Have you ever wondered what our teens do every Sunday night at youth group? Well wonder no longer because this Sunday, Hope Youth is taking over and you’ll get to experience it firsthand! We’ll have game time, little bit of worship, and a chance to hear from our students on how God has been working in their lives.

We’re going to take a big chapter jump forward in our study of Israel’s story. The Israelites have been at the base of Mount Sinai for most of the book of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the first part of Numbers. Now they are getting ready to move. And as they prepare, Moses notes how they are learning to follow God. It is a step by step discipline. Not running ahead and not dragging behind, but rather being attentive to God’s direction and responding. This is a lesson we need to embrace as well. Many of the struggles and trials of our life are for this very purpose – to teach us to follow the Lord step by step. We’ll see how God taught them this lesson, and we’ll take a look at some other Scriptures that help us understand how to follow God’s leading in our lives.

If you were to move from one region of the country to another, you would probably notice a difference in the accent of those in your new location from what you’re used to hearing. At first, it would be quite obvious, but over time, you’d get used to it. In fact, if you live in another place long enough, you would probably start to adopt the accent of your new home for yourself. Being around these new people would have an imprint on how you talk. In fact, the people around you have an impact on you in many ways. Some are visible and obvious, while others are more internal and a little harder to recognize. Being around the Lord has an impact on you as well. As Moses talked with God, his skin took on a supernatural glow. This kind of freaked out the Israelites, so Moses covered his face in front of them. But later, the veil covered something else up. Is God’s presence changing you? Are you in His presence often enough that it is evident to those around you?

When you leave this house, you represent this family!” Have you ever been told this or maybe told one of your kids this? The obvious implication is that your behavior reflects on what kind of family you come from. This is the same idea behind Paul calling Christians, Ambassadors of Christ. As he says elsewhere, our citizenship is in heaven. God is making his appeal to the world through us. Wherever we go, we represent his family. The question for us is, how do we live as ambassadors of God while living in this world? How do we represent the Kingdom of God while living in the Kingdom of America?