Spring Break!

We didn't meet this week due to spring break, but posting this lesson now will get me caught up since the last lesson I posted was two weeks late. I think this past week was the largest crowd we've ever had. It was Taylor, Justin, Lindsey, Bruno, DJ, Madeline, Taneia, David, Diana, Luke, Daniel, Katie, Katelyn, Marjanna, and myself.

ICEBREAKER:

If you had a time machine, where would you go?


Our answers were pretty...diverse, to say the least. Jam with Bob Marley, go to the dinosaur age, fix errors in your life, disco age (get the groove on!), 1940's, Germany for hippotherapy origins, go back to being a toddler, 1990's (cause they were the best!), Beetle's concert, be alive when Martian Luther King, Jr. was, and going back to Monday so that you could attend the class you missed. As I said, pretty diverse :)


LESSON:


"Going Forward in Time" was the title of our lesson and our opening question was this: What sins in this day and time stop you from running with the perseverance that Jesus did?

Some of our answers were: laziness, not being able to back up what we say, anxiety, loosing something important to you, lack of zeal, consistence, and determination, lack of faith, fear of failure, pride, and selfishness.

Our scripture came from Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lost heart.

We can't just throw off some of the things that hinder us, we need to throw it all off! Also, we don't need to compromise personal convictions.

What does it mean to run with perseverance?

It means to drive yourself for God. Keep trying even when you fail. We must abandon everything and be immersed in God. We must keep going, even when it gets hard.

Webster's definition of perseverance is this: the action or condition or an instance of persevering; steadfastness. We must run with perseverance and nothing else. The question is, do we?

The most common answer, and probably the most true, is sometimes. Sometimes we are just spiritual sprinters and get burned out after a very quick run. We must strive to be like Christ and just like all things in life, no matter how good we get at it, there will always be room to improve and get better.

Christ is the goal. We are not perfect so that is why we must persevere to be more like Christ. What does it mean to fix our eyes on Christ?

It's like tunnel vision...we must know what our goal is and go for it all we can. Jesus is the destination and example of how we should like on this earth. So, we know what happens when we focus on Jesus. But what happens when we don't go to Christ?

Quite simply, we give up. We feel like the entire world is on our shoulders. These things hinder us and we must throw them off.

Here is an encouraging scripture from Hebrews 10:35-36 NIV:

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

We need to persevere and when we do, the reward is great.

Hope you enjoyed the lesson and thanks for bearing with me on the late postings. I'll try not to let it happen again :)

It's So Late!

Hey, guys! Sorry for the extremely late posting, but life has been crazy! Hope you'll forgive me for not posting this lesson till now. This lesson is from two weeks ago. We had myself, Sam, Diana, Lindsey, David, Ronald, Bruno, Bethany, Lisa, Taylor, and Justin. It was a great crowd!

This week, our icebreaker question really fit with the lesson:

ICEBREAKER:


What are your desires?

We had a lot of desires. Someone wanted to be a better leader, be more filled with the Spirit, being best friends with God, and being perfect...even though that's unrealistic.

LESSON:


Are our desires what God wants for us?

Our scripture was Psalm 139:7 NIV:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

Why would we flee from God? Sometimes we are afraid that our desires won't match up with God's and we don't want to hear what He has to say. This is where our selfish ambitions come in. But no matter what, God is there.

What are desires you put above God?

These are what we came up with: having people like you, being accepted, relying on one's own understanding, material possession, being the best, being the best by worldly standards, doing good and taking credit-not giving God the glory, and doing what the world expects.

We have to work for pleasing God. Psalm 37:3-4 NIV:

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

The Lord should be our desire and delight, first and foremost. He gives us all. God knows what we really desire and what we need. The world says we need more worldly possessions, but those will all pass away.

When we let those things go, our desire for God grows and we grow closer to Him. If we ask, we will get God's desires and not our own. Satan is scared of our testimonies that we may use for God, but rest assured, he has lost, because the blood of Christ has beaten him.

Psalm 73:25-26 NIV:

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Here's a piece of advice: write down all the desires of your heart and pray about them. Then ask God to reflect His desires.

Our desires are only bad when they conflict with God's plan. Good desires by the world's standards does not always mean good by God's standards. Our want list and God's want list are two different things. We should want what God wants. And when we do, that's when we get real passion and joy.

Hope you enjoyed this. Again, sorry it's so late.

Snowy Greetings!

Ok, so, it's not snowing too much right now. In fact, it's melting away. But there's still some snow out there :)

We had a really good turnout at Bible talk this week. Besides myself we had Bruno, DJ, Ronald, Diana, Lindsey, Bethany, Taylor, David, Brett, Taneia, Marcus (aka Caveman), and Chris. Bruno taught the message today and as always, began with an icebreaker.


ICEBREAKER:

What was the worst haircut you have ever received?

We had some bowl cuts, a five year old trimming, someone used craft scissors to cut off their bangs, shag, half an afro, and even a bald head.

Then we got on to the lesson, which was about having passion for God.


LESSON:


Define passion in your own words.

Passion is something we do wholeheartedly. It's something we already have in us, we just have to find it. When we have passion for something it most likely will appear on your top 3 most important things list. The love you have for it will never die. It is a powerful emotion.


Does it (passion) describe your relationship with God?

We got our lesson from John 12: 20-33 NIV:

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Why is it difficult to have passion without dying to ourselves?

Romans says we are weak in our natural selves. It's not natural for us to love God, so it's a choice we have to make. We have to deny ourselves and take up our cross, not just some of the time, but daily.

Sin kills our passion for God. Selfishness makes it hard for us to focus, so we must let go of ourselves and let God take control and not get so caught up in what's around us.


Why would Jesus say His heart was troubled? (v.27)

He knew he was going to be denied, betrayed, and killed. He had never faced sin and God was going to forsake Him. He's getting ready to take all sin on Himself.


What kind of things trouble our hearts?

What bothered us the most was when someone was upset with us or when we mess up. Several of us beat ourselves up whenever we make a mistake. What kind of things trouble your heart?

When we focus on ourselves we are not focused on God. Jesus was focused on God and did not lose His passion for God. He was focused on what was to come.

So many things can take our focus such as school, family, friends, relationships and so much more. We need to give these things over to God so that we do not focus on them anymore.


How does Jesus' response relate to His passion for God?

He denied Himself and said for God's will to be done. If He didn't fulfill the Scriptures then the prophecy would not have been fulfilled.

Jesus was passionate for God's glory. Are we thinking about glorifying God when we are going through tough times?

We have to make ourselves do it like Jesus did. Jesus did not want to die on the cross but did it anyway because it's what God wanted.

Does your passion for God overflow into your actions? What's stopping you from being passionate for God?


How could God's thundering voice not benefit Jesus? (v.30)

It can still benefit Him even though it wasn't meant for Him, kinda like a pat on the back. To translate that to us, things can happen because of us that helps other people.


The big question is this: Is our passion for God true?


Well, that's the lesson for this week! Hope you enjoyed it and be sure to comment and tell us what you think. What does this lesson mean to you? And if you can make it to Overcash 255 on Wednesdays at 12, we'd love to have you! :)