Feb. 24 Jr. High Youth Group Recap - John 14

Last night was a lot of fun!

We had a lot of students in our home last night (especially girls) and they were their normal energetic selves.

We were going to be studying John 13 last night which is the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet, so we themed our games around doing things with our feet. 1 game had everyone open and eat a pack of fruit snacks using only their feet...that quickly digressed into mayhem but was a lot of fun in the process. We also had a relay race where students needed to pass an orange from one side of the room to the other using only their feet! All good fun!

This year our Jr. High youth group has been working its way through the Gospel of John and examining the life of Christ in order to get a better understanding of who our savior was and how we can better follow him.

Last night we were in John 13 where Jesus washes his disciples feet. We learned some very important lessons about what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus. First we learned that Jesus came to be our servant, and if we truly want to be disciple of Jesus we must also serve. A follower of Jesus who isn't a servant is like a fish that cant swim...not a fish!

Secondly we looked at who Jesus served. I think its no accident that before Jesus washes his disciples feet we are told that Judas had already set in his heart to betray Jesus. We talked about how hard and emotional it must have been for Jesus to wash the feet of Judas, and how it is easy for us to be servants to our friends but not our enemies.

We also compared Jesus washing Judas's feet to Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We looked at the similarities of those 2 situations and found that Jesus made a much greater sacrifice dying for our sins than he did washing the feet of Judas.

The night ended with the students splitting off into groups and performing short skits on how we can be a servant in situations where we feel we are being mistreated. It was a lot of laughs and goofing around, but they did a great job and got the point!

Discussion Question: In what ways am I similar to Judas in my relationship with Jesus? And what does that show about how much Jesus loves me?

All in all...Great Night!

Genesis 14 HS Youth Group Recap (Feb. 21)

Last Sunday night may have been my favorite night of high school ministry ever!

We were studying Genesis 14 where Abram has to bail his nephew Lot out of slavery.

We also met Melchizedek who we saw as the most clear picture of Jesus in the Old Testament and we looked at 5 different ways Melchizedek was a picture of Jesus:

1. He was the king of Jerusalem...God's city
2. He has no genealogy and he is called eternal in Hebrews 7:3
3.He was called an eternal priest before God initiated the priesthood (Christ is also called our High Priest in Hebrews)
4.He came with bread and wine - a picture of communion and Christ's body and blood
5.Abram gave 1/10 of all he had to him (tithing)

We spent the majority of the night looking at Abram's relationship with his non-believing friends who came with him to rescue Lot (Mamre, Aner, and Eschol)

We learned 3 things from his interactions with those men:

1. Abram was a good friend and neighbor - i mean you don't go to battle to rescue the nephew of a guy you dont like right?
2. Abram stood for righteousness in the midst of his unbelieving friends. (He did the influencing)
3. Abram was more concerned with showing his love for God to his friends than governing their morality.

I think so often we as believers are more concerned with making our unsaved family or friends act like a "good Christian" rather than helping them understand their need for Jesus in their life. We can get so hung up on the externals and lose sight of the big picture!

Discussion Question: Why is focusing on a non-believers actions rather than heart a recipe for failure?

All that being said it was a great night and look forward to getting back at it next Sunday


cal

Tiger Woods: A Biblical Perspective

If you are a fan of sports, or have read the news, or been near a TV this week you are well aware that Tiger Woods has just made his first public comments since the unfortunate details became public regarding his personal life. I think there are some valuable lessons that we as the body of Christ can learn from this situation, and I hope these thoughts help us in setting up a Biblical framework for how we think and discuss this situation which is a very hot issue in our society right now.

I am a sports fan, for as long as I can remember I have known how to find ESPN on any TV I have ever owned or watched. Often I jokingly say to my friends, “I am to useless sports information, what Charles Spurgeon was to preaching.”

That being said, I have been fascinated with all of the attention and drama surrounding the Tiger Woods infidelity scandal that has rocked our culture. I don’t care to know what Tiger did or any of the details regarding those incidents. All I need to do is read Jeremiah 17:9 to know that the heart is desperately wicked. What has fascinated me, however, is that as a young man who desires to serve the Lord with his life, this has really given me a unique insight into not only Tiger Wood’s life but into our culture as a whole.

