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 What If You Are Just Born To Sin?
If a person is born in to a home with successful, well rounded parents, is he guaranteed that same success?
If a person is born in to a family where divorce has occurred, is he destined to find the same fate?
If a teenager has parents, aunts, uncles and even older siblings who are criminals, is he destined to live a life of crime too? If a teenager was incarcerated and looked you in the eye and asked this question, how would you answer him? It happened to me.
Recently, I was leading a Bible study at the Indianapolis Juvenile Detention Center and was explaining the concept of God's unique plan for our life. Psalm 139 teaches that even while we were in the darkest place of our mother's womb, God's plan was developing for our future. I was speaking to a room filled with teenage boys and hands began to shoot up. One boy asked, "If God's plan is so specific is it possible that He chose some people to be born in to a family where they will be destined to a life of crime?" I immediately understood the logic. If my uncles, my dad and my big brother are all criminals, am I destined to live the same way? Another teenager jumped in and asked, "If there is this great plan God has, where do I go to find it? Where does the path start?"
This summer my family visited Turkey Run State Park here in Indiana. It is a beautiful place with some amazing scenery. The trails are marked by number. We had a map but I think it stayed in my back pocket most of the afternoon. I just know that we "winged it" and picked trails to hike without really knowing what we were getting in to. We ended up on a very long, very rugged trail as a family and my kids have yet to let me and their mother forget it! Teenagers in flip flops and rugged trails don't go together very well!
What these teenage boys wanted to know was what we needed to know about the trails at Turkey Run. Where does the path begin and what can I really expect? Am I destined to fail before I even start? Are there any guarantees?
Here's how I answered. First of all, we were all born destined to sin. Everyone of us was born in to the world as a sinner and "bent toward sin." Second, the only way to change that is to follow God's path which begins with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. At the end of the Bible study 10 teenage boys asked Christ to be their Savior. They found the path, but that's just the beginning.
Please pray for a new ministry endeavor to launch a mentoring program at the Indianapolis Juvenile Detention Center. I have been asked to take a lead role in recruiting, training and implementing the mentoring program. We really need about 100 mentors as soon as possible. I am currently approaching Indianapolis area churches to recruit mentors. These relationships will provide a key connection for troubled youth to find exposure to the kind of difference Christ can make in a person's life.
Ken Turner
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Check out my website for ministry updates.
God uses people but the results are up to Him. Thank you for prayerfully partnering with me. Donations can be made online at www.kenturnerministries.org or by mail at the ministry address below.
Sincerely,
Ken Turner
Ken Turner Ministries
PO Box 460
Zionsville, IN 46077
317-769-5753
www.kenturnerministries.org
www.highimpactteens.com
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