It's my party, I can cry if I want to

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12 ESV)

Entitled. Spoiled. Ungrateful. Lazy. These are words often used to describe young adults and teenagers. Our parents have often worked hard to provide great things for us and we expect good things. Right?

I love watching Survivor. One of the last episodes I watched, it was Rodney's birthday. Rodney hasn't won a reward challenge all season. 30 days in and everyone else who is left has won a food reward or some cool experience. But not Rodney. So a few people had told him that if they won, they'd pick him to go on the reward with them.

When they get to the reward challenge, it's a team challenge, not an individual one. Rodney's team loses, so he then begs the three winners to give up their reward so he can go. He feels like they owe it to him to celebrate his birthday. No one is willing to do so. (and I don't blame them – they've all been eating a scoop of rice a day for 30 days! Plus, they were going to an orphanage to give the kids toys and school supplies… No one wants to turn that down!)
Anyway, Rodney and the others on the losing team go back to the beach, where Rodney has a major temper tantrum. He's so ticked off that no one would give up the reward to make his birthday special. He complained that it was the worst birthday ever. One of the women said to the camera, "he's on Survivor - millions of people would think that's a pretty great birthday."

It seems funny to see a grown man acting that way, but we do the same sort of thing.

Christ has come – we know who the Messiah is. We have the complete Bible and it's easily accessible to us – you probably have more than one Bible as well as access to all different versions on your phone or computer. Beyond your Bible, you can attend church and Bible studies, free of persecution. You can buy a plethora of books – commentaries, Bible studies, any resource you can imagine – to help you learn the Bible and apply it to your life.

These verses talk about the prophets who proclaimed grace and salvation – for us! They earnestly, carefully, diligently searched and inquired of the details of the coming Messiah for us. Yet, like Rodney, we feel entitled and complain over things we don't have rather than recognizing the blessings we do have.

Recognize the incredible blessings you've received. Make the good news that has been given to you real in your life.

1) We have so many tools for learning God's word at our fingertips. Which of those tools are you most thankful for?

2) The prophets "were not serving themselves, but you." And others "have preaches the good news to you." How are you doing these things for others?

3) Do you feel like the words used at the beginning of this devotional describe you – entitled, spoiled, ungrateful, lazy? If so, what can you do to change that?

4) Take sometime and journal about this passage.

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Written by Amber Carter

Go Play in Traffic

James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

A while ago I was picking up my kids from daycare. When it is warm out they play outside on a playground and the parents pull up and park and get their kids.  You open the fence, it has a lock thing on it, you close the fence, replace the lock, go get your kid, sign them out, have them say goodbye to the teacher, then back through the locked fence and replace the lock and then off you go. 

Well this one time I got there and I was walking toward the gate from my car and I notice that the gate was left open…  some parent forgot to do their job. Then I noticed something worse, a kid had gotten past the first line of defense and was headed for that gate. Now that is the daycare workers job to take care of that… but no one was, this kid was headed right out the gate and right into the parking lot filled with parents that are in a rush and barely paying attention. The kid makes it past the gate and right to the parking lot… what should I have done?

Seriously, it’s not my job… why do I need to be grabbing the kid? Plus if I do grab the kid, what if I scare the kid… then some creeper guy is grabbing kids near the playground -great. The parent should've closed that gate, they should be the one going to get this kid….   or this kids parent should be there…  they should be grabbing their own kid… right?  

No, since I see the kid and I can reach him then I need to be the one to run over there and pick up the kid and bring him back to the playground! It’s just that simple, it’s the right thing to do.  Sometimes you look at a situation and its just so easy to see what is the right thing to do. When those situations pop up you need to act.

To know what is the right thing to do and then not do it - that is sin. It’s just like that with God…  You will see situations where you know what the right thing to do is - then its your choice if you will obey or not.  Your friends are laughing at the wrong kind of jokes, do you laugh along?  Bullies are picking on the special needs kid at school. do you say something? The cool kids are picking on that girl over instagram, is there anything you can do?

I believe that God makes the right choice very visible…  its not always easy, in fact its usually hard, but it is still up to us to make good decisions.

Questions:

1.   What is a situation that you knew instantly what was the right thing to do?

2. Talk about a situation that you knew it was the right thing to do but then didn’t do it. How’d that feel later?

3. Take a minute and journal about this topic.

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Written by Jeff Harkins

what a potty mouth!

Galatians 6:1-5 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

  

Bearing Burdens

1. Those who are spiritual ought to restore those overtaken in a trespass (1)

Use the Holy (fruit of the) Spirit which is - Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (5:22) Pray with them, pray for them, look up scripture for them. Help them get on the right path, without getting too involved. Be careful and aware. Be honest and open by sharing your own burdens.

2. Bearing one another's burdens fulfills the law of Christ (2)

Obey the Law of Christ in ALL you do.