We have all seen and heard many responses and opinions about Tiger Woods since November and I think we can break these responses down into 3 major categories:

1. Anger: Many people have been angered by Tiger Wood’s actions and have demanded that he apologize publically to all of us, as if we are owed something from him. Some have even gone so far to demand that he retire from golf and leave the public arena all together.

2. Apathy: This whole scandal has really shown us the true nature of post-modern thought. The most common response by media and other golfers has been, “It is none of my business what he does with his personal life.” This idea that if you let me do what I want, you can do what you want is very individualistic and void of any accountability. This is a very dangerous mindset that is beginning to infiltrate the church and flies straight in the face of how God has called the body of Christ to function.

3. Selfishness: The third response we have seen is, “I don’t care what he does, I just want to watch him golf.” The sad thing about being a celebrity is that you are exploited for what you can provide people, but most don’t care about Tiger, or that his family is in ruins - they just like watching him win tournaments.

So how do we as believers respond to this?

I believe our first response should be grief, as we recognize our fallen state and we understand that all sin grieves the Lord.
In Genesis 6:5-6 we read:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

It is important to understand that it is not only the sin of Christians that grieve God, but all sin is a reminder of man’s rebellion against God’s authority and His design for mankind. All sin hurts God. Therefore when we look at Tiger, let us not be angry, disappointed, or point our finger and laugh, but let us be devastated by the overwhelming path of destruction that sin leaves in its wake.

Secondly, it should make us long for the return of Jesus all the more. In Romans 8 Paul writes:

Creation itself will be set free its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth

Creation itself longs to be free from the shackles of sin, and we should as well. Let us never get complacent with our walk with the Lord, but let us always keep our eyes on Jesus in anticipation of His return!

Now, I also want to take a moment and look at the actual statement that Tiger Woods made, as it gives us a chilling insight into his heart.

The Good:

I took away some very positive things from Tiger’s press conference. First, I saw a man who was experiencing the effects of sin in his life. His wife was not with him, and even more telling than anything he said, was the fact that while he gave his speech his own mother wouldn’t even look at him. Tiger has learned in a very public and very dramatic way that left to himself, his sin will set fire to every good thing in his life and completely rob him of any joy.

Secondly, he defended his wife and children. While I understand that the only reason he needed to defend his family was because of his betrayal of them, I was glad to see him defend his wife’s honor. He held her in high esteem and defended her against false accusations. This may be the first ever time Tiger has loved his wife unselfishly. Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church and there was evidence of unselfishness and sacrifice in what Tiger said.

The Bad:

Most plainly said, Tiger is still his own god. Tiger made it very clear in his press conference that it was his fault for what occurred, and it was his responsibility, his job, that he had power to make things right. He said over and over again that “it was up to him.”

I know that much of the evangelical attention will be on his profession of Buddhism as a way to fix his issues. That doesn’t surprise me at all. Buddhism is an inherently selfish religion, because at its center is the goal of achieving enlightenment and becoming your own god through meditation and works. Ironically will never connect you to the real God because Buddhism is a demonically originated religion built to lead people astray. God’s Word makes it very clear that only through Jesus can we know God!
What I know to be true is that as long as Tiger continues to put his faith in himself rather than Jesus Christ, he will never experience the forgiveness, joy, and freedom that Christ provides, and left to himself he will once again destroy everything.

The Terrifying:

Tiger ended his press conference with this statement:

“Find room in your heart to one day believe in me again.”

What a terrifying look into this man’s heart! This man desires our worship and our belief in him. What is so scary is not that he will be forgiven, and he will (our culture is very quick to forgive), but that people do and will continue to worship this man. Tiger Woods is a god to many people in this country… a false god!

If this whole mess has taught me anything thing, it has made me so glad that my heart, faith, and worship belongs to Jesus Christ, who through His death and resurrection alone has the power to save!

- Cal