I had the privilege last week of being the guest speaker for the DTS (discipleship training school) at the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) Las Vegas base. I had the responsibility of teaching 12 lectures Monday through Thursday on the "Noblesse Oblige". It was a lot of work but very worth it.
Las Vegas: aka "Sin City" or "Lost Wages", as some like to call it is an interesting place. It is a crazy place somewhat like the New Testament city of Corinth where the apostle Paul encountered all sorts of debauchery and hedonism. There really is nothing new under the sun. Mankind has always had two paths to fulfillment: Self-Centered rebellion or Self-Righteous religion. Las Vegas just prides its self on its openness to feeding the Self-Centered hedonistic ways of humanity. Las Vegas is a place that is the antithesis of 1 John 2:15-17:
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." NIV
On the other hand is there not a more strategic place for a Christ-follower to be than in the middle of a place where broken people are looking for God in all the wrong places? If Jesus would have lived in our day I'm sure he would have found his way to Vegas to talk to the outcast, the broken, the rich, the stripper, the gambler, and the drunk (Matthew 9:10-13, Matthew 11:19). Jesus was always found with the broken and the broken were always attracted to Jesus.
As my wife and I drove the first day we got to Vegas we were shocked at 50 or so homeless people living under the under pass a block or so from the base. People were sleeping on the sidewalk. What an eye-opener. The base is located in a rough part of town.
The students have signed up for 12 weeks of daily discipleship that consists of communal living, Bible lectures, outreach to locals, much prayer, and servant hood. At the end of the 12 weeks the students will have formed a team that will go and share the love of Jesus to people who are less fortunate and spiritually lost without Christ. But even more than that, they will be marked for life by the bonds of unity Christ will form in each of them by them pursuing and living out their "Noblesse Oblige" (French for Noble obligation).
I am proud to know each one of them. They picked a difficult place to do their training. I am even more proud of their leaders who serve them and serve with them everyday. My prayer for all of them is found in Romans 15:5-6:
"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. "NIV
Thank you YWAM Las Vegas. You taught me more than I taught you. You reminded me what its all about.
