The Farming Game: 102611

Tonight we talked about Luke 8:5-8, 11-15 which is a parable about a farmer planting seeds.  The seeds fall onto four different types of soil with different results.  The dirt of representative of people who have heard the gospel, the seed being the gospel.  The first type of dirt is Path Dirt, which is trampled and hard soil.  Birds come and eat the seeds so no plant is ever grown.  These are peple that come to church, have the chance to hear the good news and have thir life changed for the better by it but are distracted or just refuse to think about what they hear.  The second type of dirt is Rocky Dirt, which is dirt with a lot of rocks still in it.  Because of this the seed is planted but has no root, so when the sun comes out the plant withers.  These are those who hear God's word but don't stick with it.  They are pumpled up to follo God one minuted but when it becomes too difficult to stick with God they abandon the path.  They have never spent any time reading their bible or in prayer to build up their roots.  The thid type of dirt is Thorny Dirty, which is dirt that has weeds growing in it.  Because of this the seed grows but they never grow big enough to produce anything because they are choked by the weeds surrounding them.  These people have experenced life's worries, pleasures, and riches and follow after them instead of fully following God, thus they enver each others.  The final type of soil is Good Dirt.  This dirt takes in the seed, grows a plant, and produces a crop.  The bible gives 5 things that it does.  #1.  It had a noble and good heart.  #2.  It hears the word.  #3.  It retains the word. #4.  It perseveres.  #4.  It produces.  You can be good soil if you listen, retain, stick with it, and share the gospel.

I give tonight: A-
Favorite moment: I Broke Facebook Rap

BINGO! #3 -- 092111 -- 'N' GO!

Isaiah 6:1-10 tells the story of Isaiah who encounters God.  At the end of the story God asks for someone to send, and Isaiah responds by saing, "Here am I, send me."  We have been tlaking about believing that the lost are lost and their only way to salvaiton is through Jesus.  Then we talkeda bout being ignited by the Holy Spirit to evangelize.  Tonight is the last step, 'n' go!  Matthew 28:18-20 is the words Jesus spoke to his disciples shortly before leaving this earth and he states, "Therefore, Go".  Because he is in charge and can grant forgiveness we are to GO!  WE have spent the last couple of weeks trying to convince you that you have a calling, a job from God, and that job is to be a missionary.  That is somene who goes and tells others about Jesus.  According to this scirputre God enats you to GO!  Stop sitting around and GO!  Stop with the good intetions and GO!  Stop thinking missions is a good ide and GO!  Don't just throw money at it and GO!  You believe and are ignited so it is time to GO!  Romans 10:13-15 tells us that people can not belive if they are never told and they will never be told if no one is ever sent.  We set up an easy opportunity for you to go this coming week, by being missionaries in your school by handing out Life Books.  So we challenge you, how many of you, like Isaiah are willing to say, "here am I, send me?" 

I give tonight: A+
Favorite Moment: GO!...but not like Samuel

BINGO! #2: Ignite -- 091411

Tonight we continued our series called BINGO! by looking at the letter I for ignite.  We started by talking about there needing to be three things in order for ignition to take place: oxygen, fuel, and heat.  Once there is enough oxygen and heat they will ignite the fuel.  This causes a chain reaction in which the fuel now provides the heat to continue ignited more fuel, all it needs is oxygen and more fuel to continue burning.  Jesus, after he died and rose again, appeared to his disciples one last time before going back into heaven.  In Acts 1:8 he tells them that there job will be to evangelize the whole world after he is gone but they won't have to do it on their own because they will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes on them, an event we call baptism in the Holy Spirit.  They are indeed baptized and the church jumps to over 3000 in one day.  They were the fuel,t he oxygen was their belief that they had a job and that people were lost without Jesus, all they needed was a spark, heat!  And they got that in the form of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.  The fuel was ignited and it burned brightly in their world, though not everyone was happy about it.  Later Peter and John, two of the disciples in charge of the church, were arrested for healing and speaking in the name of Jesus.  As they are brought back for judgement they are told they can't talk about Jesus any more, they reject this and go back to the other believers.  Tehy pray and are filled with the Holy Spirit and the bible says in acts 4:31 that after they were filled they went out speaking boldly (without fear!).  Why?  Because they had ignition, the Spirit had fille dhtme, he moved and compelled them to tell others. 

We need to reach our world with the gospel of Christ so that as many as are willing will be saved.  In order to do this we must:  #1.  Be the fuel, be willing to do the job God ahs called us to, to reach others for him.  #2.  Have oxygen, which is believeing that people are lost and that we have the one way of bringing them salvation.  #3.  Be ignited byt he heat source, the infilling of the Holy spirit.  You are the fuel, if you bleieve you have the oxygen, now you just need the heat applied so you can ignite!

I give tonight: A-
Favorite Moment: 20 minutes of small group time!

Bingo! #1: Believe -- 090711

Tonight we began our new series called Bingo!  in which we will discover our job to be missionaries to our world.  Tonight we started with Lacey speaking about how we have all be called to do a job, to spread the gospel in our world.  Then Pastor Alex jumped off this point by looking at Matthew 28:19 that states our job as going into the world to make disciples of Christ.  He then talked about the need to believe.  Our beliefs will alter our actions, and how much we bleive something will change the intesity of our actions.  We bleieve that Jesus is the only way to God and a realtionship with him.  We also believe that without Jesus a person is going to a place called hell after they die, which is not a good place but a place of eternal torment.  If we bleieve someone is going to hell, that hell is a horrible place, and that we have the only way to avoid it, what should we be doing?  We should be telling them about Jesus.  So how much do you believe?  And What are you going to do about it?

