“Do Hard Things” Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone (Theme from Do Hard Things)

In Luke 6:24 Jesus says, “…Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.” What is Jesus trying to tell us in this verse? Is He telling us that it is wrong to be rich? No, He is teaching us a very valuable lesson about life that applies to more than just rich people.
If you live in America you are considered rich. The majority of us live in a house or an apartment. We have running water, clothes, plenty of food and even electricity. Go to a third world country and you will find that the majority of the people do not have these benefits. Not only do we have these commodities—we also have televisions, computers, iPods and video games. We are what Jesus termed “rich.” We live the “good life.”

What Jesus is saying in this verse is be careful of living the “good life” and then missing out on the great life or Godly life. It is easy to settle for second best living the good life. Because everything comes so easily to us it is easy to slip into the COMFORT ZONE. And beware of the comfort zone (do do, do do, do do –Twilight Zone theme song) because it is a fatal trap the devil uses to destroy our calling.

There are many areas of comfort that we can fall into—whether it is staying in your warm, cozy bed rather than waking up thirty minutes early to read your Bible, or staying in isolation mode at school instead of talking to new people, or watching T.V. and playing on the computer rather than studying. If we are not careful these comfort zones will hold us back from greatness.
God is calling us to do “hard things” as young people. The world has low expectations for us. It says that we will never amount to anything good. We are just a bunch of slobs that can’t talk to people, that play video games all day and are shutdown from the rest of the world. “Just stay in your comfort zone. You’re too weak to work hard, you’re not disciplined enough to excel in school. You have a learning disability. You may get embarrassed if you step out. Don’t take the chance” the world tells us.

Many of us want to break free from this trap but there is a problem. There is an invisible fence of fear that is holding us back from breaking through our comfort zone—fear of weakness, discomfort, failure and embarrassment. This fence of fear we experience is similar to what an elephant experiences. Elephants are one of the strongest beasts on the planet. Certain countries have Elephant Festivals to celebrate the size, strength and mobility of elephants. At the end of the festival they have a man vs. elephant tug-a-war. Guess how many men go against the elephant? 100! Every time the elephant wins. It is so strong and powerful that the 100 men don’t stand a chance.

Elephants can whip around a hundred men as if they were nothing but are held captive by a small rope and wooden stake. The elephant’s back leg is simply tied to the stake and won’t move. Why is this? When the elephant is a baby men place a thick chain and shackle around their back, right leg. The young elephant tries with all of its might to break free but never succeeds. From this moment on the elephant is brainwashed into believing that a small rope is the same as the heavy chain and it will never break free. It tried before and failed. So why try again? We too have are being held back by a tiny, little fear. We have been trained by the world to stay right where we are at.

How are we going to break free? God tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline.” God has first given us a spirit of power: “We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength” (Philippians 4:13). His grace is sufficient in our weakness. We can and will break out of this fence of fear, of this comfort zone because God has given us the power.

Secondly, God has given us his love. If we truly love God we will be willing to sacrifice our sleep, our agenda, our comfort to be with him. If we love our friends, then we will realize that unless we do something they are dying and going to hell. Unless we step out of our comfort zone and reach out and encourage and love them they have little hope.

Finally, God has given us a spirit of self-discipline meaning that we have the ability to do something without someone else pushing us to do it.

Why must we live uncomfortably and do hard things? If everything came easy to us and there was no challenge to life we would never have a fight. If we never had a fight we would never develop our character. We would remain premature for the rest of our lives. We would be like the people in the movie WALL-E that lay on their hover beds all day, are overweight and have no muscle because they’ve grown up with no gravity and robots give them whatever they ask.

In Do Hard Things Alex and Brett Harris talk about a map in the British Museum of London that was made in 1525. On this map is certain parts of the coast of America that had not yet been discovered by the English. What is interesting about this map is the cartographer has written on these foreign coasts, “Here be giants, here be dragons, here be fiery scorpions!”

Can you imagine if explorers would have never gone to these areas because of these made up fears? It’s not the tiredness of getting up early, pushing yourself to your limit, rejection by friends—it’s the fear of these things. Never forget that the giants, dragons and fiery scorpions are only fears.

Do hard things!

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

MORAL COURAGE

I began the message with this question “If your friend, a family member or a loved one was about to die, whether it was your little brother crossing the street with oncoming traffic or a friend held up at gun point, would you be willing to sacrifice your life for him or her?” About ninety percent of the audience raised their hands expressing that they would lay down their life to save a loved one (you will see in a moment why this question is important).

We then gave the youth a survey. Each youth filled out a card that contained three questions: “What is your greatest physical fear, social fear and relational fear?” When we picked up the cards we were astonished to find that the ultimate fear by a landslide was the fear of rejection by friends and family.

In Joshua chapter one Moses is stepping down from leadership and passing the baton off to Joshua to lead the Israelites. During this moment God shows Joshua a very important lesson about life: "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

God tells Joshua over and over again to “be strong and courageous!” God wasn’t just telling Joshua to be courageous on the battle field, he was telling him to have the greatest courage—moral courage. What is moral courage? Moral courage is the ability to face your fears, your insecurities, the desires of your flesh, your doubts and do God’s will in spite of those fears. It is the ability to live for God when all your friends at school have abandoned God. It is standing for God knowing that doing so may lead to rejection from your friends and family.

Earlier I asked, “Would you be willing to sacrifice your life for a loved one if they were about to die?” Almost everyone in the room raised their hands. This is great if you would. You have courage but do you have moral courage? Here is a better question, “Do you save your friends from going to hell? Do you live God’s Word? Do you step out of your comfort zone and witness to your lunch table, your teammates? This is moral courage.” (Only a few people raised their hands).

It is astonishing that we will save our friends and loved ones from physical death but are too caught up in our own insecurities and social fears to save them from going to hell.

Why does God tell us in Joshua to be strong and courageous? The first reason is He is calling us to lead our friends to God and his promises: “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.” Your friends at your school are lost and dying. They are missing out on the promises and joy that God has for them. They are on their way to destruction. You are there to lead them out of the pit they are in!
The second reason why God calls us to be strong and courageous is so that we may obey the Bible, live it and speak it: “ Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” Imagine what we would do as God’s people if we had the moral courage to live out God’s Word. There would be nothing we couldn’t accomplish. We would be walking out God’s will achieving greatness.

Now that we know why we must live a life of moral courage we must now figure out how to. God shows us the secret in verse nine: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

This past week I was talking to Jeffrey Shao, a seventh grader. He asked me, “How do I witness to my friends? I am having trouble figuring out what I should say to them.” I explained to Jeffrey that he wouldn’t be the one with the answers for his friends but the One inside him would be the answer. The Holy Spirit is the one that wins our friends to God. We are simply God’s tool, his voice to our friends.

How are we able to have moral courage? How are we going to step out of our comfort zones and face rejection, insecurity and humiliation and live sold out for Jesus? We are able to because God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of us and he will be our light and voice!

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

BUILDING A BRIDGE

EXCITING NEWS

This past week a few of our youth went above and beyond in the world of sports. For Band of brothers this week we got to cheer Daniel VanAlstyne, a sophomore at Stanton, on at the regional cross-country championship. Daniel led his team, finishing in the top 16, carrying his team to the state championship. He and his team will compete in the state championship this Saturday!

Blair Schiller, another sophomore at Bolles, had some incredible feats. This past week he competed at the state championship for swimming. Blair swam an incredible time of 45.33 ‘’ for the 100 Free winning the state championship. He placed 2nd in the 200 Free swimming a 1:39 (that’s blazing!!!). He then helped break the state record in the 4x50meter relay.

Hampton Jacobs, an eighth grader at Harvest, led his basketball team to victory scoring an incredible 20 points. He was 4 for 5 from the three point line!


BUILDING A BRIDGE

“God is preparing his heroes and the time is coming when they will appear and the world will wonder where they came from.” –A.W. Tozer

God is calling us to be strong and courageous and witness to our friends. We found out last week that we are called to be strong and courageous to lead our friends to God and live out God’s Word. We are able to accomplish this feat because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us.

How are we going to be effective witnesses for Christ? Yes, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, but in a practical manner how are we going to accomplish this? Ephesians 6:12 says, “…Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

According to Ephesians we are not going to win our friends over by “flesh and blood.” In other words, It will not be by our looks, popularity, athleticism, or smooth words because it is a spiritual battle that we face. It is something that is beyond ourselves and our capabilities.

As I was leading Andy Saison and Dorrion Finley in discipleship this week God gave me a great analogy to show them how to be a more effective witness. I gave this analogy to the high school. I drew a picture of two stick figures standing on two different cliffs. In between the cliffs was a valley that separated them. One stick figure had a mustache and fro representing Nacho Libre, while the other stick figure had crooked teeth representing Stephen (Nacho’s future wrestling partner). On Nacho’s side was the word “God”. Nacho represented a Christian. Stephen represented a lost person.

I then asked, “How is Nacho going to get Stephen over to his cliff with God?” After brainstorming and yelling out answers someone finally yelled, “build a bridge!” “Exactly! We must build a bridge to our friends. After we build the bridge we must bring them over to our side.”

