Monday, March 30, 2015

An Inspiring Missionary Promise:

This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.-Matthew 24:14

I don’t know any more inspiring missionary promise than this word from Jesus

Not: This gospel should be preached

Not: This gospel must be preached

But: This gospel will be preached.

This is not a great commission, nor a great commandment. It is a great certainty, a great confidence.
Who can dare talk like that? How does he know it will? How can he be sure the church will not fail in its missionary task?

Answer: The grace of missionary service is as irresistible as the grace of regeneration. Christ can promise universal proclamation because he is sovereign. He knows the future success of missions because he makes the future. All the nations will hear!

A “nation” is not a modern “country.” When the Old Testament spoke of nations, it referred to groups like Jebusites and Perizites and Hivites and Amorites and Moabites and Canaanites and Philistines. “Nations” are ethnic groups with their own peculiar culture. Psalm 117:1: “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!”

As the sovereign Son of God and Lord of the church, Jesus simply took up this divine purpose and stated as an absolute certainty: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations.”

The cause of world missions is absolutely assured of success. It cannot fail. Is it not reasonable, then, that we pray with great faith, that we invest with great confidence, and that we go with a sense of sure triumph?

Jesus Wept:

Jesus wept.-John 11:35

In my quiet time I have been working my way through the Gospel of John and studying the life of Jesus. Today, I read John 11 which contains the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This is a very famous story and I had read it probably a 100 times before this morning but I stopped dead in my tracks when I read verse 35. Verse 35 which is the shortest verse in the Bible says, “Jesus wept.” Two verses before verse 35, John writes, “when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ noticed the weeping from those who had lost a loved one and he was deeply moved and wept.

The Greek word underlying deeply moved (embrimaomai), means to feel something deeply and strongly. Jesus was moved with profound sorrow at the death of his friend and at the grief that his other friends had suffered. Jesus joins his friend’s sadness with heartfelt sorrow, yet underlying it is the knowledge that resurrection and joy will soon follow. He did not weep because the situation was hopeless, for he knew that he would raise Lazarus from the dead. He wept because he shares the emotions of those he loves.

Have you lost a friend or loved one? Have you wept at the grave site of a family member? If you have, know that while you were weeping Jesus Christ was weeping with you. He feels the pain you are going through as you grieve the loss of a loved one. He knows what it is like to lose someone and he felt your pain. Hebrews 4:15 says, “for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus knows what it is like to lose a loved one. Jesus knows what it’s like to feel the pain of loss, and the agony of grief.

In conclusion, take comfort in the fact that Jesus Christ was moved with profound sorrow at the death of his friend. Take comfort in the fact that Jesus weeps with those who weep and mourns with those who mourn. Take comfort also in John 11:25, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.” As believers we are promised eternity in Heaven with God and with our loved ones. We do not weep as those who have no hope since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have died in Jesus.

Six Types of Teens In Every Youth Group:

I have been working with teenagers in various capacities for about 10 years. I have worked at a couple of different churches along the East Coast and even worked for a season with teenagers in Ghana, Africa. While each group of teenagers have their own unique challenges and blessings I have noticed that there are usually about 6 types of teenagers in each youth group. They are the rebels, those playing the game, those on the family plan, some who struggle with doubt, are brand new and those who are growing strong. Allow me to take a few minutes to highlight each unique group found within every youth group I have worked with.

Rebel: Rebels learn about God and reject Him. Some of them grow up in Christian homes and they want no part of it. Most of them wouldn’t be caught dead in Sunday School or Wednesday night. Rebels need to ask themselves: what am I rebelling against? Parents? Church? Hypocritical Christians on TV? Rebels need to remember that Jesus was a rebel too. He hated hypocrisy. Maybe rebels could talk to Jesus about their rebellion. He might agree.

Playing the Game: There are those who are just playing the game. Their parents bring them to church, and they don’t want to upset them too much, so they act like a good Christian-until they don’t. Different time, different crowd, they’re a different person. Let me just say that they can fool their parents, and they can fool me, but they can’t fool God. He knows exactly who they are, and he wants to know them better, if they just stop playing around.

Family Plan: There are those in every group who assume they are Christians because their parents are Christian. I like to call them osmosis Christians. They need to have a heart-to-heart, DTR talk with Jesus, where they say yes to him, where they give them their heart.

