts to see what’s really wrong and then do what it takes to fix it. Don’t mail it in – be passionate about wanting them to be right with God.
-Recognize what you can do to help.
Let’s say your friend has a “little” lying problem. How do you help? Pray for an opportunity to talk to her about the issue. When the opportunity arises, do it. Show her how choosing the truth leads to life. Don’t be rude, pushy, or arrogant in the way you talk to her, though. Be patient, kind, and loving. After all, if you didn’t love your friend, you wouldn’t really be all that concerned, would you?
Also, importantly, don’t give your friend the chance to indulge in the sin. When you’re with your friend, don’t let her lie to you. Don’t let her lie to her parents. If she starts to, cut her off and tell the truth. She might be pretty ticked at you at first, but you’re only being obedient to Christ.
If you friend is doing something illegal, you have a responsibility to tell an adult, whether it be a parent, pastor, or even a police officer, what’s going on. Warn your friend first, and give them the opportunity to change and to stop. But if they don’t, then you need to follow through.
-Don’t get dragged down.
This can easily happen when you spend all your time with your friend in need of help. Don’t. If you spend all your time with them, inevitably you’re going to slip up. So limit your interaction. You still have a testimony to keep. What does it say about you if you’re only hanging out with people who are deep in some serious sin problems? Don’t be a stranger or someone who only shows up to criticize. Be a good friend and be there for them, but don’t be an extra limb.
-Don’t get discouraged.
Chances are, your friend isn’t really going to want help. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to help anyway. Don’t get discouraged if they get upset with you. They may even yell at you or tell you to back off. If they do, then back off and move on to the next step.
-Finish it right.
At this point, all that’s left to do is pray. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
-How “helping” can be “hurting.”
Be careful. One of the worst ways to approach this type of situation is to be passive. Being passive can imply that you don’t care or even that you approve of their behavior. To lead someone to believe that you endorse their behavior will give them the impression that there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing. If, later on, you find the courage to tell them you think it’s wrong, they’ll question you for not saying something all that time before. Or, if another Christian confronts them of their sin, they could use you as an excuse, saying something like, “John’s a Christian and we’ve been hanging out for years. He’s never said anything, so it can’t be that bad.”
This passiveness in relationships is popular. People often think just by being around someone you can have influence over them to change their habits. The most common example is “missionary dating,” when someone who is saved dates someone who is unsaved, in hopes of leading them to Christ. Is it ever successful? Rarely. Instead, what often happens is that Christian gets dragged down to join the unsaved partner. Why would it be any different in regular friendships?
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Intro Video
May 27, 2009 Videos, Website Stuff, teens set apart
Hey all!
I don’t like to do several video posts in a row, but I have worked really hard on this and our editor is busy so I can’t publish the other articles I have pending. 
Please tell me what you think about this video! I did this one from scratch, except the image background. That I got from Eric Novak.
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