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Reaching Out… For Camp?!
I know it kind of seems crazy, but we need to be thinking about Summer camp already.
Are you planning on going?
If not, why not? If so, you’re awesome.
Next question: Have you asked anyone else about going too? We prepare for camp a lot of ways: fund-raisers, preaching and activities are a few. If someone you know would like to come to camp and they don’t come to our church, perhaps camp is just the thing they need to be persuaded to start coming to church more faithfully.
We have people in our very own class that may or may not come to camp. You know who it might depend on? You. Wouldn’t it be cool if all they wanted was for someone to ask them? Maybe you could have an influence on others.
Are you others-focused? Camp is not all about you, although we often make it out to be. J Life is not all about you. The best parts in life are about others. If you can learn that now, your life will be that much better for it.
Think of others at all times, but specifically now in relation to camp. Maybe the only reason some people don’t want to go is because they don’t want to be alone all week. You have your friends. Now why don’t you go BE a friend like that to someone else.
It’s awkward. It’s new. It’s tough. It’s weird. Reaching out to others—especially if it means spending a whole week together in the same cabin—might seem strange. That’s okay. Try it. Be weird.
-Bro. Ryan
MONTH SHEETS – Please remember to fill out your sheet and turn it in at any time tonight. We will not be taking time in class, so please do it before or after if you would like your points to be counted. Tonight is the once-per-month “bonus” of an extra 500 points for attending any ONE week of door-knocking this whole month.
REQUIREMENT SHEETS – Even if you miss a Wednesday, please fill out a form and date it for the Wednesday that you missed. If you did the other requirements, we will still log those points. All you would miss is the 500 points for missing the Wednesday night meeting, but they can be made up by your one monthly sheet or by bringing a guest.
TOMORROW – We need help unloading 5 pallets tomorrow. If you can help me load/unload some new flooring for the gym, please let me know. It will probably be from 3:30-5pm or so.
CAMP REGISTRATION SUNDAY – March 10 (2 weeks away!) Please have your permission form and $50 registration fee ready on that day, and see if others you know can come too!
PICTURE/VIDEO SCAVENGER HUNT – Saturday, March 9, 12:30 – 3pm. Bring smartphones to email me photos/videos as you go. NEEDED: Drivers. Please bring chips or a snack to share. Pizza and drinks will be provided.
Love, or Not?
Do you love God?
Of course, Bro. Ryan. He saved me.
Sure. Everyone says they love God. But do you really love God? I’m not talking about being thankful for your salvation. I’m talking about a life-changing, no-faking it kind of love. THAT kind of love should drive everything you do as a Christian.
If you’ve been around the Teens of Faith very long, you have probably heard me say more than once that the Christian life is not a list of do’s and don’ts. It’s not a checklist you follow. It’s not a drudgery.
When you have a true relationship with God, everything else takes care of itself. Sure, we have certain rules and dress codes and things for church activities or camps, but we wouldn’t necessarily need a rulebook if everyone loved God as deeply as they should.
Loving God is self-sacrificial. Have you sacrificed anything lately? Loving God means you don’t want to hurt others. What did you post this week? Loving God means you hate sin and love righteousness. Love covers basically everything. When you passionately love God, you’re not forced to read your Bible because you have to. It’s a joy! When your love for God is in the right place, you don’t do your BIBS just so you can go on the Alaska trip, you do them because you want to understand and apply God’s Word to your life! Loving God means that you recognize and repent of your own passive-aggressiveness and rather try to edify others with your words. Loving God means that you simply have a spirit that says, “Whatever God says to do, I’ll do it with all my heart.” No excuses. No lying. No faking it. True, real love.
Love God. Love others. Do right. -Bro. Ryan
CAMP REGISTRATION SUNDAY – March 10 (2 weeks away!) Please have your permission form and $50 registration fee ready on that day, and see if others you know can come too!
PICTURE/VIDEO SCAVENGER HUNT – Saturday, March 9, 12:30 – 3pm Bring smartphones to email me photos/videos as you go. NEEDED: Drivers.
Be Timeless…
Yesterday was better than I imagined.
I think we had a few more little hiccups than normal, but overall I was most pleased that the message came across clearly.
