So what do you believe & MERRY CHRISTMAS

On Sunday (12/23/07) we brought it all together for the high school group. For weeks we have been studying the identity of Christ and what that means for us today. Once again, I encourage you to take a look back if you are unfamiliar. (You can click on the "foundations" tag under any of the blogs for this study to bring those up exclusively). With the high schoolers, I had them write down what they believe it means to be a Christian, with interesting results.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, celebrating with family and friends. I hope the meaning of Christmas was not lost, or looked over, as it was for so many people roughly 2,000 years ago. Strangely enough, a similar situation took place a year ago. Josh Bell, one of the finest violinists in the world, dressed down to give an incognito performance in a DC metro station. Over 1,000 people walked by him that morning and only a handful stopped for a few minutes and/or donated money in his violin case. You can see the reflection on this event here. The reflection also has a link to the original Washington Post article where the reflection came from.

Although you can argue the reasons why Josh Bell went unrecognized and deny that his performance has similarities to God's incarnate arrival here on earth. A manger. Swaddling clothes. Unnoticed by most of the world. Instead on this Christmas and the rest ignored, you can't, let's try and do what the shepherds did when they witnessed the birth of Christ- worship God and tell others.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Tonight, we saw the second National Treasure movie with Nicolas Cage. It was a very good sequel. It did not disappoint- yea know, like Pirates 2, Ocean's 12, etc., hehe. I recommend watching it for everyone. There was a strong theme throughout the movie of fighting/doing whatever it takes for your country and for your family. That may come up in a bible study later on...

Review part 2

We finished reviewing our Foundations series with the high school group last Sunday (12/16/07). We had a lot to go through. All things that apply the Christian faith to us today. This included God's Word, prayer, fellowship/community, the Holy Spirit, and going out into the world and serving. We reviewed right from the previous blogs so I encourage you to take a look at those.

water park

Last Friday (12/14/07) we had a great fellowship event swimming at the Coco Key Water Resort, which is part of the Sheraton Hotel in Arlington Heights. This was a joint fellowship activity with the Meadows youth group, whom we share the same church building with. More events like these need to happen. It can get pretty monotonous with the same people in the same place all the time. I encourage you to read our fellowship/community blog to see why this is an important thing. Much thanks to DB for setting this up.

Review- part 1

This past Sunday (12/9/07) we started to review our Foundations series. And why is that? Because we are going to each make a personal statement of who we believe Jesus is and where we are at with our faith.

We went over the first three weeks regarding different aspects of Jesus. That includes the Holy Trinity, His teachings, and His miracles. I encourage you to look back at those blogs to go over what we have been talking about.

A new addition to the latter topic was a film clip from The Karate Kid Part II. At the beginning of the film, Mr. Miyagi ends a fight between Kreese, the instructor for the Cobra Kai dojo, and Johnny, who just lost to Daniel at the end of the first movie. After putting the fear back into Kreese, Mr. Miyagi lets him go for his dishonorable actions after losing.

"You could have killed him, couldn't you have?" Daniel asked.
"Ai," Mr. Miyagi replies.
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because Daniel-san, a person with no forgiveness in heart, live in even worse punishment than death."

Do you agree? I do. In order to free yourself you have to forgive those who sin against you. After all, our Heavenly Father forgives us of all of our sins. Therefore, we need to do the same.

Lead by Serving

There is a great leadership blog that I regularly read by author Orrin Woodward. Lots of valuable input, often using historical figures as examples. In this particular blog, Orrin references a couple passages from a book called The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader. He goes over a few key points, such as the important of teamwork and how a community will have conflicts. I encourage you to read that blog here.

Have you ever been part of a team or group that was a strong community? We can pull a lot of examples from our culture, especially sports teams- the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, the championship Bulls teams, etc. A long-lasting band such as U2 is also a good example. How about in your own life? What makes any of these groups a strong community? How are you contributing to building up that community?

Our part in building that community has to be done with humility. Jesus describes the greatest love one person can have for another in a particular way in John 15:13. One that is completely selfless, and would risk his/her own life for another. That's the kind of love we need!

blessings

Go out into the world...

....or atleast your community. This morning we looked at how we can fulfill the Great Commission in our own lives. There was quite a bit of music. Atleast more than usual. We listened to Audio Adrenaline's "Hands and Feet" and "AKA Public School", as well as Casting Crowns' "If We Are the Body". We also ended up singing "Hands and Feet" during our worship time.

Sharing the Good News with the world is not all that difficult. Just a willing heart to share what the Lord has done for you. Keep these 3 points in mind:

1) Have compassion on others- Don't treat non-believers as inferior, or as projects. By projects, I mean people you show the love of God to where your only objective is getting them saved. Certainly we want people to come to know the love of God and accept Jesus Christ as Savior, but that can't be the only objective. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus says to love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. AND- love your neighbor as yourself.

2) Be prepared to speak up- Remember when we almost did that skit? Everyone should have a testimony of what God has done in their own life. When the time comes and you have an opportunity to answer someone or share about your faith, be ready and have the courage to speak up. Why? Because we have a great hope, as it says in I Peter 3:15.

3) Allow the Holy Spirit to touch the world through you- They say the greatest enemy of being "great" is "good." Don't blend into the crowd. Strive to be different and live a holy life, as it says in 2 Timothy 2:15.

Know what you believe. Come to a deeper understanding of your faith by trusting more in Jesus Christ. Live out what you believe (there is no room for hyprocrisy!) Develop a habit of serving people with the same attitude of humility that Jesus had (John 13:1-17). My prayer is that we would all grow in these areas.

blessings


***much of the input from this lesson is from the book Faith That Breathes by Michael Ross

Trusting God (even when it doesn't make sense)

Tonight we had a discussion based on a film clip from Minority Report. Now this movie is PG-13, dealing with murder and some sexual content so check with your folks to see if it is alright to see. We started off with a trust walk. One youth leads another that is blindfolded around the church using only voice commands to aid the blindfolded one. From there we went into our movie discussion which can be found at the Source for Youth Ministry site here.

Minority Report is a movie starring Tom Cruise set in the 2050s. He is the chief of police for an experimental pre-crime division in Washington DC. Three unique siblings called pre-cogs are able to see when people commit murder in the future. The catch comes when Tom Cruise is examining a future crime, and it turns out to be him murdering another man approximately two days in the future. So during that time he is on the run.

The particular scene we looked at has Cruise with one of the pre-cogs in the mall still on the run from his pre-crime division team. The pre-cog, Agatha, keeps telling Cruise's character, Jon Anderton, about certain people pass, to take certain things, go certain places, not go certain places, etc. One time Agatha had them stand completely in the middle of a large opening where they could easily be seen for almost a minute. Anderton is wondering why they are there and wants to run, but Agatha keeps him there just in time for a balloon salesman to come in front of them and block their view from the pre-crime team looking down from a floor above.

Do we empathize with the Jon Anderton character? When you see the clip, do you say, "Come on! Move!"? It is this kind of thinking that led to our discussion about trusting God, even when it doesn't make sense. Think about the last time you wre in a difficult situation. How did you react? Did you wonder if God was taking care of you at all? Why do you think it's difficult to see God taking care of you during difficult times?