3. If one thinks himself to be something when he is not, he deceives himself (3)

You are not their savior, you are not their healer, you are not the one who can help them; so don’t fall into the temptation of thinking you are too important. We are not that important, God can do everything perfectly without us, but He chooses to use us. So let Him use you in His ways, not your own. Pointing them to Christ is all we can do!

4. Examine your own work, and bear your own load (4-5)

Pay careful attention to what you are doing, not just the other person; for we are each responsible for our own conduct.

Hypothetically, If my fiancé, Vincent, struggles with cursing; I should step up and help him because I know that cursing is wrong, right? Yes, that is exactly what this passage is saying! Since God has allowed me to see the wrong in cursing, I am therefore able to help my brother in Christ out. How would I go about this you might ask: I would encourage him with scripture about keeping his tongue and mouth pure and holy before the Lord/not saying the Lord’s name in vain, I would pray for and with him, I would correct him in love when he stumbles with his words, I would daily ask him how he is doing with his words..(etc.) But in doing this, (bearing his burdens) I must make sure I am allowing God to protect my ears so that I do not fall into temptation of cursing just like Vincent. I cannot stand on a chair and pull him up to my level, no matter how strong I am. Just the same with faith, I cannot bring Vincent to the level of my faith if he is not there; at that point he would be the one dragging me down. I could apply this with drinking, smoking, sexual immorality, stealing, lying, cheating..(etc.) So with that warning, just be there to help, love, challenge, and encourage them; don’t try to change them because that’s God place.

1.  Do you have any friends you can reach out to with the Love of Christ?

2.  How can you help them without being dragged down with them?

3.  Or maybe you’re the one who needs this kind of friend/help? (Don’t be afraid to ask any of the leaders in youth group to help you)-- Make sure you’re seeking godly counsel for any of your struggles; the point of this passage is directing the person to Christ. If you depend on your friend for help when they are struggling with the sin too, or if they are not strong in their faith, they won’t be much of a help for you. Seek friendships/help that will only bring you closer to Christ! Matt. 7:3-5

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Written by Sarah Davis

rise up!

Galatians 5:7-12- You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Paul cares so much for these people, in verse 19 he describes his pain for them as “labor pains,” now that is some serious pain. The encouraging part is he is not trying to change these people with his own power, he knows he’s no match for the power of the devil and false teachers. He believes in God because he knows God is in control. (Verse 10, “I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings.”) Paul describes these false teachers as the yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough, I don’t know if you know much about baking, but when you bake dough only a little tiny bit of yeast goes in.

- I had the privilege of working in the bakery at Word Of Life Bible Institute my first year of college, which was an awesome experience. They bake everything except for the bagels, so I got to make lots and lots of breads and pastries. Now when we bake we are baking for around 400-500 people so you can imagine how much bread we have to make. In doing one kind of bread we would make it in portions up to 50 pounds, that’s really heavy bread! Just kidding we would then section them into loaves before letting them rise. But what I’m getting at is out of those 50 pounds, we would only put in maybe 1 pound of yeast. That little bit of yeast would work its way through all those pounds and make it rise and settle to make full, perfect, delicious bread. But what would happen if that yeast was old and moldy? Then all 50 pounds of that bread would be wasted even if it’s a little bit of yeast.

-Morel of the story: be careful what you’re putting into your body, ears, eyes, brain… Etc. One bad piece of information could ruin a lot more information already in your head than you think.

Phil. 4:8-9

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Answer This:

1.  Are you listening to trashy, foul language, false teaching, worldly music?

2.  Are you using foul/dirty/filthy words that you hear just because it’s cool and everyone else says them? (Think about your words before they come out of your mouth)

3.  Whatever goes in must come out. Are you aware of what you are allowing yourself to hear and be influenced by?

4. Take a minute and journal about what you read. 

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Written by Sarah Davis

like boogers in the wind

You know, we haven't played Balderdash in Sunday School in a while...

Let's do one now real quick, one of those crazy laws...

Ok, guess which one is correct: In Alabama, it is illegal to:

1) flick boogers into the wind.

2) have an ice cream cone in your back pocket.

3) sell peanuts after sundown on Wednesday.

4) wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.

5) drive a car without windshield wipers..

Some laws seem absolutely ridiculous. But they were all instituted for some reason. All five of those laws are actually real ones (according to dumblaws.com anyway). There must have been incidents where these things occurred that made some lawmaker put these laws into effect… Like why does McDonald's coffee say Caution Hot? Cause some lady sued them after she burned herself on their hot coffee. Laws may seem weird and outdated but generally have some sort of reason behind them..

Galatians 3:21-22

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

 God did not just arbitrarily put laws into the Bible. There are reasons for why he made the rules He did. Some of them are for the people's health and safety-they didn't have refrigerators to keep food fresh or the FDA making sure things are served properly. Telling them not to eat certain things helped them not get sick. Some laws are to give healthy boundaries for living in community with other people-I’d be annoyed if my neighbor was borrowing my donkey without permission. Some laws are given to make it clear what is sin and what it not-although it can be summed up as love God and love others, we can be a little thick and need the specifics spelled out for us. Convictions are great, there are certain things that I will never try because I have a conviction that I choose not to participate, that’s fine. But laws restrict us from what we generally want to do… I want to drive 80 miles an hour, but the law won’t let me… He will live his life with laws holding him back from being alive, only to find out one day that what he thought was a law was just something someone once told him, and Jesus wanted him to live.

