Archive for the ‘Indiana Jones – Quest for the Treasured Life’ Category

Adrian Rogers once said that if your faith hasn’t reached your wallet, then it probably hasn’t reached your heart either.  I think that’s a great quote because it ties in with our series verse from Matthew 6:21, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  This week’s topic on the spiritual discipline of tithing was a harder topic to teach because it’s not about the money.  God doesn’t need out money, God is not a begger, He’s not poor, it’s about more than that, it’s about worship.

This week we looked at the progression of tithing throughout the bible even into the new testament.  Many people believe that tithing is an old testament thing, but even Jesus commended it in Matthew 23:23-24 by saying to the Pharisees that they should tithe, but they should do even more than that.  From the first instance of Abraham giving 10% of the spoils of war to the high priest Melchizedek to Jacob promising his tithe of whatever the Lord would give him.  For these, it was worship, not a commandment.  Moses commanded it, Malachi confirmed it, and Jesus commended it.

I challenged the students by saying that there are three groups of people.  The first is the group that believes that their money is all theirs.  That when the plate goes by, they can give if they want, but they don’t have to.  If they feel led to give, they will, but they can do with it what they want.  The second group believes that the tithe is God’s and the other 90% is theirs to do with as they see fit.  They give obediently.  The last group believes that it all belongs to God and as He shares with us, we share with Him and what ever is left, we pray over and seek His guidance in being good stewards.  The big difference between the groups is that the first shares with God when they want to, the second shares with God because they have to, and the third because it was God’s all along. 

The students got three main points that tithing is an act of Worship, and act of Holiness and an act of Obedience.  We will now have a place that each student can place a tithe during our youth group meetings.  We are providing envelopes for them to fill out, and that now becomes part of our worship service on Sunday nights.

God says in Malachi: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  TEST ME IN THIS,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”  Mal 3:10

Gary

Even though we are right in the middle of our Indiana Jones series, I took a little sideline this week. Even though this topic isn’t officially a spiritual discipline, it was pretty interesting to talk to the youth about it. This week we talked about spiritual hunger.

Just as our phsyical bodies hunger, so does our spiritual bodies. When I asked the youth how they know they are hungry, they said that their stomachs growl. When I asked them about how they know when they are spiritually hungry I heard some incredible insight. One of the youth said that she feels like there is this emptiness within her that needs filling.

We talked about ways that you can answer your hunger. You can go to a fast food restaurant, which we all agreed was quick, but usually not very healthy. We can nuke leftovers in a microwave, and that may give us some nutritian, but is probably not sustaining, and certainly not as good tasting. Lastly, we can have a home cooked meal. I asked the students to think of their favorite home cooked meal, and as I watched their faces, I see their eyes close, and smiles cross their faces. They started to describle what sounded like some incredible meals!

We looked at the way we feed our spiritual bodies and it’s much the same way. We can use these fast food quick fixes to fill our void with many different things like ipods, games systems, boy friends, girl friends, whatever we thing we can quickly stuff in there, but they have no lasting value. We also microwave things to put in there. That would be like going to church every once in a while, or reading your bible. Just like a microwaved meal, that’s like reheating something that at one time tasted great, but loses the real value over time. Now, a home cooked meal for the soul is excatly like what you imagine. You can smell it cooking throughout the house, you can eat until you’re stuffed because there’s always some left. It’s the kind of meal you crave over and over. That’s what a good relationship with Christ is like, a home cooked meal.

Christ says in John 4 that anyone that drinks the water he provides will never thirst and in John 6 He says that He IS the bread of life, that with His bread, no one would ever hunger again. This reminds me of Ezekiel 3:1-3 where God instructs him to eat the scroll and digest it, and then tell all of Israel, and when he ate the scroll, it tasted like honey in his mount. We need to digest the Word of God and share it!

Of course, we had to end the lesson with ice cream calling it the “Make your own Sundae, Sunday!”
I had a great time tonight!
Gary

This week was a special week for the youth group because we not only had our 3rd in a 6 week series, but we also had our 2nd annual Digital Photo Scavenger Hunt.  This tied in well with our theme of being in search of a treasured life.  The teens had a blast and I hope you can take a second to check out some of the pictures from the event from the Photos link at the top of the page.

Our spiritual discipline this week was Bible Memorization.  We covered bascially two things.  The first was why it’s important to memorize scripture.  As I went through the lesson, I learned myself the value of keeping God’s word impressed in my heart.  I think of it almost like the letters on a credit card that are hard pressed into the plastic.  It’s not just written  on there, but pressed in, permanent.

