Invite your friends to the LEADER MALL HUNT

Leader Mall Hunt December 19th... Come find us, we dare you!!!
We will meet at the Church at 7:00 and be back at the church at 11:00.
Invite your friends
Bring $5
THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Week # 2-19

This week in OFFROAD we started a new series called OMG! We started looking at the qualities of God, trying to better understand who he is and what he is all about.

This week we looked into God's Power. God's power is something that we ofter see as great, and big, but very distant, and we wonder why don't we see God's power the way it was shown in the Bible. We looked at the story of Joshua crossing the Jordan and soon after the Israelites defeating the mighty city of Jericho. When we read these stories we often quickly think, "Where is that mighty power now?" "God just must not reveal himself in those ways anymore... it is a different time." While I ask these questions too, I also asked, "What is it that the Isrealites do to allow God to show His power?

In both circumstances, and in most all examples of God revealing His power, it took people (whoever they were) to act in faith and trust first. When the Israelites had to cross the Jordan God required them to step out into the water first. He didn't say, " I will stop the water and then you can go through." He said, "You miust act first and then you will see my power." This happens again as the Israelites want to destroy the city of Jericho. God could have destroyed the city right then and there, but he requires the Israelites to show their faith by walking around the city for 7 day.

In the same way, if we want to see God's power we need to put our trust in Him. There are things going on around us all the time the people try to explain away with scientific blah blah, but the truth is God is working. The other thing we have to remember is that God's power is just as great as it was back in Bible times, and we are the vessels for God's power. God wants to, and can reveal his power to others through us. Again it takes us trusting Him, and acting in faith to have his power used in and through us.

So may we embrace God's power. May we step out in faith and act in trust so that God's power can be revealed through us and so that we can see His power.

Some questions this week...
Where do you see God's power at work?
Tell of a time in your life you saw God's power?
Have you ever witnessed a miracle? If so discribe it?
How can you act in faith and trust to allow God's power to shine through you?

This Week # 2-18

We ended our DUSTY series this week by looking at the “Y” in DUSTY- Yearning. Yearning to be covered in the dust of the master. In the end this is what it is all about, being covered in the dust of the master. But what does that mean? Do we need to go hang out in a dirt pit and wait to get dust all over us? This week in OFF ROAD we explored what this saying meant to people in Jesus’ time and what it means to us today.

During Jesus’ time the highest achievement one could attain is become a rabbi. Rabbi’s were the best of the best of the best of the best. Everyone else was just not good enough. In fact education started when children were 6 year old and between the age or 6 and 10 children had to memorize the entire Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) At the end of this time the students were quizzed, and if they knew it precisely and knew what it meant and could quote it word for word then they were allowed to move to the second stage of learning. If they were not the best of the best they were told that they could not move on and they would have to return to their family trade. For those who got to go on the challenge was then to memorize the entire Old Testament. THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT. By age 14 or 15 they had to memorize and know the whole thing. At this time the students would be quizzed and again, if they were not the best of the best they would be told to leave. If they were the best of the best they could approach a Rabbi and ask to take on his yoke. This meant taking on is religious philosophy, following him around everywhere, knowing everything about him and becoming just like him. If a Rabbi was approached he would grill the student with question after question making sure the student knew his stuff and if the student was the best of the best he would take him as a disciple. This disciple would literally follow him everywhere, to know everything about him, to become just like him, getting covered by his dust as he walked the dirt roads. This is where the saying, “May you be covered in the dust of your master.”

Now the great thing about Jesus is we are not required to be the best of the best. We are just required to come as we are, submit our lives to him and yearn to be covered in His dust.

Parents ask your children this week:

What does it look like to be covered in Jesus’ dust?

What steps are you taking to follow Jesus so close that you are being covered by His dust?

What can we do, as a family, do follow Jesus the way He calls us to?

How can you/we grow our desire to be covered in Jesus’ dust?

Spend some time in pray this week ask God to help you grow closer to Him in the ways you discussed.

This Week # 2-17

“Strengthening our desire to imitate Christ while telling others the TRUTH of who he is.” Truth, the truth is GOD LOVES YOU. God loves you. No you don’t understand God REALLY loves you. More than you can imagine, more than you can understand, more than is comprehensible. God loves you. He is crazy about you. He looks at you and admires you in a huge way. There is nothing you can do about it, He loves you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, what has been done to you, who you are, God loves you. He gave his son up to die a insanely painful death for you. God loves you. I know we have all heard, “God loves you,” a lot, but I think that many of us don’t really understand the depth of God’s love. God loves you.

I started off the talk this week stating over and over again that God loves you. I called students by name, telling them that God loves them, described Christ’s death and really tried to help students understand God’s great love. The reason for doing this is I believe that if we really knew how much God loves us then we couldn’t be silent about our relationship with Him. We all know that we are called to share the gospel with others, but we are often too afraid, nervous, and unsure we don’t. But, if we grasp the immense amount of love God has for us our fears, anxiety, and lack of clarity would not stop us from the excitement of being able to express and share God’s love with others. If we know God’s love we should desire to show God’s love.

After speaking on God’s love, I turned to practical ways to help us share our faith. The acronym used is CPR- which, as you know, is a life saving technique, so I think the acronym is pretty cool. CPR stands for:

Communicate with God- We need to have a relationship with God so we can share with other who God is, what he has done and what he means to us. The only way to have a relationship with someone is by communicating with them.

Pray- When it comes time and you feel the tug in your gut to talk to someone about God, PRAY. Ask God for courage, strength and an open heart of the person you are sharing with.

Rely on God- If you are thinking, “I can’t do this,” YOU ARE RIGHT!! You can’t. You need to rely on God. Let God work in and through you. You are his vessel, don’t think that you can do it, but know that God can. Rely on Him. Guess what. When you do this He will come through.

Parents:

Take a look at this video and then answer these questions with your kids.

How is your relationship with God?

What does it mean to you when I say “God loves you.” (share what it means to you as well)

Who do we know that doesn’t know Christ?

How can we show them God’s love in a radical way?

How can we share God’s love with them?