Now for the building of the bridge. How are we going to build this bridge? What is this bridge going to be made out of and how are we going to put it together? We know from Ephesians that it is not going to be our smooth words, looks, or popularity. God gives us the material for the bridge in I Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Love is the main material that connects our friends to God. What does this mean? It means that we first must be patient with our friends because love is patient. When they get on our nerves or cut us down we must be patient and trust God to change them. We must not be full of ourselves and cocky because love does not boast, it is not proud. We must be kind to our friends and encourage them. We must not get bitter at them for wronging us or rejecting us because love keeps no record of wrongs. We must listen and not always talk about ourselves but be interested in others lives because love is not self-seeking. We must protect our friends, not lose hope and always persevere to love them because these are what love is.

Another important aspect about building this bridge that you need to know is that the bridge is not built overnight. You can’t love your friends for one day and expect them to come to God the next day. This bridge of love is built over time one brick at a time. For example, let’s say we have scale from -10 to +10 (-10 representing someone sold out to the world, completely lost, while +10 representing someone sold out for Jesus). Your friend is at a -9. Your are most likely not going to get your friend from a -9 to +10 in one day. Rather, your goal should be to get your friend from a -9 to -8, then from a -8 to -7 and so on.

How do you make this practical? A simple smile may bring your friend one step closer to God. Encouraging them when they fail a test or complimenting them when they excel on one may take your friend from a -4 to -3. Eventually the bridge will be built. It may take a month or years but never forget love is patient.

After building the bridge you must bring them over. How do you bring them over? The Holy Spirit will draw them over. It says in John 6:44 that no one comes to Jesus unless God draws them. Unless the Holy Spirit draws your friends to Jesus all your work is in vain. This is why it is so vitally important to rely on God and not yourself—because YOU cannot do it! It says in Psalms, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle but the victory rests in the Lord.” Notice it doesn’t only say the victory rests in the Lord. It still says that the horse is prepared. We also must get prepared for Lord’s victory of winning our friends to him. We must get in our prayer closets and battle for them. We must pray without ceasing on our campuses, over our lockers and lunch tables because God is going to work through us if we are prepared.

A group of heroes that built a bridge were Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Roger Youderian and Ed McCully. During the 1950s these five men decided to give their lives to the cause of reaching the savage Indians of Ecuador known as the Auca. Prior to this time no missionary had been successful in bringing the gospel to these head hunters. They were infamous for their killings. Jim Elliot and his crew felt God was calling them to bring Jesus to this tribe. In order to make friends with them Nate Saint would fly his plane over the tribe in a circle while someone would lower on a line a bucket of gifts. At first the Indians feared the plane and the men, but after three months the five men saw progress. Now the Indians were not only accepting the gifts but giving back gifts, such as hand made clothes and even parrots.

The five men felt it was time to make face to face contact with the tribe. On Tuesday, January 1956 it took Nate Saint five landings to get all five men on the sand bar located near the Auca tribe. Jim Elliot radioed in to his wife their success and that they would radio back to them at 4:30PM. 4:30 came and went and no radio. After a day the wives of the men knew something was wrong and sent a search crew to look for them. The next day they found five men with lances in their bodies floating in the river.

You may say, “What a waste? How foolish to try such an attempt!” People all around the world said the same. But we find that the truth is the building of this bridge was not in vain. Thousands around the world heard this story and decided to go to South America to preach the gospel and finish the bridge Jim Elliot and his crew started including his own wife Elisabeth Elliot.

You may be thinking, “What about the Auca? How was this not a waste? Did they even find God?” Later investigation showed that the Indians had realized these men could have killed them if they wanted to but they did not. As the Auca were attacking the men one of the 5 pulled out a gun and fired warning shots. When the Auca discovered the power of the gun and how it would have destroyed them they could not fathom how someone would sacrifice themselves like this.

Later on when Elisabeth Elliot and others came with the gospel the Auca were surprisingly receptive of it. Why was this? “The Auca believed the gospel preached because they saw the gospel lived.” (Jesus Freaks II).

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

Heroes: Corrie Ten Boom (The Hiding Place)

Esther 4:14 says, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

During this time period the Jews were held in captivity by the Persian Empire under King Xerxes. A decree had been passed by the King enabling the evil Haman to destroy the Jews for not bowing down to the royal authority. One Jew that refused to bow down was Queen Esther’s uncle, Mordecai. Haman despised Mordecai for this and was determined to execute him. Mordecai wept in grief at Haman’s decree to destroy the Jews. Esther found out about Mordecai’s sorrow and asked him why he was sorrowful. Mordecai told her the situation and that God had raised her to this position for such a time as this.

Have you ever wondered why God placed you in the position you are in? It may be a position that you love or a place you are very uncomfortable. Why did God place you on this football team with a bunch of punks? Why are you at the school you are going to? Why did God place you at the top of your swim team, basketball team, or class? Or why are you in a place where you are treated poorly? Maybe it was to lead your team to Jesus. Maybe it was to show the world that God is your strength and joy no matter how bad the circumstances.

In the 1940s a woman by the name of Corrie Ten Boom was also placed in position that made her answer this question, “Why did God place me here.” Corrie and her family were watch makers that grew up in Holland. They owned and lived in their watch shop known as the Beje. This building was a three story home with the watch shop located at the front.

Early on in Corrie’s life her mother died and she lived with her father, sister, and aunts who managed the watch shop. Corrie also had an older brother who was a pastor in a city nearby. The Ten Boom family were devout Christians sold out to fulfill the calling of God. Their world was turned upside down during World War II when the Nazi Gestapo raided Holland persecuting the Jews. The Ten Boom’s felt God was calling them to help rescue the Jews.

Soon enough the Beje became the center of the Underground Jew Rescue System. It was the intermediary for messages of housing, taking care of, and hiding Jews. The Ten Booms formed a code word system that was disguised by their work at the watch shop. For example, “We are having trouble with our watch. The face is original and very popular. We were wondering if you could fix it?” (We have a Jewish man who features are very noticeable. Can you help hide him?).
The Beje was eventually housing nine Jews and the Gestapo was becoming stricter on executing the Jews. Sooner or later the Nazis were going to find out that the Ten Boom watch shop was more than a retail business. Because of this the family decided to build a secret room to hide the Jews for when the Nazis came. They brought in Holland’s most famous architect and placed the secret room on the top floor in Corrie’s room. This was to give the Jews ample time to hide while the Gestapo searched the rooms below. A hidden alarm system was also installed to warn the Jews that the Gestapo was coming.

The family and the Jews practiced hiding and flipping over mattresses (so the Nazis couldn’t feel for warm spots) until they got down to nearly one minute. Then one day the inevitable occurred. Corrie lay in her bed sick and half asleep dreaming that Jews were running across her room. When she finally awoke and came to her senses she realized this dream was real. The Gestapo was at the Beje. Corrie Jumped out of bed to help the last Jew get into her hiding place. She jumped back in bed and at that moment the Nazis burst open the door, “Where are the Jews. We know that you are the ring leader and you are hiding them.” Corrie responded, “What Jews? There are no Jews here.” Corrie was then beaten by an officer and her and here family were taken to jail.

Ten days after arriving in Jail Corrie’s father died and her and her sister were all alone. Corrie was taken to solitary confinement for four months because of her sickness. She was fed a roll of bread each day with little water. She got to the point were she couldn’t even pick herself off of the cot to eat her meal.

Corrie and her sister Betsie did not lose hope during this terrible situation. They actually thanked God through flea and lice invested cells, through abusive beatings, and lack of nourishment. They knew that God allowed them to be in this position to be a light in the darkness.

One day Corrie received a letter in the mail from her sister in law Nollie. When she opened the letter she noticed the writing was in slant. “Nollie never wrote in slant.” Corrie thought to herself, “This must be a secret message.” She picked up the envelope and slowly pulled away the stamp and there to her amazement was in tiny print, “all the watches in the cabinet are safe” (meaning all the Jews in the secret room are safe). This reaffirmed that God was in control.
Corrie and Betsie secretly got a Bible and began doing Bible studies sharing secret meetings with their cellmates. Corrie and Betsie later found out that the reason they were able to have these meetings without the Nazis knowing was because of the lice (Corrie now knew why God said give thanks in all your circumstances).

One by one people gave their lives to God and the environment of the concentration camp was transformed. Corrie was eventually released after her sister died of sickness in the camp. When Corrie got out of prison she opened up orphanages to house Jews and people that had been hurt by the war. She then went around the world and preached her story (My parents actually heard her in Dallas, Texas). She even went into Germany to help bring past Nazis into the Kingdom of God.

