Hey there everyone! With the New year ruckus about to begin I will be posting a 3dyc recap and hopefully a ton of pictures on here after the new year has come. So this blog has been on fire lately with new stuff and pics and recaps. But I need to take a break from it for a couple days and hang out with some good friends spend some time with my wife who I haven't got a chance to really sit down and talk with in over 4 days and we wont get a chance to just hang out till at least Jan 3rd. So I will write a full recap on what went down at 3dyc in a couple days but until then I appreciate all the prayers and the awesome comments on facebook and stuff so please keep em up!
Today Grant talked about how you need to leave the past behind and move forward and Go!
This is massive for our students! When He asked students to stand up if they are going to Go and leave their past behind our student ministry stood up as a collective body! United as one to stand against injustice, evil, sin, and Go and love people, love God, and love each other
This Conference has been life changing for this Youth Group! Thank you for your prayers.
Questions: 1. How did God move in your heart in the last session when He asked you to Go? 2. What things in your past did you leave behind? 3. How are you different?
So it has all come down to this, the last session will start in just under an hour, we already have students with their bags packed and there stuff ready to put into the bus we it gets here. Its amazing to me that all the preparation we do and then it comes to an end so quickly!
This 3dyc was a lot different then last year, we aren't leaving unsatisfied and unmotivated, this year we are leaving renewed with a sense that God is calling our youth group to unite and fight as one against the enemy in Middlebury. This year God created an army and its named the Crystal Valley youth group. Last night God showed up in our room, God moved students to a new level in their relationship with Him. God broke through walls, hurts, pasts, pains, struggles, and doubt last night in so many of our students lives. God is alive and working in the Crystal Valley Youth Group.
Last night was a remarkable night and we claim last night as a turning point in the CV Youth Group. God is calling this Youth Group to some really cool things in 2010. So thank you for praying but please don't stop we need your continued prayer through out this year, and for the last session and the ride home! God is awesome and I can't wait to see what He is going to do.
The whole craziness of getting here was worth it all tonight!
God moved our students and united them through His spirit! Tonight was awesome. God moved our students and broke some down! Some cried tonight that haven't cried in years, students who needed to give up some really hard things gave them up and saw God meet them with wide open arms. Some students took their past and placed it at the foot of the cross, and even some fought through their past and came out on the other side changed and renewed!
God moved in Toledo tonight. The Crystal Valley youth group will never be the same!
Tonight Mitch Hickox said something that was from the Holy Spirit.....He said. We are more then a church! tonight the cvmc youth group came together as a family! To God be the glory!
Tonights message was all about Relationship or Routine.
Grant talked about how in relationships the beginning is always awesome and fun but soon turns to routine and we can't allow our relationship with God go to a routine. We need to be following the narrow Gate and not skip over to the wide gate. He challenged to make the students to make their relationship real again or start a real relationship with Him.
We have students tonight that were really impacted by God, now as we go to a youth group debriefing time please be praying for us as we minister to our students in our Ministry. Pray that God moves in our midst, and for the students to be open and receptive to the Holy Spirits calling.
Tonight here are some questions you can ask you students when they get home: 1. How did you like Adam breaking a guitar on stage? 2. How would you define a routine? 3. How do you know you are in a spiritual routine? 4. When was the last time you had a God moment in your life? 5. At the end of the 2nd night did you feel God move with all the stuff on the Card Board messages?
Please be praying for us tonight and tomorrow as we wrap up and head home! I hope these updates have been helpful!
So this morning was a great time learning about re-igniting a passion to do something!
We heard of 3 stories of students going out and changing the lives of other people, and alot at that. During the Epic Conference they collected socks to give to a local organization called "Hannah's socks" Started by a 4 year old with a passion for homeless people.
We heard their story and then a couple of the leaders here invited students to pray about what maybe God is calling them too, and then putting action behind that passion.
A couple questions to ask your students when they come home: 1. How did you like that Lord of the rings video? 2. Did you think Adam was going to catch that baseball from a pro baseball player? 3. What do you have a passion for? Or have you ever thought about something like this? 4. Do you think there is something we could do in our home town to help the needy? 5. What can we do as a family to help the needy?
I hope these questions are helpful! Please take time to talk with you students when they come home! Tonight you can pray for us because tonight is the big finale with a Gospel Message! So pray that God pours our his love and mercy on our students and leaders!
Also tonight the CVMC youth group is making a video! It will hopefully be up later today on the blog spot!
Hey there everyone I hope that you all had an amazing night sleep! I can guarantee you that no one here did :) But thats ok! So today is full of some amazing things and some really cool opportunities to encounter God on another level.
Last night in our debriefing time we talked about how amazing God was and how when He created all of us he even knew the number of hairs on our head! So stinking amazing! We had a lot of our students blown away by what the speaker was talking about last night and how we were knitted together in our mothers whom, and even how when the eye is being created it sends millions of optical nerves from the eye and the brain sends a million optical nerves from it and they all have to find the exact one to just create an eye! Its so cool! God is so amazing
For today we are getting ready to do a run through for the first session starting soon so continue to be praying for us! We need it because today is the hard day because everyone is sleepie and today is a full day! So thank you for your prayers!
Hey there everyone I hope you are all having a great time back at home because we are having an amazing time here at 3dyc!
The worship band is playing their final set and then we are off to Youth Group time! Which is a time to debrief the long day we had. That is my favorite time to hear from the students what they are learning and how they are applying it their lives!
Here are some questions to ask your students from the 2nd session: 1. How did you like the Epic Cops on their Segways 2. How stupid did adam look in his storm trooper get up? 3. Do you think God makes junk? 4. If you could describe God in a couple words what would they be? 5. When you think of God creating you what comes to mind?
These are some questions to help you all when we get home! Please be praying for us here. God is moving but there definitely is distractions for some of our students so please keep us in your prayers!
A couple things to pray for 1.Unity 2. For God to move in our students 3. For our students to have an encounter with God! 4. For the leaders to get rest tonight 5. For tomorrow to be a life changing day for some students!
Wow this first session was awesome! From the Brandon Grissom band, to the speaker Grant Baldwin, to the amazing skit! Wow it was great! Grant this afternoon talked about luggage! We pack and we pack things in our luggage and sooner or later they become part of who we are. So he really challenged the students this morning to leave something here and never bring it back with them so here is some good questions to ask your students when they get home!
1. What did you think about the skit with the clown and the guy in the suit? 2. How did you like the worship team? 3. Tell me about the stupid picture adam had up on the jumbo screen. 4. What type of luggage do you think you carry around 5. Did you write anything on a brick and lay it at the front of the stage?
This would be a great time to be praying for our youth group, the bus died on the way home from toledo so we are trying to get it towed and fixed before Wednesday so please be praying for us. God is already doing things here with these students so please keep praying for that also!
To God be the glory, "You give and take away but my heart will choose to say Lord blessed be your name!"
We leave tomorrow morning at 8am! We need to be on the road at 8am so please do not show up any later then 7:45! Also do not forget that they do not serve breakfast there. So You need to bring your own breakfast, if you want!
