As we journey through the Bible together, it is helpful to gain insight into the depth and meaning of the Old Testament Books.
The Bible Project is a great resource for overview videos and explanations for Biblical Themes. These seem to be short and engaging enough to help adults, as well as teenagers understand what the OT is all about.
Happy Reading!!!
In Christ,
Pastor B.
As a parent of a Middle Schooler myself, I was pleasantly surprised with the result of the Passport2Purity setup. Laura and Katie spent a weekend in San Antonio talking through each session and spending quality time together the Summer before her 6th grade year. I am so thankful for Family Life and one resource that has set our continuing conversations in this stage of life up for success!
With Passport2Purity® you don’t have to be an expert!The getaway kit equips you to cover what can seem like awkward topics in a fun and engaging way.
GETAWAY KIT INCLUDES:
1 Tour Guide for the Parent
1 Travel Journal for the preteen
including 25 follow-up devotions
8 CDs containing 5 sessions, memory songs, and downloadable MP3s.
SESSIONS INCLUDE:
BEGINNING THE JOURNEY
Challenges, Traps, and Choices
RUNNING WITH THE HERD
Friendships and Peer Pressure
READY FOR AN UPGRADE?
Changes in Him, Changes in Her
DESTINATION: LÉ PURE
Setting Boundaries
CROSSING THE DATE LINE
Seeing Dating DifferentlyPassport2Purity® Travel Journal
Replacement Kit
Our children’s innocence is under attack, and parents cannot win the battle with a single awkward “birds and the bees” talk or a strict set of rules.
-Dennis Rainey
Reading Time: 4 minutes
While walking on the Gulf Shore near Corpus Christi, Jim and Candy Duke found an unusual bottle. It contained a note explaining that the bottle had been released in 1962 by scientists studying the role of water currents on the movement of shrimp.
Here’s the good news: if the person finding the bottle completed and mailed the enclosed postcard, they would receive “a fifty cent reward.”
The current lab director offered to pay the Dukes as promised, though it would cost the agency fifty-five cents for a stamp and three dollars to print the check.
I’ve been thinking about some of the changes to our culture since 1962.
Technological advances are an obvious example. In 1962, the most powerful computer in the world was the Ferranti Atlas. It filled a room, took six months to assemble, and was difficult to keep running for ten minutes at a time.
Technology has revolutionized our lives, but its advances are a double-edged sword: they have put mobile computing in our pockets but also fueled the plague of pornography and provided a platform for terrorist recruiting.
In 1962, the Civil Rights Act was still two years away. Governmental legislation soon advanced the biblical mandate to reject racism (cf. Galatians 3:28), but other legislation has overturned centuries of biblical morality regarding marriage, gender, and the sanctity of life.
The Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962 celebrated groundbreaking discoveries“concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.” This work was foundational to genetic advances that are revolutionizing medicine today. However, these advances could also enable eugenic alterations that would redefine and threaten the future of our species.
In 1962, President Kennedy announced the goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Thomas Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, was a landmark event in science, history, sociology, and philosophy. Global travel was making the world smaller for cultural exchange and educational advancement.
However, the academic rejection of absolute truth and objective morality was also gaining momentum. The “sexual revolution” was one manifestation of such relativism. As Mary Eberstadt has documented, this “massive experiment in chaos and confusion” has radically and negatively impacted our culture.
Many of the technological, legislative, medical, and academic achievements of the last fifty-seven years have clearly improved our lives. But have they improved our souls?
Are humans more moral as a species today? Would you say that the overall moral trajectory of our culture is positive or negative?
What is the problem at the root of our problems?
The answer is a reality our culture considers so outdated and Puritanical that we seldom discuss it. But ignoring something makes it no less real and can make its consequences even worse.
The Bible diagnoses our root issue: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The problem of sin cannot be solved by technology, legislation, medicine, or scholarship. We can regulate it through laws and meliorate some of its effects through education, medicine, and technology.