There are many stories in the Bible that exemplify this idea. In fact, the Bible is arguably mainly about God seeing if His people will trust Him. The passage we looked at is 2 Kings 6:8-17. The King of Aram sent an army to where Elisha was because he led the king of Israel away from the Aramean army. Surrounded by a vast army, Elisha's servant was frightened until Elisha prayed to the Lord to open his servant's eyes, and then saw horses and chariots of fire.

Are you more like Elisha or his servant? I think most of us have felt more like the servant. It's easy to feel overwhelmed, but seeing God's hand working amidst the strife can better prepare us to deal with it. It's like the time Jesus was in a boat with His disciples when a fierce storm arose. Do you get frightened and panic, or believe that God will take care of the situation in the best way possible?

To close, I would like to quote a popular bible verse. But I encourage everyone to meditate on it and get a deeper meaning of it. It says in Romans 8:28- "And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose."

blessings

the Holy Spirit

We're still in our Foundations series, but we are nearing the end. This past Sunday (11/25/07) we looked at the Holy Spirit. First off, remember when we studied that Jesus Christ is a part of a Holy Trinity? The beginning of the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was there since the beginning of time. So was the Holy Spirit. You could describe the relationship of the Holy Spirit like saying, "me, myself, and I". You could also say it is like water with 3 different states- gas, liquid, solid. Neither quite does the trick, but they give you an idea.

Now keep in mind, there are atleast 100 Scripture passages that talk about or reference the Holy Spirit. Obviously we cannot look at all 0f them, but I believe we hit a pertinent few of those.A couple of those passages are in the Gospel of John. The first passage (14:25-27) teaches us an important thing. The Holy Spirit is there to teach us. To remind us of the teachings of Jesus. This was particularly important for His followers that were with Him while walking on this earth. Although they didn't quite understand what would happen, it would all make sense after Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected.

The second passage in John (16:12-15). Once again, it shows that the Holy Spirit will be a teacher, a guide. But it also reveals a bit of its character. It says the Spirit will bring glory to the Son. One of the roles of the Spirit is that of a servant. We bring Jesus Christ glory only through the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Whether it is worshipping Him in song, bringing Him glory through our job or schoolwork, or serving others. It is only the Holy Spirit working in our lives that lets us do so.

Next we looked at Romans 8:9-17. Here we mark the changes that happen in us as a result of the Holy Spirit. We are made alive. Our spirit is made alive. Fear does not control us (v 15). This is how we "have life, and have it to the full".

To finish off, we played a game called 2 Truths and a Lie. This is another type of get-to-know-you game, but it also illustrates a couple characteristics of the Holy Spirit. What you do is write down three statements about yourself. Obviously two of them are true and one of them is a lie. The point is not to make it obvious which one is a lie because the rest of the group guesses which one is the lie. You can do this in teams or just have everyone else guess if you have a small group.

Just as you discern what is truth and what is a lie, so does the Holy Spirit as you come to choices in your life. It also tells us about the knowledge the Holy Spirit can give us. The game has you make statements about yourself because obviously, you know the most about yourself. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, so it knows the most about God. The Holy Spirit is the best resource to learn more about who God is (I Cor 2:6-16).

I hope we all strive to live more according to the Holy Spirit to grow intimacy with God and give Him glory.

Fellowship/ Community

What a big topic for me personally! I try to get involved with a variety of communities whenever I can. At this church building, we are blessed to have three church communities. We rent space from Meadows Baptist Church, an English-speaking church. There is also a Spanish-speaking church that rents space. In addition to that, there is Meadows Community Services and Awana. My prayer is for there to be more opportunities for these different communities to spend more time together.

We looked at the way community worked in Acts 4:32-35. Then I brought up more points on community with games and a familiar movie clip. There are two major points I brought up from the passage in Acts. One is that the community was devoted to testifying of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's probably the most important thing of any Christian community. The rest of the passage combines into one big important aspect of community. They shared everything. Possessions and money were distributed to those who needed it. They spent time together each day so they knew each other.

The first game we played, Who's Your Neighbor, illustrates that last point in a playful way. The idea, of course, is knowing each other. I think any serious community needs to get together outside of their normal meeting place to get stronger. The second game we played is Whatever It Takes. Great game to illustrate a negative aspect of a community or group of people. Sometimes we alienate outsiders without even realizing it. In fact, that's just what was written about in a youth ministry ezine I read. Check out the article here.

Finally, we saw a familiar clip from Coach Carter. It is a PG-13 movie with language and other adult situations, but this scene has a good point in it. Timo Cruz attacked Coach Carter during his first meeting with the team. When we wants to get back on the team, Carter assigns 1000 suicides and 2500 pushups to be completed in a week's time. At the end of the week when he can't complete it, the other players step in to finish the assignment before Friday's practice is over. "You said we're a team...right. If one player struggles, we all struggle. If one player triumphs, we all triumph." I think that quote from Lyle (one of the teammates) says it all.

Outreach weekend

This past weekend before Thanksgiving, our church had an outreach event. It was a great success! Several people dedicated their lives to the Lord. The teaching was solid. Atleast that's what I heard since I was with the youth and kids the whole time!

On Friday night (11/16/07) we spent a good deal of time in the gym. We finally had our first official game of Scatterball, a crazy game of dodgeball where you can add several twists to it. It's a lot of fun with a lot of people. We had about 10 youth and 10 younger kids there. We used 4 balls.

Afterwards, I sat them down for a short devotional. With Thanksgiving coming up, I focused on that. What are we thankful for? Hopefully our family and friends. Our home and the food we eat. Possessions. It's good to be thankful for these things and people. But as believers, we must switch our focus to who provides these things and people. We must always be thankful to God for our family, friends, and possessions at all times, and especially around Thanksgiving. In 2 Chronicles 31, it talks about how King Hezekiah took away all obstacles to worshipping God. They devoted themselves to the Law of the Lord (v 4) and provided many sacrifices to the Lord.

I encourage everyone around Thanksgiving to do the same and devote themselves to the Lord. Thank Him for the blessings in your life. Spend quality time with family and friends.

prayer

I know many, many studies can be devoted to prayer, but last Sunday (11/11/07) we took a glimpse at it. This was by no means a complete study on prayer, but we looked at the Lord's Prayer and a couple of other things about it.

We first started in 2 Chronicles 33. This chapter refers to King Manasseh, someone who completely ignored God at first and did many evil things. We're talking about making altars to other gods, sacrificing his sons, witchcraft, and more. Manasseh and his people ignored God. But sometimes the Lord gets our attention in dramatic ways. He did so with King Manasseh by having the Assyrians capture him and do some amount of torture to him. Manasseh called upon the Lord and truly repented. It says in verse 13 that the "Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea."

We looked at the four different areas of prayer as well (praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition) and compared that with the Lord's prayer. Often when we pray, we just ask for what we want, or when we are in serious need or trouble, confess our sins. It's a habit to build up each area of prayer and remember to do them. And this is just the time when we talk. It is also very important to listen to God. This takes time to build up as well, and is something I need to work on.

