Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Experience the life-changing messages from the Church of God’s annual Winterfest youth gathering. These are the sermons, moments, and voices that have shaped generations of young believers — now available anytime, anywhere.
I want to get right into the word for the next generation because I know Bishop and the team and the youth department. That's what they're here for If they wanted me to say thank you all the time, they would have taken me to the buffet They wanted to thank you they would have done something like that, but they want me to speak into your life And that's what I want. I want to speak into your life. I want to speak into your life this morning Don't go nowhere But you're you're great. Just stay with me. What's your name? deroy jeroy everybody give it up for jeroy what's your name sweetheart sophia jeroy and sophia give it up for them they're gonna hang with me and help me this morning all right show of hands if you still have tiktok on your phone show hands you still have tiktok you troublemakers man you troublemakers right so they tell me they took it off the app store is that right did they take it off the app store oh man so I was at a table I was at Freddy's it's burger shop and I was with a bunch of students and they were telling me that once one of these guys he got his buddy's phone and deleted TikTok and now they're like nemesis now they're like all hate each other and stuff and I was like I didn't understand they told me they took it off the app store you know what I love about this generation you're not like any other generation ever let me tell you about your great grandparents A lot of you don't know them. Let me tell you about that. They fought in World War I and World War II. If they heard that China was spying on us, y'all ain't ready now. I'm telling you, they would have suited up. They would have changed factories, started building tanks. They would have got their guns and stormed the beaches of China. If China's got beaches, I guess they do. They would have been on. You're not spying on us. Not this generation. Y'all are like, check my fit, Chad. Check my fit. Ah, hey, China. Hey, thanks for watching, China. Like, y'all don't even care that they spying on you. Y'all just like, yeah, I don't care. Just get, I need to keep that. I love that. I love that about this generation. I love it, man. You guys are wild. You guys just don't even care. I can't figure out what you do care about. And you change quicker than I can figure it out. So here's what I have to do when I'm coming to speak to you. The only thing I can really do is lean on the Holy Spirit and say, Holy Spirit, what do you want to say to them? So I'm not even trying to be relevant today. I know I'm hilarious I'm gonna dial that back for you because I don't want to be distracting with how funny I am listen I'm gonna need some help this morning if you got a youth pastor I need somebody that's got a youth pastor that's like super dope just a really dope youth pastor somebody make them stand up make them stand up they're super dope is that bearded dude right there come up here man come up here help me all right I need somebody got a youth pastor's wife or a lady youth leader that's her fit is just fire her fit is just I need somebody whose fit is just fire make her stand up make her stand up in the green right there the little green thing right there can you come up and help me this morning all right is Lloyd or Joel Joel here um Joel is one of them here if they can come out and meet me too I'm gonna need you sit right here I'm gonna need sit right there. What's your name? Joey. Awesome, Joey. Give it up for Joey. Y'all give a hand to our wonderful youth pastor's wife or youth leader or somebody's mama. Are you a mama of somebody here or something? I don't know. What is your name, man? Becca. Awesome. You stand right behind him. Just put your hand on his shoulder. Okay. All right. So I'm going to read a Bible study. I need Lloyd or, oh, come here, man. Come on. You stand over here. I'm going to read 12 verses. Everybody say 12. Matthew 14. We're going to read 12. We're going to walk through a story together, and then we're going to invite the Holy Spirit to touch our lives this morning, okay? Matthew chapter 14. We're going to tell the story. Matthew chapter 14, verse 1. At the time of Herod, now this guy is gonna pretend to be Herod. Okay. Give me like a, Oh yeah. All right. Look, when he raises his hands, everybody boo. All right. Ready? Boo. Good, man. You guys are quick, smart group up in the Midwest, right? Yeah. They warned me about you guys. Like some of y'all maybe like came from like, you know, cousins or something. But they told me it was only Arkansas. I don't know. I don't know. Is that? No? Oklahoma. Is it Oklahoma? I don't know. You're smart, though. I like it. Alabama. Somebody said Alabama. Alabama. Okay. Yeah, so West Virginia folks. That's the one. That's the one. Okay. At the time, Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus. Now, this guy, he's in the story, but he's not Jesus. At the time, they heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, This is Herod. Heard from his servants about the fame of Jesus. It confuses him, and he says this. This is John the Baptist. Yeah. He hears about the fame of Jesus and confuses it and says, This is John the Baptist who's come back from the dead. Now, the next few verses, we get to hear the story of how he dies. That's where we're at. I'm going to read the verses. Are you ready? Don't boo for the names yet. Go ahead. Put that on pause. I'm going to hit pause. Very good. You're supposed to hit it, not say it, but they were from Oklahoma. I'm real sorry about that. Said for Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because John had been saying to him, it is not lawful for you to have her. And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people because they held him to be a prophet. So you have Herod. You have this other character in the story. Herodias is her