Consume devotional

Consume

"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple." (Psalm 27:4 esv)

Each and every single one of us has a choice laid out before us. Whom or what we will choose to follow. It could be anything; a car, job, material possessions, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, maybe even a title or an honor. We could have the best job, the coolest car, and the hottest boyfriend/girlfriend, but there will still be a void. Many times we consume our lives and our thoughts with getting ahead, making more money, buying bigger and better possessions, but strangely enough, the void grows larger. The emptiness we fill inside can only find satisfaction when we seek the One who can offer a truly fulfilled life. ("But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him..." Philippians 7-9 NIV) Jesus Christ must be our top priority, our number one. He must be the One and only in our lives, our all in all. Jesus is constantly drawing us closer to Himself. He desperately desires an intimate, love relationship with us. However, it takes effort on our part to maintain that relationship. We must put forth all our time, energy and love into seeking Him, therefore nothing or no one else can rival Him. Isaiah 46:9 says,

"...I am GOD, the only God you've had or ever will have--incomparable, irreplaceable. (MSG)

Here I will venture to ask you a deeply personal question: What is your passion and desire? What consumes your thoughts and actions? Is it Christ or something else? Consider this poem I found in Beth Moore's book, Further Still. It can be a sincere prayer each and every one of us can pray to make Him our everything, our uncontested love and joy in life.

Consume Me, O Lord
Consume me, O Lord, flood my soul with Your Son. Leave nothing uncovered, leave nothing undone.
Set me on fire, consume all my dross. Make beauty form my ashes and gain from my loss.
Consume me, O Lord, be the life in my bones. Put your head in my marrow till Jesus alone.
Can set me aflame with Your holy fire, unquenchable passion, exquisite desire.
Thrill all my senses with sacred romance; consume me, O Lord, come bid me to dance.
Down streets paved in gold a pure virgin bride, nothing to run from, nothing to hide
Consume me, O Lord.

Now that most of you are on summer break, this is the perfect opportunity to be swept away in His love and become enraptured in a sacred romance, with the love of your life. I pray that you can find time to spend with Him, reading His Word, and talking with Him. I also pray you can find time to walk around in His creation and admire all the wonderful things He has done for you.
I know it is difficult to find time for Him, with all the great things summer has to offer. The sun, the beach, the mountains, hikes, the pool, vacations, and so on, but I want to challenge you. I would ask that right here and right now you would make a commitment to know Him better. I challenge you to set a reasonable goal in which you will spend time with Him each day, and set a pattern of discipline that you can follow throughout the summer, into next year and the years to come. You will create a habit that will benefit you and your relationship with God forever!
What is more, you will find yourself worrying less about the things this world has to offer, and seeking out the things of God more and more. Jobs, cars, and possessions will loose their luster in comparison to Jesus Christ, who encompasses all that is good. Our perspectives on life will change as we strive to help those who have less than ourselves and reach out to a hurting world with the hope of the gospel message. However, we will never make an impact on this earth until we make Christ our unsurpassing joy, laughter, hope, desire, breath, and life. When He consumes our deepest depths, then and only then, will people see God more valuably than all the power and success the world has to offer. They too will want to choose Him above all else, because they see you living it out daily!

Let this be the cry of our hearts; In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul." (Isaiah 26:8 ESV)

P.A.

Movie night info

Hey there everyone! I hope things are going well for you today.

Here are the details for tonights High school event.

We had to cancel the bon fire because of the Elkhart County burn ban, which means you can't have bon fires, or fires in general outside right now because it is so dry there is a good chance you will burn something down because the fire will spread so fast. So if we tried to have a bon fire the fire department would come and put it out and we would get in trouble.

So instead of fighting the fire dept, we are just going to switch it up a little bit tonight. We are going to watch a movie tonight at Crystal Valley! We will kick the movie off at 8pm and we will be done at 10pm, since we had to change this very last minute we don't have popcorn here. So we will provide drinks tonight and you guys bring the snacks. Also tonight since its just high school we are encouraging students to bring their own couches, chairs, bean bags, whatever you want to chill out in, BRING IT!

Tonight will still be super fun, if we have time afterward we will set up some octaball and we can rock it.

We hope to see ya tonight, Have a super awesome day.

P.A.

Bon fire Cancelled

Hey there everyone we are going to have to cancel the bonfire for tomorrow night because of the elkhart county has a burn ban enforced. So we can't have bon fire and not get a ticket!

So here is what we are doing instead.

Movie NIGHT!!!!

We are going to meet at the church and we are going to be watching a movie from 8pm - 10pm. Bring your own snacks, we will be providing drinks this time. If you want to bring couches, chairs, bean bags, blankets, whatever you want to watch this movie you can. We are going to watching it in the sanctuary, so we will have the big surround sound, projectors, and overall awesome time watching a great movie!

