Teen pathways
Hey!
Hi!
I have something that I'd like to share with you and see if you
have any experiences like this. I just got back, not just now,
but I just got back from Thailand. I did a missiontrip
in Thailand. And I've been over there and I ended up going to
a place called Pattaya which is called the broth elevator,
really not a safe place, a lot of the sextrade industry,
and I saw a lot of things that I just didn't expect to see
and one time we ended up in this place, there was 4 of us in
this missiontrip. We ended up in this place that was really
unsafe and there was a stabbing right before we've got in there,
there was a guy that got killed at the hotel we were staying,
and there was a kid that was actually pretty violently
violated and the police came and thought that he was in our room
and searched our room, so it was like a really not a safe place.
And God had to send an angel one night at 11.30 at night
to get us from one place to another and keep us safe.
And I had no idea it was an angel at first.
I knew we were unsafe, I knew that we were at risk,
and all the sudden this woman came out of the middle of
nowhere, the middle of this dark alley, actually and started
telling us to come into the alley and follow her.
There was 4 of us and we looked at each other like:
not a chance. We're not going to go down this alley,
because we're feeling unsafe anyway.
And we felt something actually kind of pushing us from behind,
we followed her and as we came around the corner,
we were led right to the ministry building we were trying
find. Around the corner from this alley, it was called the
fountain of life, is what we were trying to get to.
And I turned around to thank her, because I was so relieved,
so relieved, I was almost in tears, because that's how
afraid I was. And I turned around and she was not there.
She was not there. And so all the sudden I realized that God
had sent an angel and I've never had that happened,
and I don't know if I ever will, but that was the most
incredible thing. So today we're going to cover miracles
or prayer. Answer the prayer, miracles and have you heard any,
did you have any happened? And that's what we're going to
cover, but before we start, introduce yourself,
and what do you think of miracles?
My name is Brian Wilson and I think miracles and prayers,
is when you pray you have 1 and 100 numbers told free and
a miracle could happen.
Hi, I'm Shira Brooks and the thing that I like about prayer
is that it's your connection to God. You just talk to Him,
He hears everything.
My name is Nicky Sackmann and the thing I like about prayers,
is I use it a lot at school, when I'm taking tests.
My name is Amy Oster, and I believe in prayer and miracles,
because through prayer God has made a miracle of my life.
My name is Bronson Anderson, and I believe in prayer, because
all the prayers I have ever prayed have been answered,
whether it be no or yes or not even answered at all, but I
figured out later.
My name is A.J. Grant and what I like about prayers,
and miracles is that my brother was an atheist and now he is
a minister. So I think prayer works.
Cool! You know what is really funny, I have to get back to
Nicky, what you said about the test. When you said that,
the first thing I thought about is you'd have an angel that
approaches you with the answers ready.
Oh, I believe it.
It surprizes me to say all.
You're like: I don't understand it. I'll do it.
At college I used to pray for the gift of profecy so I know
what what was coming up on class.
That's what you were doing.
So it is funny that we can, that prayer and miracles
starts at really little things but has anybody had or heard
stories about prayer or miracle that you thought wow!
That's incredible!
Yeah, I read a book: "The power of prayer" by Roger, I can't
pronounce his name, Morneau, and in it he was talking about
his typewriter. I guess he wrote a book or something another
he was printing out the pages and all the sudden the ink ran
out. And he and his wife were like oh, no, we have deadline,
we need to get these out. So they prayed. I guess they both knelt
down and prayed about it. And all the sudden the printer started
working. The ink like it's never even worked before with the ink
on a paper. And soon he's like wow! The pages started going out,
and he kind of thought himself it will be bad, if God will back
and saw me doing this and, so he started doubting God about
it and the printer stopped. And he knelt down with him and
his wife and prayed about what he did, as far as doubting
God, and the printer started working again.
And as far as I know, he is deceased now, but it worked
all the way up untill he bought a new printer. So it's amazing!
That's amazing!
Yeah. I like the story
of Peter in the Bible, who walked on water. It's Peter, isn't it?
Yeah, ok. I thought it's so cool because I was like learning to
walk water, it's like yeah, but I can't do it, because getting
there watch me, I think, but that's not the point. It's cool
because always like it took a complete faith and like as soon
as he stopped having faith, he started to sink.
