This has me thinking;

As we love God with all of our hearts, we will put his way of living and his commands on our hearts. Knowing God and spending time in his Word becomes part of our coming and going. It is part of our life when we sit, walk, drive and lie down. We should do devotions in the am and in the pm and then talk about it during the day.

The door post is on the way out of the house. The gate would have been on the way out of the community. Maybe out of the city.

Parents who come to church with intent to help other kids grow in how they follow God are continuing the teaching of Deuteronomy 6. I need other people who have pressed the ways of God on their heart to also invest in my children. And I should invest into their children.

Parents are primary but should not be alone.

As we spend time with God in His Word and in prayer, we will overflow into the community.

This hit me in a fresh way this week. When Jesus said to go and make disciples, maybe this was not such a new thing. Walking in a fresh way with God in prayer and in his word are requirements in helping others. Then as we overflow, we will talk about this in the community.

As I spend time with God, I should overflow to share God with those around me.

So, church should be people who are pressing God's ways on their hearts every morning and night. They put this into action in their own homes. They continue this to the edge of the community.

Those who have faith in God have done this for a long time.

still thinking. . .

What do you think about when you think about God?

In a small book named Jude, he makes the point that grace is not a license for immorality. I cannot accept sin in my life and say it is all forgiven anyway. I need grace and mercy. With God's help and grace, God wants me to walk in a right relationship with Him.

This license for immorality would be like a teen who just got their drivers license. Imagine that their dad agreed to pay for their insurance until they finished school. That works in some homes.

What if the student thought that all accidents were covered. As long as no one got hurt too bad, accidents would be no big deal. What if they planned on having accidents. They actually got up in the morning and intentionally ran into another persons car.

Imagine after the accident, they could walk up to the driver of the car they just hit and tell them; "Don't worry about this. I have insurance that will fix everything."

They could get up the next day and go have another accident.

Some Christians today say sin is no big deal. We have grace. Some Christians plan to sin this weekend, because we have grace.

I am so proud of our students and our adult youth leaders. It was the highlight of the camp out to hear our students lead the church service around the campfire. They understood the stories and examples from the book of Jude.

Our students are taking steps in their faith. I am not sure what tomorrow holds. I thank God for opportunities to walk beside so many who are growing in how they follow Christ.

key verse worth memorizing

Jude 4b- For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

This would be like having your drivers license and insurance on you car. Since you have insurance you can drive around running into other cars. Since you have insurance you can speed and run through red lights.

That would be so stupid.

Yet I claim to follow Christ and somtimes I allow sin in my life. Since I have Grace I can sin? How stupid is that.

the camp out

The week end was non stop. Our student leaders voted to be in tents rather than in the cabins. I guess there is something about sitting around the camp fire and sleeping under the stars.

Big thanks to David and Cindy Conner for a great meal on Friday night.

I am so impressed with our team of 11 adults who show so much love to our students.

The weekend included a late night hike through the woods with balloons that had lights, great times of worship, smores, low ropes course, human foosball, game room, hay ride, learning the book of Jude, too much bacon for breakfast, sticks, other games and football.

It has become a tradition that our students bring the message at the camp fire church service. After 30 minutes to spend time with God, here is what some of them shared;
all we need is Christ, be a slave to God, care for the lost, see God's love, all for God, feed others, hate sin and show mercy, God is my strength, faith and discipline, not like the worthless clouds, we the church must work together, They saw Jesus' miracles and they complained?, be and do, Happy= trust God, I am in between not believing and following Christ, rather get caught than have a pattern of sin, healthy to forgive, revelation, show as a Christ follower, worship is about the words, need God to do anything, Grace in last verse- not for granted, God gives strength, compassion to the oppressed, here to witness, live for others and not put a stumbling block.

I just wrote down a few words of what they said. Some of this is from the context of the studies in the book of Jude.

How do you describe God?

Attributes are descriptions of an aspect of God's character or being. Our students are working through 25 attributes of God. 10 more this Sunday morning.

The teachers and students who want to learn to teach met this mornning at 6am at Panera.

Here are some discussion questions from this weeks lesson;

1. Do you ever wish some of God’s laws were different? What would you change?
2. Is it wrong to be jealous?
3. Should we love the fact that God is a God of wrath who hates sin?
4. Are you happy with how God made you?
5. How does God see beauty as different, than some in our culture?

Coming soon to these classes; the trininty, creation, God's Providence, Miracles, Prayer, Angels, Satan and Demons.

You should hear the questions students ask as they interact on deeper things of the Bible.

If we taught the Bible to students, would parents make sure their kids came to the class. Many of you are encouraging this. Thanks.

I have 2 extra copies of the Systematic Theology book that we are using. Let me know if you want to borrow or purchase one of these.