One day while she was in a church service in Munich after the service a German man came up to her to greet her. Corrie recognized his face from somewhere. He was one of the crueler officers at the concentration camp. The man said to her, “Corrie I want you to know that I’ve given my life to Jesus! I also want to ask for your forgiveness.” Corrie paused a second and then lifted her hand to shake his and with a loving voice responded, “Brother, I forgive you.”
“And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

Heroes: Adoniram Judson (Ravi Zacharias)

Why are you here? Why did God create you? As I asked the room this question I got back the typical responses: “I am here to live for God. I am here to glorify God. I am here to do God’s will. I am here to have a relationship with God…”

Why are we here? Is it to have a relationship with God? Is it to be a witness for God? I often find myself trying to explain to others why we are here and the answers that I usually give are to glorify God, and to have a relationship with Him. Every time I have battled with this question I have always come up with one statement solutions such as having a relationship with God.
I know that I am here to have a relationship with God and to glorify Him but how does this help me to know how to live. This past week as I was preparing for this message I felt like God wanted me to actually write down specific reasons of why I am here. Here is a list of reasons why I am here:

- To have a relationship with God
- To talk to God everyday
- To rely solely on Him
- To be a witness to my friends
- To show God’s light to the world around me
- To bring my cross country and triathlon teammates into the kingdom of God
- To show God’s love to those that God places in my life
- To respect my parents and to show the world how to honor your father and mother
- To read God’s Word on a daily basis and apply it to my life
- To listen every moment for God’s voice
- To walk in boldness and humility
- To marry the woman that God has called me to
- To disciple young men
- To raise up leaders that are going to change the world
- To show Hope to a lost and dying world
- To pray without ceasing
- To respect my teachers and show the world how to respect authority
- To place God first in my relationships
- To make God my center focus. My only focus
- To glorify God through my running
- To show the power and strength of God through my life
- To pastor God’s sheep and seek after the lost
- To plant churches
- To sow everything I am into the kingdom of God
- To walk onto my campus and other spheres of influence expressing God’s joy and passion
- To live a passionate life
- To lay down my life for my friends
- To lay down my life for my Savior
- To honor God in my marriage
- To walk in humility and unselfishness
- To be great
- To leave a legacy
- To show the world that God is my rock, my fortress, my salvation, my strong tower, my refuge, my peace, my joy, my strength, my hope, my passion, my Lord, my King, my ultimate love, my redeemer, the one who drives me, the one who enables me to run the race without giving up, the one who enables me to mount up with wings as eagles, my pleasure, my satisfaction, my happiness.
- To leave nothing left on the field when I die
- To worship God
- To live a life of purity
- To do God’s will no matter how hard
- To trust in Him with every area of my life
- To be radical for Jesus
- To always improve
- To reach the world through missions
- To persevere and trust in God through my trials

This is why I Ryan Austin am here!

Making this list took less than ten minutes and it is something I suggest you do. Too often we think of God’s will for our lives as too generalized. Get specific. Ask God to show you why you are really here and then you will have a reason or many reasons to live.

A man in history that learned this lesson the hard way was Adoniram Judson. Adoniram Judson was the first American missionary sent overseas. When Adoniram was 12 years old he was teaching the book of revelation in its original text (Greek) to the adult service. He was considered a genius, the master mind of America. Adoniram’s intelligence got to him as he grew older though. By the time he was in college he believed that he was smarter than God, therefore God was fake. Adoniram became an atheist. At Providence College (now Brown University) Adniram was such a fierce debater that he talked many Christians out of their faith. One of these men was Adoniram’s roommate Jacob Aimes. Jacob Aimes came into college professing to be a Christian but left college as an atheist. He credited this all to his roommate Adoniram Judson.

Many years after college Adoniram was travelling to New York on horseback to be trained in theatre. After his sessions in New York he was travelling back to Boston but out of complete exhaustion he decided to pull over at an inn. When Adoniram met the inn keeper he begged for a place to sleep: “Sir, I am exhausted. I will pay you the price of a room just let me sleep somewhere; even if I have to sleep on this couch.” The inn keeper replied, “There is one room open but we have closed it because adjacent to the room is a man that is dying. He carries the stench of death and has been cursing and groaning so loud that we did not want to put anyone next to him.” “Don’t worry. He won’t bother me” suggested Judson. As Adoniram lay in bed that night his sleep was stolen from him as he heard constant cursing and screaming in agony from this dying man. Finally, in the early morning the horrid sound subsided and Judson got some rest.

As Judson was checking out the next morning he said to the inn keeper, “I noticed that the man stopped screaming in the middle of the night. Is the man’s sickness gone?” The inn keeper replied, “No, this is terrible but the man actually passed away last night.” “This must be terrible for you—the person you are hosting dying” remarked Judson. “You know what’s incredible” said the inn keeper, “As I’ve tried to find this man’s kin I can’t seem to trace anyone that knows him; no family, friends or relatives. This shocks me because I have never seen a man with such credentials die alone. This man was known as Jacob Aimes. He went to Providence College and graduated at the top of his class. He has many other credentials and was apparently very intelligent.” Judson replied, “What did you say his name was?” To Judson’s dismay the inn keeper replied, “Jacob Aimes.”

As Judson travelled back to Boston streams of tears rolled down his face. With every step of the horses’ hoofs two words pounded in his mind, “Death! Hell! Death! Hell!” Finally Judson couldn’t take it anymore jumped off his horse, fell to the ground, crying out to God, “Lord, forgive me for leading someone to hell! I give my life to you!”

Judson immediately laid down his agenda and decided to travel overseas to be a missionary for God. He first traveled to India but was soon kicked out of Calcutta. He soon went back to the mission field, this time to Burma. Judson’s wife soon died from an oriental disease. Because of shear loneliness he ended up remarrying. Judson and his family ministered in Burma for seven years and not a single convert was made. Finally, after seven years of labor one man gave his life to God. Judson ended up losing his second wife and three or four of his children ended up dying. He came back to America after his second wife died but felt called to go back to Burma.

Judson spent the rest of his life ministering in Burma. One by one the Burmese gave their lives to Jesus and thousands ended up surrendering to Jesus because the Judson’s seeds. Because of this the Burmese government began to persecute Judson and Judson became ill because of lack of food and malnourishment. Judson continued to persevere, not letting up even an inch. The Burmese seeing how sick Judson was sent him on a boat back to America but Judson ended up dying on the journey and was cast into the see.

During Judson’s lifetime he ended up translating the Bible into Burmese and his wife translated it into Thai. What Judson never knew was that long before he even arrived in Burma there was a story of Burmese folklore that was often told: “One day there will come a man from a different land. He will bring a book that will set us free.”

Until we realize why we are really here and that there is a lost and dying world that needs us, we have nothing to live for. Don’t wait for God to flip your world upside down for you to realize your purpose. Find out what His will is and live it now!

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

Created to Glorify (Theme of message from John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life)

I began the lesson by asking everyone to tell me about a time that God had blessed them and they didn’t deserve it. Some people said they won their football game last week. One person told me that they received a dog for their birthday. Some said God blessed them with a delicious steak dinner.

I was not shocked to find that the majority of the class had trouble coming up with blessings they did not deserve. A very important truth that we as followers of Christ must understand is that every good thing that we receive comes from God. Did you know that every time you take a breath it is an undeserved blessing from God? Every time you look with your eyes, step with your feet, have fun with your friends, talk with your mouth and hear with your ears it is an undeserved blessing from God.

Every time Andy runs down the field in football practice, or Hampton makes a shot, or Kelli performs a dance it is an undeserved blessing from God. Every stroke that Ramey takes in swimming, each pull Sarah powers through in crew, each moment of laughter Billy has with his friends, or when Andrew gets to compete in a game, or when Jake scores a touchdown it is an undeserved gift from God.

Every time you have fun with a friend, every moment you laugh, every time you get to eat or buy new clothes, or go on vacation, or gaze at the beautiful mountains or swim in the magnificent sea it is an undeserved gift from God. Every time you break a bone and it heals, every time you get sick but then get better, every time you feel loved, every morning you wake up, or every second you see with your eyes, feel with your touch, hear with your ears, taste with your mouth is a second blessed by God that you did not deserve.

How is all this possible? Romans 3:23 says that we all fall short of the glory of God. In other words, we don’t deserve anything but condemnation from God. We deserve death. But Jesus’ death on the cross gave us life. His blood enables us to receive God’s blessings. Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Every good thing we have is because of Jesus.

How does this apply to us? In Galatians 6:14 Paul says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Our lives are supposed to boast the cross of Christ. In other words, bring glory to Him. Every time you listen with your ears, look with your eyes, run with your legs, talk with your mouth it is supposed to show the world the reason you have these things is because of Jesus’ death on the cross.

For example, if you are playing football, make a tackle to glorify Jesus. Tackle with all your heart. If you are talking to someone glorify God by speaking words of life, words of encouragement. When you are using your hands to wash dishes work with all your heart; bring glory to Jesus. His death gave you hands. His sacrifice gave you eyes, so glorify him with what you look at. Whether it is what you think about, talk about, play, study, read, listen to, work on, or see, do everything to bring glory to God. Because it is simply because of Jesus Christ that you have eyes, ears, a mind, talents and every good thing.

To not try in school is to tell Jesus that you don’t appreciate the undeserved mind that he has given you. To look at bad pictures or think lustful thoughts is abusing God’s gift to you. To be lazy in sports, complain with your mouth, or not read your Bible is to waste the life God has given you. Show how amazing Jesus is through the way you live!

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

Leaving Boldly and The Olympic Championships

Picture this…your life is like a story. When you come to the end of your life you will be handed a book that has the title The Life of “Your Name”. This book will tell the story of your life—whether or not you made a difference on this earth, or if you lived life passionately. It will tell whether or not you kept going when life was tough or if you loved completely. It will tell of all the times you acted unselfishly and helped your dad mow the lawn or your mom wash the dishes. It will tell the times when you stepped out of your comfort zone and gave someone a compliment or respected your teachers. You will be the author of this book. And you will determine how great a book it will be.

Do you know what the most tragic story is? I found what I believe is the most tragic story one day while I was in my dad’s library. I noticed on the shelf a new book that was titled My Life without Jesus. The reason that I picked up the book was because the author of the book was Russ Austin (my dad). I thought surely this had to be another Russ Austin so I picked up the book and opened it. When I opened it up I was shocked to find only blank, white pages. Not a single word was in the book. This is the most tragic story— a life that was wasted, a story untold; a life that never lived the adventurous story that God had for them. John Piper says, “The greatest fear in life is not dying; it is realizing when you come to the end of your life that you have wasted it.”

