Hey Everyone! Yesterday was such a fun day! I enjoyed doing the freedom swim, going out to eat with my family, and watching the fireworks with over 35 people from our church at Laishley park! It was a great day! Katie, Jill, and Jessica Staley made the news both on NBC and ABC... and My foot and leg made the news too! Cool Huh!
A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Thanks for all the "Happy Birthdays" yesterday! It was a great birthday thanks to many of you!
Jeff: You are crazy! You are like... "Josh if you died I would probably cry" Unbelievable!
Marvin:It is good to know that you love your brother! :) Good application yesterday!
Grace: We will miss you very much! Hurry back! I had fun yesterday too! I am glad we got to hang out with all you guys!!
Jon: Hey man! I agree, the fireworks were just ok, but the fellowship was a real "bang"! Ha!! :) I crack myself up, like a firecracker! :) I am on a roll!!
Jessica M: Hey girl, I hope that you had fun last night! I wish they had used the money that they spent on fireworks to build you a new school... Nevermind! I enjoyed the fireworks!!! :)
John 11:39-44
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”
44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Ok, so this is the climax of the story that we have been looking at for the last few days. Jesus comes to the tomb. When it says that He is groaning within himself, it does not mean that He is Hungry!! It means that He has a broken heart!
Verse 39 Jesus tells the people to move the stone off the front of the tomb, and Guess what Martha says. (This is so great) She says: "Um... Jesus listen, His body has begun to decompose and it really STINKS!! You do not want them to open up that tomb!!!
Then Jesus tells Martha, Didnt I tell you to have faith and then you would see AMAZING things...?
In Verse 42 we see Jesus praying to the Father, publically! Why? To be a testimony to God! Do you pray publically? so that people can see you praying and know that you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ!
Verse 43 has the incredible statement from Christ. As He speaks here on earth, and He is heard all the way to Heaven where Lazarus was probably just getting use to things up there... Lazarus heard Christ and instantly came back into His body, and came alive.
The very next scene is this "mummy like" man, walking out of the tomb. That must have been so freaky! Think about that, He was dead one moment and alive the next! Just like us! We were dead in our sins, and Christ gave us eternal life! What a great God we serve!
I think that if I could go back and watch any miracle that Christ did, this would be the one I would choose! I would love to look at Mary and Marthas face whenever they saw Lazarus walking out of the tomb! It would be so cool to watch this miracle and know that it happened because of Marthas faith!!
What does God want to do in our life, BECAUSE OF OUR GREAT FAITH IN HIM! I guarantee you that God wants to do something GREAT!
FRIDAY, July 4th, 2008
It Is July 4th! Happy Birthday... ...America! :) So, What are your plans for today? I hope that you plan to go to the "freedom float" at 12:00 noon so that we can all swim across together at 1:00pm. Then I hope that you also plan to be at Laishley Park by 6:00pm so that we can all hang out together and watch the fireworks!
A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Josh L: Thanks for coming with us yesterday! I hope you get to come and hang out today as well! It will be lots and lots of fun! BTW: 6:30am is not "posting the devotions late" so calm down. :)
Jessica B: I am excited about having Australia arked on here! I got someone to visit from South Africa! Cool Huh?
Alex: That was an incredible illustration! You had to get through the puke in life before you could feel better... God knew what you needed all along! Very cool! Keep those kinds of illustrations coming!
Grace: Alright! We will miss you though! Hurry Back!
Drake: Thanks for joining us man! That was some seriously deep theology! :)
Kervin: Great Job man! It is nice to know that there is someone always watching over us!
Kacey: That is what I am talking about! Thanks for truely reading the passage and seriously applying it to your life! Great Job! I Love Reading Your Devotions! Keep up the good work!
John 11:17-27
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he (Lazarus) had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.
19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
This passage is smaller, but there is still a great story. Christ comes to the place where Lazarus has been "entombed" (Placed in a tomb... because HE IS DEAD). Lazarus has been dead for 4 Days now. When Mary and Martha see that Jesus is coming, Mary stays in the house for some reason: Maybe she is upset with Jesus, because "he didnt come in time" or maybe she just wants to stay inside to mourn the loss of her brother. Martha, on the other hand ran out to meet Christ. Martha said with all the passion in her heart: "Jesus if you would have been here, then my brother would not have died!! But I know that even right now, whatever you ask from God He will give you" Martha trusted that Christ had the power to bring Lazarus back from the dead.
