Surge Weekend Messages

June 5-6, 2010 - You: Rock

2010-06-06T23:12:00.001-07:00

Rocks show up in interesting places all through the Bible. Jesus said that if people failed to honor him, even the rocks would cry out (Luke 19) Simon was called "Peter", which meant "Rock". Jesus was "the stone the builders rejected, who became the cornerstone" (Acts 4:11). Rocks were an important building material as well. Jesus himself was a tekton, a "builder", and he could well have been a stonemason as well as a carpenter. So he spoke on good authority when he compared those who put his teachings into practice to those who build their houses on rock rather than sand. In the Old Testament, we have record of stones being set up and altars being constructed as reminders of where God acted. As we transition our 6th graders out of children's ministry, we want them to remember where God acted during these last three years, and to commit to building their lives "on the rock", Jesus, the one who never changes and the one who holds the key to our worth, our potential, and our future.

April 3-4: Easter is a Celebration of Miracles

2010-04-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

We should celebrate miracles

Some people called the 1980 Olympic Hockey victory over Russia a "miracle"

Was it a miracle? The world typically defines a miracle differently

What a miracle really is: the impossible happens and is seen

Today we celebrate a miracle:

The miracle in Jesus: God raised the man from the dead

The miracle in us: Our sins are forgiven, they are no longer a part of us
Example: Sand of more than one color, mixed – is it impossible to separate?

A miracle from Numbers 21:4-9

The people of Israel are wandering through the desert. Many are forgetting or disbelieving the promises of God

God sent snakes among the people - not to punish them, but to remind them they were reliant on him

The people call out, desperate to be saved

Moses lifts up the snake in the desert, they look to it, and they are saved

God did this miracle to prove that he could do things they couldn't do for themselves.

We are also sick & in need of God

Our sin makes us imperfect - we are stained, broken, scratched up, and it cannot be undone on our own.

Yet, the Bible says only perfect people can stand before God

What God wants is the same as he wanted Moses' people to do - to turn to him for help

The parallel reference is in John 3

v. 13 - 16 - when Jesus was "lifted up" it was on the cross

When we believe in him we're like a man bitten by a snake…we tell God that we are sick and need his help

March 27-28: Answering the Question - Where did God come from?

2010-03-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

What do I do if someone asks me, "How do you know God created the world?" or "How do you even know there is a God?"

Universe in a Box
Sometimes we are asked, "When did God begin? How can God not have a beginning?"
The answer is that God is outside of time. Think of the universe as a box. Contained inside are height, depth, and width (what we call the three dimensions) - but God stays outside the box. God can't be measured - he does not have a height, or depth, or width. The 4th dimension inside the universe is time - but God is outside of time. He does not age, and he does not have a starting point - all of time is contained in the universe, and God is not contained by the universe.

Rolling Ball
If I see a ball rolling, what do I know had to have happened to it? That someone or something acted on the ball to start it rolling. In the same way, I can look at the universe, which exists, and know that something had to be the "first cause", coming before it.

The Watchmaker
If I see a watch on the ground and pick it up and examine it, does it cause me to think, "These parts must have come together by accident"? No - I automatically assume someone was behind the design of it. It is simply too complex to be an accident. We can look at the universe and all things that live in the same way. It is too complex to have come together by accident.

Who Wrote the Rules?
There are always "rules behind rules" ... and it usually comes down to: it's wrong to hurt other people, wrong to hurt yourself, wrong to take what doesn't belong to you, wrong to be selfish, etc. Who wrote those rules? Are those human-invented rules? Could the rule-maker - the parent, the teacher, the principal - re-write the rule and suddenly it would become ok to hurt others? Or to take their things? No...and that's an argument that moral truths came from something other than humans, making them up.

1 Peter 3:15 - In your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

Why should we answer questions with gentleness and respect?
1. People belong to God - to speak harshly to them is to disrespect them
2. If you are rude, they will stop listening to what you say
3. You want people to continue asking questions - a conversation is better than an argument

March 20-21: Created or Evolved?

2010-03-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

Does nature and the complexity of organisms point us toward a creator? Or did everything we see in the world come from Evolution?
"Evolution" can have two meanings:
"micro"evolution refers to changes or variations within species. Example: parents with blond hair can have a child with dark hair; certain tendencies for diseases can be "carried" in certain people; short parents can have kids who grow up to be tall...BUT two parents with arms will not have a child who has wings.

"macro"evolution refers to the change of one species into another. This is what is often meant by "evolution" as a way of explaining where all life came from...that it started simple and then became more and more complex.

From last week: if a certain species evolved into (branched off into) different, other species, we would expect to find lots of "in-between" fossils in the ground - we don't.

Let's say all of the complex life we see today came from one, simple, single-celled creature...which evolved into higher and higher forms of life: the question still has to be asked - Where did that first living thing come from?

Two scientists - Miller and Urey - set out to answer that question by combining a mixture of gases in test tubes and sending an electric charge through them. By doing this, they produced amino acids, which strung together make proteins. They said this simulated what happened at the beginning of the universe. But - did they use the right chemicals? Were the gases they used really the ones present at the beginning of the universe? And in what amounts? If you use different starting products, you get different results. (For instance, many models of the early earth contain cardon dioxide and nitrogen which would form nitrates, and nitrates destroy amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.)

But suppose the amino acids did form that way...couldn't they have come together to start life? NASA has found that the simplest protein that could be considered "life" is a string of 400 amino acids in a specific sequence. So, to come together by accident would be like blindly drawing the numbers 1-400 out of a bag, one by one, and getting them in perfect order.

Moreover, there are structures in complex living things that couldn't have evolved. (This is called the problem of "irreducible complexity".) One example is your eye. Every part is necessary - missing one structure, the whole eye fails. Think of your eye as being like a mousetrap: without any one of the parts, the mousetrap is of no use. For eyes to have evolved piece by piece would have meant some creatures had useless eye-parts-that-would-become-eyes...so these parts would have evolved (because they were necessary) - even though they were worthless.

Where did cells get the information to "know" what to become? Cells have "information" in them that tell them how to function and what to be...where did this "intelligence" come from if the first single-celled organism came together by accident?

Does all of this point to a Creator?
We can't "prove" that God was the originator of life. But neither can a person who believes evolution is the answer "prove" that life came from non-living things, or that one species turned into another, or that amino acids arranged themselves into proteins, which led to cells, which led to organisms...anytime someone concludes that something "probably" happened, it's a statement of faith.

Where will you put your faith? In the idea that living things all came from chance, randomly as chemicals came together, and that all living things we see today, in all their variety, started out as the same single-celled creature? Or that living creatures came from the mind and will of God?

March 13-14: The Beginning - Investigating the Theory of Evolution

2010-03-13T22:13:00.000-08:00

Where did the world and everything in it come from? It's natural for people to be curious about this and to try to form answers.

Charles Darwin was a zoologist who traveled the world and observed different species of animals. He observed that most animals had similar body types. He also believed that animals adapted to their different environments, in ways that helped them survive. Those that couldn't adapt didn't survive. He called this idea, "Survival of the fittest."

But, he also believed that all living things could be traced back to one common ancestor. When we talk of "evolution", this is what is usually meant - that one type of animal turned into another type of animal.

However, the Bible says that God created living things "according to their kinds". The variety of species that we see today is not the result of one species turning into another. Why?

For one thing, it would've taken a very long time for all species to have evolved from the first organism (or "common ancestor"). How long? No one knows, because evolution takes so long it cannot be observed. If it can't be observed, it can't be studied in a lab. But, it could well have taken longer than the earth has even existed.

For another, you would expect to find lots of fossils representing the "in-between" forms of animals - the "ancestor" of the two modern animals. But you don't see that. What you see instead is a number of new species showing up, fully formed, in the fossil record at one time. Remember that Genesis says God created living things "according to their kinds".

March 6-7, 2010: The Beginning - Theories

2010-03-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

A theory is an educated guess about how something happened or happens.

A theory is a combination of two things:

Things we know to be true
Things we suppose to be true.

In this way, a theory is kind of like a brick wall: we "build" our conclusions on facts and educated guesses. If the "bricks" of our wall are weak (or the facts we're using are wrong), the wall won't hold.

The Theory of Evolution is a theory about how the world came to be and where nature - plants, but especially animals and humans - came from.

The Bible teaches that God made the world and everything in it. Before God moved, the earth was without form and empty. (Gen. 1:2)

January 2-3, 2010 - Paul goes on a missionary journey

2010-01-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

History of Skateboarding - it started in California, when surfers put wheels on the bottom of planks of wood and rode down the street - "Street Surfing". But, it was a fad...it died out by about 1965.

