Advent: Challenge

A brief recap:

1. He Reveals Himself: God revealed himself to Moses. God has revealed himself to us so that we may know him.
2. He Calls Us For Life: God was calling Samuel. God has a plan and He calls us. We need to be like Samuel and say “Here I am. You called me! I am listening!”
3. He Stretches Us: God's calls aren’t always fun, aren’t always what we want or think should happen. Jesus helps us to be strong, growing, flexible. Be willing to stretch for God’s work.
4. He Accomplishes Great Things: Great things are not always accomplished through huge, elaborate platforms. Most times, it is just living everyday trying to do what is right in God’s eyes.

How will he reveal himself? I don’t know. How will he call you? I don’t know. How will he stretch you? I don’t know. What will he accomplish through you? I don’t know.

What I do know is that there is a plan, and YOU are part of it! So what I am going to do is CHALLENGE YOU! What I want you to say is CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! Be completely willing to answer the challenge for you.

If you don’t think that God has revealed himself to you, If God has already revealed himself to you, listen for his call. There is SOMETHING that you are being called to do. Maybe it’s to help a family member or friend. Maybe it’s to get more involved in church ministries. Maybe you know what he’s been asking you to do, and you’re resisting, and making God be a disturber. Whatever he is calling you to do, do it. That is my challenge. Stretch with him. He will help you grow, and as you stretch, you will do great things in His name.
 From Romans 15:

⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Advent Series:
He Reveals Himself
He Calls Us for Life
He Stretches Us
He Accomplishes Great Things

Advent: He Accomplishes Great Things

When we become stretched and strong in our spiritual lives, we see that THAT is when God can do great things. God accomplishes great things through everyone. We just need to be willing to listen as stretch with God.

Let's read from Luke:1:

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”
³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her

Have you ever thought to yourself, “God could never use me”?

If only I were smarter. If I could just meet the right people. If I had a little more courage. Then surely God would use me. What did others have that I didn’t? I loved God. He loved me. So why wasn’t I on the approved-to-be-used-by-God list? What was the problem? Would my big moment to shine ever come? We can be under the false impression that if God chose us to accomplish great things for Him, it would include an elaborate theme with plenty of fanfare.

God also chooses people like you and me to do great things for His glory. But sometimes our assignments look very different than we think they should. Although the world tends to focus on famous people, high positions and big platforms, God looks at the intent of the heart.

While we are dreaming up grand ideas, God was waiting for a grateful heart. While we are longing for elaborate platforms, God was looking for a humble spirit. While we are dreaming of success, God was watching for a willingness of obedience.

When we look back over the years, we will be able to see that some of my greatest accomplishments happened within the simple walls of my own home. Serving our families in messy ways and being stretched beyond what you thought was your breaking point.

There was no sea of spectators. No cheers from the crowd. No standing ovations. Only a simple family, living life one day at a time, trying to do what was right in God’s eyes. What great things has God chosen for you to do?

And when will our big moment come? When do we get to shine? Imagine it will be one glorious day when we humbly kneel before our Heavenly Father and He lovingly speaks our names saying, “Well done my faithful child. You have accomplished great things in My Name.”



Much of our information came from here.
 
Advent Series:
He Reveals Himself
He Calls Us for Life
He Stretches Us
He Accomplishes Great Things

Advent: He Stretches Us

Last week, we talked about how God calls us. Sometimes, we don't like what God calls us to do. In times like that, God stretches us. Stay with us for this one. It's long, but it is so good to hear what God says about us not wanting to do what He wants us to.

Let's first read in Jonah 2:
(we highly encourage you to read all of Jonah to get an idea of the whole story)

¹ From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. ² He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
    and you listened to my cry.
³ You hurled me into the depths,
    into the very heart of the seas,
    and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
    swept over me.
⁴ I said, ‘I have been banished
    from your sight;
yet I will look again
    toward your holy temple.’
⁵ The engulfing waters threatened me,
    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.
⁶ To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.

⁷ “When my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
    to your holy temple.