Jesus says to Martha: " Your Brother will rise again" Martha's response is very interesting! She says: Jesus! I know He will rise in the ressurection, but I want him to be back alive now... Then Christ reassures her by saying: "I am the resurrection and the life... He that believes in my shall never die"
How great is that statement: Christ is the source of Life in this world! We must trust that Christ can do ANYTHING in our life just as Martha did!
Ok, so here is the GREAT application for this passage! Martha had never seen anyone raised from the dead... She had probably never even dreamed that it was possible. However when she spent time with Jesus, She realized that NOTHING WAS IMPOSSIBLE WITH CHRIST! So you know what she did? She asked Him to do something greater than she could have possibly imagined! And Guess What! We are going to see that Christ answers her request!
We must ask God to do something great in our life, in our church, in our youth group! If we do not have the faith to ask God to do something so wonderful then Why would he ever do it? We must have faith in Him and ask Him to do great things in our life, our church, and our youth group!
That is some cool stuff!
Have a Happy 4th of July! My favorite Holiday EVER! :)
A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Josh L: Thanks for coming with us yesterday! I hope you get to come and hang out today as well! It will be lots and lots of fun! BTW: 6:30am is not "posting the devotions late" so calm down. :)
Jessica B: I am excited about having Australia arked on here! I got someone to visit from South Africa! Cool Huh?
Alex: That was an incredible illustration! You had to get through the puke in life before you could feel better... God knew what you needed all along! Very cool! Keep those kinds of illustrations coming!
Grace: Alright! We will miss you though! Hurry Back!
Drake: Thanks for joining us man! That was some seriously deep theology! :)
Kervin: Great Job man! It is nice to know that there is someone always watching over us!
Kacey: That is what I am talking about! Thanks for truely reading the passage and seriously applying it to your life! Great Job! I Love Reading Your Devotions! Keep up the good work!
John 11:17-27
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he (Lazarus) had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.
19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
This passage is smaller, but there is still a great story. Christ comes to the place where Lazarus has been "entombed" (Placed in a tomb... because HE IS DEAD). Lazarus has been dead for 4 Days now. When Mary and Martha see that Jesus is coming, Mary stays in the house for some reason: Maybe she is upset with Jesus, because "he didnt come in time" or maybe she just wants to stay inside to mourn the loss of her brother. Martha, on the other hand ran out to meet Christ. Martha said with all the passion in her heart: "Jesus if you would have been here, then my brother would not have died!! But I know that even right now, whatever you ask from God He will give you" Martha trusted that Christ had the power to bring Lazarus back from the dead.
Jesus says to Martha: " Your Brother will rise again" Martha's response is very interesting! She says: Jesus! I know He will rise in the ressurection, but I want him to be back alive now... Then Christ reassures her by saying: "I am the resurrection and the life... He that believes in my shall never die"
How great is that statement: Christ is the source of Life in this world! We must trust that Christ can do ANYTHING in our life just as Martha did!
Ok, so here is the GREAT application for this passage! Martha had never seen anyone raised from the dead... She had probably never even dreamed that it was possible. However when she spent time with Jesus, She realized that NOTHING WAS IMPOSSIBLE WITH CHRIST! So you know what she did? She asked Him to do something greater than she could have possibly imagined! And Guess What! We are going to see that Christ answers her request!
We must ask God to do something great in our life, in our church, in our youth group! If we do not have the faith to ask God to do something so wonderful then Why would he ever do it? We must have faith in Him and ask Him to do great things in our life, our church, and our youth group!
That is some cool stuff!
Have a Happy 4th of July! My favorite Holiday EVER! :)
THURSDAY, July 3rd, 2008
Have I Told You Lately That I Love... JULY!!! This is such a cool month! It feels so good to be in July! Wow, I just can't contain it! :) Sorry Josh! July beats December! Anyway: Where in the world was everyone yesterday? There were not nearly as many comments yesterday, and it was a really great devotion! You guys missed out! I tell you one thing is for sure... I should have let Kacey preach for me last night! She was "on Fire" yesterday! GREAT JOB GIRL!
