Time for some more questions. Periodically I turn the subject matter for our Impact! youth group over to the students. It’s their time to fire away with the questions on their mind. I love answering questions because answering them helps me learn more too.
So now’s the time to get your question(s) in. You can get them to me in a few ways:
I believe of all people, Christ-followers should be able to do the most serious of work, but those who are in love with Jesus ought to be able to have the most fun too, as they enjoy the fullness of that relationship.
We proved this yesterday.
My loving congregation donated food for us to bless some needy people with Thanksgiving groceries. We then contacted our local elementary school to ask if they could recommend a couple of needy families to us. They did, but “needy” might be a major understatement. It was a joy to be able to deliver all of the Thanksgiving fixin’s to them, but heart-breaking to see the conditions in which they were living. I pray that this simple act of compassion will help open a door for further ministry opportunities.
Then we met with our Impact youth group for some serious fun (pictures are here). We had a carnival-like atmosphere with wild-and-messy games going on everywhere. I loved seeing our students dive into (sometimes literally) these fun events. It wasn’t just the students: Betsy challenged me to a pie-eating contest. And let’s just say, apparently I have a bigger mouth than she does!
It’s great to address the serious conditions that surround us, and we should do so with love and hope. And it’s just as wonderful to have some fun. I believe that people who get stuck on either extreme are missing out on the fullness of a Christ-centered life.
I hope you have a seriously fun Thanksgiving celebration. And not just on Thursday this week, but all year long.
Yesterday I began a two-part series at Calvary Assembly of God sandwiched around Thanksgiving Day. The series is simply called Thanks and is based on the premise that thankfulness is the soil for healthy growth.
Have you ever grown a garden? If you have, you know that even though you plant the best seeds in the best soil, if you simply leave it unattended, weeds will find their way into your well-manicured garden. If you leave your garden unattended for long enough, the weeds will eventually take over.
It’s just as true for our minds. We can cultivate the best soil in our minds and plant only the finest seeds. But if we do nothing more, the weeds will take over and eventually choke out anything good that was growing there.
A spirit of continual thankfulness will keep the soil free from the choking weeds. But pulling out weeds by our thankfulness must be a continual process. So I gave our church the 365/730/1095 challenge.
Start a thanksgiving journal. If you just write down one unique thing every day for which you are thankful, you will have recorded 365 things in a year. More challenging: write down two things every day, or even—are you brave enough to attempt this?—three things every day. If you find two things each day, you will have 730 weed busters by the end of the year, or three items will give you 1095 weed busters.
Are you ready for the challenge?
I’m going to attempt to find three unique things each day for the next year. I hope this is encouraging to you, and I hope you will accept the 365/730/1095 challenge too.
This Sunday we kick off a two-part series around Thanksgiving. I know it’s a day we celebrate once per year, but thankfulness is also the soil that grows excellent things in our lives. Come and join us at 10:30 AM on November 22 and November 29. And in the meantime, start counting your blessings.
In our Impact youth service, we’re exploring the study of the Bible. To help me with a little “sermon prep,” can you please comment below to tell me how do you study your Bible:
Anything you would like to share would be very helpful.
Some people say, “Print is dead.” Perhaps. Probably because there was never a word or a story like the greatest Story. There is a Word that not only came alive but is still alive. A Story that is still being told, still being lived out right before our eyes.
Listen to how John, the disciple who was so crazy-in-love with Jesus, said it:
In our Impact! Youth service this week we’ll begin looking at this living Story: the Word that came to life and is being lived out right before our eyes even now. It’s a Story in which we play an important part too.
I love this Story. I love telling this Story again and again. I love being a part of this Story. I’d love it if you could join us on Wednesday evenings for a new look at the greatest Story ever.
As we wrapped up our Bigger Than Me series last night, I asked our youth group how we could know that we are putting what we believe into action. It’s easy to deceive ourselves and say, “I’m doing a pretty good job,” but now do we know we’re doing what God wants us to do.
In Bigger Than Me we talked about stepping out of our comfort zone into The UnZone. We looked at the importance of walking in empathy (or, as we said it, walking in someone else’s flip-flops) to know what they are really feeling. Using empathy as the starting point, we then looked at the importance of praying for other people’s needs as though they were our own. And then we talked about how one person doing the right thing—even though nobody else is—made it easier for others to make the choice to do the right thing too.
So here’s the big ask. How do we put this into action? How do we join faith with deeds?
Our youth group was challenged to take on the responsibilities of sponsoring two students in the Latin America Child Care program. For just $64 per month, we’re making sure that two students get a school uniform, eat a healthy breakfast and lunch, get a quality education, and—best of all—have an opportunity to meet Jesus as their personal Savior.
Just $64 per month. For our youth group that’s like each person giving up one can of Pepsi, Coke, Monster (or their other favorite beverage) each month. One drink per month so that two students can have a better future.
Think about it: are you willing to trade one can for one kid? Our youth group did. They responded to the big ask, they stepped up to the challenge, they are putting their faith into action. I’m so proud of them!
How can you step up to the challenge?
Tonight in our Impact! Youth service we are wrapping up a great series called Bigger Than Me. We’ve been challenging our youth to look out from themselves and see the big world around them. This has been an amazing series and I’ve been so excited to see so many students step out in a big way. You can read more here and here.
But tonight is the big ask. Tonight I’m going to challenge our students to make a commitment that’s going to hit them in a really sensitive area—their wallets. We’re going to present the opportunity to confront a real need in a very practical way: by giving money. Not just once, but every month.
Here’s the way the apostle James laid it on the line:
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
Here’s how you can be involved:
I can hardly wait!
It’s amazing how many parallels there are between the health of our physical heart that pumps life-carrying blood and the health of our spiritual heart that circulates life to our inner man. I’m going to be exploring what makes a healthy heart (both kinds of heart) as we launch a new 6-part series this Sunday called Heart Matters.
Whether you are having heart trouble now, or you want to maintain a healthy heart for the years to come, this will be valuable insight for you. Join us at Calvary Assembly of God at 10:30am on Sunday mornings. It will be a great investment in your heart’s future.
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” —John Bunyan
I love doing something unexpected for someone. Something kind and thoughtful, but totally “out of the blue.” It’s especially nice when the person for whom you do something nice needs it the most, yet would be the last person to ask for help.
In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about people who take the initiative to help the poor, the hungry, the needy. Jesus never says that they asked for help, but simply that His followers saw the need and addressed it. Jesus concludes by saying, “When you did it to one of the least of these My brothers and sisters, you were doing it to Me!”
Even better: we take the initiative to bless one of the least of these and we get a blessing from God. How cool is that!
Over the weekend our youth group showed up at a precious lady’s house unannounced. We all affectionately refer to Thelma as “Grandma.” We didn’t tell her that we were coming, we just showed up and started cleaning up her yard. (Disclaimer: I have to admit that we did get an immediate blessing, in that Grandma’s daughter Joan made us a cake, so we got a slice before we left.) Pictures are here.
I’m so proud of these young servants who showed up to bless Grandma. As you helped her, you were helping Jesus. Great will be your reward in heaven—way to go!
Craig T. Owens 