All the details here!

On March 25-26 a bunch of students and leaders attended the BELIEVE conference in Portland. Here are some video highlights of our trip.

This last weekend Gary spoke on John 10:1-18.  In this passage, Jesus refers to himself as the “good shepherd” and contrasts himself with a thief.  As the good shepherd, Jesus is more than just a hired hand who flees when times get rough.  Jesus doesn’t leave us in times of trouble; rather he gives his life for us in order that we might have life!

1.  What sticks with you from the message today?       
2. How are we all like sheep?
3. What do you enjoy most about Jesus being our Good Shepherd?    (Is it hearing His voice, or being protected, or led into the good life?) 

 

 

On Sunday we continued our journey through the Gospel of John (THE FACE OF GOD). We found ourselves at THE WELL in John 4.

This woman was drawing water from a deep well in the heat of the day as Jesus enters the scene. He knows how this well symbolizes her personally misery. She is an outcast in society, having sought the affection of five men and found no rest for her soul. She was thirsty for love, and Jesus came to satisfy her with a new hunger and thirst for righteousness.

We are just like this woman, in that we turn to a whole list of things to fill the needs in our hearts, only to be disappointed every time. The more we turn to these God-replacements, the longer the list gets. For this lady it was one man who failed her, and another, and the cycle was repeated over and over (five men in all). For teen boys the list can be all our video games, and for girls it can tend to be the attention of boys.

The list gets longer and longer ... we move from one thing to the next ... until we stop at the place of our misery and wait for Jesus there.

Only in waiting will we find Him there; He longs to satisfy us.

Notice how Jesus offered her grace and a new start at the well. He came to rescue her from her co-dependency on horrible God-substitutes. He met her in her place of misery and became her Savior. When we have met Jesus in our place of misery (not just once, but every day) — when we're anxious, confused, angry, tired, bored, rebellious, scared, or forgotten — we now have a story of how Christ has been enough for us. Only then can we lead others to Him. He has met us there and is changing our hearts. As long as we pretend everything is fine and turn to our secret list of sins, we will see no life change, and continually come up thirsty. Jesus offered this woman "living water" which will never run dry. She will never thirst again. As you and I turn to Christ every day, we find this same Living Water able to satisfy our depends longings and hurts.

Wait for Him at the well; He will find you there. Drink of His living water 'til you're full.

Discussion questions:

1. When has Jesus met you in your place of misery? What happened?

2. To what things, places, or people do you tend to turn when you are anxious, bored, scared, or feel forgotten? How are those empty God-substitutes for you?

Join us for the BELIEVE middle school conference on Friday-Saturday March 25 & 26, in Portland.

UPDATE: our spots are full, registration is now closed.

 

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Ben here!  This weekend, I spoke on John 2:13-22 in which we get to see a picture of Jesus that we often forget about, and that is one of Jesus angry.  When Jesus arrives in the temple of Jerusalem on Passover, he finds observes that absolutely disgusts him.  Moneychangers filled the temple, and sales of oxen, sheep, and pigeons were happening all over the place.  The scene compelled Jesus to make a whip of chords to drive the merchants and animals out, overturn the tables, and pour out the money, while uttering the words “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s houses a house of trade.”

In order to understand Jesus’ anger, we must first know a little background information.  Passover was one of the most important holidays in the Jewish religion.  It was to remember the Lord’s grace and deliverance to the nation of Israel as He brought them out of their slavery in Egypt.  So when Jesus arrived at the temple, there would have been many who had made a pilgrimage there to celebrate the feast.

This is why Jesus was so mad.  Many people would have come to the temple to worship the Lord and to make sacrifices.  Sacrifices were made to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins, and these sacrifices were generally of sheep or cattle.  So when Jesus sees these animals being sold for a profit to those who were seeking a sacrifice, you can understand why He was so upset.  People now had to go through the moneychangers for forgiveness, rather than approaching the Lord directly.  Jesus responds by clearing out the temple, cleansing it so that people can worship properly.  Ultimately Jesus replaces the temple with Himself, making it that we go to Him to reach God and receive forgiveness of sins.

Sadly, many of us fall into the same trap of those in the temple that day.  Like the moneychangers, we allow are greed and idols to get in the way from us remembering God’s grace and deliverance from our slavery to sin.  Like the people in the temple, we often turn to others to aid us in our forgiveness, rather than directly approaching the Lord in repentance.  It would be good for us to remember David’s words in Psalm 51, his beautiful psalm of repentance to the Lord, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”  When we sin, the only one who can forgive us is God.  Therefore, we must go to Him first in repentance, clearing out the obstacles that prevent us from true worship in the same way that Jesus cleared the temple, and remember Christ’s work of grace and deliverance through the Cross.

Traces of SNOW here in the city this week means lots of snow this Saturday for SNOW DAY.            

Note: we will enjoy a day of TUBING, not skiing or snowboardling.