Three big things happened to bring it back:
1. The invention of polyurethane wheels, which replaced unsafe clay wheels
2. A drought in California in 1976, which led people to drain their swimming pools. People discovered they could skate in them - the beginning of vert skating.
3. Invention of the "ollie" - a jump trick - in Florida. The ollie spread to California when its founder visited California and the trick took off.

Skateboarding went from a died-out fad to a revived sport that spread around the world; the spread of Christianity is similar.

By Acts chapter 12, Christians were being persecuted; James had been killed (the second Christian martyr, after Stephen). Some of the "big things" that happened in Christian history were:
1. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
2. The miracles performed by the apostles
3. The conversion of Paul
4. Peter's vision showed that God intended to offer salvation to everyone
5. The sending of Paul on missionary journeys

Acts 13 - Paul and Barnabas are commanded by the Holy Spirit to take the message out.

At Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, they encounter a proconsul (government official) who wants to hear about the Lord, and a false prophet who opposes them. By the Holy Spirit's power, the false prophet is blinded. Paul had words & a message, but the Holy Spirit supplied the power to change and to convince the proconsul that what was preached about was real.

If God was going to send us out from NCCC, where would he send us?
He may send us to a far-off place; but he also needs us to take the message right here, to where we live: our schools, our neighborhoods, etc.

But - God's intention is not that we receive the message and keep it - it's that once we go out, we will return - with ourselves and others.

We have 5 Big Events this year that are great to bring friends to:
1. "Believe It With Your Own Eyes"
2. Kids Games
3. Summer Camp (July 5-9)
4. Christmas Party & Sleepover (December)
5. Next year's Winter Camp

November 21-22, 2009: Peter's Vision

2009-11-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

"I saw something that looked like a large sheet. It was being let down from heaven by four corners. It came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth. There were also wild animals, reptiles, and birds. Then I heard a voice speaking to me. 'Get up, Peter,' the voice said. 'Kill and eat.'"

Peter's vision happened in Joppa, a city on the coast of Israel.

In the Old Testament, people were either Jews (followers of God), or Gentiles. Among the Gentiles, some were believers in God ("god-fearers"), but they could not become Jewish.

Foods were also divided into "clean" and "unclean" - but the meaning of this was "acceptable, special" vs. "common".

In Acts 10, two men receive messages from God: Cornelius & Peter.

Cornelius - God told him to send some men to Joppa to get Peter and invite him to his house.

Peter's vision was of a sheet being lowered onto a roof, filled with clean and unclean animals. Peter protests: I will not eat what is unclean. The voice answers: do not call anything unclean that God has made clean.

Peter is brought to Cornelius' house. Normally a Jew would not enter the home of a Gentile, but based on Peter's vision, he knows that God does not show favoritism and that salvation is for the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

What does this story teach us about God? In God's eyes - everyone is equal. That is, no one has special status because of their skin color, past, family, money, religious background, or anything like that. What if we really believed that?

This does not mean we are all the same. Rather, that differences don't make people any less.

Think about the people you associate with. Then think about who you don't or wouldn't associate with. We often draw distinctions for pointless reasons.

When Peter takes the story back to Jerusalem, that he has shared the gospel and had fellowship with Gentiles, the disciples believe he's done a bad thing (violated the Law) until Peter explains his vision. How many of us would have that courage if we were confronted about hanging out with the wrong sort of people?

When you can look at all sorts of faces - colors, rich vs. poor, disabled vs. normally able - and see dignity and value in each one, you have the mind of God.

November 14-15, 2009 - Saul's Conversion

2009-11-14T23:23:00.001-08:00

Saul (who would become Paul) stood by at the stoning of Stephen. He was a good Jew, who kept all of the law. In other words, he was an enemy of the early Christians.

This made Saul an unlikely choice to be God’s messenger!
Abraham Lincoln was raised in a log cabin, his mother died when he was 9, he didn’t finish high school or college, he lost 8 of 13 elections in his life. Yet, he was elected President of the United States.
In a similar way, God used someone we wouldn’t expect in a very important way.

Video: “Peter & Paul - Saul’s conversion”

Saul had to overcome his reputation as a man dangerous to Christians and regain their trust: first, with Ananias, then with the disciples in Jerusalem.
At the same time, his own standing among the Jews took a hit: he had to escape from Damascus, and then angered the Jews in Jerusalem. The apostles sent him by ship to Tarsus.

Paul would go on to suffer greatly for standing up for Jesus - see 2 Corinthians 11.

Paul had great knowledge and kept the law - but it was his encounter with the living God that actually changed him.

Nov. 1 - Stephen and Persecution of Christians

2009-11-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

In the book of Acts, we see the gospel message spreading - and like a trick birthday candle, whenever attempts are made to extinguish it, it just keeps coming back:

The Jewish leaders told the disciples to stop speaking...Peter refused
They threw the apostles in jail...an angel let them out
They threatened and whipped the apostles...the Holy Spirit made them bolder

Acts 6-7 tell the story of Stephen...Stephen was chosen as one of seven who were to oversee the church's distribution of food to the needy. "The Body is a unit, made up of many parts....so it is with Christ." In the church, we divide responsibilities because no one person can do it all - yet everything that is done is important and necessary.

Stephen was arrested and accused of speaking words against the Jewish religion, specifically teaching against the laws of Moses and the temple.
To the Jews, three things were important:
1. Living in the land God had promised them
2. Following strictly the law God gave through Moses
3. Building and maintaining the temple, the house of the Lord

Stephen, in his defense, says the Jews are missing the point, which is the Messiah - God promised him through the prophets, but the prophets were ignored. He calls them "stiff-necked" (stubborn) people, who rejected and killed the Messiah. This makes them angry and they stone him to kill him.

Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr - someone who is killed for an idea

There are still martyrs today - "closed" countries in which practicing the Christian faith is dangerous or illegal. (See www.kidsofcourage.com for some great information on where persecution is happening)

After Stephen's martyrdom, the believers are spread, but the threat of death doesn't kill the movement, it makes them bolder!

Standing by at Stephen's death is Saul, who will shortly become Paul, the great Christian missionary.

October 3-4: God Sends the Holy Spirit (Acts 2)

2009-10-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Superheroes have super powers - their purpose? To be used for the benefit of others.
God gives his believers powers as well - in fact, God gives us the power to do anything.

Acts 1:12-22 - a replacement is chosen for Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Whoever is chosen is to join the others in being a witness of the things they saw Jesus say and do.

A Witness -

Tells about what they've seen and heard
Needs to be truthful
Needs to have courage
Sometimes needs protection from the people they're testifying against

One more thing the apostles needed was the ability to speak the language of the many foreigners who had gathered in Jerusalem.

Acts 2:1-13
The Holy Spirit comes on the apostles, and they begin to speak in foreign languages. The people are amazed - kind of like when you meet someone in a foreign country who can speak your own language. People had gathered from all over because it was Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover celebration, and they were all in Jerusalem. The disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit, and Peter begins to speak.

Acts 2:14-40
Peter speaks to the crowd. Since Jews believe in the Old Testament, he used two prophecies from there. (A prophecy is a prediction of a future event.)

Joel predicted that on "The Day of the Lord," God would pour out his holy spirit and people would have dreams and visions and speak in foreign tongues. Peter says this is what they are witnessing.

David predicted that God would raise someone from the grave, not letting the body decay. But, Peter says, it was not David - he is still in his grave. The one raised was Jesus - whom they had crucified. Peter tries to convince the crowd that the one they turned against was God's chosen one.

When the crowd heard this, many were convinced and asked what they should do - Peter told them to repent (turn from sin) and be baptized, and they would be saved and they would also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What the Holy Spirit did here: It gave the disciples courage, it protected them from the opposition (this will become really important later in Acts), and it allowed them to speak other languages and be understood.

Why God sent it: This was the beginning of getting the message out. The Bible says after Peter spoke, 3,000 people became believers. The new "church" began to grow, and grow...until the Jewish leaders took notice, which begins chapter 3.

Can a Christian really do anything? Yes - you can do anything God needs you to do. In this case, God needed the apostles to be able to speak in other languages. He has given us the power to do what we can't do on our own - to forgive, to love difficult people, to stand up for him. God will never ask us to do something that he doesn't also, at the same time, help us to do.

Sept 26-27, 2009: Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit (Acts 1)

2009-09-26T00:43:00.000-07:00

What's the most amazing thing you've ever seen? When we've seen something amazing, we can't help but want to tell everyone we see.

That's the situation the disciples were in after Jesus visited them after having risen from the dead. The Book of Acts - tells their story.
The book of Acts (written by Luke) is all about...Acts! Theirs, but also God's through his Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is key in the book of Acts - Jesus told them to wait for it before they did anything else in his name.

2 Questions throughout our study of Acts:
What did the Holy Spirit do?
Why did God send it?

The disciples expected that maybe Jesus himself would return soon and restore the kingdom of Israel - then they would reign with Jesus as king! They did not know how much they were going to suffer for his name. Instead - they waited. And waited. They prayed and met together, and they selected a replacement for Judas, who had hung himself after betraying Jesus.

