Wednesday Night Lesson Recap: Watch Out For Bears

Polar bears are the largest land carnivore in the world.  They prey on seals in the arctic as their main way of survival.  Now there are really two ways strategies polar bears take when they are going to feast on a seal.  The first is that they swim under a seal’s fishing hole if it is close enough to the open water.  While under the water they create cause the seal to think they are a fish.  The seal jumps in and BAM! Dead seal.  The second way is for a polar bear to go and sit next to one of the seal’s many fishing holes.  A seal will have as many as 10 different ones they use at a time.  The bear figures he has a one in ten shot at get it right.  He sits for up to 8 hours waiting for a seal to come up through the hole and then BAM! Dead seal.

Satan is like that bear.  He knows where our “fishing holes” are at.  He knows what we like to do and what are weaknesses are.  For some, it's the mall, the movie theater, or in front of the television and/or computer. For others, it is with a group of close friends or perhaps with a boyfriend/girlfriend.  Some of these things are bad, but Satan can use them against us, especially as we grow in our faith. 

So here is the problem.  We are not unaware of Satan’s schemes, but we often are overconfident in ourselves.

So what do we do? 

Point 1.  Be aware.

Seals are always watching.  They are checking their shoulders and looking around. 

"Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but

            the flesh is weak.”  Matthew 26:41

We need to keep a watchful eye open at all time and be aware of our surroundings in order to know of possible danger.  Many times when people that I talk to have messed up, when they look back on it they can see how Satan trapped them and then they are mad at themselves because they just weren’t paying attention.  PAY ATTENTION! 

-       Going to far with a boyfriend/girlfriend

-       Parties

-       Computer stuff

-       Stealing

Point 2.  Be Prepared.

It isn’t by mistake that seals have up to 10 fishing holes.  They are giving themselves options.  If they only had one place to come up for air they would be dead really quick.  They prepare for the worst.

Prepare yourself ahead of time for Satan’s attacks.  How are you going to be able to fight if you aren’t prepared ahead of time.  Think about the areas in which you struggle and figure out how can I avoid trouble here.  Identify relationship guidelines ahead of time, decide where you will and won’t go with people, establish how you will and won’t talk about others.

Point 3.  Run when necessary.

Ultimately a seal is probably going to come face to face with a bear at some point in its life.  And despite all of the holes it has made for itself it still me be caught, looking a bear straight in the eyes.  In that case, the seal runs like crazy.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Sometimes Satan has you, he just does.  But God says there is always a way out, and sometimes that way out may mean to just run like crazy.  It may mean making a really tough, unpopular decision to remove yourself physically from a situation or to quickly surround yourself with godly friends to help encourage you and get you on track.  Whatever it is, you don’t want to get yourself caught, staring at a bear and getting eaten.

Wednesday Night Lesson Recap: Attacking the New Year.

Welcome to a new year, 2012.  This is supposed to be a big year.  We have the presidential election that is taking place in November and then by December the Maya predict the end of the world, so that could be exciting.  This is the time of new year’s resolutions and parties and staying up until midnight watching really bad bands on TV.

In Numbers 13: 1-3, 25-33 (suggested reading) Moses and the Israelites have approached the land God promised them, Canaan.  Moses sends spies to check out the land and at the end of forty days they come back with a report.  The land is amazing!  It is rich and full of good ground!  But there is a problem, the people who are currently living there.

Now let's pause for a moment and think about new year resolutions.  Why make them on new year?  Perhaps it's because it's a great time for new beginnings.  People make new year resolutions all the time, but less than 20% of them actually follow through.  We chase them but can never catch them much like Wile Coyote from the cartoons.  He spends his life chasing that bird, but no matter how hard he tries he never catches him.  

Lesson 1: Chase after the Right Things.

So this new year what are you chasing?  Is your resolution to become more popular; to get that girlfriend or boyfriend.  Is it to get rich?  Many times we are chasing the wrong things, things that we will never catch and things that won't actually satisfy.   John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men of history, when asked the question, “how much money is enough?” he responded by saying, “just a little bit more.”  His net worth is estimated at $663.4 billion today. He never caught what he was chasing.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."(Matthew 6:33)  We need to be chasing after God and what he desires for us and our needs will be met.  

Now, going back to our story.  The Israelites had a chance for a fresh start, a new beginning in this new land.  But if you read Numbers 14:1-4 you see that they are scared of the foreign enemy and choose not to take the land God gave them.  

Lesson 2: Be Willing to Take the Risk.

God is not asking for empty resolutions makers; he asking for adventurous risk-takers.  The journey into the Promised Land would not be easy, but it was what God wanted.  The people were just unwilling to take the risk.  God rarely uses people who are only wanting to watch from the sidelines, he uses those who are willing to be a little uncomfortable in order to bring him glory. That risk could be sharing your faith, or it could be singing in church, praying out loud, ministering in some way.

But what if you find yourself this new year thinking, "I'm too far gone to be of any good to God."  "I've done too much wrong."  Or, perhaps, you have had a great deal of wrong done to you.  "I'm damaged goods" you say to yourself.  Well I'm here to tell you that Jesus makes all things new.

Lesson 3: Remember That Jesus Makes All Things New.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says "whoever is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come."

Jesus is greater than any wrong, any sin and any injustice that you have done or that has been done to you.  He is able to take the broken pieces and not just tape them together, but to make it new again.  Allow God to heal you and then begin chasing, risking and becoming a new creation in Him this year.

Questions to Ponder.

Am I chasing after the right things?  Do I need to change course?

Am I willing to be a little risky in order to be used by Christ?

How can I step out to serve God this year in my church, school, or family?

Am I allowing Christ to continue to make me knew or am I holding on to the past even though he is willing to let it go?

 

FYSH Lend a Hand With "Birthday Party for Jesus"

So right before Christmas many of our FYSH members took a little time to help with the "Birthday Party for Jesus."  This was a one night event at PBC where many of the children in the Awana ministry came to celebrate Christmas, Jesus' birth and learn about salvation. 

Hannah and Sara leading music.

All of us were on crowd control with over 50 kids that showed up.

Then we played Santa as the teens gave gifts to the children...

 ...in the most confusing way ever.

Josh showing off the awesome gift all of the children received.

A little clean up

A quick clip highlighting "women's work."  Other guys tried to help, but Holly would have not allow it.

Great job everyone for all the work they did with the kids!!  It was a lot of fun and was a great ministry to the church.