I also used a couple games with the junior high kids to illustrate a couple of other points. We played the game telephone. That's where you pass on a message down the line by whispering and see what you have by the time it reaches the last person. You can only whisper so the person next to you can hear, and you can only say it once. Often times, it produces hilarious results! The connection is this. No longer are priests or any in-between people needed to talk to God. In the Old Testament, the high priest was the only one allowed to enter in the presence of God in the tabernacle. And this was only once a year after long, elaborate cleansing rituals. But now, as it says in Hebrews, we have Jesus as the great high priest who allows us to talk directly with God.

Next we played pictionary. Where you have an object to draw, and your teammates try to guess what it is. This is a little bit of a looser connection, but prayer is one of the ways we can see what God is doing- in our own lives and the world. I'm a very interested in the big picture. Through prayer, reading God's Word, and fellowship with other believers we can grasp a better understanding of what God is doing.

God longs to hear our prayers. He tells us in Luke, that we do not have because we do not ask. And when we do ask, we must be patient for answers. God knows what is best for us and wants to bless us. But sometimes we cannot see the big picture as He can. God only answers in 3 ways- yes, no, not now. It's kind of like the person who prayed, "Lord give me patience and give it to me now!" Doesn't quite work that way. Waiting is where we build our character. Waiting is where God sees if we will be persistent with our prayers and depend on Him.

accountable to our actions

Last Friday (11/9/07) we had a very pleasant surprise. One of the youth brought in their Nintendo Wii and it's just too much fun not to play! That took up quite a bit of our time. In between playing sessions though, we followed up on actions that we discussed the previous Friday and talked a bit about accountability.

You can refer to our earlier blog called "our actions" to read about what we did the previous week, but in short, they obviously mean much. We referred to a short passage in James and also took the time to think of specific actions to serve people in our home, church, school, and neighborhood.

We revisited those actions. I challenged the youth to pick one action in one of those categories that they are willing to do this week. And I encouraged them being accountable to each other. I will be calling them during the week, but my hope is that they will encourage each other when they see each other. And I said they can challenge and encourage me to make sure I follow through.

Accountability is important in the community of believers. We are not meant to go through this journey alone. In fact, we will be talking about community this upcoming Sunday (11/18). It says in Proverbs, amongst other places, how much more a group of believers can do together as opposed to someone alone.

So let's grow together. Let's encourage one another. Let's build this community at church and youth group.

a whole variety of things

On Sunday (11/4/07) we tied up some loose ends from last week. For the high school class, we finished up our discussion of God's Word from last week. What is amazing is how much science has helped to uncover facts from biblical history. I encourage everyone to search (google or another search engine) "bible archaeology". There are a number of websites that pose answers to the validity of the Bible. Some examples are the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the sons of Jacob being tribal leaders.

Another example is the Battle of Jericho. Here is an excerpt from the teaching I received on this topic:
"In Joshua 6, we read about the God causing the walls to fall down in the Battle of Jericho. During the excavations of Jericho (1930-1936) they found something so startling that a statement of what was found was prepared and signed by the team. “The main fact, then, there remains no doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely that the attackers would be able to clamber up and over their ruins into the city.’ Why so unusual? Because the walls of cities do not fall outwards, they fall inwards. And yet in Joshua 6:20 we read ‘. . . The wall fell flat, so that the people went up into the city every man straight ahead, and they took the city.’ The walls were made to fall outward.”

Pretty neat, huh?

For jr. high, we laid out some ground rules and shared ideas on how to make the class more interactive and engaging. Setting down some rules is definitely something I should have done at first. I certainly learned my lesson. But the point is we are all (youth, parents, and myself) taking steps to make this bible study class a better experience for everyone. I think that's a step in the right direction.

our actions

This past Friday (11/2/07) we had a discussion about the importance of our actions using a clip from the film, Batman Begins. The clip features a conversation between Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) and his childhood friend, Rachel Dawes (played by Katie Holmes). Afterwards, we had a short discussion and an activity on thinking of actions that would help those around us. You can find the full study at The Source for Youth Ministry website here.

Bruce is leaving a hotel with a couple of lady friends and being arrogant. They were being disrespectful and Bruce's response to one of the employees was writing a check to buy the hotel. While exiting, he runs into Rachel, clearly embarrassed by how he looks (his suit is wet from jumping into the hotel decoration pool with his friends). The main line at the end of this movie clip is when Rachel says to Bruce, "It's not who you are underneath... it's what you do that defines you."

Some questions based on this scene:
1) Have you ever seen anyone doing something they shouldn't have, and they get busted?
2) Have you gotten busted for doing something you shouldn't have?
3) Why do we try and explain when we get busted?
4) How powerful are our actions?

The main idea with question 3 is that we try and explain that this is not how we are usually like. We are better then that. Everyone agreed that our actions are powerful and can speak louder than words. We then looked at James 2:14-17, which speaks about this topic. Another important point is that as Christians, we are defined by the love of God, not our actions. Our actions are still huge, but they are an outpouring of the identity we receive from God, as it says in the bible passage from James.

We closed by doing an activity in silence. What are ways we can make the people around us better? In timed intervals, each youth sat and wrote down ways that they can use actions to build the community and improve the lives of people at their home, school, church, and neighborhood.

Actions speak louder than words. It is my prayer that we all think and act on ways to improve the community around us and bless others.

God's Word... and making changes

We started a study on the importance of God's Word this past Sunday (10/28/07). The first question to ask is what does the Bible mean to you? Is it just a nice story book? Does it just have some good practical advice? Are those stories true? Are they relevant today? Is it reliable? I believe it is all that and more.

We looked at a couple different passages relating to the how Scripture applies to our lives and discussed whether it was something we believed or not. One such passage was Hebrews 4:12, where is compares Scripture to a double-edged sword. It can certainly do that. Lift someone up and encourage them as living holy lives but also call people out on their sins. The way Jesus interacted with individuals could certainly be described this way depending on who He was talking to.

Another passage is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. And these verses tell us the real importance of Scripture.


D. L. Moody probably said it best: "The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives." Sure there is no harm in learning about the different characters and books of the Bible. But unless it is read personally and changes us, we are missing the point.


We didn't get too much beyond that. I really feel some changes needed to be made with Sunday School class. The environment has not been the most conducive to learning as much as we can, letting Scripture engage us as much as it can, and letting it change us. So we are all taking a week to pray and think about what we want to get out of this and putting it down on paper. Then we will form a covenant to follow, which is something that I think every group should do, whether it is at church, a sports team, organization, or whatever. Be praying for us as we go through this uncomfortable, difficult time.

Commitment

Last Friday, we talked about commitment. This was very influenced by a message I recently heard at Harvest Bible Chapel. There is a passage in Luke 9 where Jesus deals with commitment with three different guys.

The first guy approaches Jesus and says, "I will follow you wherever you go" (v. 57). It doesn't seem like a bad opening statement to make to Jesus for several reasons: 1) The guy recognized that he is the follower. 2) He knew that Jesus was the one he should be following. And 3) The guy said he would follow "wherever you (Jesus) go." And what is Jesus' response? At the end he says "...the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" (v. 58). Basically meaning that it will be difficult to commit to the statement he just made.

