The Oakwood Student Ministry is getting Group Tickets to the CITY ROCKFEST 2017 CONCERT Thursday, February 16!!!!
Email Brandon.Best@oakwoodnb.com for a discounted group ticket of $10.
Students can also buy tickets at our Weekly Wednesday and Sunday meetings.
cityrockfesttour2017 – Thursday Feb 16
Location: New Braunfels Civic Center 375 S Castell Ave.
Doors Open at 6:00pm
Number of Students – 467 Middle School and High School
Number of Baptisms Sunday AM – 40
Small Group leaders – 80
Do Something Projects – We raised an estimated $20,000 for the Peru Work through Compassion International and we have a whole lot of socks and towels we will give to a local shelter.
Prayer Devotional from Know God – A 28 Day Devotional for Students
Did you know that octothorpe is the name of the # symbol on a phone? It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as “hashtag.” Ladies, did you have a Barbie growing up? Did you know her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts? So regal. Did you know there’s a town in Georgia named Santa Claus? A Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky? And a No Name, Colorado?
Names are a big deal. Branding companies make millions of dollars every year helping businesses come up with the right name. Expectant parents spend countless hours debating potential names for their kids. Imagine a world where no one had a name. Boring, right? And confusing. It’s almost as if our names carry the weight of who we are.
When Jesus talked about prayer during His famous Sermon on the Mount, He gave us an example of how our prayers should look. We creatively call this “The Lord’s Prayer.” In this prayer, Jesus began with God’s name:
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name’” (Matthew 6:9).
This introduction to The Lord’s Prayer tells us two things:
Just as a child can freely approach a good father, we can approach our perfect Father in heaven. The way we think about God affects how we approach Him. And the way we approach God is so important that Jesus began His prayer by mentioning it—approach God as your loving Father. It doesn’t mean you have to literally call him Father every time you pray. It means you simply acknowledge that God loves you and will respond to you like a loving father would respond to his children.
Prayer should start with God—not with us. God’s name carries a lot of weight. He deserves to be recognized and admired. Spend some time thinking about who God is before you starting telling Him everything you need. Prayer shouldn’t just be about us and our wish lists. Prayer reminds us who God is.
Let’s take a few minutes and turn our attention to God.
READ PSALM 96 OUT LOUD TO HELP YOU FOCUS ON GOD. WRITE DOWN THREE THINGS THAT ARE TRUE ABOUT GOD:
1.
2.
3.
Today, when you spend some time in prayer, thank God for how awesome He is and for all the great things He has done. You might want to talk to Him about the things you wrote down, or read Psalm 96 back to Him.
Tiger Woods Witnesses the First Hole-in-One at The Playgrounds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxAoz2eE_ZM
Perfection
Colossians 3:23-24
Two junior golfers play a round of golf to open up a new course designed by Tiger Woods. One of them gets a hole in one on the very first hole, and it wasn’t Tiger Woods!
The person going before you does something absolutely perfect. How do you follow that knowing that you won’t be perfect?
While none of us may face this exact situation we all face a similar situation every day. Being a Christ follower means that we are “like Christ.” We strive to be like him in full knowledge that He was perfect and we are not. So how do we follow perfection? The Apostle Paul speaks to this in Colossians 3, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
In other words, you can’t be perfect but you can do whatever it is you need to do with all of your heart.
Is it OK to strive for perfection even if you know it’s impossible?
Source: Generation iY – Tim Elmore
One of the most significant discoveries researchers have made on both Millennials and Generation Z (kids growing up since the dawn of the 21st century) is that they have been conditioned to fear failure. Some kids are so paralyzed by the thought of failing, they’ll do anything to avoid it:
According to one study, conducted by Bilkent University in Turkey, this fear of failure has gone global in 21st century students. The study found that the “fear of failure at school can negatively affect a student’s motivation and attitude to learn.”
The researchers asked over 1,000 high school and college students to complete surveys about their motivation to learn and the strategies they employed. In the end, they discovered that kids who feared failure at an early age were more likely to create goals to validate their ego rather than help them grow and develop. These students were also less likely to utilize “effective learning strategies” and “more likely to cheat.”
Ouch. Did anyone see this coming?
In 2003, research performed by Wiley Periodicals noted that one of three psychological variables that hinder adolescents’ levels of school engagement was the fear of failure. Hmmm. I think I see a pattern here.
There is a great story that informs how we should lead students through this awful fear and liberate them from it. (I share it in my book, Twelve Huge Mistakes Parents Can Avoid.) In 1933, when the Golden Gate Bridge was being built, the crew fell behind on their deadlines. One of the workers had fallen to his death causing his colleagues to work more slowly each day for fear it might happen again. Finally, one worker approached the supervisor and asked if a net could be placed underneath the men to prevent them from dying if they fell. The supervisor was apprehensive to take the time to do this because they were already behind schedule. But, alas, he agreed and a net was hoisted into position. Suddenly, the men worked faster and more efficiently—actually speeding up the completion of the bridge. What enabled them to work faster and better? Removing the fear of failure. Suddenly, it was safe to try what they had feared before.