Also the same thing, as soon as he doubted.
As soon as he doubted, boom, down he goes into the depth of
We can also talk about more, another miracle in the Bible is,
Jesus' first miracle, He changes the water into wine at the
wedding feast. It may seem so minor, because you're having
the wedding feast and suddenly you run out of wine,
and that is a major thing, because that's part of the party.
I don't know what type of wine that was or whatever,
but Jesus is like: go fill up these big bowls or urns with
water and the servant is like: what's he talking about?
We can't serve water at the wedding feast.
And they start pouring out and when pouring it out, it was the
other man, one of them drop it at least, and when he's pouring
he sees red liquid and he's like: Auh! He dropped it all over the
place and said: don't have to worry about because there's
plenty more where I came from.
I remember when I was little we were going on a camping trip
with the Pathfinders, and so we have got an RV
hide and seek and I decided to go in this closet and I was in
there for a while and was like: rescue me and so she apparently
had left, gone to bed and so I was cramping there and anything,
so I'm like ok, I was stupid, I'm going to get out,
I'm like oh, oh, there's no doornob and so I was stuck in
there so scared and so I prayed to Jesus like: "help me find
a way out of here, so I was like pushing it and said
got my little fingers through and I could actually push the
button to get out. And I'm like thank you, Jesus,
I was so scared, I was going to be locked in there forever,
my parents will never find me.
I love those kind of prayers because with kids, or with people
that don't know God, my husband, when we first met,
he was not a Christian. Not that he didn't believe in God,
but he was not a Christian and after a while he said:
"I don't even know how to find out if God is real."
So I said: "Just pray! Just pray that God show Himself to you."
And my husband's funny and I said: pray and do it in a funny
way and so Brad just kind of let that right in his mind for a
while and he's a golfer, and he's really good. I mean, he swings
the club and the ball goes for ever, I mean it just goes for
ever. And it's really fun when you see that happen
unless he slices or hooks a ball. And then it's gone, it's in
the rough and you'll never find the ball again.
So he's with some people that he's kind of showing a knock to
and when he does it, he hits the ball and it goes in the rough and
it's gone. And so he prays: "Lord, please, help me find my
golfball and it was the first prayer he ever prayed.
And he looks down and the golfball is at his foot.
And he couldn't wait to finish the 18 holes so he could come
home and tell me what God had done and he was like this
little kid and I looked at him and I thought: you are such
an easy mark to ask God to find your golfball.
Sometimes I think amazing things come about not just because
you pray and then immediately you have an answer to,
and you're amazed, sometimes they come about because you have
prayer in your life. Like there's this one lady, I don't know her
personally, I hope I didn't get the fact's wrong,
she goes to my grandparents' church, so I know of her.
But she was supposed to go overseas, on a missionary work.
And she got her passport, her plane ticket, everything
and she was excited and like the Saturday before she was to
leave, she went to a picnic, a church picnic and she had
a personal car, and somebody broke into the car and they stole
her purse with her passport, her planeticket,
and money and everything. And I'm sure she was just
devastated, she couldn't go overseas, she was looking
forward to it, and it 'd take months to get another passport,
planeticket and everything, so she went home and she was just
sad about that and I think it might have been Monday night or
some time, the day that she was to fly away, that night she heard
the plane crash as she was sitting and watching
the evening news she heard of a planecrash,
and the plane that crashed, was that plane that she would
have been on. And almost all the people on that plane died.
And she would have been on that very plane. And so I'm sure
that she has prayer in her life because of that God made
a miracle of that, out of that situation.
Right. She was saved.
Like a small thing is, this might sound silly, but my dad
refuses to ask for directions. He just refuses.
He's like I know where I'm going. When we go on vacation he's like:
no, I know where I'm going.
He's never been there before. So every time I get in the car,
I tell Dad, let us get lost and like die or something,
because I want to live till tomorrow.
And he's like ok, help me with this one.
That's funny, because most men don't do that.
There's some reason.
I was watching a cop's TV show once,
and they had a call where they always called domestic
disturbance. It was in some big city. Unfortunately it happens
quite a lot, it was a boyfriend and girlfriend,
the boyfriend had pulled a knife on her girlfriend.
The girlfriend had a 5 year old daughter in the house.
