Archive for category Senior High

Redeeming the Summer

What would a Summer that was well-spent look like?

This coming Sunday, we will be mapping out what a well-spent Summer looks like in small groups…each of us having opportunity to physically draw out what this looks like.  When August 11th rolls around and you once again darken the doors of your high school…will you be able to look back and say that Summer was not a waste?

We will be looking into God’s Word this Tuesday night to see what it means to “redeem time”…who knew time could be redeemed?!  We will specifically be talking about redeeming our Summers.  On Sunday, we will get into small groups and map out what we want our Summers to look like…better yet, what God wants them to look like.

I don’t want to have a Summer of low-hopes, unmet goals, and wasted opportunities…I want to make the most of this Summer.  I hope you’re with me!

I remember coming home from college every Summer with lofty goals of what I would accomplish…read these 10 books, answer these theological questions, run 5 miles every day…only to end the Summer with a fizzle.  I hated the feeling of a wasted Summer.  I determined to make the next Summer end on a different note.

So…as we approach this coming Summer, let’s desire something great!  Let’s make big goals!  And then, let’s commit them to God in prayer and ask Him to work in big ways.  If we don’t depend on Him, our summers are destined to end with a fizzle instead of a bang.

Start thinking about these and be ready to make a plan this coming Sunday.

Anyone want to share your goals/dreams/aspirations for the Summer here?  What would a Summer that was not wasted look like for you?  Be realistic and give some tangible ideas.

Gospel Vaccination is a Bad Thing

(Post by the inveritable Jay Hobbs)

“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4)

There’s certain times when I notice a sort of Gospel vaccination in myself. It’s like I’ve got just enough Gospel truth on my mind and in my heart to render the Gospel ineffective to change me.

Then a text like this bowls me over with the unsearchable depths of God’s love for sinners.

The text says that we who have made Christ our life by faith will one day appear with Him in glory. That is incredible news, and it’s much better than the watered-down version of the Gospel that I settle for so often.

It would be good enough news that the God of the Universe, for whom and by whom we have been made, takes pity on those who have rebelled against his kingdom and taken the life of His Only Begotten Son, but that’s not the extent of God’s love.

God’s love consists of much more than pity, it’s more like God inviting us to inherit all that is His by the blood of Christ.

Far from an isolated text throwing out a tentative truth, this text functions as one thread in broad biblical tapestry. Consider a few more passages that draw out God’s inviting us to glory:

“Fear not, little flock, for it is my Father’s good pleasure that you should inherit the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…” (Romans 8:16-17)

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one…” (John 17:22)

If this is too much for you to handle in one sitting (which it sure is for me), then think about this: Jesus is not ashamed to be called our brother. My brother, Jesus.

Our perfect High Priest and holder-together of all things visible and invisible delights to share His throne with us, His brothers and sisters.

God save us from that false humility that robs us of the joy of anticipating that Day when we will appear with Jesus in glory.

The Awkward Dance, a.k.a. Corporate Prayer

(Some great stuff from Jay Hobbs on Corporate Prayer!)

You can picture the scene.

Cross the dance floor of corporate prayer, young buck. You first.

- Jay Hobbs

Ethiopia in 3 Days!

We leave for Ethiopia in 3 days (on Thursday) and I’m taking a break from our “California Idols” series to ask you to pray.  Pray big!  Don’t just think of us…call in the airstrike for us.

I’m very excited about this trip…here’s why:

• We get to talk to people about the Gospel in Addis Ababa for 3 days…3 days of getting to go with evangelists from the Akaki Church to share the hope that God, our King, offers them life and joy…if they rest in Jesus.
• We get to forge even stronger relationships with the Akaki church.  I’m excited to meet the elders and to be blessed by these godly men.  I’m also excited to fellowship with so many believers and be encouraged by them.
• We get to see life outside of Southern California.  It won’t always be easy to see things we see, but we will get to see what life is like for so many believers around the world.  I pray that God will use this to break my heart of my idols and to help me value Him above all else.
• We get to love some wonderful ladies that have been greatly and irreversibly affected by the AIDS epidemic.  Well…almost irreversibly.  We get to pray with them, be blessed by them, and be with them, while hoping with them in the day when God will reverse the grip that death is making on their frail bodies.
• I have the honor of getting to preach for the Resurrection Sunday services at the Akaki Church.  I’m going to preach from 1 Corinthians 15.  Death has lost its sting!