In Don’t Waste your Life John Piper answers the questions, “What is life about? What is it for? Why do I exist? Why am I here? How do I not waste my life?”The world says just do whatever makes you happy. If sports make you happy, play sports. If having a boyfriend brings satisfaction, get a boyfriend. In I Corinthians 10:31 God tells us, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory or God.” In other words, the meaning of life is more than just being happy it is about glorifying God. If we glorify God with our lives, we don’t waste them.

What does it mean to glorify God? When I was younger I loved observing ants through magnifying glasses. Something so small looked ferocious with a magnifying glass. This is not glorifying God, making something small look larger. According to John Piper, glorifying God is like looking at the moon through a telescope. The moon looks like it is two centimeters wide from the earth but with a telescope you actually see that it is thousands of miles wide. In other words, to glorify God means to show him for who he really is.

If glorifying God is the reason that we are here, then when is God most glorified? According to Piper God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with Him. In other words, when God is the thing that makes you happier than anything else that is when He is glorified the most.

For example, my favorite restaurant is Rosas Café in Midland, Texas. This is the greatest
Mexican food on the planet! The tortillas dough is hand made and then placed on a tortilla cooker that you can watch through the glass as you see the dough pounded and baked by the surrounding flames to perfection. The tortillas are immediately served and it is like a warm bite of heaven. The frijoles are authentic with Mexican seasoned rice. They also have perfectly marinated fejitas. The best part is it is inexpensive. I believe if we had this restaurant here I’d be as big as a house and all the other restaurants would go out of business.

As I speak about Rosas Café what am I doing? I am glorifying it. I like Rosas so much that it is glorified when I talk about it and it makes others want it too. In the same way, we are called to be so in love with Jesus that we can’t help but express our joy and happiness to others that we get from being with Him. As we live out God’s Word and experience the promises and joy that He has for our lives we will long to glorify him—whether it is in our sports, dance, studies, or work. This is why the Bible tells us whatever we do, do it to glorify God. Sports, dance, studies and work are filled with joy when we do them to glorify God. This type of life is one that is complete and contains meaning and joy. It is a wonderful story!

One of the greatest things about you all as Jr. High students your life is still before you. What will be your STORY? (click this link to watch a sweet video we watched)

The greatest stories are yet to be told. The best leaders are yet to be formed. The greatest books are yet to be written. The greatest presidents, athletes, dancers, actors, businessmen, doctors, lawyers, teachers, pastors, evangelists and world changers are yet to come!

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

Learn Humbly

For this week's Olympic game we played "Move if..." Raquel Smeenge was the Champion



One of the greatest lessons that my dad taught my brother and me growing up was always keep on improving. If you are not as good at basketball as the good players just keep on improving. In the game of basketball there is always something that you can be getting better at—whether it is working on plays, getting quicker, becoming a more skilled passer and ball handler, or having a more fluid shot. If you will simply improve each week you will eventually pass up those who are better than you now.

Trees are a fascinating plant that teach us a valuable lesson about life. Trees grow until they die. When a tree stops growing it dies. God is calling us to grow until we die. If you’ve stopped growing then you are spiritually dead. If you are just staying in the same spot, you’re not getting better at reading your Bible on a consistent basis, you’re not praying more, you’re not sinning less then you are dead. It is time to start growing and improving.

How do you grow and improve? You must become a great learner. The Greatest Learner in history was Jesus Christ. From his life we discover four laws of a learner that he applied to his life that we can use to become more effective learners.

Jesus was a listener. In John 8:26 Jesus says that he listens to everything his Father tells him and obeys him. With school and friends in your neighborhood that do not know God it is sometimes difficult to listen to God. You have so much homework to do, so much music to listen to, games to play, friends to IM, mySpace—so much noise! All this noise tends to drown out God’s voice. It distracts us from reading the Bible and listening to God’s voice. Jesus experienced the same problem we face—constant noise. How did Jesus cancel out the noise? The Bible tells us multiple times that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, a place of solitude. The Mount of Olives overlooks Jerusalem. Jesus would go here on a consistent basis and talk to God. If we are going to become great listeners we must go to a solitary place, away from distraction and seek God.
In “One Month to Live” Kerry Shook gives us a great analogy of metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. What happens? The caterpillar creates a cocoon and changes from the inside out. It actually grows wings. It doesn’t find a pair of leaves and glue them on it’s back. It actually becomes a new bug. “How does one become a butterfly?...You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar” (Trina Paulus). In other words, we must stop moving and “Be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10). If we are not able to sacrifice our agenda to get alone with God we will never learn because we fail to listen to God.

Jesus also walked in humility. Jesus knew that he could do nothing apart from God. Humility is the ability to constantly improve. Those who are humble always improve because they realize that they need help and are willing to admit that they can’t succeed without God and others.
Jesus trusted the Teacher. Jesus trusted God. He knew God was in control. He knew God’s way was best. In school, if you do not trust your teachers’ knowledge of the subject they are teaching you probably are not going to listen to them and do what they tell you. We must trust the truth that God’s way is best so that we can learn from him. Our growth will be stunted if we fail to trust the Teacher.

Finally, Jesus learned to pick himself up. When you fall… get up. When life is tough and you get knocked down… get up! When your teammates mock you get up! When you mess up in life get up! A learner gets up when he falls, makes a mistake, or gets knocked down. In one of my favorite all time movies Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell is racing at the Olympic trials and on the first curve he gets shoved off the track. Rather than giving up, Eric jumps to his feet and runs down the leader to gain the victory. Eric Liddell refused to give up. He learned to pick himself up when he got knocked down. Winston Churchill said, “Never give up. Never give up. Never ever give up!” We can’t give up! God has too much for us to accomplish. When Jesus walked the hills of calvary carrying his cross did He give up? Quitting was never an option in his mind. Every time He got knocked down he got up. Jesus loved you so much that every time he got knocked down he saw your face and decided I must get up for him for her.

What was it that enabled Eric Liddell to get up, to see the race to it’s end? The final race in Chariots of Fire is Eric Liddell at the 1924 Olympiad in Paris. As Eric sprints in the last 150 meters he thinks back to an earlier scene when he was talking to his sister Jenny: “Jenny, I believe that God made me for a purpose…but he also made me fast!... What is it that enables a man to see the race to the end? It comes from within!” What was it that Eric Liddell had that enabled him to pick himself up when he fell and see the race to its end? It was Who was living inside him. 2000 years earlier Jesus had already run the race. He had been knocked down but had gotten up and won. Now Jesus was running with Eric every step of the way. I’m here today to simply say that you can do it! You can win this race because Jesus Christ lives in you!

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

“Loving Completely” & the Olympic Games

Zach Clemons, Patrick, and Dorrian won bronze this week while the girls took gold led by Brittany Broom.



The greatest Olympians in history were those that had the ability to sacrifice more than the rest. It wasn’t that they were superhuman or more athletic. Their competitors were pretty much equal to them. But when it came to who could push through the pain when the legs were burning, the lungs felt like they would explode, when it felt like it wasn’t worth it anymore, when the stomach was aching and the odds were against them they were different. They observed what had to be done and made the sacrifice… (Watch this go to Kip Keino )

I John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our life for our brothers.” Jesus had one month to live and he lived passionately but he also loved completely. He showed us what love is: “He laid down his life for us.”

Without sacrifice, without laying down your life you cannot have true love. The only way you will change your school is if God’s love is flowing through you to others. How much you love something is shown by the amount you sacrifice for it. Jesus loves us so much that He sacrificed everything so that we could be with Him. What are you going to sacrifice this school year? Are you going to lay down your pride, your insecurity, your selfishness? What are your friends worth to you? God is calling us to lay down who we are so that we can show the world who He is. The more we sacrifice who we are, our wants, our desires, our insecurities and pride the easier others will feel and see Jesus.

If you had one month to live wouldn’t you show your family and friends how much you loved them? Live as if you had one month to live and step out of your comfort zone so that you can love completely. What kind of sacrifice are you going to make this month for those around you? Finally and most importantly, what sacrifice are you going to make for God? If you only understood the sacrifice He made for you, you would do everything you could to live for Him.
Kerry Shook, author of One Month to Live, gives us a great example of God’s sacrificial love: “God’s sacrifice reminds me of the story of a man who operated a drawbridge over a bay in a small ocean town. Everyday he would walk up to the office next to the drawbridge with the train track on it would rise, and enormous ships would glide through. Then he would push the lever down, and the drawbridge would lower so the train could cross safely.

Almost every day his little boy would go to work with him—he loved to watch his dad raise and lower the drawbridge. One day when they were there together, the dad was radioed that a nonscheduled train was on its way and he needed to lower the drawbridge. He glanced out the window just as he was touching the lever, and he saw his little boy outside playing in the huge gears of the drawbridge next to the shore. He yelled for him, but his son couldn’t hear him with all the commotion and noise near the water.

The man raced out of the office and ran toward his son to try to grab him and pull him to safety, but then the horrible thought struck him. If he didn’t push down that lever right away, the train would plunge into the sea, and hundreds of passengers would die. But if he lowered the bridge, his son would be killed. At the last possible second he made his terrible decision, raced back to his station, and pulled down the lever, falling to his knees in agony as his little boy was crushed to death. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he looked out and saw the train racing safely over the bridge. He could see in the window of one of the dining cars that people were eating, drinking, and laughing , totally oblivious to the great sacrifice he had just make so they could live.
Most of us are totally oblivious to the sacrifice God has made.”
What is your sacrifice going to be?