A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Brooke: What A Smile!! Your unbraced teeth look great! Congrats!
Josh L: I dont think that Gravity in this passage means to "obey the law of gravity"... it means to be serious minded. Nice Try Though! :)
Jessica B: You get the "AMAZING SISTER OF THE YEAR" Award!!!!!!! If Alex EVER says something about you again, He is in BIG TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe you cleaned up His puke (what a disguisting word) yesterday!! You are GREAT!!!!!
Kacey: Did you apologize for that Amazing Devotional application? No need for an apology there! All I have to say is: AMEN SISTER!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Mrs W: It is nice to know that we adults like you care about us wnough to check us out and read our thought about the word of God! Thanks for being a blessing!
Amazing Grace: Keep up the good work! I am glad you are coming to our youth group! I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if I can do anything to be of service to you :)
John 11: 1-16
( I know that seems like a lot, but I was laughing out loud because the passage is so funny, so Just Read It!!!!)
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”
13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
Wow, This is by far one of the funniest passages we have read together! If you did not get it, don't worry, I will help you out! We see at the beginning of the chapter that Lazarus was sick. Mary and Martha went to get Jesus to save Lazarus before He died.
In verse 4 Jesus explains that He knew this would happen, so that He could do another miracle for the glory of God.
Then we get to verses 7 and 8, where we see Jesus tell the Disciples: "Lets go save Lazarus in Judea" and what do the Disciples say: "No Jesus! You will get killed!! Don't go!!"
* What great things do we fail to see God do because we are scared? The disciples would have missed on one of the greatest miracles of the word of God: "Lazarus!!! Come Forth!!" I believe that when the Holy Spirit convicts us of something and we ignore Him, we too miss out on great blessings because of fear.
In verse 11 we see Christ still willing to go in harms way to protect someone that He loves... He did that for us as well, He paid the ultimate price in the most horrible situation of "harms way" that we could possibly imagine, by going to the cross for us! What a Great Savior!
Then what do we see: The disciples got it all wrong... again! Verse 12 is so funny: The disciples tell Jesus: "If Lazarus is just sleeping then why do we need to go there, he will eventually wake up!"
In verse 14 we see jesus tell them as "plainly" as possible: "Lazarus IS DEAD!!!!"
If God did such great things with these disciples, even when they had no clue what was going on half the time... think about what great things He can do with us, when we know what is going on, because we have His word!! That is some GREAT STUFF!!
To finish this passage off: We read what Thomas said... Ok, let's go to Judea, so we can all die. ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY?!?!?!?!?!? Jesus is in charge! He is not going to get killed, unless He wants it to happen, yet these men think that they know better than the son of God... They think that Jesus is going to get all of them killed by making a bad decision... The cool part is they were willing to follow Him to the death!!
Sometimes in life we may not understand what God is doing, but we MUST follow Him to the death, knowing that His way is perfect!!
Sorry this was long, but it was INCREDIBLE!!
Some of you guys are starting to slack off in your application of the scriptures. Make sure that you really THINK and APPLY Gods word to your heart and life! Ya'll Are Great!!!!!
A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Brooke: What A Smile!! Your unbraced teeth look great! Congrats!
Josh L: I dont think that Gravity in this passage means to "obey the law of gravity"... it means to be serious minded. Nice Try Though! :)
Jessica B: You get the "AMAZING SISTER OF THE YEAR" Award!!!!!!! If Alex EVER says something about you again, He is in BIG TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe you cleaned up His puke (what a disguisting word) yesterday!! You are GREAT!!!!!
Kacey: Did you apologize for that Amazing Devotional application? No need for an apology there! All I have to say is: AMEN SISTER!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Mrs W: It is nice to know that we adults like you care about us wnough to check us out and read our thought about the word of God! Thanks for being a blessing!
Amazing Grace: Keep up the good work! I am glad you are coming to our youth group! I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if I can do anything to be of service to you :)
John 11: 1-16
( I know that seems like a lot, but I was laughing out loud because the passage is so funny, so Just Read It!!!!)
