We had a great night last night which was our final night in the series called, "Joshua." We finished with a student, Jordan, an 8th grade boy, giving his testimony, what God has been doing in his life, and then giving the challenge to students. It was powerful because it was peer to peer. Here is the basic outline from last night.
Review Crossing the Jordan River
Joshua was obedient even when it didn't make a lot of sense. Joshua resolved that he would be obedient to God no matter what. If he would have listened to his friends on this, he may never have been used to do such an amazing thing. We do the same thing. We make our friends our authority and we are obedient to them. If this is the case, God can't use us in the same way.
Review Battle of Jericho
Joshua was obedient again when God had him go to battle in a very unorthodox and illogical way by walking around the walls of Jericho, blowing trumpets, and yelling. Yet again, Joshua didn't listen to what was logical or normal or acceptable, but instead obeyed God. This obedience allowed him to be a part of something amazing. It's the same with us. If we stop listening to what the world calls normal and start obeying God, he is going to use us to do amazing things for him.
SIDE NOTE: Obedience sometimes sounds really boring and uncool, but look how God used Joshua's obedience to make him a part of something so crazy, so unbelievable, so cool. God can do the same today. Example I gave: The 3rd leading cause of teen death is suicide. Many teen suicides are a result of not having friends, feeling unloved, ignored. God's command to us is to love others. If we would be obedient to that command and love those who feel unloved, we could LITERALLY SAVE THEIR LIFE!
Joshua's Farewell
At the end of Joshua's life, he gave a challenge to look at all that God has done for the people of Isreal and worship him. His challenge is to choose whom you will serve? Joshua's response was, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." That was the final challenge for students last night. Who will you choose to serve today?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Joshua, week 2 Recap
This is the 2nd week of our Joshua series. We are taking a journey through some of the major events of Joshua's life and how God used Joshua to accomplish some pretty amazing things for the Israelites.
This week, I told the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. The only problem is that it wasn't a typical battle. Joshua was told by God to take his men and march around the city for 6 days, blowing trumpets and yelling loudly. Then on the 7th day, he was supposed to march his guys around the walls 7 times, blow the trumpets, and yell, and then the walls of the city would collpase.
Joshua was obedient to God even when obeying him meant doing something totally different from normal (marching around the city and yelling). Joshua did this because his ultimate authority was God. If Joshua would have done what was culturally and socially acceptable and normal, God would have never done such an amazing thing in his life. But God was his authority which meant that God used Joshua's obedience to do something amazing for His people.
We talked about how it's the same type of thing with us. We tend to do things because they world says they are normal. We do things becuase they are culturally or socially normal, but obedience to God is more important than doing the normal thing.
THE CHALLENGE: Is obedience to God more important than being normal? Or is being normal more important than obedience to God?
This week, I told the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. The only problem is that it wasn't a typical battle. Joshua was told by God to take his men and march around the city for 6 days, blowing trumpets and yelling loudly. Then on the 7th day, he was supposed to march his guys around the walls 7 times, blow the trumpets, and yell, and then the walls of the city would collpase.
Joshua was obedient to God even when obeying him meant doing something totally different from normal (marching around the city and yelling). Joshua did this because his ultimate authority was God. If Joshua would have done what was culturally and socially acceptable and normal, God would have never done such an amazing thing in his life. But God was his authority which meant that God used Joshua's obedience to do something amazing for His people.
We talked about how it's the same type of thing with us. We tend to do things because they world says they are normal. We do things becuase they are culturally or socially normal, but obedience to God is more important than doing the normal thing.
THE CHALLENGE: Is obedience to God more important than being normal? Or is being normal more important than obedience to God?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Joshua, part 1
Our newest series started last night called "Joshua." You can probably guess that it's a series based on Joshua from the Bible. As a matter of fact, there is a whole book dedicated to his leadership of the Israelites. There is so much to learn from Joshua about obedience to the ultimate authority. That's what this series is focused on. Here are some key points from last night...
1. Background on Joshua
We started off with a little background on Joshua and how he arose as a leader for God's people. He was Moses aide, one of the 12 guys who were sent to check out the promised land and report back, and then God chose him as the leader to take Moses place once he died. His mission was to take his people in the promised land.
2. Crossing The Jordan River
Since his mission was to cross the Jordan River, I told the miraculous story of how Joshua led the whole nation of Israel across just by being obedient to God. The waters parted and the nation walked through.
3. God's Authority vs. Friend's Authority
If Joshua would have listened to others, they would have had all sorts of ideas on how to get over to the promised land, but Joshua was obedient to God and saw him as his ultimate authority. That led him to being someone who was used by God to do something amazing. It's the same with us. We look to our friends for approval, but why?
4. If God is your ultimate authority, who can stand against you
God told Joshua that no one will be able to stand against you if you obey me. Obedience to God as our ultimate authority allows God to use us to do amazing things for Him. Why are we afraid when we have God?