name. But you don't know how you feel about her yet. What we find out is she is his sister-in-law. Yeah. They do seem like they're from West Virginia, like a little too close to the family line right there. Okay. And they have a little thing. They kind of like have a little dance together. They kind of like each other. And John is a man of God. And John says, listen, it's not right. So she got mad shade for this dude. She hates him, has a grudge against him. Three different gospels talk about it. She hates him because he's trying to tell her what's right and wrong. And she wants, and they want their relationship regardless of what God says or anybody else says. And so they really hate him. Why? He's the voice piece of God, but it's a struggle for them. Because God says one thing, but they desire another thing. And so now there's this real beef between him. And listen, he eventually will kill him. And that's what this morning's story is. And what I need you to figure out in the story is who are you in this story? Who are you in this story? See, when we read the scriptures, oftentimes that's what we're doing. We're trying to figure out who are we in the story. David and Goliath. Who am I? Am I David? Am I Goliath? Probably you're the scared people who won't fight. That's probably who you are. That's definitely who I am. I'm like, that giant's too tall for me, yo. I can't do it. Go get some shepherd boy. Let him throw a rock or something, but it's not me. Listen, you got to figure out who you are in the story. I don't think you've shown up yet, but you need to understand the story. They are together. Here's how the story plays out. John tells him, it's not lawful for you to have her. And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod. So that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter. And the king was sorry because of his oaths and his guests. He commanded it to be given. And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother, and his disciples came and took the body, buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Come here, sweetheart. Sophia, right? Awesome. Listen, I can call, if you're a young lady, I'm going to call you sweetheart. I'm going to call you sis. I'm going to call you whatever, because I'm like, I'd like to say I'm like an older brother, but I'm more like a dad. I'm getting at that age now. I would say I'm an uncle, but like middle-aged white uncles are not the most popular people on the planet. I'm just here to tell you, right? And I have really thinning hair. And so like you have thin hair and you're a white uncle. You're not like people are watching you, you know? So I don't want to say I'm an uncle, but I'm going to call her. I call her sweetheart. I call that. That's a term of endearment. And listen, this lady, Herodias, she has a daughter. We don't even know her name. She is a nameless daughter. We got everybody else in the story, but not her. Now, she's a center of attention. She's the reason it's all happening. But we have no identity for her. Let me tell you what the enemy is after in your life. He's after your identity. There is this theme in the world that wants to try to determine your identity for you. And here in this story, she's the one who has to dance. They're the one. They've got the grudge. But she's the one who has to dance. Let me ask you this. Who told you to dance? Was it her mother? did her mother come and whisper in her ear you dance for him he's important maybe was it was it her friends that came around and said hey your mom is is connected you should dance for everybody what i don't find is i don't find in the story does she even like to dance does it matter what she wants does it matter what she desires but somebody at some point influences her to go dance in front of men here's what i want to tell you this morning you're all dancing for somebody don't believe me tiktok's got you dancing instagram's got you dancing how many followers do you have you're all dancing for somebody you go hang out at your friend's house and everybody's doing it so you jump in too why because if everybody's dancing I better dance too who's asking you to dance step back for me let me have that chair for you and your life who sits in that seat who you dancing for can I just say this I'm not your mom or dad can I say this I don't care if you go to college I don't care if you go to trade school go be an electrician I don't care what you do start a business be a mechanic I don't care I care about one thing one thing only for the rest of your life I care about one thing would you please follow Jesus follow him hold on hold on hold on you know I think a lot of us this morning there's a difference between what I just said to you I think a lot of us in this room, we found Jesus. We followed him. You found him. You got real sad and the youth pastor preached really good. And so you went and you found him. I'm not asking, would you like to feel better? I'm saying, would you like to adopt a different way of life? Would you like to say, I've decided the way of life I live ain't working. I'm going to live his way of life. This is not a repeat after me prayer. Would you follow him? Everybody's dancing. Lee, you worship. Fantastic. Their attention at this age, how old are you, Sophia? 