I think you got it.
Did you? At least you got that you should be timeless over trendy, right? Hopefully that part came through.
Overall, though, I think it was one of the clearest and most direct Preaching Rallies we’ve done in that all the special music, all the skits, all the decorations, all the graphics and all the preaching went together to emphasize the point. I hope you enjoyed it!
We have several small and medium t-shirts left, if you did not get one, and on the welcome table in the foyer there are some “leftovers” in case you missed them. Thank you for allowing our guests to go first – we had a HUGE number (like over 100 people!) register in the last 2 days, so we were a little short on the printed materials that we had planned. Since you passed on them we had enough for our guests, but we will have to reprint more for you in the coming weeks. I want all of you to at least get the 3 booklets from the sessions.
Thank you for your help in setup and teardown. I realize some of you had to leave before we were all done, but thank you VERY much to those who planned to stay to the very end. That’s a great servant’s heart. Do whatever needs to be done till it’s done, then find something else to do. J Thank you for your good work yesterday. Keep that up!
-Bro. Ryan
MIXED ENSEMBLE – Mixed Ensemble DOES have practice tonight after church. Starting a new Easter song combined with choir.
YA CHOIR – NO practice tonight.
CAMP REGISTRATION SUNDAY – March 10 (3 weeks away!) Please have your permission form and $50 registration fee ready on that day, and see if others you know can come too!
Friday
Depending on how many people come, Friday may be either long or short. Who knows.
This Friday at 1pm we’re meeting at church to prepare for the Preaching Rally on Saturday. My wife will be having you transport decorations from the gym to the sanctuary, and you’ll also be helping with a few little final details with the food team, the grounds and the parking team. Everyone can come. We are thinking it will only be about an hour.
Today I just finished up my notes for the schedule of service and my sermon, and yesterday I talked a long time with Bro. Lande. We are really excited about this year’s theme, and we really hope it 1) makes sense and 2) helps you make decisions that will affect your future.
We have 4 new churches that I know of: Foothill in Moreno Valley, Lighthouse in LaVerne, Victory in Lakeside and Riverside Baptist. Most of the other churches that have come in the past are returning this year. Be sure to greet them, be welcoming, be friendly, be helpful, and be courteous while our guests are here. After they leave you can be a jerk. No wait… do all those things all the time to everyone.
Be praying for the preaching. Pray for open hearts. Pray for God’s will to be accomplished this Saturday, and pray for God to keep all the churches safe as they travel. See you this Saturday (or Friday)!
-Bro. Ryan
FOOD HELP – If you signed up to help with food but you’re in YA Choir, please go to the kitchen immediately after our sound check to get your “orders” from Mrs. Rench. Bro. Ron is in the hospital so my mom will be overseeing the food and wants to meet at 10:15 on Sat.
MUSIC PRACTICES – Mixed Ensemble DOES have practice this Sunday night after church, but Young Adults choir does NOT have practice. M. E. needs to practice for the upcoming Easter song combined with choir.
Bunch o’ Stuff
Preaching Rally. The biggest thing this week is the Preaching Rally. It’s this Saturday.
Skit people… today’s the deadline! Song people… tonight’s our last practice. Grounds people (everyone, for that matter)… this Friday we’re having a work-day at 1pm (no school). If you can come, great. We will only work an hour or two maybe. If you can’t come, no big deal. We’ll just see you Saturday. So anyway, that’s the biggest thing this week.
Alaska Trip. If you were here Wednesday you got the low-down on our Alaska Trip. If you weren’t here you can read about it on our website. We also sent you a postcard about it, so you should get them in the mail this week (if you haven’t already.) Basically, if you come to church on Wednesdays, do your devotions every day and come to Saturations Saturday, you can probably go to Alaska almost free. Keep it up, though, because, you need to maintain an average number of points.
Camp Registration Sunday. You also received a mailing about Camp Registration Sunday coming up in one month. Begin saving now, and plan to bring your registration form and your $50 registration fee in order to save you $30 off your total cost! If you register after March 10, the price goes up to $299, and if you’re after April 1 it goes up to $329! You definitely want to register on time. Again, more details can be found on the church website: cbctemecula.org.