Struggling with Doubt: Some in every group are struggling with doubt and maybe feel guilty about it. They worry that they’re not a very good Christian. They don’t want to be a hypocrite, but there are all these questions. They need to be told to relax. Relax! It’s natural to have doubts. Some of the great heroes of the Bible had doubts at various times. It doesn’t disqualify you. They need to be encouraged to talk to God about their doubts and search out the answer from Scripture.

Brand New: Some are brand new in the faith, and have an amazing spiritual energy right now. That’s great and to be honest these are my favorite types of people in the group. They need to remember, it’s not all about how they feel, but it’s a relationship with God that makes you happy. They should be encouraged to enjoy their new found freedom in Christ.

Growing Strong: Some have been Christians for a while and are growing strong. They need to be encouraged. There are some temptations which are especially dangerous at this point, so they must watch out for pride, for complacency, for legalism and must keep connecting with God each day.

In conclusion, I have discovered that there are usually six types of people in every youth group. There are the rebels, those playing the game, those on the family plan, those struggling with doubt, brand new Christians and those growing strong. Each of these people need to be taught the Gospel and should find a community who loves them where they are and encourages them to grown in their walk with the Lord.

The Person God Opposes:

Let me introduce you to a prospective church member. He will attend every service, including special events. He will go on mission trips with a passion to convert the heathen. He will tithe, sing in the choir, read his Bible daily, and memorize Scripture. He will be happy to pray in corporate worship. He is thoroughly orthodox in his theology. He is an inerrantist and believes in Heaven and Hell. He never gets drunk, is not addicted to porn, never uses profanity, is a family man, loves his country fervently, weeps on July 4, and votes the right way. His reputation in the community is stellar. If any man ever earned the right to go to heaven, it is this man. His religion is certainly something to admire.

Sadly this is a man headed for hell. I have just introduced you to a twenty-first-century Pharisee! A Pharisee in the first century was not scorned as a legalist. No, he was looked up to as a model citizen and a person of piety and religion. Unfortunately Pharisees had, as Paul says, a “zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom 10:2). Amazingly we can have a passion for God yet not know God. We can be deceived, captured, and enslaved by the deadly lure of legalism. Tragically, those who have been raised in the church are the most susceptible to this deception. Our pride in our religious rituals, church practices, and cultural traditions blind us to both our great sinfulness and the great Savior who alone can rescue us from our sin.

In Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis writes,

There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty of themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others…The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit…Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

And the Scriptures contain harsh language to convey the Lord’s disdain for pride:
The LORD protects the loyal, but fully repays the arrogant. (Ps. 31:23)
The LORD destroys the house of the proud. (Prov 15:25)
Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall. (Prov. 16:18)
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant. (Isa. 13:11)
As to the terror you cause, your presumptuous heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock, you who occupy the mountain summit, though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down. This is the LORD’s declaration. (Jer 49:16)
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 14:11)

Why is God so opposed to pride? It is because human pride is in opposition to God. It thinks more of itself than it should. It thinks more of itself than God does! And amazingly, such pride may be lurking in unsuspecting locations, such as in religion in the guise of legalistic bondage to the traditions of men.

In conclusion, there are basically only two approaches to religion, each of which can be summed up in a single word: do or done. The world says the problem is out there, and the solution is to answer the question, What can I do? The Bible says the problem is inside of us, and the answer is what Christ has done! You see, in legalism we think better of ourselves than Jesus does. But in salvation we think the same of ourselves as Jesus does: we are hopeless, helpless sinners in desperate need of a Savior. First Samuel 16:7 says, “Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” When the Lord examines your heart, what does He see? Does He see a self-righteous legalist trusting in what “I do” or a humble sinner trusting only in what Jesus has done? The difference is of eternal significance.

Tough Questions: Do Muslims & Christians Worship the Same God?

The Muslim and Christian views of God have some similarities. Christians believe in one eternal God Who created the universe, and Muslims apply these attributes to Allah. Both view God as all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present.

A vital difference between the Islamic and Christian views of God is the biblical concept of the Trinity. In the Bible, God has revealed Himself as one God in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. While each Person of the Trinity is fully God, God is not three gods but three in one.

God’s Son came in the form of man, a truth called the incarnation (Luke 1:30-35; John 1:14; Colossians 2:9; 1 John 4:1-3). The Lord Jesus Christ conquered the penalty and power of sin by dying on the cross (Romans 6:23). After rising from the dead, Jesus went back to heaven to be with His Father and sent the Holy Spirit to believers (Acts 1:8-11). One day, Christ will return to judge and rule (Acts 10:42, 43). Those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus will live with Him, but those who refuse to follow Him must be separated in hell from the holy God.

