Exposed, part 3

Here is the last outline for the Exposed Series.

Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young. Instead, be an example to the believers with your words, your actions, your love, your faith, and your pure life (1Timothy 4:12).

5 Steps toward Sexual Purity:

1. Know your STANDARDS

2. Make your standards KNOWN.

3. Choose WISELY.
· who you like
· who you date
You are not the same as those who do not believe. So do not join yourselves to them. Good and bad do not belong together. Light and darkness cannot share together
(2 Corinthians 6:14).

4. Avoid SEXUAL situations
But run away from the evil young people like to do. Try hard to live right and to have faith love and peace, together with those who trust in the Lord from pure hearts
(2 Timothy 2:22).

5. Make CHRIST your most important relationship
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33).

Thought For The Week:
Sexual PURITY is POSSIBLE!

SPRING THING SPEAKER BIOS

Hey parents, we are bringing in 2 very important speakers for our SPRING THING retreat. I wanted to make sure you were familiar with them and why I picked them specifically to come speak to your kids.

ANGIE SMITH

Angie is a 30 something that realized that God wanted to use her story of impurity to reach young women's hearts. She began her ministry PurityTalks to mentor and speak to girls about self-image, dating, and sex.

Because of this, she wrote her first book "Finding My Pure Heart Again" which will be available this summer. Her heart and passion in her ministry is to help teach that God's love fills the voids in a world where beauty is so important and that we are beautiful in His eyes. She has honest and open conversations to discover what God thinks about these topics.

Angie is also an actress who uses dramas and skits throughout her chats to bring truth to life. Angies enjoys her free time writing, spending time with fmaily and laughing with friends.

JOEL DANIEL HARRIS
I am the middle school youth guy for flipd, the middle school ministry of First Friends and am also First Friends’ Instigator of Justice (the job title came with a sweet super hero cape, so I had to say yes). In my free time i work as an Associate Staff member with the CCO. as part of this, I hang out with students at Malone University (the college from whence i graduated), trying to help them think about living lives without compartments. I also get the opportunity to travel to various colleges (like Messiah, Kent State, Kenyon, Gannon, etc) and church youth groups leading workshops & retreats. I worked at The Chapel for 4 years as their middle school guy & pastor of porn. I co-created and gave leadership for 3 years to a small group ministry related to pornography & sexuality known as six19. The small groups are currently inactive, but i still do presentations occasionally.

Exposed, part 2

Here is a brief outline of week 2 in our Exposed Series

We’ve Been Lied To!

Lie # 1: The OUTSIDE matters more than the INSIDE.
… God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

Charm can be deceptive and beauty doesn't last, but a woman who fears and reverences God shall be greatly praised (Proverbs 31:30).

Lie #2: SEX matters more than LOVE.
Let love be your greatest aim (1 Corinthians 14:1).

There are three things too wonderful for me to understand--no, four! How an eagle glides through the sky. How a serpent crawls upon a rock. How a ship finds its way across the heaving ocean. The growth of love between a man and a woman
(Proverbs 30:18-19).

Lie #3: MYSELF matters more than OTHERS.
Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself (Philippians 2:3).

Lie #4: Who I HAVE matters more than who I AM
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it (Psalm 139:13-14).


Thought For The Week:

Do I BUY the LIE?

Exposed, part 1, What was God thinking?

This is the first part in the series called Exposed, which is all about God's truth and plan for sex and dating.

WHAT WAS GOD THINKING?
We started off by talking about sex as a gift that God has given us, but the world has distorted.
Here is an outline of our time together.

2 MYTHS about SEX

Myth #1: Sex is WRONG
God created sex and here is what the Bible has to say about things God created.
For everything God created is good… (1 Timothy 4:4)

Myth #2: Sex is LIMITLESS
Don't use your body for sexual sin like the people who do not know God
(1 Thessalonians 4:5)

The REALITY IS, GOD MEANT SEX FOR GOOD, BUT IT HAS BEEN TWISTED AND MADE BAD.

What was God's plan for sex?

Intended for a MAN and WOMAN
So God created human beings in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female. God blessed them and said, "Have many children and grow in number. Fill the earth… (Genesis 1:27-28)

This may seem pretty obvious but not really in this day in age. We did a brief talk about homosexuality and that fact that it's a sin, but still doesn't give us the right to tease people or make fun of people who are struggling with it. It's a sin just like having sex before marriage is a sin. Both are not part of God's plan.

Intended for MARRIAGE
So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body (Genesis 2:24).

Marriage should be honored by everyone, and husband and wife should keep their marriage pure. God will judge as guilty those who take part in sexual sins
(Hebrews 13:4).

CLOSING THOUGHT: God’s PLAN is PERFECT

Will you follow it?