Heartland Trip. Finally, on top of these plans, we are less urgently planning the Heartland trip again. We will not put much emphasis on this trip until about March, but the trip dates are April 1-6. This is for high schoolers only. This will be a packed, awesome year!
-Bro. Ryan
TONIGHT – Church Planter John Vaught – Scottsdale, AZ
PREACHING RALLY – Saturday, Feb. 16. Please be here at church about 10:15 (YA Choir at 10:10).
Alaska Trip
Tonight after the service we will have a brief Alaska Trip meeting.
If you maintain a certain average of points according to the new system we will be showing you, you’ll probably be able to go for free. What it will take is a commitment, though.
Your commitment now means that for the next several months you will be involved in daily devotions (BIBS), monthly Saturation Saturdays, weekly Wednesday night church, taking notes (aw man, I have to stay awake!), bringing your Bible and more.
We want to make sure we are taking teens who are spiritually prepared, but at the same time we do not want to be SO strict with our expectations that no one can make it! You’re not going to have to memorize the entire New Testament or anything, I promise.
There is an opportunity for you to go if you are willing to keep doing what you’ve been doing all along… Most of you already come pretty much every Wednesday night, and a lot of you come every Saturday (or at least about 2 or three times a month) to door-knocking. Just keep that up along with your daily BIBS and you’ll be fine. Bonus points will be awarded for guests and some extra door-knocking, but don’t rely on the bonus points to catch you up all the time. Just stay on top of what you are supposed to, and you’ll make it.
I’m excited about a lot right now – the Preaching Rally, Camp registration (coming soon!!), the Alaska trip preparations, the Heartland trip preparations (Apr. 1-6), and more!! Pray with me as we really get going in 2013… it’s going to be a packed year and one month is already gone.
-Bro. Ryan
VALENTINES BANQUET HELPERS – Thank you to those of you who are helping this Friday. You’re awesome.
SATURATION SATURDAY & Men’s Prayer Breakfast – Feb. 9
PREACHING RALLY – Saturday, Feb. 16. Please be here at church about 10:15 (YA Choir at 10:10).
MOVING BOOKLETS – For the guys that are not in the Young Men’s Group, would you please move all the booklets from the staff office (by Pastor’s) to the Lively Stones/Jr. Church room?
BAKERS – Praise God for Bro. Ken and Mrs. Gina Baker. Tonight marks two years that they have been with us, and they have been a huge blessing the entire time they have been on board as youth staff. Thank you, Grandpa Bruce, for always filling in and being a great example to all of us as a faithful servant of God. Thank you, Mrs. Gina, for always taking amazing photos, being a great “mom” to all of us, and being a precious example of what a wife and mom should be. We love you and appreciate all you do!!
<2 Weeks!
The Preaching Rally is almost upon us.
(Wait… Who talks like that?!) It’s almost here! 2 weeks from yesterday. We’re going to be hosting a bunch of teens here on Saturday, Feb. 16. If you can, please be available to help wherever possible.
Most of you will be greeting. That’s one of the main jobs and one of the most important. We want you to shine. The last few years you’ve done awesome at mingling with our guests, welcoming them, giving them their booklets as they entered, and just generally being friendly. Great job! Let’s do that again this year.
The Preaching Rally this year has the potential to impact whole churches. We are encouraging the teens to not push the line when it comes to choosing between timeless or trendy.
When I go on another church’s website, usually the first place I’ll look is at their staff pictures. Next, I’ll go to their youth pages and look for pictures. It’s always interesting to me to find out what other youth groups do and what kind of activities and programs they have.
A lot of times I’ll poke around and get on a youth page and it is like a totally different church! There are crazy banners on the wall, guitars in the corner, a drum set, punk-looking kids portrayed as the godly examples and other crazy pictures. To see the church as a whole you would think it’s a fired-up, independent, soul-winning, King James Bible, preaching-loving Baptist church. To see the youth you would think you’d be going to a rock concert if you visited. Probably in 20 years (or sooner!) these solid churches with entertainment-focused youth groups will turn into entertainment-focused churches.
