A Royal Ranger
10/6/24
This morning, we are kicking off Royal Rangers Week by acknowledging the fellas who are active in that ministry in this church. We love and appreciate them and I would ask that you hold them up in prayer this week. Today we acknowledge their desire to make a difference in the world and get closer to God at the same time, but we want to spend extra time praying over them this week.
It’s tough to be a young person in 2024, so much tougher than when I grew up. We didn’t have social media to fill our minds with all kinds of garbage and temptation. We didn’t have school authorities telling us that we needed to be affirmed in our identity, whichever one we choose to adapt for ourselves.It was a simpler time. We definitely must keep our young ones covered in prayer, especially their minds.
Since its inception in 1962, the Royal Rangers ministry has influenced the lives of over 2 million men and boys in the United States and around the world. Today, many former Royal Rangers serve their families, churches, and communities as businessmen, pastors, church leaders, missionaries, teachers, soldiers, police officers, and in many other roles.
The Royal Rangers program is an activity-based, small group church ministry for mentoring future men, grades K-12 with a mission to evangelize, equip, and empower the next generation of Christlike men and lifelong servant leaders. It provides Christlike character formation and servant leadership development for boys and young men in a highly relational and fun environment.
The Royal Rangers program affirms the male hands-on, interactive learning style by featuring an intentional discipleship journey for boys and young men based on their unique design, needs, and interests. Every meeting, outing, or service activity is designed to encourage boys and young men in their walk with God.
2 Timothy 3: 14-17, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed…All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
We’re equipping the young men of Redemption Place to be strong, courageous men of God. Today as we continue on our study of the book of Acts, we will examine part of chapter 13.
We have Paul and Barnabas here in Antioch. They have just preached in the temple going through a brief history of their people and how God moved in their midst over the generations. He finishes up with this:
Read Acts 13:37-41
They are walking a rough road in that they are taking a message to the Jews who do not necessarily believe that Jesus is the Messiah. It takes courage to go from town to town proclaiming an unpopular message.
The same happens today. Post a Bible verse or say something unpopular with today’s social standards and you will have the trolls coming after you online. Even Christians who supposedly read the Bible will argue with you about what it says clearly in black and white and sometimes red print! Holiness is not a popular message. Jesus was holy and so we should also be holy.
Today I am praying that each Royal Ranger would become people of wisdom.
Proverbs 7: 1-3 My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you.
Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.
Bind them on your fingers and write them on the tablet of your heart. These phrases are used to encourage keeping God’s Word close to us and in our consciousness. We are very aware of our hands. Just jam a finger or have your hand in a cast and realize how vital our hands are to functioning in life. Writing God’s Word on the tablet of our hearts would involve intentional thinking and biblical meditation. One definition of biblical meditation is to mutter or ponder out loud.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Read Acts 13:42-43
2. I am praying these young men would have the hearts of servants.
Paul and Barnabas were servants at heart. They obediently went wherever God would send them. They offered whatever wisdom they had to the people they ministered to. Young men, it is very important to garner the heart of a servant.
Being a servant doesn’t mean that your everyone’s pee-on. Society isn’t about tending to others; it says that you must look out for yourself first. If you are tempted to say something like, “I am doing all of the work and no one else does as much as me,” that’s the enemy talking in your ear.
Jesus said, “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. John 13: 13-16
Jesus served others; he wasn’t worried about whether someone was sitting on their duffer being lazy. The Bible talks about that too. He was focused on doing the Father’s business and caring for God’s people, his sheep.
I am praying each young man would grow up with a great love for serving others:
That he would someday learn to serve his wife
That he would serve the local church
That he would serve his community and society
That he would see clearly that the way to joy is the path of abandoning selfish desires and talk, and instead expending himself for the sake of others
Read Acts 13: 44-45
3. I am praying God would save them from unnecessary pain.
It’s difficult when people you call family, friends, fellow Christians rise up against you. There’s a popular term called “church hurt” because people will say that something traumatic that happened to them in church caused them to leave the faith. They’re excusing their sin by walking away from God.
But I have learned many times over that people who are sinful by nature…they just hurt each other. We don’t always mean to, but it happens. Paul and Barnabas had poured their hearts out to the people and now look at what’s happening: jealousy, back biting, gossip and slander. They’re definitely not in the popular crowd.
You will have people rise up against what you believe in. I pray that God would cover you.
Psalm 34:7 - The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Psalm 32:7 - You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
Read Acts 13: 46-48
4. I pray that you young men would know the joy of walking with Jesus:
Though there was some severe opposition against them, Paul and Barnabas had huge success. It wasn’t all hurt and trials.
There’s a Persian proverb that’s quoted often: This too shall pass. The Bible says something similar:
Psalm 30: 5 Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
I pray that no matter what happens in your life, that you would find joy in your walk with Jesus.
Find joy in God and in your life and relationship with Him. Find:
The joy of daily communication with God
The joy of hearing from God through his Word
The joy of sensing God’s presence in the midst of everyday life
The joy of sensing God’s purpose and direction in your life, and following and obeying that calling
The joy of worshiping Jesus with every part of your life
Read Acts 13: 49-52
5. I am praying the Rangers would be rich in the fruit of the Spirit.
Paul and Barnabas were the recipients of some heavy duty persecution. The important men and women of the region were making it very hard on them. In fact, they kicked them right out! It takes some fruit of the spirit to be able to put up with unjust persecution.
Remember the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5? love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
If you have someone in your face giving you attitude and push back, what would be your first inclination? Would you fight? Would you scream at them? Would you go find a gang of people to come after them with you? Would you start gossiping about them to cause a little harm back at them? Or would you exhibit the same fruit that Paul and Barnabas did?
They didn’t do any of those things. They were patient, kind, loving, gentle, faithful to what Jesus had taught them, and definitely full of self control.
Gentlemen, today I pray that you would desire and grow in these fruits that the Holy Spirit produces in us:
I don’t want you to be known for irritability, but great love
I don’t want you to be known for being grouchy and depressed all the time, but great joy
I don’t want you to be know for picking fights, but a person of peace
I don’t want you to rudely promote your faith, but be full of kindness
I don’t want you to be rough and crass with people, but be a man of gentleness
In closing, let us remember that these attributes are good for us all, not just the boys in Royal Rangers. In the face of adversity especially when we are talking about Jesus and our faith, we must show the true attributes of Jesus.
He did all things in love, even when it wasn’t fair and didn’t make sense. He also taught his followers to do the same. As such, we too must shine in the darkness with the love of Christ.