Jesus Christ approached the second man and said, "Follow me" (v. 59). This is different than the first guy. The second guy's response in verse 60 is up for debate. Was his father dead yet? Is he actually referring to his father or implying something else? Whether or not his father is involved is not the main point. The main point is that he was place something else more important than following Jesus. Jesus addressed this in his answer in verse 60.

Like the second guy, the third one place something else (in this case, positively his family) as more important than following Jesus (v. 61-62). Commitment. That is something that not a lot of people, atleast here in the U.S. like to do these days. Pastor MacDonald at Harvest compared it to a flame. It's not what starts the fire. Professing your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and in His redeeming work on the cross is what starts the fire. Commitment is more like adding some alcohol or tabasco sauce. As long as it's there, it will really make the fire huge and burn bright. It reminds me of a few of Jesus' other teachings about light and being a city on a hill.

This is true whether one is talking about their commitment to God, family, friends, or any group or team. It is my prayer that we may apply it to every important area of our lives.

the miracles

On Sunday (10/14/07) we looked at various miracles that Jesus Christ performed. He performed a lot. Most of them were healings but there were a few others. There were different kinds of healings also- physical condition, demon-possessed, and restoring to life. Another category is the wide range of miracles I place under nature. And finally, Jesus healed spiritual sickness. Once again, we split up into two different groups and had the high school teach 5 miracles to the jr. high youth. I tried to include a variety of miracles for both groups to look at.

Although a few of these miracles have lessons in them, the main lesson I shared with everyone is when Jesus healed a paralyzed man in Matthew 9:1-8. This one is huge, in my opinion, because Jesus demonstrates that He has the authority to forgive sins. Not only does He cure this man of physical illness, but spiritually also. And for what reason? If Jesus was just an ordinary man, then how could this paralytic have sinned against Him after meeting for just the first time? No. Since Jesus is the Son of God, He can forgive anyone of any sins, because all sins are against God, in addition to ones that are committed against other people too. One of the strongest claims for Jesus' divinity is here in this passage- with the authority to forgive.

Here is a list of the rest of the miracles we looked over:


Mt 8:5-13 centurion demonstrates faith
Mt 8:28-34 heals 2 demon-possessed men
Mt 9:27-34 heals blind and mute; Pharisees say it is by demons
Mt 12:9-14 heals on Sabbath; Pharisees begin to plot to kill Jesus
Mt 14:13-21 feeds 5,000
Mt 14:22-33 walk on water
Mt 17:14-21 heals demon-possessed boy while the disciples could not
Lk 13:10-17 heals crippled woman on Sabbath

blessings

keeping your word

Last Friday (10/12/07) we had a devotional about making oaths and keeping our word. Before that, we played an old childhood game that I loved playing back in the day. One person is "it" and goes on a line. The rest of the players line up on a line across from who's it about 15 feet away. The person who's "it" has to think of a movie title, TV show, or band name, then tells everyone the initials. Whoever guesses the correct name races with the person who is it to the opposite line and back to where they started. Whoever wins gets to be "it" next. It's a bit shaky when the game is new for everyone, but after awhile, you get in sync with the movies, shows, and music that people are entertained by.

Afterwards, we had our bible study lesson. We flipped to an interesting story in the middle of Judges about a man named Jephthah. Basically, he makes an oath to the Lord saying that if he wins in battle against the Ammonites, whatever comes to greet him out of his house upon returning will be sacrificed and offered to the Lord. Well, turns out his only daughter comes out to meet him when he returns.

There is a debate about whether Jephthah actually sacrifices his daughter. Did he consider a person might come out to greet him? Did he not consider human sacrifice a sin along with the pagan religions of his area? He was a leader of the Jews so didn't he know that God's law forbade it? Verse 39 also makes it confusing because it stresses that she was a virgin, meaning he may not have killed her. After all, why would God honor a vow that went against His laws? But is also says that "he did to her as he had vowed" in the same verse. That, along with next verse, makes me think he went through with the vow and sacrificed his daughter.

All this goes to say we should watch what we promise, vow, and even say. What does Jesus say about this? During his Sermon on the Mount he preaches about vows (Mt 5:33-37). He says do not swear at all (v. 34). It all comes down to being a person of your word. That makes a person of integrity. If we say we'll do something and we do it ("let our 'yes' be 'yes'") then we wouldn't have to emphasize something we really mean to do with an oath or promise. Just watch what you say. That is my prayer for us all.

the teachings of Jesus

For part 2 of our Foundations of Faith series we looked at several of Jesus' teachings. We looked mostly in Matthew, but included a few more from Luke and John. Then we discussed the big themes of what Jesus was saying.

It is probably easier just to go through the various topics. Each topic is linked to the specific bible passage we went over. The topics ranged from repenting, to the beatitudes, settling quarrels, loving your enemies, prayer, money, worry, asking from the Lord, looking down on others, reconciling with your brother, humility, and the greatest commandment.

A good point was brought up in our high school class. In the passage with the Parable of the Lost Sheep, it sounds as if God is saying he loves those who come back to Him after being lost. And with the ones who remain faithful their whole lives, He is just like, "whatever." Not the case though. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God loves some more than others- those who are more faithful or not. I didn't bring this up in class but if you remember when we studied the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Mina, there is a greater reward in heaven for those who bear more fruit through their serving. You can find that blog here.

There is no doubt that Jesus Christ was a great teacher while here on earth. I wanted to get at the big things though. What are three of the big messages that he was saying, just in regards to His teachings? (His miracles and claims to divinity is our lesson next week.)

The first two big messages I believe are found in John 15. The first section has Jesus making the analogy between Himself and His followers with a vine and its branches. Without Him, we cannot bear fruit. It doesn't say we cannot do good in the world. Those are two different things. This passage goes along with the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34-40. Our relationship to Jesus Christ must be our #1 priority in life. We must believe in Him, first of all, and then strive to be closer to Him. That is the only way we will bear fruit.

The second big message follows in verses 12-17. We must show love to others. As a few of the teachings earlier say, we must even love our enemies and put others' needs before our own. In order to be great in the eyes of Jesus, we must lead a life of humility and serve others before ourselves.

So what does this add up to? I believe these teachings add up to the life that a Christ-follower should live that is very different from the world. One that is the least self-centered, least glory-seeking, and anxious about how we will be taken care of. After all, if God cares for the "birds" and the "lilies of the field," will He not care for you?

Vikings vs Saxons

No, I'm not talking about a period film. Last Friday we went to the highly anticipated Fremd vs. Schaumburg high school football game. It was quite a game, with Fremd coming out on top. Also worthy to note were the incredible amount of pink t-shirts worn to bring awareness and support those with breast cancer, as well as honor a mother who just passed away from breast cancer. All four of her sons played on the Fremd high school football team.

Foundations of Faith pt 1

This past Sunday, 10/1/07, we began our new series. This first half will be on the identity of Jesus. The second half will be about applications to the life of a Christian as a result. This first lesson was about how Jesus has been around since the beginning. So we touched on the Holy Trinity and looked over creation.