Important verses: 7 & 8 - it's not for them to know the time God is going to act. Sometimes we want God to act on our timetable, and we get impatient when he doesn't act right away or in the manner we want. But, we can be reassured that God has the time set - he knows - we wait.

As we wait...God is making us ready, and he is also building our faith. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) How can we be certain of something we do not see? Belief in God and waiting on him to act takes faith.

August 22-23: Had a Bad Day?

2009-08-21T20:11:00.001-07:00

Movie clip: How to Eat Fried Worms

In this clip, the new kid, Billy, has a bad day, his first day at his new school. He's not accepted. He's late for class. He has to talk in front of everyone. They play a prank on him.

In small groups, discuss these questions:

Have you ever had a day like Billy? Explain.
How do you think Billy felt at the end of the day? Explain. How did you feel the last time you had a bad day? Explain.
What do you do to deal with a bad day? (watch TV, listen to music, pray, ignore it, etc.) Does it make you feel better? Why or why not?
If you're upset or frustrated, is it better to let it out or just try to ignore it? Why?
Have you ever been new at school? New at church? New in the neighborhood? How was that for you? How many of you are starting at a new school this fall? What are your feelings about that?

Activity: We stuff balloons into an oversized sweat shirt and pair of sweat pants, then make the person wearing them run around and do exercises. It's difficult. Why? Because the balloons stuffed inside keep us from moving the way we should.

Worries and frustrations are like the balloons. If we stuff them inside and pretend they're not there, they hurt our ability to be at peace with each other, to enjoy our friends, to be positive, to be kind to others...in fact, when we've been hurt or insulted or embarrassed, often we look for someone else to do the same thing to, so we don't have to feel so rotten. This is what bullies do.

Instead, God tells us (1 Peter 5:7) to cast all our cares on him - he cares for us.

1. It's ok to have negative feelings - that's normal to get upset sometimes, or angry, or have hurt feelings.

2. The wrong thing to do is "stuff" them.

3. The right way is to acknowledge when we're hurt, fearful, angry, or whatever, and to give those concerns to God. How? Some people do this by praying - by getting what's on the inside out. Others give it away by journaling - like a prayer, but it's written down, and it's only between you and God. Meditating - in Christianity, meditating is not emptying our mind but filling our mind with thoughts about what is true, and helpful, and reliable (God created me, God is in control of everything, in the midst of rotten days and events, God is working for my good). Solitude - being only with God - and not with TV, computers, homework, toys, other people - reminds us that he's in charge.

Birds were meant to fly. A weight around their neck or a broken wing = a bird is not living like a bird should. You were not meant to be weighed down by worries and disappointments - you were meant to live. Anything that keeps us from having "life to the full" is something God wants to help us handle.

Esther: Right place at the right time

2009-07-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

"In the right place at the right time" usually means you were lucky - you were with the right people or caught in a situation that was lucky for you.

In the story of Esther, Esther was put in a position that benefited others. She was a Jew living in exile, that is, away from her homeland, among other conquered peoples.

The story of Esther:

The king, Xerxes, banished the old queen and Esther was chosen as his new queen. She had been warned by her cousin Mordecai not to reveal her Jewish identity. Mordecai is a gatekeeper, and overhears a plot by two of the king's men to assassinate him. Mordecai passes this along to the queen, Esther, and the plan is foiled. The two men are executed and the king is safe.

A man named Haman becomes the king's highest official. Haman hates it, though, that Mordecai will not bow down to him. Knowing that Mordecai is Jewish, he asks the king to issue a decree that all the Jews be killed, since they don't follow the king's orders and are dangerous to his rule.

Mordecai learns of the decree and goes into mourning. He knows only one person can save them - the king - and that Esther is in a position to make that happen. He reasons with her that if she keeps quiet, even she will lose her life, but the Jews will be saved from some other place (we assume God); and he says, "Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for such a time as this?" Esther agrees to speak to the king, even though she can lose her life for going to him without being asked, and says, "If I die, I die."

Esther goes to the king and he agrees to see her. At a banquet, he promises to give her whatever she wishes, even up to half the kingdom. She tells the king and Haman to come to another banquet the next day, when she will tell him what she wants. That night, the king cannot sleep. He asks for the book telling the story of his reign to be read aloud. They read to him about the plot to take his life that was foiled by Mordecai. The king asks why Mordecai has not been honored. He assigns Haman to parade through the streets with Mordecai, honoring him and drawing attention to what he has done. Now Haman hates Mordecai more than ever.

At the banquet the next day, Esther asks that the king spare the life of her people (he does not know that she is Jewish). She says there is a plot to wipe out her and her people. The king asks who would devise such a terrible plot, and Esther says Haman is responsible. Haman is killed by the king for his evil plan. Then the king promotes Mordecai to Haman's high position and issues a new decree, that the Jews are to defend themselves against anyone who tries to kill them. When the day arrives, the Jews are victorious over those who want to take their lives.

The memory of this event is celebrated in the Jewish holiday called "Purim".

Esther is the only book of the Bible that does not contain the word "God". Yet, it is still a story about God because it is about God's people, the Jews, and how God acted through Mordecai and Esther to save his people. Both Mordecai and Esther took risks - Mordecai by reporting the plot and Esther by daring to go to the king without being summoned, but they had to courage to do it or else the Jews would face destruction.

Esther was put in a position where she could serve God and his people - what positions have you been placed in to serve others?

June 7-8: Last Words to a 6th Grader

2009-06-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

I still remember - 24 years later - what my pastor said when he retired (I was 12) - be very, very careful about false gods.

To our sixth graders, two messages:
1. It really does matter if God is in your life

There's a difference between knowing about God and actually believing in him (trusting him)

Ex: Like the difference between seeing sunlight through a window and breaking through the window to benefit from the light fully. Behind the glass, you get some benefit, but it isn't until you get surrounded by the light that you derive the full benefit. Likewise, it's OK to know there is a God, but best to actually have God. No one can teach you that - it must come by faith, because you are willing!

2. God wants to save every part of your life.

The Woman at the Well (John 4) - initially it was Jesus asking her for a drink; it ended up with her asking him for living water.

We all like receiving gifts, but most of us settle for gifts that will spoil or fade. God wants to give you gift after gift, but - we don't get the choice of keeping certain parts of our life "off limits" to him. If you let him in, you're letting him into all the parts.

"God doesn't want to be a part of your life...he wants to be a part of all of the parts."

Ex: When you clean underneath your bed, you'll usually find lots of things you'd forgotten were there. When we ask God to "search our hearts", we are giving him permission to bust down the doors to every part of our lives.

May 23-24: We can influence people toward Christ through words and through actions

2009-05-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

Consider someone the Bible calls "Lost".
What are some things that person has to do to become a Christian?
1. admit they're a sinner
2. admit their sin keeps them from God
3. want to be with God
4. believe that Jesus died for their sins
5. choose to trust the cross for forgiveness

People will try lots of other things to be forgiven - good works, going to church, praying and reading the Bible; or, they'll "get around" sin by just saying it isn't real and God doesn't exist

Q: Would you share the message about Jesus with someone you didn't know first? Why or why not?
Advantages of knowing who you were sharing with: You might be able to anticipate their questions, they would know you really cared
Advantages of not knowing someone before sharing: It can be less nerve-wracking; what if they think I'm weird??

Jesus commanded: Matt. 28:19-20. How are Christians supposed to spread the gospel message through the whole world? Especially when there are areas of the world with very few Christians living there?

To "Proclaim Christ" - share the story of salvation with someone
To "Practice Christ" - be Christlike to someone

Both are ways of influencing someone toward salvation
But, when is the right time to "proclaim" and the right time to just "be Christ"? Is it ok if I just "Practice Christ" but never speak his name, never tell the other person about him? Is that the same thing??

If I want to influence someone to believe in Jesus…practicing Christ is more likely to do that than proclaiming Christ. Agree or disagree, and why?

You should always practice Christ before proclaiming Christ to someone. Agree or disagree, and why?

Even if you never proclaimed Christ to someone, it's just as good to practice Christ. Agree or disagree, and why?

It's wrong to make friends with someone just so you can proclaim Christ to them. Agree or disagree, and why?

May 9-10: No one can tame the tongue

2009-05-10T11:59:00.001-07:00

Guest Speaker: Brian Day, Pastor of Junior High
James 3:1-12
“That flapping piece of meat”

Boating and flying illustration.
Such small adjustments affect so much (controls and instruments).
James seeks to show us how such a small body part can blow it for us too.

