What I've Done

Tonight we looked at the themes of mercy and forgiveness, aided by the hit song "What I've Done" by Linkin Park. The discussion we did was taken from a youth ministry website. You can view that here. I will just summarize some of the questions and thoughts that were brought up.

The music video in itself is very interesting. Throughout the video the band is performing the song out in the open. Interspersed within the performance are images of great human tragedies. Atrocities like war, hunger, racism, some regimes, harming the environment, abortion, drug use, oil spills, etc. The approach Linkin Park takes with these issues is interesting. Although they are not directly to blame for most or any of these issues, who do they blame? (Hint: You don't have to look farther than the title of the song).

Next, we brought it closer to home. In 5 minutes, try writing all the sins you have committed since you were little; as far back as you can remember. No matter how little or many you come up with, the point is that we all have sinned. Romans 3:23 says that. Are there any sins that are on your list that you regret? In the second verse, Linkin Park used the words "cleaned this slate." Do you want a clean slate? A fresh start?

When we realize how much we need mercy and forgiveness, the grace of God can overwhelm us. That's what the pre-chorus talks about. "So let mercy come and wash away what I've done." God can do that! He can remove sins from His memory if we ask for His forgiveness. Psalm 103:12 and Romans 5:8-9 talk about this. I used another song to illustrate this point. Audio Adrenaline (unfortunately just recently retired) came out with a great song called "Ocean Floor". In the song, it talks about how our sins are behind us now, because after God forgives us, He places those sins far away, "on the bottom of the ocean floor."

To close we had personal prayer time. Asking forgiveness with those sins we committed. Symbolically, we cast our sins away by ripping the list of sins we wrote in many pieces and throwing them in the garbage. You should try that sometime. The message comes forth even better when you physically do it also. Be blessed!

improvising?

Seems like a strange topic for a bible study, doesn't it? Yet tonight we're going to look at how God has improvised with biblical figures. And how God doesn't want us to just be with Him at church but at all times. He wants a relationship with us. And just like you want to talk with and spend time with a good friend frequently, so does God with you. Plus, it gives the opportunity to watch some pretty humorous improv comedy!

We watched a video by a group (who unfortunately disbanded a few years ago) called CPR. Very funny group made of three guys who love Jesus and made clean, but hilarious, comedy. Like I said, they unfortunately disbanded, but one of the founders of the group started another group called 321 Improv. In the video you get to see them perform a few improv games, as well as talk about who they are and how they go about performing.

Some biblical stories seem like God is improvising with his people. One of the most well-known examples of this is found in Genesis 18. This is when Abraham pleads with God for Sodom. He keeps talking God down from fifty to forty-five to forty, and on down to ten righteous people in Sodom. If there are ten people, God will not destroy Sodom. Unfortunately, we know the outcome of this story. Genesis 19 describes how Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed.

Another example of what I'm getting at is later in Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestles with God. In the scriptures, it talks more of a physical wrestling. Yet how often does God come up to as an actual person in order to wrestle with us? My guess is not very often. So what does this mean for us today? When there is a problem or any conflict in life, we must give it up to the Lord. What does that mean? Praying, reading God's Word, spending time with God. Like any relationship, growing doesn't occur between two people when no time is spent together. Just had a fight with a friend? Take it to the Lord. Confused or angry with a passage of scripture? Take it to the Lord. Schoolwork seem overwhelming? Take it to the Lord.

Where is God in the hard times? (devotional)

Do you ever feel like He is not there? We explored this issue a bit last Friday (12/28/07). Peter and the other disciples and followers of Jesus felt that... literally. When Jesus Christ said he would return and restore the kingdom of Israel, everyone else was thinking during their lifetime. Days, months, and years passed. Nothing. Where is He?!?!

We took a look at 2 Peter 3 to discuss this. Peter quotes the doubters in verse 4 when he says "everything goes on as it has." There is quite a bit of sarcasm and disbelief even from those that were there to witness the crucifixion or able to hear first-hand accounts. And if they started to doubt, imagine how that can stockpile 2000 or so years later. Winn Collier wrote in Deeper Walk that each generation has seen its plague, war, disaster, etc. Has everything really been the same since the time of creation?

Hopefully Peter's words can bring us back to hope, as they probably did to whom he was directly speaking to. God's Word created everything, even the earth from the waters. It will be preserved until the time of judgment, when Jesus comes back. And since creation, God has been working. He never stopped. If God did stop, evil would have wiped us out a long time ago.

We have to remember how time works for God. "A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day." Even when life is going terrible for us, there is a grander story going on that is still being written to this day. I know remembering that is what we want to do least when tragedy hits us. But God is always working goodness in every moment.

My prayer is for us to put all of our trust into God, even during the hard times.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

the holy ice cream?

With just a few of us last Friday (7/27/07) we headed off to McDonalds after our gym time. Because sometimes in the summer, you just need to get ice cream (or something cold). So we chose ice cream.

When we returned to the church, I went over a quick devotional on the first part of Ecclesiastes 3 from the new Relevant magazine. Relevant is one of my favorite magazines that writes about God, life, and progressive culture. It is targeted towards young adults but does appeal to a broader age group. I read Winn Collier's Deeper Walk devotional from the current July/Aug 2007 issue. Unfortunately I cannot find the full article online so I'll just go over the main points.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is "a time to weep." There are times when weeping is appropriate, such as dealing with grief, heartache, brokenness. There are plenty fo these things in the world, so it is right to weep at times. However, it must be honest and it must not consume us. Crying does not necessarily mean I am authentically looking at despair through the lens of faith. I could be hiding.

And it must not consume us. If I don't leave room for anything else but crying, then it will define me. If it becomes so overwhelming then there is no room for hope. That is the key in following Christ and encountering grief. Despite what we may see, there is always hope that Christ will come in and "intervene for our good" (from the article).

That is also why there is also a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance, etc. We can find beauty in God's creation and the relationships in our lives. Times when it is so obvious that God is "intervening for our good" that I cannot help but be joyful in Him. Winn Collier ends with this: "Karl Barth said that 'laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.' I believe it. There is deep grace in a holy chuckle."

For more reading, Winn recommends all of Ecclesiastes 3, Revelation 21, Psalm 90, and Psalm 30. My prayer for all of us is to honestly grieve the despair in the world as Christ did, and have His eternal hope overcome it.

blessings

Paul & Silas in prison and Charlotte's Web

Last Friday (6/22/07) was a fun night as we joined Meadows for their outdoor screening of Charlotte's Web! Before that, we had our usual gym/outdoor time and then a quick devotional before the movie started.

Paul and Silas in prison is probably one of my favorite stories in the bible (Acts 16:16-40) We looked at the first half of that. The main topic was doing the right thing. Paul and Silas remove a spirit from a girl that gave her fortune telling abilities, and a profit for her owners! The owners bring Paul and Silas to the authorities and without trial, they are beaten and imprisoned.

Any normal person would be outraged at this point. Angry at the villagers. Angry at the authorities. Angry at God. But verse 25 gives us Paul and Silas' reaction. Worship. Even though they were still bruised and bleeding, sitting in a crummy prison they still chose to worship God. That's joy. That's doing the right thing. I pray we all choose to worship God inspite of whatever circumstances we may be facing.