Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Are you ready for some Youth Group???
How is everyone's summer going? Are you ready for a new year of spiritual growth? God will throw down some new challenges for all of us this year if we are listening and willing to pursue Him. Get your hearts and minds ready before you come Wednesday night. Pray for the speaker (Josh), and pray that God would speak something into your life! It is gonna be amazing, because God is amazing --- believe it!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Genesis
I had a quick question about a verse from the reading for a few days ago. In Genesis 3:22 talks about not allowing man to eat from the tree of life. My question is, why not? Is it because man is sinful, so God doesn't want him to live in that sin forever? Here are the verses:
"22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."
Also yesterday I read a simple, but powerful verse that got me thinking:
Genesis 6:22- "Noah did everything just as God commanded him."
Wow! The guy is over 500 years old and God wants him to build a gigantic boat, gather 2 of every single animal, and trust that everything will be okay. And the surprising thing to me is Noah's response. The Bible doesn't say "Noah thought God was crazy, but did it anyway" or "Noah doubtfully obeyed what God told him". It doesn't say anything about Noah questioning what God was doing. It just says "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." He didn't complain, question, or doubt, he just did!
"22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."
Also yesterday I read a simple, but powerful verse that got me thinking:
Genesis 6:22- "Noah did everything just as God commanded him."
Wow! The guy is over 500 years old and God wants him to build a gigantic boat, gather 2 of every single animal, and trust that everything will be okay. And the surprising thing to me is Noah's response. The Bible doesn't say "Noah thought God was crazy, but did it anyway" or "Noah doubtfully obeyed what God told him". It doesn't say anything about Noah questioning what God was doing. It just says "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." He didn't complain, question, or doubt, he just did!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Just two things
Titus 3:1-2 says:
"1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men."
When I read this verse, it made me wonder what the world would look like if we actually did these things? Things would be so different if everyone worked on just these attributes and put them into practice! The funny thing is that all of the things listed here in Titus 3 fall under "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37) and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39). These two things are what Jesus call the first and second greatest commandments (Matt. 22:38-39). If you are following and obeying the two greatest commandments, you will automatically be doing all the things God calls us, as Christians, to do. For example, if you love God, you know that He has positioned all authority, and naturally you will obey that authority. (I hope this makes sense) So there you go... you don't even have to work on 5 or 6 things, just the two major commandments. Everything else will fall into place.
"1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men."
When I read this verse, it made me wonder what the world would look like if we actually did these things? Things would be so different if everyone worked on just these attributes and put them into practice! The funny thing is that all of the things listed here in Titus 3 fall under "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37) and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39). These two things are what Jesus call the first and second greatest commandments (Matt. 22:38-39). If you are following and obeying the two greatest commandments, you will automatically be doing all the things God calls us, as Christians, to do. For example, if you love God, you know that He has positioned all authority, and naturally you will obey that authority. (I hope this makes sense) So there you go... you don't even have to work on 5 or 6 things, just the two major commandments. Everything else will fall into place.
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