The Holy Spirit: Our Best Companion
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| My friend Emily (Senior at UTA) and I |
Welcome Back :)
So excited to be back with you this month, it is crazy that it is already November. It has been another month full of God's kindness and promises. Thank you never goes without saying. Thank you for being faithful in supporting what God is doing at UTA. It is my privilege to share it with you. This month I have had a lot of conversations with the young women in our ministry about loneliness. I've had no less than four-five conversations with separate women about various feelings of isolation and a lack of connectedness. I wanted to share this with you for a few reasons. I want to ask you to pray with me. I did a little bit of research on loneliness/mental health stats for this generation of students. This generation of students (Gen Z) has been coined the loneliest generation of all time with between 73-79% of adults (aged 18-22 currently) reporting experiencing feelings of loneliness at least once a month or more frequently. That is insanely and gut wrenchingly high. I feel like I have got a close up view on this loneliness epidemic this month and it makes me incredibly sad for my students and friends. So I want to invite you to join me in praying that the darkness of loneliness wouldn't eclipse the hope and connection Jesus offers for these students and their generation.
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| Me, Zaia, Isa, and Sarah at the State fair this month! |
The other reason I wanted to share this with you is to share how God ministered to me in this particular darkness. Earlier this month I got to preach at our large group service (Thursday Night Fellowship). I got to share about how the Holy Spirit is our best and closest companion, just as he was to Jesus. When we miss the fact that God sent his Spirit to us first and foremost as an expression of our belovedness to him (rather than just to 'fast track our righteousness') we miss crucial parts of God's character and therefore crucial parts of who we are. We are first and foremost loved by God, unconditionally his beloved in the Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:9-12 says "At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased."
We too have received the Spirit that descended on Jesus in the Jordan! Romans eight says the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's Children, coheirs with Jesus. Through the Spirit we get to receive those words that God spoke over Jesus in the Jordan: Here is my son, my daughter, my beloved, with you I am well pleased. This was spoken over Jesus before he had done any ministry, I don't think it's a stretch to say it is clear this isn't a conditional statement. You are simply and unconditionally God’s beloved in Jesus through the Holy Spirit, because of the Spirit there is now nothing keeping the love of your Lord back from you. He dwells within you, you don’t need to go up to a mountain, or into a temple, or clean yourself up to find the love of God, to have his love descend and rest upon you. You simply need to know you are his child, his beloved. God looks on you with eyes filled with adoration and pride, he looks on you and sees a son or daughter with whom he is well pleased.
This truth seriously changes everything for us. This changes life from just existing, into soaking in the presence of God at every moment. This means we have the best and closest friend we could ever want residing within us at every moment!! This means the very love of God is within me, loving me and giving himself to me at every moment! What good news for the lonely, what good news for the weak and weary, what good news for you and me.
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| This is my core!! These are some of the names and faces you can be praying for. (L:R) Mia, Molly, Katy, Skylar, Jacie, Zaia, and my cofa Loren. |
As I was writing this sermon I came across this article that suggested the best way to think about the Spirit is as our best and closest companion because that is what he was to Jesus. "When Jesus’s closest earthly companions betrayed him, denied him, and scattered, the Spirit walked with him all the way into the jaws of death, empowering him to offer himself freely (Hebrews 9:14). And the Spirit was there on Easter Sunday to raise him in power (Romans 1:4). Indeed, what a companion he is."
Writing this sermon came at such an opportune time. When we live as God's beloved we get to walk with the Spirit, our best friend, everyday. Indeed what a companion he is. When the darkness of loneliness seems to eclipse all around us, the Holy Spirit, the Dove of Heaven, is perched in the darkest parts of our minds, bringing healing comfort to the anxiety and darkness that threatens to undo us. What a promise to cling to. I hope this ministers to you and reminds you of your belovedness before the Father. It has been a soothing message to me and many of the lonely students I meet with this month, it is a honor to get to share it with you.
I want more than anything for all of these students is to feel genuine connection, experience the joys of friendship, and to experience community without barriers both internal and external. However, more than that I want them to have a keen awareness of their status before God, they are beloved and have a friend in the God of Heaven, and He walks with them everyday. What better balm to loneliness is there than this. I want to ask you to join me in praying loneliness won't eclipse this hope. Pray that these students can rest in the eternal and intimate promise that they are God's beloved before grasping after anything else.
Here is the link if you want to listen to my sermon: Click here!
Keep FOCUS Growing!!
I wanted to alert you all to an opportunity coming up this month. Keep FOCUS Growing (KFG) is our annual fundraiser that is crucial in being equipped for ministry on the college campuses. The money raised from KFG go towards things that can sometimes slip under the radar; like paying campus pastors who do not reach their fundraising goal, or printing all our advertisements so we are visible on campus, or paying for instruments and sound equipment so we can run our weekly fellowship meetings, or giving scholarships to students so they can attend things like SICM, or paying for counseling for students, etc... There are so many expenses in running a ministry that often can go unaccounted for, KFG is a way to mitigate that and keep FOCUS growing for the generation to come! On November 29th FOCUS participates in giving Tuesday which means several things for you:
1. Some very very generous people who deeply believe in the mission of FOCUS have agreed to match any gift we receive on November 29th up to $57,000!! Which means if we get $57,000 given to us that day, these people will give an additional $57,000. How neat is that!
2. Facebook has $7 million in matching funds available to give to eligible organizations, we are one of them! I will personally have a Facebook fundraiser up on giving Tuesday to hopefully tap into some of those matching funds.
If this interests you I invite you to consider giving on the 29th. Keep a look out for my Facebook fundraiser on the 29th, or you can give in the ways listed on the graphic:
Pictures from the month!
This is from one of our Thursday Night Fellowship's this month! I'm a huge fan of the two girls in front of me (Alisa and Laurel) and the girls leading worship (Cassidy and Sonnie)! I get to meet regularly with most of them.
Thank you all for your faithfulness and love for these students! They all are the recipients of your generosity even if they don't realize it. Thank you for loving them faithfully.
Love,
Sophie
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