I give tonight: B
Favorite Moment: The introducation of the Life Book Saturation Week

Cranium #8 -- 083111: Communion

Tonight we finished off our summer long series called Cranium by looking at Communion.  Tonight was a group night, though we did a short sermon to start off with by looking at Ecclesiastes 3:1-11.  In this message we talke dabout how life is full of beginnings and endings but that the one constant is that Christ walks beside us.  We said a sad goodbye to our graduated seniors as they set off to a new beginning in their life. 

I give tonight: A+
Favorite Moment: Kicking Megan in the Shin

Cranium #7 -- Jesus Is Coming Back: 082411

Tonight we continued our cranium series of things that we believe by looking at the future. 

1.  Jesus will return, no one knows when, but he will.  Matthew 24:36 – ““No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

2.  Jesus will defeat evil, Revelation 19:11-21 tells us this.

3.  Jesus will return like he left.  Acts 1:11 – ““Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

4.  Everyone will know when it happens.  Luke 17:23-24 – “Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.  For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.”

5.  The world will be judged and it is eternal, there is no change after death.  Matthew 25:46 – ““Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.””

6.  Extremely bad for those who don’t believe.  Matthew 13:42 – “They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

7.  We all choose our judgment by what we have chosen before we die.  Revelation 20:11-15

8.  God will hit the reset button.  When God originally created everything was perfect (no disease, no pain, no death, no fear)  Genesis 1:31 – “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”  When God re-creates it will restore everything to perfect.  Revelation 21:1-4

9.  It will be eternal, just as the lake of fire will be eternal.

10.  It isn’t completely understood.  2^nd Cor. 2:9 – “However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him””

2^nd Peter 3:11 – “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives”.  If Jesus is returning soon what should that change in how you live?

I give tonight: B+
Favorite Moment: Singing to Gungor

Cranium #6 -- The Church's Jobs -- 081011

Tonight we continued our series on what we believe by looking at the three jobs that God established the church to do (Evangelize, Worship, and Minister).  We shared how we are the church and therefore they are our three jobs.  To try and help you remember them we gave three easy words (Out, Up, In).  We are to reach out to our word through evangelism.  We are to reach up to God through worship.  And we are to reach in to fellow Christians and ministers.  It doesn't matter your age, if you are a Christian these are three jobs God has established for you to do!

I give tonight: A+
Favorite moment: Really Bad Jobs

Cranium #4 -- The Holy Spirit: 072011

Tonight we continued our study of what we believe, called Cranium.  Tonight we discussed 3 things that the Holy Spirit does for us, not a complete list obviously but still 3 very important things.

#1.  The Holy Spirit Sanctifies
Romans 15:15-16 tells us that the Holy Spirit helps set us apart from sin, cleaning and purifying us so that we are holy and set apart to serve God.

#2.  The Holy Spirit Baptizes
Acts 1:8 and 2:1-4 show this process in action.  The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a life changing experience subsequent to salvation that helps us to live holy lives, have courage and strength to be God's witnesses, and helps us with our every day relationship with Christ.  We see in the book of acts a pattern that shows the initial physical evidence of this baptism to be speaking in tongues.

#3.  The Holy Spirit Heals
1st Corinthians 12:7-11 lists off some of the gifts of the Spirit, one of which is healing.  We beleive that the Holy Spirit is still active in our world and willing and able to heal others when we pray.  This can be a spiritual healing, physical healing, a mental healing, or an emotional healing.  Someitmes God chooses not to heal, but we should still be praying for God to heal us as well as those around us. 

In each of these we must allow the Spirit to do something in us so that we can be changed and help those in our world. 

I give tonight: B
Favorite moment: Haley reading one of the gifts of the Spirit as mercilous powers, instead of miraculous powers.

Cranium #3 -- The Bible: 071311

Tonight we continued our study of what we beleive by looking at the Bible and what it does for us. Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." it can help us avoid dangers that we would have otherwise encountered in this life. It can give us driection when we are lost (meaning wisdom to know what to do and when to do it). It can give us directino when we are lost (meaning forgiveness, by showing us how to obtain forgiveness through Jesus). God's word is the foundation of how we know God, he reveals things about himself that we would never have understood about him otherwise. It also reveals things about us and our nature and our reason for being her that we wouldn't know otherwise. God's word shows us what is right and wrong according to God. God's word draws people to God. God's word gives hope and life.

I give tonight: A-

Favorite Moment: Gordie the Gorilla Vide

Cranium #2 -- Sin and Salvation: 070611

Tonight we continued our study of things we believe. Last time we talked about our belief in a God and that Jesus is God. This week we talked about how we believe that mankind is sinful but that God has provided a way for our salvation from that sin. We walked the Roman's Road to salvation to see what the Bible teaches about this. Romans 3:23 tells us that everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's perfect. Romans 6:23 tells us that there is a penalty for that sin, which is death and seperation from God. Romans 5:8 tells us that even though we aren't deserving and we are sinners that God died for us, showing us how much he loves us. Salvation isn't something we can earn on our own, but only the perfect Savior, Jesus, could take our place and give us this great gift. Romans 10:9 tells us that if we confess that Jesus is Lord nad belive he was raised form the dead we will be saved.

I give tonight: A

Favorite Moment: Johnny sacrficing his body in order to give everyone a chanc to take a cookie