But we cannot change the underlying human condition: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). The consequences of our sin nature are spiritual, emotional, relational, and–eventually–eternal death.
Here’s the solution: “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).
If healing bodies could save souls, the apostles with their miraculous healing ministries would have gone into health care (cf. Acts 3:1-10; 5:15-16; 20:9-10). If technology could save souls, Jesus would have used his divine omniscience to revolutionize carpentry and other industries (cf. Mark 6:3).
If scholarship could save souls, Saul of Tarsus would have continued with his remarkable academic career (Acts 22:3). If laws could save souls, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus would have sought political leadership through their roles in the Sanhedrin (Mark 15:43; John 3:1).
Let me be clear: God calls his people into medicine, technology, academics, and legislative service today. These are vital and valuable roles in our society. But they cannot save souls. Nor can the sentences I’m typing right now or the words I spoke in church last Sunday.
Only the Holy Spirit can convict of sin and save sinners (John 16:8). Only God has the miraculous power to make us a “new creation” so that “the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As a result, the most valuable way to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39) is to share Jesus with them. The greatest gift you can give is the good news of God’s saving grace and transforming love. You’re not forcing your beliefs on others–you are offering them the only antidote to the deadly poison of sin, the only chemotherapy that cures spiritual cancer, the only path that leads to eternal life.
If you and I see our vocations as opportunities to model and share Jesus’ transforming love, our temporal work will bear eternal fruit. But only then.
The largest “supermoon” of the year was visible last night. At 221,734 miles from earth, it is closer to us right now than it will be at any other time this year.
However, our relationship with our closest celestial companion is not permanent. According to one scientist, the earth and moon will be destroyed in about five billion years when the sun swells enough to incinerate them both.
When (or if) that happens, eternity will only have begun.
POSTED FEBRUARY 19, 2019
ABOUT THE ARTIST – GAWVI
Interlinc Provides great insight into current music and Christian influence for youth leaders all over the nation.
Here is a post about GAWVI
Who Sounds Like Who
Justin Bieber Drake Chainsmokers
Sitting at the keys in a theater in downtown Miami, GAWVI, the producer, DJ, and Dove Award winning songwriter crystallizes his reasons for doing creative work to just a few words: “My passion is to motivate and inspire, to urge people to tap into the potential inside them.” He’s playing a few notes, enjoying the lull of a quiet venue before it fills with thousands of screaming fans and supporters. Truth is, it wasn’t always like this. He wasn’t always rocking packed out shows, but he did know it would someday be his reality. Some might call it confidence in one’s ability, but GAWVI understands it as having a firm grasp on the greater purpose for which he was created.
Gabriel Alberto Azucena (born September 23, 1988), who goes by the stage name Gawvi, formerly G-Styles, is an American Christian hip hop artist and music producer for Reach Records. His career commenced in 2008, doing production work for Lecrae and Trip Lee, who continue to be his most consistent collaborators. In early 2016, he was officially signed to Reach Records.
He started his music production career in 2008, most notably working with Lecrae and Trip Lee. His career led to him acquiring a recording contract with Reach Records as both an artist and in-house record producer. He won a GMA Dove Award at the 46th GMA Dove Awards in the category of Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year, for his production work on Anomaly by Lecrae. In 2016, Gawvi released 2 EP’s: Lost In Hue and Holding Hue.
After years of maneuvering behind the scenes and masterminding a host of albums and Billboard charting singles, GAWVI is set to venture out as a solo artist. Energized by his travels and his experiences as a husband and new father, he’s ready to add to his story via a batch of genre-defying material. “I’m excited to share this new music with the world,” he says. “My first solo album is going to be like nothing we’ve ever released under the Reach imprint. We’re about to really surprise people.” GAWVI is embracing the moment while also looking toward tomorrow. “The future is now,” he says as someone calls to him from backstage. Indeed, the future is now
Artists: The Chainsmokers, Coldplay
Song: Something Just Like This
Album: Memories…Do Not Open
By: Brandon Best, Brandon.Best@oakwoodnb.com
Oakwood Church – New Braunfels, TX
Theme: Superheroes and Humanity
Teaching Point: God Can Use Someone Just Like Us
Opening Questions:
Have you ever thought about what your life would be like with Super Powers? With all the movies on the big screen and all the legends in the storybooks, what movie or story do you see yourself in? How would your life change if you woke up the next day and had some sort of Superhuman traits that you never had before? What would your super motto be? Who would you want to team up with? Where would you live? What would you wear?