Ryan Austin

“The Unlit Torch”

We started out with a game called The Distracted Obstacle Course. Kyle had ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Dorrian, Samantha, Rachel Christian and Caitlin work together to get through the obstacle course without falling into the “pit of lava.” The goal of the game was to get the four “blind” people safely through the course by listening to their leader who could see. With their eyes closed Dorrian, Christian, Caitlin and Samantha barely made it through the course without falling, but thanks to their leader who could see they made it safely through. Once this group accomplished this task Kyle had everyone else in the class go through the course in front of the four “blind” people separating the seeing leader from the blind. This time the “blind” people fell into the lava and were therefore unable to accomplish their goal because they could not hear their leader.

Isaiah 50:10-11 says, “Let him who walks in the dark,
who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of t torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.”

Why would God tell us that lighting fires to see in the darkness is not a good idea? He says that if you do light a fire for yourself you will lie down in torment. In other words, you will come to the end of your life and be in deep regret for the way you lived your life.

To understand why a lit torch is bad we must understand what a lit torch is and what darkness is. Darkness is a time in your life when things are not going the way you planned they would. Your friends at school don’t seem to like you, you’re not getting along with your parents, or you just don’t feel good. It may be a time when you feel like Christianity is not working for you like it used to. Your quiet times feel dry. You’re exhausted every day and it feels like if you wake up to read your Bible in the morning you won’t survive. It may even be a time when you are just bored and it seems like nothing satisfies you.

During these times of darkness God tells us in Isaiah to trust in the name of the Lord and rely on God. Does it take more trust to walk in a lit cave or listen to a voice telling you where to go in darkness? There is no trust needed in a lit pathway, you know where you are going.

So what are lit torches? A lit torch is anything that places you in control of your situation rather than God. If you are in a dark time of your life you have the option of trusting in God or lighting a torch. For example, your friends at school are ignoring you because you don’t have the looks or the clothes like they do. Lighting a torch would be focusing on looks and style to bring you friends rather than God and character. Many people constantly stare at the mirror trying to look just right so that they will be accepted by others. This is lighting a torch.

Another lit torch is boyfriends and girlfriends. If you are at a time in your life when you feel lonely or are struggling with acceptance it is easy to take the easy way out and just get a boyfriend or girlfriend. Everyone else at your school is doing it and it seems like it would feel so good to have a partner. You would no longer be the lone ranger. God, though, doesn’t want us to light the torch of boyfriends and girlfriends. He wants us to trust in Him and find our satisfaction in Him.

Some of us are bored with living for God so we go to our video game systems or MySpace to take away the boredom. Others of us are tired and feel like if we get up to read our Bibles and pray that we will be exhausted. We use sleep as our torch to provide us with energy when God wants us to trust in Him to give us energy.

The reason why lighting a torch is so bad is because what starts to happen is we think, “I’m athletic. I’m smart. I have a boyfriend. I have good looks. I have an X-Box. I’m funny. I have A’s…” Lighting a torch is all about “I” and what “I” have. It places you in control rather than God. It is easy to light a torch because we want to see where we are going and be in control of our lives. We must learn to trust in God when life takes turn we don’t like. If we look to our grades, girlfriends, looks, video games and sleep to bring us comfort and happiness during these hard times of our life God says that we will lie down in torment. Translated this means that you will have come to the end of your life and realize that you have wasted it. You never experienced God’s blessings because you always lit torches. You never learned to simply trust in Him in the difficult times and let Him bring you happiness. Don’t miss out on the life that God has for you. Let Him guide you in the good times and the dark times.

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

Quest for ZOE

We began the day with a game called “Don’t Wake the Bear.” The objective of this game is to steal the baby bear without letting the mama or papa bear see you. To do this the entire class starts at the opposite side of the room to where the parent bear is. With the mama bear facing away from the group the class tries to sneak up and grab the baby bear (teddy bear) without the big bear (person) seeing you. Whenever the mama bear turns their back to the class the class moves, but if the mama bear turns around and sees you moving you are out. The person to grab the baby bear without getting caught became the mama or papa bear. Ramey, Billy, Kaley, Sam and Kayla were the valiant souls that risked their lives and grabbed the baby bear.

This week we are on a Quest for ZOE. What in the world is ZOE? ZOE is more valuable than any treasure. It is an ancient word that the Greeks used that was more valuable than any amount of gold. Fame was exciting. Having, riches, gold and power were things that people longed for but if one found ZOE they found a treasure that was more valuable than a combination of all the riches of the most powerful kings in the world.

ZOE is a word that the Greeks use for life. It means more than just being alive. It is the life that God gives. It is a life active and vigorous, devoted to God; a life of adventure.

Where in the Bible do we find ZOE? In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come to bring LIFE and LIFE TO THE FULL.” Jesus came to bring life. In other words, Jesus came to bring ZOE— a life real and genuine; one that is filled with excitement and productivity. A life filled with energy and a power to change the world. A life filled with adventure, conquering armies, exploring and destroying the kingdom of darkness.
There are characters in history that have found this ZOE which I speak of. In I Samuel a young man named Jonathan found ZOE. When Jonathan was a young man the Philistine army had taken control of his country, Israel. All of Israel was hiding in fear from the enemy. Not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them. Jonathan was sick of the enemy ruling his homeland so one day he looked at his armor bearer and said, “Let’s go over to the Philistine outpost.” Jonathan went to the outpost and said to his armor bearer, “If they tell us to come up to them, then that will be a sign that God has given them into our hands. If they tell us to wait here, then God has not given them into our hands yet.” When the enemy saw Jonathan and his armor bearer in the valley below they yelled at them, “Come up here, and we will teach you two a lesson.” Jonathan looked at his armor bearer and said, “Sweet! God has given them into our hands.” With their bare hands Jonathan and his partner began climbing up the face of the cliff. When they finally reached the top the power of God fell and the Philistines began going crazy, “Oh my! There’s two of them!” One by one the two young men took out the enemy and brought freedom back to Israel that day.

Another character in history that found ZOE was Elisha. One day a woman came to Elisha and told him that her son had just died and she wanted help. Elisha turned to his servant Gehazi and told him to run to the boy’s house and lay his staff on the boys face. Gehazi ran to the boy and laid his staff on the boys face but nothing happened. Gehazi told Elisha it didn’t work. Elisha then came into the house of the boy and shut the door on the mother and Gehazi and began to battle in prayer for the boy. After praying he laid his body across the boy and the boy’s body became warm. Elisha then got up and prayed more and laid himself across the boy’s body again. The boy then came back to life.

Jonathan and Elisha both found ZOE. What separated these men from the rest? What was it that they possessed inside of them that enabled them to discover this treasure?

The first thing is they were determined to see change. Jonathan was sick of the Philistines ruling the land. He was sick of his generation doing nothing. He determined that his generation would change the world, even if he was the only one to face the giants. Elisha was determined for God to heal the boy. He went the extra mile. Then he did it again (laid himself across the boy 2xs).
The second thing they did was they closed the door of negativity. Elisha shut the door on the crying woman and frustrated Gehazi. Jonathan separated from the complaining, negative army. They did not let the lies of the enemy get to them.

Finally, they realized that God is bigger than the boogey man. He is bigger than any problem you will ever face. They both knew that God is not limited by what men can do. He just needs someone who will make a move.

If we find Jesus and have a determination to change, close the doors of negativity and believe that God is bigger than any obstacle that we face we too will find a life of adventure; one that changes the world.

Quest for Purity

Kyle (leader) began with an illustration of how sin drags us down. The first volunteer to come up to the front of the room was Sam. Kyle told Sam to run around the room as fast as he could. Sam sprinted around the room. Kyle then gave him a box and told him to run around the room as fast as he could. Sam still ran fast but not quite as fast as the first time. Kyle then gave him three hoolahoops and told him to run with both the box and the hoops. This time he was slower. Kyle continued giving Sam objects until he could not even walk. Other people were volunteered to help Sam carry all of his stuff around the room. Sarah, Austin, Samantha, Sam and a few others were soon running around the room bumping into each other with boxes, extension cords, a bike, hoolahoops and books hardly being able to move. This is what sin does to us. At first it seems like it doesn’t hurt us that bad, but the enemy slowly adds on more until we are at a standstill with our walk with God.

In the tundra of the north the Eskimos have a unique way of hunting wolves. They will get animal blood and stick the blade of a knife in the blood. They will then take the blade and hold it up in the freezing air. Once the blood has frozen to the blade they will repeat this over and over again until the blood is a few millimeters thick. They will then go to the edge of the forest and stick the handle of the knife into the ground with the blade being exposed and walk off. The wolf will eventually walk by and smell the blood. It will search all around for the animal with the blood it smells. Finally, it will give up and come back to the blade. Tired and thirsty the wolf will begin licking the blade. As it continues to lick the pop sickle of blood eventually the ice melts and the blade cuts the wolf’s tongue and without noticing the wolf will accidentally drink its own blood. This causes the wolf to go into shock and die.

Sin slowly and subtly destroys you. The enemy is not going to attack you by letting you know what he is up to. He is going to slowly expose you to sin and make it familiar to you. Just like the wolf is numbed by the frozen blade and can’t feel what is happening to him, the enemy numbs you to how bad sin is.

