Watch out students, the man is coming for you now. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/n5y3p8.This is for anyone under 21 so it's not just for teenagers but it will affect you all a TON. It's a great law to have. This would be an interesting time to point to crazy stories, but what do you think?
PJ
David Crowder released a new version of "How He Loves" (available on iTunes). It's a pretty cool cover. While I was at it, I figured I would let you see / hear them all and figure out which one you like best. So which one is it?
1. Original by John Mark McMillan as performed at the Call. Background of song detailed.
2. David Crowder Cover appearing on soon coming album
3. Kim Walker (I Have Found singer) Cover on Jesus Culture
Here's what we have coming up this week in theBURN:
06.28.09 After Party+Sunday+6-8pm+160 Grand Prix+$10=A really good time of mini golf and racing Go Karts. I don't know how you can have much more fun than that.
06.29.09 Guys Group at 6:30 in the back lot also a good time
06.30.09 Lunch Bunch in the Food Court at the Battlefield Mall. This means you have so many options of what you could eat I really don't know why somebody wouldn't come.
06.30.09 Tuesday Afternoon Prayer=Prayer in the Afternoon on a Tuesday from 2-3pm. It's a beautiful time of prayer and worship together slipped into the craziness of our lives.
07.01.09 The Alpha Course. 6-6:30pm Here at the Church in Room A101
and looking to the future:
07.05.09 the Church will be having only ONE service at 10am. Which means we'll be having JH and HS Sunday School together that Sunday. So make sure you're here!
07.10-11.09
GIRL'S RETREAT!!!!!!!!!
The cost is $30 and includes
More details to come, but make sure you reserve your spot by signing of this Sunday at the Check in booth. Talk to your parentals-do what you've got to do because you really don't want to miss this! I'm really looking forward to this! If you have any questions or if your parents do they can email me at jwilliams@hopechurch.net
Have a great day!
Many of you have probably not had the chance to see what most of us leaders could vouch for as the foundation of our salvation as children......so I thought I would give you the opportunity to just see the amazing-ness of what influenced us so greatly :)
ENJOY
Last night we looked at pt7 of the series Sins We Tolerate with Un-thankfulness. Our toleration goes to show for how much this really is a problem in people's lives because it is so evident. Often times the first thing off our lips is the list of things that are going wrong in our lives or things that we feel God needs to change. When the fact of the matter is he deserves nothing but thankfulness from us. Adoration and praise should be the first words off our lips- for He is good, and his mercy endures forever. That alone is enough to command our thankfulness despite any circumstance we may be experiencing. Our toleration of un-thankfulness really inhibits our ability to worship Him whole heartedly like He deserves. So, here's just a very small portion of the scripture that we looked at and some different quotes for you to chew on.......
Thankfulness:
χαριστέωa; εὐχαριστία, ας f: to express gratitude for
benefits or blessings. Thanks is often expressed in highly idiomatic ways. For
example, in some languages one says thank you by saying ‘may God pay you.’ In
other instances, thankfulness may be expressed as ‘you have made my heart
warm.’
Deuteronomy 8:11-20 (NKJV)
11 “Beware that you do not forget the Lord
your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which
I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful
houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and
your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all
that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up,
and you forget the Lord your God
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and
scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you
out of the flinty rock; 16 who fed you in the wilderness
with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that
He might test you, to do you good in the end— 17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained
me this wealth.’ 18 “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get
wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and
worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the Lord
destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to
the voice of the Lord your God.
Romans 1:20-21 (NKJV)
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but
became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NKJV)
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers
of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn
away!
Luke 17:11-19 (NKJV) Jerusalem Samaria Galilee
11 Now it happened as He went to
Some various quotes......
“Life is full of events that delay us, inconvenience us, or obstruct or
block some plan of ours. In the midst of these events, we should fight against
anxiety and frustration. But when God does bring relief, or when we see Him
deliver us from the possibility of such an event, we should make it a special
point to give Him thanks.” Jerry
Bridges, Respectable Sins
“To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of
interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels,
cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a
doxology [prayer] in the darkness.” God
on Mute, Brennan Manning, pg. 54
“It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your
heart.” Author Unknown
There you have it.....listen to the podcast by clicking on "un-thankfulness" in the little box to the right of the screen-especially if you missed out last night. It's really some good stuff to dwell on!
Happy Thursday :)
Wednesday night we looked at Anger in the "Sins We Tolerate". There's quite a bit to be said about anger and it really is something that easily creeps into our lives. So here's a glance at what we looked at:
Anger — the emotion of instant displeasure on account of something evil that presents itself to our view. In itself it is an original susceptibility of our nature, just as love is, and is not necessarily sinful. It may, however, become sinful when causeless, or excessive, or protracted (Matt. 5:22; Eph. 4:26; Col. 3:8). As ascribed to God, it merely denotes his displeasure with sin and with sinners (Ps. 7:11).