SWITCH UP… What if you only had those powers for ONE DAY? How do you think you would react the NEXT DAY??? Would you be happy to be someone JUST LIKE YOU, or wish you could be back on the Superhero list?
Discussion
There is no doubt that Chris Martin’s smooth voice and the Chainsmokers’ approach to EDM music strike a thoughtful question about humanity and the supernatural. The lyrics begin with a grand view of a universe filled with myths, legends and modern day imaginations of beings that display supernatural powers.
While all these stories speak of super strength, strong fists, and great power, the song leads us to a reality check. When we step away from the stories, we realize we do not make the cut. We would love to have a life filled with powers beyond our humanity, but the truth is that the normal human being is not on any Superhuman list.
This is not the first time a writer has considered a vast universe with great awe and power, and has concluded that humanity plays a small roll.
Consider Psalm 8:3-5 (ESV)
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
The Psalm Writer looks at the heavens, the work of the Creator, and realizes a powerful thought. God is mindful of SOMEONE JUST LIKE US. We are the small, the normal, the frail, the fearful, the Unpowerful in many ways.
However, God is mindful of US. He places us on a list with powerful, “heavenly beings,” and cares about our normal, everyday lives. The truth is that we may not be on any Superhuman list, but we are on HIS list, and He thinks about US.
Conclusion
The Song writers point to a simple thought that ignores the wishes of superpowers and calls for a normal, attainable relationship. We can conclude that God has a plan in our everyday relationships as well.
The truth is, God Can Use Someone Just Like US
Read 1 John 4:12 (ESV)
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
His superpower is the POWERFUL LOVE we share with one another in our small, normal, frail, fearful, and UNpowerful, HUMAN lives. He wants to display His power in our humanity and use Someone Just Like Us.
As we end our Middle School Series talking about Social Media and how it impacts our real lives, I came across one of the most RECKLESS and FOOLISH Social Media stunts I have ever seen that happened this past week!
We have been talking about how God created us in His Image and referenced Ephesians 2:10 in the NLT:
“10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.:”
We focused on how being God’s Masterpiece is a greater place to find self-worth, than from the likes we get on Instagram or Snap Chat.
We also looked at the fact that it is so much easier to tear down, rather than build up, especially when we are thumbing through pictures and reacting in the moment. The challenge is to make an impact by being confident in Christ and turning the tide from negativity online to positive encouragement.
This last week in our series, we are looking at a Proverb from chapter 14:
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
Yesterday, I blogged about a ritual I perform at the end of every year, for the last thirty years. Today, I will share with you a second ritual I do, as a follow up. It enables me to enter a new year “on purpose.” After I invest a morning reviewing the previous year, I spend the second half of the day previewing the new year. Once again, I think, I write and I pray as I open a new chapter of my life.
I don’t simply create a list of goals, although some of the items I will list below feel a lot like a “goal.” I like to view it as an “action” list and a “standard” list. What are the actions I plan to take, and what are the standards I plan to live by over the next year?
Here are the issues I address to create the goals, actions and standards for 2016:
I want to be better in January of 2016 than I was January 2015. To do this, I have found that the issue is not prioritizing your schedule but rather scheduling your priorities. This means I must put into my calendar those things I say are the most important habits and attitudes I can embrace. Our character is simply made up of the habits and attitudes we possess daily.
See You At the Pole is THIS WEDNESDAY!
everyschool.com campus prayer guide link
Prayer is priority when it comes to campus ministry and outreach. Students, youth leaders, parents, everyone can get involved. A team of praying people will have a significant influence at your school. Below are specific ways to pray.
