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.

Teen Christmas Party

Thanks to all of you for sharing a little Christmas cheer with each other. We had fun! As we get closer to Christmas day, let's keep in mind who the holiday is really centered around...CHRISTmas. It is His birthday. What will you give to Christ this year for CHRISTmas? What would Christ want for Christmas from you? Just some things to think about. Have a fantastic Christmas and a wonderful New Year and enjoy your time off from school. We will return for Youth Group on Wednesday, January 6, 2010. Hope to see you there!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Now that you've had 3 snow days...plenty of time to catch up on 1 John! Keep reading!

Review-1 John

This week we spent some time in review. Sometimes we don't always understand why we are asked to do something and don't see how this is going to help us understand the Bible any better. We discussed how learning how someone else learns can help us to learn something, too. Trusting that our teachers truly have a desire to teach us something and not just occupy an hour of time is critical to getting anything out of our time together. We are all busy but how we choose to spend our free time speaks volumes about where our hearts are. Follow through. Don't give up or give in. Be accountable to each other.

Hi everyone!
This week I gave each of the teens a photocopy of James. We color coded the first 2 chapters together, and their assignments were to finish color coding James, then circle a verse they want to memorize in the book.
Red-Forgiveness/Atonement/Purification
Orange-Obedience
Yellow-Truth/Light
Blue-Darkness/Lies
Green-Love and not Love
Purple-Children of God
'Hope you all have a great week.
Stay in the Light ;)
-Virginia