1. Do not use the tongue to do BAD
• Vs. 2 – It’s not if we make a mistake with our tongues, but when we do.
• Vs. 3-5 – Are you going to be like these examples…ruled completely by such a small part of your body?
• Vs. 6 – Just one small thing can contaminate your whole witness.
• Vs. 7,8 – You cannot tame the tongue completely. It will bite you again. Are you trying to stop it and what are you going to do when it does?

2. Do not use the tongue to mix BAD and GOOD
• Vs. 9-12 – How can we use our tongues for such good and such evil at the same time?
• Our tongue shows us what’s really inside. If you have Christ inside, Christ like things will come out.
• This is one reason swearing is not healthy or good.

3. Do not use the tongue to do GOOD
• 2:15,16 - Use your tongue to say good things but not to do good things. We must be people of action, not just words.

Action steps:
• Identify what needs to change in your language.
• Identify where it comes from.
• Ask God to take it away and help you to not be ruled by your tongue.

Boating and flying illustration. Let God be the one steering you, not yourself.

He will steer you right to eternal life.

We will always steer ourselves to destruction.

May 2-3: Lost People Need to Hear God's story

2009-05-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

2 Corinthians 5:20 - We are Christ's Ambassadors, or official messengers.
So...what's the message? And how do we share it?

Are the following true, false, or absolutely false?
As the phrase is used in the Bible, a lost person is someone who goes on a hike in the mountains and gets lost for ten days without food or water…absolutely false. "Lost" means they are separated from God.
God doesn't start loving people until they become Christians…absolutely false. If God didn't love sinners, there'd be no way for anyone to be saved.
The best thing to do to Lost People is avoid them, because their beliefs might rub off on you…absolutely false. We are Christ's Ambassadors - God wants us to interact and share the message.
When talking to a lost person, the best thing to do is start arguing with them. Give them the top five reasons you're right and they're wrong, and wait for them to hit back…Absolutely False. They will stop listening if you do that. Be gentle, but be firm.
Most of the lost people in the world can be found in Texas and Hollywood...absolutely false. 97% of the world that is not Christian lives in the 10/40 window, between 10 degrees north latitude and 40 degrees north.
God will almost always appear in a dream to people who don't believe in him...false. While it's true Jesus does appear in dreams to some people, most people need to hear the gospel from someone else.

The Bridge Illustration - a way of sharing what we believe
Start by asking what someone believes. If you listen politely, chances are they'll listen when it's your turn.

Show them a person, separated from God by a canyon.
Explain that the Bible says because of sin, we cannot be with God. In fact, sin leads to death.
We need a way across. That way is Jesus.
When Jesus died, his cross made a way for us to avoid death and be with God.
Sending Jesus was God's choice; our choice is whether or not to accept God's gift and trust the cross for our salvation.

Q: What are some reasons we don't share this with people?
A: KNOWLEDGE LEVEL (I can't explain it clearly)
COMFORT LEVEL (I am not comfortable bringing it up with this person)
FEAR LEVEL (I'm afraid of what they might say to me)

April 25-26: Lost people can be reached through friendships

2009-04-26T11:59:00.001-07:00

We know God cares about lost people - 2 Peter 3:9 says "God is patient...not wanting anyone to perish".

God is like a father, looking for lost kids. He wants people to come back to him.

What's your job? 2 Corinthians 5:20 says "We are Christ's ambassadors".

Ambassador = "someone chosen for an official, special mission"
An ambassador does his or her job when they deliver the message faithfully, and represent the ruler (usually a king) well. Do you do that?

The 10/40 Window: In the world, approximately half of the people are Christians. Half are not. Of the half that is not, about 97% live in an area of the world between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude, stretching through Southern Europe and Northern Africa, the Middle East, China and India. (Google "10/40 window" and you'll see a map).

Q: If most of the people in the world who don't know Jesus live in the 10/40 Window, what can I, in Carlsbad, CA, do?
A: Plenty! Even though most live "over there", there are people who don't know Jesus right here in our own country...community...and school.
You can reach out to lost people through friendships.

Luke 19 - Jesus befriended Zacchaeus. "I must stay at your house today." Zacchaeus was a despised man. But God's heart changed him. God doesn't want us to shun or avoid people who don't know him, but to share with them.

April 18-19: Lost People Matter to God

2009-04-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

What is it like to be LOST?

Is it more dangerous for someone to be lost and know they're lost, or lost and not know they're lost? Why? Actually can be more dangerous to be lost and not know it; you can be away from safety but think you're just fine.

When we're lost, often the people looking for us are more concerned than we are. We know where we are! And we don't have any idea of the danger we're in.

Today we start series on "The Lost World"
a. "lost" means they don't have a relationship with God; Jesus is not in their life
b. Not a word the church made up; "lost" is the word Jesus used
c. Lost people don't always know they're lost

If we believe that God is necessary to a person's survival...then we have a job to do! Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life...no one comes to the Father but through me."

God uses people to get his message out...because he cares very deeply about people who are lost - whether they know it or not.

Luke 15 - the Parable of the Lost Son - the Father rejoiced when the son came back.

April 11-12: The Meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus

2009-04-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

John 20 - on the morning of the third day, the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body and...it was missing! Some disciples thought it had been stolen, while others believed he'd risen from the dead.

But...if Jesus' body had still been in the tomb -
What would this have done to his disciples?
What would it have done to Christianity?

When someone makes a promise, you know they've delivered when they actually act on it.

My 9th grade English teacher forgave some work I didn't do. Without those points, I would have gotten a "C" for the quarter. Instead, by changing my score, I got an "A".
Q: When did I escape the penalty? When she adjusted my grade - kept her promise.

The resurrection matters because without it, we'd still be in our sins. God promised - and then he delivered

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 - some people believed that there was no resurrection. If they died before Jesus came back, there was no hope. Paul says - it's not that way. If we only think Jesus can benefit us while alive, because we don't believe we'll be raised to life, we have no faith at all!

Jesus brought benefits to people during his life -he befriended them, he healed their diseases, he raised the dead
He brings benefits to us while we're alive - he comforts us, he leads us, he teaches us
He will bring benefits to us after we die - we'll be raised back to life, just as he was

Sin caused death/God undid the power of sin by raising Jesus from the grave, the "firstfruits" (1 Cor. 15:20) of those who had died, and others will follow the same pattern.
This is what's called good news!

Three things we know because God raised Jesus from the dead:
1. Good and evil are not equally matched. Even death couldn't hold Jesus!
2. God has the power to raise the dead.
3. We have the hope of eternal life - that what God did in Jesus will be repeated in us!

March 28-29: Forgiveness and the Story of Corrie ten Boom

2009-03-28T01:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone has been mistreated. Most of us have held a grudge. Some of us have forgiven, but didn't really want to.

Forgiveness: story of Corrie ten Boom
Lived with her family in the Netherlands
Watchmaker
In 1942, family agreed to hide Jews in their home from the Nazis
Discovered in 1944 and sent to concentration camps
Father and sister, whom she was imprisoned with, died in captivity
Corrie released on Christmas Day, 1944. A week later, women prisoners her age in her camp were killed.

Story:
“No Fishing Allowed” from "Hero Tales: Volume II" by Dave & Neta Jackson.

When the former Nazi guard approached Corrie -
+ What should she do?
+ What did she do?

Corrie ten Boom offered her forgiveness to the man, even though it was very hard.

Read Parable of the Unmerciful Servant -- Matthew 18:21-35
+ Explain this story
+ Do you think God expects us to forgive if we’ve been forgiven?
+ Do you think we are obligated to forgive if we’ve been forgiven?
+ What did the first servant do to deserve having his debt cancelled? (Nothing; God’s forgiveness is a free gift, and it is unconditional & total)

- Why is it hard to forgive others? Sometimes we think, “If I forgive him/her, they’ll think they can do it again”. Or, “If I tell them I forgive them, they’ll think they were right”?

It's not the same thing to say "It's ok to mistreat me" and "I forgive you"!
So, we need to be careful with our words -
When asking for forgiveness: always apologize - say, "I know what I did was wrong".
When offering forgiveness: say, "I didn't like what you did/you hurt me, but I accept your apology, and I forgive you." If we say "it's no big deal" or "don't worry about it" we can send the message we don't want to - that it's ok to be mistreated.

+ If we don't forgive, it hurts me worse than the person who wronged me.
Ex: being wronged is like a bruise. It heals in time. But the memory is like a brick I have to hold. Bricks need to be unloaded. Otherwise we stay weighed down.

March 14-15: Join the Revolution: What happens when we band together for God's sake

2009-03-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

"Revolution" means "great change". What would happen if a great many people all began to live with God inside of them, living his way?

Can one person really change things? If they influence others -
Ex: dominoes - one knocks over the other, which knocks over the next, which knocks over the next

If we were to build a revolution for God:
1. A Revolution only works when we know God's plan for us - what does he want each of us to do
Ex: Otherwise, if we don't know, it's like playing a game where the rules aren't explained

Most kids - and adults - if asked, would not know or would get it wrong!

