So yesterday was another great day! We had a really good Bible study in the morning. We were able to talk about surrender sin. One of the phrases that Francis Chan talked about really stood out to many of our students. He it is:
“There are certain things God just says, “Look, I hate this, I don’t want you to do this, and as My created beings, as My creation, I know what is best for you and I want you away from this stuff. Get away from it because it’s going to destroy you.”
That’s a tough thing…but so true. God hates sin! And He knows what is best for us and what will destroy us. His desire for our lives is to be wrapped up in the things that please Him…and sin doesn’t do that. This session has really fit into where we have gone message-wise over the last few weeks. I was really glad with how the students picked apart Scripture and how they were able to tie it into where they are. If your student was in our time of Bible study yesterday morning, I encourage you to talk about sin, and how it gives birth to death.
Here are the passages we unpacked yesterday morning. They each had a key question to answer with it. And even if your student wasn’t in our class yesterday, I would encourage you to take some time and look at these passages and talk with them about it.
James 1:13-15 – How does sin give birth to death?
Psalms 1:1-2 – Why is it important to avoid hanging out with mockers, etc?
Romans 7:18-25 – How does Jesus rescue us from this cycle?
Ephesians 2:1-10; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 – How are we defined in verse 3 and 10?
Another awesome thing happened in the life of one of our newer students. A young man came and talked with me at the end of the 11:15AM service and shared with me his need for Jesus. He has been coming for a few weeks and the Lord has been working on him. Yesterday he stepped into LIFE! Pray for him and our ministry as we work to disciple this young man.
Last night was a great night too! The time of music worship was incredible. It just seems like over the last few weeks the Spirit has been moving. Students were singing out so loud last night. They were so engaged and excited to be there.
I was able to begin a new series on the Fruits of the Spirit. Last week I talked about real versus fake fruit and really felt like the Lord wanted me to break down the fruit. So last night I was able to talk about how the Holy Spirit produces the fruit in our lives, but it’s our job to obey and show the fruit to others. Then we jumped into LOVE. It was really cool to watch God at work. The majority of the students were really engaged in the message. I was able to challenge them to love like Jesus. To show AGAPE love. That unconditional, self-sacrificing love that God has shown to us. Jesus tells us in Matthew that we are to love God with our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is how the world will know that we are HIS DISCIPLES.
I’m excited about the next several weeks. I want to encourage you to talk to your students about what the Lord said to them. How did he speak? And how did they respond?
Look at the fruit in your students this week. Give them encouragement when you see the fruit being shown…and encourage them to look for the fruit in your life.
The message should be online by tomorrow. I’ll pass along the link once it is.
Oh, and if you were a parent that was unable to make the meeting yesterday, I’ll send out some info about what we talked about later today or tomorrow. Christa and I are praying for you and your families. We love you!
Pressing On,
Dale
Monday, January 23, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Monday Morning Scoop (on Wednesday)
Hey there!
I want to give you the Monday morning (or Wednesday afternoon) scoop. This week has been crazy. So many meetings and physical therapy for me has me a little behind. I want to be able to provide you with an update every Monday with the things going on in the IMPACT Student Ministries. It’s a way for you to know what is being taught to your students. ( I will also be putting together something for how our Wednesday nights go. As our leaders report back to me, I'll toss some things out there. You can read what we are doing on Wednesday nights at the bottom of this post.)
Sunday was Awesome! There is no other way to put it. In fact, it may have been the best response time since I’ve been Student Pastor at FBCV. God moved in an amazing way.
In our Bible study Sunday morning we began dealing with the topic of “Surrender.” Specifically: surrendering stuff. The study is broken down like this: 20 minute DVD with student testimonies and a mini-message from Francis Chan (author or Crazy Love and Forgotten God). If you’ve not heard of him or read his books, check him out…he is legit! After the video, we talked about how sometimes “things” in life get in the way of our relationship with God. It may be material possessions or wants. It may be relationships. It might be our extracurricular activities. Students were able to break up into groups of 5 or 6 and dig into the Word for answers regarding putting our trust in material things rather than God. Here are the passages we dug into: Matthew 6:19-21, 24-34; 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19; Proverbs 30:7-9; Hebrews 13:5; Philippians 4:12-13.