I don’t know how often we consider that memorizing scripture, first and foremost, is conforming to Christ.  In each opportunity that Christ had to deal with the church officials, he quoted from the scriptures.  Did you know that Jesus quoted from 24 of the 39 books of the old testament?  He found value in God’s word to impress it upon His heart and to share it.   Not only that, but we also know that the Word is a sword and the Sword of the Spirit can slay sin, and what better tool to have close to our minds and hearts than the sword of the spirit.  We ended this section talking about the comfort we can bring to loved ones by giving God’s word to to them in a time of encouragement, love, or need, and for unbelievers, it helps us to communicate the love of God through His word.

For me, the hard part isn’t the why, but the how.  In life, I find myself makign all of these to-do lists.  I have post it notes everywhere, and my desk is nothing more than several trees that have been shredded down to pieces of paper that I use to put notes everywhere.  I tried to think back to my youth and the tricks we learned in school about memorization.  Everyone seems to have their own style, their own method.  With the students, we looked at first praying about memorization, to let God in on this task and to help us.  I also explained to them the importance of writing the verse down, putting it on a card for them to look at daily, when they wake, when they go to bed, when they leave their homes, and when the walk with others.  We should say it out loud.  There’s power in our voice when we proclaim the words of God.  If we can do this, and picture it in our mind, you know, visually imagine the verse and create a scene, we can remember.  How else do you think we remember lines from movies so easily?!?

The bottom line is that God wants us to not just read His Word, but to live it.  I don’t know about you, but there are lots of times that I don’t have my bible with me.  Maybe it’s in the car, maybe it’s on my desk, but at that moment, in the grocery line at the store, or waiting at the DMV, or getting my oil changed, I need to have access to the treasures God gives us in His word and by memorizing key verses, we have instant access in our hearts to live with His word daily.

Gary

We were so fortunate to have Chris Anderson teach the accountability lesson.  I wish that I would have gotten his thoughts as he taught the actual lesson, but I’m sure he will be posting future lessons he shares with the youth.

This week we spent time learning about accountability and how important it is to not only rely on one another but to use one another.  As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.  This spiritual discipline is so important because alone we are weaker than we are with others.

We know from the Word that two are better than one, and a cord of three stands is even stronger.  The more people you surround yourself with to help hold you to Christian morals and standards, the more likely you are to walk a straighter path.  As brothers and sisters, we are called to help one another to walk.  This means that we should understand that we have the responsibility to hold those around us that are believers accountable for the way they talk, they way they live, the way they act, in ever aspect of life.

The bible teach us that far better are hurtful words from a friend, than kisses from an enemy.  The most important thing a teenager can have in their pool of friends is another believer that they can confess to, be held accountable by, and truly help one another.  We encouraged each teenager to look at their closest believing friends and find an accountability partner that they can work with.  Someone that will not be afraid to pull them aside and show them the love of Christ by telling them what might be hurting others, or ungodly.

Again we gave them time to sit and write in their journals and time to pray over scripture, and hang with God.  Our deepest hopes through this series is that they will continue these disciplines long after they finish this series, and long after they graduate high school.  Committing to these spiritual habits will enable them to stay strong when they are faced with the pressures of the world views in college and beyond.

Next week is Mothers Day so NO YOUTH!  We will start back on the 17th with the “B” of HABITS and we’ll learn the importance of Bible memorization by imprinting God’s Word on our hearts.

This was our first week of what I hope is a great 6 week series.  I really liked the Indiana Jones movies growing up because I loved the adventure and I loved the hunt for treasure.  I thought it a good movie to pair up with this series and call it the Quest for a Treasured Life.  Each week we will be looking at spiritual habits that if we use each will, will give us a treasured life.  Each week will focus on a part of the word HABITS.  The “H” is the first week and stands for Hang Time with God.

All through out the Bible we see people going off alone to speak with God, or to pray with God.  Just as communication is essential in any relationship, our communication with God is essential for us to grow our relationship with Him.  In this lesson, we taught the youth how important it is to take time to get alone, behind closed doors and spend quality time with God each and every day.  In fact, this is the model that Jesus gives us.  Even on the night of his arrest, He went off alone to pray.

I think that we sometimes get caught up in our busy lives so much that we don’t take time for what’s truly important.  The key verse for this entire series is from Matthew and says “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.  If we treasure these habits, and our heart is with them, then we will have a spiritual foundation that will withstand any earthquake.  Just like building a house on rock.  My hope for the students is that they will take time from their busy schedule to really start communicating with God.  Through prayer, reading scriptures, and through journaling, I’m hoping that they find a connection and they can start to treasure this quiet time spend with our Lord.

As a reminder of this, we gave each student a leather journal to write in during this series.  Each week we will be giving them their journals and a scripture to read, and time to be alone.  We want them to pray, think, and write.  To communicate their feelings on paper so that they can start to communicate them with God.

Next week is the “A” which stands for Accountability.  It’s going to be a great lesson for the youth!

Gary