Will you please pray for these things with us?

Pray for Jill, Vinoj, Steve, Taylor, Ken, Theresa, Abby, Keanna, Beth, and Sarah.

It would be encouraging if you left comments below with some of the things you are praying for the team!

California Idols: Exposing Idols, part 1

I have an idol…actually, I have a few

…and so do you.

As long as we wait for God to perfect us, we will fight against the temptation to worship anything but God…the key is that we actually fight.  Believers have been freed from being enslaved to these idols and can actually worship God.  Those who haven’t put their trust in Jesus are still enslaved to these idols.

Are you fighting?

Part of fighting an enemy is actually knowing who your enemy is. It would have been hard to win World War II if we had invaded Antarctica instead of Normandy.  We must know our enemy to fight it.

It’s very easy to know your enemy when they’re dropping bombs on your boat.  But exposing the idols of your heart is actually very hard.  It’s hard because idols specialize in deceiving you.  At first, we are usually blind to the idols of our heart.  Even if we see them, we usually don’t see how deep they go…we only see the tip of the iceberg.  Jeremiah 17:9 says, “the heart is deceitful above all else, who can know it?”  Idols are great at hiding and are hard to uncover.  Yet, to fight them, we must expose them.

So…how do we figure out what the core idols of our heart are so that we can stop worshiping them?

We’re going to answer this question over the next several weeks.  But before I give my thoughts, I would love to hear what you think.

How do we find and expose the hidden idols of our heart so that we can fight them?

California Idols: Stuff

Although we laugh at cultures that bow down to wooden statues and stone carvings…calling them backward and archaic, we bow down to metal boxes on wheels and big wooden boxes on land.  We have made idolatry sophisticated…we’ve made it look good!  Yet, it’s still the same old idolatry.

Stuff…

Sinking $100,000 into a car that gets you from point A to point B?  Deciding to cut back on your giving/tithing to God so that you can afford the bigger house with the nice backyard?  Needing the newest gadget to stay up-to-date?  Dropping serious $ for a new phone when the old one works fine?

Is it wrong to have a nice car, a comfortable home, or a new phone?  No.  Is it wrong to not be satisfied unless you have those things?  Absolutely.

I’m not going to draw lines on what is excessive and what is ok.  It would be hypocritical for me to do that.  I have much more than most people in the world.

But I do know that it is way too easy for me to get seriously attached to possessions…they bring me comfort, they bring me status, they bring me approval from other people.  I do know that it’s hard to remain content with just having what I need…I always seem to want more.

The Bible does not say, “It is wrong to have a house that costs more than $1,000,000.”  Instead, it says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourself treasures in heaven.” (Matt. 6:19-21)  Again, we can’t say, “it’s wrong to have a nice car or a mac book pro.”  But we can challenge ourselves and each other to think about whether or not we are truly “laying up treasure in heaven.”  Are we using our resources and our stuff for God’s kingdom…to help the world see that the reign of God is better than anything else?  We can ask ourselves, “Am I seeking first the kingdom of God?”

In ancient (and even present-day) cultures, people don’t bow down to a wooden statue because they love that statue in and of itself.  Instead, they bow down to it because it represents a god and they want that god to give them something…to watch out for them.

Likewise, no-one really worships a car or a house.  Instead, we believe that the car or the house will give us something…maybe it’s comfort or status (honor) or approval from others.  That’s the real idol…not the stuff itself, but what we are seeking from the stuff.

What do you think?

What do people try to gain from lots of stuff or nice stuff?  What do they think it will bring them?

How do you help someone stop worshiping that idol?  What would you tell them?

Malachi: Waking the Dead

I can’t wait for this Sunday! We will be starting a new study of Malachi. I know this may not seem like the normal book to study in Sr. High, and you may not know how this applies to you…but, I think you’ll see it applies in more ways than you think.

Malachi is God’s messenger sent with a mission…He’s sent to go and “wake the dead.” He goes to a hypocritical people who claim to love God but don’t live like it. Their marriages are wrecked by unfaithfulness, adultery, and divorce. They are oppressing the needy, the poor, and the immigrants. They are getting tired of obeying God and serving Him. They are “dating” (even though they didn’t date back then) people who don’t love God. They are greatly influenced by the world around them and have lost any passion or zeal for God.

God sends Malachi with a message of love and with a mission to “wake the dead.”

I hope and pray that we will wake up as well as we study this amazing story.

See you on Sunday!