And this 5 year old daughter called 901
saying this guy tried to stab my momy.
The police came and traced her phonecall back
she didn't know where she lived, she was only 5 years old,
so he said to the kid: what's your adress?
Traced the phonecall back, the police showed up,
they arrested the man, the lady had a small cut on
her arm. And so the police went over to this 5 year old girl,
and she is in the kitchen and they were like: "that's really
good, did you call 901? He picked up the phone,
he goes ok, show me what numbers did you push? And she was:
"I don't know,". And they were: "No, no, when you called,
what number did you push and she goes: "I don't remember."
And her mom goes: she doesn't know the numbers.
She hasn't been in school yet, she doesn't know the numbers."
And the cop said: "that's pretty weird, someone called 901.
And her mom goes: "Wait a minute!" She just picks up the
phone, and she listened to it, and there was a dial tone.
And her mom goes: "But our phone has been disconnected for the
past 2 weeks." And somehow this little girl who didn't know the
numbers, called 901 on a phone that didn't work.
And they were able to save the mom's life.
And get the boyfriend out of the house.
And it was right there on TV. All crossnation,
the people have seen that, suddenly realized that
that's an actual miracle that happened right there. Miracles
happen all time even if we don't realize but we actually stand
and go wow! My life has changed because of defined interference
because an angel's there from God.
Do you guys, when you hear these kind of stories,
do you believe in miracles? Do you believe that God would
step and do something that incredible in your own life?
Yeah, I believe that God loves us and He wants to save us from
so many harm that He can and anything you know, so He steps in
and help us along the way sometimes
Amy said something in her introduction, that is so true,
because she says: "I believe in miracles because my life, what
God has done with me is a miracle. And I'm right there with
you because as a teen, I grew up really angry, really suicidal,
really had chronical self esteem, was praying to God
to take my life so, because I was too scared to take my own,
because then I can't go to heaven, so I was like: "Ok, Lord,
You take my life." And in the last ten years I would never pray
that prayer. And this is the miracle how He just comes into
your life, He changes you, He takes away the bad
it's a miracle, it's your miracle, because it's you,
it's not telling the story about somebody else.
Your prayer is your communication with God, that's how you
communicate with Him. When you have that communication,
then you start to love Him and your life is changed
and you look back to where you came from and you're like:
How a miracle, God changed me. That is a miracle.
What's really cool about that, is that there are times when
someone says, when they think about miracles,
they think about like the parting on the Red Sea,
in the Bible and even the change of water into wine,
but I really think that the miracle, among miracles
is a changed life.
How much can you get to take somebody that is completely
wrapped up in all that kind of sadness and anger
and disfunction and all the sudden they're full of joy
and love and they're, I never knew that about you, A.J.
And all the sudden you're talking and I'm thinking every time
I've seen you walk into your room, you kind of bring the whole
room to life. I mean it's just like and so to see you ever in
you're angry and suicidelike, I can't even imagine that
so God just totally transformed you.
I'm thankful, you were there last night when the guys were
were keeping me up
I still apologize for that.
He also changed your life. Not only is a changed life
a miracle, but the actual creation of life.
I mean, it's amazing, when I took a biology class
and I found out that I came from a little egg.
A little egg and how I got developped.
And it's so amazing how that happened.
I mean, everybody you see around here is a miracle.
Somewhere our life is threatened.
And we're here obviously because of a miracle. We all know that
something happened.
You know when you stop and think from an embrio through cell
division how in the world does an eye cell know
from an embrio to be an eyecell, and a skincell to be a skincell,
and a nerve cell to be, all that through the miracle of birth
and even scientists can't explain how from an embrio
cells know how to specialize like that. There has to be
a God working miracles.
I also know a miracle that happened to myself. My dad and I
were not that wealthy, we were pretty poor actually.
And I came into the church when I was a teen, when I first
became a teenager, and a couple, I guess a year went by,
and all the sudden we got a truck, we like to fish,
we got a boat, we never had the money before to get all that,
and it was just, I don't know, I didn't pray for that stuff,
but I'm pretty sure my dad prayed for that,
and just God giving us that it was just amazing.
But also one day I was riding home I guess from a baseball
game and we were in the new truck we got and it was fairly new
to us, all the sudden a storm came on us.
