Cross training

As you may or may not know I am the youth director at my church. Our youth program is called Cross Training. We have discontinued the regular meetings of Cross Training for the summer and I am trying to think of a topic to study for the next year. At this time I am somewhere in between apologetics and creationism. Two great topics that deserve studying! I am leaning towards creationism. One of the resources I am looking into to put together a syllabus is http://www.drdino.com/. Dr. Hovind is very entertaining! More importantly I believe at this point he is also very biblical. I have come to realize that our youth desire to be entertained. So at this point I do need to entertain these kids, but I also need to share the truth of God's word with them. That comes into my thought process as I try to determine what to study at Cross Training. How do I keep these kids interested in eternity when everything they are interested is just a click away? I have a friend who is a youth leader in a church where the kids seem to be more interested in what Gods word has to say then they are at my church. I think that this interest goes back to the parents of these kids. These parents are at church whenever the doors are open. These parents love Jesus with all of their hearts. These parents live their faith! I really think that this is where my problem begins. With the parents. If we as parents show our children that we love the Lord Jesus Christ it will rub off on them! If we live our lives as Christ lived His life our children will see it and respond. It is a lot of work to entertain these kids! I just hope and pray that the entertainment will have eternal value. I pray that the time I spend with these young people will have some positive Christlike impact on them, that they will see that Christ is alive in me, and that they will want what Christ has to offer!

Bio's

I may be beating a dead horse here but this is what is important to me!!

I just spent the last hour and a half downloading different biography's off of www.desiringgod.org. These are bio's of some of the great Christian men in history. Pastor John Piper studies the lives of these men to share them with you and me. I wonder if any of these men ever thought that their lives would be studied by others. I really don't think so! These men live humble lives viewing themselves as the worst of sinners. These men lived their lives in such a way that their lives made a difference, not only historically but also eternally! Did Edwards think that we would look back at the way that he lived and the things that he did and try to learn from them? Did Luther rebel against the Catholic church for his glory? Did Brainerd minister to the Indians just to prove he was a man? Did Moody or Spurgeon preach to the thousands just to lift themselves up? All of these men did what they did for Gods glory! We make decisions every day. What are those decisions based on? The decisions these men made and the lives they lived were not only to bring to bring glory to God, but to share that love with everyone their paths crossed. I don't know that I can say that about my life and the decisions that I make. I do pray that eventually I would be able to say that I live my life completely for my savior. My selfishness prevents me from doing so. My flesh is so strong. Help me Father to live my life for you and you alone! My intent here is not to lift these men up as perfect. They were sinners just like me. They are however men to look up to. I have been blessed by looking into some of these men's lives. I have been challenged to live my life according to Gods eternal word. I thank God for the lives of these men!

V.O.M.

Last night at church we had a gentleman come and share with us about the persecuted Church. He represented Voice of the Martyrs. The violence in this world toward Christians never ceases to amaze, shock, sadden, and convict me. We just have it too easy here in the USA! To be a "Christian" here all we have to do is look like all the other "Christians". What do all the other "Christians" look like? To be completely honest with you, I don't know that I can answer that question! Most of the "Christians" here look like every other person I see. They all dress the same. Act the same. Talk the same. In a nut shell I don't think I could tell a "Christian" from a non-christian unless of coarse we were in a church! Then I could easily tell because everyone who goes to church is a "Christian"! Right? My point is, that here in America we are all "Christians" because it costs nothing. What is the true cost of being a Christian? Well, we give our lives to Jesus totally and completely. It may not mean too much here sometimes but it has a very different spin on it in countries where giving your life to Jesus could very well mean your life! Once word gets out that you are a Christian you life and in some cases the lives of your family are in danger. Sometimes these Christians are horribly tortured. I just read an article about a Christian having his fingernails (all 10 of them) pulled out! There is very little doubt that these people are Christians. You see, I can tell you that I am a Christian and Jesus is Lord of my life and have no fear that there is someone behind a tree with an AK-47 just waiting to kill me and my family. In fact there are times here when being a "Christian" is trendy! How dare us! How can we take what God did for us on the cross so lightly! Jesus is real! He really did die on a cross to take away our sins! He really did raise from the grave and He really does sit next to His Father in heaven! He really does love us! He really does want us to give our lives to Him! We are not supposed to look like every other person walking down the street! Our lives should make a difference for Jesus and His glory!

We need to pray for our brothers and sister who are being persecuted for their belief in Jesus Christ. I would encourage all of you to check out www.persecution.com/ . Their lives are making a difference! Is yours?