John 1:1-5 tells us this first fact, that Jesus is not someone who was just around for 33 years on earth. But rather, as part of a Holy Trinity that has always existed. And what is this Holy Trinity? It's not found in the Bible at all, but a Christian doctrine used to explain the existence of three parts of God existing as one. It's kind of like saying "me, myself, and I" except God (being God) can split those parts of Himself up.

So where was Jesus Christ when not on earth? Well, with God the Father up in heaven. When Jesus Christ came to earth, he put off the authority, power, and glory that He had in heaven (look at Philippians 2). After his resurrection and appearances to disciples and hundreds of others, He went back to be with God the Father.

So we went back to the beginning. THE beginning, hehe. If you don't know, there are actually two creation stories in the first couple chapters of Genesis. It may be a different version or perhaps just a summary. A way of God saying, "This is important! Pay attention to this!" Either way, it is this second account that mentions the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which leads to the first sin.

So God created the heavens and the earth. He created everything, including you! So He knows everything about you and designed you for a specific purpose. Once again, I used a segment from the book A Faith That Breathes as well as a paragraph from the first chapter of The Purpose Driven Life. Both of these passages make a point that, although, God created the heavens and earth and everyone, He (Jesus) had you specifically in mind for a particular task. I hope that shows everyone the range of how God has made all of this complex creation, yet still has the capacity to have a plan for each person.

Jonah

For youth group on Friday, 9/28/07, we did an overview of the book of Jonah. Jonah is a prime example of someone given a second chance by God, like quite a few characters in the Bible.

At the beginning, Jonah, is commanded by the Lord to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Instead , Jonah ran away towards Tarshish, to the west. Nineveh is approximately 500 miles northeast of Israel. As you can see, Jonah does not follow directions very well. Jonah ends up on a ship amidst a violent storm. Everyone is freaking out except for Jonah, who is able to fall into a deep sleep for some reason. The sailors end up casting lots to find out who is guilty. Lo and behold, it falls on Jonah! Jonah jumps ship, ends up in the middle of a big fish for 3 days, and finally makes it to Nineveh. He preaches and the whole country ends up repenting. And Jonah gets angry by that! That's the basic layout of Jonah. Now into some of the main points and details.

Why didn't Jonah rejoice over the repenting of Nineveh? First, it seems strange that a whole city of over 100,000 would do that, with the full support and decree of the king. Yet that is what happens, and it is legit. Chapter 4 is where Jonah expresses his anger over this. Why? It is jealousy, or something like it. Jonah, along with a whole lot of other Jews, believed God's message of salvation was just for them. Sharing it with a pagan nation was not what Jonah had in mind, yet that's what God called him to do. That's what God called Isreal to do- that is, bless the rest of the world.

Take Jonah's attitude and compare it to the sailors in the boat, who were pagan. The sailors in the boat did not follow the Lord God, yet they seemed to have more compassion for Jonah than Jonah had for the Ninevites (1:4-17). They didn't want to throw him overboard. They tried to row back to shore. As a last resort, they threw Jonah overboard, and the sea immediately grew calm. So through Jonah's disobedience, the Lord used it let sailors come to know Him.

In the big fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord (Ch. 2). This is a prayer of thanksgiving for not drowning. Let's not forget that Jonah is inside a fish! Despite his circumstances, he seems very calm during the prayer. He is certainly in no position to bargain with God. As in, "well if you save me from the fish, I'll preach to Nineveh." But seeing that God delivered Him from the storm, Jonah thanks the Lord and has faith that He will save him from the fish and vows to do what he promised to God.

Do you feel like you have messed up and therefore, God doesn't want to use you anymore? Be assured that way of thinking is wrong. God gives us, like Jonah, second chances.

beginning of new series: Foundations of Faith

Last Sunday morning, 9/23/07, I went over with the jr. and sr. high groups what we will be doing for the next couple of months. Foundations of our faith series will go over two broad topics. 1) Who Jesus is and 2) What that means for us as Christians today.

The first half we will study the character of Jesus. His teachings and miracles. How He is part of the Holy Trinity. The crucifixion and resurrection. Was He really who He claimed to be? Was He crazy? It won't nearly be an exhaustive study of Jesus, but will cover quite a bit of ground on who He was and is.

The second half we will apply what being a Christian means today. We will go over the importance of things like prayer and learning God's Word. Also, what is fellowship? How is service part of being a Christian?

I may send some readings ahead of time for the youth to go over before class. Please try and go over these ahead of time! It won't be a lot of reading. And it will make the class go much more smoothly. Also, pray about the sr. high helping to teach the jr. high. This will be beneficial in multiple ways.

I am quite excited about this new series coming up and I pray it will deepen all of our faith. blessings

the foundation of Dots and skewers

On Friday, 9/21/07, we had a large gathering as everyone was at the church for the celebration. So we did an activity on foundations, that's very analagous to what we will be doing on Sunday mornings.

We divided up into 3 groups and each group got a bunch of Dots candy and skewers. The goal? To create the highest structure that could stand on its own for 30 seconds. After 5 minutes of planning, supplies were given out.

Group dynamics were interesting, as I intentionally divided up some friends who wanted to be in the same group. I gave them 20 minutes to build. See pictures for results. Group 3 clearly came out on top.


After the activity, we had a devotional on our foundation. In I Kings 6:11-13, God speaks to Solomon, who is in charge of building this magnificent temple for the Lord. Up until that point, the Israelites were not settled in one spot and used more portable, less than stellar places for worship. Obviously, the foundation of a structure is the most important part. If that is not solid, the building will most likely fall. On top of that, God makes a promise to Solomon that He will not abandon His people if Solomon keeps the commandments and regulations. Basically, obedience is the key.

We find this to be just as true in the New Testament. One of the most popular passsages on this is found in Luke 6:46-49. Hearing Jesus' words and putting them into practice is obedience to God for us as Christians.

I said earlier that this is analagous to what we will be doing on Sunday mornings because we are about to start a series on foundations of our faith. More details on that later.

practice day

On Sunday, 9/16/07 we worked on a skit and songs for the 30th Anniversary celebration for the church. We didn't end up doing the skit, but we sang some nice worship songs. such as "Come Now is the Time to Worship" and "One Pure and Holy Passion".

an age thing

On Friday 9/14/07 we watched Rocky Balboa. This character resembles a biblical character named Caleb a lot. Here's how...


There's a point in the movie where everybody is questioning why Rocky wants to come back and do a boxing match. Among the reasons, Rocky says there is something more in him, "in his basement," that he needs to get out. "What? You haven't peaked yet?" asks Paulie. At first, it sounds a bit weird and maybe childish. But let's compare him to a biblical character named Caleb:

10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said." (Joshua 14:10-12)
Mark Gorman, a speaker I like very much, talked about this passage once. Basically, he opened up saying, "Here's a guy, 85, willing to pick a fight." Despite the differences, I see two men here with very similar hearts- Rocky and Caleb. Rocky, in his late 50s (pushing 60 shortly) wanting to get back into the ring. Caleb, not weary from battles and just plain wandering around in the desert for 40 years, at age 80, ready for battle.