It was there that I issued a challenge. I challenged them to the “Ten Word Challenge.” It’s a challenge to sum up the message of a passage, verse, or devotional (anything in there quiet time) in ten words (or less) over social media (Facebook or Twitter). I’ve seen so many of them posting theirs in the last 3 days. It is so awesome!!! I know for some it’s difficult to memorize scripture. This is a way that they can connect a verse or passage with ten words…so they remember the main point of it. Capturing the promise of God or the content is so important for us. We are more likely to remember what the Lord is teaching us through the passage when we break it down in this way. I am proud of so many of them!
On Sunday night the Lord continued to move. I had texted some youth pastor friends asking them to pray for our time together. God answered! (Unfortunately the digital recorder did not record any of the service. We will do our best to remedy that in the future)
Our time of musical worship was amazing! Chris and the band led us to the Throne and the students responded. They were singing out so loud and free. My heart melted at the sound of their voices…I can only imagine how the Lord felt.
As I took the stage to preach, I began with what I believe the Lord has been laying on my heart over the last month. I feel like the Lord has led me to the word “GROW” for 2012. In everything we do we should be seeking to grow closer to our Lord. However, in order to do that we need to identify the “shackles” in our lives that keeps us from growing. I told the story of how elephants are trained. When an elephant is young they shackle its leg and chain it to a sturdy tree. The young elephant is to small and is not strong enough to uproot the tree or break the chain. When they are older and full grown, the trainer is able to chain them to a stick in the ground and the elephant will not pull it loose. Mainly because the elephant believes that it is unable to uproot the stick or break free.
It’s those shackles in life that keep us from growing. We have believed the lie that we are not able to be set free from the bondage of the junk in our lives. As long as we believe that lie we will continue to be held down and ultimately not be able to grow.
I shared with them a number of passages about our sin. One in particular was Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer.” We must not believe the lie. We must allow the Lord to break us out of bondage and live in Him. This is true freedom. This is how we grow.
During our time of response I encouraged students to ask the Lord to reveal to them their shackles. I had some paper and pens on the edge of the stage and called on them to identify their shackles and to write them down. I told them that these would be a matter of prayer for Christa and me. Out of the nearly 90 students in the room, 52 wrote down their shackles. God is good. It’s the acknowledgement of our struggles that help us grow. I encouraged them to share them with you. For many it’s tough. They feel like if I have to tell family it admits failure.
I want to encourage you as their parents to ask them about this. I want to encourage you to be able to express to them some areas that you struggle with…perhaps your own shackles. How much healing and growth can be had when we share openly the issues that we struggle with. Join us in acknowledging our struggles so that 2012 will be a year of growth!
I love serving as your Student Pastor and am praying for you as you lead your families!
Pressing On,
Dale
Oh, and tonight we are back to all of our Wednesday night discipleship. There are a variety of classes that your student has the option of choosing. There is of course True North and Awana serving. However, there are also some other classes too. Our high school girls are going through the book of Colossians. They are using a book by Shelly Shellenbarger. Our middle school girls are going through a book entitled, "Becoming a Young Woman of God." Our high school guys are going through a study called "Fuel," it is a class that deals with some issues that students are dealing with and how to go to Scripture to answer the tough questions. And our middle school guys are going through the "Becoming a Young Man of God." The optional class is led by Chris Early, Christa and myself. We are doing a study on the book of Hebrews. It is a study that I have put together using some various resources. It requires a little bit of homework (mainly journaling) and being sure to read a chapter a week.
Well there you have it.
I want to give you the Monday morning (or Wednesday afternoon) scoop. This week has been crazy. So many meetings and physical therapy for me has me a little behind. I want to be able to provide you with an update every Monday with the things going on in the IMPACT Student Ministries. It’s a way for you to know what is being taught to your students. ( I will also be putting together something for how our Wednesday nights go. As our leaders report back to me, I'll toss some things out there. You can read what we are doing on Wednesday nights at the bottom of this post.)
Sunday was Awesome! There is no other way to put it. In fact, it may have been the best response time since I’ve been Student Pastor at FBCV. God moved in an amazing way.
