Do you have God in your life?

Do you have God in your life? Or do you have God as Lord of your life?

During the first chapel of Spiritual Emphasis Week 2017, students at Smithville Christian High School were asked to consider the role of God in their lives.

Speaker Michael Gordon told students that he always likes to take trends one step further and make them ridiculous.

For example, Gordon took the ugly Christmas sweater tradition and turned it into his own ugly Christmas fur coat tradition. Every fall, he combs the women’s section of a local thrift store looking for “a new animal to adopt” which he then wears to parties and special events all season long.

“But once Christmas is over, I take my fur coat off and lay it aside,” Gordon said. “For how many of us, is that what we do with Jesus?”

Gordon, who is an ordained pastor with an itinerant preaching ministry with Youth for Christ, said the English translation of the creation account in the book of Genesis contains 11 references to the Creator as “Lord God,” signifying God’s Lordship over everything.

Genesis 2: 4-25

LORD God created the heavens and the earth

LORD God had not sent rain on the earth

LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground

LORD God had planted a garden in the east

LORD God made all kinds of trees grow

LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden

LORD God commanded the man

LORD God said “It is not good for the man to be alone. . .”

LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals

LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep

LORD God made a woman from the rib

But in Genesis 3, the serpent refers to God as simply “God.” Gordon said that distinction – between the Lord God and simply God – is the difference between “Lord God of your life” and “God in your life.”

Is God “just God’ who you believe exists, and who is, “like this coat, something you can put on and take off?” Gordon asked the students. “Maybe we say we are Christians, but is he Lord? Am I submitting to him in every aspect of my life? Is he Lord, or is he just God?”

And if he is “just God, the next question you have to ask is, ‘What did you make Lord in your life instead?’ ”

Gordon said when he was a teenager and started attending a church youth group, he enjoyed hanging out with the youth pastor and the Christian teens on a Saturday night. “I knew how to put the coat on, in fact I was quite good at it.”

But once the event was over, “what everyone didn’t see was what I did when I left at 10 o’clock, when I went to hang out with a group of friends. He wasn’t Lord of my life then.”

Gordon asked students to examine their own lives. “When you look at all the areas of your life, especially when you step out of this school, is he Lord God, or just God?”

Gordon concluded with a prayer asking God to remind us to ask ourselves the question every day: “Are you Number One or have I made someone else Number One?”

Members of the student praise team, Kingdom Worship, led the students in worship with “Awake My Soul,” “Heroes,” and “Indescribable.”

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Spiritual Emphasis Week 2017 at Smithville Christian High School continues with chapel every morning at 9 a.m. Everyone is invited to attend. Michael Gordon will be continuing with a series of messages and student praise teams will lead in worship.

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And, just in case you prefer to read the message in Mandarin, here's what Mike Gordon had to say:

同学们，你们好!  以下是今天信息大概内容。盼望同学们可以花一点时间来思考。

;

 讲员引用了

创世记 1:1 起初，　神创造天地。

创世记 2:4-25  创造天地的来历，在(耶和华　神)造天地的日子，乃是这样， 野地还没有草木，田间的菜蔬还没有长起来；因为〈耶和华　神)还没有降雨在地上，也没有人耕地， 但有雾气从地上腾，滋润遍地。(耶和华　神)用地上的尘土造人，将生气吹在他鼻孔里，他就成了有灵的活人， 名叫 亚当 。 (耶和华　神)在东方的 伊甸 立了一个园子，把所造的人安置在那里。 (耶和华　神)使各样的树从地里长出来，可以悦人的眼目， 其上的果子 好作食物。园子当中又有生命树和分别善恶的树。  有河从 伊甸 流出来，滋润那园子，从那里分为四道： 第一道名叫 比逊 ，就是环绕 哈腓拉 全地的。在那里有金子， 并且那地的金子是好的；在那里又有珍珠和红玛瑙。 第二道河名叫 基训 ，就是环绕 古实 全地的。 第三道河名叫 底格里斯 ，流在 亚述 的东边。第四道河就是 幼发拉底河 。 ( 耶和华　神)将那人安置在 伊甸园 ，使他修理，看守。 (耶和华　神)吩咐他说：「园中各样树上的果子，你可以随意吃， 只是分别善恶树上的果子，你不可吃，因为你吃的日子必定死！」  (耶和华　神)说：「那人独居不好，我要为他造一个配偶帮助他。」 (耶和华　神)用土所造成的野地各样走兽和空中各样飞鸟都带到那人面前，看他叫什么。那人怎样叫各样的活物，那就是它的名字。 那人便给一切牲畜和空中飞鸟、野地走兽都起了名；只是那人没有遇见配偶帮助他。 (耶和华　神)使他沉睡，他就睡了；于是取下他的一条肋骨，又把肉合起来。 (耶和华　神)就用那人身上所取的肋骨造成一个女人，领她到那人跟前。 那人说： 这是我骨中的骨， 肉中的肉， 可以称她为「女人」， 因为她是从「男人」身上取出来的。  因此，人要离开父母，与妻子连合，二人成为一体。 当时夫妻二人赤身露体，并不羞耻。

创世记 3:1  (耶和华　神)所造的，惟有蛇比田野一切的活物更狡猾。蛇对女人说：「　[神]岂是真说不许你们吃园中所有树上的果子吗？」 

在二章里出现十一次(耶和华 神)， 但到第三章蛇对女人说时蛇省略了耶和华，只有神字。为什么呢？我们可以思考一下，当我们自己的私欲牵引之时，我们是否也会给自已各样的借口? 疑惑?以至于我们大胆做那些不讨神喜悦的事呢？或父母亲，老师不喜悦的事?

     也许你们还没有认识这位神，可以花些时间来思考为什么有这么多人信耶稣? 祂真是创造宇宙万物的神吗？祂与我有关系吗？

  愿神透过这周我们可以更明白祂，认识祂，也愿意跟随祂!