Lake Trip 2011

Coming up this June from the 21st to the 23rd our Jr. and Sr. High youth will be camping and boating at Millerton Lake. This year we want to ask ourselves who or what controls us? 2 Cor 5:14-15 tells us that because the love of Christ controls us we no longer live for ourselves but for Him. To follow Christ means that we no longer control our own lives. It means that we now make decisions not based on our own desires but on God's word and the example Christ set before us. We have to give up control and trust in Christ. That brings us to the next question. What does it look like to have a life transformed by following Christ? We find many examples in scripture but one section we will focus on is found in Romans. Romans 12:9-21 gives us a list of traits that should characterize our lives. Things like love for on another, prayer, joy, humility and hospitality to name a few. Being away at the lake will give us a chance to look at our own lives and see how the stack up. It will give us time to think of ways that we can live out transformed lives amongst our friends and neighbors. This should be a tremendous time of fun, fellowship, and worship as we enjoy time away from our normal routines and have an adventure on the lake!

Test Every Spirit

             Well I think it is safe to say that the world has not ended and the rapture has not yet occurred. Harold Camping sure managed to stir up quite a buzz with his prediction. This was not his first time making such a bold claim, and it doesn't seem that it will be his last. It's sad for a couple of reasons. First there have been many thousands led astray by his predictions. Many have given significant amounts of money and time following his claims that the end was to come on May 21st. Secondly I'm sure there are those out there so hurt by this that they will never trust sound biblical teaching because of his false teaching. 1 Timothy 6:3-4 states that, "If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing." Those are indeed harsh words for anyone who would teach something outside of what Jesus taught. That's why it is so important for those who teach to carefully watch and be sure that their teaching lines up with the Bible. But it is also the responsibility of the audience to check and test against scripture what they are hearing. In Acts chapter 17 we see that the Jews receiving the gospel in Berea accepted it with eagerness but daily examined the scriptures to see that it was true. Unfortunately most people don't examine things they hear in any situation. That's why we spent so many weeks trying to get kids to ask questions and think about the messages they get through movies, t.v., music and the internet. We've got to examine things especially when someone claims that those things come from the Word of God.
The third way in which I see this false prediction hurting people is that it gives fuel to the thought that the end will never really come. This hurts both believers and non-believers. First believers may become to relaxed and not be ready, like we are commanded to be, for the return of Christ. We find in scripture both calls for perseverance along with the expectation that Christ will return and judge the world. But rather than living with the very real expectation that his return could happen any time people can get caught up in thinking, "see it didn't happen this time and it will never happen while I'm alive." Which might be true, but we are still called to live ready to stand before Him at any time. For non-believers the risk is that they will disregard all bible teaching now on account of one false teacher. I pray that is not the case, and that this failed prediction of God's judgement will not over shadow the truth that we all stand condemned before God and need the forgiveness that only comes through Jesus' death and resurrection.

Think About It

This week we'll be ending our series about "minding our media". We've been talking for a few weeks about what it means to be a mindful consumer of art/media that invades our lives in countless ways everyday. The over arching goal for our group is to live out Romans 12:1-2. This passage calls us to live our lives as an act of sacrifice and worship to the Lord. It also calls us to renew our minds and be transformed (v.2) so that, "by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." We're called to use our brains. To renew them in Christ and his word, so that we might know how to live. So we have got to start looking at things through the "lens" of scripture.

One key verse that we have looked at is Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." These are the types of things that will prepare us for right action, for godly living. What we think about directly affects our behavior so we must be careful about what we spend time taking in. There is so much that can take up our time and I hope we will begin to think about what it is that we're watching and listening to. Ask questions about what values are being promoted and what view of the world is it giving us if any. To think critically we must ask these types of questions. Then depending on the answers we can decide if something is worthy of our time.
Engage Your Brain and THINK!