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”
13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
Wow, This is by far one of the funniest passages we have read together! If you did not get it, don't worry, I will help you out! We see at the beginning of the chapter that Lazarus was sick. Mary and Martha went to get Jesus to save Lazarus before He died.
In verse 4 Jesus explains that He knew this would happen, so that He could do another miracle for the glory of God.
Then we get to verses 7 and 8, where we see Jesus tell the Disciples: "Lets go save Lazarus in Judea" and what do the Disciples say: "No Jesus! You will get killed!! Don't go!!"
* What great things do we fail to see God do because we are scared? The disciples would have missed on one of the greatest miracles of the word of God: "Lazarus!!! Come Forth!!" I believe that when the Holy Spirit convicts us of something and we ignore Him, we too miss out on great blessings because of fear.
In verse 11 we see Christ still willing to go in harms way to protect someone that He loves... He did that for us as well, He paid the ultimate price in the most horrible situation of "harms way" that we could possibly imagine, by going to the cross for us! What a Great Savior!
Then what do we see: The disciples got it all wrong... again! Verse 12 is so funny: The disciples tell Jesus: "If Lazarus is just sleeping then why do we need to go there, he will eventually wake up!"
In verse 14 we see jesus tell them as "plainly" as possible: "Lazarus IS DEAD!!!!"
If God did such great things with these disciples, even when they had no clue what was going on half the time... think about what great things He can do with us, when we know what is going on, because we have His word!! That is some GREAT STUFF!!
To finish this passage off: We read what Thomas said... Ok, let's go to Judea, so we can all die. ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY?!?!?!?!?!? Jesus is in charge! He is not going to get killed, unless He wants it to happen, yet these men think that they know better than the son of God... They think that Jesus is going to get all of them killed by making a bad decision... The cool part is they were willing to follow Him to the death!!
Sometimes in life we may not understand what God is doing, but we MUST follow Him to the death, knowing that His way is perfect!!
Sorry this was long, but it was INCREDIBLE!!
Some of you guys are starting to slack off in your application of the scriptures. Make sure that you really THINK and APPLY Gods word to your heart and life! Ya'll Are Great!!!!!
WEDNESDAY July 2nd, 2008
Hello To You All! Today is Wednesday, and that means that tonight is another fantastic and aexciting night for suncoast youth group! Make plans to join us this evening around 7:00pm for a great service. We will be finishing the second part of last weeks message from Titus 2, You know that you do not want to miss that! :)
I am reading the most incredible book that I have read in probably the last 2 years. It is written by teenagers and for teenagers. I think every single one of you should read it! If you are interested in reading a book that has the potential to change your life, and really get you on a path to do INCREDIBLE things with your life for God (besides the Bible) then let me know, I will help you get a copy or let you use mine!
A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
To Everyone: Great Job on the devos yesterday! I am so thankful for you all, it is exciting to see so many of you do them... My goal is to have 20 of you doing them faithfully everyday. Yesterday we were only about 3 off of that.
Josh L: well, you have started a decent debate. I guess when you pull "Church" into the picture, December is a pretty good month... But it is not even close to July. Sorry, we will talk about it tonight! :)
RACHEL: WE ARE SO GLAD YOU ARE BACK!! We all missed you very much! It sounds like you had a wonderful time and I am so thankful for that! See you tonight in church!
Jeff: No Action? Are you kidding me? The action was incredible... Tearing the police car apart to use it as two punching gloves, that was amazing.
McCue: Hey man! We miss you! I hope things are going great for you this summer! How is your Bible Study going?
Grace: Great Job, you are exactly right! Next time we doubt Him, we should just think about the AMAZING things that He has done for us!
Marvin: You should get me one of those "yummy" hamburgers!!
Kervin: Very Good, It is great for Gods creation to trust him on our own, instead of being "programmed" to!
Titus 2
1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
This is a little change from the book of John, I figured that I would have us all read the text for tonights message and become familiar with it. What stands out to you in this passage?
As I talked about last week: This passsage starts out by explaining how old men, and old women should act. Then the passage goes on to the young women and the young men. Let put our main focus on the young'ins part.