20? She a few years ahead of you. But there's a whole agenda to try to get her to dance. And it don't just happen outside the church. Happens inside the church too. Hey, you're pretty. You need to be a worship leader. You need to do this. You need to sing this song. You need to look this way. You need to do this. Even in ministry, youth pastors here, I want to know, who's in this seat? It's church growth. Is that it? Is it a bigger youth group? Is that why we're dancing? Who's sitting in this seat? Two questions. Who's asking you to dance? And who are you dancing for? She dances in front of Herod and the company. She comes and she dances. Would you take like a pose, just a slight, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's perfect right there. She comes and she dances. Everybody in here dancing, wanting the approval of somebody. Maybe if I do good enough, maybe they'll like me. You know what's so sad? This daughter, she's probably so beautiful. They don't even care about her dancing. It's all about killing somebody else. there's people who act like you're pretty and they act like you're good and it feels like they love you but they don't it's all about something else and you think maybe if I give my boyfriend what he's asking for then he will maybe if for my friends I act like this then they will everybody wants you to dance the question for you is who you dancing for? who you living for who does your performance happen in front of we're all performing even the people who want to act like i'm too cool i don't even care about winter fest my grandma made me come i hate this place you know what that is a performance the ones who try not to perform at all you performing the most y'all i mean quit playing got your hat down all like i don't even care i hate it i smoke cigarettes i'm mad i have nicotine addiction and this is i need somebody and give me some Copenhagen or something. I don't know. You're trying to act cool. You know what that is? A performance. Who told you that acting like you don't care does something? It's still a performance. We all perform it. Here's what happens in the story. She dances. It says it pleases Herod. So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Who you dancing for? and what have they promised you? Like when you did it right, she does it so good. She dances so good. And at the end, he makes a promise for her. I'll give you anything you ask. What do you think the world's going to give you if you do what they want? What do you think being social media famous is going to do? How many people got YouTube channels? Right? Okay, a couple. All right, what are you? Fortnighters, gamers, something? Yeah, probably. That's cool. A little typical gamer craft going on here. All right. What do we think is going to happen if we give them what they want? What do you think is going to be promised to you? He promises her whatever you want up to half the kingdom. Up to half the kingdom, you can have whatever you want. Sometimes I'm driving on the interstate, and I pass the sign that says, like, Powerball, 133 million. You ever do that? And I'm like, ooh, boy, if I won that, where would I start? I'm going to buy three, four mansions in one city. I'm going to buy some other mansions in another state for my in-laws. No, you pastors didn't catch that. No, your mother-in-law is in the room, so you ain't trying to act like that. Okay. Man, what would I do? Listen, what do you think is being promised you? If you become the popular person in school, if everybody knows your name, what do you think that's going to do for your anxiety, your depression, your addiction? Who's asking you to dance? Who are you dancing for? And what on earth do you think they're promising you? Because what I hear in this story is she's the one with the promise. But she don't even get to make the request. Because her mother comes to her and prompts her, give me the head of John the Baptist here on the platter. Her mother whispers in her ear. When it's finally time for the promise, she don't even get what she wants. What she wants doesn't even matter. Young ladies, if he don't know how to love Jesus, he won't know how to love you. And even if you give him what he wants, I'm going to let you finish. Even if you give him what he wants, you won't even get a chance to ask for what you want. See, you can perform for everybody, but here's the thing. When you're performing for everybody else, you don't actually get the promise. It's a smoke screen. You don't actually get what you want. How do I know? I got too many friends that have died from drug overdoses because the drug promise. I'll give you anything you want. All you got to do is I'll give you anything you want. All you got to be is, and then when promise contained, when it came time to deliver on the promises, methamphetamine couldn't deliver. Coke addiction couldn't deliver. The alcoholism couldn't deliver. And some of you know that because you got moms and dads that are alcoholics. Who you dancing for? And what have they promised you? Because when promise time comes, here's what happens. This man, he loses his head. Down to the ground floor. Boom. Just all the way. Like I'm dead. Like if we decapitated him. Yeah. Either way, face down or face up, whichever is more comfortable. This man loses his life. She doesn't even get to consider what she wants. And they bring his head to her on a platter. You know what that would have been? A gigantic mess. I don't know if y'all ever watch like bloody movies. You probably don't because your holiness out here in the Midwest. Y'all probably don't watch anything. Folks raising their hands said, I do. You know, like I got it, man. Yeah. It's all Game of Thrones for you, right? No, y'all don't watch that stuff. I hope not. You know what it is? It's a mess. You know what's crazy about this story? You know who you are in this story? This you right here. and some of you, you have danced for others and now you're left with a mess and you're asking yourself, how did I get here? How did this even happen? And the only person who doesn't ask anything from her, this guy. They just murdered the only person that didn't ask her to dance. see there are people that want from you and there are people that want for you and you got to know the difference you got to know the difference from the people who want for you where's bailey grace my daughter my little girl she's like my daughter come here sweetheart don't cheer because if a boy cheers, I have to like, come here, stand right here in front of Sophie. I'll tell you this, my little girl, you have to take me out for me to let her dance in front of you. You ain't earned her. See, I love her too much to let her do that. And if somebody, if she comes to me and she says, hey, listen, Herod and all them, they want me to dance. And I would say, you