1. Background on Joshua
We started off with a little background on Joshua and how he arose as a leader for God's people. He was Moses aide, one of the 12 guys who were sent to check out the promised land and report back, and then God chose him as the leader to take Moses place once he died. His mission was to take his people in the promised land.
2. Crossing The Jordan River
Since his mission was to cross the Jordan River, I told the miraculous story of how Joshua led the whole nation of Israel across just by being obedient to God. The waters parted and the nation walked through.
3. God's Authority vs. Friend's Authority
If Joshua would have listened to others, they would have had all sorts of ideas on how to get over to the promised land, but Joshua was obedient to God and saw him as his ultimate authority. That led him to being someone who was used by God to do something amazing. It's the same with us. We look to our friends for approval, but why?
4. If God is your ultimate authority, who can stand against you
God told Joshua that no one will be able to stand against you if you obey me. Obedience to God as our ultimate authority allows God to use us to do amazing things for Him. Why are we afraid when we have God?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Real Deal, part 3
The title of this message is CIRCUMSTANTIAL FAITH. it's the last message in our series called THE REAL DEAL. This series is all about what it means to have authentic faith in God.
The last 2 weeks, we talked about how and why we can trust God by going over a pledge from God's Word that we called, THE EDGE PLEDGE. It goes like this.
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
This week, we talked about living this pledge out or actually believing these sayings to be true to the point that it changes the way you live.
The hardest time to ever trust God is when the world around you comes crashing down, or when things are not going well.
Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
Our own understand of THE EDGE PLEDGE is much different than God's understanding.
Job's Example: Job is the best example of someone who experienced terrible tragedy in his life and never lost his faith in God.
God's word never says that we will have an easy, problem free, stress free life filled with wealth, health, and success in everything we do. That's just not true. However, it doesn't matter what happens in our lives, we have to hold onto the truth of God's Word which we stated in THE EDGE PLEDGE.
This sums up what I spoke on last night.
If you ever want to know more or have questions, you can find the full talk on itunes if you search "Edge Talk Podcast." Also, let me know if you have more questions to follow up.
The last 2 weeks, we talked about how and why we can trust God by going over a pledge from God's Word that we called, THE EDGE PLEDGE. It goes like this.
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
This week, we talked about living this pledge out or actually believing these sayings to be true to the point that it changes the way you live.
The hardest time to ever trust God is when the world around you comes crashing down, or when things are not going well.
Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
Our own understand of THE EDGE PLEDGE is much different than God's understanding.
Job's Example: Job is the best example of someone who experienced terrible tragedy in his life and never lost his faith in God.
God's word never says that we will have an easy, problem free, stress free life filled with wealth, health, and success in everything we do. That's just not true. However, it doesn't matter what happens in our lives, we have to hold onto the truth of God's Word which we stated in THE EDGE PLEDGE.
This sums up what I spoke on last night.
If you ever want to know more or have questions, you can find the full talk on itunes if you search "Edge Talk Podcast." Also, let me know if you have more questions to follow up.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Real Deal (part 2)
The Real Deal series continued last night with the last 2 parts of the Edge Pledge. As a reminder, the first 2 portions of The Edge Pledge from last week are...
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
The next part is what we talked about last night...
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
The Real Deal series is based on believing that God is someone we can trust. It's only then that we can be the kind of authentic Christian that God wants us to be. We broke down each of these statements last night.
Last week we talked about the fact that God is who He says He is and can do what says He can do. If we truly believe this than we have to believe what God has to say in His word about who we are.
I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM
Who does God say that we are if we know Christ?
1 John 3:1
Ephesians 1:3-8
We are blessed, chosen, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven.
I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST
Philippians 4:13
It means that we only do things through His strength. The only way we can accomplish anything is by his power, by his strength, and by his love.
We will experience fear and failure, but we can never let those things define us because only God is the one who tells us the truth about who we are if we know Him as Savior.
THE EDGE PLEDGE
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
For the full audio of my talk, you can download it on itunes. It's called "Edge Talks"
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
The next part is what we talked about last night...
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
The Real Deal series is based on believing that God is someone we can trust. It's only then that we can be the kind of authentic Christian that God wants us to be. We broke down each of these statements last night.
Last week we talked about the fact that God is who He says He is and can do what says He can do. If we truly believe this than we have to believe what God has to say in His word about who we are.
I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM
Who does God say that we are if we know Christ?
1 John 3:1
Ephesians 1:3-8
We are blessed, chosen, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven.
I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST
Philippians 4:13
It means that we only do things through His strength. The only way we can accomplish anything is by his power, by his strength, and by his love.
We will experience fear and failure, but we can never let those things define us because only God is the one who tells us the truth about who we are if we know Him as Savior.
