How can Christian students live in this broken down world, filled with sin and distractions at every turn, and not compromise?

Is it even possible?

What’s the balance between using the world as an opportunity for sharing Christ and just being dragged down? It’s a hard balance to strike, but one that God has prepared us for with the example of a teen named Daniel.

How do we RESOLVE to live in the world but not be of it? Join Transform Student Ministries for the only conference that puts students into the Word for themselves as we search God’s Word for real answers to real problems.

Register today for this event. INDIVIDUALS & GROUPS LESS THAN 10 REGISTER HERE. Groups of 10 or more call: 888-678-5660

What's it worth?

I’m Katherine Huske and I have the amazing privilege of working at Precept Ministries on all things web related. This morning on the way to work, I bought a Starbuck’s coffee… a skinny vanilla latte. I don’t do it very often, but it was so good! It cost me almost $4… and the coffee was great! As I enjoyed my java, God really spoke to my heart about how I spend my money. The few dollars I spend here and there add up…

I was looking at the cost of some of our products on the new eStore we just launched. A Precept Upon Precept class might look expensive… but when you get down to it, it only costs $2.25 per week! I can spend less than a Starbuck’s coffee and get a week’s worth of life changing Bible Study.

So check out our PUP studies. Do one. Take leader training… teach a class! I know the eternal benefits are sweeter than any latte you have ever had….

Bible encouragement from David Arthur

Are you radical?

During the summer, I once again saw the future of Christianity in America. I stood before students at our teen Boot Camp and taught on the Sermon on the Mount. These are young men and women who are committed to knowing God through an intense week of inductive Bible study. But when I look at the appalling rates of churched youth who walk away from the church in adulthood, I feel heartsick because in many cases it is so preventable.

They live in a day when Christianity is presented as a mere sprinkling of religious sugar just to make life taste better . . . yet the Word of God counters with something entirely different.

Something radical.

Something not found in today’s self-help books, whether from a secular or religious bookstore. Something that won’t tickle their young ears but will satisfy their soul. Something that is difficult—no, impossible—but for which God supplies the power and the joy.

Jesus outlined this radical life in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). Let me share just a tiny bit of what I found and what I taught to the youth.

First, radical Christianity is Christianity. Just before He gave the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus “began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ ” (Matt. 4:17) and was “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (4:23). It was in that context that He gave the Sermon on the Mount—a call to a radical lifestyle and identification with a radical Kingdom that was, no doubt, shocking to those who heard it. This was the “Gospel.” Literally, the Good News. And there isn’t any better news to deliver, no “Plan B.” This was Jesus’ core message on how to live as a member of God’s Kingdom—a Kingdom that is indeed good and that you should desire.

Second, radical—that is, real—Christianity requires repentance. When Jesus preaches “Repent” in Matthew 4:17, we see what He means in Matthew 5–7 as He outlines true spirituality. It’s not something you add to your life; it replaces your life. It’s not something to fulfill your self-directed desires; it requires that you give up your self direction— that you turn from sin and self-sufficiency. He told those in the crowd to give up their definition of being “blessed” and accept His (5:3–12). To give up their definition of righteousness and accept His (5:17–7:27).

Third, it involves a radical change of identity. Jesus lays out a standard that is impossible except for knowing your identity in Him and His life in you (see 2 Cor. 5:14-17). He doesn’t say “Give light,” but rather, “You are the light” (Matt. 5:14a). When you are in Christ, with Christ in you, then you have the power to be who you are as His new creature.

In Him, you can stand.

May God bless you for standing strong. And may He bless you for your prayers and support for Precept, as God uses you to help others—including our young people encounter His radical and eternal Kingdom.

David Arthur
VP Teaching & Training