2. A Revolution only works when we are with others who are working for the same goal
So...I need to know who's with me. I need to spend time around people who are also living for God.
Ex: Humming Game - you have to closely listen to what people say and watch what they do to know if they're on your team

3. A Revolution only works when everyone agrees they'll do the same thing
If I'm surrounded by people who are going to influence me away from God and who will discourage me, I won't get very far.

1 Peter has guidance on what we should do. 1 Peter was written to Christians under persecution - opposition to what they believed and their way of life. 1 Peter 2:11-12 - "I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." Peter is saying that even if people around you don't support what you're doing, if you do no wrong, what they're saying can't stick - it will actually reflect well on God.

This Revolution - that people would acknowledge him and start to care - is what God wants. Christians can do it, but as at the time Peter wrote, they have to stick together.

March 7-8: The Spirit helps us live the life God wants

2009-03-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

Q: If I let God come into my castle (my life)…and then I let him into a room…will I change?

A: I still need to obey what is said.

Q: What is the difference, then, between one castle (one life) that has God inside, and another that doesn't? Does the difference depend all on me?

A: No! When God comes in, he brings forgiveness…not by anything we've done, but as his gift. He also brings his Holy Spirit.

**A huge difference between Christianity and other religions:
* Others will give you rules to live by, and then it's up to you to do it.
* Christianity - starts with God doing something for us - the forgiveness of our sins.
We celebrate that!
Then God gives you his way to live
BUT - he also gives you his help to do it

Ex: Difference between your teacher assigning math homework, or assigning it and then sitting down and guiding you, individually, through each problem

Ex: My mom and her new Mac. New programs, systems are great…as long as she's shown how to use them.

Ex: Changing the oil in a car: it must be done. Would you rather: be told you have to do it (you don't know how, so you'll probably do it wrong), pay for someone else to do it ($30), or have someone teach you how to do it (least cost, best option)

God doesn't just give us "The Rules"; he also gives us his help to live the way he wants us to

Think of something you know God wants you to do, but you don't want to or it's hard…the Spirit is there for us.

What the Bible says about the Holy Spirit (partial list):
John 16:7-8 - the Spirit will tell the world when it's done wrong
John 14:26 - the Spirit will teach us things and remind us about who Jesus was
Romans 8:26 - the Spirit helps us pray, especially when we don't know what to pray for
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 - the Spirit gives gifts

A motto: On my own, I can't; but with God's help, I can
How would we live differently if we followed that?

Like being towed behind a boat with a rope, or up a hill on skis - you have to hang on, keep your skis straight, but also let the power (the rope) do its work

In Matthew 14, Peter was able to walk on the water, until he doubted - then he sank.

February 28-March 1: Take Up Your Cross and Follow

2009-02-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

Q: If you could spend a week with somebody, what are all the ways you could know if they were a follower of Jesus?

Our answers would mostly involve their deeds and religious practices. But, none of those things makes you a Christian.

To follow Jesus, there is something on the inside that happens.

Review:
A. Your life is like a castle - many rooms
B. Some people invite God into the castle, but keep him in a separate room
C. God wants to come into all the rooms of the castle – not just to be a part, but to be a part of all of the parts.
D. Once God comes in, he brings light…
E. He looks around…
F. And then he speaks truth through the Bible

G. After he speaks the truth - we have to listen & obey (the difference between listening and hearing)

Ex: God speaks into relationships, maybe with a brother or sister: As much as it depends on you, live at peace with other people (Rom. 12:18). If I obeyed that...not as many fights would start, I’d probably just walk away when my siblings tried to start things.

So what's the inside change that has to happen?
Luke 9:22-24 - none of Jesus' disciples believed he was going to be put to death. And they believed following him would not be difficult. Jesus corrects that - if anyone is to come after him, they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow.

"Take up your cross": When a criminal had been condemned, the "beginning of the end" so to speak was the walk to the execution, and criminals carried their own crosses. So when you took up your cross, it meant you were on the road to death - this was a certainty.

For us to "take up our cross" means we say goodbye to our old life. It does not mean we are putting our lives in danger, necessarily.

Even though our lives are full of sin, it takes faith to leave an old way of life behind...you don't know what that new life will hold.

Ex: people not willing to move out of unsafe neighborhoods, bad housing, etc.

Story: Festo Kivengere, the African Billy Graham. You can read the story of this man who came to Christ in Uganda and the repentance he saw all around him in his village here.

You can read about Festo Kivengere and other Christian heroes in the "Hero Tales" series.

February 21-22: God speaks to us through the Bible

2009-02-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

Last week: Your life is like a castle - many rooms. Some people let God into the castle, but keep him in a separate room. God doesn't want to be a part of your life; he wants to be a part of all of the parts.

1. What does God do once he comes into a room? He shines his light. And God is able to see things we can't easily see.
Ex: Hidden pictures game. Once you see the answers (where the hidden objects are shaded differently), it's easy. Prior to that, we miss things that are hidden. God, when he searches our hearts, is able to see things that we can't.

Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

It's a different thing to ask God to search your heart and for you to search your own heart - you might miss what God can easily see!

2. God brings truth. How? He speaks through the Holy Spirit through the words of the Bible.

Scripture is useful for teaching, for rebuking (telling us when we've done wrong), correcting us, and training us in doing right.

Hebrews 4:12 - The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating to divide joints and marrow, soul and spirit - it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

3. God's goal in bringing truth into your "rooms" is to REDEEM everything. When we were created, God called it "very good". But sin produced something broken - God wants to put that back together, to restore things, to make you like Jesus.

My own castle at 11 years old: many rooms, not many that had God as a part of them. The Bible has a message about redemption for each room. BUT >>> I have to listen - it's not enough to just hear it.

How to meditate on scripture: "Meditation" in Christianity means something different than in other religions, where the goal is to think about nothing. To meditate is to take words or an idea and concentrate on that, to learn and understand deeply how it is true. Choose a short passage and spend time with it - what is God saying here? What is he saying to me?

February 14-15: God, a part of all the parts

2009-02-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

1 John 1:5-7 - If we claim to have fellowship with God, yet walk in darkness, we are not living the truth! In a contest between light and dark, light always wins.

Therefore, to have God in our lives means we have him in all the parts. He is not just a part, he is part of all of the parts.

Kids were read a parable about a prince who brought a beggar home to live in his father's castle. As the prince grew up and became king himself, he limited the beggar to his own room and to the courtyard. The beggar became a great friend and help to the king's court, but the king himself had little to do with him. Near the end of the king's life, he revisits the beggar and discovers that, strangely, the beggar has not aged since the day he met him as a boy. The beggar expresses his wish that he could have been fully part of the king's life for all these years.

In this parable, the castle represents our lives. We might let the drawbridge down and bring God in, but sometimes we keep him confined to certain "rooms" or limited parts of our lives. God is able and willing to fill the rest of our lives, but we have to allow him to be part of our family life, our thoughts, our attitudes, our friendships, our hobbies, etc. in order to realize his full blessing.

February 7-8: The Light of the World

2009-02-07T16:33:00.001-08:00

Light is useful for many things: safety, helping people see what's real and what's false, helping things grow, guiding, warming, etc.

In a contest between darkness and light, light always wins! As soon as the smallest light is turned on, the darkness is gone. The difference is how much light is present - some rooms/places are lighter than others and you get more of the benefits of light because of that.

John 8:12 - Jesus says whoever follows him will never live in darkness. By this he means surrounded by evil, untruth, or injustice - whether the person themselves is responsible for it (by committing acts of sin), or the victim of it.

John 3:19-21 - Darkness and sin are related: men loved darkness more than light because their deeds were evil. We're more likely to do wrong, and get away with it, when what we're doing can't be seen..

If a person has "the light of the world" in them, does that mean they will sin less? In a way - light exposes evil, makes you more aware of your sin. But it doesn't guarantee you'll act on that knowledge, and it might not happen right away. Old, bad habits might not seem wrong if you've grown accustomed to them; even after you know they're wrong, it can take a long time for you to stop.

Matthew 5:14-16 - You have the light, so shine the light, don't hide it.
So if light will chase away darkness, why is that so hard?
Sometimes we don't want others to know we have the light, sometimes we're not confident in the power of the light. Other Christians need to be together to maximize the impact.

Example: if trying to turn on 12 flashlights, only one at a time, in silence, it's not likely to be successful - unless - you coordinate efforts. In the same way, Christians need to know other Christians and combine their lights to fill the world with light.

January 10-11: The Most Important Decision You'll Make This Year

2009-01-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

We make lots of little decisions - the video showed kids choosing between sports activities, snacks, which subject to study first...but the most important decision you'll make is "Am I going to stand up for what is JUST?"