ANGER - The word normally used in the Bible to refer to rage, fury, and indignation. In most instances, anger is considered to be wrong. Psalm 37:8 (nlt), for example, commands: “Stop your anger! Turn from your rage!” Jesus paralleled anger with murder when he said, “If you are angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!” (Mt 5:22, nlt)—just as if the person had actually committed the murder he felt in his angry heart. Ephesians 4:31 and Colossians 3:8 both list anger, along with bitterness, wrath, malice, and slander, as attitudes that Christians must rid themselves of once and for all. In his list of attributes for a bishop or pastor of a church, the apostle Paul said that a Christian leader should not be prone to anger, that is, easily provoked (Ti 1:7).
“Anger is a universal problem, prevalent in
every culture, experienced by every generation. No one is isolated from its
presence or immune from its poison. It permeates each person and spoils our
most intimate relationships. Anger is a given part of our fallen human fabric.
Sadly this is true even in our Christian homes and churches.” Robert Jones, Uprooting Anger
“In facing up to our anger, we need to
realize that no one else causes us to be angry. Someone else’s words or actions
may become the occasion of our anger, but the cause lies deep within us –
usually our pride, or selfishness, or desire to control.” Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, pg. 122
“We can choose how we will respond to the
sinful actions of others toward us.” Jerry
Bridges, Respectable Sins, pg. 123
“I believe that many Christians live in
denial about their anger. They consciously experience the flare-up of negative
thoughts and emotions toward someone who has displeased them, but they do not
indentify this as anger, especially as sinful anger. They focus on the other
person’s wrongdoing and justify their own reaction.” Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, pg. 128
Matthew 5:21-26 (NKJV)
21 “You
have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of
the judgment.’ 22 But
I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in
danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell
fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your
gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against
you, 24 leave your gift there before
the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come
and offer your gift. 25 Agree
with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your
adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and
you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly,
I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last
penny.
Romans 12:17-21 (NKJV)17 Repay
no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on
you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved,
do not avenge yourselves, but rather
give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance
is Mine, I will repay,” says
the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is
thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his
head.” 21 Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Some other verses that can be looked at concerning anger are as follows:
Job 5:2, Proverbs 12:16, Proverbs 14:29, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 16:32,
Proverbs 19:11, Proverbs 19:19, Proverbs 21:19, Proverbs 22:24-25,
Proverbs 25:28, Proverbs 27:3, Proverbs 29:8-9, Proverbs 29:11, Psalm
37:8, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Matthew 5:21-26, Romans 12:17-21, Ephesians
4:26-27, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:8-13, 1 Timothy 3:2-3, Titus 1:7,
James 1:19
The point to be made with anger is although you may feel you have a given "right" to be angry in situations more than likely you don't have that right at all. It really is an issue that many of us need to be asking God to show us and soften us in the areas that anger exists. If you have any thoughts feel free to comment. You also can join us Sunday morning for the follow up with this.
This week we covered a doozy of a topic in "Sins We Tolerate" and that was Pride. It's one that if we're all honest with ourselves we'd recognize we contain tendencies of. If we're looking at the definition of Pride it can be summed up as the following:
Many of us could fall into more than just one of those categories.
The Bible has plenty to say about Pride, here's just a small portion of what we looked at:
Deuteronomy 8:11-20
(NKJV) pg. 77-78
11 “Beware that you do not
forget the Lord your God by not
keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you
today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful
houses and dwell in them; 13 and when
your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are
multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14
when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from
the house of bondage; 15 who
led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land
where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna,
which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might
test you, to do you good in the end— 17 then
you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this
wealth.’ 18 “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get
wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19
Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and
worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall
perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.
1 Samuel 2:3 (NKJV)
3 “Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For
the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.
Psalm 101:5 (NKJV)
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has
a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure.
Proverbs 8:12-13 (NKJV)
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion. 13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance
and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
Proverbs 11:2 (NKJV)
2 When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.
Romans 12:3 (NKJV)
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not
to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a
measure of faith.
1 Peter 5:5-7 (NKJV)
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you
be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists
the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt
you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon
Him, for He cares for you.
So, as you can see this issue is addressed in detail throughout the
Bible but yet it's still found so prevalently within the Church. The
heart of the matter is this:
2 Corinthians 10:17-18 (NKJV)
17 But “he who glories, let him glory
in the Lord.” 18 For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
If we will boast, we should boast only in the Lord and who He is and what He has done.
“Though [pride] is so
prevalent among us, it is difficult to recognize because we all practice it to
some degree. In fact, we seem to get a perverse enjoyment out of discussing how
awful society around us is becoming. When we engage in this kind of thinking or
conversation, we are guilty of the pride of moral superiority.” Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, pg. 90
That's a good portion of what we looked at, but if you'd like to review
more of what we looked at last night, you can do so by clicking Download Here