“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:35-36). Either Jesus bears the wrath of God for your sin on the cross or you bear the wrath of God for your sin in hell (1 Peter 2:24).

The Trinity is essential to the Christian faith. Without the Trinity, there would be no incarnation of God’s Son in the Person of Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ, there would be no salvation from sin. Without salvation, sin would condemn all to an eternal hell.

So, do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? A better question is, “Do Christians and Muslims both have a correct understanding of who God is?” To this question, the answer is definitely no. Because of crucial differences between the Christian and Muslim concepts of God, the two faiths cannot both be true. The biblical God alone addresses and solves the problem of sin by giving His Son.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16-18).

In conclusion, I have many Muslim friends and I spent two years having tea for several hours every week with a group of Muslims. Muslims are great people who love their family, society and their religion; however, we do not worship the same God. As long as Muslims reject the Trinity & the diety of Jesus Christ we do not worship or follow the same God. 

Friday, March 27, 2015

Wednesday Worship:

If you are watching from a phone here's the link... Wednesday Worship

Wednesday Worship:

If you are watching from a phone here's the link... Wednesday Worship

Wednesday Worship:

If you are watching from a phone here is the link: Wednesday Worship

Wednesday Worship:

If you are watching from a phone here is the link: Wednesday Worship

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Monday Morning Humor

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Monday Morning Humor

Monday Morning Humor:

If you are watching from a phone here is the link: Monday Morning Humor

Monday Morning Humor:

If you are watching from a phone here's the link: Monday Morning Humor

Monday Morning Humor:

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Monday Morning Humor

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The Power of One Life:

The power of a tract and one life. If you are watching from a phone here is the link: The Power of One Life

Monday, March 23, 2015

BMW, Hungry Children & God's Blessing

Julia and I returned from serving two years in Ghana, Africa on July 2014. We have done very well adjusting back to life in America; however, occasionally something will happen which will set me off. 

On Saturday, Julia and I were out to eat at O'Charley's and when we left we noticed a $100,000 BMW sitting in the parking lot with the front license plate of "blessed". This license plate triggered something inside of me. To the right you can see a picture of the BMW. I put the picture on Facebook/Instagram with this caption, "the kids in the bottom picture are blessed because they have a meal to eat and won't go to bed hungry while the arrogant guy with the BMW is blessed because he can afford a 100,000 car. Sometimes being back in America upsets me." My picture sparked a conversation on Facebook about the word blessed and how we use it in America.

I am upset by the use of the word "blessed" in America because when we say that my material fortune is the result of God's blessing, it reduces The Almighty to some sort of sky-bound, wish-granting fairy who spends his days randomly bestowing cars and cash upon his followers. Sure, God wants us to continually seek His will, and it's for our own good. But positive reinforcement?

Second, and more importantly, calling myself blessed because of material good fortune is just plain wrong. For starters, it can be offensive to the hundreds of millions of Christians in the world who live on less than $10 per day. You read that right. Hundreds of millions who receive a single-digit dollar "blessing" per day.

During our 2 years in Ghana Julia and I witnessed first-hand the damage done by the theology of prosperity, where faithful people scraping by to feed their families were simply told they must not be faithful enough. If they were, God would pull them out of their nightmare. Just try harder, and God will show favor.

The problem? Nowhere in scripture are we promised worldly ease in return for our pledge of faith. In fact, the most devout saints from the Bible usually died penniless, receiving a one-way ticket to prison or death by torture.

If we're looking for the definition of blessing, Jesus spells it out clearly (Matthew 5: 1-12).

1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him,

2 And He began to teach them, saying:

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

On Saturday, Julia and I closed on a house and to be honest it would be easy to say we are blessed but the truth is, I have no idea why I was born where I was or why I have the opportunities I have. It's beyond comprehension. But I certainly don't believe God has chosen me above others because of the veracity of my prayers or the depth of my faith. Still, if I take advantage of the opportunities set before me, a comfortable life may come my way. It's not guaranteed. But if it does happen, I don't believe Jesus will call me blessed.

He will call me "burdened."

He will ask,

"What will you do with it?"

"Will you use it for yourself?"

"Will you use it to help?"

"Will you hold it close for comfort?"

"Will you share it?"

So many hard choices. So few easy answers.

So my prayer today is that I understand my true blessing. It's not my house. Or my job. Or my standard of living.