Young women should be sober (in control of themselves), love their husbands, that is what we talked about last week... (love them now, by preparing to marry them and by saving yourself for them both physically and emotionally). Chaste, which means pure and undefiled! Then it also says to be "good". That literally means to have good character at the core of your life.
We should do all these things so that Gods word is not blashpemed. I was on myspace last night, and I saw some really dissapointing things, we should control the things we say and do SO THAT PEOPLE DONT THINKLESS ABOUT GOD, because of our foolishness.
Guys: We have some strickt guideliness as well: We are told to live out a pattern of Good works in ALL THINGS!! We are supposed to strive for excellence in all things! Wow! What a great standard!
We are also supposed to have sound speech, both from our mouths and the things we type on myspace. We are supposed to show a pure heart by the things that come out of our mouth, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh...
There is a lot of great stuff in this passage! What did you get out of it?
I am reading the most incredible book that I have read in probably the last 2 years. It is written by teenagers and for teenagers. I think every single one of you should read it! If you are interested in reading a book that has the potential to change your life, and really get you on a path to do INCREDIBLE things with your life for God (besides the Bible) then let me know, I will help you get a copy or let you use mine!
A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
To Everyone: Great Job on the devos yesterday! I am so thankful for you all, it is exciting to see so many of you do them... My goal is to have 20 of you doing them faithfully everyday. Yesterday we were only about 3 off of that.
Josh L: well, you have started a decent debate. I guess when you pull "Church" into the picture, December is a pretty good month... But it is not even close to July. Sorry, we will talk about it tonight! :)
RACHEL: WE ARE SO GLAD YOU ARE BACK!! We all missed you very much! It sounds like you had a wonderful time and I am so thankful for that! See you tonight in church!
Jeff: No Action? Are you kidding me? The action was incredible... Tearing the police car apart to use it as two punching gloves, that was amazing.
McCue: Hey man! We miss you! I hope things are going great for you this summer! How is your Bible Study going?
Grace: Great Job, you are exactly right! Next time we doubt Him, we should just think about the AMAZING things that He has done for us!
Marvin: You should get me one of those "yummy" hamburgers!!
Kervin: Very Good, It is great for Gods creation to trust him on our own, instead of being "programmed" to!
Titus 2
1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
This is a little change from the book of John, I figured that I would have us all read the text for tonights message and become familiar with it. What stands out to you in this passage?
As I talked about last week: This passsage starts out by explaining how old men, and old women should act. Then the passage goes on to the young women and the young men. Let put our main focus on the young'ins part.
Young women should be sober (in control of themselves), love their husbands, that is what we talked about last week... (love them now, by preparing to marry them and by saving yourself for them both physically and emotionally). Chaste, which means pure and undefiled! Then it also says to be "good". That literally means to have good character at the core of your life.
We should do all these things so that Gods word is not blashpemed. I was on myspace last night, and I saw some really dissapointing things, we should control the things we say and do SO THAT PEOPLE DONT THINKLESS ABOUT GOD, because of our foolishness.
Guys: We have some strickt guideliness as well: We are told to live out a pattern of Good works in ALL THINGS!! We are supposed to strive for excellence in all things! Wow! What a great standard!
We are also supposed to have sound speech, both from our mouths and the things we type on myspace. We are supposed to show a pure heart by the things that come out of our mouth, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh...
There is a lot of great stuff in this passage! What did you get out of it?
TUESDAY, July 1st, 2008
Happy July 1st!! I LOVE THE MONTH OF JULY! It is by far the greatest month for several reasons: summer, fireworks, my birthday... I could go on, but you get the picture! :) Lets have a GREAT month of devotions! Stay faithful and hold each other accountable!
Call up a few of your friends and tell them: "DO YOUR DEVOTIONS... DOT COM"
Ok, so a few thoughts from yesterday:
Jessica B: I am so glad that you are home! We missed you on the rewards trip!
Gaby: Did you have efun at the movies last night? You need to try to get Jessica Staley on here with us!
Kacey: Good to see you girl! We missed you and Jill Sunday night! It was an awesome Barbecue!!
Josh L: Good job on the devotion: I especially like the part where you said: "Jesus died doe the people with low I.Q.'s and high I.Q.'s..." so anyway... I dont need a truck and trailer for that jetski! It is so fast, I will just rdrive it everywhere I go, I just have to figure out how to strap Will in it somehow! (by the way, that Jet ski is faster that a Ferrari!! Go watch the video... they race!!)