Also NO IPODS! Do not let me catch you listening to your IPod! Don't even bring them! Cell phones you can bring, but don't be on them the whole time or we call our friends in China, believe me I have them!
Here is the Packing list! Read all the way through before you start packing!
Essentials for 3DYC: - Bible - Bring to every single Session! - Journal - Bring to every single session! - Pen - To mark in your Bible and to write in Journal! - Clothes - Jeans - T-shirts - Shorts - to play sports in. - underwear - Socks - Shoes - Sandals if you want to wear them around - Pajamas - Which will be only worn in your room to go to sleep in. Not to walk around in - hat if you want to wear a hat while you are there - Cell phone - We are allowing people to take cell phones with them but we don't want this to distract from the real reason we are there, so if the cell phone is an issue we will take them and give them back at the end of the trip. - Toiletries - Deodorant - Shampoo - Toothbrush - Tooth paste - Soap - Cologne/perfume if you want to wear some. Extra: - Extra money for pizza at nights, and meals on the way there and back - Cards - Extra Pillow if you want What not to bring: - IPods -ITouches -Anything IRelated unless its an IPhone which case I will steal from you :) - MP3 players - Bad attitudes - Any weapons - Small Children - More then 1 bag! - With so many people going you need to pack everything in 1 bag.
So today is the day the last day really to buy presents because I know so many people who open up presents on Christmas eve, I actually know people who have all their Christmas parties all done and just sit and chill on Christmas! Insane!
I know for Esther and I tomorrow night starts all the festivities. We have a lunch to celebrate my brother in laws graduation from college, and then Christmas with the Sharp Family, then Christmas morning Esther and I always make breakfast together at our house, and then that afternoon we will travel to Bremen to see Esthers family.
I hope all of you have a great Christmas! Looking forward to seeing all of you Monday morning to head out to 3DYC! Its going to be amazing this year. Please be preparing your hearts and minds to go. Read my post from yesterday because I explain why we need to be prepare!
So all of those students heading to 3dyc I want us to take some today through this blog to start getting our hearts and minds prepared for this Journey we are going to be taking together. If we don't prepare for a race, lifting weights, soccer games, playing music, or things of that nature. We will sure miss the mark on something that could of been amazing. If you don't run enough and then try to play a soccer game you will be at the middle of the field catching your breath when you should of be been up by the goal. If you don't practice music, when the concert comes you look foolish by standing there doing nothing to enhance the music being projected by others.
With 3dyc, you can go, have a great time, but totally miss the entire point of going to 3dyc. The point of going to 3dyc is to get away from the ordinary to all God to speak to you in an extraordinary way. We take you away from everything that is normalcy and place in you an environment that we believe could be ideal for listening to God, hearing God, and talking to God. But if we don't prepare our hearts and minds for this endeavor we will miss the mark completely. So today and for the rest of the week I would like us to partner together and do something amazing! Ready........
Pray! Seek out what God has for you, and the youth group at this conference. I have been praying that this conference would change lives, that when you hear the words Toledo, 3dyc or Epic. You would think of your life being changed honestly forever! You over the next 6 days I invite you to take 10 minutes of uninterrupted prayer time and ask God to move among our youth group and reveal things to you about your life. Also pray that you may encounter God in a way that you never have before! God wants to meet with us. God wants to change your life for the better. God wants to change us all from the inside out! So lets prepare!
Guys: Adam Sharp - Austin reigsecker, Nick Bowe, Ben Miller, Quinn Nisley Travis Robinson - Anothny Conrad, Joshua Cruise, Mitch Hickox, Zach Smucker Nate Hickox - Jason Kelly, Spencer Jones, Christian Miller, Cody Miller Ross Jones, Andrew Jones, Kyle Metcalfe, Gareth Matteson, Kevin Bahana Senior/Junior guys Doug Edlund - Ryan Shamblen, Andrew Edlund, Dylan Wengard, Jordan Perks Robby Rasbaugh - Steven hooley, Jake Baylis, Ian Fisher, James Weber Andrew Gerig - Lucas Mast, Jordan Miller, Sam troyer, Colin Utley
* When we get to the hotel we will talk about room assignments, if you have any questions about room assignments, wait till we get to 3dyc to talk about them. I can't change anything here in middlebury only when we get to 3dyc can we change anything.
Hey there everyone I hope you all are having an amazing 1st day of Christmas break, a couple things I need to remind you of about 3dyc!
1. We leave in 1 week from today! Whoop Whoop! 2. They don't serve breakfast at the hotel so we need to bring our own, so bring some pop-tarts, cereal bars, or whatever you want to eat for breakfast! 3. Parents: I will be updating the blog twice a day when we are there hopefully with pictures and questions you can ask your students when they get back. We did this last year and it worked great, but this year we want to make it even better. So Parents be checking the blogspot and writing questions down that you can ask your kids when they get back. Suggestion: Take your students/students out to a lunch when we get back and just sit with them and ask questions about. It will be fresh in their minds, and the questions will be direct questions not "Yes/No" questions. This could be a massive turning point in your relationship with your son or daughter. 4. Parents please be praying for us while we are gone, we need tons of prayer! Thank you
I contacted Mark Batterson's people through twitter, and asked if I could get an advanced copy of his new book and do a review on the blog for our parents and students to see. They said yes and about a week and half ago I got the new book at my office. So I started reading....
When I started reading this book, I was blown away that I honestly couldn't put the book down, and I get bored very easily with books, I have major ADD! But through out this book I kept underlining things to remember for later, and wrote notes by some specific phrases that jumped out at me hitting me between the eyes, and even some of the chapters I had to say out loud "You need to step up your faith".
This book is a great book for students, adults, pastors, and lay leaders to read because it challenges the way you think about God. Just yesterday my wife and I were in line to get a prescription and in most lines they were moving slow, I was off reading a magazine waiting on my wife and when she got back she was telling me how annoying this one person was. Normally, and hard to admit, I would just listen, but after reading this book, all I said was "it is easy to act as a Christian, but often times hard to re-act as a Christian". Mark talks about this concept after getting a not so happy email after a Sunday message. He talks about how he wants to send an email back to him or preach a message about damnation to this person, which I think is awesome, but after another email came in from that persons father it changed his whole perception around about the person who wrote the mean email. I know for me I am trying to re-act like a Christian and just say I am one and act like one when it is easy.
One other thing that I will mention is that through out the book Mark talks about experiencing God in a new way, and not just reading and hearing about the amazing God we serve! But placing ourselves in ways that we can see God move, I am a youth pastor in Indiana and we try every single day to allow kids to experience God in some amazing and new ways! We invite them to spend time with the Lord. Mark talks about this through out the entire book, He invites us as his readers to experience God through so many different avenues.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who in need of a shake up in their lives, and for those who might need a little bump to get started. God has worked through my life through this book, and I have renewed sense of passion to meditate on the Word, to give to those who are in need not just in my family, but those I see on the side of the road, and I have a new sense of wanting to learn so that I can love students, and people in general even better then before!
