Party!

It is the end of the year party. We will be resuming regular Wednesday night youth group meetings in the fall and will be planning the summer activities at a meeting on May 2nd. Once we iron out what we would like to do for the summer, we will have a meeting with all of you to get your input. It has been a great year and I hope that you all have learned a lot! I have.

The Messenger

How do you know when your favorite singing group is going to be at the Van Andel? Advertising. It's on TV, the Van Andel advertises and sells tickets, articles in the newspaper and probably even a billboard. These are all "messengers"...letting you know what is coming. That is what/who John the Baptist was; at least one of his roles. He also told them to "make straight in the dessert a highway"...yeah, that's as clear as mud. When you make something straight, you take out all the crooked parts and make it perfect. He was calling the people to repent...to make their lives "straight". The conversation that John the Baptist had with the teachers and leaders of the Jewish faith that came out to question him is also covered in Matthew. Look it up and see if you can glean any more information. Have a great week!

"In the beginning" Genesis 1:1 AND John 1:1

"In the beginning"...Did it grab your attention? That was John's intention when he started out his gospel with those same words that are found in the book of Genesis. He's also telling us so much more. Jesus, the Word, was there, too, in the beginning. He wasn't "created" by God, He IS God. Nothing was created without Him. We tend to think of Christ only coming into being in the manger as a little baby. No, Christ always was and always will be. It makes you realize that Christ OBEYED His Father by coming down to Earth as a baby because He was always there. Gives you something to think about, doesn't it? Have a great week!

Uncreated God

We talked about following an uncreated God, and how awesome a thing that is when considering his love for us and helping other people follow his example.

We thought about God and how he never had a beginning, but how everything else in existence does. We had a hard time thinking about the concept that God has always been there, and when we are in Christ we are the same as he is, we have a beginning but we will always live forever. We talked about how we where not made for time, but made for eternity. We just have to choose which eternity and help others in there decision. I thought it made sense, and we had a good time wrapping each other in TP!!! Love, Shanna

God's Kingdom

Hello all!!! Well, the last two weeks of sermons have been quite profound! Two weeks ago we talked extensively about how part of building God's Kingdom (rather than our own) involves learning to be content in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. We also talked about working on the way we pray!! This, I think, is huge!!! Our prayers should reflect our desire for God's Kingdom as opposed to our desire for ours!

This week, we focused on the amazing gift that Christ gave us in his death. The fact that Christ 'gave' up His spirit of His own free will was something we discussed at length. For me, it changes the way I see His death! I mentioned that I have read these verses for who knows how many Easter Seasons... but I have never seen it in quite this light before. The Romans did not kill Him... He died for US!!!!! That is truly an amazing truth and it should inform every aspect of our lives!! That is how we go about building God's Kingdom instead of our own! Remember to think about those practical ways that we can give our lives over to God that we talked about!!

Building God's Kingdom

Thanks again for all your hard work. It really is appreciated! We spent the first 30 minutes picking up stick piles from where the walnut trees were taken down. But what has this got to do with our lesson for tonight? A lot.
We looked at what things we have placed in our kingdoms from cell phones and friends to cars and shopping. We spend a lot of time and effort in an attempt to create a kingdom here on Earth. Our Kingdom. But what is in God's Kingdom? Why is it so vastly different from ours? And more importantly, how do we get from the effort and desire for our kingdom to striving toward God's Kingdom?
God does not give us our gifts and desires without a purpose. Each one of us has a special set of gifts that can be used to build God's Kingdom. Tonight we used our gifts of fellowship and desire for hanging out with our friends to better our church...part of God's Kingdom. Even though it was hard work, we didn't spend a lot of time doing it and we had a good time just working together. We also got some great satisfaction in accomplishing a big task. How many other ways can you find to serve God in ways that allow you to use your talents and gifts? What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? How can this be used to build God's Kingdom? Think on these things this week and we will talk a little more about this next Wednesday. Thanks again for a great job!

Supernanny to the rescue!

This Wednesday we talked about how Supernanny stepped into the lives of families and "solved their behavior problems". We talked about how when we respond with "in a minute" to a parent's request, it is an act of rebellion. This is sin. No way to sugar-coat it. It is sin.

