Monday, May 21, 2007

Stand Back and Watch God's Hand Fell the Giants

One thing that is certain is that when we seek God and put our trust in his words to us, we can be certain that God will keep his end of the bargain - no matter how impossible it seems.

Some of you have been struggling with the "financial giants" that made it seem like the trip was out of reach. However, you sought the LORD and he said that you could go and so you made the decision to go, even though it was scary and you didn't know how or if God would provide the money.

I want to encourage you with a report of God's mighty hand! Today we got two separate donations, from anonymous donors, toward the trip for two people who were in the position that I described above! One person got a donation for the cost of the entire trip and another got a donation for $200!

One donation came from a person who I don't know who said that God put it on their heart to donate the money toward this person's trip costs.

As God assured me at the beginning of the trip, he told me not to be afraid and never to not obey his leading just because the financial costs are beyond what we have.

I give glory to God who continues to prove his faithfulness and his mighty power to save! THANK YOU JESUS!!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Outreach Theme: The Amazing Race

The theme of the youth outreach is going to be The Amazing Race.

This ties in with scriptures such as "Run [the race] in such a way as to get the prize" 1 Cor 9:24 and "Let us run the race with perseverence" Heb 12:1 etc.

So now we need to get some flyers made up, crafts, foods, games and the skit set up around the theme. Use the reality TV show "The Amazing Race" as a springboard for ideas.

For example, a "food challenge" could have various types of foods that they have to try depending on how they spin the wheel. There can be roadblocks (solution=ask God for help), long challenges to put perseverance to the test.

Remember, the main age of the youth is elementary school age (think Angelina-4, Joseph-7 and Micaiah-9 ages). So ideas cannot be too complex. Keep things simple. We are in the South so most of the kids believe in God. They just don't know what that means for them-that they have to choose to follow God - that there's things that they need to obey - that they can ask God for help - that God is as real and available as friends at school etc.

I'll be putting more specifics into some of the google documents that I've sent out before. Let me know if you are having difficulties viewing the docs or if you haven't seen them yet.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Financial Giants in the Land

This year when we were praying for where to go on the summer trip and we heard God say "Bahamas" I was hesitant because I knew that the cost would be a problem.
We continued to pray about it and again we heard "Bahamas". I was still hesitant but wanted to do what God said.
As I kept praying, we visited a church one week and the pastor was preaching on financial stewardship. It was a good message and one particular thing he said spoke to me. He was talking about the importance of obeying God above all. He was specifically talking about tithing, because many people who are wrestling with the topic of tithing fear that they won't be able to pay their bills if they tithe. He said that if we obey God first, he will take care of the rest since he is a God who has unlimited financial resources. This spoke to me about the trip because I knew that if God was saying to go to the Bahamas, that I shouldn't change it because of my fears about money. Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of heaven (which is obeying God's instructions) and all these things (food, clothing, shelter) would be added to us (Matt. 6.33). As I prayed, I knew that God wanted us to go to the Bahamas and that I needed to just trust Him that God would make a way for those who were supposed to go on the trip.

As I was doing my reading through 1 Samuel I was struck by the faith of Jonathan, son of Saul, in 1 Sam 14 when the Philistines were attacking Israel and the Israelite army was quaking with fear and Jonathan decided to go with just his armor-bearer and attack the Philistines. He said "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." He then set up a simple sign to see if God would be with them, ("We'll cross over toward the men and let them see us. If they say 'Wait there until we come up to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. Bu if they say 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands.") got confirmation and ended up killing many and God sent a panic which caused the whole Philistine army to flee.

It was a huge act of faith for Jonathan. He knew what God had done in the past and had defeated armies, but translating what had happened before to the current situation is where we often get stuck. Most of us would look at the situation and say "There are too many of them! I, a single person can't do anything." We wouldn't get to the point of asking what God is wanting us to do in the situation. On the other hand, it would be foolish to Jonathan to have simply try to take on the enemy without making an attempt to discover what God's will was. Note also that God didn't bring the panic on the Philistines until AFTER Jonathan had asked, gotten the confirmed sign and fought the enemies. So as Jonathan responded in faith, God increasingly brought him victory (first in a confirmed sign, second in killing some 20 men, third in striking the whole army with panic).

So here we are thinking/deciding about the summer trip. As I had expected, many of us are being tested with the finances. The financial enemies look large and many, and many of you don't even have a job. So if you don't have the money and you want to go on the trip, here are the options of how you can proceed:
1) Decide that since you don't have the money, the trip is out
2) Decide that even though you don't have the money, you'll go anyhow and hope that it all works out
3) Pray and see if God wants you to go on the trip and then
3a) obey him if He says to go or if He says to not go
3b) make your own decision (1 or 2 above) despite what God said

Obviously 3a is the only right choice (and by the way, even if you have the money 3a is still the only right choice). Another point to make is that there are things that God WANTS you to do and things that he will PERMIT you to do. In Jonathan's case, God didn't come to him first and ask him to attack the Philistines. But Jonathan was engaged in a war and he was obviously wanting/willing to attack the Philistines. So he put out a sign asking God to confirm or deny his desire. For the most part if God is WANTING us to do something, we can be certain that he will provide the way and the finances. If God is WILLING for us to do something, He may not provide the finances - though we can certainly ask Him to do so.

So here is what I'd recommend based on the Scriptures:
1) Pray and ask God if He wants you to go on the trip. If you are wanting to go and don't see a way, you can ask God to make a way.
2) Show this to your spiritual covering (for most of you that is your parents) and discuss it with them.Ask them to pray as well.
3) Ask God to confirm to you with a sign.

Let's set a date for determination/confirmation of this Thursday (May 10).

Just as an encouragement to you, God has already answered this prayer for some people on the trip. They

didn't have a way and couldn't afford the trip. I encouraged them to first determine God's will and pray before they made a decision. They asked for a sign of an out-of-touch friend calling by a certain date and I asked for a sign that an offer of financial help would come without me asking anyone (we hadn't mentioned to each other what our sign was). Within a day, both signs were confirmed, and they were encouraged to follow on though they still didn't have all the answers.

So even before the trip begins, there are lessons to be learned and faith to be built as we learn to follow God.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Summer Outreach Theme

One of the first things we need to do for the Summer Trip preparation is to select a theme for the outreach. The general topic area is the six steps of covenant, but put into language and context that children ages 5-15 could understand.

Some ideas so far are:

Real Winning - Getting on God's Team (with a sports theme)

Winning With God

Think about it - pray about it and submit as many suggestions as you'd like.

Post them here...

Saturday, April 28, 2007

MyChurch Site

Here's the MyChurch site link for Discipleship International:
Discipleship-International
http://www.mychurch.org/churches/GA/Lilburn/247162/Discipleship-International

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Welcome!

This is the first posting of Discipleship Youth! Yeah! Hooray!

First off, we've got a trip coming up this summer that has a college part, a high school part and an outreach part. Hopefully you've all heard about it and are signed up by now.

I'll link or post that information here so you can reference it online if you've lost or not yet received your packet.

Secondly, I'm setting up collaborative areas for each of the various groups (music, skits, games, crafts, food etc) so we can work together and see what has been done and what still needs work.

I'll keep this short for now. Send me or post thoughts, pictures, questions etc.

-NL