I was like oh, no,it started to hail like a golfball size hail.
I mean this stuff would get anything.
Even brake windows, I guess. So, my dad and I prayed together
we had to keep our eyes open of course, because we were
driving still, but we prayed together and all the sudden
the hail stopped. As quick as it started, as quick as it
stopped. And the hail, I mean a storm like that, it just
doesn't do that, it just looked like to me and my dad that
it was hailing all around us, except around the truck
that He had provided for us earlier.
That's got to be. What did that tell you about what God thinks
of you? Or what God thinks of your dad?
I just, that just tells me that without a shadow of doubt
He loves us. He wants us to survive and He knows what
a struggle it is for my dad and I just to make it
in this day and age and He just came through for us.
I think because of that love He has for you, when His children
talk to Him, He's just willing I think the text John 15:7-8
speaks about that, about how, if you're abiding with Him,
and the relationship, what does it say?
John 15:7-8: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
He's just such an awesome God, to do things like that,
the power He has.
I'm going to play off the other side just to see what you guys
think: what happens? I have a friend that her son died.
What happens when He doesn't answer prayers, that you didn't
abide in Him? That you didn't listen enough?
You didn't pray enough?
That your faith wasn't great enough?
Sometimes His answer is yes, but He also answers no
and you have to realize that, too, that everything looks up
for the best, even if the answer is no.
So what the Bible says is that I have to trust Him,
If you have your trust in Him, no matter what He answers,
all is going to turn up for the best.
It will be all good with God, if you just trust Him.
I was watching the mid 98' series and Dwight was talking about how
we will have a thousand years in heaven and He's a God
He's willing to be second guest because there's going to be
books up there and in those thousand years
we'll be able to calm down and say: why did such and such
happen? Why did this prayer got unanswered?
And there's a statement that says: if we knew the end from
the beginning, like God did, we would understand why things
had to work out the way that they did.
So He loves us so much that He is even willing to sit down
and say: here's any unanswered question.
When we get to heaven, yeah.
That's pretty cool!
It's going to hurt down here, there's a question that
perplexes even the greatest theologians: why do bad things
happen to good people? Sometimes that's just
unanswerable. That side of heaven, but when we get up there,
we'll have thousand years to go over the books or videotapes
or whatever and these questions will be answered then.
You have the story of Job, this guy had all his kids
the greatest wealth of anybody in land, and all these are taken
away, his health is taken away to the point where he was almost
dead. And yet he's just, all his friends were like: hey,
you sinned, admit to God you sinned and he's like: I didn't
sin. This is not God's doing. And when he prooved himself,
God has given back all he had, more children,
more land, more flock, more herd, all came back, it was all better
than before.
And Job, what I appreciate about Job, too, is he said:
you know what? I don't understand it, but even
if this kills me, I'm following God. I know that I love Him.
And He is my God and my good is in his heart.
It seems like death is always the flipside of a good miracle.
You know what I mean? And it's always a temptation,
not just a temptation, because human nature asks:
why? Why? But no matter what, God always holds the
because he says: I died for you. I gave my life for you.
I understand what it's like to be separated from someone,
because I was separated from God. And I've always asked
the question: if God is God and He's holding all the cards,
He makes the rules, why could there been a way to save humanity
without Him giving his life. His the one that makes the rules,
but He willingly and knowingly chose that road. So when you're
asking why in the face of miracles, you can also ask
otherwise a question: why did God have to die?
So I just had to say that, because I really love talking
about miracles that are answered in a positive,
but I don't want anyone to hear this discussion and say:
what if it wasn't for me? And so the miracles maybe are
answered in the positive, or maybe we'll have to wait
untill we are in heaven and find out what happened
I have to say one thing and this is about this ministry,
this ministry is working with youth, right? So "True Step"
ministry and what I do is work with youth, some people in
prison, some people in jail, some people that are in shelters,
in fosterhomes some that are in church, that just are saying:
I need God to be more real to me, and I love doing this,
but there are sometimes in ministries you just don't have
any money, and nobody thinks to send you some.
And so I was sitting there one day thinking: Lord, how can I
do this? We get all this stuff coming up and I don't have
gas money. I don't have money to pay my phonebill that I have
to call over the country, talk to different people to get this
arranged? I don't have money to pay that.