I always tell people that age is a mental state of being. And that I would not tell people I feel old until I'm atleast 80. Well now with Caleb in the picture it looks like I have to wait until I'm atleast 85. When my friends tell me they are getting old I just laugh at them because it's ridiculous! 45 years since he surveyed the land, Caleb claims he is still as strong and ready to fight for it.

So what's in your basement? The day you quit battling for something, you're dead. So what should you fight for? Find what you are passionate about. Find wherever God wants you to serve and whatever God wants you to fight for. Because when you stop fighting, you might as well "lie down and pick out what flowers you want," as Mark Gorman says. Don't settle for mediocrity or status quo. Learn who you are, what you are called to do, and fight for it.

finishing up Jacob (finally) and starting Joseph

We're just going right down to the next generation. Joseph is one of Jacob's kids that he had with Rachel. Before we get to him though, we went through the last pivotal scene where Jacob finally meets up with Esau again after 20+ years, starting in Genesis 33.

Now Jacob, understandably so, thinks Esau is still angry with him. So he "butters him up" so to speak by sending his workers with some of his flock ahead of him to give as gifts to Esau. When he approaches Esau, he bows to the ground seven times before meeting him as a sign of respect and asking for forgiveness. And what does Esau do? He embraces Jacob! It's reunion. A time of redemption for the relationship between the two brothers. Time has a way of healing hurts. It certainly does for me. For the average hurt, all I need is a good night sleep to calm me down and forgive the other person. How does time work for you?

After eating and spending the night together, Jacob's family and Esau's family parted ways, and that's the last we hear of them together. So it's on to Joseph. We started this off by watching the first half of the VeggieTales episode "The Ballad of Little Joe," which is based on Joseph's life. Despite changing details around to gear it more towards kids, it follows the biblical account very well, as do the other VeggieTales videos. Jacob loves Joseph more than his other children and gives him a richly ornamented robe. His brothers get jealous and sell him into slavery and trick their father, Jacob, into thinking Joseph is dead.

Horrible. It seems like none of the siblings can get along. But as we shall see, God will use this for good...

Wisdom

Many lessons, bible studies, and discussions can be spent on wisdom. We just scratched the surface based on a passage in I Corinthians. This was our bible study/devotional for Friday, September 7, 2007.

If you look in I Corinthians 2:6-16, it goes into the differences between the wisdom of the age and the wisdom of the Spirit. Earthly vs. spiritual wisdom. We first started with a brief discussion about earthly wisdom, and how this wisdom ends up on some popular slogans. Phrases like "just do it" from Nike and "be all you can be" from the Army are well-known. But about other ones, such as in corporate America? We hear that it's very cutthroat. "Look out for #1." Stuff like that. How does that compare with wisdom of the Spirit?

Well first off, the wisdom of the Spirit is a secret! Unknown until after Christ's death and resurrection. And that secret? That God's love and salvation would be opened up to the Gentiles also. That's why it says in verse 8 that if the Roman and Jewish leaders understood it at the time, they would not have crucified Him. This is a big concept to take in. I definitely encourage meditating on this verse.

And finally, what is the feeling you get from verse 9? Hopefully it's a big refreshing feeling. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ now, and you cannot even imagine the outcome- it will be that great. My prayer is that we learn to love and trust the Lord more everyday.

blessings

Jacob and Esau part 3

Just trying to plow through more of this story. I think it's interesting to see where biblical characters end up during their faith journeys. We went through Genesis 29-31 that Sunday morning, 9/2/07.

At the beginning of Genesis 29 we find Jacob arriving in Paddan Aram. He finds his mother, Rebekah's, brother, Laban, first by finding his daughter, Rachel. Jacob stays and works for Laban for Rachel's hand in marriage. Usually a husband provides a substantial financial gift to the bride's family for taking her out of her parents' home. Since Jacob doesn't have much money, he decides to work for 7 years instead. Here's the trick: after the 7 years, Jacob asks for Rachel's hand in marriage, but somehow, Laban secretly gives him his older daughter, Leah, in marriage. How this happens and Jacob doesn't know is a mystery. Maybe Jacob was too drunk too realize. We don't know. So Jacob decides to work another 7 years for Rachel's hand in marriage. It's funny that the man who deceived so well earlier in his life, is now being deceived by his uncle.

After that is the bearing children competition between Leah and Rachel. Jacob simply loved Rachel right from the start. But when Leah started having children and not Rachel, she got jealous. So after multiple children with 3 mothers: Leah, her maidservant Zilpah, and Rachel's maidservant, Bilhah, God finally granted children to Rachel. There is a lesson we can learn here. Rachel got jealous over Leah when she started bearing children. But Jacob's love and devotion to Rachel did not depend on her having children. Jacob just loved her. Similarly, God just loves us as we are, regardless of our abilities and good deeds.

Then Jacob decides to leave Laban. The Lord blessed Laban while Jacob was around by greatly increasing his flock. Jacob made an arrangement with Laban to take the spotted or speckled goats and dark-colored lambs. He also did some nonsense trick that the last offspring born before Jacob left would be streaked, spotted, or speckled. He only did this with the strong animals. The point is that the Lord was with Jacob and provided him a strong flock.

In Genesis 31, Jacob flees with his family and livestock. Laban pursues him. After finally meeting up and talking about it, they made peace. They ate together, spent the night, and then parted ways.

Salt Films

One of my youth pastors in high school lived in the West Bank in Palestine with his wife for about 3 1/2 years. They got to know a lot of the Christians living in this pre-dominantly Muslim area. As a result, a documentary film was made with 10 different 15-20 minute segments. We watched one of these segments for our film discussion on Sunday 9/2/07. I encourage everyone to check out the website when they can for Salt Films. I hope the link works. I'm having trouble going to the website today but it usually works fine. Just let me know if you'd like me to send you the student guide sheet that went along with this segment.

The segment we watched is called "The Way." Here we see a college student named Sylvia and the struggles she goes through to travel back and forth from school to home. She also talks about being the minority Christian student in her classes. It's a great lesson in perseverance after hearing the struggles she goes through to travel to school. It would ordinarily take 20 minutes to drive but because of the blockades the Israeli army has set up, they have to take long, winding trips through mountains. It can take as long as 5-7 hours! And sometimes they cannot get through depending on the soldiers' very inconsistent rules.

Being part of a Christian minority also has its difficulties, but they did not seem as bad as the struggles with the blockades. She has a Muslim roommate and they get along fine. She's one of the few Christians in her college, and definitely the only one in the class the video showed.

Now read Hebrews 12:1-3. If you face struggles and are a minority, you should not feel like you are alone. God is with you and you are surrounded by "a cloud of witnesses." Take comfort that there are thousands of people who have gone before you and have felt what you feel. Continue to run the race!

I encourage everyone to pray for the Christians in the world who are a minority in their community. Especially the ones who are in danger for their beliefs. This is something that is rarely experienced as a Christian in the U.S.

Sin discussion

Last Friday (8/31/07) we had a general talk of what sin is. It's all over the Bible. This is a topic that could be studied for several weeks. But we just focused on a few points on what sin is and how we should deal with it in our lives today.

