Communion -- Wednesday, March 10th

Tonight we finished our disciplined series by talking about communion. The idea of this series was to train us how to grow closer to God by using christian disciplines or training. Tonight's topic communion is the taking of Jesus into our lives. We read from 1st Corinthians 11:23-29 in which we are told that Jesus broke bread and called it his body broken for us and to remember him by it. He then took a cup of wine and said it represented his blood, spilled out for a new covenant and to remember him by it.

That rememberance has three parts to it. #1 The Past: Jesus died for us, his body broken, his blood spilt so that we might have life and a relationship with God. #2 The Present: Jesus lives in us, just as when we eat the bread and drink the cup it goes into our body, going throughout the body, giving us energy and life. jesus shoudl also be a daily part of our lives, like food and drink. #3 The Future: Jesus will return someday and that means we need to be busy living a right life and telling others about him.

I give tonight: B+
Favorite moment: Double Salvations

Disciplined: Meditation and Memorization -- March 3rd

We continued our Disciplined series tonight with the ideas of meditation and memorization of scripture. Meditation is the process of exchanging an old way of thinking and acting and replacing it with a new one. It is not instantaneous, it will take work and time. Putting in God's word gets rid of the lies and evil that our culture pollutes our minds with.

New thinking brings about a new mindset which brings about new actions. The reason we act the way we do is because we are thinking that way. If we change our thinking and our minds our actions will follow. It has to be a daily habit of washing our minds consitently. Memorization is putting it in your mind and then making it stick around. If something is important to you, you'll make a point to remember it. The goal of memorization isn't just to learn it but to do somethign with it, make it a part of your life. As a way of making this valuable we are goin to pick a new scripture to meditate and memorize for the youth group as a whole. This month's is Psalm 19:14, "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer."

I give tonight: A-
Favorite Moment: How many would have been willing to drink water/oil for $5

Disciplined: Prayer -- Wednesday, February 24th

Tonight we continued our disciplined series. We are not talking about punihsment but training in order to gain a closer relationship with God and order our life around him. We talked about the Christian discipline called prayer.

Prayer is talking with God and God wants us to do it. Why is it so important? It is time with God, it builds relationship between the two of you, and it can make things change. What can you pray? Ask (things for yourself or others), Share (emotions, love, what is going on), and Listen. When should you pray? Constantly reoccuringly throughout the day. Does God listen? Yes, nothing is to small or large, he is never too busy. Sometimes he will answer yes, sometimes he will answer no, and sometimes it will take him time to answer, but he always does. Make it a discipline in your life to pray, and pray more.

I give tonight: A
Favorite Moment: Building a dinosaur through a door

Disciplined: Fasting -- Wednesday, February 17th

Tonight we started our new series called: Disciplined. During the next few weeks we will be talking about various Christian disciplined. Discipline in this case doesn't mean punishment but instead training in order to bring a benefit. We are talking about training our spiritual lives in order to shape it around God.

Tonight we focused on the disicipline of fasting, which is going without something. Jesus, in Luke 5:33-35, tells us that he thought his followers would one day fast. So what should fasting do? Fasting should change yoru focus from your needs to other people's needs, from you to God, from the physical to the spiritual. Fasting should grow your relationshp with God. You are giving up something ulse and refocusig on God and your relationshp with him, which is way better than anything you are giving up. Fasting should take something out and replace it. It isn't just a time to humble yourself and remove somethign but a time to fill it with somethign else to make a lasting change.

We started Lent on Wednesday, which is a traditional 40 days to fast, leading up to easter. It is from February 17th-April 4th this year and we challenged you to fast something during this time in order to train yourself to shape your life around God!

I give tonight: A-
Favorite Moment: Having so many sign the committed poster