So often, it starts with the youth. If YOU can learn to be passionate about being timeless rather than trendy, it’s a whole different ballgame. What if YOU were the ones who were always trying to raise the bar, have higher standards, and glorify God more than self! What if it wasn’t coming from your youth director but from YOU? How amazing would it be to see the youth group being the ones who are passionate about soul-winning, about the King James Bible, and about singing hymns!
Anchor yourself to God’s Word and you will be timeless. It’s that simple. Timeless, or trendy? It’s your choice. Choose timeless… it’s just better that way. You’ll see why next Saturday.
-Bro. Ryan
ALASKA TRIP MEETING – Next Wednesday, Feb. 6.
SATURATION SATURDAY & Men’s Prayer Breakfast – Feb. 9
PREACHING RALLY – Saturday, Feb. 16. Please be here at church about 10:15 (YA Choir at 10:10).
How Bored Do You Get?
The Preaching Rally theme this year is Timeless.
The concept behind Timeless is that every Christian will benefit when he learns that there is much more meaning to the time-tested and proven things in life than there is in the trendy, new and flashy things.
Timeless or trendy? Which do you prefer?
Most teens prefer trendy, or new things. One sure way to test your appetite for trendy is to ask yourself, “How bored do I get?”
You load a new app, use it a while, then it’s old. You search for a new one and maybe even buy it, but the thrill doesn’t last. You’re bored.
You get new clothes, wear them once, get complimented, wear them again, maybe get a couple more compliments, wear them again and they’re old. Then you’re bored with it. They’re not fresh any more. You need new.
How bored do you get?
You come to church and it’s the same thing as always. You sit through the same preacher and play the same games and go on the same activities. Remember when things were exciting to you? Are you bored now?
Devotions can get old, too. You wake up and feel as badly as you did yesterday—your eyes won’t stay open and you just want to go back to sleep. You can’t concentrate anyway… why read my Bible? BIBS was new and exciting at first… but you’ve done it a while and now it’s not new any more. What will it take for this to be exciting again? I need something fresh. I need something new. Have you ever thought that?
Timeless is all about fighting off that mentality. Being timeless means that you realize some things in life might seem boring, but if you’re really thinking about them right, they are the best things in life. Being timeless means that you don’t always have to have new things in order to be interested. Church doesn’t always have to be a new sermon series or a novel concept. Devotions don’t always have to be in a new format. Being timeless simply means that you are not giving in to the constant and never-ending craving for new. After all, you’ll never get enough, so why not just do what you know you should do and anchor yourself to God’s timelessness. It will last. I promise.
-Bro. Ryan
ALASKA TRIP MEETING – Next week.
SATURATION SATURDAY – Feb. 9
Living For God
We use the term Living for God all the time.
Have you ever stopped and thought about that?
Do you live for God? You won’t have another chance later on. You will never be able to relive your past. Some day when you’re old and looking back… you’ll never be able to live your teen years again. How much time are you wasting in bitterness? In selfishness? In resentment? In hate? In boring, lifeless, self-indulgence?
Do you live for God by living for others? Are you investing your life in things that will matter? Or are you wasting your time.
Mrs. Anasarias passed away on Friday night, but she was a lady who lived for God. Her life was about serving God and others, and right up to the end, her testimony was that she lived for God. My wife, Pastor and I were able to be with the final moments with the family, and her hospital room was filled with coworkers and family. Everyone nodded in agreement when Pastor made the statement that she lived for God.
Whether you know it or not, people will know you by how you live. Sometimes you reflect a little deeper on your own life when it is threatened, or when a precious loved one is lost. Think about your life… how will you be remembered? As someone who was faithful? As someone who lived for God?
We are grieving with the Anasarias family in their loss. No doubt. But it was amazing to see that in the middle of all that grief, the family was able to be a beacon of hope to everyone in the room by affirming their confidence in Mrs. Eileen’s home in heaven. There was no doubt. There was no hoping. They didn’t have to light a candle or pray really hard that she would go to heaven. They knew without doubt that they will see mom again. It is difficult, confusing and painful to lose a loved one, but God’s light is brightest when it’s the darkest time of night.