Thank you Mark for hearing the Holy Spirits calling to write this book, it has honestly drawn me back to the word of God, which is life changing in itself. Thank you for helping a small town youth pastor fall more in love with God!
So last night rocked my stinking socks off! It was so wicked awesome, I am glad that a bunch of you came and brought a bunch of gifts! I am sad that we have 2 weeks off of youth group, but it will be good because we have 3dyc in the middle of this long break so we will get some time to hang out with one another.
So a couple things to remember: 1. For those going to 3dyc they are praying for us during the 2nd service this coming Sunday so if you want to come for the 2nd service that would be awesome! 2. High school Next class is right after 2nd service this coming Sunday! Because I will be in Indy that night picking up my sister in law from the airport.
Those are the reminders for this coming week! Also I included the packing list so you don't have to look all over for it! Have a great day!
Essentials for 3DYC: - Bible - Bring to every single Session! - Journal - Bring to every single session! - Pen - To mark in your Bible and to write in Journal! - Clothes - Jeans - T-shirts - Shorts - to play sports in. - underwear - Socks - Shoes - Sandals if you want to wear them around - Pajamas - Which will be only worn in your room to go to sleep in. Not to walk around in - hat if you want to wear a hat while you are there - Cell phone - We are allowing people to take cell phones with them but we don't want this to distract from the real reason we are there, so if the cell phone is an issue we will take them and give them back at the end of the trip. - Toiletries - Deodorant - Shampoo - Toothbrush - Tooth paste - Soap - Cologne/perfume if you want to wear some. Extra: - Extra money for pizza at nights, and meals on the way there and back - Cards - Extra Pillow if you want What not to bring: - IPods -ITouches -Anything IRelated unless its an IPhone which case I will steal from you :) - MP3 players - Bad attitudes - Any weapons - Small Children - More then 1 bag! - With so many people going you need to pack everything in 1 bag.
1. Bring a wrapped Christmas gift! <------- Essential 2. Bring a snack to share <------- Not Essential, but lets be honest more food = More Fun! 3. Wear thee ugliest Christmas sweater you can find < ------ Not Essential, but come on :)
Those are the 3 things you need to survive this onslaught of amazingfulness tonight! We hope to see tons of you here tonight, we missed ya last week!
Also there is a 3dyc meeting tonight after youth group! We got our T-shirts in :) They look BOSS!
See you tonight everyone! Here is another amazing video to get you laughing.
Dirty Bingo is tomorrow night! Meaning you need to bring when you walk in the door to tomorrow night: 1. A Wrapped Present 2. A snack to share with people 3. And wear the ugliest Christmas Sweater You can find!
Those are the 3 things you need with you tomorrow! Because Its going to be a mind blowing night of amazingness!
I am so pumped up for tomorrow night, So I hope you guys can hang out with us tomorrow night.
Also tomorrow night we will be having a 3dyc meeting after youth group tomorrow for like 10 mins right afterwards! So please be aware of that! Chat with you later, here is a funny video to watch to make ya laugh a little today!
Hey there everyone I hope you are all having an amazing week so far!
This Wednesday night is a special night for everyone who is coming because it is our annual Christmas party! We are going to be playing dirty bingo and hanging out, watching a movie, eating some delicious food, and getting presents! How much is this is going to be? Answer: Tons of fun!
so this is what you need to bring to this Wednesday: 1. Yourself and a friend 2. A wrapped (appropriate) present that is under 5 bucks. Make sure no one can see the present! If you bring it in a bag, tape the bag up! 3. Bring a snack to share! IF everyone brings a snack to share we will have tons of food to eat while playing Dirty Bingo! 4. Wear the ugliest Christmas sweater you have! Because we will be giving a prize to the ugliest Christmas sweater! I promise you will want this prize also :)
We hope to see you guys this Wednesday! Pray for Good weather, we will be starting at 6:30 and ending at 8:30!
This was the story we were going to read last night! Take some time to read it out loud and ask the questions at the bottom of the page.
400 years had passed since God had spoken to his people.The Israelites, called Jews, had been under the control of other nations for hundreds of years. They were now ruled by the Romans, the most powerful empire that had ever existed. The Jews were still waiting and hoping for a king who would come to save them and lead them into victory. Finally, God sent an angel to a young woman named Mary in the town of Nazareth. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph who was a descendant of King David. The angel, named Gabriel, appeared to her and said, “Don’t be afraid Mary, God has chosen to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son and you are to name him Jesus. (which means ‘God saves’). He will become a king whose kingdom will never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby, I am still a virgin?” The angel replied, “This will happen supernaturally by God’s Spirit, so this baby will be called God’s Son. Remember… nothing is impossible with God!” Mary said, “I am God’s servant. May everything you have said come true!” After that Mary sang to God thanking him for choosing to bless her. And just as the angel had said, Mary became pregnant. When Joseph found out that Mary was expecting a child, he decided to break off their engagement quietly. The law would have permitted him to have her killed if she had an affair. But one night Joseph had a dream. An angel appeared to him and said, “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The child in her is from God. You are to give him the name Jesus for he will save the people from their sins.” So Joseph took Mary as his wife, but he did not sleep with her until after the baby was born. Months later, as Joseph and Mary were traveling to Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth. No rooms were available for them at the local inns so they found an animal stable, and that is where their baby was born. They named the boy Jesus, meaning “one who saves”, just as the angel had told them. Mary wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a feed trough. That night a group of shepherds were out in the fields taking care of their sheep when an angel suddenly appeared and frightened them. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, I am bringing good news for everyone! The one who will save you, the Messiah, has been born tonight in Bethlehem! You will know it’s him when you find a baby in a stable wrapped in strips of cloth.” The shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem as fast as we can to see the miracle God told us about.” When the shepherds ran into town they found Joseph, Mary and the baby in the stable just as the angel had said. After this they went and told everyone what they had heard and seen–and the people were truly amazed! A few months later, wise men traveled from distant lands to find the newborn king. A star had guided them from the east to Bethlehem and stopped over the place where Mary and Joseph were living. As the wise men entered the house they were overcome with joy and kneeled down and worshipped Jesus. They brought him expensive gifts of gold, spices and perfumes. Eventually Joseph and Mary moved back to Nazareth where Jesus grew strong, wise and full of God’s grace.
• What did you see in your mind as you listened to this story? • What did you notice from the story for the first time? What do you wonder about? • What did we learn about Joseph? …about Mary? • What was unique about Jesus’ birth? Where was he born? • Why do you think it was important for Jesus to be born of a virgin mother? • Who was Jesus a descendant of? How might this be significant? • What else did your hear in this story that reminds you of what the prophets said about the promised Messiah? • What does the name Jesus mean?
Hey there everyone!I wish we didn't have to cancel tonight but I don't want to risk anyone getting hurt! I am so so sorry that we have to cancel but we do.
So Tonights Youth Group Cancelled! :(....I really didn't want too!
