I was in the midst of a series with my Wednesday Nighters, when the ministry staff at Grace Church decided to focus all of our ministries on one point.  Rather than having five or six messages from Church, Sunday School, Youth Group, Chapel, and Bible class (which the majority of our youth groupers take), we've decided to focus our efforts on driving different aspects of one message or Bible story home to those under our wing of ministry.  Needless to say, that meant I would be unable to finish my current series.  So, for those in youth group, and for those who read just for fun, I've decided to post that series here on BobMortonSpeaks. 

Over the next few days, we will be learning how to leave a lasting impression.  We will be reading from Paul's first letter to Timothy, and we'll be basing our lessons on a verse used by nearly 50% of all youth groups in the United States.  1Timothy 4:12 says, "Let no one despise you for your youth.  Rather set an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity."  Now, many of my readers are older than I am, and are past the age during which they'd be called a "youth," but we're not talking on my terms here.  Timothy was more than ten years older than I am now when Paul wrote him this letter, and I feel the message is less about Timothy's young age, and more about how he has no excuse as to why he should not be that example.  People of all ages, shapes, sizes, and colors should be leaving a lasting impression of Jesus Christ with their lives, and when we aren't, we need to have that pointed out.

Well, starting tomorrow, we are going to look at the first aspect of our life we need to use to make that lasting impression:  Our Speech.  We will be supplementing Paul's letter with a reading from James, and a quotation from the mouth of Christ.  Have a wonderful day!

BoMo