WEDNESDAY, May 21st, 2008

IT IS WEDNESDAY!! YEAH!!!!

So Remember everyone: OUR GOAL TONIGHT IS 40 PEOPLE IN THE TEEN ROOM!
I hope that you bring someone with you. We are going to have a great service and it will be just a taste of what we are going to be doing each week of the summer.

So be here at 6:30ish and be ready to have a blast!

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
That One Kid: .... ... ...WHAT ONE KID!!!!!!!!!!!! (and what is a BA blog?)
Amy: As far as I am concerned you were the first one yesterday. "Hi" Does not count as a devotion :) And by the way: I never knew that you were menanites.
Jessica: So I am a Fellow Peasant, Huh?
Alex: Where is the application man!
Jessica B: TODAY HAS FINALLY COME! I am so excited about tonight! When David Archuletta wins! (Ok! And about you guys coming into youth group!)
Phil: Which phil is this? I tell you what, those were some great devos. I am glad your home page is WWW.DOYOURDEVOTIONS.COM
Rachel E: We will be praying for Michael. When are you leaving?
Rachel Mace: I loved your words when you said: "Todays application: application" I think we should all think about that AND DO IT. Let's not just type some nice words, but lets really APPLY this to our life ALL DAY LONG each day! Great Job!

John 1:43-51

43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”


This is such a great passage. I am going to share 3 main applications with you.
1. (Verses 43-46) Jesus walks up to Phillip and tells him to "Follow me", so Phillip does, but I think that it is so cool that Phillip didnt just follow by himself. Phillip went and got Nathanael and said, you have got to see this!!! I have found the messiah! Then Phillip tells Nathanael: "Come and see". That is Great. Christ has called us to "take up our cross and FOLLOW HIM" the question is: Do you follow him alone or have you gotten people to follow God with you? How many people have you had a part in leading to the Lord? If none yet, then lets start today, by asking our friends to come along with us and see Jesus. (At church, in your devotions, in your testimony...)

2. (Verse 48) This goes hand in hand with the last application: Nathanael walks up to Jesus and Jesus is like: Hey, you are an Israelite. Nathanael is taken back... He says "WOW!! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!!" then Jesus tells him, I knew who you were even before Phillip went to talk to you. The truth is, that Christ knows of people in yours and my life that will Accept Him if we do our part in inviting them. Christ knows you and He knows your friends... but He wants you and your friends to know HIM!

3. (Verse 49-51) THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART!
Nathanael says to Jesus: "MASTER!! YOU MUST BE THE SON OF GOD! THE KING OF ISRAEL!!" and Jesus responds back like this... "You mean to tell me that you believe I am God, just because I told you that you were standing under a tree??" Then Jesus basically says to Nathanael something that they tell you At the Magic Kingdom on Thunder Mountain: "hold on to them hats and glasses, cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!!" (Remember that?)

Jesus tells Nathanael, if you think that is something, then you better hold on, because that is NOTHING compared to the amazing things you are going to see when you hang out with me.

The same thing is true for us: We think that life is good... well Just imagine if you completely surrendered... Just imagine if you followed God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind... What an incredible ride this would be. Then my last thought is this: While we are enjoying this incredible ride through life with Christ, I can hear Jesus saying: You think this is something... You Just WAIT!!! UNTIL WE GET TO HEAVEN!!!!!!

How cool is that!
Pastor Lee