Hey there everyone! Youth Group as of right now is going down like Charlie Brown! I know the weather outside is frightful, but I think that we should be ok to have youth group tonight! We hope that you all can make it. I will say this though if it does get bad this afternoon we will evaluate at 4pm and make a decision, but as of right now we are going forward with youth group tonight!
So if you don't hear anything different on here at 4pm assume that it is still on!
We hope to see you guys tonight, we are going over the Christmas story but in a different and unique way. We are going to be discussing some really cool things about how we can honestly celebrate the birth of Christ!
We hope to see you there tonight! Here are some funny accidents for you to watch and laugh at!
Hey there everyone! I hope every body is having an amazing day! I know that I am really busy, but still rocking out some sweet tunes in my office and getting some awesome things planned for us tomorrow night!
So tomorrow night we have a 3dyc meeting after youth group so I need everyone who is going to 3dyc to meet after youth group for just like 10 mins. It will be really quick! So please plan on that tomorrow!
Also Next Wednesday is our Christmas party! And I am pumped. So next Wednesday please bring a WRAPPED (appropriate) Christmas gift that is under 5 bucks! Everyone needs to bring on, so if you are bringing a friend which is awesome please make sure that they bring a WRAPPED (appropriate) Christmas gift! We will be starting and ending the same next week so come ready to have tons of fun and tons of food!
Also we have some big announcements coming up tomorrow night so make sure guys are there to hear it all! I am looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow, hope you all have a great day!
Hey there everyone, I hope Semi-formal went well for everyone, and for those who didn't go I hope things went awesome for you also!
So we start a new week with some amazing things on the plate, and some really amazing things in the future, but I want to invite you this week to take stand for your future with God. Take some time to read through 2 Peter 1:1-11. God has given us everything we need to live Godly lives, so take full advantage of that this week.
So this wednesday is a normal youth group night and we are going to be telling the story of Jesus birth like you have never heard it before, I am really excited for this Wednesday night and for us to learn of the true story behind the story, I feel like this is going to be a behind the scenes look at the story of Jesus Christ, so get ready for some amazing stuff!
Also this Wednesday we are having a 10 minute meeting about 3dyc, so those who are going to be going to 3dyc you need to stay for this meeting. We will be discussing the packing list which is here on the blogspot, so make sure you look at that. I am not passing out packing lists this year you need to get on here and check it out because all information about the youth group is on here! So make sure you check it out. So this Wednesday night after youth group we are going to be talking about everything you will need to know.
Hope this week goes amazing for you! Talk with you all later.
I know you normally think thats a bad thing, but last night it was a good thing because we rocked out the Junior High at the church and the Senior high at the Millers! It was awesome, God can work in a lot of different places.
Last night with the Junior High we talked about Stories and how they are so important and how we need to be living our story and letting God write it and not us! God has so many awesome things He wants to take us through some conflict but we avoid it, when we go through the conflict we can come out on the other side a little bit closer to God!
The 3dyc Rooming list will be up soon, there a couple changes we are making right now to make things work a little better leader wise, so that is why it isn't up quite yet. but make sure you get the packing list and print it off! Its very important to read through that.
Also remember about the Christmas Party that is coming up! 2 weeks from now on Dec 16th we are having our Christmas Chaos, so bring a wrapped (appropriate) gift that is under 5 bucks! We hope to see everyone there! Make sure if you are inviting friends to this that they know they need to bring a wrapped gift!
Talk with you all later this week! See you on Sunday!
Hey there everyone! Tonight is going to be rocking awesome!
Remember the High school students are at Wes and Sheila Millers house tonight, and please remember to Car pool because they don't have much parking up there so please please please car pool as much as possible!
Junior High students we are at the church tonight but it is also the start of the Pass it forward tonight so we are meeting in the Journey room. So please come straight to the Journey room don't go to the glass doors come to the doors at the end of the church. We will have the door open for you guys to see so please make sure you come down that way. Because if you don't you will be greated by a couple hundred people. :)
Hey there everyone! I hope your Monday's were pretty sweet, but your Tuesday will be delicious! Just a little reminder about a couple things. 1. Youth Group tomorrow is split. High school is at Wes and Sheila Millers house, directions are on the blogspot from yesterday, and the Junior High is down in the Journey room. Go straight to the journey room don't walk through the building because if you do you will be met by a bunch of people here for the Pass it forward Garage sale. 2. The packing list for 3dyc is on yesterday's blog post! So go print it out and follow it! 1 BAG! 3. Christmas Party is on Dec 16th! We will be playing dirty bingo again, so everyone needs to bring a wrapped gift that is under 5 bucks. The crazier the better, but it needs to be appropriate! 4. Next Wednesday, Dec 9th, After Youth Group we will be having a 3dyc meeting. It will be a 10 min informational meeting, so please plan on staying afterwards for just a couple mins.
So those are a couple things I need to remind you of that are coming up. These next couple weeks are going to be a little different because of the holidays. But I promise ya we are praying for each and everyone of you. Please keep us up on whats going on in your lives. Looking forward to seeing you all this coming Wednesday.
I know there a bunch of relationships starting up and we pray for you guys every day but this video is for you all, in making sure you don't go too deep, too fast. Be aware!
Essentials for 3DYC: - Bible - Bring to every single Session! - Journal - Bring to every single session! - Pen - To mark in your Bible and to write in Journal! - Clothes - Jeans - T-shirts - Shorts - to play sports in. - underwear - Socks - Shoes - Sandals if you want to wear them around - Pajamas - Which will be only worn in your room to go to sleep in. Not to walk around in - hat if you want to wear a hat while you are there - Cell phone - We are allowing people to take cell phones with them but we don't want this to distract from the real reason we are there, so if the cell phone is an issue we will take them and give them back at the end of the trip. - Toiletries - Deodorant - Shampoo - Toothbrush - Tooth paste - Soap - Cologne/perfume if you want to wear some. Extra: - Extra money for pizza at nights, and meals on the way there and back - Cards - Extra Pillow if you want What not to bring: - IPods -ITouches -Anything IRelated unless its an IPhone which case I will steal from you :) - MP3 players - Bad attitudes - Any weapons - Small Children - More then 1 bag! - With so many people going you need to pack everything in 1 bag.
If you have any questions you can contact me at cvmcadam@verizon.net.
Hey there everyone! I hope that you are all having a great day, and I hope that you are all going to work out sometime this week to try to work off all the pie and stuffing we consumed over the last few days!
Its amazing to me how much turkey we have left over. Wow! Ohh well......We move onward.
So this week for youth group it is a little bit different. Junior High students we are meeting here at the church, but listen very closely. Do not come in the normal doors, but go down to the door that goes straight into the Journey room. We will have some people down there hopefully directing people down there. The only reason we don't you going into the normal doors is because there will be hundreds of people here for the Pass it forward Garage sale. So if you go into the normal glass doors, you will be met by hundreds of people. So come straight over to the Journey room in your parents car! That will make it so much easier!
