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"Dave Weiss was at our church tonight and all I can say is wow! What a gifted artist and fine preacher! People really responded well to him and I hope to have him back again. Some of the finest preaching I have heard in a long time."
Jim Baker,
Pastor, Lorida Church of the Brethren, Lorida, FL
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Running AMOK: Random Musings for the Creative Hands of the Body of Christ by Dave Weiss
I had a great evening last night. I took my wife out to dinner, then she surprised me by taking me some place to look at something for AMOKArts that proved once again that she is my greatest supporter and believes in me more than I do sometimes. Then I was off to spend the night at a lock in with about 200 Jr. High Youth. I had a great time. I was in charge of the art and craft area. I set it up as an art studio/gallery where the students could take a journey down the Romans Road using six of my painting videos with a hands on project for each. If you’d like to use the videos with your group, they may be found here. http://www.amokarts.com/artjam.html
I’m speaking at a Jr. High Lock-in tonight for about 300 kids. It’s just a short devotion before the sports and swimming and art projects kick in. I’m using one of my art videos and I thought I’d share with you the basic gist of what I am going to say.
Did you ever make a bad decision? Something that you ended up really paying for, something you regret. Now let me ask you a couple of questions.
Did you know it was wrong when you did it?
Was it your idea on your own or did somebody else talk you to it?
Did you ever say you did something because everybody else was doing it?
Now just to be clear, in most cases you can’t really blame the person you followed into a bad choice.
Most of the time the choice was yours. Will you go the right way or the wrong way?
And of course someone might be tempted to say who are you to say what’s right or what’s wrong?
Maybe I think what I’m doing is right after all my friends are doing it.
See the problem with that is most of the time even when you want to say that, deep down inside, you know you’re headed in the wrong direction.
The Bible says it like this, there’s a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.
Following the crowd is often a bad idea. In case you don’t believe me you might want to check out lemmings.
Does anybody know what a lemming is? Check out this video.
We’re responsible for our own choices, and if you make the wrong choices and follow the wrong crowd you could end up paying consequences. The scary thing is when you face those consequences it’s because you chose them. You might say, “No I didn’t. Of course you did. Most of the time you have an idea what will happen if you get caught doing what you’re doing and if you choose to do it anyway, you choose the consequences.
So how can we make better decisions, better choices. Well step one is you have to watch who you follow. If there’s a way that seems right to a man but it leads to death how can we make the choices that lead to life? We follow someone who is wiser than man. We follow Jesus. Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of you mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good pleasing and perfect will. In other words we need to let Jesus change the way we think, until we think like Him.
Did you ever notice that a lot of people in the Bible got really mad at Jesus and Jesus never did anything wrong? Do you know why that is? Jesus wasn’t a lemming. Jesus saw the people going the wrong way and said no, that’s not the right way. His way is always right and the people who followed Him loved Him and worshipped Him because He saved them. We need to follow Him too. We need to pray and read the scriptures and follow what they say. Not everyone will like it if you follow Jesus but you can always know you’re headed in the right direction and if you follow Jesus a strange thing happens, you become worth following. You might even become a leader which is almost always better. So you have a choice follow Jesus in the right direction or follow the crowd off a cliff. Don’t be a lemming…Follow Jesus!
To download the study guide for this lesson, click here.
Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Matthew 13, Psalm 37
You can also download your own chart here.