The enemy has been trying to do this since creation. In Genesis 3:4 the serpent (the devil) tries to make disobeying God seem like it isn’t that bad. It is the normal thing to do. The world is trying to make sin familiar to us: “Bad pictures is what every guy looks at. It’s okay to listen to music that talks about girl and guy things. It’s normal to date and hold the opposite sex’s hand in 7th grade. It’s okay to kiss a guy. It’s cool to know the lyrics to all the latest secular music. “
In Genesis 2:16-17 God told Adam and Eve to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God never wanted us to become familiar to sin, to KNOW EVIL. Instead, Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:3 to become like little children (not childish). Why would Jesus tell us to have the spirit of a child? He was showing us that we must not be hardened by the world and its desires. We must become pure and innocent and not familiar to evil.

How are you going to remain pure? How are you going to have the spirit of a child? Psalm 119:11 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your Word (God’s Word).” We must live according to the Bible. The answer is this simple: OBEY HIM! When a girl is dressed bad, live according to God’s Word and don’t look, because God’s Word says, “Do not look lustfully at a girl.” When all your friends are singing secular songs at school, don’t sing with them, don’t listen, because the Bible tells you not to. Girls, when your friends flirt with guys it’s not okay for you to flirt. It’s not okay to hold a guy’s hand or even think about dating someone as a Jr. High student. God wants you to have the Spirit of a child.

You may be thinking, “Man, if the wolf would have just licked the ice and not the knife! It doesn’t work this way. Adam and Eve did not fall because they accidentally ate the fruit. They fell because they began to desire it. The enemy wants you to desire sin first. He wants you to be curious for that sweet music, that cute guy, that cute girl. If he can get you to think it’s normal and want it then it is already too late.

Quest for Friends

I began the message with asking everyone in the room if they had seen Kyle (Kyle is the Jr. High leader that does all the fun games at the beginning of class). Everyone said they did not know where he was. “Man, where is he at?” I exclaimed. Turning to the other leaders in the room, I said, “That’s it, I’m going to look for him.” As soon as I opened the door and walked out of the room the lights shut off, and a video projected on the wall of me in the hallway with the same clothes on. This video shot me running around town to get to Kyle’s house and wake him up for church. After finding him we drive back to the church, run up the stairwell and into the classroom. As soon as we get to the classroom the video shut off and the real Kyle and I walked into the class, “I found Kyle!”

After this act we played a game where you must work together in pairs blindfolded and build a structure that a third person without a blindfold is telling you how to build. This game was intense and difficult. The girls, thanks to Sarah Hughes’ leadership were the closest to finishing. Once the game was over I gave the message.

Matthew 7:7says, “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” There is a treasure. You must find it! This week we are on a quest for friends, just like Kyle and I in the video.

Imagine us being like one big family. Picture Emily, Kelli, Samantha, Ramey, Rhesa, Kaley, Katie and Sarah (these were some of the girls on Sunday) becoming more than just church friends, but instead becoming like one big family. Imagine Hampton, Derek, Cody, Jeffrey, Baily, Austin, Dylan, Tyler and Andy (some of the guys on Sunday) all hanging out every weekend. What if we had like 50 girls at movie night at Shelby’s with no cliques or insecurities? What if it was like having one gigantic family of best friends? Imagine paintball with 50 of your best friends rather than 50 church people acquaintances. It would be like hanging out with your best friend, except now it is 50 times better. There is no insecurities, no weirdness. You can be yourself.

I had this when I was in middle school. Every Tuesday night we would do a Bible study at our house with basketball prior to the study. We soon grew to 30 people on a weekly basis. To this day, I have never seen a group of Jr. High guys worship God so passionately and be so closely banded to each other. I can still call up these guys that I have not seen in 12 years and hardly miss a beat. God did something miraculous in my life at this age that I’ll never forget.

Frodo and Sam’s friendship shows what I am talking about (We played the clip from “The Return of the King” where Sam carries Frodo up Mt. Doom). Frodo is in turmoil from carrying the ring as it is eating away his soul. In agony, Frodo falls to the ground and tells Sam he can’t make it. Then Sam says one of the most powerful lines in movie history, “Mr. Frodo, I can’t carry this burden for you, but I can carry you!” Sam completely exhausted then picks Frodo up and starts marching up the mountain.

What can make this happen? What is the key to this miracle of friendships? Where can we find it? How can we get to it? The first step to any treasure hunt is you must first find the map. The Bible is a treasure map that leads to incredible treasures. There are three clues that I have found that lead to the treasure spoken of above.

The first clue is in Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus tells us the second greatest command is to love your neighbor as yourself. Okay, so to get this amazing type of friendship and unity in your life you must love others. But this is not all of it. This is a clue that leads to a clue. Clue #2 is found in I Corinthians 13. Here we find out what love is. Love is patient, love is kind, love is not self-seeking… Now we know what loving others is. We know what it looks like. It is patient, unselfish, kind... We are getting closer to the treasure but we are not quite there. In John 15:13 Jesus gives us the final clue which says, “No greater love is there than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The greatest love is the love that is 100 percent unselfish; sacrificial love. This is perfect love. Perfect love is found in I John 4:18, which says that perfect love drives out all fear.
It is when we have perfect love, love that is willing to lay down everything we are for others that we find an atmosphere of friendships with no insecurities, no trying to impress others and no self-centeredness. There is perfect unity in this level of friendships and incredible joy. Once we attain this treasure we get the above which I spoke of.

"I Think, Therefore I am"

A few weeks ago Kyle and I went on a camping trip to North Carolina. One of our friends asked us, “How do you beat temptation? How do you not think about girls? How do you not give into sin when it is so tempting to do?” I told him you have to quote scripture when you pray, not just ask God to help you not think about that thing.

I then began asking myself, “How can a middle school student live victoriously? How can he read his Bible on a daily basis? How can she not give into temptation? How can he not think that bad thought, say that word?” It is more than just quoting scripture!

What does the Bible say about this? Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to attest and prove what God’s will is. His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Your mind is like an empty room that stores ideas that come from the music you listen to, the TV you watch and the people you hang around.

The world has millions of ideas on life. Music says that it is a girl’s body we should like. Magazines and TV tell us if we look pretty people will like us. Billboards on the highway tell us to look at girls. Beer advertisements tell us that parties bring fun to life, and everyone is doing them.

These ideas are stored in this room. These ideas will stay in your mind (this room) until you decide to renew your mind. They will become your thoughts if you don’t renew your mind, and they will in turn become your actions. For example, if you think about a bad song with the lyrics, “I love your body,” the moment you see a girl you will begin to think about her body, which is lusting. If you never think of purity, things that are praiseworthy, things that are noble, then you’ll never know how to be pure. If you never think about witnessing and being as bold as a lion, you will probably not witness to your friends. If you think about a movie of a guy and a girl kissing, you will have the idea stored in you that it’s okay to kiss and when you are tempted to kiss you will be more likely to kiss.

Now you see how vitally important your thoughts are. The famous philosopher Rene Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” What you think about is what you will become.
How in the world can you not think about all these things? Your friends talk about them. Billboards on the highway show them. The internet and TV is filled with it. Music says it. Everything around you gives you these ideas. Is it possible to change what you think about? –Yes

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

YOU MUST LEARN TO THINK THE BIBLE. Step 1: You have to clean out the junk. The first step to cleaning out your closet is getting the junk out. You must get rid of the bad music, TV, and friends that impart worldly thinking to you. Step 2: Fill it back up with the good stuff. Read the Bible to think the Bible.

If you can learn to think scripture, you will become scripture. Imagine what we could become if we learned to think the Bible. When a temptation comes we think scripture and our actions turn into scripture. Try this for a week and see the miracle God does.

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. your Elders

In today’s culture the respect for elders is dying. Popular movies and t.v. shows like Borat and family guy are being viewed by the majority of young people. Even if you don’t listen to the music or watch these types of programs as a young person you are still being exposed to this poison. Today middle school and high school students will yell, cus out teachers to their face, sleep in class, not listen to their parents and feel completely okay about it because according to media authority is evil and stupid.

What does the Bible say about disrespecting authority? 2 Kings tells us a story about a young King named Rehoboam who ruled harshly. One day the people came to him and asked him to not be so harsh. At first Rehoboam asked the elders what he should do. They told him to lighten the load and the people would always served him. But Rehoboam ignored this advice and asked his cool friends what they thought they should do. They told him to tell the people to stop being babies and that he would make life even harder for them.

Rehoboam, wanting to please his young friends, did what they told him to do and he ended up losing everything. The people ended up rebelling against him and the throne was taken from him.

Today if we as young people do not learn to respect our elders, we will be haunted by anarchy and lose our kingship just like Rehoboam. When you fail to submit to authority, your personal authority in the future will be stolen from you. When you disrespect authority you disrespect God.

How do you battle this? You must R.E.S.P.E.C.T. your elders. This is a simple way to remember practical ways to submit to authority that has been lost in today’s world:

1. R.each out your hand when meeting an older person.
2. E.ye contact – look at older people right in the eye when talking with them.
3. S.ir, Mam – say “yes sir,” “yes mam.”
4. P.ray for them
5. E.ars- listen to them
6. C.reate conversation – talk to them. They want you to.
7. T.eachable- Don’t be like Rehoboam. Listen to what they tell you. They’ve lived life longer than you.

RESPECT your elders, respect God, respect his church, respect His Word and God’s favor will rest upon you. Disrespect these and you will be like Rehoboam and have disfavor.

Solomon's Lunch Table

We started off the day with playing a game known as chubby bunny. The goal of this game is to stuff a marsh mellow at a time into your mouth and then say “chubby bunny.” The person that can stuff the most marsh mellows and still pronounce chubby bunny wins. The winners were Hampton Jacobs and Kayla Vining.

