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