Middle School leader Ben writes an invitation for us:

As the frosty air blows gently across your face, you notice that your teeth are chattering, not from the chill, but rather the excitement.  As you peer down the white slope as it sparkles from the sunlight, your anticipation builds.  Your friends cheer as you force yourself down the hill, the only thing protecting you from a face full of snow is a ring of rubber that couldn’t quite make it as a tire and is about as lopsided as a cheap football.  The wind that had been a gentle breeze has become typhoon-like as your momentum picks up. Careening towards the jump someone mischievously built on the inner tube track, your heart begins to pound.  The exhilaration you feel as you take flight overwhelms you until you realize that inner tube that was below you has somehow ended up above you.  Soon that face full of snow becomes a reality.   As you pick yourself up, cheeks rosy from a mix of cold and mild embarrassment, you hear your cheers from your friends rain down from the top of the hill.  You can’t wait to go again.

On Saturday, February 19^th, the Willamette Middle School group is heading up to the mountain for a day full of fun an excitement as we go tubing at Mount Hood Summit. 

Check-in begins at 9:30 AM Saturday at the Student Center at WCC; we board the bus at 10:00 AM.

Cost: $21 per student, includes tubing ticket, and dinner. Students shall being a sack lunch.

Students will need to bring a sack lunch on the trip to eat on the way.  We’ll spend the afternoon on the mountain, and make it to the church building that night.  Dinner is on us!  Cost for so much excitement and fun is only $21.  

Sign up for SNOW DAY

Have you ever been misunderstood? Have you ever been doubted in what you’ve said?  Maybe your dog actually did eat your homework and the teacher didn’t believe it because she says it’s the oldest excuse in the book.  Maybe you’ve talked with someone from England, Australia, Canada, or even Texas and your different accents made you misinterpret what they were actually are saying.  I mean, why do Canadians use “eh?” anyways?

       We get misunderstood all the time.  Whether it’s because someone wasn’t listening.  Maybe he or she just didn’t know what to listen for.   Maybe someone just didn’t believe what someone else was saying.  It happens.  It’s just a part of life.  When we look at the life of Jesus we see that it was no different for Him.  Many people don’t believe that Jesus ever made a claim to be God.  They say that He was just a good man with good teachings on how one should live his or her life.  But those who make these claims are misunderstanding what Jesus was actually saying.

 In John 8:48-59 we see the Jews confront Jesus about who He is.  They are upset that He made Himself out to be greater than Abraham (who was the forefather of the entire nation of Israel) and the prophets (those who were in direct communication with God).  You could see why they would be so angry!  But their anger would reach a boiling point when Jesus would respond to them by saying “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!” (John 8:58)  The reason many translations capitalize the phrase “I AM” is because Jesus is using the personal name of God.  In Exodus 3:14, God reveals His name to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM”.  Here in John we see that Jesus is using this name in reference to Himself!  Jesus is trying to tell them that He is God!  The Jews were blind to the identity of Jesus, and they wanted to kill Jesus for blaspheme.

       Many people today are still blind to the fact that Jesus is God.  Rather than trying to stone Him, though, they try and discredit who He was.  They try and make Him out to be someone who He was not.  C. S. Lewis said that when looking at Jesus’ claim to be God, you can only see Him in a few ways: Liar, Lunatic, or Lord.  Later someone would add Legend to this list.

       People who believe that Jesus was a liar say that Jesus was just making a scene.  He was only trying to gain recognition for Himself and gain followers, and that He knew that He was not God.  The problem with this view is that Jesus’ claim to be God was one of the primary reasons He was executed (Mark 14:62-63).  Most people would not die for a lie.  It is hard to believe that Jesus would either.  Therefore it is hard to believe that Jesus was a liar.

       Others say that Jesus was crazy when He made His claims to be God; He was simply a lunatic.  They say that Jesus truly believed He was God, but He was simply insane.  This argument loses credit when one actually reads the gospels.  Throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we discover that Jesus was very intelligent.  Even at the age of 12, the most educated religious leaders were amazed with Jesus’ knowledge (Luke 3:41-52).  It is hard to believe that someone who was as smart as Jesus was a lunatic.

       Others try and discredit Jesus by claiming that the stories of Him are Legend.  They believe that Jesus actually existed, but that the stories of Him were embellished over the years, and maybe He didn’t actually claim to be God.  The problem with this is that many eyewitnesses and followers of Jesus believed Him to be God.  Out of His 12 closest disciples, 11 were killed because they believed Jesus to be who He claimed to be.  The other disciple spent the latter years of His life in exile.  Most people will not take such punishment for a lie.  They were witnesses of Jesus, and they became martyrs for Him.

       The only final option is that Jesus was who He claimed to be.  Jesus was truly God, and therefore He is Lord.  When one looks at the evidence, it is hard to not believe Jesus in what He says.  Jesus is Lord.  He knew it.  His disciples knew it. 

The question is, do you know it?