⁸ “Those who cling to worthless idols
    turn away from God’s love for them.
⁹ But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
    will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
    I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

¹⁰ And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

One thing we see is that God gave Jonah a call he didn’t want.  He had his own plans on where he wanted to preach and to whom he wanted to preach; and for that matter he had his own ideas of whom he wanted in the kingdom of God, and also who he believed didn’t belong there. And preaching in Nineveh was certainly not a part of that plan. He was stuck in this narrow kind of thinking that says "I want my kind of people in the kingdom of God"; that says "I want only my kind of folks in my church". And he had some pretty firm ideas of whom he did not want in his church. The church and the kingdom were for Jews…only. Oh, we might let a few others in, but certainly not those from Nineveh.  He had his list of those who didn’t deserve to be there, and Nineveh was on that list.

The bottom line in this story is that Jonah simply could not love whom God loved.  That was his problem at heart. It was a heart problem! God loved those Ninevites, outsiders though they were; and Jonah didn’t. God had compassion; Jonah didn’t. To God, they were his creatures who needed to know of his grace; to Jonah they were outsiders who ought to be kept outside.  Jonah was busy erecting fences to keep people out; God was busy changing hearts to bring people in. And then this story ends…well, it doesn’t really end…it just stops…right there. It becomes the unfinished story. There seems to be no closure, no resolution. And I wonder if there is a message in that…that many times when God does try to stretch us, disturb us, it doesn’t go so well…it just sort of hangs there unresolved?

Sometimes we get stuck in our own ruts; we become too narrow in our thinking; too centered on ourselves; we take control of things away from God; and we think we can chart out our own course. And we become so comfortable in that way of thinking that we are not willing to examine it. We’re just locked into it. That’s our way, and we’re going to keep it our way! But it isn’t God’s way and so he has to push us out of our comfort zone; he has to disturb us. That’s when he becomes God the Disturber.

It is very important that God asks you to stretch because that will make your stretch a stretch of faith. We do not want to make up our own stretching exercises because we are liable to pull something. We only want to stretch as God asks us to stretch. What is the biblical definition of faith? Faith is simply trust, and it is trust in the Word of God. When God asks us to do something, we stretch our faith to respond.

What happens to a muscle when it is regularly stretched? It becomes flexible, versatile, efficient, strong, and growing? Think about those five adjectives—flexible, versatile, efficient, strong, and growing. Would you like those applied to your spiritual life? I would; especially, when I consider the antonyms—weak, brittle, and inflexible. One other antonym can be applied. What happens to a muscle when it is not regularly stretched? Does it stay the same? No, it atrophies, which means to shrink from disuse.

When I say that God is going to stretch you, I do not mean that you are human taffy. I mean that He is going to ask you to do something, and you will have to decide whether to stretch in faith. God has given you your very own personal trainer who is the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will be giving you your set of stretches on a daily basis. God’s calls stretch us, so we have to be ready for God to stretch us so that his work can go on.

Are you willing to have your love be as big as God’s love? Is your circle as big as God’s circle? Or are you drawing lines that you’ll love just some — these folks, but not those folks?  If so, be careful. When Jonah did that he found God to be a Disturber. He found God determined to stretch him.

Much of our information came from here and here.
 
Advent Series:
He Reveals Himself
He Calls Us for Life
He Stretches Us
He Accomplishes Great Things

Advent: He Calls Us for Life

 
Last week, we talked about how God reveals Himself to us. When God reveals Himself, He begins calling us.
 
This week, we'll start by reading from 1 Samuel

The Lord Calls Samuel

The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

² One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶ Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

 
God calls you to a service far beyond anything you could ever imagine. You were put on Earth to make a contribution. You weren’t created just to consume resources—to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life. You were created to add to life on Earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back.

What God told Jeremiah is also true for you: “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work” (Jeremiah 1:5a NCV).When most people think of this “special work,” they think of pastors or professinals, but God says every member of his family is to minister. In the Bible, the words “servant” and “minister” are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you’re serving, you’re ministering. Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t just immediately take us to Heaven the moment we accept his grace? Why does he leave us in a fallen world? He leaves us here to fulfill his purposes. Once you are saved, God intends to use you for his goals. God has a ministry for you in his Church and a mission for you in the world.

 

What we need to do, is be like Samuel. Samuel was willing to come when the Lord was calling, even when he thought it was Eli calling. God wants us to be willing to answer His call and to be willing to do what God wants so that we can do His special work.