-Bro. Ryan
ALASKA TRIP MEETING – Our Alaska trip will be July 29 – Aug. 6. We need to know now who will be committing to go. If you meet the criteria, you might be able to go free or at a huge price break. More meeting details to follow, but please be considering the dates and if you will want to go.
DEVARE WILLIAMS – Missionary to Chile here today.
SATURATION SATURDAY – Feb. 9
Faith Promise Missions
Sunday school was on “Give and Go.”
This Sunday is our church’s missions commitment Sunday. It’s the one time of the year that we take our Faith Promise Missions Commitments and tally up our total for 2013. This Commitment includes several aspects: faith, a promise, and the whole idea of missions.
Faith doesn’t mean that you save up enough money for the year, check your savings account and say, “Yep. I can do ___ every week.” Faith is stepping out without knowing how God will provide and making a Promise or a commitment to come through week after week with the money.
Lest you think, “Man, this church is all about money!” let me tell you this: I know we’re not going to be the biggest giving class in the church! You’re poor. I’ve mentioned over and over that giving is about sacrifice and faithfulness. Are you sacrificing? Maybe $.50 per week is a sacrifice for you. Maybe more, maybe less… have you committed it?
Let me be clear… the Faith Promise Missions is a commitment that is above your tithe (which is 10% of all money you get), and Faith Promise is separate from your weekly Home Missions Church Planters offering that we just took to Heartland last week. Our Pastor has cast the vision for our church to be involved in the Church Planters Conference, and every year our church’s Christmas offering goes toward that conference. What we are doing with the TOF Home Missions offering every week is just adding (as we give week by week) to the whole church’s offering.
Perhaps we should have stated our summaries more clearly, but we do not want to think too highly of ourselves. Giving is selfless not selfish, and we are giving under the whole church, of course, but contributing weekly in class instead of at one time in the Christmas offering only.
Praise God for the contribution our class was able to make! For what it’s worth, I commend you for your part in giving sacrificially and faithfully.
-Bro. Ryan
YOUNG ADULTS CHOIR – New song for the Preaching Rally. Anyone can join (7th grade and up). We will practice next week.
ALASKA TRIP MEETING – Our Alaska trip will be July 29 – Aug. 6. We need to know now who will be committing to go. If you meet the criteria, you might be able to go free or at a huge price break. More meeting details to follow, but please be considering the dates and if you will want to go.
LADIES – NURSERY HELP NEEDED – Valentine’s Banquet on Friday, Feb. 8 from 6-9pm .
DEVARE WILLIAMS – Missionary to Chile here this Sunday.
Thank you, Bro. Ken, for being a blessing and teaching last week!
BIBS:Romans 8:15-25
Question: How are we the children of God?
Answers:
1. We have received the spirit of adoption (v.15)
2. The spirit bears witness that we are the children of God (v. 16)
3. We are delivered from the bondage of corruption into liberty (v. 21)
4. We are saved by hope (v. 24)
Combine “Trunk” and “Branches”
We are the children of God, saved by hope, and delivered from the bondage of corruption.
Romans 8:26-27
Question: How does the spirit make intercession for us?
Answers:
1. He searches our hearts (v. 27)
2. It’s according to the will of God (v. 27)
3. With groanings that cannot be uttered (v. 26)
BIBS
TEXT: Rom 9:1-5
CIT: Paul’s personal anguish for his fellow Jews who are perishing under privilege
TEXT: Rom 9:6-13
FCF: Sometimes it’s possible in our tiny human reasoning to try to figure God out. Since our minds do not have the capacity to understand eternity fully, it’s illogical to trust in it. But, that’s where faith comes in. We have to trust in a God that’s bigger than us! HIS purposes are already fulfilled in His “timeline,” as we think of time, and He knows what will happen based on his foreknowledge. When we forget that God is God, we limit who He is and what He is accomplishing. If anything, we need a more complete and higher view of God so that we can more readily line up with His purpose through our relationship in Christ.
This text, obviously, is about the Jewish relationship to God based on God’s foreknowledge, and God has purposed their future to be blessed based on several factors, mainly His sovereign choice. We too are blessed based on His sovereign choice and our lining up with Him. Although it sometimes doesn’t make sense (the disparity between our free choice and His sovereign direction), we cannot limit His working.