No.

My blessing is this. I know a God who gives hope to the hopeless. I know a God who loves the unlovable. I know a God who comforts the sorrowful. And I know a God who has planted this same power within me. Within all of us. We are blessed because God chose us, saved us, redeemed us, adopted us into His family, justified, sanctifies and one day we will co-rule with Him in the Kingdom. God us taken us worthless totally depraved sinners and redeemed us for good works by the blood of His Son.

And for this blessing, may our response always be,

"Use me."

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Teens Need Theology Too

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word theology?

Do you think of unpronounceable words, or dusty books from centuries ago, or perhaps lengthy sermons? If you had to choose between studying theology and reading a book on practical tips for your daily life, which would you choose?

Last Sunday, CREW Youth Ministry finished a series entitled DOCTRINE: WHAT Christians believe & WHY it matters. For many teens, the mere thought of studying theology seems way beyond what their daily life can handle. They might think, At this stage in my life, I can’t learn theology. My life is consumed and overwhelmed with the daily duties of being a teenager. Perhaps they think that their time might be better spent reading up on ways to improve their dating relationship, or on the best practice for gaining muscle mass or how to have their best life now.

But the truth is they desperately need theology for all their daily duties of adolescence. They need theology for school, sports, dating, family, and everything else in between.

Just What Is Theology?

The word theology comes from the Greek words theos (God) and logos (word or body of knowledge). Theology is the body of knowledge about God, or put simply, the study of God. As Christians, we should desire to know all we can about God. After all, he is our Maker, Creator, Sustainer, and Savior.

But learning theology is just the first step. We also have to apply it. And when theology intersects with our daily lives we find that it isn’t just for seminary professors, but for all of us.

What we believe about God, who he is, what he has done, and who we are in light of all that, isn’t just for mere study and debate. Words like imputation, justification, and atonement, affect the very course of our lives day in and day out. They mold who we are.

When a teenager has a parent or friend become sick and the doctors don’t know why, so they order more and more tests, it’s their theology that tells them that God is in sovereign control of all things. It tells them that God is not asleep — that he hasn’t forgotten them. Everything is under his control, and he is not surprised by any of their circumstances. Their theology reminds them in that moment that his intentions for them are good, and that he is working all things out for their good and his glory (Romans 8:28).

When a teenager speaks harshly in anger to their parents, teacher and/or friends, it’s their theology that reminds them that Jesus came to die for those very sins. It tells them that Jesus lived a perfect life, was never unkind, always loving, and that his righteousness has been credited to them in being joined to him by faith. It tells them that he is at work in them even now, leading them to repentance and refining the work that he began in them.

When their meaning becomes merged with their role as student, athlete, or their particular social status, it’s their theology that reminds them that their identity is found in Christ. It’s not found in how successful they are in school or sports, or in how many followers they have on Instagram, or in what college they are accepted to. Their meaning, purpose, significance, and identity is grounded in who they are as a redeemed and adopted child of God.

When they are drop-dead tired and they have another paper and have to work a part-time job, and have extra-curricular activities, it is their theology that tells them that God will provide them with the grace they need in the moment. It is their theology that reminds them that they can’t do life on their own and that, without Jesus, they can do nothing. It tells them that their rest and hope is found in Christ alone and that they can trust him to sustain them.

Real Hope, Real Wisdom, Real Peace

It is tempting for teens to think that what they need to make their lives better is a quick solution — something tangible that they can implement tomorrow to make things run smoothly and comfortably. When the daily challenges of being a student and growing up overwhelm them, they think that what they need most is a fresh idea or a new technique and then everything will be okay. So in those few moments when they have time to think and read, they reach out for those practical books and articles, hoping that some new tip will change things.

While books with practical tips are useful for some things, the hope they provide can be short-lived. In truth, it is in theology, in our study of who God is and what he has done, that gives us the real hope, real wisdom, and real peace that we need in our lives — the kind that lasts. It’s theology — knowing God — that anchors them in the chaos of growing up.

So teens, theology isn’t just for pastors, teachers, and professors; it’s for you too. And it’s not for another stage of life. It’s vital for you right here, right now, in the trenches of your daily life as a teen.

Friday, March 13, 2015

An Open Letter to FBC Stanleyville:

Dear Church Family,

Do you feel it?

Something has been burning in my belly. I can’t shake it. I have a picture in my head of our church shaking up the culture and changing the face of our city and neighborhoods in a myriad of good ways.