Consider it pure joy

Trials. We all go through them. Some people more graciously then others. I would like to share some scriptures with you. I Thess. 5:16-18 says " 16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." James 1:2-4 talks about trials too. It says to "2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. This can be, and many times is, very tough medicine to take. It is a lot easier to quote those verses to someone who is hurting then it is actually apply them to your life when you are hurting. I have been run through the ringer more then once. I do my best now to look at life through scripture. It is a very hard thing to glorify God when we are hurt. My brother is currently going through a very tough time. I have had the opportunity to talk to him a couple of times and he is exemplifying the above verses. He is truly a testimony to me and I love and respect him for it. I know that he is walking in the spirit. I know that he is "considering it pure joy." I know that he is "giving thanks! " What a testimony to the power of Gods grace!

Cross Training

Cross Training is what we call our youth group at North Country Bible Fellowship. Last night was our last regularly scheduled meeting until next fall. We had 11 kids come out which is above average! I was very encouraged! We played a couple of wacky games and then my friend Doug shared his testimony with the kids. It was a great night! We had some new faces there. That always gets me excited! I know we had some kids who do not know Christ as their Lord. The gospel was clearly presented and I just pray that seeds were planted!

I have a question. How do you teach a teenager to respect property that is not their own? I have some kids that attend Cross Training on a regular basis that are very rowdy and don't seem to care if they abuse even destroy another persons property. Is that normal behavior for our teens today? I for one think that we as parents have lowered the bar for what we should expect from our children. We expect kids to do stupid things. We expect them to be disrespectful, disobedient, cruel, and neglectful. We don't lay down the law. We don't expect them to make a positive difference. Kids will be kids and that's OK. I don't think it is OK. I think we as parents need to not only expect more from our kids, we need to demand it! We have a generation of kids out there now who don't care about anything or anyone outside of themselves. What a tragedy! We expect these kids to grow up and lead this country? They can't even make their own bed or do their own laundry. They have been pampered from day one and expect the same treatment as young adults. As parents we are responsible to raise our children to be adults. As Christian parents we are raising our children according to biblical principles and standards. We are praying that our kids will grow to love God and His word. I think in a lot of cases our kids are no better off then the children of worldly parents. That should not be! We should expect even MORE from our kids. They are not just being kids! Kids can make a difference! Our kids will make a difference and it is up to us just what kind of difference these kids will make. Will we raise our kids for mediocrity or will we raise our kids to change the world for Gods glory. Remember, as Christians our kids are not our own! They are on loan from God! We will be held accountable for how we raise our kids! Scary thought! Let us make a difference in the lives of our kids.

Blogging

I am being discipled by a very dear friend of mine who once told me that he wanted to start a journal. He told me that you can learn so much from writings and journals of people who lived long ago. He also bought me the journal of David Brainerd as proof. I agree with my friend 100%. You can indeed learn much about a person by their writings. Not only can you learn but you can also be largely encouraged! There are a lot of godly men in our history who pored their hearts into their journals. Granted, they were probably not meant to be published, but it is beautiful to see the joy these men had. Especially in Brainerds case! He was a very sick man who managed to praise his God for everything in his life! This sick man spent his christian life on the mission fields to American Indians in the 1700's. It didn't matter how sick he was. He was obedient to God. He praised God. He adored God. He wasn't angry for being so sick. He was forever worshipful! I for one can learn a lot from a man like that! I have a God who loves me enough to sacrifice His Son for my sin, I live in the United States, I have shelter, health, food, clean water, family, friends, church, freedom, the list goes on and on. Yet it is so easy to complain!

As guys we are often "too tough" to share our emotions with others, especially if it's another guy. Well I would like to thank my friend for caring for me enough to share his life with me and let him know that I love him. I praise God for godly friends!

Struggles

Have you ever had one of those times in your life when things just don't click? You feel as though you are stuck in the mud? Not moving anywhere? I am really struggling with that in my spiritual life right now. I am in a bit of a dry place. I'm absorbed with me. I am the most selfish creature on the planet and I HATE IT! Why is it that my needs are more important to me then the needs of those that I love? Isn't' it amazing how sin just creeps in? A little thing here that is no big deal. Then another little thing. None of which are sin! All those little things start to add up and take our minds off of what really matters! That IS where sin comes in. That is where our minds are focused anywhere but on God. Sometimes I think that I am making myself an idol. Not that I am truly worshiping myself, but in my mind, in my secret place, I am the most important thing on this planet! I have to keep reminding myself that I'm nothing! I'm the worst of sinners! I don't deserve any of this love that God sent His son to die for! I am so unworthy! Hebrews talks about drawing near to God with your whole heart. I know that is all I need to do! Lord please help me to draw near to you with my whole heart! I need you!

I have rambled long enough! I hope that this post is not jumbled as my mind is!