Further, in 1 Corinthians 10, we read that whether we are eating or drinking or whatever we are doing, we are to do it in a manner that brings glory to God. When we do our chores in a sloppy manner, this does not bring God glory. When dad asks you to clean your room and you shove your clothes on the floor of the closet, this is rebellion...sin.

Lastly, we talked about how we are to do these things cheerfully. Phillipians 2:14 reads that we are to do everything without complaining or arguing. Rolling the eyes, the exasperated grunt, clenching fists...these are all disobedience, acts of rebellion...sin.

It is not easy to be obedient. If it were, God would not have had to tell us so many times to be obedient in the Bible. He also would not have told us to be obedient, if it were impossible to accomplish. Sometimes just being aware of how we behave and calling ourselves out on the bad behavior can help us change. Pray for guidance and a willing heart this week as I will be praying the same for you (and me, too!) God will help you. Have a fantastic week!

O-B-E-D-IENCE!!!

Well... as you all know, this week we talked about the ever popular subject of obedience. Our game of Yahtzee illustrated the need for rules in that we saw what happens when everyone simply does whatever they want. CHAOS ENSUES!!!! Our life is no different! God has given us parents as 'caretakers' and He expects us to learn how to submit to authority by learning how to obey them. It might sound simple... but in all reality, it isn't!! The most important thing to remember, though, is that your obedience to your parents speaks volumes about your relationship with God. Take some time to evaluate that this week. I have also challenged you all to try to honor your parents this week. What will you do to show your parents respect??? Post your comments here!!!!

Don't be a brownie that's fallen on the floor...

We had a great turnout tonight! We discussed clothing tonight. We talked about what we should and should not be wearing as young women (and men) of God. We talked about why our schools have dress codes. Then we looked at a couple of store ads and really looked at what they were selling. By dressing inappropriately, we give the wrong message to the opposite sex. Instead of getting love and appreciation, we are pushed toward what the clothes are advertising and end up in premarital sex. This is totally against God's plan for you. We brought in brownies tonight. If we passed your brownie around the room and everyone touched it, would you want it for yourself? Save sex for marriage. Remember the blue tape on the floor? You don't want to cross it. Crossing over the tape is crossing over into premarital sex. How close to the tape do you want to be? The closer you are to the tape, the easier it is to tumble across. A lot to think about. Have a great week and see you on Sunday!

Husbands, Love your Wives
Since we already covered what to look for in a guy and why your future mate needs to be carefully selected by comparing their qualities to God's, this week we talked more about what we really, really want.
First, we played a game called Hot Seat, where each person was asked "what's your favorite...." for 2 minutes. Each girl had a turn sitting in the hot seat. The person who answered the most questions, Claire, won a teen guide to relationships book.
Then we took a quiz to see how much of our day is focused on guys, and how this can be potentially dangerous. After that, we talked about how our media portrays how girls should act and if there is pressure to act like this at school. Surprisingly, most of the girls said that they receive more respect if they are virtuous. (AWESOME!) We talked about what single girls really, really want from a sexual relationship: affirmation, security, love. And do they ever get it: NO. Finally we discussed how we can receive affirmation, security, and love from God. Because our future husbands are human and will not be able to give us the amount we require, no matter how well intentioned they are.
Have a great week ladies!
I Love all of ya
-Virginia

Red Flags

We started out with everyone having a red flag and a green flag. While wearing blackened out glasses to keep from being influenced by others, we listened to several situations and determined if they were "ok" - green flags or "something's not quite right" - red flags. These situations were all between boyfriend/girlfriend in a typical situation and sometimes not so typical situation. The red and green flags were counted for each situation and then we discussed them. This activity was not intended to take up the whole time but it kind of did. We did get to do a lot of talking about how that little twinge in the gut is a "red flag" trying to go up and we shouldn't just ignore it. This next Wednesday we will be discussing these "red flags" a little further and why we need to listen to them and how we can prepare ourselves to handle them appropriately when they do come up. Like the Boy Scouts, we need to "Be Prepared". Have a great week!

Submission!!!!

