Roots Student Ministry Podcast

The real question that we are all asking is "Who am I?" We can be one way with one group of people that is different than we are with another group of people. It's all a search to find out who we really are deep down inside of us. But the truth is found in God. Scripture says we are image bearers of God. And Jesus came to give us a true example of what that looks like. When we look t...

It can be easy for us to look down on other people, especially those who are different than us. We can even justify it and say what they are doing is not the "Christian" think they should be doing. But in the story of Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well, we see that Jesus includes anyone...even the people that were different than Him. We need to see people the way God sees...

Sometimes our own worst enemy is ourselves. Maybe we don't love ourselves, or maybe we think that loving ourselves is selfish. In some ways, the idea of loving God and others is much easier than the idea of loving ourselves. But Jesus changes everything. Jesus connects our ability to love God and love others to our ability to love ourselves. It's not about building more self-confidence or...

Jesus said the most important command is to love God and to love others. But how exactly do we love God? Well, God gave us an example by sending His Son to this earth and showing us how to live. If we live like Jesus, we are loving God with everything we have.

Our faith can get a little complicated. We start to ask deep questions and we don't fully understand what the Bible says about it. It seems like we have to be a Bible scholar in order to be a "good" Christian. But when Jesus came down to earth, He made sure to let everyone know that your faith should not be complicated. Simply put: love God and love others.

Everyone goes through struggles and hardships. But what are we supposed to do about them? This week, we look at the story where Jesus heals the blind man in John 9. In this story, we see that our hardships that we go through are ways that God can show Himself to be faithful in our lives.

No matter how much you have messed up, God's grace still forgives you. When you rest in His forgiveness, you can learn from your mistakes and become stronger in your faith. This week's message was written and delivered by students from Camarillo High School, Newbury Park High School and Homeschool students who are a part of Roots.

There's a lot of unfair things that happen around us. And when something feels unfair, it can bring up a lot of emotions in us. But when we look at what happened because of the death and resurrection of Christ, we learn that God is full of grace. We see this in how Jesus restores Peter back to right-standing with Him. Did Peter deserve it? No. But through the life of Jesus, we can see that God...

Jesus went to the cross for us. He abolished the need to work hard so we can be saved. He said "It is finished". That means that we can have a relationship with God all because of the work that Jesus did on the cross and His resurrection from the grave.

Sometimes we can get the wrong view of God. We may even think that God is the bad guy who makes us live by rules or even the guy who's in control of the chaos that is happening in your life. Sometimes how we feel about God doesn't represent what is true about God. When we look at the way that Jesus lived, we realized that He was real and honest with His Father. We need to learn from Jesus...

We always hear about how opposites attract, but that really isn't the case. We are drawn to people who are more like us. It just feels more natural. But we are surrounded by people who are nothing like us, even at church. Maybe that's why Jesus prayed for unity for the Church near the end of His life. He knew that people would start to see Him through the unity of the people who love Him.

It's easy for us to forget things. We forget what others have done for us and take them for granted. We forget things that have happened to others, and it communicates a lack of care. And we forget promises we make, and it hurts the feelings of other people. Just before Jesus went to the cross, He sat down with His disciples for a final supper to help them always remember what He has done on this...

When thoughts about suicide start to creep in, you may start to believe the lie that the world would just move on without you, or even be a better place. In turn, you just feel like everything is hopeless. And if you give that through enough time and repetition in an isolated brain, eventually it will become comfortable there. But Jesus came to give life. So no matter what our temporary problem is...

We like having our space and freedom and we don't like when others tell us what to do. We don't like when boundaries are put in place. But we also don't like when others cross the boundaries that we have put up. In this message, we talk about how boundaries can not only be good for us when it comes to our sexual integrity, but also boundaries can be very powerful. Boundaries help us be wiser when...

We all go through difficult times and we all make mistakes. It's tempting to keep all those mistakes in the darkness. One of the healthiest things for us is to have a trusted person who we can go to so we can share about our struggles and temptations. That way we an turn the light on and see things as they truly are.

Technology can be really difficult to manage. We have probably all gone down an online rabbit hole that we are not proud of. Whether it's pornography, stalking an ex, or even sending or receiving nudes. Things online aren't always what they seem and technology can become a poor substitute for real sexual connection the way that God intended. We'll take a look at 1 Corinthians 6:18 and talk about t...

It's not always fun having the sex talk. But we do believe it's important. And when it comes to sex, we know that everyone has an opinion. But what does the Bible say about it? Well, when we look at the very beginning of the Bible, we see that God created sex and He created it to be good. But it's also important to know that sex was also created to be very powerful. So how we treat sex and how we...

Anxiety has been more prevalent over the last decade. Most, if not all of you have have struggled with anxiety. Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure. There is helpful anxiety, unhelpful anxiety, and consistent anxiety. But how do we deal with this anxiety that we feel? This message will bring up ideas on ho...

Our words matter. Have you ever had someone say something to you that you have remembered for years, but they probably forgot they said it just a couple seconds after they say it? That's because we remember the words that are spoken to us. So no matter the type of conflict we are in, our words play a key roll in how the conflict resolves. That's why it's important to use gentle words.

Your integrity matters. Integrity is being the same person with your friends than you are with adults. Integrity is being the same person when you're alone and when you're with people. Integrity is choosing to make the right decisions even when no one else is choosing to make the right decisions. The decisions that you make that no one sees builds a good reputation that everyone remembers.

There are a lot of gray areas with decisions that we have to make. Sometimes decisions we make are not technically bad, but they may be categorized as unwise. Learning how to discern wisdom helps us avoid foolish decisions. We can discern wisdom by spending time with God by reading scripture and learning from older God-fearing adults who can speak into our lives.

How can you be one of the smartest people in the world yet still make dumb decisions? You may know people who have a really high IQ but they seem to throw their life away. It's because IQ doesn't really matter in the long run. But your wisdom does. Your knowledge may be nice in school, but your wisdom helps you succeed in life. Wisdom is gained through evaluated experiences.

Christmas can bring a lot of messes to the surface. And most of the time we try to manage the mess on our own. We manage our image, expectations, relationships and even our behavior. We try to manage the mess and when things get out of control, we don't like it. When we realize that Jesus came so that we could finally have real joy, peace, hope, and love, everything changes. He came so that we don...

When your Christmas is starting to feel messy and complicated, it's important for us to remember that the circumstances when Jesus came into this world were messy and complicated. We can learn from the Christmas story that Jesus shows up in the middle of the mess.

The Christmas season is all about joy and peace and hope, but sometimes the Christmas season just doesn't feel that way. Sure, everything around you can be decorated beautifully, but when it comes to your home life, what's happening at school, or even what you feel inside of you, this Christmas season doesn't feel all that joy filled. So when it seems like this Christmas season is getting a little...