Kervin: WOW!!! GREAT JOB MAN! I like it! I think they are not to wise to take such a bold staement so lightly either! And good job saying: "none of Christs miracles were evil, How could he be posessed bya demon!" Smart Thinkin'!!
Jessica Massey: We have missed you on here! It is about time that you join us again! Did you have fun last night? Thanks for doing your devotions!
John 10:
22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 I and My Father are one.”
I dont know about you, but I am really getting a different understanding of the earthly ministry of Christ. I use to think that He spent the first few years of His ministry being worshipped every where He went... Having people love on Him and welcome Him to their towns. But it was not nearly that exciting, Jesus was constantly trying to teach the pharasaical hypocrites that He really was the son of God.
Christ went through all of this annoying debate with his CREATION about whether or not he was truely their creator! Think about that! I always like to put it into application with playdough.
Imagine with me if I were to create little tiny humans out of playdough, and then AFTER I GAVE THEM LIFE, I went down to talk to them, and they would not believe that I was their creator... I tell you what I would do, I would go out and by one of those spaghetti playdough makers and I would put each one of them into it, and make a delicious plate of playdough spaghetti. BUT JESUS DOES NOT DO THAT! HE DIES FOR US! In the words of Jeff LaPerriere Yesterday: WOW!!
Verses 24 and 25 are almost unbelievable! Think about this! the pharisees tell Jesus: "ok, we are serious now, tell us if you really are the son of God". Jesus tells them, I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU OVER AND OVER BUT YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE!!!!!!!
We are the exact same way: Christ tells us to avoid sin in His word, but we don't... Christ tells us to love others without judging, but we don't... Christ tells us to be Holy as He is Holy, but we disobey... It is easy to judge these pharisees, but we need to make sure that we are not doing exactly what they were doing: Being Hypocrites!
Stay faithful this week! Dont forget to type out a personal application and not just the plot of the story that we read! Keep up the good work!
Call up a few of your friends and tell them: "DO YOUR DEVOTIONS... DOT COM"
Ok, so a few thoughts from yesterday:
Jessica B: I am so glad that you are home! We missed you on the rewards trip!
Gaby: Did you have efun at the movies last night? You need to try to get Jessica Staley on here with us!
Kacey: Good to see you girl! We missed you and Jill Sunday night! It was an awesome Barbecue!!
Josh L: Good job on the devotion: I especially like the part where you said: "Jesus died doe the people with low I.Q.'s and high I.Q.'s..." so anyway... I dont need a truck and trailer for that jetski! It is so fast, I will just rdrive it everywhere I go, I just have to figure out how to strap Will in it somehow! (by the way, that Jet ski is faster that a Ferrari!! Go watch the video... they race!!)
Kervin: WOW!!! GREAT JOB MAN! I like it! I think they are not to wise to take such a bold staement so lightly either! And good job saying: "none of Christs miracles were evil, How could he be posessed bya demon!" Smart Thinkin'!!
Jessica Massey: We have missed you on here! It is about time that you join us again! Did you have fun last night? Thanks for doing your devotions!
John 10:
22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 I and My Father are one.”
I dont know about you, but I am really getting a different understanding of the earthly ministry of Christ. I use to think that He spent the first few years of His ministry being worshipped every where He went... Having people love on Him and welcome Him to their towns. But it was not nearly that exciting, Jesus was constantly trying to teach the pharasaical hypocrites that He really was the son of God.
Christ went through all of this annoying debate with his CREATION about whether or not he was truely their creator! Think about that! I always like to put it into application with playdough.
Imagine with me if I were to create little tiny humans out of playdough, and then AFTER I GAVE THEM LIFE, I went down to talk to them, and they would not believe that I was their creator... I tell you what I would do, I would go out and by one of those spaghetti playdough makers and I would put each one of them into it, and make a delicious plate of playdough spaghetti. BUT JESUS DOES NOT DO THAT! HE DIES FOR US! In the words of Jeff LaPerriere Yesterday: WOW!!