 
Much of our information came from here.
 
Advent Series:
He Reveals Himself
He Calls Us for Life
He Stretches Us
He Accomplishes Great Things

Advent: He Reveals Himself

Advent is a time of preparing ourselves for Christmas and the birth of Christ. There are many ways this can be done, and many themes that can be looked at as we prepare ourselves, and this year we will be look at seeing what God does. God can do a lot of great things, but we need to take time to stop and pay attention.

First, we see how God reveals Himself. Let's read from Exodus 3:

Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am” This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,

    the name you shall call me

    from generation to generation.”

Ok, so imagine that you are God. You created all things – including human beings. You made humans in your own image and you want them to relate to you in a special way.

Wouldn't you tell those humans about yourself? Wouldn't you tell them what you expect of them? Wouldn't you tell them how to come into the relationship you want to share with them? Sometimes our parents do that, or we find that we do that to our children. We want them to know about us. Then others will understand why we are how we are, or to make a connection with you.

People who believe that God is unknowable assume that God hides himself from his creation. But God does reveal himself, through his creation, in history, in the pages of the Bible, and through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Creation reveals God in many ways. King David and Job are some of those who marvel at God’s creations. They, among many others, talk about how great and beautiful all of God's creation is.

History reveals God in communication. Adam & Eve, Noah and Moses directly communicate with God. We can still communicate with God if we take the time to stop and listen.

The Bible record reveals God. The Bible tells us who He is, what He is doing, what He has done. The Bible is full of God revealing His plan, his thoughts and Himself.

God had revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the human form of God. He came to Earth to show us how to live and what He expects from us. 

Of course, we are unable to know all there is of God, but we are able to understand what he has revealed to us. God is:

• self-existing
• not restricted by time
• unbounded by place
• unlimited in power
• unlimited in knowledge
• transcendent (having his existence beyond the physical universe)
• immanent (involved with the universe)

What did God intend when he made all things and gave us life? Paul explained to the Athenians: "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. `For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring' “(Acts 17:26-28).

Much of our information came from here.

ROC the Day 2014

UPDATE 12/3/14: Thank you so much for ROCing the Day with us yesterday! We had our biggest year yet! We raised $66 for TurningPoint, and $107 for Parma Christian Fellowship Church. We are so grateful and thankful for what you have given us to help make our ministries successful. THANK YOU!

 

 

 

We hope that you are able to join us and donate to TurningPoint Youth Ministries and Parma Christian Fellowship Church as part of the 4th Annual ROC the Day!

We have spent the last 20+ years helping those in our community, and with your help, we can continue to help members of our community. You are free to donate any amount, so please consider donating even just $1, and encourage your friends and family members to donate $1, especially if they have been impacted by our support. Please share either the ROC the Day photo or another favorite picture of a memory you have of our ministries, and share WHY we are so important to you, and why others should donate to us.

We appreciate your prayers and support!

Dessert Fundraiser

You can now order pies or cheesecakes for the holiday season! You can place an order online at the PCFMinistries website. Payment is required before your dessert is made. You can pay using cash, check (made payable to Parma Christian Fellowship Church) or PayPal.

Thanksgiving orders are due by November 23rd.

Christmas orders are due by December 17th.

What Does God Want From You?

Last week's lesson inspired us for this week's lesson and fun craft activity.

We all have busy and full lives (hopefully of mostly good things), but it's easy to get caught up in your own life, your own drama, and your own habits. It's not in our culture to stop and think about others, but sometimes we need to do just that. When we are in a relationship with God and as we choose to become more like God, we begin to see (or try to see) what God sees. When we interact with other people, we're interacting with Jesus.

We find that it feels good to do charitable and/or "Christian" activities (like donating clothes, reading the bible, going to church, etc.), but God calls us to do more than that. He wants us to live our life for others and to be compassionate to others.

Think: Which is better? A wicked person donating a large sum of money to a church, or a poor person who gives everything they have to help another person? The answer is a poor person helping another person. They are sacrificing their resources, everything that they have to help someone else in need.

We read Micah 6:1-8 (NIV):

Listen to what the Lord says:

“Stand up, plead my case before the mountains;
    let the hills hear what you have to say.

“Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation;
    listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
    he is lodging a charge against Israel.