Imagine having your phone ring, noticing it’s the phone tree, picking up the phone not to hear about another funeral but to hear about ANOTHER salvation. Imagine noticing in the bulletin that instead of a typical Sunday night service we were having baptism service after baptism service because church members were sharing their faith and God was saving souls. Imagine family after family coming down to join our church during invitation time every Sunday. Imagine our church growing, reaching individuals and families with the Gospel. Imagine row after row of young people filling our church because God has broken through in our schools. Imagine.

Matthew 13 includes my favorite section in the Bible.

There Jesus tells his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." I love this picture. Imagine walking in a field and stumbling upon a treasure that is more valuable than anything else you could work for or find in this life. It is more valuable than all you have now or will ever have in the future. You look around and notice that no one else realizes the treasure is here, so you cover it up quickly and walk away, pretending you haven’t seen anything. You go into town and begin to sell off all your possessions to have enough money to buy that field. The world thinks you’re crazy. “What are you thinking?” your friends and family ask you. You tell them, “I’m buying that field over there.” They look at you in disbelief. “That’s a ridiculous investment,” they say. “Why are you giving away everything you have?” You respond, “I have a hunch,” and you smile to yourself as you walk away. You smile because you know. You know that in the end you are not really giving away anything at all. Instead you are gaining. Yes, you are abandoning everything you have, but you are also gaining more than you could have in any other way. So with joy—with joy!—you sell it all, you abandon it all. Why? Because you have found something worth losing everything else for.

This is the picture of Jesus in the gospel. He is something—someone—worth losing everything for. And if we walk away from the Jesus of the gospel, we walk away from eternal riches. The cost of non-discipleship is profoundly greater for us than the cost of discipleship. For when we abandon the trinkets of this world and respond to the radical invitation of Jesus, we discover the infinite treasure of knowing and experiencing him.

Church, Jesus is someone worth losing everything for.

Church, let’s risk it all. For the sake of 135,971 souls whom God loves in the Forsyth area...let’s risk it all! For the sake of 14,716 eighteen-twenty four year olds being fed an atheistic, hedonistic worldview...let’s risk it all! For the sake of 14,598 single and young families searching for community...let’s risk it all! For the sake of 45,000+ between the ages of 35-64 searching for purpose in life...let’s risk it all! For the sake of 18,682 retirement age individuals who desire to know that their life still matters… LET’S RISK IT ALL!

Let's STOP living in the past, talking about the glory days and begin to cast our gaze to the FUTURE! Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city. Let’s risk it all to gossip the Gospel to every soul we meet whether in our neighborhoods, workplace, or Wal-Mart. The greatest days of this church are still in front of us. LET’S RISK IT ALL!!!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Disturbing Behavior: Cyber-Bullying

I have surprising news and I have bad news.

Let's start with the surprising: A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that, on average, kids spend seven and a half hours a day plugged into some sort of electronic media (!!).

Now the bad news: Perhaps partly as a result of their online lifestyles, youth are increasingly being subjected to cyberbullying.

A 2009 Cyberbullying Research Center survey found that, among 2,000 middle schoolers polled, 42.9% had been victim of some form of cyberbullying in the last 30 days—usually through Facebook or texting. Add in high schoolers, and the center estimates  that one third of Internet-using tweens and teens have been cyberbullied in the last year, with 22% of kids claiming they've perpetrated online harassment in the last month.

Most upsetting, though, is the fact cyberbullying is increasingly linked to suicide—most recently that of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who hanged herself in January, allegedly after being bullied at school and on Facebook.

While physical torment ends when the perpetrator leaves, cyberbullying can be done long distance, and relentlessly, from multiple platforms. It's also easy, private and requires no physical strength—just a phone or a computer and some nasty comments from one or more bullies.

But since cyberbullying usually occurs off campuses, many schools don't discipline students for it unless it causes on-campus trouble. And some even claim preventing cyberbullying is a violation of free speech.

So what should be done?
Maybe the secret is to prevent the hurt before it even begins. Parents can supervise and monitor their children's Internet usage and teach them how to be savvy and safe online. They can also talk to kids about the dangers and emotional pain caused by cyberbullying.

But maybe the most important thing parents can do is help children understand from an early age that their self-worth and identity do not come from what others say about them—good, bad or indifferent. Ultimately these things come from Christ—not what Johnny No-Name (and probably No-Clue) hisses or types.

Below is a list put together by Dr. Ergun Caner after his son committed suicide from online bullying. This list is a good teaching aid to talk to your teens about how to behave online.

