Wednesday is tomorrow!

So tomorrow it is all going down Youth Group is back from a week lay off! I am tottally and utterly pumped for tomorrow night! Now I know on the calendar it says there is no Youth Group but I promise you there is! We will be here tomorrow and ready to Rock and Roll!

This coming month is gonna be insane we have so many fun things planned its gonna be a rocking Awesome July!

So Make sure you stay up to date right here on the blogspot! I promise anything you need to know about the youth group is gonna be right on here.

Be there tomorrow night 6:30 - 8:30pm! We got some insane games to play, some awesome worship music, Robbie is gonna be speaking tomorrow night, so it is gonna be awesome! So make sure you are there!

Here is the devotion for today!

"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.

Moving on up!

So this Wednesday is gonna be rocking awesome! I promise this Wednesday we have some amazing things we are going to do! We have so many awesome things packed into this Wednesday your brain might explode!

We have new games this Wednesday we are introducing! We have got some amazing announcements for you guys, we have some wicked awesome trips that are coming up. So I promise this Wednesday be there if you can because there is some awesomeness going on!

Also Robbie is speaking this week so you will want to come to hear the cool stories Robbie has to tell and the awesome things he will be challenging us with!

Also at the end of July we are having an event called Bigger and Better! What we are going to is we are going to send you out to the neighborhoods in Middlebury and see what you guys can bring back that is either bigger or better then what you start with! Its gonna be awesome. I am excited to see what you guys will bring back :)

I can not wait to see you guys this Wednesday!

Here is the devotional for today.

There's an old Chinese proverb that goes something like this:

He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes;
He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.

Now I agree that there is no such thing as a stupid question (except for "Hey Officer, was it O.K. for you to break the speed limit in order to catch me?). So why then are so many Christians raised in an environment where it's not 'permissible' to ask questions? Perhaps there are many leaders out there who are afraid they might not know the answers. Or worse, do you think that many churches feel like they are responsible for defending God and the Bible? I hope not.

I think I'm going with the Chinese proverb on this one. There are many believers out there who could learn much by asking questions, but they will probably just remain 'in the dark' forever because they felt uncomfortable or even afraid to raise difficult issues about God, the Bible, life, etc.

Do you know who asked a lot of questions? King David. Remember? He was the man after God's own heart- and yet he was unafraid to pour out his fear and doubt to his heavenly Father. Apparently he never learned that it's improper and impolite to bring inquiries to anyone- from God all the way down to the Sunday School teacher. So he went ahead and asked away- which later became a large part of the Book of Psalms.

Did you also know that the most famous verse in the Bible came about as the result of someone asking a question? Check it out:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:1-16)

Here was a man who went straight to the source to get his difficulties resolved, and the result is one of the clearest verses explaining the gospel in all of Scripture.

Now I may be assuming a lot here, but my guess is that you have questions. The great thing is that now we live in the age of information, and the answers are out there if you are willing to look hard enough. Here's the order I would suggest if your puzzler has been puzzling lately:

1. Go to God. Remember, you're not going to surprise Him by asking questions (as if He didn't already know!). So quit playing games and ask Him what He already knows you are curious about. I wouldn't expect an audible answer, but this may start the process of answers coming your way.
2. Ask your pastor. Ministers are supposedly well trained to handle the issues that church people bring. Your pastor or youth leader cares about your questions- and if they don't, we have a definite problem.
3. Be content with mystery. There are many issues in the Christian life which simply cannot be resolved on this side of heaven. Here's what Paul said:

   We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! (I Corinthians 13:12- The Message)

Some people rest their confidence in Christ on knowing all the answers, but this is a mistake. The Christian life was meant to be lived by faith. But if you have genuine concerns that aren't meant in an accusing way, bring them out- because I believe God uses this process to increase our faith even more.

So what are you waiting for? Get out a pad of paper and start jotting down questions- because I don't know about you, but I don't want to remain a fool forever!

P.A.

Thursday is the day before Friday :)

So Tonight my friends is the 2nd Week of Bible study @ the Sharps house. Make sure that you guys get there right at 7 because we want to have a lot of time getting to talk about 1st Timothy, also this week we still need everyone to bring a snack because this week we start signing up for snacks and drinks!