Justice = other words are "fairness", "being treated right"

The story of Micah: Lived in the Southern Kingdom (Judah), a time when people said they worshiped God (they kept up the sacrifices) but they treated the poor unfairly. Micah brought two complaints against the people:
1. The land of the poor was being seized and those people had nowhere to go
2. The prophets who should have warned against this were not true prophets - sometimes they said what they were paid to say

As a prophet, Micah brought a message from the Lord. To Israel - who asked "how religious are we supposed to be so that God isn't mad at us?" he answered - "God's already shown you what is good and he's been good to you! Just act justly, love mercy with your hearts, and walk humbly with him."

Micah 6:8 - "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (NIV)

What does it mean? Sometimes we can get an idea by looking at other Bible translations:

Other translations: "No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." (NLT)

"The Lord has shown you what is good. He has told you what he requires of you. You must treat people fairly. You must love others faithfully. And you must be very careful to live the way your God wants you to." (NIrV)

In the world - in our country - in our towns - in your neighborhoods and schools - there is injustice. That's where you come in.

The decisions we make:
+ We can decide to do right
+ We can decide to do wrong
+ We can decide not to do wrong
+ We can decide not to do right

James 4:17 says if you know the good you ought to do and don't do it, it's sin.

Morgan's Story: Morgan McKeown of our church, preparing for another overseas missions project, this one to make a documentary about people who are slaves in Thailand. Hopefully later this year she will be over there.

What is a kid supposed to do? Use the "season" of your life to decide how you feel about injustice, just as Morgan is using this "season" to prepare to go overseas.

Important ?s for a 10-12 year old:
* Whose side am I on? Am I on the side of justice?
* What's important to me?
* How do I feel when I see people mistreated?

One way injustice/unfair treatment shows up among kids is teasing and bullying. Many of us have been teased. Some have done the teasing. But EVERYONE has known someone who's been in it. So everyone is part of the solution (or the problem).

If you're a teaser - know that this is not pleasing to God. You can do all the religious stuff you want, but God knows your heart by the way you live. Teasing is not justice. Especially if you're teasing someone you don't know. Friendly teasing among friends can be ok, but watch it - sometimes we go too far and are hurting feelings at the "friend"'s expense.

If you're the one being teased - know that God is on your side. He is for justice...but not revenge. The way we get justice is to appeal to the adults who are in authority.

If you're a witness to teasing - be a help to both sides. Discourage the teaser; encourage the one being teased. And use the adults who are in authority. Don't stay silent.

What if you decided in 2009 that you were going to stand up for justice?
What if we ALL decided in 2009 that we were going to stand up for justice?

December 6-7: What will it be like in heaven?

2008-12-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Question: What will it be like in heaven?

What do we think of when we hear "heaven"?

When I was young, I had all the usual pictures come to my mind - but I also freaked out a little at the thought of "forever". We know, though, that heaven won't be scary - it will be wonderful. Our minds are small...God is big. So, there are things we can't even imagine.

Four things we know about heaven:

A. God will be there - the best thing.

1 John 1:5-7 says when we walk in the light we have "fellowship" with God.

"Fellowship" is when we are with someone and enjoying their company - for example, your mom or dad at the park, or an amusement park, playing with you, just having a good time, not expecting something of you or telling you what to do. Fellowship is great time together, each person enjoying the other person.

Q: Could a person who confessed their sins late in their life still go to heaven and experience God?

A: Yes - but they will have missed the fellowship they could have had with God all their life. What a waste!

In heaven, we will not have our sin nature with us - it will be the God life 100%.

B. Everything there will be for our good - because God loves us

Q: If God loves me, does that mean he'll give me anything I want?

A: No. There's a difference (sometimes) between what I want and what's good for me.

So...will heaven be non-stop roller coaster rides and candy and as much pizza as we want? Probably not. God knows, though, what's good for us. That is what he will provide.

And some things we request aren't good or bad for us, but they're not what we need. (Example: a new Wii, $500 cash, etc.) God will provide what we need; not always what we want.

C. We will be totally satisfied.

Rev. 21:3-4 says there will be no more pain or sorrow or suffering - we will want nothing and need nothing, because we will have all that we need.

"Forever" is like being in a place where you don't want to leave - things are perfect, you don't want the moment to end.

D. We will be changed.

Q: Seriously, how will I like heaven if it's not endless video games and ice cream?

A: You will be changed, you will be different when you get to heaven.

Anyone who has lived through changes knows they usually aren't something we look forward to - and then when they happen, it turns out OK.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 says at the time of the trumpet sound, we will all be taken up and we will be changed in an instant. What are some of these changes?

We'll have no body, or at least a different body (1 Cor. 15 tells us all about that).
Some of heaven we just can't understand until we're their and then it will be - oh, of course, I get it now! Like a frog explaining to a tadpole what it'll be like to have legs and jump on land.
Our attitude will totally change. We will be ok being in a place that isn't all about giving us exactly what we want. We will be happy letting God be the center of attention. Ex: my mom being happy to sit and watch us at amusement parks & ski places; Jason's wife agreeing to go to the Madagascar movie because it's what her boys wanted to do.

** This happens as we "grow up" as Christians - we learn to "live beyond ourselves" - to have experiences where we put our needs second, and we let someone else have our time, our attention, our money, our help - and we discover IT'S ALL OK!

Examples:

Missionary from our church who lives among the poor in South Africa

Missionary family that works among the Indian tribes in Peru

When you give away money you wanted to spend on yourself

When you wait for someone who's in front of you who moves more slowly, instead of barging ahead of them

When you are deliberately nice to someone you don't want to be nice to

When you let someone go in front of you in a line

When there are 2 sodas left, with one flavor you want and one you don't - and you let your friend have the flavor you wanted, and you take the other

When you fast (go without eating for some meals)

When you do something extra at home without being asked - more than you are required to do for your chores

...and you discover it's ok!

Ask yourself: What am I willing to try to live beyond myself?

November 29-30 - Why do people sin?

2008-11-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

Question: Why do people sin?

What does James 1:15-17 tell us about sin?
A. It tells us God does not sin and is not tempted, nor does he tempt
B. It tells us that we have evil desires living inside of us
C. It tells us that temptation plays on those desires until sin begins
D. It tells us that when sin is fully grown, it leads to death

So, in order:
1. We have sin living in us
2. We are tempted
3. We think about sinning
4. We follow through on sin
5. Because we sin, it leads to death

The sinful nature in us is like a huge appetite: "FEED ME!"

In answer to your questions:
Why did God make sin? God did not make sin! He doesn't cause it either!

Who created sin? Did it just come to be when Eve ate the fruit? Sin wasn't really created. It happened when people made wrong choices.

Why did God put temptations in this world? God doesn't tempt anyone. Temptations play on the evil desires that are in us (the sinful nature).

Who causes people to sin? Again, they come from the desires of our sin nature. We are responsible for our own sin.

Does God ever sin? No!

Are babies born with sin in their life?

Ex: four figures.
The first is INNOCENT - it has never sinned. The Bible tells us Adam & Eve were this way when created.
The second is FALLEN - no longer innocent, because it has sinned. The Bible tells us the human race is fallen.
The third is FORGIVEN.
The fourth is GLORIFIED. This is a person living in heaven. All sin is gone and God has given them "God life" forever and ever.

Which one...
deserves heaven? The innocent, if any - it has not sinned. But none of the others deserves God.
is sinful? The Fallen, and the Forgiven (yes, forgiven people still sin!) By definition, an Innocent person has never sinned, and a Glorified person cannot have sin and be in the presence of God
is saved? The Innocent (although no one today is innocent), the Forgiven, and the Glorified. But, the Forgiven one isn't perhaps "yet" saved, in the sense that the Glorified one is.

The journey moves in only one direction - from Fallen to Forgiven to Glorified - you cannot travel backwards! (and that's good news!)

Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...
So which figure represents how we are when we're born?

Views vary:
1. Some say we are born innocent and choose to sin; we might, or we might not. It is all a choice.
2. Some say we are born innocent but for sure we will sin; sin is just too strong.
3. Some say we are born already guilty of sin.

In the case of babies, they are either innocent, or sinful but not accountable.

The good news is - sinners can escape punishment! God shows "mercy" to people when he puts "the God life" in them although they are fallen.

November 22-23: Guest Speaker - Tom Wiest

2008-11-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Tom Wiest, from Pioneers, spoke about his family's work among indigenous people in Peru.

November 15-16: What's the deal with Satan?

2008-11-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

Question: What's the deal with Satan?