THE EDGE PLEDGE
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
For the full audio of my talk, you can download it on itunes. It's called "Edge Talks"
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The REAL DEAL--Part 1
Last night, we dove into our series called, THE REAL DEAL. This series is based on the idea that God is someone who we can trust...He is THE REAL DEAL. Not only that, but it's only when we believe that God is THE REAL DEAL that we become the THE REAL DEAL ourselves...the kind of person who lives out their faith. Here are a few highlights from last night.
The next couple weeks are dedicated to helping students know through Scritpure that God is someone they can trust with their lives. We are doing this by saying THE EDGE PLEDGE. The first 2 statements of THE EDGE PLEDGE are as follows...
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
Here is a brief breakdown of what we talked about with each of these statements...
1. God is who He says He is.
All over Scripture, God makes claims about who He is. Those claims are so powerful that we have to either believe everything He says about Himself or we have to believe everything He says is a lie. It's all or nothing.
In Scripture, every time God is about to do something for His people, He reminds them of who He is. (I am the Lord, I am God Almighty, I Am who I Am, etc.). Then He always goes on to do something powerful in and through his people (Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.).
2. God can do what He says He can do.
If God is who He says He is then He will have to do what He says He will do. What God can do is a direct result of who He is. Example: God is called a Savior because He saves.
Matthew 16:13-18
Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Because Peter trusted Christ and knew the truth about Him, He went on to be the rock that Christ's church was built on.
The point is that trusting that God is The Real Deal will change your life. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Peter is the same God we serve today.
He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.
We will finish out the Edge Pledge with 2 more important statements next week.
I am who God says I am.
I can do all things through Christ.
The next couple weeks are dedicated to helping students know through Scritpure that God is someone they can trust with their lives. We are doing this by saying THE EDGE PLEDGE. The first 2 statements of THE EDGE PLEDGE are as follows...
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
Here is a brief breakdown of what we talked about with each of these statements...
1. God is who He says He is.
All over Scripture, God makes claims about who He is. Those claims are so powerful that we have to either believe everything He says about Himself or we have to believe everything He says is a lie. It's all or nothing.
In Scripture, every time God is about to do something for His people, He reminds them of who He is. (I am the Lord, I am God Almighty, I Am who I Am, etc.). Then He always goes on to do something powerful in and through his people (Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.).
2. God can do what He says He can do.
If God is who He says He is then He will have to do what He says He will do. What God can do is a direct result of who He is. Example: God is called a Savior because He saves.
Matthew 16:13-18
Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Because Peter trusted Christ and knew the truth about Him, He went on to be the rock that Christ's church was built on.
The point is that trusting that God is The Real Deal will change your life. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Peter is the same God we serve today.
He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.
We will finish out the Edge Pledge with 2 more important statements next week.
I am who God says I am.
I can do all things through Christ.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The Real Deal (intro)
This week, we started our brand news series called THE REAL DEAL. The theme of this series is authentic faith. So often, students make decisions for Christ, but their lives don't really reflect the decision they have made. The reason for this is that students don't really trust that God is THE REAL DEAL.
KEY PHRASE FOR THIS SERIES: If we don't believe that God is THE REAL DEAL, then we will never be THE REAL DEAL!
Here are a couple key points from the talk last night.
1. People are looking to follow a god who backs up his words with action. Our God has done just that. HE is the REAL DEAL.
We serve a God that can be trusted to do what He says He is going to do. He claimed to love us more than anything else in the world and he backed up those words with action...sending His son to die for our sins.
2. If we don't trust that God is the Real Deal, we are going to have a hard time being The Real Deal ourselves.
Being a Christian who others call THE REAL DEAL (someone who backs up their words with actions) starts with believing that God is someone who can be trusted.
3. KEY VERSE for this series: Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
We finished by breaking into groups with different leaders and breaking down these verses. Leaders asked students about ways in their life right now that they are having trouble trusting God.
This whole month, we will continue this series, and I challenged students that by the end of this month, I would love to hear people say Edge students are THE REAL DEAL.
KEY PHRASE FOR THIS SERIES: If we don't believe that God is THE REAL DEAL, then we will never be THE REAL DEAL!
Here are a couple key points from the talk last night.
1. People are looking to follow a god who backs up his words with action. Our God has done just that. HE is the REAL DEAL.
We serve a God that can be trusted to do what He says He is going to do. He claimed to love us more than anything else in the world and he backed up those words with action...sending His son to die for our sins.
2. If we don't trust that God is the Real Deal, we are going to have a hard time being The Real Deal ourselves.
Being a Christian who others call THE REAL DEAL (someone who backs up their words with actions) starts with believing that God is someone who can be trusted.
3. KEY VERSE for this series: Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
We finished by breaking into groups with different leaders and breaking down these verses. Leaders asked students about ways in their life right now that they are having trouble trusting God.
This whole month, we will continue this series, and I challenged students that by the end of this month, I would love to hear people say Edge students are THE REAL DEAL.
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