Every year the calendars are marked for the morning students will gather around their school flag poles to lift up their school, administration, friends, family and country. This year's theme for See You At The Pole is AWAKEN Ephesians 3:14-21 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
What if every morning believers awoke, fell to their knees and prayed to God. Do we just need to leave prayer for this one morning? We can go to the Father every morning when we awake.
How great would our day be then? How would God speak to us and direct us throughout our day?
Go to the Father this morning and place the path of your day in His hands. Also feel free to leave a message and tell us what God is doing in your life. It should be a overwhelming joy that we cannot hold in!
Also mark your calendars for September 26th that our entire country will pray together.
The Alive Back 2 School Youth Rally was a HUGE success! If you want to see more pictures of the event just go like us on our youth ministry facebook page. I also want to personally thank all the ones who put in the time this past weekend helping with this event. Let us not forget to also give God the glory!
Ephesians 2:1-10 Made Alive in Christ 1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
During the teenage years relationships are vital, but often volatile. Building and navigating connections with their world can be a constant challenge. This curriculum focuses on a student's four major relational areas: Friends, family, opposite sex, and God.
Have you ever been in a relationship where the other person didn't talk? Like a friendship that you’ve poured yourself into but never received anything back.
It’s not much of a relationship when there isn't much interaction between the two.
But with so many ways to communicate in today’s world (phone calls, text messaging, facebook, emails, skype, the letter tied to the doves leg) we can be in constant contact with each other.
Did you know that the Lord desires us to be in contact with him?
He loves to hear our voice.
Psalm 116:1-2
"I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!"
So before you start thinking prayer is a difficult task and you don’t know what to say, just think of it as a friendship. God desires to hear our every thought, our heart’s desires, our fears, our troubles, and our joys. Just take the time and talk with Him. It will strengthen your relationship with Him.
Here’s a model that will help you pray. It’s not the “only” way to pray but it will help guide you if you struggle with what to pray about. Christ also gave us a model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, go check it out.
ADORATION: Begin the prayer by adoring God. Praise and worship HIM. This is a time for telling God what He means to you and how much you love Him. This is not the same as Thanksgiving where you thank God for all He has done, but a time to tell God how magnificent/holy/glorious He is, to focus solely on Him, to tell Him all the wondrous beautiful things about Him you love. King David was a great worshipper of god and a man God Himself stated was after His own heart, read Psalms for great examples of adoration.
Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!Your glory is higher than the heavens.
Heb Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.
Step 2
CONFESSION:This is when we confess our all our sins to God. Unconfessed sin creates a barrier between you and God and can hinder your prayers. Begin by confessing your sin to Him with an apologetic and repentant heart (to repent is to stop and turn 180 degrees from). Ask God to bring to mind any sins you may not be aware of so that you may repent and confess.
I John 1:8-9 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness..
Important: Nothing can separate you from the love of God. But we can separate ourselves from the love of God just as Adam and Eve ran and hid from the Presence of God after their sin in the Garden-Notice God called after them, He did not wait for them to come to Him
Step 3
THANKSGIVING: This is where we count our blessings, thanking and praising God for all He has given us and done for us in life. You may begin with the basics such as family, friends, food, shelter, safety, jobs, health, healing. Thank Him for hearing your prayers and for forgiving your sins, for His all-consuming love for you. Thank Him for His promises, for the glory of His handiwork, for His promises to you (if you don't know them, start looking them up). Follow Paul's advice,
Ephesians And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Step 4
SUPPLICATION: This is the phase of prayer where we come to the Father asking God to supply needs for ourselves and others. Be specific in your prayers. For example, instead of asking for God to bless your friend, ask Him to help your friend by making His presence know in their life and that they may trust in Him.
If you feel led to pray for a certain person but don't know exactly what that person needs, ask God to lead you in prayer. He will.
Step 5
Remember, prayer is communication with God. It is about relationship with the Father. Also don't forget that communication is a two way street, that means you have to listen as well. You may not hear at first but with practice you begin to feel God speaking to your heart.
We were all ready to go tubing down the river with Captain J at the wheel. That was until Trey and James broke the tube. They thought they were something after that.
Boys please cover up those legs you're scaring the fish;
not to mention the people that kept jumping over board.
So on to knee boarding!
Where I wiped out and it took several of us some time to get the hang of it.
For a moment there we thought Trey created a new sport "Belly Boarding"
We were begging Jason to throw him if he didn't attempt to get on his knees.
A couple moments we didn't catch with a photo...
James and Trey's face when the tube was headed towards a log.
The many wipe-outs by everyone except Brooks the pro.
And Jessica's day ending split on the skis...OUCH!