Things the Bible tells us about angels and Satan:
Angels are sent to minister to those who believe (Heb. 1:14)
God created angels - they are not gods (Col. 1:16)
When angels sinned, some were sent to hell (demons) (2 Peter 2:4)
We are not to worship angels (Rev. 22:8-9)
Satan is also called "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (Eph. 2:2)
He is also called "prince of this world" (John 12:31)
And also called "liar and the Father of all lies" (John 8:44)
He entered Judas and tempted him to betray Jesus (Luke 22:3)
He fell from heaven after his rebellion (Luke 10:18)
There is an eternal fire prepared for him (Matthew 25:41)
He tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)
He has been "sinning from the beginning" (1 John 3:8)
He prowls around us like a lion, waiting to devour (1 Peter 5:8)
If we resist him, he will flee (James 4:7)

1. Satan gets people to fear him
Ex: The Wizard of Oz - got people to fear him by pretending and showing himself to be more powerful than he really was

In the same way, Satan flexes his muscles, but doesn't really have all the power he pretends to have. People who worship Satan over God believe he is all-powerful, when he isn't.

2. Bible depicts him as a lion, a dragon, our enemy, the accuser - so why is he so angry?

Satan was created, an angel, who led a rebellion in heaven (see Rev. 12:1-12). Wanting to be on the level of God, and not achieving it, he was cast down to earth, where he wanders.

He tries to lead people down the wrong path by making the path to death look like the path to life!

3. Satan's goals

Keep people from knowing that forgiveness of sins is possible
To ruin the lives of people who do believe, by making them think "God could never love me" (he accuses us before God - and he's right! But, the death of Jesus covers any sin, and our salvation will not be undone.)

4. How he attacks
Satan looks for our weak points and tempts us there. Once he's "inside", it leads us to other sins.

Ex: Someone who thinks they must be perfect may be led to cheat, and then to lie to cover up the cheating, etc. Or, someone who gets angry easily with others may be led to hate others, and then to gossip about them, and so on.

Knowing that Satan works in this way, the job for us is to strengthen our outer defenses...don't let Satan hit you at your weak spot. Where is your weak spot that you need to defend against? James 4:7 says if we resist the devil he will flee from us.

5. Other questions about Satan -
Who created hell? It's a place reserved for Satan and his angels
Does God love the devil? The devil was created by God. For sure, as a created being, he was once loved. But the point is that the devil will never repent. He will not go to heaven. He already had eternal life with God and rejected that. Every human gets another chance; the devil has forever blown his.
Why can't God destroy Satan and sin? He is! When Jesus came out of the grave, that broke Satan's power - people no longer had to die. Life is available to everyone who comes to Jesus. Satan has power - but it's not the kind of power God has. In Genesis 3:15 it says the serpent will strike the heel of "the woman's offspring"...Jesus; but Jesus will crush his head. So, we are living in "the beginning of the end" of evil.

Does Satan have power? Yes, but only in the way the Wizard of Oz did. Much of his "power" rests on suspicions we hold and fears that aren't realistic.

November 8-9: Why does God let bad things happen to us?

2008-11-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

Question: Why does God let bad things happen to us?

Thanks for all the questions submitted so far...keep them coming...if your question isn't answered right away, know that we are getting to it. Some questions have to be answered first - questions about God creating the world, how sin came in - before we can answer other questions, like do animals go to heaven.

1. "Bad things" entered the world when Adam & Eve "fell" ("The Fall" = the first sin, the first act of disobedience to God)
Q: "What 'bad stuff' came into the world after the Fall?"

Adam & Eve could no longer live in the Garden of Eden (Q: Do we know where it was? No, not exactly. Clues from the name of the river, probably Iraq, but it wasn't found.)
Adam would have to work the ground and there would be thorns and thistles
Eve would have to submit to her husband rather than be his equal
Eve would experience pain in giving birth
The serpent (Satan) would be cursed (but, the same verse talks about Jesus coming to win!)
People would die

As we talked about last week, God could not have created us to have choices unless there was also the choice to disobey. Love for him that is not chosen wouldn't mean anything.

Remember Teacher Mr. X and Teacher Mr. Y? In Teacher Mr. X's world, there was no misbehavior, but there were also no choices. In Teacher Mr. Y's class, wrong things probably would happen.

Bonus: Where is Jesus mentioned in the passage? Verse 15 - her offspring will crush his (Satan's) head

2. Because there is sin, we have suffering

Caused by ourselves - ex: we get grounded, we fail tests, we get yelled at, we lose friends
Caused by others - ex: all the evil things kids do to each other

Ex: Logan's white jeans at dusty summer camp! It didn't matter if he was trying to stay clean or get dirty, he was going to get dirty!

3. What we call evil isn't always necessarily evil
If I want something good to happen, and it doesn't happen, is that a bad thing?
Ex: It rains on my birthday, so I can't have the party in the park. Evil? No - inconvenient & bad, yes - for me.

Ex: I get grounded for lying to my parents. Evil? No. A bad thing? Yes, for me.

Ex: I (Mark) swam out too far and almost drowned. Very scary. Was it an evil thing? No, but uncomfortable and horrible.

Part of "growing up" is being able to look at things the way someone else sees them - including God. When we can see ALL there is so see of something, we understand it better. Ex: 3-D glasses.

4. Evil is being overcome.
When Jesus came out of the grave, the process of evil being defeated began (like when Aslan rose in Narnia - and started to undo all the evil). More on that next week.

5. Sometimes good can come from evil - God works through things to make us better, stronger, and to change us.
Read Romans 8:28-32. Does verse 28 mean:
A. Only good things will happen to people who love God
B. God causes bad things to happen because they're good for us
C. Everything that happens to us turns out good in the end
D. No matter what happens, God is always working to make us like his son, Jesus

D is the best choice - as verse 31 says, "If God is on our side, who can be against us?" Nothing can happen that will derail God's good plan for us.

Ex: I'm not glad that the drowning incident almost happened, but I learned valuable lessons from it.
What have you been through that's been hard, but your own good has come from it?

Into small groups (each group take one passage):
John 9:1 - Jesus heals a man born blind
Philippians 1:7-14 - Paul in chains for the gospel
1 Peter 1:5-7
2 Corinthians 1:8-11
Who was suffering in this passage?
What was the suffering?
What reason was given for why the person suffered?
Why is that "good"?

November 1-2: Why did God let Adam & Eve sin?

2008-10-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Question: If God knew that Adam & Eve were going to sin, why did he let them sin?

How do we answer a question like this?
1. Whenever answering questions about God, we use the Bible...

We can't just "make things up" from whatever seems right. If we do, we will be constantly changing our minds - like the song "Tossed to and Fro"

The Bible isn't arranged by topic - unfortunately. We can't look up things like "How God thinks" or "What happened before the creation of the world"?

What we do see in the Bible is the things God has done.
We put as many of these together as we can
Ex: a jigsaw puzzle - the more you "fill in" the more you can see what the whole picture is about

2. ...and we use our minds.

"Based on what I know about God, what is the answer here?"

Q: Does God have to "make sense" - can I look at what God did in the Bible and know what he will do in the future?
A: Yes and no. If God wasn't predictable, we would have a hard time trusting him. But God can cause miracles, he can do the unexpected; he also cannot do certain things: lie, change, un-create himself, make a square circle, etc.

But, we generally use what we know God has done (the Bible) as a clue for what he will do in the future.

3. We should check with more than one person on tough questions
To see if their answers match
Because having things explained in more than one way will help you understand better

If God knew that Adam & Eve were going to sin, why did he let them sin?
1. Did God know?
Like our example from a couple of weeks ago, God is like a man sitting in a tower watching the parade go by - he sees the beginning, middle and end.

Some people believe "God doesn't know the future"
Others believe "God could know but he chooses not to" - like climbing down off the tower

I (Mark) believe that yes, God does know the future (although it isn't the future to him). Eph. 1:4 and other places talk of God making decisions before the start of time.

2. If he knew, why did God let them do it?
...because sin makes the world worse, and causes death, why wouldn't God prevent that?

A: God lets people make choices. Not trees or mountains - they make no choices. And animals don't make moral choices - no knowledge of right & wrong.

God won't take away our freedom to make moral choices. In the end, this makes him look even better!

Ex: Two teachers, Mr. X and Mr. Y
Teacher Mr. X never let his students make any mistakes. He watched over their shoulders as they worked and made everyone stay on the same problem at the same time. This frustrated the faster workers. As soon as it looked like someone was going to mis-spell a word or add something wrong, Mr. X would raise his voice and say, “STOP!” so they’d catch their mistake.

Mr. X gave all his students the questions to every test ahead of time. That way, they could just memorize all the answers. And wouldn’t you know it? Mr. X’s students all got As.

On the first day of school, Mr. X had his students write “Get Well” cards and “Thank You” cards. You know who they were for? For him! So when he came down with the flu in January, he got 30 get well cards from his students. And at the end of the year, he mailed the thank you cards to himself, too.