“My people, what have I done to you?
    How have I burdened you? Answer me.
I brought you up out of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you,
    also Aaron and Miriam.
My people, remember
    what Balak king of Moab plotted
    and what Balaam son of Beor answered.
Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

 

Micah is sharing God's message with the people of Judah, who have been rebellious and wicked, and would soon face God's wrath. Micah shares with them what God really wants from them. To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

 

Do justice (act justly)- God hates dishonesty, lying and cheating. He wants us all to have integrity and to be honest.

 

Love kindness (mercy)- We are to love others, and be compassionate in our everyday lives.

 

Walk humbly- Live in devotion to Christ, not displaying arrogance or self-reliance. We are to be dependent on God, and not forget the price that God paid for us.

 

In more plain terms:

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

~Micah 6:8 (MSG)

 Holiness is more than living life for yourself. It is characterized by a life lived for others.

After we got through the lesson, we had some fun making a poster for us to remember these words.

What Do You Think About?

What do you watch/do/read/think about/etc on a daily basis? Is it the same or different as pop culture?

Do you meditate? (Meditation is contemplating, reflecting, focusing your thoughts on something, pondering, planning.) It doesn't necessarily mean you are thinking about something spiritual or nothing. It could be meditating on sports, TV, partying, friends, etc.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  ~Joshua 1:8 (NIV)

Joshua was the leader of the nation, and led the people to Israel. God's command to Joshua was to keep his laws on your lips. Meditate on it. (Always think about them). That way you can be careful to do it.

When you play a sport or take an art or music class, or do anything else of interest, you generally learn the rules and basics before you begin. This helps keep everyone safe and helps them enjoy what they are doing. The same goes for the Bible and life. You need to learn the instructions and rules you should be following before you enjoy life.

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
~Psalm 1 (NIV)

⁹ How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
    By living according to your word.
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
    do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.
~Psalm 119 (NIV) 

Sin means to fall short, or miss the mark. If we are constantly thinking about God and what He wants, it helps us stay on the right path and make good decisions so we do not miss the mark.

Whatever you spend time with is what you follow and what you are. Choose how you spend your time wisely.

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.
~Micah 6 (NIV)

Next week we will talk a little more about Micah 6:8 and have a little craft to go along with it!

Gross Night

For our last TurningPoint of the school year, we did a gross night! Since we did it as part of our regular TurningPoint, we had a short amount of time, but we did play "Toast", where everyone sits in a circle. On a table is a piece of toast and a bunch of random condiments. At the same time there is a piece of bread in the toaster. While the bread in the toaster is cooking (on a random setting each time), the students go in a circle and state a true fact about themselves. When the toast pops out of the toaster, the person talking has to eat at least a bite of the toast after condiments have been put on it. Then you start over with a new piece of toast.

{2 different toilets, and using the example of our toast during the lesson}

In keeping our theme, we found some gross, weird and true lessons. Our lesson, Remove the Poop, came from this website.

We started by reading Deuteronomy 23:12-14

"Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you."

• What is the command of God in these passages? God wants there to be a specific place outside their camp for going to the bathroom, and a specific way of cleaning it up.
• Why does He tell them to do this? To keep the camp holy.

God is serious about holiness. When the army was assembled, He wanted to make sure that they were taking their lives and their actions as serious as He was. If the army got together and didn't follow God's rules, then He wouldn't go into battle with them. God wanted His people to approach Him with respect and to live in holiness.

This isn't just an Old Testament idea. We also read in 1 Peter 1:13-16

"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”"

• Because God is holy, what are we supposed to be? God wants us to be holy.
• What does it mean to be holy? Dedicated or devoted to the service of God or the church. {source}
• What are some synonyms for holy? Humble, pure, believing, clean, faithful, good, moral, blessed, devoted, prayerful, virtuous. {source}
• What does "being holy" mean in the life of a teenager? What would it look like? It could look like stopping to do bad stuff and starting to do good things.

Of course there are the obvious things, don't drink, do drugs, smoke, swear, have sex until you are married, or look at porn. But there are some subtle things too. Holiness means avoiding hateful thoughts about others. It means to not only stop doing things, but start doing holy things. Holiness is about standing up for others and cutting out gossip and backstabbing.