This Sunday for Engage we started things off by playing a game. We each wrote something we were afraid of on a piece of paper and tossed it into the middle of the table. Then each of us selected a paper at random and related how that can be scary for us too--without knowing who's paper we had. Our fears included everything from fear of failure to fear of not having any real friends.

For Inform: In my own experience, submission comes only through trust. Fear is not necessarily removed, trust just allows us to get past our fears and let go. (Not that we turn our brains off, as Nathan mentioned in the list of all the things submission is not.) We talked about how it's hard to submit to our parents when we feel like they don't understand us. This is where trust comes in too. Because our husbands will understand in some ways less than our parents. But we are first responsible to God, who knows what we need more than we do.

For Application we said that we need to start practicing being respectful to teachers, parents, anyone in authority; regardless of whether we agree. I talked about how I didn't agree with my parents that going to a dance with my friends was morally wrong. But my parents did; which would make it morally wrong for me to go. So just because we may not think something is wrong, if our parents tell us we can't do it, we are not submitting to them or to God if we do it anyway. (Unless of course, they are telling us we can't obey God).

Ladies, I will be praying for you that we will continue to practice this skill with patience.

'Love ya'll
Virginia

SICKNESS

There will be no youth group on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, due to illness. All activities at church have been cancelled. Prayer meeting will be at Mary Kuieck's home.
We will be discussing "Red Flags" on Wednesday, February 24. Think about what ones are obvious and some that are more subtle.

Valentines Day Discussion

Well, this week we didn't really keep to the standard inform, engage, apply method. But this is a list of everything we covered:
1. We talked about the importance of dating Christians, and how to read what boys say to you. For example, "What your parent's don't know won't hurt them"--how do you know he won't say this about you someday? Or if a boy says to you, "trust your parent's judgment", is he strong or is he weak and why is this an important trait later in life?
2. We discussed how much we should sacrifice for a boyfriend and the dangers from giving too much of yourself--losing your identity, poor grades, losing friends, losing parent's trust....
3. We talked about why people stop loving each other and move on and how to practice being respectful even when it isn't easy with our parents.
4. We ended with Nathan's questions from the sermon: will the person I'm interested continue to choose me if I am just me and not who he thinks I am? Am I becoming the kind of person that will continue to choose the future 'him'?
Hope you all have a great week! I loved our discussion and your insights! Awesome job participating and making sure everyone gets a chance to talk. See you next Sunday.
-Virginia

Submission is an act of strength

We reviewed acts of submission from the Bible. David when he crept into Saul's camp while he was sleeping had the opportunity to kill Saul and eliminate the continual threat on his life but submitted to God's authority since God placed Saul as king. It would be God who would remove Saul, not David. That took strength. When Daniel refused to bow to the pagan gods which could have gotten him killed, he was submitting to God's authority over him and not man. That took strength. Ultimately, when Christ willingly went to the cross in submission to the Father, at tremendous cost to himself. That took strength.
Submission is a sign of strength and not weakness. You must trust, truly trust, the one you are in submission to before you can submit without hesitation.
God never fails us and we can put our trust in Him without holding back. In doing so, we will find the peace for which so many people are seeking.

Marriage???

For Engage: We talked about the characteristics we find attractive in the opposite sex--not having to do with appearance.

For Application: We looked at Ps. 146: 6-9 This passage tells a lot of God's attributes, and since God is the ultimate person to have a relationship with, we talked about how we should cultivate the same attributes in ourselves. (watching out for "aliens", speaking for people who don't have a voice...) And by becoming more like this ourselves, not only would we get to know God better, but we said that we'd be apt to find someone like this in the future.

For Inform: We discussed ways that we've seen our parents make the wife being submissive and the husband be the head work. We talked about what ways it wouldn't work--like when things get abusive.
The one part of the sermon that we struggled with for a moment is why God holds men responsible for their wife's sin.

All in all, I feel like they had a pretty good understanding of the sermon, but some of them still felt like being submissive is demeaning--which I think is typical for their age. I remember in high school we respected the tough girls more. And bowing the head doesn't look tough to the untrained eye. So we will continue to work through this.

(I posted this for Virginia...)