High school students please remember to Car Pool to Wes and Sheila Millers house! Please Please Please do this because there is not a lot of Parking room. And you can't park in the road, because your car will get hit by another car which is not a good thing!
Directions to get to Wes and Sheila Millers house: Turn Left out of Crystal Valley Missionary church and head West on US 20. Turn Right onto CR 33 Go straight thru CR 14 and their house is the 2nd house on the left on CR 33.
I hope you all have a great week! See you on Wednesday night!
You + God = a majority. If God is on your side, there is nothing you cannot overcome. Why? Because we are more than conquerors through Christ. That is reality. That isn't optimism. It's biblical realism.
If you know that God is for you, then no challenge is too great, no problem is too big, no obstacle cannot be overcome. But most of us doubt this fundamental truth. And I believe it's one of our root spiritual problems. We aren't sure if God is really for us or against us because we allow the guilt we feel over sins committed to infect our feelings. We think God feels about us the way we feel about ourselves! We need to sanctify our feelings.
You need to settle this once and for all. God is for you. God is on your side. God is in your corner. His intentions toward you are always good. Here's an amazing promise in Psalm 84:11:
"No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right.
Hey there everyone! Just a little reminder that there is NO YOUTH GROUP TONIGHT!
Because of thanksgiving tomorrow, so there will no one here tonight if you show up. You are more then welcome to come here but everything will be locked and no lights will be on, and you will probably be really cold! :) So my recommendation is not to show up tonight!
But show up next Wednesday, but the Junior High will be down in the Journey Room, and the high school students will be at Wes and Sheila Millers house! We start at the same time and we will be getting out at the same time! So That is not changing at all, just where we are meeting at is changing. So Dec 2nd we will be changing spots for a night! Don't forget that.
Here is a little Article I found that I thought some of you might enjoy.
It’s Sunday morning. You wake up, begrudgingly, and drive to church. You greet people with the basics: “How are you? How’s work? Did you do anything fun this weekend?” You don’t get much for real answers, but you’re fine with that because honestly you don’t want the real answers. You sing worship songs for 20 minutes. Sit down, then throw a check in the offering basket and zone out while your pastor gives the announcements. You listen to a message in which you hear the “5 Steps to … Being a Better Person, Praying More, Serving Your Community, Getting Into Heaven.” You get the idea. Sing one last song, and stand for a blessing. You head out the door, pleased with yourself for going to church and getting in your weekly “God time.” Ticket into heaven = punched. You feel that your duty is done, and now you can go on with your life for another seven days with no interruptions.
Does that sound like a typical Sunday experience for you.
Guess what? It does for me too. Well, not necessarily typical, but it certainly happens.
What I’ve described above is religion. What does it evoke when you think of it? What does it look like when you picture it? What does it feel like when you experience it?
For me, it looks like rules. Like big fancy church buildings. Like priests wearing all white and reading a Bible in Latin.
Religion (in an admittedly strictly Christian sense of the word) is a verb. It is an external act without internal change. It means living a life where God only exists in our daily habits, but not in our heart. It is an easy way into heaven. A way in which we give nothing up, except maybe an hour a day for a devotion. Maybe it’s even just that hour per week that you make it to church.
That, my friends, is a lie. Here is the truth: “The most important one [command],” answered Jesus, “is this … ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31, NIV).
I am sure most of you have heard this at some point in your life. The gist is quite easy to figure out actually: love God first, love people second. That is it. Do you see anything about going to church? Here’s a hint: I don’t.
Sadly, our culture has turned loving God into a one-hour per week coffee date. We’ve turned it into something we simply put on our to-do lists and weekly calendars. Think about what would happen if that was what your relationship with your spouse looked like. Or with your best friend. Would it get the job done? I won’t even give you a hint for that one because the answer is too easy.
If you are someone whose spiritual life revolves around a checklist of going to church, reading your Bible, praying, evangelizing or even serving the homeless, you are living a religion.
“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (Revelation 2:2-4).
Read that last line carefully. “You have forsaken your first love.”
Jesus uses very strong language to describe the people He’s speaking to. He’s saying that they do all the right things. They don’t tolerate wickedness. They persevere. They endure hardships. They don’t grow weary. It seems like they have accomplished everything on their checklist.
Yet, there is something missing.
They are lacking love. In fact, according to the word Jesus uses, they are not just lacking—they have entirely deserted it. They have, in my own interpretation, exchanged Jesus for a set of rules. They have traded Him in for a religion. They are living the externals and neglecting the internal.
Why would they do this?
Because religion is easy.
Following a set of rules is easy.
Checking off a list of things to do is easy.
What true Christianity looks like is loving people the way Jesus did. It means living the way Jesus did, in the midst of this messy world.
That, my friends, is hard. That is being a disciple of Christ and not just a doer of religion.
hey there everyone Sorry I didn't update the last couple of days, I have been at the National Youth Workers Convention. It was a blast, Esther and I went down with a couple other youth pastors and their wives, and it was a great time of relaxation, but also was a great time to work on up coming youth group stuff, pray alot, and really fall face down before God again and continue to cry out to Him for our youth here in Middlebury.
So just a couple of reminders about tomorrow night!
NO YOUTH GROUP TOMORROW NIGHT!
Also please remember that Dec 2nd, High school students are meeting at Wes and Sheila's Millers house, and the Junior high students are meeting at the church but down in the Journey room. Please remember Junior high students that you need to come to the door down in the Journey room because there will be a lot of people here that will be in the sanctuary, and the gym in the back so we need to make sure we come in the Journey room doors!
Looking forward to hanging out with you all next week. Have a great Thanksgiving! And GO COWBOYS!
Man today was simply amazing! God is working and moving. Break down of the day!
8:00 - Wake up to Coke and Grapefruit juice at our door! Amazing service here and it was free....Great way to start our day 9:00 - Check into the Conference and walk around the convention area (Get 2 new T-shirts) 10:00 - Seminar 1: Tony Campolo - Postmodernism vs Modernism - This seminar was amazing. Talking about Niche, Darwin, Plato, Socrates, and Einstein. Tony Campolo studied under Einstein for 2 weeks, amazing. He brought up alot of science and how it relates with the bible, and how we need to be teaching our students about the fundamentals of Christianity before they go to college and get faced with a lot of higher education and they get confused in where God fits into it all. We then talked about becoming like Christ and not just preaching about Him. Allow our students to do something heroic for Christ instead of just sitting in pews and chairs! 12:00 - Lunch in the CNN center with friends, while a massive fight broke out with like 8 cops! Awesome really good story for youth when we come back! 1:00 - 1 session - Andy Stanley - He talked about leadership and how we need to 1. Clarify - What we retreat too when things are unsettling, the big rock of our ministry! 2. (I can't remember the exact word, my notes are on the other side of the room, and I am tired) :) Anyways he really challenged us to make sure we have our ministry clarified and that we rely on the Lord and not ourselves! 3:00 - Walked around the center again, no new T-shirts. 4:00 - Seminar 2: Chap Clark - Being a theological leader - This Seminar was great, because it really talked about being obedient to be who God has called you to be. Also your Vocation is Kingdom your Job is.....Whatever pays you. Your first thing you do in your life is your vocation and then your Job falls 2nd to that. I am kingdom minded by being a youth pastor. My wife is being kingdom minded by loving students and others. That is her job right now. This seminar really got my thinking about making sure I am doing what God has called me to do! 5:30 - Ate dinner with some great youth pastors and their wives! I had soup....I am trying to not eat a bunch of crap every meal 7:30 - Session 2 - Francis Chan - Great night with Francis Chan speaking on staying in tune with God. Then he asked a great question. If he interviewed the students in my youth group and then interviewed God would they say the same thing about me? Also talked about not lying to others and ourselves, Really honestly knowing that we are growing in God and getting to know the bible more and more and more. He kind of went all around but still had some great points non-the less. 9:30 - Had some great worship, and really a crying out for God! Love worshiping with a couple thousand youth workers. 11:00- finishing blog, and eating chex mix!