We jumped around a bit. The first Scripture we looked at is in I John 1:8-9. First, we have to admit there's a problem. If we think we don't have sin in us then we're just fooling ourselves. It also says we make 'him" (Jesus) to be a liar. We must accept the truth that sin is in everyone. We must recognize that and confess it to God.

Proverbs 28:13 continues what it says in part in the first Scripture. We cannot try and hide our sins from God. That's human nature to make a mistake and try to hide it. Plus we cannot hide them from God. He knows them anyway. We must confess them to God and ask for forgiveness. That way, we can take steps to avoid doing them again. Otherwise, we won't make any progress overcoming our sins and avoiding them with Christ's help.

The great thing about confessing our sins is that God wants to forgive us! And when He does, He forgets about them! Incredible. He does not hold a grudge against us which is a very big human tendency. We then listened to a song that speaks exactly about this. The song is called "Ocean Floor" and it's by Audio Adrenaline, who unfortunately just recently retired.

Proverbs 5:22-23 offers more great wisdom regarding sin. If we are not careful, sin can take a strong hold on us and capture us. It will lead us to our deaths. We will no longer be productive Christians here on this earth as Satan will have a hold on us, and therefore, no longer worried about us bringing glory to God and spreading the Good News.

This is a battle. Romans 7:15-25 makes that clear. We want to do good. Our spirit wants to do good. But our flesh is weak and gives way to sin. Just as we do good, it is the Holy Spirit in us doing good- all glory to God. But when we do wrong, it is the sin in us doing it and we must battle against it.

Siblings pt 2.1

For our regular bible study time on Sunday 8/26, we reviewed the story of Jacob and Esau that we did a couple weeks ago. You can find the notes on that bible study here. Reviewing took up quite a bit of time. After that, we kept reading about Jacob and Esau, after Jacob takes the final blessing from Isaac that was meant for Esau.

In Genesis 28, Isaac blesses Jacob and commands him not to marry a Canaanite woman. Then he tells him to go to Paddan Aram, where his maternal grandfather lives. Esau realized this (the part about the Canaanite women) and marries one. And not just anyone, but Ishmael's daughter. You may recall that Ishmael and Isaac are half brothers. It's weird how God chooses a certain group of His people and then another line of His people become enemy nations. That's what happens with Jacob and Esau. You might say it's unfair but isn't it God's decision who to use for what purpose? Romans 9 talks about that.

But the people God uses obviously need a relationship with Him. Every person whom God uses. Even though Abraham was Isaac's father, Isaac still needed a personal relationship. The same with Jacob, later on when we study Joseph, and everyone else God uses. Despite Jacob's confusing vow to God at the end of chapter 28, God still uses him. I say confusing because it sounds as if Jacob is saying, "Hey God, if you do this for me, then I'll follow ya." It's as if he was bargaining or something. Hopefully, it was meant more as a vow as it says. Either way, God still blessed him.

Next week, we'll see what happens at the end with Jacob and Esau.

Miracle pt 2

On Sunday, August 19th, I was still gone on vacation. Students watched the remainder of Miracle, about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team upset over the Russian team. This past Sunday (8/26) we discussed a couple more scenes.


Staying Focused on the Prize/Working Hard/Unity

Miracle- Chapter 7- Time 38:45-46:54
Shortly into training, the USA team travels to Europe to play the Norwegian team, a mediocre team. They end up tying them because they slack off (and check out girls in the stands). This infuriates Coach Herb, who puts the team on the line and skates them again...and again. In between he gives bits and pieces of why they needed to focus. The concept of playing for the team/country is much more important than any of the individual components.

QUESTIONS
1) Is the Herbie scene hard to take? Was Coach Herb too hard on his players?
2) Have you ever been part of a team where you felt the whole group was more important than each individual?
3) Do you agree when he says that "common men go nowhere. You have to be uncommon?"

SCRIPTURE Philippians 3:12-14

BIBLICAL QUESTIONS
1) Has being a Christian ever felt like running a race to you?
2) What is the end prize for Christians?
3) How can you be uncommon as a Christian?


Unity/Family

Miracle- Chapter 9 (mid)- Time 55:40-, 59:11-1:03:05
Coach Herb brings in another player, Timmy Harrer, into an already tight roster. At this point, another player still needs to be cut as it is to get down to the 20 player 1980 Olympic rules. Some of the players gather together to talk with Coach Herb about it after they play the NHL All-Stars to express that it is unfair "with one of us going home as it is." Coach Herb backs up his decision to bringing Harrer in by stating his skills as a hockey player. But that's not the point. Harrer hasn't been playing with the team from the beginning. The teammates have become a family. As a result, Coach Herb tells the players that Timmy will just help them out, and then he'll send him home.

QUESTIONS
1) Have you ever been cut from a team or group? How did that make you feel?
2) How do you think the players felt about this- adding another player when one still had to be cut? How can we view it from the coach's perspective?
3) Have you ever felt close enough to other members of a group or team like this 1980 U.S. Hockey team?

SCRIPTURE I Corinthians 12:12-30

1) How does the body of Christ need to be close like a team that has become a "family"?
2) Which body parts to you seem weaker (v. 22)?
3) Do you see what your role in this body is?

lots has happened

I was gone on vacation and then we lost power. Needless to say, youth group and time at church in general has been quite irregular for me lately. However, when I was gone on Friday 8/17, Ming filled in and talked with the youth group about prayer from Matthew 14:22-33. This is the passage where Jesus walks on water towards the disciples in the boat after praying alone on land. He then calls out to Peter to walk on the water towards Him. This blog will contain his points as well as my own.

Here's a good passage on what prayer and faith are and are not. It should be any one or more of the following things: 1) further God's kingdom, 2) glorify Him, 3) make us closer to Christ, 4) make us be more like Christ. It is meant to focus on Jesus.

But just speaking the prayer and doing nothing afterwards is not enough. We must act. It is important to note that Peter was not testing Jesus in verse 28 when he was asking Jesus if it was really Him. Instead he was responding impulsively, as he typically did. When first going out on the water, Peter was actually walking on it. But then he saw the wind, saw he began to sink. Basically he took his focus off Jesus. When we see our problems as bigger than what we think Jesus can handle, we will sink.

As I mentioned earlier, faith is focusing on Jesus. It is not looking at our environment, surroundings, past experiences, or our feelings/emotions. For Peter walking on water, his faith in Jesus at that point should not be focused on the wind, the waves, the scientific notion that people cannot walk on water, or fear. But how difficult it is to do that sometimes! In the end, no matter where we are, it is good to know that Jesus is always there when you need help the most.

Siblings pt 2

For our regular bible study time on Sunday (8/12/07) we studied the next siblings the Bible focuses on- Jacob and Esau. This sibling story can be found in Genesis 25:19-28:9.

Talk about another story of siblings gone wrong! Jacob and Esau were always at odds with each other, even before birth. Verse 22 says "the babies jostled each other within her." Apparently they couldn't wait. So the twin boys grow up. Esau became a hunter. Jacob stayed among the tents. Surely they had their own little fights and arguments growing up. But the Scriptures skip to this very important incident where Jacob gets Esau, who is famished one day, to give up his birthright to him in exchange for food (25:27-34). The birthright was huge! It consisted of two things that the son inherited: material possession and leadership of the family. Esau gave that up on impulse because he was starving. And the result was that he despised his birthright (25:34).