Teacher Mr. Y did the best he could to teach his students, but in the end, he let them be themselves. He knew that some kids were better at math than others, so he didn’t expect everyone to do things perfectly. Mr. Y would give homework, and have students do it on their own. Then, when it was graded, he let students come to him during recess or after school and work to fix their mistakes.

Mr. Y’s kids didn’t always do great on tests. But, a fair number did. And there were a few students who started the year not really liking school all that much who raised their grades to all As by the end of the year.

When Mr. Y went in the hospital to have his appendix out, half of the kids in his class sent him Get Well cards on their own. And at the end of the year, 20 out of 30 kids gave him some kind of Thank You gift.

What was being a student like in Mr. X's classroom? In Mr. Y's classroom?
Who was more loved by his students? Mr. Y - his students wrote him cards even though they didn't have to
Which teacher is more like God? Mr. Y. God wants us to love him, but he gives us the choice.

So...when a human chooses to love God, it makes God look great, because there were so many other things that person could have chosen to love.

God took a chance by giving us freedom...we might not choose him. But, to take away our choice would make us like robots. Then we wouldn't really be choosing to love him.

Rocks, trees, mountains - make us say, "God must be pretty cool"
Animals - make us say, "God is very cool"
A person who has chosen to love God even though they didn't have to - makes us say, "God must be awesome!"

October 25-26: Why did God decide to create us?

2008-10-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

Why did God create us?

In smaller groups, look for the answers to these questions in your assigned passage:
1. Why did God decide to create us?
2. What were we created for?
3. How did God create us?
Passages: Psalm 33:6-11, Ephesians 1:3-6, Acts 17:24-28

1. Not reasons God created us:
He was bored
He was lonely
He needed people to make him feel good by praising him

Acts 17:24-25 – The God who made the world and everything in it is Lord of the universe and does not live in temples made by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, for he himself has given us life and breath and everything else.

We say that God is self-sufficient – in need of nothing and not needing others

If God is self-sufficient, he doesn’t need people.
That doesn’t mean, though, that people have no value. Just the opposite – our value comes from the fact that God loved us enough to create us.

Ex: Two instances about my dad and me
My dad owned a vegetable garden and would often need my help in the summertime. I didn’t like going and looked for excuses to get out of it. They even sometimes paid us to be there.

My dad invited me on a 7-hour car trip across the state when I was in 7th grade, to accompany him to a convention he was attending. He didn’t need me along, but he wanted me there.

Which of these is more like the relationship between God & us?
The car trip across the state is. God doesn’t need us to get his work done. That would make us equals in a sense, and allow us to bargain with God. We also develop a wrong attitude toward God – that our service is all he wants. Instead, God delights in just being with us.

You are not loved by God because you are valuable – You are valuable because you are loved by God!

2. So – why did God decide to create us?
Because it was his will (his decision), and his nature (he’s just being himself)

Ex: a creative person – poet, playwrite, artist – they often just create things, regardless of whether anyone will see it, hear it, or give them money for it. It’s just “who they are”. They decide to make something, and they do it.

3. But, there’s a difference between what God creates & what man creates.
What God created came from nothing…whatever man created (bikes, computers, milkshakes even!) came from the raw parts that were already there.

So, we can still thank God for things that came from man’s imagination & hands.

4. Did God create actions?
Ex: running? No, but he gave us the equipment and ability to run.

This is important: how we use things, how we act – are the result of human decisions.

5. All created things are “good”, but can be used for right/wrong purposes
Gen. 1, 1 Tim. 4:4 say everything God created is “good”

So what about – fire? (Good for some purposes, bad for others) water? (good when you’re thirsty or dirty, harmful in floods and shipwrecks) spiders? (a nuisance, some people are scared of them; but, they serve a valuable purpose in nature) sharks? (same as spiders – bad when they attack people, good for the ocean’s ecosystem)

If God deserves thanks for the good, does he deserve blame for the bad? No – sometimes good things get used in bad ways…but this is the result of decisions

Next Week: Why does God allow these bad things to happen?

October 18-19: Who Created God? and Where did God come from?

2008-10-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

The Big Idea: Unlike people, God had no creator, he has no beginning and he will have no end.

Who created God? No one did
Then, where did he come from? He has always existed

In groups, look at passages:

Acts 17:24-25 and Acts 17:29
Colossians 1:15-16
Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:26-28
Psalm 90:1-4
John 1:1-3

and answer:
1. What does this tell us about the age of God?
2. What does this tell us about who created God?
3. What does this tell us about how God is different from humans?

1. Without something at the beginning, absolutely nothing real could exist.
If we take something made, and ask - "what made this?" and then continue back...there has to be something at the beginning. That "beginning thing" is God.

So >>> God is not created.

2. Because nothing made God, he was never born and doesn't get any older
We call that "infinite"...which is different from being "old"

Infinite is the biggest number, bigger than any other. You can always add 1 to any number to get a bigger number. But not infinity. Infinity + 1 is still infinity. So, it's not correct to say that God is old, he is just infinite.

So >>> God is eternal.

3. Because God is eternal and not created, he holds a special place above (and outside of) the universe.

Ex: think of a special event you've attended (Harvest Party, Christmas Party, birthday party). While you're having fun and not knowing what will come next, someone knows. Someone set it all up, is in charge schedule and safety, hosting, decorating...someone is the organizer.

In the same way >> God is the maker (the organizer, the host) of the world:

Gets to choose when it starts and ends
Things that surprise us are not surprises to him
Just as you thank the host of the party when you leave, God - who had no beginning, nothing before him - deserves all our thanks

Ex: In China - skies are normally smoggy. But, after a good soaking rain, the air cleared off. It made me thankful...but for what? Thankful to whom? I realized this could be applied to anything good...great athletic performances at the Olympics, acts of kindness...instead of being thankful "for that", we can train ourselves to be thankful "to God" because he is the source & the beginning of all that exists.

Caution: sometimes we stop short of thankfulness to God by simply being thankful only that we have certain things. This is coveting - loving something in a selfish way. True thankfulness takes our love for whatever it is - a possession, another person, a favorite activity - and follows it back to its source, which is God.

October 11-12: Questions

2008-10-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of our "Ask Me Anything" series in which kids submit questions about God & life that we will answer in class.

Why is it helpful to my faith to ask questions?

1. It helps us understand and appreciate the world
Ex: My experience at a winter camp once. We arrived after dark and there were no street lights or yard lights - totally dark. I couldn't see my way to the bunks and I thought the camp was really lame. The next day, when the sun shone on it, I realized the full picture - what a great camp it was.

The more we know and can see things the way God sees them, the better our decisions will be.

"Wisdom" - comes from having more & better information.
God is perfectly wise - like a man sitting on a steeple or tower high above a parade.
Solomon knew to ask the Lord for wisdom - to make better decisions

Example of wisdom applied to a question:
"Is it ok for me to have a boyfriend or girlfriend?" God knows who you're going to marry one day, and it's almost always not the person you like when you're young! His better knowledge helps us make a decision.

"Can I be friends with someone who's different from me?" (different likes, disabled, etc.) Once you get to know someone and know their story, it's much easier to be their friend (yes, you can be friends with someone who's different!)

The bottom line: Sometimes a little more info helps us make a better decision

2. Understanding God helps us trust him better

Example: In the game, you guessed what items were in bags. If you knew what it was used for, that was a clue as to what it was. With God, we use "like" statements even though that never exactly describes what God is or what he does. We can never know exactly what God is like this side of heaven...1 Corinthians 13 says that now we see "through a glass darkly", or a poor reflection, but one day we will see God face to face.

Wrong beliefs about God cause us to act wrongly towards him
Example: "Candle wax" to eat - it was really caramel & taffy
When you expected it to be wax, you didn't want it; when you expected candy, you really wanted it. The Bible says God is good and every perfect gift comes from him, and he is not the maker of evil. If we don't know that, we might blame God for bad things or expect wrong things from him.

If you believe...
...that God only cares if you show up for church, but not how you live the rest of your life - you will be inconsistent - Jesus will never live out his life in you, and you will not grow.
...that God will not forgive anyone completely - you will then believe that no one can be sure of their salvation, and you will likely live your life nervous of God rather than joyfully and thankfully.
...that Satan is everywhere - you may believe that Satan has more power than he does, when in reality Satan can't be everywhere and Christ's victory over him is already assured.

One more thing...Does asking questions mean my faith is weak?
There is "simple" faith and "brainiac" faith - and either one is ok! Some people are satisfied with answers the first time they hear them. Others need to ask lots of questions to understand.

The point is not merely knowing the right answers, the point is whether you put what you believe into practice.

So, faith is like a chair - we're not really exercising faith until we sit in it and make our decisions because of it. God desires us to have confident faith (belief put into action), not a hesitant faith (no action from the belief).

Do you sit in your chair confidently, or hesitantly?