Back to School

For MP, this is their first day at school all week.  Not bad.  I wonder how all the kids will get back into learning mode after not being forced to learn for 5 straight days.  I remember coming back from Thanksgiving Break and sitting in the classroom.  I think the first week back was always a blur.  I had trouble focusing.  I forgot what assignments were due, if there was a test coming up or a quiz.  All simply because my mind was not thinking about school for about 5 days straight.  Since I didn't think about it, I lost track of what I needed to accomplish.  Once I was in school each day, I finally got back into the swing of things.

The same principle applies in our spiritual lives.  When you don't communicate with God (Devos/Prayer) throughout the week but only on Sundays or Wednesdays, there is a good chunk of time where you are not thinking the way God wants you to think.  Have there been times where you've felt "far away" from God?  Have you ever asked yourself, "Why does 'so and so' seem to always have a good attitude when things go wrong?"

When you are not in God's Word, you "lose track" of what you need to accomplish.  When you aren't praying, you are relying on yourself to make everything right...and I don't think I have to tell you how that turns out.

When you leave school for a break, you let your mind think about anything BUT school.  When you leave church on Sunday or Wednesday, do you do the same?  Wanting to think about anything but glorifying God or reading the Bible? 

Let me encourage you from Psalm 1:1-2 - "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

Never take a break from thinking biblically.  Never take a break from receiving counsel from godly people.  Never take a break from delighting in God's Word. 

Never take a break from doing what you are supposed to be doing each and every second of your life.

GLORIFYING GOD

...now get back to your studies!!

Snow Day

On your snow day today, be amazed at how great God is.  Look outside...step away from the facebook and tv and look outside.  Try counting all the snowflakes as they fly around.  Did you know that Job 37:6 says that God orders the snow to fall on the ground?  Did you know that God creates each snowflake to be different?  Did you know that God knows the exact time every snowflake will hit the ground all around the world?  AMAZING!!!

The knowledge and sovereignty of God should always have us amazed.

Isaiah 1:18 - "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool."

Have you ever had a bloody nose or have some blood get on your white t-shirt?  The blood ruins the shirt.  Isaiah says that our sins are as scarlet and red like crimson.  Sin, is like a stain on your heart that you can NEVER get out.  No matter how much you scrub with the stain stick of being kind to others or bleach it with giving to the poor, it will NEVER come out.  You will have that stain with you the rest of your life.  What is worse, that stain will cause you to be cast into the lake of fire.  And there is nothing you can do about it!  BUT GOD, who created the heavens and the earth, can take that stain of scarlet and make it as white as snow.  He can take away an hint that you ever had crimson on you at all.  He can take your heart and scrub it clean, and He does this by using...get this...the blood of Jesus Christ.  For it is through the shedding of blood that we have forgiveness of sin.  It is through the blood that we can have eternal life.

Trust in Him today.  Ask for forgiveness so that you can look outside at the pure white snow and say, "That is what my heart look like!"

Praise be to God who gave us this great picture!!!

Don't forget 10-11pm for Q & A Night on the Youth TEAM facebook page in the "Discussion" tab

Tiger Woods seemed to have it all

Tiger Woods was the first athlete ever to make $1 billion...yes, that's billion with a "B".  He is in a sport where he gets a lot of face time (no helmet), gets to travel to the most beautiful places in the world, all while hitting a ball and then taking a leisurely stroll....hit a ball take a leisurely stroll...make a billion dollars.  He is the most well known athlete.  Never caught at night clubs or bars, never wielding weapons, or with a posse that beats people up.  You might catch him at a sporting event, here or there, but nothing that would put him into the spotlight outside of the golf course.

Now, when you type in "Tiger Woods" into Google, the first additional word that pops up..."women".  ABC news is now reporting that there are 9 women that are linked to Tiger Woods.  SNL did a skit to poke fun at Tiger's alleged affairs.  So it is official, the "perfect", "hero", "nothing bad to say about him", Tiger Woods is now being seen as "scandalous", "womanizer", and "pathetic".

There are many different areas I can go with on this blog.  I could talk about how the world views marriage (allegations are that Tiger offered his wife millions of dollars to stay with him).  I could talk about the shame of sexual immorality.  I could talk about living above reproach.

The one thing I want to pull out from this post is the "lostness" of the lost.  Tiger seemed to have it all.  Wonderful family and all the money anyone could ever need.  The one thing that Tiger lacks...Christ.  Sadly enough, even Christians look at Tiger's life and say, "He had it all and then he blew it."  What?  He had it all?  What worldview are you living with?  Tiger has nothing.  If Christ is everything, then Tiger has nothing of value.

We asked a question in Youth TEAM a couple months back.  What would you do for $10 million?  Would you be willing to give up all your access to God's Word, church, and fellow believers to have that money?  What about $1 billion, like Tiger?  You CANNOT serve both God and money (Matt. 6:24).

Christian, what about you?  Are you jealous of others who have more money than you?  Are you envious of unsaved people who seem to have it all?  If you are, you are forgetting that you have the most precious gift that money can't buy.  You have eternal rewards being stored up for you in Heaven.  The High King of Glory will look at you and one day say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  What are you living for?  Are you living for temporary pleasures that pass away?

I guess it comes down to one question.  Do you love God or money?  You have to pick one or the other.  What does your life show?

Pray that Tiger Woods will see his need for salvation.  Pray that he will come to Christ.  God often uses tragic situations in people's lives to draw them to Him.  Pray that God is doing this.

Repent and be baptized...for the forgiveness of sins?

Acts 2:38 - "And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Mark 16:16 - "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

These are the two main verses that people pull out in their effort to prove that you must be baptized in order to be saved.  And from the outside look of things, it would seem that they are correct.  But let's take a deeper look and use other verses to see whether this is true or not.

Let's take Acts 2:38 first.  The surrounding text (v.41) shows that people were only baptized AFTER they have received his word.  Also, if Peter believed that one had to be baptized in order to be saved, why did he not mention that in any of his other sermons? Acts 3:19 he said, "Repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out."  Acts 10:43 he said, "through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."  Now if Peter truly believed that baptism is a part of salvation, he would be obligated to mention that each time he preached the gospel.  So, it is obvious that Peter doesn't believe that.  So how do we explain Acts 2:38? 

In the book of Acts you will often see people trusting in Christ and then immediately being baptized.  They would be baptized in large bodies of water (ALWAYS), which showed to all who were present (both saved and unsaved) that they were now identifying themselves with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This was so very important to do, because as Peter mentions in a couple of his sermons, these people were the ones who crucified Jesus.  They were mortal enemies of Jesus, but now after being born again, they needed to show that they are no longer mortal enemies of Christ, but now children of the Most High God.

I will take a shorter time to explain Mark 16:16.  This passage is actually a good verse to use to prove that salvation is only by faith.  Look at the wording. it says that whoever does not believe will be condemned.  So the focus of the verse is not baptism.  It is believing.  If baptism is a part of salvation, then Jesus would have said, "whoever does not believe and is not baptized will be condemned."  BUT HE DIDN'T, because salvation all depends on faith alone, through Christ alone.  Here are some additional verses you can look up that shows, that God's Word teaches salvation through faith and not works.

Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:9-10; 11:6, Acts 4:12, Isaiah 45:21-22, 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5...just to name a few.  Not to mention the example set in the Old Testament of the sacrifices all pointing to Christ's work on the cross for salvation...nothing about baptism.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know.

Why I Signed iThe Manhattan Declaration/i

Why I Signed iThe Manhattan Declaration/i

This is a very interesting document that I hope you all check out.  It is a declaration from many different religious leaders stating their position on marriage and abortion.