We will be discussing movie options today over lunch, So I will post what we are going to watching on here tomorrow morning so you can make plans.

But once again, we can't have the bon fire because of a burn ban for Elkhart County.

Sorry everyone.

P.A. 

Bon fire

Hey there everyone this will be a pretty short post because today is a super busy day.

Here are the tails!

When: This Wednesday (June 20th)
Where: Sharps house (14075 Claire Lane, Middlebury)
What to bring: Guys - Marshmallows Girls - Chocolate. Also bring chairs to sit in around the fire, and any other games you might want to play. Also if you family has sticks for smores, bring those as well.
What to expect: A chill night of hanging out with friends around a bon fire, we are just going to be listening to music, throwing a frisbee, and and enjoying summer! 
Time: 8pm - 10pm

We hope you can join us, we are going to have a great night of hanging out and just talking around a fire! Hope to see you there.

If you have any questions please email me at cvmcadam@gmail.com 

P.A.

My devotional for this morning.

This was my devotional for this morning, I thought I would share it with you guys!

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone
My hope comes from him
He alone is my rock and my salvation
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken

Three things strike me from this passage:

1. Surrender only to God. It's clear why only is used twice in two verses: the human heart is a divided, desperate thing. We must to rely on something. Physically, our hearts stand alone and pumps for a lifetime, supporting everything else. Spiritually, every heart has a crutch, a help, a support that hold us up in this difficult and terrible world. We need help, and we'll look anywhere for it. We look to our friends, to power and control, to indulgent comforts, cocooning escapes, and spectacular diversions.  None of these can keep us standing strong without being shaken.

2. Everything is at Stake! We are talking about the condition of our very souls, not something trivial or momentary. The core of our being will last through this lifetime and into the next. The deepest part of who we are, the most important part about us, is not something to be handled lightly. We should not trust our peace to the promises of the world. When we do, we will be shaken, insecure, and wanting.

3. Rest and Hope in God. It is God who is our rock, salvation, and fortress. This is his promise. It is our responsibility to rest in him, to hope in him. Work is necessary--school work or raising a family work or occupation work--and this leads us to assume that rest is arbitrary. That it doesn't matter what we are doing as long as it's not work. The Enemy loves this myth, because when we rest in the wrong things we have no rest. We are always hoping, some part of us  is looking forward to the future for with positive expectation. We often look forward to things that do little to fuel our present. (this is what hope ought to do, a future look that fuels our present). We look forward to a time when we're not working or getting a boy friend or eating a meal or going on a vacation or seeing a moving or achieving something big. OF COURSE these aren't bad, but when they become our biggest joys, these worldly hopes disappoint.  We are let down hard, the crash echoes in our hollow hearts. Instead, we hope in the promises of God, for they move us forward into the future destiny he as designed for us.

Battling for Freedom

“For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Hebrews 2:18

Praise God in Temptation?

Several years ago I met with a young man who had overcome a lot of sin and had been walking in victory with Jesus. In this particular meeting, though, he seemed beat up and filled with guilt. I asked him what was going on, and he said he felt defeated. Upon further discussion, he described an intense temptation that he had experienced the last several weeks. I asked him if he had acted on the temptation, and he answered, “No.”
I began to smile at him, and he looked at me, quite confused. I said, “Well, praise God!” That almost made him angry. Here he was confessing his temptation, and I was telling him I was glad he was facing such a hard time. I had either lost my mind, or he and I were not connecting at all.

Temptation Is Not a Sin

And then it came out of my mouth: “Temptation is not sin. Temptation is an invitation to worship. You will either worship the enemy and do what he is tempting you to do, or you will worship Jesus and resist the temptation and obey. Either way you are worshiping.” I went on to explain that his temptation was not sin and that this was an opportunity for greater intimacy with Jesus. He began to smile and it looked like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Since that time I have strived to disciple a lot of men towards greater intimacy with Jesus by helping them have a new perspective on temptation. Here are some things I’ve found to be helpful.

1. Temptation Is Not Sin

Jesus was tempted in all ways, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). If our perfect Lord was tempted, then we should find ourselves identifying with him and knowing then that our temptation is not separating us from Jesus, but uniting us with him.

2. Resist the Devil

In James 4:7, James instructs his readers to “resist the devil.” While this is not something we are to take on by ourselves, we are now free to say no to temptation if we are in Christ. The good news for us is that our passions and desires have been nailed to the cross with Christ Jesus (Galatians 5:24).

3. Draw Near to God

James continues in verse 8 saying that in addition to resisting the devil, we are called to “draw near to God,” which is followed by the promise, “. . . and he will draw near to you.” So, here we have an opportunity to be victorious over temptation and sin, and to cultivate deeper intimacy with God!