CIT: God fulfills his purposes even without the cooperation of man.
“Line up with HIS purposes.”
TITLE: Sovereign. Righteous. Merciful.
TEXT: Rom 9:14-26
CIT: God’s sovereign power is limited by his mercy.
TEXT: Rom 9:19-33
CIT: Overall: God sovereignly accomplishes his will, with or without the cooperation of man. Smaller text: God sovereignly chooses people to accomplish his will.
TITLE: Christ is the finish line
TEXT: Rom 9:22-10:4 (10:1-4)
SUBJECT: How will zealous Israel be saved.
COMPLEMENT: Not by works, not by zeal… but ONLY by faith (ch 9) placed IN Christ alone (v4)
FCF: Too many people are not willing to place their faith in Christ alone. Their faith is in their works, their knowledge, their family’s “zeal” (“Oh, we go to church!”) and not in the knowledge of the only thing that saves: faith in Christ.
CIT: Only by faith in the knowledge of God’s righteousness will anyone be saved.
TEXT: Rom 10: 5-13
CIT: While Paul still emphasizes God’s plan for Israel, he reiterates the fact that salvation is not by works but by faith, available to all who believe.
TEXT: Rom 10: 14-21
CIT: Because Israel unquestionably heard and understood God’s Word and still rejected Christ, Israel is without excuse while God’s blessings go to the Gentiles.
“You hear it. You understand it. You reject it… no excuses.”
TEXT: Rom 11: 1-10
SUBJECT: How do we know God has not rejected Israel?
COMPLEMENT: Because history God has faithfully always had a remnant
CIT: Age-old principles show that although Israel (in general) has chosen to reject God, the faithful God still does not reject Israel.
“God’s promises are good, even when you’re not.”
TITLE: God’s way is ALWAYS best.
TEXT: Rom 11: 11-15
SUBJECT: Why does Paul hope the Gentiles’ salvation will provoke the Jews to be saved?
COMPLEMENT: Because through their obedience God will abundantly bless the whole world.
FCF: We can think that God has changed His mind. He hasn’t. We’ve (namely, the Jews) been disobedient to His plan. While He is unchanging, He’s also holy and perfect. His plans are made in perfection, and when we don’t live up to His holy plans, we remove ourselves from the process of God’s blessings. When we obey, God blesses, as He promised. When we disobey, it’s not as if God changes His plans or ever goes back on His promises (as we see emphasized in Rom. 9-11), but He “comes up with” (although He’s always known it’s going to happen) a “new” plan. His ultimate plan was NOT that the Gentiles receive the blessing… His ultimate plan is that the JEWS love God, and THROUGH THEM God blesses the whole world. How much more (v12, 15)?! We probably won’t ever know. But it would have been good, according to Paul!
For us, today, we need to know God’s plan is always best. He’ll forgive sin. He’ll even use a shaky past. But HOW MUCH MORE if we’re obedient every step.
CIT: Because the Jews’ disobedience cut off God’s main blessings, Paul desires the Gentiles’ blessings to provoke the Jews to return to God.
TEXT: Rom 11: 16-24
SUBJECT: How does God show His salvation for all men?
COMPLEMENT: By his severity AND his goodness.
FCF: “God is all good” as the thought today goes. True. But He’s all just. He’s severe… toward sin. Man tends to forget that. God tends to remind us of his wrath.
CIT: God’s severity AND God’s goodness show that God’s plan of salvation is for ALL men.
“God is good AND severe. And it’s all on purpose.”
TEXT: Rom 11: 25- 32
SUBJECT: What does understanding the mystery do for us?
COMPLEMENT: It challenges us to not be wise in our own conceits
FCF: Jews/Gentiles discussions can tend to cause us to nod off because “we know it all” already. Paul’s reminding and reminding them, maybe because they had a problem but maybe not. It’s instruction, but further than that, man can tend to take instruction and not care. This instruction is meant to challenge the believer to understand so that he’s not swayed into thinking he’s any better than anyone else.
CIT: The mystery revealed is the source of universal and personal humility.
TEXT: Rom 11: 33-36
CIT: In light of God’s amazing plan, Paul can only conclude that the unsearchable God deserved unending devotion and glory.
