6-11-17//Teen Challenge

6-4-17//Transformed

Matt 10:16-22

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.  17 "But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues;  18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  19 "But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.  20 "For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

21 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.  22 "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. 

5-28-17//Remembrance

1 Cor 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."  26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Memorial Day was 1st widely observed on May 30, 1868. It was originally known as “Decoration Day” because it was time set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves.

After WWI, observances also began to honor those who had died in all of America’s wars. And in 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday.

Memorial = Remembrance

Memorial Day is like a funeral/memorial service: celebrate and cry

Men and women died for our freedom

CHRIST died for our freedom

            Gal 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery

5-21-17//God is Our Refuge and Strength

 

Psalm 46

God the Refuge of His People.

1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
[i]Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

5-14-17//I LOVE MOMS OR SOMETHING

Gal 6:7-9 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Sharing the gospel with others is like a mother’s love: mothers willingly give up their own comfort and security so their children can have true life. We willingly give up our comfort and security so others might have true life. 

5-7-17// Rejoicing

            1 Cor 13:1-8 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,  6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails;

4-30-17//Kindness and Severity

Romans 11:33-36

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

4-23-17//Power Nourishment

Romans 10:14-21 (ESV)

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?[a] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
    and their words to the ends of the world.”

19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
    with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

4-16-17//Before and After

Apostles before the resurrection verses after the resurrection

They Left Him And Fled

Matt 26:55-56 At that time Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me.  56 "But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets." Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

From Fleeing to Staying

Acts 4:1-3 As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. 

4-9-17//REJOICING WITH THE TRUTH AND BEARING

Matt 10:16-22 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.  17 "But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues;  18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  19 "But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.  20 "For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

21 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.  22 "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.