So tonight we are going to be tackling some more verses in 1st timothy and I am excited to see where the conversation will take us tonight because we are going to be talking about some really cool idea's tonight about what it means to be a leader.

So Make sure you are there at 7pm tonight because we want to really have some fun tonight! The Pool will be open again tonight, so if you want to come and swim you can.

Ladies remember 1 piece swim suit only!

Bring your own towel because we do not have any for you to steal :)

in continuing with the game step up here in another devotional for you to read over this morning!

"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." (Romans 16:20)

The arctic polar bear is the largest land carnivore in the world. It can weigh between 700 and 1200 pounds. It needs at least 5 pounds of fat per day just to survive. Where can such an animal find huge amounts of food in a frozen wasteland? Actually, it's easier than you think, because many of the polar bear's neighbors (the seals) have a load of lard to offer. In fact, the polar bear feeds almost entirely on seals. The problem is capturing them, because they tend to be pretty slippery, and they have a habit of jumping in the water rather quickly when they see a polar bear charging. To secure the extra value seal meal, the bear sometimes resorts to a sneakiness and a bit of trickery. If the hole in the ice through which the seal gets his food is not too far from the edge of open water, the polar bear will take a deep breath, slip underwater, and swim to the seal's fishing hole. He will then actually imitate a fish by scratching lightly on the underside of the ice. When the seal hears this sound, he dives in for a quick bite, only to find himself being the main course.

The apostle Peter calls Satan a "roaring lion", but I think an alternative title could be a "hungry polar bear". Every hour of every day he and his army of fallen angels are seeking "Christian seals" to attack and devour using the same strategy. First, he figures out where we like to 'hang out' and spend our free time. For some, it's the mall, the movie theater, or in front of the television and/or computer. For others, it is with a group of close friends or perhaps with a boyfriend/girlfriend. Whatever the case, he's got us scoped out well. Most of the time these "fishing holes" are harmless, but sometimes he hides under the surface and baits us with some seemingly harmless pleasure. What we don't realize is that he is disguising the devastating consequences of sin with something that looks or sounds appealing. Then, when we've surrendered to the temptation, he catches us in his trap and consumes our dedication to Christ.

The apostle Paul wrote that "we are not unaware of his (Satan's) schemes" (2 Corinthians 2:11). We know that he is after us, we know that he hides beneath the surface of life and waits for us to dive into sinful waters- so why do we keep doing it? Christians have no excuse for being taken in by the deception of the enemy. The Bible instructs us to "resist the devil, and he will flee..." (James 4:7). In other words, the next time Satan is scratching at the surface of your fishing hole, just remember that you can pray much longer than he can hold his breath.

P.A.

No youth Group Tonight

Hey there guys there is No Youth Group tonight!

I just wanted to make sure you guys knew because there will be tons of little kids here because of VBS! So if you wanna come and help them out I am sure they have places you could help out with tonight, but we will not be having youth group tonight

In talking about stepping up our game in ministry and in life here is a little devotional for ya today!

God said to Moses, "I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:14)

Moses was terrified. First he had spent forty years in Egypt- the most powerful nation on earth- as a prince. Popular, revered, and held in the highest esteem. Add to his resume forty years in the desert as a shepherd working for his father-in-law. Lonely, unappreciated, and punching the clock at smelly job central.

Now he kneels trembling before Jesus in the burning bush being commissioned for a holy cause. He was being sent by God Himself to set the Israelites free from the Egyptians. Promotion? Sure. Chance to be restored to greatness? Absolutely!

Only - he didn't want to go.

He fired excuse after excuse at the blazing King. Christ had an answer for every one of them. One of Moses' excuses was "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

Jesus had an answer... "I AM who I AM."

In the same way Moses was a master of excuses when it came to delivering the Jews, aren't we the excuse experts when it comes to delivering the gospel? God Himself has commissioned us (Matthew 28) to "go and make disciples of all nations..."

But God - what if I don't I know what to say? What if they reject me? What if they ask me a question I don't have the answer to?" Blah. Blah. Blah.
The bottom line is this... the great "I AM" has sent us. Excuses fade into oblivion when it comes to Christ. When we realize who God is- excuses fall flat.