I call this the Golden Gate Paradox. Once the workers were liberated from the fear of failure—they could fall without fatality—they worked and succeeded better than ever. And faster then ever. Without the fear of failure, they failed less. The bridge was finished. The foreman met his deadline. The workers were safe. Everyone won.
In the end, people (especially students) need safety nets in order for them to welcome failure as part of the learning process. Safety nets are:
What makes this “safety net” act challenging for staff and faculty is removing student’s fear of failure without neglecting to teach the reality of consequences. In other words, far too often we adults have rescued students from their failures, and they never learn to navigate or face the consequences for their mistakes.
Leaders must be dispensers of grace, allowing followers to fail forward, and not quit or flunk out when mistakes are made. This actually enables them to succeed more often and more quickly. However, leaders must also condition followers to weigh out the ramifications for their decisions and actions. So we must balance both:
Here are some ideas you can tweak to perform the Golden Gate Paradox:
Let’s hoist some safety nets and watch our students flourish.
– See more at: http://growingleaders.com/blog/category/generation-iy/#sthash.6BSOqUpA.dpuf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ItTbwo2Tc
Consequences, Game Show, Mistakes, Prize, Winning
1 John 1:9
We’ve all done it. In an instant we’ve done the one thing we weren’t supposed to do for the whole world to see.
In this case, Manuela gave a contestant on The Price is Right a brand new car when she wasn’t supposed to, which is awesome. But in our case our mistake might not be so awesome.
The Bible says that we all make mistakes, we all sin. (Romans 3:23) But the good news is that that Jesus offers forgiveness, even when we sin accidentally. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
1. When was a time you messed up but it turned out great?
2. Would you rather win a $20,000 car or $10,000 in cash?
3. Is it easier for you to notice your own mistakes or mistakes in others? Why?
Is there a difference between an intentional and accidental sin in God’s eyes?
A long time ago in a movie theater far, far away…
I went to see the original Star Wars movie. I was a young kid at the time, but in retrospect it has become one of my most cherished memories. Up until the unveiling of this film, the whole genre of fantasy/science-fiction/adventure was a veritable wasteland of cheesy endeavors that made you want a refund.
Ah, but in Star Wars we have an opening scene with a rebel ship being pursued and fired upon by an Imperial Battle Cruiser, and from that moment on, your eyes and senses are glued to this fantastic universe where good battles evil in the context of The Force.
Now, 38 years later (like I said…a long time ago), one of the biggest movie release perhaps in the history of the celluloid industry is The Force Awakens. A whole new generation of Star Wars aficionados will be generated, and we will anxiously anticipate the final two installments of this immortal series.
But in the meantime, have you ever thought about what we can learn about God from The Force? Many may quickly dismiss even considering this possibility, but I would like to offer a few thoughts that might alter that perception.
First, if you look deep enough into the dialogue of the series, there are some really cool parallels with Biblical truth. For example:
Luke Skywalker: May The Force be with you.
The Bible: May the Lord be with you.
Obi-Wan: The Force will be with you…always
Jesus: And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
Watching and reflecting on Star Wars through the years, and particularly focusing on the constant and abiding presence of The Force has been an ongoing reminder of the great truth that God will never leave us or forsake us.
Still, there are some stark and significant differences. One of these is the personal nature of the God of the Bible vs. the impersonal nature of The Force. By this I mean that it is one thing to be comforted by a Force that “surrounds us and binds us together,” but it is a much greater and more profound thing to know that our Triune God indwells our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and because of that, we are never abandoned or alone in this world.
Here’s the way King David expressed this certainty:
God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!
Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you (Psalm 139:1-12, The Message).
And speaking of dark and light, that is the other critical reality that the Star Wars series has brought to center stage. That’s why George Lucas made this statement: “All I was trying to say in a very simple and straightforward way is that there is a God and there is a good and bad side” (Source: Cinema & New Media Arts). One of his motivations in making the Star Wars series was to counter the pervasive morally relativistic thinking of that generation—which obviously is still alive and well in the 21st century.
And the Bible makes it very clear that there is a “good side and bad side” as well, and you are either engaged in one or the other at all times. Check out Jesus’ words to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus:
“I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me” (Acts 26:17-18, The Message).
I hope you enjoy The Force Awakens. But even more so, I hope you realize that we have a God who is with us…always. And we fight in an intense battle between darkness and light. So as you step out of the theater, step into the very real storyline that makes a very real difference both for now and into eternity!
This week, reflect on the truth that the Holy Spirit indwells your heart so that you can be aware of God’s presence and full of His power to follow His will. Keep your eyes open to the battle around you, and live like a Christian Jedi!
Pray: Father, thank You for Your constant love and abiding presence. Empower us to open the eyes of our friends so they can enter into a relationship with You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Read: 1 Peter 2:9. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light (NLT).
Get: “The Holy Spirit’s P.A.C.T.” The Holy Spirit is NOT an impersonal “Force.” He’s a Person! Pick up this convenient, low cost downloadable Youth Group 2 Go lesson from Dare 2 Share on the role of the Holy Spirit in every believer’s life.
Parent Resources 