We are to be holy; we are to clean up our lives. You may have tried this at different church camps, Flower City Work Camp, or just tried to change your behavior. You may have made commitments to stay away from bad stuff and to read your bible and do good stuff. For some reason, though, it never seems to work.

This is because we are not strong enough to clean up our own lives, but God is. We can be holy because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. God himself, the third part of the trinity, lives in you if you are a Christian.

You may wonder that if holiness means giving up things that I enjoy or doing things that I may not want to do, then why should I try to do it? "Because you are told to by the God who created you" should be enough of an answer, but that isn't the answer that God gives. God says that you should strive to be holy because that is how you succeed in this world. God's ways aren't just random ruiners of fun. They are laws designed to help you to make it, to save you from unnecessary pain and to help you live fulfilled.

We finished out the evening with an activity called "remove the poop". We wrote down the bad things, the "poop" that we wanted to get out of our lives, and flush down the toilet.

What would you flush out of your life?

10 Days of Easter: Day 10

*All of the material was provided and put together by those at YM360. We just put together the pretty pictures.*

Truth from the Bible: The new life we have in Christ motivates us to be vocal and visible messengers to the world around us.
What do I do with it?: You'll thank God that He has called you to be a messenger of His story, and you'll ask God to help you be more effective in doing so.

Go outside and look at the sky. Notice its massive expanses. See how you can't help but notice it when you are outside. Pause and take it all in.

Jesus is calling you to be vocal and visible messengers to the world around you. He wants you to live life in such a way that people can't help but see Him when they are around you. Like the sky to the outdoors, He wants your life to be an obvious reflection of His love.

Take a few moments and read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
-2 Corinthians 5 (NIV)

The passage refers to a person who is a "new person," who is "Christ's ambassador," and has been "made right through Christ."

Today is the day of declaration - and make it loud! Create a video of yourself declaring your loyalty to Christ. Put into your own words what it means to be called the three things listed above. Then take it a step farther.

Upload your declaration to YouTube or your favorite social media platform. (Share it with TurningPoint, and use #10DaysOfEaster.) After you get your new masterpiece uploaded, ask God to bless your efforts to be a messenger for His great story in such a personal and public way.

10 Days of Easter: Day 9

*All of the material was provided and put together by those at YM360. We just put together the pretty pictures.*

Truth from the Bible: Jesus ascended to heaven, returning to the Father, and will one day return to gather all of His children.
What do I do with it?: You'll evaluate your life and what, if any, changes you need to make to be more on mission with God.

Begin by reading today's passage, Acts 1:1-11.

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructionsthrough the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
-Acts 1 (NIV)

Consider this:
If you were there that day, how would you have felt as Jesus rose into heaven?

Contemplate the following quotes:

"God doesn't ask your ability or your inability. He asks only your availability."-Mary Kay Ash

"God doesn't call people who are qualified. He calls people who are willing, and then He qualifies them."-Richard Parker

With Jesus's words fresh in your mind, come up with three words you can repeat throughout the day that will remind you to be available for God to use you for His purposes.

10 Days of Easter: Day 8

*All of the material was provided and put together by those at YM360. We just put together the pretty pictures.*

Truth from the Bible: We can confidently believe that Jesus was who He said He was. Through this belief we gain life.
What do I do with it?: You'll reflect on and express thanks for the life God made possible to you through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

Several eyewitness accounts of a resurrected Jesus spending time with His followers are found in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

Take time to read John 20:26-31.

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,“Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
-John 20 (NIV)

Get up close and personal with one of the biggest doubters among Jesus' disciples. Perhaps you can relate to him?

Object search:
Look around your room. Find a gadget of some sort lying around that, although it does its job quite well, you could have never invented and have no idea how it does that thing it does. Pick it up and hold it.

Now imagine how Thomas must have felt when Jesus showed him the scars in His hands. A real human being is back from the dead! It was probably on the threshold of being too much for the mind to comprehend! Science could not explain it. Thomas' mind certainly could not solve this mystery.

As you hold the object in your hand, spend some quiet time thanking Jesus for defeating sin and death.

Even though your mind may struggle to comprehend the caliber of love Jesus demonstrated, you can experience it in just as real a way as the reality of holding that object in your hand!