Jesus came to abolish the law. His death and resurrection brought us the new covenant. We are now under grace not the law. The verses today are talking about that idea. Does the law contradict promises of God? Certainly not!

In his book, Uprising, Erwin McManus addresses grace and the law. He says “The law says do not murder; grace says that we are not even to hate our enemies, but to love our enemies. The law says do not commit adultery; grace frees us from having lust in our hearts for another man's wife. The law says to give 10% to tithe; grace says be generous, we would never stop you at 10%. You can give 20, 30, 40% of your income if you'd like. Grace is never less than the law. Grace is not freedom to live beneath the law, but to live beyond the law.”

Don’t think that I’m telling you that you must follow everything the law says. Verses 22-23 talk about the law imprisoning us. It’s impossible to live up to it. But just because we are under grace, we cannot ignore all the law has to say. God didn't get rid of the law so we can live however we please. He wants us to be able to focus on loving Him and loving others and not get caught up in the legalistic details.

1. Are there any specific laws that confuse you or frustrate you?

2. Think about what Amber said about the Law and Grace. Law might say one thing but Grace could go one step further - now apply that to a “law” in your house… what if you treated it with “Grace” instead?

3. “so that the ___________ by faith in Jesus Christ might be ___________ to those who believe”

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts:

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Written by Amber Carter

to beard or not to beard

 I have a beard because I am a man and that’s what men do - right Damien? Actually I just say stuff like that when I have a beard, then I’ll shave it and be clean shaven for a couple months and I’ll get bored and grow another one… It’s a fun hobby.

One year while I was in college, I was in a school that had some pretty strict rules. I had gone to two different schools and they both had a similar rule - no beards. The schools got to be so strict about it that I would get demerit slips in my mailbox from an RA that would see me at dinner and think I didn’t shave that day… it just grows that fast. When I asked about the rule at one college they said that the average 18 year old kid wont grow a solid beard, it looks unkept, they had a strict dress code and wanted the students to look good so they added that in as a rule. Whether I agree or not that a student looks good with a shabby beard or not, that doesn’t really matter does it? It’s their school and they get to make the rules. If I went into the military I would have to shave every day, so I just needed to accept that is was their rule and deal with it. However, at the other school they took a different approach. They simply said “it is sin”.

Now, at the first school it was a rule, so for me to ignore the rule - ignoring the rule is a sin. There was a law and I had to live under it while I was there. BUT, the second school took it much further, they claimed that it was not breaking the schools rule that was a sin, it was the act of having a beard is a sin and therefore any christian man in America that has facial hair was in sin! (even santa!) 

Galatians 2:17-19

17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

Naturally I had to bite on that one and question it… I did go directly to the man that was preaching those words from the pulpit and I asked him “what about my friend Jesus?” At this point that man then challenged me to show him in the Bible where it says that Jesus had a beard… so again I bit and I showed him the part where the Bible says the guards plucked out his beard. The preacher looked me in the eye and asked me what would hurt a man more… to have the hair of a full beard plucked out or for someone to actually pluck out the stubble on an unshaven mans face… he believed that Jesus simply didn’t shave in the 2 days he was in custody. …  I honestly thought the guy was joking. I wanted to get mad and argue with him, but I couldn’t. I remember looking at the smug look on his face as he truly believed he had just won an argument with me… I remember thinking “really, you believe that…  thats so.. sad.” I was sad for him. I couldn't get angry because I was sad for him. What other things in life did he build laws around that simply weren't true? What things in life would he miss out on because of his beliefs? Sure, he would never know the joy of picking icicles out of your facial hair on a snowy day, but what else would he miss out on? How much art will he never see, what foods will he never taste, what books will he never read? Will he ever spin around the living room dancing with his 5 year old, will he stay glued to his chair as his daughter the bride asks him for a dance?

Convictions are great, there are certain things that I will never try because I have a conviction that I choose not to participate, that's fine. But laws restrict us from what we generally want to do… I want to drive 80 miles an hour, but the law won’t let me… He will live his life with laws holding him back from being alive, only to find out one day that what he thought was a law was just something someone once told him, and Jesus wanted him to live. 

Answer This:

1.         What are some convictions you have and stand by even though it would be fine for others you still choose not to partake? (example: drunkeness is sin, a glass of alcohol is not sin, however I choose not to drink because I tend to get addicted to things and I don't want to risk it… )

2. What do they mean that the Law brings death? Is the Bible telling you not to obey the law? Is the Bible ok with you kidnapping children and beating up old people?  

3. “For through the law I ________ to the law, so that I might ________ to God.”

Take a minute and journal your thoughts about trust: 

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Written by Jeff