Tomorrow is a planning day for me here in Atlanta! I am taking some alone time with God and seeking out what He has for this Youth group back in Middlebury! To God be the glory!
We made it down here to Atlanta. There are 4 couples down here with us, and they are all youth pastors and their wives. It was an insane 12 hour trip down, but we made it and we are in one of the nicest hotels I have ever been in.
1. Tahiti - Not really hotel, but it was an amazing resort 2. W - in chicago, it was amazing. 3. Omni - The one we are staying in now!
Its really nice, and the work out place is amazing and the rooms are really nice, so tomorrow up on the slate is Andy Stanley, Francis Chan, and Crowder leading worship. Not to shabby! Also some really amazing seminars. Then Shane and Shane worship night! Its going to be unbelievable. Also getting to hang out with my wife and connect with worship.
Pray for us to be refreshed, and renewed. Also for God to prepare our minds for where God is taking the Crystal Valley Youth Group. Pray for a clear leading on where the next steps are for our ministry. We have idea's with where WE want to take it but WE doesn't equal HE! We want what HE wants!
Ideas on what to do when your "quiet time" goes silent.
Most of us know we’re “supposed” to do devotions every day. And so we slog along, crack open our Bible every day and hope to pick something up by osmosis before we forget what we’ve read. Why do devotions seem so ... pointless? What do you do when you know you should be doing them, but it just feels empty and insincere to do them? Do devotions even matter?
I wish I could tell you it’s been an easy road. It hasn’t. Oh, I’ve had my moments when my prayer or study time seemed white hot with inspiration, but those were few and far between. There have been many more times when it seemed like I was investing more energy into my devotional time than I seemed to be getting back. And, truth be told, there have been a million times when devotion time meant little more than a horrible “should” for me, and I dreaded doing it.
It hasn’t been till the past ten years or so that my devotional life has become something more for me—something I actually look forward to. Here are some reasons why. They’ve helped me, and I think (and hope) they’ll help you:
1. Fight to keep “the point” the point.
The point of doing spiritual things at all (like prayer, or reading the Bible, or singing in worship, etc.), is not so we can say we did them or to make ourselves feel like better Christians; the point of devotion is to open our deepest selves to the God who saves, to the God who engages the human heart, to the One who draws near to us when we draw near to Him. Devotional time is to be more about God than it is about us and what we do. This means we long for God’s Spirit to penetrate the various facets of our lives in real time and space. We are to come to our devotions in the hope that God will enter and shape our futures for His glory. That’s the point.
2. Devotions tap into grace.
Grace is an amazing thing. There is no way it makes sense. It is God lovingly chasing us when there is no reason for it. When the psalmist caught a glimpse of it, he cried, “This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in!” Neither can we.
Grace changes things. It changes people. The task of the devotional gesture is to figure out how a person with your unique personality and mind-set can best tap into grace. For me, grace is most easily accessed as I ponder the Scriptures. As I wrestle with texts, grace seems to dawn inside me. My wife, Gail, taps into grace as she sings and worships. Others touch God’s grace most by getting together with other believers or by retreating into times of solitude. Once you find some pathways to help you succeed at living under the influence of grace, incorporate those practices into your devotional rhythm.
3. Variety is the spice of life.
I like eggs, but eggs every day, at every meal, would get old fast. One of the reasons that my devotional life took a dive early on is because I did the same things all the time. Things began to change when I discovered the many spiritual practices modeled in Scripture and church history—and there are a bunch of them (i.e. study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission, solitude, silence, fasting, sacrifice, etc. – Google these!). Now, when I practice my daily devotions, I mix it up—some days I do contemplative things (i.e. prayer, meditation, solitude); other days I take a long walk in silence and try to listen; some days I practice what’s called the Daily Office (the Daily Office is an ancient way to pray and meditate on scripture several times throughout the day); and then there are days when all I do is embrace Celtic spirituality and pray into the mundane things I do, like washing the dishes: Lord, cleanse my soul like I’m washing these dishes … scrub your church clean of whatever is not of you … , or when I clean up around the house or office: Lord, bring order into our world … let your kingdom come and your will be done …
The goal with any kind of devotional break is to balance the responsibilities of our lives with a continuous awareness of God in the back of our minds as we work throughout the day.
4. Winters come.
Winter is that season of the year when everything looks dead, cold and lifeless. But winter is actually not a bad thing. This is the time when the roots of plants push deeper into the earth, making them more healthy and resilient. St. John of the Cross talked about times when our relationship with God took on the characteristic of winter. He called it the “dark night of the soul.” St. John claimed this was the time when God’s working was imperceivable to us. In a dark night the spiritual practices of prayer or study or service would seem dead or flat, cold and lifeless, but that didn’t mean God was not working—just that His working was too deep for us to perceive it.
Madeleine L’Engle describes what sounds like the dark night: “Sometimes I just know that I am going to come down with an attack of atheism again. It’s like the flu. Spiritual flu, I call it. I get ready to endure three or four days of doubt and deep distance from God. Then, through the grace of God, I find myself spiritually well again.”
Our devotion time is not to be an end in itself; it is to be a spiraling process of ever-expanding openness and movement into God. Through these times we say “no” to the way things are, but our “no” isn’t where we stop. Our “no” implies a “yes” to something more. It is in these moments of devotion we foster a conviction about the kind of life we are to live, clarity about our role in the world, and a sense of corporate mission and ministry. There is a critical and prophetic power about them. We are not just believing differently; these times cause us to do and live differently. We end up no longer using the world for our own self-interests. We find ourselves seeking God’s will and goodness for a hurting world—we seek mercy instead of retribution, reconciliation instead of rejection and alienation. A robust devotional life causes us to live better, which helps us write our lives large for Him.
Hey there guys tonight we are coming together here at Crystal Valley to serve. And the really cool part is when people come to get the free clothes, they wont have any idea that honestly at least a hundred volunteers made this happen and we can part of this happening!
So tonight we are going to helping sort clothes, stack boxes, get shoes out, and so much more. We are going to be helping out with the Pass it Forward free garage sale tonight. So come tonight ready to serve others. This should take up our whole night for youth group, but if not we have some things planned at the end, so we will end at our regular time of 8:30.