Later on we find Jacob being deceiving again to benefit over Esau (27:1-29). Isaac tells Esau to hunt some game and prepare a feast for him, so that Isaac may give his final blessing to Esau before he dies. With his mother's help, he prepares food from the flock and disguises himself as Esau. Remember from 25:28 that Isaac loved Esau, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Isaac is confused but gives the blessing to Jacob anyways. Soon after, Esau returns with the good to his father, but the blessing has already been given (27:30-40). Esau instead receives a very unfavorable blessing that includes him serving his brother, amongst other things (27:39-40).

These events do not occur without consequences. Jacob's greediness and deceitfulness to get Isaac's blessing that was intended for Esau tore the family apart. He never saw his mother, Rebecca again. He was exiled from the family and lived with his Uncle Laban. Esau wanted to kill him and that continued beyond their lives as Esau's descendents became an enemy nation.

Were Jacob's motives good? Clearly not. He did not allow God to work in His timing at all. That is something to think about. In getting what you want, are you allowing God to work in His timing? Are your motives pure? My prayer for all of us is to follow God's will and timing, at the expense of our own.

Miracle pt 1

On Sunday (8/12/07) we started to watch the movie, Miracle, for our temporary film discussion class. This is based on the true, inspring story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that beat the seemingly invincible Russian team and won the gold medal. It is such a fantastic movie with many points to bring up. We got to the first scene for discussion which continues our idea of unity and teamwork over rivalries/dissension. We will finish the movie this Sunday (8/19) while I am gone and discuss a couple more scenes the following Sunday (8/26) when I return.


Unity/ Settling Rivalries

Miracle- beg Chapter 4- Time 17:49-23:46
The scene at the bar gives the backstory. OC has some "unfinished business" with Mac from a national championship game three years ago. This obviously caused the division between them from the get go. OC subs in a drill for another guy and hits down Mac hard. Coach Herb lets them brawl it out for awhile and then tells everyone that the divisions end right now. "Skating...passing...flow...creativity... That's what this team is about. Not old rivalries."

Questions: 1. Has there been a time where you have stepped to break up a fight or help mend a relationship or team?

Once again, personal experience is important. A lot of our discussion was based on teams and school projects the youth had worked on. We talked a bit about sports again. The swim team one of the youth were on was not the best topic, but plenty of other sports (like basketball, football, volleyball) require unity within the team.

We looked at Psalm 133 to drive the point home. It's a wonderful thing when a group of people work together for a common goal. It is like "precious oil running down the head" (used for annointing priests). Have you ever thought of unity within the church? There are many things which can divide us, but we must try to work together and "be perfectly united in mind and thought" (I Cor 1:10).

Is there someone at church or work or home that you need to settle something with to make the unity more unified? Prayerfully approach the other person(s) to settle it.

in need of a Savior

Last Friday (8/10/07) we watched Superman Returns. It's a really great movie and deals with the idea of a world needing a savior. That was our topic of discussion in the middle of the movie.

There is a scene where Superman finds Lois and asks to be interviewed. After Superman left, Lois wrote an article titled, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." She even won the Pulitzer for this article. Superman confronts her about this and then takes her up into the sky. "You said the world doesn't need a savior. But I hear people that need my help everyday."

The word "savior" is in the Bible almost 40 times. "Save", or some variation of it is in the Bible over 320 times. This idea of being saved is there a lot. Many of the Old Testament references were in the Psalms (i.e. Psalm 69). David and other authors cried out to God a lot for salvation from their enemies. Let's take a step back again. What is the Old Testament about (in general)? Is it not many stories of God's people forgetting about Him, God allowing the Israelites to be put into danger or some bad situation, God's people crying out to Him, God saving them (often working through a person of great faith), and God being close to His people again?

It doesn't take a genius to see this idea in the New Testament with our Savior Jesus Christ. Look at I Timothy 4:9-10. The living God is the Savior of all men. Jesus Christ, being fully God coming down as a human, put His heavenly glory on hold and lived a perfect, sinless life. He sacrificed His own life and took on the wages of everyone's sins through His death on the cross. Those of us who believe that know our citizenship is in heaven. Earth is only a temporary home. We eagerly await for our Savior to return and transform our earthly bodies into something like His (Phil 3:20-21).

Does God hear people's voices that need Him everyday like Superman? Our talks revealed yes, God does hear people in need everyday, but there are differences. For example, Superman is not everywhere at once, although he is very fast, like God is. If you saw Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey, you may recall a scene while God grants Bruce his divine powers for a short time. Bruce checks all the e-mails to God. He gets frustrated due to the amount of e-mails so he just grants all the requests given to him. Do you think God is like that at all? Probably not. People need God and Superman in different ways. But despite the differences, the similarities are apparent as well.

How about you? Have you helped someone out in a big way? If someone comes to you with a serious problem, don't make fun of them for it. Just listen to them and try to understand. If you think God is asking you to take a couple extra steps to help them, then take courage and step forward.


related songs that come to mind:
"How to Save a Life" The Fray
"In the Light" dc Talk

Cain and Abel

For our regular bible study hour (8/5/07) we started our siblings series after the monstrous interest shown a week earlier. So what better place to start than the very first siblings in the Bible- Cain and Abel, found in Genesis 4.

By accepting the fruit from the serpent, Adam and Eve brought sin to all human beings (Gen 3, Rom 5:12). Therefore, it should be no surprise that Cain and Abel would not get along perfectly. The sad thing is that it resulted in murder. Siblings will always fight, but this was extreme. So how did this come about?

"Abel kept flocks and Cain worked the soil" (vs. 2). When they brought their sacrifices to the Lord, God accepted Abel's but not Cain's. Why? It's not that grains or agricultural offerings were not accepted. Leviticus 2 tells us that amongst other passages. So it must be something else. Something inside Cain that God did not find acceptable with his sacrifice. Whatever happened with Cain's attitude, he just gave some of the fruits of his soil as an offering. Abel gave the fat portions of the firstborn of his flock (vs. 3-4). God's favor for one brother and not the other sparks jealousy that goes beyond what anyone could have imagined.

It started with jealousy. "God likes you more than he likes me," kind of thing. The most applicable verse to today would be verse 7. If we don't take care of the sin controlling our lives, then it will wait to tempt and consume us. Basically it will get worse. Jealousy led to anger. From anger it led to murder. And not even on impulse, but premeditated murder. In verse 8, Cain suggests that he and Abel go out to the field, and he kills him out there. But it doesn't stop there.

Five generations down the road, it gets worse. After Cain, we get Enoch, then Irad, then Mehujael, then Methushael, then Lamech. It is Lamech who will murder again for a young man wounding him, and reference God's words to Cain, found in verses 23-24. Cain was not necessarily overwhelmed by guilt for killing Abel, but atleast he had some negative feelings, if only for the punishment God gave him (vs. 11-14). But Lamech? He takes revenge into his own hands and boasts about it. "If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

My prayer- to be willing to let God mend our hearts to be more holy. To take care of the sin in our lives before it manifest itself into something worse through prayer and accountability.

blessings