4. Know the Word

In Matthew 4 we see Jesus being tempted by Satan. With every temptation we see Jesus resist the devil and draw near to God, through his Word. He responds each time to the temptation by quoting passages from Deuteronomy. One of the greatest ways to cultivate more intimate worship is to know the Word of God. By knowing his Word, we are then able to identify temptation, resist the devil, and draw near to God by following his truth.

5. Look for the Exit Sign

God will always provide you a way out. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul encourages his reader by reminding them that they are not alone in their temptation, but God always provides a way of escape. Therefore, look for the exit sign that God has promised to provide and run through it.

6. Rinse and Repeat

There are times that we know what we are tempted to do is sin, yet we do it anyway. While we were sinners who have been saved by grace, and now are identified as saints, we still sin. John tells his readers in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We mustn’t continue in sin if we fall, but we must agree with God, return to him, and trust in the accomplished work of Jesus.

The Battle Is for Freedom, Not Salvation

Knowing and enjoying God is one of the greatest aims of worship. We do not have to separate ourselves from him in our temptation, or even our sin. Instead, we can draw near to our understanding Lord who is able to sympathize with and redeem us. Ultimately, his grace is sufficient and covers our past, present, and future sins. So, this battle is for our freedom and joy in Christ, and not a battle over our salvation. That alone has been secured in Jesus. Next time you face temptation, think of it as an invitation to worship.

P.A. 

Cici's recap/ Devotional

We had so much fun last night! We had over 25 students show up and eat a TON of pizza. Even Jacob Poole ate over 10 pieces of pizza, Well done Sir!

Our Next Adventure is next Wednesday we are going to be having a Senior High Bon fire at our house (Pastor Adam and Esther's house 14075 Claire Lane) the times are from 8pm - 10pm.

Girls need to bring chocolate, and Boys bring marshmallows!
We will be playing lots of fun games, hanging around a fire, and listening to some great music!

I hope you guys are having a great summer, but here is a little reminder for all the students and parents out there. Just because you are on a break from school, and things are slowed down a little bit don't forget about your relationship with Jesus. Check out this devotional to start your day, or end your day pretty with Jesus.

"Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character." (I Corinthians 15:33)

They influence your speech, dress, and mannerisms. They are your constant mirrors. They are in your address book and in your phone 's speed dial. They have a firm grip on your heartstrings, and oftentimes they are the difference between success and failure in the Christian life. Good ones can nudge you to victory. Bad ones can drag you to defeat. What are they? You guessed it...friends!

The bottom line is that the type of friends who form your inner circle will most likely determine how faithfully you serve Christ, and whether or not you make a spiritual difference on your campus. When Paul wrote today's verse: "Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character " - he was addressing a friendship situation.

The Christians at Corinth had friends who basically denied the resurrection. In other words, their main goal in life was to try and find happiness through partying, because there would be no judgment day. So these believers had friends who were pulling them in the wrong direction. My guess is that those Christians thought that they were strong enough in their faith to resist the bad influences of their friends.
Paul says- I don't think so...

So what about it? Are you being misled? Do you have as your best friends those who have Jesus as their best friend? If not, it's just a matter of time before your character is corrupted with the virus of spiritual compromise.

I can't help but think of Ronnie. We went to school together all through Jr. High and High School. In fact, Ronnie helped lead me to faith in Christ as my Savior. We held each other accountable and witnessed to our unsaved friends. But as high school continued, Ronnie began to make other alliances. More and more of his friends were less and less concerned about Christ. Pretty soon his closest friends were absolutely unconcerned about the Lord, and positively concerned about their own happiness before anything. Bit by bit Ronnie got his eyes off the bull's eye of serving Christ.

There came a time when I had to choose between my friendship with Ronnie, and my allegiance to Christ- and guess what? Rock breaks scissors: Jesus wins. Sound judgmental? Perhaps, but the judgment was more on myself than on Ronnie, because I knew that eventually I would shipwreck my faith if I stayed on course with that friendship. Sound difficult? Absolutely, breaking off a close friendship is like having surgery. Yet if you don't go through with that spiritual operation, you could lose your spiritual life.

By the grace of God, when I graduated my eyes were set on entering the ministry, and today I serve the King of Kings. By the time Ronnie graduated he was just like his closest friends...spiritually weak and disinterested. To this day, 18 years later, Ronnie is totally unconcerned about following Jesus, and completely miserable.

In the words of one pastor: "If you drop a white glove in the mud...the mud doesn't become 'glovey'...the glove becomes muddy." This is especially true in relationships. Christian teens that continue with godless friendships will themselves become godless.

Maybe you need to make some decisions right now about your inner circle of friends. Don't put it off! The whole direction of your spiritual life hangs in the balance...

P.A.