He's not gonna give up on you

Who? We can see this in two ways. It could be God or it could be Satan.

I've been thinking lately about Satan. I've been noticing that since giving up complaining about youth group, my attitude is a lot better. However, I have a friend whose attitude is going down the toilet really fast. While I know Satan isn't giving up on my other issues, he knows that I'm calling it quits on this type of complaining and thus has moved on to maybe an easier target. And I feared all along that I had given my bad attitude to my friend. Stupid Satan.

Satan doesn't give up. He lurks in the bushes and waits for access to your mind. He wants you to mess up. He craves temptation and wants you to fall.

When Satan tempted Jesus, he quoted scripture, so doesn't that mean that Satan has read the Bible? At least parts of it.

On Wednesday at youth group, we talked about Luke 15:1-10. These are the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin.

If you don't know the stories, I'm challenging you to go look them up for yourself and read them.

Satan can tempt us as much as he wants, but it isn't gonna stop God from coming after us when we get lost.

I think this week has a theme to it. What's that? Sheep. Sheep last Saturday and sheep on Wednesday.

Did you know that sheep know their shepherds voice so well that if a stranger calls them, they won't listen? That's right. Did you know that God would leave all the rest of His people to come and find you? Yeah, that's right. God is not gonna let you go that easily.

And you know what else? When that lost sheep (meaning you) is found, there will be a big celebration.

"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15:7

"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10

Don't give up. Stop taking Satan's crap. Follow God. God will never abandon you and is so willing to come after you when you feel lost.