So, how long is eternity?

Eternity is a very tough concept to get your mind around. What does it really mean? What do we know right now that has no beginning and no end (other than God)? Can you think of anything? A circle? The gold band or punched out piece of paper may not have a beginning or an end but the ring and paper aren't going to last forever. This makes this even harder. We were created to be eternal beings. Our decisions we make on earth determine where we will spend eternity. Do you know where you will spend eternity? We can help you be sure if you want to talk. We are all here to listen! Love you guys!

What would you give up?

We talked more about sacrificial love. On a small piece of paper, we wrote down our most prized possession. We discussed what is THE most important thing/person in our life. Would we be willing to give that up for a chance at a relationship with God? Would we be willing to give up our warm homes, full bellies and comfy beds for a war torn devastated place like Afghanistan just to be with God? Or a devastated area in Haiti? Think about what God gave up to have a relationship with us. How can we show that kind of love to others in our lives? Take steps this week to reach out to those around us in need. Remember how Christ ministered to those around him. He fed them. He listened to them. He spent time with them. Go now and do the same.

God's love is sacrificial

We spent some more time talking about another aspect of God's love. We focused on the fact that His love is sacrificial. What does "sacrificial love" mean? It's a "dying on the cross kids of love". A love that gives something up for the other person. Remember everything that Jesus gave up for us!! With His spirit living inside of us, we are able to give things up for others as an act of love. We talked about how we can love sacrificially with our friends and family, and many of you have some specific relationships in which you can love sacrificially.

Don't forget about our all-nighter on Feb 5! You'll be getting permission slips soon.

ALL NIGHT EVENT

The date for our all night event is set!!

Feb 5 from 7:00 pm - 9:0o am.

We'll be having lots of fun, and talking about the purpose of the teen ministry at Faith Baptist.

God's love, our love

We spent some time looking at verses that tell us more about God's love. We need to know what it is that we are supposed to be filled with! We focused on one main aspect of God's love - that it is "steadfast". We talked about steadfast meaning that it doesn't change, no matter what. It is always there, and always strong. We looked at verses that tell us that God is "slow to anger" and that "nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus". Then, we discussed what this means for us in our relationships with other people. The question is "How does God love this person, and how can I reflect that?" If God's love is steadfast, then our love should be, too. If we love with God's love, people will always know that we love them - no matter what.

Forgiveness

We talked about what "Testing the Spirits" means and why it is important. When I told how I was confused about forgiveness when I was younger, many of you believed the way I used to believe. I then gave you "a truth" regarding forgiveness. It is so important for you to understand and "test" what you are being taught. Do not accept anything blindly. LOOK IT UP! You have a Bible with a concordance in the back, Use it! Look up the verses on forgiveness and see that ALL of your sins are forgiven. We are told to ask for forgiveness even once we are saved. This is, in part, to restore our relationship with God. If you disobeyed your parents, they are not going to disown you and kick you out of the house. When you ask for forgiveness (and change your behavior!), you restore that relationship between yourself and your parents. Please ask myself, one of the other teen leaders, your parents or pastor if this still doesn't make sense to you. There are a lot of people who will be more than happy to help you.

Know God, Know Jesus - Know Jesus, Know God

The facts that Jesus has always existed and also became fully human tell us something about God's character - that He is eternal, that He loved us enough to humble himself, and that he deeply desires a relationship with us. In these ways, Jesus perfectly showed us what God is like. If we are going to "be like Jesus", we need to know the character of God so that we can reflect it, just like Jesus did. How do we know what God's character is? By having an active relationship with him - just like we have with our friends or family. We talk to them throughout the day, we ask questions to get to know them better, we pay attention to what they like and don't like. Getting to know who God is isn't just something to check off of our "to do" list. It's reminding ourselves that we are always in his presence, and so can always be talking with him and learning about him.

Prayer - It is an act of love

We reap what we sow. If we want to be obedient children of God, we need to seek His Will. We are commanded in 1 John to love God AND to love one another...deeply. One of the most important things we can do for each other is to pray for one another. We paired up and wrote down a few requests. Please keep praying for each other. It truly is an act of love.