And so I was like and I'm crying and stressed
and I'm finally thinking: I feel like who's the guy that in the
Bible went under the tree and the tree kind of died?
It's Jonah.
Jonah. I'm feeling like that kind of thing I don't want to do
this. I'm burned out and so I'm thinking I just got to
get up and go outside and some exercise and I go out
I walk out to the mailbox and I come back and I
got the mail in my hand and usually I can get sidetrack by
the mail and stop. And so I'm opening the mail and things. And
I open up a letter from an organisation called:"Winifred
L. Stevens foundation" and there was a check for 25.000$ in the
envelope. I've never written this person, I met them one time
and they knew what we were doing as far as the ministry,
and what it was is that I believe in what you're doing
and I just want to help. And God was so clear with me then
as I'm in control and I love you. You've got to trust me.
When it looks like thigs are not being answered,
I'm still in controll and I'm still helping.
And I just said you know thanks.
Thank you.
These true stories about people saying like:
why shall I believe in God? because I assume or think
He exists, miracles are happening around us all the time.
We are so oblivious to know why is that. I found hard imaginig
that with all the good stories you're coming out of the world.
Of people who are saved, about the young lady who has
a car crash and her baby stuck in the car,
miraculously she lifts up the car and pulls out her baby
and the baby is fine. And as the baby is ok, he looks up the car
she's been able to lock the car on the top of it and she's
been able to lock the car off.
And it's so amazing to hear this all the time.
And these miracles are happening everywhere and every day.
It's amazing that like we just got here at all because
who knows, there could have been like some mad man
shooting by like that's not going to happen
but if you could go further on, if you propably would shoot by
you propably would shoot by down the road,
like we could have got hit it would have been like
ten seconds faster or like ten seconds slower,
just like small things like that.
Amy Grant's book called: "Angels watching over me."
And she talks about that the hand of God moving things
around for safety like the friend at your mom's church,
that all the sudden somebody steals her purse
and she's not on the plane and all that kind of thing
and so it does seem like all that's happening propably
all around us more than we'll ever know.
Well, not ever, because the thousand years.
Yeah, you know, I think that I'm not going to have any big
answers to prayer. I don't have any huge miracles in my own life,
but when I think about it, there could have been millions of times
when I could have died and angels were there to save
me and I'm sure my dad is thinking that there's also times
now that he could have died, now that I have my permit
I know he's sitting over there and sitting next to me,
praying his prayers, so every trip with me is propably
a miracle to him, but when you think about,
there's just little things in your life that you could have
died, but you're here now because of a miracle.
Because of God.
Exactly. So we're just not we're not seeing that a lot of
times when somebody says we've been born and raised
in the church, like I wasn't born and raised in the church,
so I think my angel has to work a little harder,
than yours, because you have people praying for you,
your protection around you propably don't see some stuff,
just because you walk in that protection.
Does that make sense? So for some of us in the church
I think that anybody praying for us, now that I'm doing
the ministry people all over the country: oh Cheri I'm praying
for you and your ministry. And the only thing I think
about is I wonder what that means as far as the bigger
picture. And so if you don't have major miracles,
to talk about, you might want to just say
now come what, not too good thing.
Miracles show that God is love. That God loves us.
A lot of people doubt that God even, He just made us
and let us be. That type of belief It's like when you can get
a new paye. A lot of pay you need to take care of it, it's your
best friend. It won't let you harm, because that 's what God
did, He created us, He won't let you harm come into our lives.
And more amazing than that, is that we are the crowning
glory of God's creation. When I see the sun rise,
the Bible says that the sun goes across the sky,
from my pleasure because of His love for me.
I think that's incredible. I'd like to read Mt 7:7:
"Ask, seek and nock. Ask and it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find. Nock and the door will be open
to you. For everyone who asks receives.
He who seeks, finds. And to him who nocks, the door
will be open." I know for sure that if I need a miracle,
I just need to ask God. If I don't get that answered
in the way that I think it should be answered,
I have to trust that God knows the bigger picture.
And for any of us, He loves us and wants to do what's best
for us and I have to trust that. Sometimes I don't even know
what's best but I have to trust that God loves me.
And His best is what He wants for me.
So thanks for joining us on Teen Pathways and see you
next time. Bye!