The campus is made up of a tapestry of many different students, all of whom have the need to experience the truth of Jesus Christ and be loved unconditionally. Christian students on campus are in a strategic position to communicate this love and truth. Here is how to pray for students:
for the safety of the students and faculty at the school.
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I hate it when life drags me down—don’t you? The day can start off so very swimmingly, and then within minutes…
…a parent yells at you
…a friend texts with bad news
…you feel a cold coming on
…the car breaks down
…the weather stinks
And before you know it, what seemed like a day that would be a walk in the park turns into a sluggish journey through the muck.
Perhaps that’s what the lads from One Direction were thinking about when they wrote the song Drag Me Down. Check out these lyrics:
All my life
You stood by me
When no one else was ever behind me
All these lights
They can’t blind me
With your love, nobody can drag me down
This song was released with zero pre-marketing, and yet it still hit #1 like a bullet. Although much of the song’s success is due to the power of the 1D fandom (as in they would all download a recording of the boys brushing their teeth—right?), there is a common connection that we all have with the need for someone to pick us up when we have been dragged down.
The problem, though, is the fact that everyone on the planet is often in a state of being dragged down themselves, therefore we are depending on the dragged down to drag us up, even though they are in a state of draggedness—what a drag!
So while the song is a very complimentary shout out to whoever is helping Harry, Liam, Louis and Niall out of the grind and strain and drudgery of their circumstances, perhaps there is another source of hope and strength to which we could turn when life drags us down?
My advice would be to ask the person in the Bible who was pretty much dragged as low as any human being could get. His name is David—who you may know as King David. But did you know he was also pauper David, hunted David and heartbroken David? He hung out with disgusting and dirty sheep, and he reigned as the monarch of Israel. He was a skilled warrior, but he knew defeat and despair.
And on top of all his life experiences, he was a songwriter who composed a range of poetic refrains that ranged from an overjoyed heart, to music that reflected a heart that had been dragged down into the pit.
But the common theme to all his songs was his constant and abiding faith in the God who would never leave Him or forsake him.
You could say that David’s psalms were all pointed one direction!
And here is one of the songs he wrote while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that I turn to when life drags me down:
I look to the mountains;
where will my help come from?
My help will come from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let you fall;
your protector is always awake.
The protector of Israel
never dozes or sleeps.
The Lordwill guard you;
he is by your side to protect you.
The sun will not hurt you during the day,
nor the moon during the night.
The Lord will protect you from all danger;
he will keep you safe.
He will protect you as you come and go
now and forever (Psalm 121:1-8, GNT).
What an amazing reminder of this truth from God’s word! Not even the strength of the mighty mountains compares with the power and might of God in our lives, so why would we trust in any single person when the Creator of the universe stands ready to help us?
I like One Direction’s contention that at the heart of giving them strength is the love of another person. Love is like an all powerful magnet that pulls us out of the yuck and muck of life’s ever changing circumstances, but there is no love on earth that matches the love from the God who made heaven and earth.
So the next time life drags you down, lift your eyes out of your circumstances and remember these encouraging instructions:
Now stay focused on Jesus, who designed and perfected our faith. He endured the cross and ignored the shame of that death because He focused on the joy that was set before Him; and now He is seated beside God on the throne, a place of honor (Hebrews 12:2, The Voice).
With Your love, Jesus, nothing can drag us down!
When life drags you down this week, look up to Jesus, who loves us with an everlasting love!
Pray: Jesus, thank You even for the times when life drags us down, because it is then we are reminded of Your great love for us. Please give us opportunities to help others out of life’s pits as well.
Read: Jeremiah 31:3.
Long ago the Lord said to Israel:
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself…”
Get: Fearless…Unleashing God’s Fierce Love In Your World. Start you new school year off right with the Fearless student devotional. These 28 days of daily devos in the book of Ephesians are designed to help you grow in your understanding of God’s love, and help you unpack how you can unleash that love in your own world.
Parent Resources 