Stand Your Ground

Yesterday was a TON of fun for all those present. It was a very uplifting time of fun, games, and God. I encourage every Christian to read Zephaniah all the way through. It demonstrates the wrath of God, but then the awesome redemption and love of God. We should never forget, our fathers are someone to be respected and loved, so it is with our Lord. Expect a few pictures up soon(ish) and many lessons to come from this great day. God bless!

Class - Sept 25th (Hypocrites)

The story is told about a father complaining about the amount of time his family spent in front of the television. His children watched too many cartoons and neglected their homework. His wife preferred watching soap operas as opposed to doing housework. What is his solution? He declares, “As soon as the football season is over, I’m going to pull the plug.” Hypocrisy! Someone once said, “Hypocrisy is like a pin. It is pointed in one direction, and yet headed in another.”

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines hypocrisy as an “act of playing a part on stage; a feigning to be what one is not; the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion.” A hypocrite is one who fakes virtues or qualities he does not have.

In any great forest you will find huge trees. They tower above other trees and appear to be the very picture of strength and maturity. However, loggers will sometimes not even bother to cut down these huge trees. At first one wonders, “Why leave them? After all, a tree that big must contain twice or thrice the amount of limber as a smaller tree.” The reason is simple. Huge trees are often rotten on the inside. They are the hollow trees that children’s picture books show raccoons living in. And they are the trees that are often blown over in a strong windstorm because, while they appear to be the picture of strength, in fact their hollowness makes them weak. This is the essence of hypocrisy – appearing strong on the outside, but hollow and rotten on the inside.

One of the saddest things about hypocrisy is that many in the Lord’s church have succumbed to deadly playacting. Some Christians try to outwardly appear faithful and concerned about the Lord’s work, but inwardly they are worldly – they are only pretenders. Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matt. 23:27-28). Jesus said we must beware of hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). Paul speaks of hypocrisy when he says, “They profess that they know God; but by their works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Tit. 1:16).

In our present day many are hypocrites in worship. Our Lord declared, “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men” (Matt. 15:7-9).

Many are Christians are hypocrites when they see only the faults of others and refuse to see their own. “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye” (Luke 6:41-42).

One can be hypocritical when they try to make laws where God has not made them. Our Lord warned, “But the Lord answered him, and said, Ye hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, these eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath?” (Luke 13:15-16).

There are many other ways that one can be a hypocrite that are just too numerous to mention. But remember this, hypocrites are great pretenders. Thus, let us be warned, for the Great and Almighty Judge said that hypocrites will not go to heaven (Matt. 24:51)!

Taken from: http://preachersfiles.com/hypocrisy

We attempted to yet again have a fun game, but due to lack of acting skills and a lack of cooperation, we could not continue nor finish the lesson. I do request better behavior in class for the future, please. Ken Hoover and myself take time in this class and put our hearts in it, show respect. Having fun is welcome, but being crazy is not.

I'll put up pictures whenever I can!

Christian Pop - Krystal Meyers

She sounds a lot like Avril... her new stuff is pop. Her old stuff is rock. I've seen her live when she opened for Kutless. She could shred, gotta give her that. (Just live, not recorded)

Class Games

http://christianteensactivities.org/The%20Great%20Race.php

This is a possible activity we can have for the sunday evening youth class! What do you all think?

Types of Apologies

Types of Apologies
Whether you deeply hurt someone emotionally, accidentally shut the door on someone following close, tripped someone during a friendly game of soccer, or you are attempting to comfort a good friend who recently lost a family member, the words, “I’m sorry” should pop up at one point in these situations. Apologies resemble closely the anatomy of clay or play-dough, the worth and meaning of the apology matters depending on the person, the situation and the presentation it is submitted. Saying sorry expresses a genuine or superficial regret for an action or statement and also helps build bridges for understanding. Although there are many motives behind an apology, the unique phrase, “I’m sorry,” always has a diverse amount of sincerity lurking in the background of those two words; typically, apologies are either because they have to or feel that they must, sarcastic, or purely genuine.

Because I Have To
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” - Kimberly Johnson.
“Mommy!” A little girl shrieked as she ran into the bright kitchen, earnestly seeking out her mother. “What’s wrong dear?” said the mother sympathetically to her sobbing daughter. Without taking a breath to speak in between tears she screamed with a fierce anger, “Billy hit me in the head with his toy!” As the obviously traumatized girl pleaded her urgent case, her guilty brother poked his head into the kitchen, knowing his mother was about to call him to the stand. After much interrogating, which got tiresome with the accuser constantly interrupting the judge, Billy’s mother commanded him severely to, “say sorry to your sister.” “But I’m not sorry!” Billy quickly retorted. In the end, he relented however to avoid punishment but added indignantly that he said it because he had to. Aren’t we much like Billy? Maturity just veils these same situations to give the appearance that we are not being just plain silly. We get in fights with our best friends or our other and we let these petty arguments push us away from one another all because one side cannot consent and attempt to understand the other side’s opinion. Understanding in an argument begins with an apology and it can prevent arguments that spread like forest fires, burning hotter and hotter till the whole forest is torched to ashes and incinerate our feelings and friendships. Because we have to apologies right away can sometimes make people even angrier at us than if we took time to contemplate the extremity of our actions, or let them realize the ridiculousness of their over-reactions. We should always strive to be sincere in our apologies, but never compromise our hard-line, true beliefs because someone says to do so.

Sarcastic Apology
“A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.” - G.K. Chesterton.
This apology is easily the most aggravating and irritatingly rude apology of all. We’ve all met that one person who just blabs on and disregards the situation and people surrounding them; when confronted they, half heartedly and nearly sarcastically tells us, “I didn’t mean to offend you, sorry,” with a deep sigh and dismissing tone as if we were at fault. Usually they just have a misunderstanding or misbelieve about your opinions, thus become rude to avoid the appearance of their stupidity. Most of this kind of apology is left to commonsense in the fact that, it obviously is meant to both degrade and dismiss, or to demonstrate a lack of care or concern for the person or issue.

Genuine Apology
“An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.” - Lynn Johnston
Apologies have their most impact on people here at this level and demonstrate a true attempt to understand the other person whom they have offended. After a long fight, it is refreshing to exchange apologies and try to rebuild the bridges you may have started to collapse or burn. Saying sorry brings you one step closer to unity and provides you with a deeper knowledge into the other’s beliefs because a true apology is just a prelude to a calm conversation expressing why you were hurt or why they were hurt by what was said or done. Easily summarized, if you are going to say sorry, make sure you mean it or else you can just cause more fights. In the end, understanding, love, and unity should be the result of the little, but very important words, “I’m sorry.”

We Came As Romans

So, here is not a Christian band, but it is a very possitive band. They speak about love for everyone and understanding, which is very important to the Christian walk.