So who is God? Who is this "I AM"?

First - we know that He is "one God". Deuteronomy 6:4 reminds us, "The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Christianity is a monothesitic faith. "Mono" means one. "Theo" means "God." We believe in one God.

Second - we believe in one God who is comprised of three persons... the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each is fully God. Each is fully unique. Three persons: one essence.

The title some have given this truth is "The Trinity." One God (unity)- comprised of three persons (Trinity)

Get it? Neither do I. Neither does anyone, except God. God is infinite. We are finite. As one expert said, "For us to try to comprehend God is like a gnat trying to drink in the ocean."

But get this. This triune God is sending you on a mission. This holy mission is to spread the Gospel to a dying world. Just like Moses, our excuses fail. Why? Because the "I AM" has sent us. We are on a mission from God- let's get busy

P.A.

Esther's Birthday

So today is Esther's birthday so make sure you give her a call or email her or something!

So a couple little reminders today remember we

DO NOT HAVE YOUTH GROUP TOMORROW!

Because of VBS here and they are using up all the church which is awesome! So be praying for the kids that are here and also for all the leaders.

Also this Thursday the High school bible study is going on so make sure you are here! Also everyone needs to bring a snack to share because food always makes bible studies better :)

I am going to start doing a little bit more on these post for the rest of the summer because I really want this to be a tool you can come to read, get information, but also get you thinking a little bit more about God.

In my prayer times God has been calling me back to the basics of my faith. Read the Bible, pray, worship. So my encouragement to you this morning is get back to the basics of your faith. Maybe you have been thinking about all these different idea's about God, and how can He do this and how can He do that. Its good to sometimes think about that stuff, but I think often we can get diverted away from just the basics of come back to sitting with God and loving Him and letting Him love you.

Let God reign in your life, and let God amaze you with how much love you will be able to give others when you start loving Him first!

P.A.

June 22, Hello Summer

So everyone it is officially summer and the sunlight will start getting shorter! Weird huh!

So I will tell you a funny story from the house we are staying at. So Esther and I went away this weekend to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, and when we came back out pool was a cloudy and looked like a lagoon. Which was weird because the day before we left we vacuumed it and skimmed it and put in the necessary chemicals. It was looking crystal clear! Then we come back to doom lagoon so we opened up the filter and we found and abundant amount of dead frogs! 8 to be exact! 8 Dead Frogs! It was wicked nasty, so life is never boring over at the Sharp household :)

Anyways! this Wednesday we do not have Youth Group let me say this again

We do NOT have Youth Group this Wednesday.

Because there is Vacation bible school going on. So do not show up this Wednesday unless you are helping :)

Next Wednesday we will be going back to normal youth group! So we will see you then.

I hope you guys have a great week! I will miss you all. I will see some of you guys this week over at the house. Also remember high school students, this Thursday we have our Bible study still. So make sure you guys come! Also Bring some snacks to share with people.

I hope you guys have a great week.

Pray for me this week I am starting my licensing process to become a "licensed" Pastor. Its a long process, so if you see me and my eyes are blood shot and I am drooling, its because I have been up all night working this thing :)

P.A.

Wednesday night

Tonight we are going to be getting down to business with things. We have lots of things to announce and we have lots of things to show you guys tonight. Also we are going to be playing a game tonight that involves a smoke machine! I kid you not. Its gonna rock :)

Also Tonight we are going to be finishing up our Jump Series and we are going to be talking about some practical steps you can take to go on adventure with God this summer.

Also tomorrow night high school students is the firsts night of our Bible study, and for tomorrow night we want to do this up right so everyone bring food for tomorrow night, Noelle miller is gonna be leading the food brigade for this so we can help her out by signing up for to bring food and drinks and things. Also we are going to be hanging out afterwords and watching an episode or 2 of the office. So Get pumped up!

Freshmen - Chips, or a snackie thing
Sophmores - Drinks
Juniors - Dessert
Seniors and Graduates - Chips and or a snackie thing also :)

We will see you tonight at 6:30~!

Can't wait to see you guys tonight!

P.A.