The room was set up as a lunch room with 2 long tables that everyone sat at while we played our games and the message was taught. After playing Chubby Bunny I talked about the conversation that goes on at our lunch tables today. When I was in high school our lunches consisted of talking about sports and making clean jokes. Today’s culture though is completely different. I have surveyed many young people from 6th to 8th grade about what their table talks about at lunch today. The top at the list is girl friends and boy friends with video games following. When I first heard that this is what 6th graders talk about I was shocked.

In I Kings 11 we find that king Solomon faced a similar situation that young people face today. King Solomon was gifted with wisdom. Because of this everything that he did he did it right. He was probably the richest man to ever walk the planet and it says in the Bible that all the people of Israel lived in peace in happiness during this time. Solomon and his kingdom had all of this, but then something tragic occurred. Solomon however loved many foreign women. He fell into the trap o f making women his God and because of this he lost everything.

It would be like this. Solomon had the sweetest lunch table ever! He had the choice of any food –Chic-fil-a, Cheesecake, t-bone steak, Al’s pizza…All of his friends were happy. No one talked bad about each other. Every time Solomon did something, he did it right. At the guys’ tables they had virtual reality Call of Duty 4 with virtual suites that were similar to Ironman. The greatest part of lunch was that it lasted for 2 hrs rather than 25 minutes. The lunch room was hooked up to the mall so that girls had 1 hour to shop for clothes earned by bonus points from class. Not only did this lunch room have all this but it was gigantic and had a go cart path that went in between the tables. There was one rule that allowed all of this fun: place God 1st. As long as God is # 1 lunch will be amazing.

This was Solomon’s lunch table at school, then something tragic happened. At lunch one day, while he was eating his Joey Bag of Donuts, a new guy from out of town sat at Sol’s table. This new guy was good looking, athletic and smart, but he did not know Jesus. Everyone thought he was the coolest kid in town. It was less than a week and everyone knew who Tom was. Solomon and Tom became buddies. They were both incredibly smart and cool. 2 months after Tom arrived the disaster began. As Tom and Solomon and their friends were eating their lunch, Tom said, “Has anyone noticed the hot new girl?” (everyone froze at the table) “What?” Tom then asked a guy across from him, “Al, who do you like? I heard that Erica thinks you’re cute.”

At first everyone was shocked that Tom had said this. But each day Tom continued talking about girls and one by one Tom rubbed off on other people, until girls were talking about guys and guys were talking about girls. At first there seemed to be no harm from this. They were innocent, having fun. But then guys began to day dream about girls during class and girls thought about guys constantly. When they would go to lunch their conversation turned from God to girlfriends and boyfriends. God was being erased from the lunch room. He was placed on the back burner. It was all about who liked who. God had always warned Solomon to place Him first and things would be great, but this was his downfall. These blessings were torn from him. He lost the freedom of 2 hour lunches. The fun at the lunch table was gone. Lunch became boring.

It says in the Bible that Solomon’s blessings were torn away from him because he made women his idol and served their idols.

God created us to have this amazing life that Solomon had before he fell but we have let it be torn away from us by following culture’s ways. It is up to us to change the conversation in our lunch room. God has placed you at your lunch table to change the conversation and place Him first.

Imagine what your lunch room would look like if one by one your friends and classmates began making God the number one conversation. The blessings would come and you would have an incredible transformed lunch room.

We ended the day with playing musical pies. This was a blast. The girls just dabbed the pie on their noses (except for Kaley VanAlstyne, who completely dunked her head), while the guys went all out. The winners got to pie Kyle (leader) and I, which was interesting for picture day.

"The Treasure Chest"

My worst class in college was macroeconomics. Never in my life have I had a teacher that was so difficult. I remember my brother and I studying for 20 hours before each test and still barely passing. This class started with 50 people and only 10 passed the class. Why was this class so difficult? Yes, the tests were hard but the biggest obstacle was boredom.

My best class in college was microeconomics. In this class I learned more than 3 classes combined, and it was one of my highest grades. The material was actually more difficult than macro but because the teacher was the most interesting Professor I have ever taken it made the class exciting and easy to learn.

Sometimes, the Bible seems like the most difficult thing in the world to read. As middle school students we have so many fun things we can do. Whether we are hanging out with neighborhood friends, playing Basketball, dancing, going on My Space, playing video games, or texting our friends, there is always something exciting we can be doing. All these things make the Bible seem old and boring sometimes. Because of this many of us struggle with reading God’s Word. We know we should read the Bible. We try to wake up and read it but are “killed” by boredom.
How can we break out of this? How can we make the Bible become something interesting? Proverbs 2:3-6 says, “…If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” As I read this I realized that God’s Word is like a treasure chest. Inside of the chest are incredible blessings and treasures. We are all treasure hunters searching for real treasures that God wants us to have. We simply have to search for this treasure.
If you found a map that led to a treasure chest full of rubies and gold in the Bahamas, your initial response would be, “This is fake!” Chances are high that you would throw the map away. But what if you knew that the treasure was real and there was millions of dollars worth of gold in this box? You would be immediately studying the map and booking flights to the Bahamas. Getting to the treasure chest would be first priority.

The Bible is a real treasure chest full of everything you could dream of. The treasures inside are real! Inside of this Treasure Chest you will find your dreams, amazing friends, happiness, joy, hope, victory, who you are, health, wisdom, strength, weapons to fight temptation, peace, why you are here… Once we realize that the Bible is a treasure chest filled with the greatest treasures we could dream of it will no longer be boring to us. It will be first priority to us no matter how tired or busy we are.

You must know that the treasure is real and what it is. You will never search for a treasure chest you believe is full of sand. Search the Bible like a hidden treasure. Find out what God is speaking to you. Ask yourself what king David did right when you read David and Goliath, what Samson did wrong when he lost his strength, Why Esther was an amazing queen as you read about her, and then apply these characters’ stories to your story (life). When you do this you will find a treasure God has for you!

Imagine what would happen to this middle school group if we began to search for this treasure, what would happen to our friends at school, our teammates and classmates. The world would begin to see an interesting Christianity.

Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader

Foundations

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Guys’ Discipleship – This Sunday we are having discipleship for the guys at 9:40 am. We will be going over “Our Daily Blog,” lessons April 14th through April 18th.
Band of Brothers – Join us this Saturday at 10 am at UNF. I cannot stress enough how important it is that your sons get involved with Godly friendships at this age. Every young man that is consistently involved in B.O.B. has had a remarkable impact on their relationship with God. Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character" (I Cor 15:33). Get connected with Godly company!

Girls’ Life Group – Saturdays at 11am the jr. high girls meet for Bible study at Starbucks in Tinseltown. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to get your daughter connected into Godly relationships! Talk to Shelby Reeder for details. Email: shelbinater17@bellsouth.net


THE MESSAGE

“Foundations”

I Corinthians 3: 9-10 says, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.”
The life of a Christian is compared to a building. The single most important feature to any building is its foundation. Without a proper foundation the building over time will eventually fall. The foundation determines how high you can build and how much weight it can hold. People have spent millions of dollars on the leaning tower of Pisa to keep it standing all because of poor foundations laid since its beginning.

I remember when I was in 6th grade my brother, some friends and I loved building forts in our backyard. One particular time we were building a fort that extended from our house to the backyard fence. This fort was about as tall as me and was built so that you could stand on top or walk underneath, like walking under a tunnel. As the day came to close we finally finished this amazing piece of art. The only problem with this fort was that all the weight was resting on a single 4 x 4. There must have been twenty pieces of wood hammered into this 4 x 4. When we finished we rejoiced momentarily for the fort was gone within twenty minutes. As my friend, Daniel was standing on top the fort suddenly came crashing down. Luckily, none of us were underneath.

Without a proper foundation, over time, as the building becomes old and the wind blows and the rain pours and weight is added the building will not hold up but will eventually come crashing down. In the same way, if you do have the proper foundation as a Christian, as you get older and temptations blow your way and the world pours its beliefs on you and the weight of this world increases, you will eventually crumble under the pressure. This happens in the lives of so many young people who profess to be Christians. They set out to live the Christian life but almost every time their lives fall apart. When they get to high school they join the parties. When their friend shows them a bad song that has a sweet beat they go ahead and listen. When a bad picture comes up on the computer they look – all because they have the wrong foundation.
What is the foundation we are supposed to have? I Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is your foundation. There can be no other foundation in your life. Any other foundation and you will fall. Your foundation cannot be: your parents, your friends, success, religion, excitement, happiness, what you can get from God (blessings), or how you feel. If your foundation is anything other than Jesus you will fall. When something tragic happens, if your foundation is being happy you, the building will fall. In other words, if you are a Christian because it makes you happy, as soon as you lose happiness (your foundation) you will fall. If you read the Bible because your parents make you, as soon as you go off to college you will stop reading the Bible because your foundation (your parents) is gone. If your foundation is God’s blessings, as soon as you break a leg and lose your chance of being in the NFL you will fall. If your foundation is the Christian religion, as soon as a new religion is presented you will abandon Christianity.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.” When reading this text it almost sounds as if Jesus was saying that the foundation He was going to build the church on was Peter. But if you look closely you will see differently. In Greek, Peter means petros, which is defined as “small stone” or “pebble.” The word “rock” here means petra, which is defined as “large rock.” Therefore, Jesus was actually showing Peter how small he was compared to the foundation we are supposed to build upon – a solid and sure foundation.
Now that we know that our foundation must be Jesus how do we make Him our foundation? We must first learn to hear and obey Him. In Matthew 16:13-18, the first thing that happened to Peter was he was personally confronted by Jesus. He stood face to face with Jesus. Secondly, he had a revelation of Jesus: “This was not revealed to you by…” A Sunday school teacher didn’t just tell him something about Jesus. God personally revealed who Jesus was to Peter. Peter then personally acknowledged this truth God revealed to him. Finally, he openly (publicly) confessed this truth.