let them dance for themselves, but tell him, find a mirror. He can dance in the mirrors. What he can do. Why? Because you're too beautiful. You're too lovely. I won't let you dance like that. Why? Because they don't want for you. They just want from you. That's why I'm standing up here in front of you and I'm telling you, listen, young people, listen to me, students. This world ain't wanting from for you. They want from you. You don't own this. A multinational company owns this. It You don't own your YouTube channel. You don't own your influence. You don't own. But somebody's got to say, I want for you, not from you. Does she even want to dance? What if her foot was hurting that day? Was anybody looking out for her? You know what some of you are doing in life? You're dancing broken. You've been broken by the world. You've been broken, but you're still trying to dance because you're hoping if I do good enough, maybe somebody will love me. If I do good enough, maybe somebody will accept me. If I don't let them see that I'm hurting on the inside, maybe I can just perform for everybody. And one person in this story doesn't ask anything from her. That's John the Baptist. He gets murdered. Lord, sweetheart, who's asking you to dance? Young man of God, who is it that's craving your performance? Is it mom and dad at home? Let me tell you this. If your mom and dad are not being Jesus to you, I'm real sorry. I'm sorry. They should be. I'm sorry if they're not. I'm going to pray for them. And ask God to help them be godly parents in front of you. But if you're hurting at home, I'm real sorry. That's not what God wants. God doesn't want you to go home and have to dance at home and dance at school and dance everywhere else. And you've got to spend your life dancing. And then you're going to turn 24 years old and you're not going to know who you are. Because you spent your whole life dancing for the world around you. And that's why we're walking on eggshells not knowing who we are. And so the enemy comes in and whispers in your ear confusion. Confusion about gender and identity and sexuality. And we don't know because we're so busy. Because the church says this and school says this and everybody says this. And we're just too busy dancing. And you know what I didn't come here to do? I didn't come here to be another voice to tell you how to dance. You decide. You decide. Thank you. Joel, thank you. Stay here. Joel, thank you. who do you want in this seat let me tell you about Jesus Jesus is not asking you to perform Jesus didn't leave heaven to come be born in a manger so you would dance for him. Do you know this? He came to die for you. Why would a man who gave his life for you expect you to do the dance? I've lived my life sometimes trying to perform for everybody. Maybe if I preach good on this stage, maybe it will lead to another invitation. and maybe if I do this right, maybe if I do missions for a living and so maybe if I do this project and maybe this and there's all temptations to dance for so many people and so many things and they look like good things. But Winterfest, hear me. Jesus is not another voice saying, I need you to dance more religious. No, that's not what Jesus is. There are people who want for you. And there are people who want from you. Don't believe me? Go check out the book of Matthew or Mark or Luke. Anywhere in there, do you see Jesus telling people to dance? Even the disciples. The disciples themselves, when he meets them and invites them, he doesn't say, worship me. He doesn't say, bow down to me. He says, just follow me. You know what that means if you're following Jesus? If Jesus dances, then I can dance. And when Jesus comes and Jesus takes a moment to rest, you know what I can do? I get to rest. And when Jesus loves, I receive love. I'm not inviting you to follow someone who's got another set of dance instructions for you. but I will tell you what the world's offering. There's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It's not there. You decide. You told me, I didn't ask you. You told me your life's full of anxiety, full of depression. We have addictions. I didn't, I didn't make you. You said it on your own. You said, that's me. If the way you're dancing in your life, the way you're performing in your life, if that's leading you to life, by all means, proceed. But if you can sense that if I keep living the way I've lived the first 15 years of my life, I don't think this leads me anywhere good. You know what I think for a moment you might should do? Stop dancing and listen. Listen to the words of the Lord when he says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Does that sound like dance for me? I've come that you might have life and have it more abundant. Does that sound like dance for me? Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Does that sound like a God who's saying, you better perform. Actually, it's the opposite. God knew you couldn't do it. He knew you couldn't. He knew you would try. He knew you would go to youth group and make a promise. I promise I'll never look at porn again. And that very night you would go home and make the same mistake over again. God knew you couldn't perform. So what did he do? He came himself. He came himself. And this morning, a lot of us, you've already repeated the prayer. I'm not inviting you to salvation. I'm inviting you to life to say, follow him. Because it's real hard to follow Jesus and go go with that. it's real hard to follow Jesus and he's like trying to get your attention and hey I love you I have good for you don't worry don't have anxiety it's going to be okay and he's struggling to get your attention because we're dancing for all these living, performing for all these other places I'm inviting you for a minute to sit and you decide if you don't want to follow Jesus I'm not here to try to make you if I can convince you to follow him when you get home somebody will convince you to unfollow it's not about me convincing you I'm trying to invite you I'm trying to invite you You never do it right.