I hope to see you here tonight, come at the regular time at 6:30, try to be here right at 6:30, because we have lots of announcements and then we want to get everyone started at once. Because we can make a serious dent in all the things they need done!
There never has been and never will be anyone like you. But that isn't a testament to you. It's a testament to the God who created you absolutely unique.
All of creation is singing a worship chorus to God. And it's not just the meadow lark with its 300 notes or the nightingale finch with its 24 songs. According to the German physicist and pianist, Arnold Summerfield, a hydrogen atom emits 100 frequencies which makes it more complex musically than a grand piano which emits 88 frequencies.
For what its worth, Pythagoras said: "A stone is frozen music." Very interesting in light of what Jesus said: "If you remain silent the stones will cry out."
My point? All of creation is singing a unique song to the Creator. And you are part of that universal chorus. No one can worship God FOR you or LIKE you. God has given you a unique voiceprint. There are millions of people praying and worshiping God in every language all the time. But your voiceprint is unique. Like a parent who knows His child's unique cry or scream or laugh, God knows your voice. He hears your voice. The Heavenly Father loves your voice.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)
There are several important things to look at when examining The Lord's Prayer and applying it to our own prayer lives.
Position. God is our Father in heaven and we are his children. He loves us and wants to take care of us. He is our divine parent. James tells us, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). Paul tells us that he is our Abba, father, which is Arabic and literally means "daddy." Prayer begins by understanding that God is our loving Father and we are his children.
Praise. The second part of the prayer is praise to God's name. "Hallowed" means to make holy. We are to make his name holy through praise and worship. In other words, prayer is an act of divine worship. It begins by acknowledging and praising God for his mighty acts and greatness.
Purpose. The purpose of our prayer should be to pray for his kingdom to come and his will to be done. Jesus himself told the Father, "Not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). Prayer is not about coming to God with our personal agendas; rather, it is seeking his agenda for our lives. His ways are greater than our ways, and his plan is always better than our plans.
Pardon. No one is perfect except for Jesus. We are broken, fallen, and sinful humans who desperately need the forgiveness of God. In prayer, we must confess our sins before God. The Bible says, "He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). This is God's way for allowing us to continually come before him. We can come to God broken and stained, and leave cleansed and whole. Likewise, we should forgive others as God has forgiven us.
Protection. He leads us away from temptation and protects us from evil. We need to be reminded that there are spiritual forces of darkness in this world, and we need God's help to protect us. The first thing you should do every morning is to ask for God's protection throughout the day.
Power. The prayer closes in a similar way that it started, by acknowledging God's greatness. He is sovereign and in control. The kingdom, power, and glory belong to God! When we worship and praise God, it gets his attention. He loves it when his children worship him and acknowledge his greatness.
Hey there my fellow human beings, hope this Tuesday is a good one!
Tomorrow night we are going to rocking the serve aspect of our youth ministry, when we help out the Free garage sale going on in the back of the church, they honestly have hundreds and hundreds of clothes that need to be folded sorted, and all sorts of stuff done with them so we are going to go back there and help them for the night.
So tomorrow night we will be diving in right around 6:30. So get right at the normal time of youth group, if you show up late head back towards the gym to start helping out. But we plan on doing this work until the work is all the way done or 8:30 hits which ever one comes first. So come tomorrow night ready to serve your faces off!
I am really excited about all the cool things that are happening here in the youth ministry. But we need to keep praying for this ministry to grow, and grow deeper in Christ so I encourage you today at some point say a prayer for our youth ministry, and pray for the small group leaders and other students in your small group. You will be blown away when you start praying, what God will do with your spiritual life!
Hey there everyone this Wednesday is our serve night! We are actually going to be staying here at the church and helping out with the pass it forward free garage sale. We will be doing a lot of sorting and folding. So come ready to work hard. I have talked with the ladies who are running it and they have a bunch of things for us to do, but they said if we work hard we could finish all the things they have for us, so I think we can do it and help the ladies, and in the long run a bunch of families down the road!
So this Wednesday night show up just like regular youth group @ 6:30, then we will give you instructions on where to go from there. Then we will have you get into your small groups and we will send you to the back with a specific task in mind! We will be done at 8:30 just like regular youth group so come ready to rock it out this coming Wednesday!
Also make sure you guys are selling those cards for our fundraiser! We will start selling this Sunday at church and I hope that you are all raising money for our winter retreat this coming February! Man its going to be awesome. So sell sell sell!
I will be posting more later, I have lots of things to be reading, and blogging about this week so keep checking up on here for more updates! Talk with you all later, have a great Monday!
So today I have been at the church from like 11am - and I will be here till almost 11pm tonight cleaning and getting things back in order but its all worth it because we got some really cool things happening here tonight!
We have about 60 youth workers coming to Crystal Valley tonight to learn from a great mind, Terry Linhart. He is a great communicator and he has some amazing thoughts on how youth ministry should be done and taught. He is a prof at Bethel in Mishawaka and just wrote a book called "Evangelism Remix" and its selling like Crazy. So tonight he is coming here to CVMC to teach. God has given me a heart to help other youth pastors who might not have had the schooling or even have to work another job while leading a youth group. So tonight is all about helping other people connect to students and love them as Jesus would love them.
So tonight if you think to pray for us here at CVMC that would be awesome. Also if you want to follow along with the teaching tonight I will be posting different stuff on Twitter you can follow along at adamsharp5!
I hope you have a great night, also see you tomorrow morning here at CVMC for Sunday morning worship! Talk with you later.
Hey there everyone! This is a rare Friday update. My normal day off is on Friday but I have alot going on this weekend so I am in the office for a couple hours today I thought I would update ya'll.
Please remember to be selling those cards and making money for our Winter Retreat. I promise if you sell a bunch of them you can pay for your whole trip and then even more trips down the road its going to be awesome. This summer we will be having a summer camp, whitewater rafting trip, over nighters, lots of things. So don't just think you are raising money for this one trip but lots of trips down the road! So get selling!
Also the room assignments and packing list will be up here a little bit closer to 3dyc, so look for it right around December. We have a lot of other things going on right now in the youth ministry, so we will worry about all of that later :)
Remember this coming Wednesday come and help us out at the Pass it Forward Garage sale, we will be folding clothes and sorting, and helping out the ladies who put this garage sale on. Its a great way to serve others who serve. So we will see you this Sunday to do some really cool things :)
A lot of people say you should know what you want. The idea is that if you know your desires than you will have clearly defined goals so you can get what you want. The world tells us that it is important for us to get what we want. Have you spent time thinking about what you want?
More importantly, have you spent some time thinking about what God desires? Sometimes find myself getting caught with “doing ministry,” and I forget to spend time focusing on the One it is all for. I need to constantly remind myself to spend time in the Word to understand God’s heart and what He desires for me and for His people.
I don’t want to be caught up in my desires. I want to be caught up in His.