In our Bible study Sunday morning we began dealing with the topic of “Surrender.” Specifically: surrendering stuff. The study is broken down like this: 20 minute DVD with student testimonies and a mini-message from Francis Chan (author or Crazy Love and Forgotten God). If you’ve not heard of him or read his books, check him out…he is legit! After the video, we talked about how sometimes “things” in life get in the way of our relationship with God. It may be material possessions or wants. It may be relationships. It might be our extracurricular activities. Students were able to break up into groups of 5 or 6 and dig into the Word for answers regarding putting our trust in material things rather than God. Here are the passages we dug into: Matthew 6:19-21, 24-34; 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19; Proverbs 30:7-9; Hebrews 13:5; Philippians 4:12-13.
It was there that I issued a challenge. I challenged them to the “Ten Word Challenge.” It’s a challenge to sum up the message of a passage, verse, or devotional (anything in there quiet time) in ten words (or less) over social media (Facebook or Twitter). I’ve seen so many of them posting theirs in the last 3 days. It is so awesome!!! I know for some it’s difficult to memorize scripture. This is a way that they can connect a verse or passage with ten words…so they remember the main point of it. Capturing the promise of God or the content is so important for us. We are more likely to remember what the Lord is teaching us through the passage when we break it down in this way. I am proud of so many of them!
On Sunday night the Lord continued to move. I had texted some youth pastor friends asking them to pray for our time together. God answered! (Unfortunately the digital recorder did not record any of the service. We will do our best to remedy that in the future)
Our time of musical worship was amazing! Chris and the band led us to the Throne and the students responded. They were singing out so loud and free. My heart melted at the sound of their voices…I can only imagine how the Lord felt.
As I took the stage to preach, I began with what I believe the Lord has been laying on my heart over the last month. I feel like the Lord has led me to the word “GROW” for 2012. In everything we do we should be seeking to grow closer to our Lord. However, in order to do that we need to identify the “shackles” in our lives that keeps us from growing. I told the story of how elephants are trained. When an elephant is young they shackle its leg and chain it to a sturdy tree. The young elephant is to small and is not strong enough to uproot the tree or break the chain. When they are older and full grown, the trainer is able to chain them to a stick in the ground and the elephant will not pull it loose. Mainly because the elephant believes that it is unable to uproot the stick or break free.
It’s those shackles in life that keep us from growing. We have believed the lie that we are not able to be set free from the bondage of the junk in our lives. As long as we believe that lie we will continue to be held down and ultimately not be able to grow.
I shared with them a number of passages about our sin. One in particular was Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer.” We must not believe the lie. We must allow the Lord to break us out of bondage and live in Him. This is true freedom. This is how we grow.
During our time of response I encouraged students to ask the Lord to reveal to them their shackles. I had some paper and pens on the edge of the stage and called on them to identify their shackles and to write them down. I told them that these would be a matter of prayer for Christa and me. Out of the nearly 90 students in the room, 52 wrote down their shackles. God is good. It’s the acknowledgement of our struggles that help us grow. I encouraged them to share them with you. For many it’s tough. They feel like if I have to tell family it admits failure.
I want to encourage you as their parents to ask them about this. I want to encourage you to be able to express to them some areas that you struggle with…perhaps your own shackles. How much healing and growth can be had when we share openly the issues that we struggle with. Join us in acknowledging our struggles so that 2012 will be a year of growth!
I love serving as your Student Pastor and am praying for you as you lead your families!
Pressing On,
Dale
Oh, and tonight we are back to all of our Wednesday night discipleship. There are a variety of classes that your student has the option of choosing. There is of course True North and Awana serving. However, there are also some other classes too. Our high school girls are going through the book of Colossians. They are using a book by Shelly Shellenbarger. Our middle school girls are going through a book entitled, "Becoming a Young Woman of God." Our high school guys are going through a study called "Fuel," it is a class that deals with some issues that students are dealing with and how to go to Scripture to answer the tough questions. And our middle school guys are going through the "Becoming a Young Man of God." The optional class is led by Chris Early, Christa and myself. We are doing a study on the book of Hebrews. It is a study that I have put together using some various resources. It requires a little bit of homework (mainly journaling) and being sure to read a chapter a week.
Well there you have it.
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