Today Jesus usually personally confronts us through the Bible, church and parents. What do you do when Jesus confronts you, when he shows you something you need to change and gives you a revelation of who he is? Do you respond in obedience? When your parents tell you not to listen to a certain type of music do you listen? When you are told to read God’s Word do you read it? When you know not to look at a bad picture do you look? If you do not respond in obedience to Jesus now, when you get older you will fall, if you haven’t fallen already.
The second thing you must do in order to make Jesus your foundation is you must know Him. John 17:3 says, “This is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ…” This verse does not say, “Know about God.” It says, “Know God.” You know about Michael Jordan. You know your brother. You could tell me something about your brother or sister. You could also tell me something about Michael Jordan, such as he played for the Bulls. What you could not do, though, that you could do with your brother is tell me that last thing that you two talked about, or what he is like when he is around the house. God wants us to know Him. Most people know about Him, but we are created to know Him.
Is your foundation Jesus? Do you know Him? Are you obedient to his confrontation?

What You Can Do as a Parent

A problem we are having in the Jr. High right now is there is a lack of respect for God’s Word. On Sunday mornings during service there will be times when I look out and less than 15% of the kids will have a Bible. When I was in Jr. High my parents instilled in me a love not just for God’s Word but the actual book, the Bible. Still, to this day I carry around the blue Bible my parents gave to me in 7th grade. Along with this Bible they gave me a notebook to write down everything that God speaks to me and everything my Jr. High Pastor Eric Terwilliger talked about. This simple act of giving me a sweet Bible and notebook and encouraging me to take care of it and take everywhere produced in me a respect for His Words and made journaling a habit.

Questions For Band of Brothers

LESSON 1

What was creation like in the beginning? (Genesis 1)

v. 10­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________________________
v. 12_______________________________________
v. 18_______________________________________
v. 21_______________________________________

How many commands did God give Adam and Eve? (Genesis 1)


What was God’s command to the first human beings? (Genesis 2:16-17)




Read Genesis3:1-13 to find out what happened next.

How did Adam and Eve respond to God’s command? (Genesis 3:6-7)
____________________________________________________________________

In light of this, do you think you would have responded any differently?

__________________________________________________________________


Think about what God attempted to shield Adam and Eve from: the knowledge of evil. What loving parents today don’t do everything possible to protect their children from dangerous material—on television, on the internet or anywhere else?

Who tempted Eve? (Genesis 3:1)
______________________________________________________________________


Adam and Eve ate the fruit God had told them not to eat— in essence saying to God, “We don’t need you or your rules.” They disobeyed God. They sinned.

How did Adam and Eve react after their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked? (Genesis3)

v. 7­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____________________________________________________________
v. 8_____________________________________________________________
v. 10____________________________________________________________

Why do you think they reacted this way?

How did God respond to Adam and Eve’s sin? (Gen 3:8-9)

________________________________________________



Notice the 2 very different responses to humanity’s sin:

Humanity covered up and hid from God.
God sought after man.

Things have not changed much since the beginning. After thousands of years and billions of people, human beings still hide from God—and God still seeks. This is the starting point for understanding salvation.

Application & Reflection
What did you learn from this lesson? How will you apply it to your life?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



LESSON 2

THE RESULTS OF SIN

The act of disobeying God is called sin. One definition fo sin is to “miss the mark,” as when you fail to hit the targe in a sporting event.

Obviously the Bible’s understanding of sin is much more serous than that. In fact, Scripture has a couple different ways of expressing this idea. Sis is some times described as a “trespass,” something that involves crossing forbidden lines or boundaries that God sets upfor our protection.

What state does the Bible describe us as being in? (Ephesians 2:1)

Why ultimately is our sin so serious to God? Leviticus 11:44


What does iniquity do to our relationship with God? Isaiah 59:1-2
_____________________________________________________________________

Describe sinful humanity’s desperate condition. (Romans 3:9-20;23)
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What are the “wages” (consequences) of sin? (Romans 6:23)

_____________________________________________________________________

What does the Bible say happens after we die? (Hebrews 9:27)

_____________________________________________________________________

How does the Bible describe eternal Judgment

Matthew 25:41_________________________________________
Revelation 20:11-15_____________________________________
Revelation 21:8_________________________________________

What does Paul, the writer of Romans, call himself? (Romans 7:24)

___________________________________________________________

In Romans 7, Paul describes his own state and cries out on behalf of all humanity with the most important question ever asked: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Humanity’s deepest need is for salvation—not just from the evil in the world, but from the evil in our own hearts.

Obviously God takes sin very seriously. What about you? What do you think you deserve for your sin?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


LESSON 3

GOD’S SOLUTION FOR SIN: JESUS’ DEATH AND RESURRECTION

The penalty for sin is death, both spiritual and physical. God’s ultimate solution for sin was foreshadowed in the original story. After Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to hide themselves with their own covering—and humanity has been hiding from God ever since. God, however, provided the real covering, and he did so by spilling the blood of an innocent animal.

The concept of sacrifice (the idea that because of sin, someone has to pay the penalty) is seen throughout the Bible. Sin was forgiven only as a result of shedding blood, a sacrifice offered in the place of sinful human beings. The sacrifice had to be one without effect.


What is necessary for the forgiveness of sins? (Hebrews 9:22)

_____________________________________________________________________

Why was Jesus “pierced”? (Isaiah 53:5)

_____________________________________________________________________

What did Jesus’ blood (sacrificial death) do for us?

Ephesians 1:7_______________________________________________

I John 1:7 ­­­­­­­­­­­­__________________________________________________

What did Jesus do for us on the cross?

I Corinthians 15:3-4__________________________________
2 Corinthians 5:21____________________________________
Galatians 3:13-14____________________________________

According to the Bible, what makes Jesus unique that he can do this for us?

John 1:18______________________________________________________
Colossians 1:15-20______________________________________________


Jesus’ blood—his sacrificial death—is God’s solution for humanity’s sin. He pays the penalty for your sin. He wants to wipe the slate clean—forgiveness. But Jesus didn’t just stay in the grave. He rose from the dead.

6. What is the significance of Jesus’ resurrection? What if there was no resurrection? (I Corinthians 15:14-19)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What makes God’s gift of grace so costly is that Jesus paid for it with his life. What makes it so powerful is that he came back from the dead—providing that he is the Son of God and showing that God accepted his sacrifice as payment for our sin.
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. --Romans 4:25

God’s law demands that sin be punished by death. Year in and year out, innocent animals would die in the place of God’s people, reminding them that is costly. However, God’s plan was to send his ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ, as a “lamb” to be offered for the sins of the whole world. Even more amazing is the fact that the Bible calls Jesus “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” God became a man in Jesus Christ and died for the sins of his own creation.

APPPLICATION

What did you learn from this lesson and how will you apply it to your life?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LESSON 4

RECEIVING GOD’S GIFT: A NEW HEART

As a result of receiving God’s sacrifice, Jesus Christ, as the payment for our sins, we not only experience forgiveness from the past, but we are given a new heart and a new life as God’s children.

What did God promise he would give his people? Ezekiel 36:26

­­­­­­
What does God do when he rescues us from our state of spiritual death? Ephesians 2:4-6


What happens when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior? John 1:12-13


What did Jesus say must happen before we can enter the kingdom of God? John 3:3-7


What do the following passages tell you about being “born again” or “born of God”?

John 1:12-13 _______________________________________________
I Peter 1:23 ________________________________________________
I John 3:9 __________________________________________________
I John 4 :7 _________________________________________________

What is the destiny of those who are “born of God?” I John 5:4


Application & Reflection

What would you do if someone could offer you a brand-new start in life? Have you received God’s gift of new life?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



LESSON 5

GRACE THROUGH FAITH

It is critical to understand that we cannot save ourselves. The foundation of our faith is Jesus’ death and resurrection. That’s what paid the penalty for our sins. As a result of God’s work in Jesus, we are a new people with a new heart and a new Lord.

Is it possible to be saved by the good things we do – our “works”? How are we saved? Ephesians 2:8-9

______________________________________________________________

Does God save us because of the good things we do? If not, why does he save us? Titus 3:4-5

_________________________________________________________________


What does God’s grace teach the believer? Titus 2:11-12

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Shall we continue to sin because of God’s forgiveness and grace? Romans 6:15

__________________________________________________________________

What are we created for as new Christians? Ephesians 2:10

__________________________________________________________________

What did Jesus say to those who believed in him? Matthew 16:24

__________________________________________________________________


As we have learned in this chapter, we are spiritually dead and cannot save ourselves. Regardless of who we are, we need a Savior. Jesus Christ is the only true Savior. By receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord, we can be delivered from the power of sin and its consequences. Our salvation is based on what Jesus did for us, not on our own efforts.
We must therefore…

Realize that we are sinners without excuse (Romans 1:20) and that it is only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can be saved.

Respond by turning from sin and putting our faith in him and then following him as Lord.