Here are a few scriptures about God’s desires.
Psalm 40:5-6 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
James 1:19-21 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save
1 Peter 5:2-3 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Ecclesiastes 7:14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Man last night was fun! We had tons of people here hanging out, Worshiping, and then getting a chance to talk about what a friend is.
Remember the definition we used last night to set the standard for friendship last night. Also if some of you are going to be making a friend-shift, please come and talk to us, we want to help, pray and be there for ya through this possible hard time. Its amazing to me some of the people we do call friends even though they might be the furthest thing from a friend. God still has amazing things He wants to do in your life, and through your life. So please take a look at those people you call friends and put them under the micro-scope of that definition we talked about last night. Also look at yourself in this whole picture, are you a good friend or are you the one using people, gossiping, and creating drama. The whole goal of being a in a community is to draw people closer to Christ, and for us to love God and love others more and more.
So take what we have learned last night and take the next step with it.
Also remember this coming Wednesday we are doing a serving project here at the church with the pass it forward sale. So come ready to work hard, and help a ton of people while doing it!
All the announcements like room assignments, and packing list for 3dyc will be up later, and closer to the dates of 3dyc! Also we will be posting what we are doing on Dec 3rd, next week. The youth staff still have to talk over what we are going to be doing for that night since we have to move youth group due to the Pass it Forward garage sale going on that night at the church.
Youth Group tonight starts at 6:30 and goes to 8:30, and we hope that everyone can come tonight. We have got some amazing things planned for everyone tonight, Doug has an amazing game he is going to be doing tonight, we have what would you do for a......, and we have the youth worship band bringing it tonight, and then we are going to be having a discussion on friendship and what it really means to be a friend. So bring something to write with tonight because I think everyone will want to write down some things from tonight.
God has some amazing things He wants to do here tonight so please be praying for tonight and the things that God is going to do in our students and leaders.
So come tonight, bring a friend or 5 and come to hang out with us tonight, we have a lot of announcements tonight also so we are going to be starting right at 6:30 so try your best to get here right at 6:30.
Hey there everyone! This coming Wednesday (tomorrow) We will be going over friendship and what it says in Proverbs about friendship. I was studying this the past couple days and its amazing to me the stuff we find in proverbs about friends.
How to pick friends, how to define a friend, and to look out for those you call friends! Its amazing. So come tomorrow and explore this topic of friendships! Also we will be posting the December calendar as soon it is all set, we have had a couple things change on us so that is why it has not been posted yet, but please make sure you get the November calendar which is in the archived section below! So go and check it out!
Come tomorrow night because we have lots of announcements to make and some really awesome and fun games. We will also be playing a new What would you do for a......I promise it will be Glorious!
Hope to see you tomorrow night at 6:30pm! We will done right at 8:30 tomorrow night!
Verse 1 Alright check it: let’s go back in time, brethren Divine lessons always keep your mind guessing The glory of the Triune God’s what I’m stressing The origin of humankind was fine- blessings Were plenteous- God is amazingly generous Crazy benefits in a state of innocence God told the man what he could taste was limited Not long after came our nemesis in Genesis He scammed well, man fell, damned to hell The whole human race- he represented it Fooled by the serpent, man through his work Woman through birth- even the earth ruled by the curses But instead of a wake immediately God said her Seed would be the One to crush the head of the snake Yo, wait what’s this? Whoa, a gracious gift! In Jehovah’s faithfulness He clothed their nakedness This was so they would know their Savior’s kiss And bliss- but first, many growing pains exist Suffering in the worst form, ugly deeds Eve’s firstborn seed made his brother bleed Indeed things got progressively worse Every section of the earth's been affected by the curse And though God’s judgments against sin were gory Praise the Lord! It’s not the end of the story
Chorus: It's the greatest story ever told A God pursues foes whose hearts turned cold The greatest story ever told Restoring all that the enemy stole The greatest story ever told The glory of Christ is the goal, behold The greatest story ever told It's the greatest...
Verse 2 Next scene: man’s sin was extreme God gets steamed, man gets creamed The Lord is so Holy that He drowned them in the water Fire in the valley of slaughter- Sodom and Gomorrah But at the same time, He’s so gracious and patient That from one man He created a whole nation Eventually enslaved by the mentally depraved They cried out to the only One with the strength that He could save He brought them out with signs and wonders- satisfied their hunger Then He appeared on Mount Sinai in thunder Where He laid down the law for God-ruled government Commonly referred to as the Mosaic covenant Sin’s imputed- so for man to know he’s unrighteous God instituted animal sacrifices This was to show our constant need for atonement And when it came to sin, the Lord would never condone it And when His people disobeyed and went astray He raised up prophets and kings to lead them in the way But they would get foul with their idolatry- wet and wild Prophecy- send them into exile To take their punishment like a grown man Then with His own hand He placed them back in their homeland And while in their forefather’s land they dwelt They awaited the arrival of Emmanuel
Chorus: It's the greatest story ever told A God pursues foes whose hearts turned cold The greatest story ever told Restoring all that the enemy stole The greatest story ever told The glory of Christ is the goal, behold The greatest story ever told It's the greatest...
Verse 3 After 400 silent years filled with sighs and tears In Bethlehem the Messiah appears God in the flesh- Second Person of the Trinity At thirty begins His earthly ministry Baffling cats with accurate, exact facts And back to back miraculous acts A stumbling block to the self righteous But the humbled- His flock, said “There’s no one else like this” He came from heaven to awake the numb Demonstrated His power over nature, son A foretaste of the Kingdom and the age to come But the reason He came was to pay the sum For the depths of our wickedness, our wretched sinfulness Bless His magnificence- He’s perfect and innocent Yet He was wrecked and His death- He predicted it Next He was stretched, paid a debt that was infinite He said that He finished it- resurrected so the elect would be the recipients of its benefits Through faith and penitence we get to be intimate His grace is heaven sent, it never diminishes Now the Holy Spirit indwelling is the evidence for heaven's future residents who truly represent Jesus, the Author, Producer, Director and Star of a story that will never, ever end!
Chorus: The greatest story ever told A God pursues foes whose hearts turned cold The greatest story ever told Restoring all that the enemy stole The greatest story ever told The glory of Christ is the goal, behold The greatest story ever told It's the greatest...
Hey there everyone this wednesday night is going to rock your stinking socks off! We have got some amazing games, awesome worship planned and we are going to be diving into Friendship this week and what the proverbs says about friendship. You will be amazed at how the bible defines friendship!
So come this Wednesday night at 6:30 to hang out and have some fun. Also we will be doing what would you do for a ........... Come and find out what we are giving away this week :)
Also we are starting our 2nd fundraiser really soon, so be prepared to go out and sell a bunch of these awesome cards! We will be hitting up everyone we know. You can easily earn all your money for the winter retreat in February. We will have some more info coming later but just know that its coming up!
Also Next Wednesday we are going to be coming here to the church at our regular time at 6:30, but we will be helping the Pass it Forward project going on at our church so come ready to serve and love on others!
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