Verses 24 and 25 are almost unbelievable! Think about this! the pharisees tell Jesus: "ok, we are serious now, tell us if you really are the son of God". Jesus tells them, I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU OVER AND OVER BUT YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE!!!!!!!
We are the exact same way: Christ tells us to avoid sin in His word, but we don't... Christ tells us to love others without judging, but we don't... Christ tells us to be Holy as He is Holy, but we disobey... It is easy to judge these pharisees, but we need to make sure that we are not doing exactly what they were doing: Being Hypocrites!
Stay faithful this week! Dont forget to type out a personal application and not just the plot of the story that we read! Keep up the good work!
MONDAY, June 30th, 2008
Today is Monday, the first day of another week of summer! What will you do with your week this week? I hope that you will do something different from last week; something profitable and something that will help you grow in the Lord!
A Few Announcements:
The Wilds is coming up very soon! I want all of you to go with us! Please call me if you have any questions or concerns about anything regarding camp!
This week is going to be very busy: I mean after all, it is my birthday, so you have to do all of your shopping! You can follow this link to my wish list!
http://www.sea-doo.com/en-US/Products/Watercraft/Musclecraft/RXT-X/
Dont forget about The Freedom Swim and the Firewoks at Lashley Park!! It is going to be so much fun!! We will give you more details on Wednesday Night! BE THERE!
On to the devotions:
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.
20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Well, I cannot speak for you, but I must say: I HAVE HEARD THIS BEFORE!!!!! These guys hear Jesus speak and once again, they are divided about what He says. Some say that He is demon possessed and others say that Jesus could not do such great miracles if He were possessed by demons.
All to often we do the same thing: We try to justify what we want to believe, or what we dont want to believe. These men are trying to convince themselves that this cannot be the Savior, because they knew that if He was, then they would have a lot of changing to do in their personal life. It would be easier for them to just reject this "man" named Jesus as their savior, than it would be to change their wicked, hypocritical attitude.
We all do what we wnat to do, I understand that: but the truth is, Gods word is clear and we have no right trying to justify what we want based on what we think that God "should" do.
Why did these people get so upset? Well, Because of the amazing claims that Christ made: God chose to lay down His life for you and me!!! How phenomenal is that! I am so thankful that He lai down His life for me! By His own free will, Jesus chose to sacrifice Himself for ME!! Thank you Lord!
A Few Announcements:
The Wilds is coming up very soon! I want all of you to go with us! Please call me if you have any questions or concerns about anything regarding camp!
This week is going to be very busy: I mean after all, it is my birthday, so you have to do all of your shopping! You can follow this link to my wish list!
http://www.sea-doo.com/en-US/Products/Watercraft/Musclecraft/RXT-X/
Dont forget about The Freedom Swim and the Firewoks at Lashley Park!! It is going to be so much fun!! We will give you more details on Wednesday Night! BE THERE!
On to the devotions:
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.
20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Well, I cannot speak for you, but I must say: I HAVE HEARD THIS BEFORE!!!!! These guys hear Jesus speak and once again, they are divided about what He says. Some say that He is demon possessed and others say that Jesus could not do such great miracles if He were possessed by demons.
All to often we do the same thing: We try to justify what we want to believe, or what we dont want to believe. These men are trying to convince themselves that this cannot be the Savior, because they knew that if He was, then they would have a lot of changing to do in their personal life. It would be easier for them to just reject this "man" named Jesus as their savior, than it would be to change their wicked, hypocritical attitude.
We all do what we wnat to do, I understand that: but the truth is, Gods word is clear and we have no right trying to justify what we want based on what we think that God "should" do.
Why did these people get so upset? Well, Because of the amazing claims that Christ made: God chose to lay down His life for you and me!!! How phenomenal is that! I am so thankful that He lai down His life for me! By His own free will, Jesus chose to sacrifice Himself for ME!! Thank you Lord!
SUNDAY, June 29th, 2008
What a great day! Today was lots of fun! If you did not make it to church this evening then you really, truely, honestly, 100% missed out on a lot of fun! We played all kinds if games and just had a lot of good plain fun!
I hope you came! If not: Sad for You! Be faithful!
I hope you came! If not: Sad for You! Be faithful!
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