1. If you can’t post something nice...ask yourself if you should post at all?
2. Don’t let momentary anger become a permanent post.
3. Remember, the people you want to attack has a family that feels their hurt.
4. Public people can have personal problems that the public doesn’t know. They may be closer to the edge than you know because you don’t know them. Stop before they drop.
5. God says “Vengeance is Mine” so it’s best to let God do best what He knows best to do.
6. Christians never have the right to be unkind, not even once. Mean posts about an individual multiple times is harassment.
7. Post above reproach. If in doubt, don’t. Be a building block and not a stumbling stone.
8. There are two sides to every story and the internet is not the best place to tell the difference between the two or the best place to settle the difference between the two.
9. It’s better not to post and let people think you’re a fool than to post and remove all doubt.
10. Nobody wins on the internet but lives and families can be lost because of it.

March Newsletter:

For Parents on the Go:

  1. We will be offering a $500 scholarship to a student entering their first semester of college in the Fall. Please send me an email if you would like more information.
  2. Saturday, March 28th 7:00-9:00 PM. Dating God's Way. During the month of March on Wednesday nights we will take 15 minutes to teach on dating etiquette. Our focus will conclude on March 28th with a formal spaghetti dinner in the Fellowship Hall. We will have a panel discussion and a question/answer time.
  3. Friday, April 24th 5:00-7:00 PM. Human Ice Cream Sundae Fight. We will host a very messy human ice cream Sundae fight. Price of admission is an ice cream Sundae topping. We will play games, enjoy ice cream sundaes and have an epic ice cream sundae fight.
  4. If your teenager has already given a verbal commitment to attend The Journey Camp June 22-26 the final amount for camp is due no later than Sunday, May 3rd. The total amount is $130 per child. Please make checks out to FBCS Youth and I will receive payment at any time.


Parents,

I am very proud of EVERY teenager in CREW. They did an incredible job raising money to support Salem Pregnancy Center. I challenged them to fill 20 baby bottles with change and they filled 37 and also donated formula and handmade blankets for newborns. They went above and beyond what was expected. After much thought I've decided pink isn't my color. We have a terrific group of teenagers.

During the snow days last week I was able to spend time updating my personal blog and while I was on the blog I discovered a post I wrote in September which reminded me of 10 Promises I made as the Youth Leader at Stanleyville. I have included them below so you will be reminded of my commitment to your son/daughter.

  1. Every teenager will be prayed for by name daily.
  2. Every teenager will be taught how to reach the lost through strategic cultural engagement.
  3. Every parent of an FBC Youth will quarterly be made aware of developments in youth culture.
  4. Every teenager will be taught a robust theology, exalting Christ and encouraging missional living from every page of Scripture.
  5. Every teenager will receive a birthday card, Facebook post or funny video on their birthday.
  6. Every teenager will be given the opportunity to be involved in camp, retreats, banquets, lock-ins, field trips, fundraisers, and other events yearly.
  7. Every parent of an FBC Youth will be kept up to date of events and activities via phone, email, newsletter and/or social media.
  8. Every teenager will be encouraged to discover their spiritual gift and given opportunity to serve.
  9. Every teenager will be connected with other Christians from FBC Stanleyville who attend their middle or high school to provide friendship, accountability and encouragement.
  10. Every teenager who shares in youth group will have what is shared kept in strict confidence unless the teenager is believed to be a danger to him/herself or someone else.


As always thank you for entrusting your son/daughter to the youth department at FBC Stanleyville. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please don't hesitate to email or call.
--
Reaching Teaching and Releasing,

T Welch

Facebook Obsession and the Anguish of Boredom

Facebook has never been more addictive.

In 2013, it was 63% of Facebook users who checked in daily. In 2014, that number shot up to 70%. If you check Facebook day after day, you join over 864 million others with the same compulsive routine.

For many of us, Facebook is a kind of addiction, a default habit that is now rewiring our brains.

Ofir Turel, a psychologist at Cal State Fullerton, has the research to prove it. To make his point, he says Facebook addicts driving a car are more likely to respond faster to a push notification alert on their phone than to street signs. “That’s the power of Facebook,” he said.

Turel co-authored a study showing Facebook addiction engages the same impulsive regions of the mind as drug addicts, but with one significant difference. Facebook addicts, unlike compulsive drug abusers, “have the ability to control their behavior, but they don’t have the motivation to control this behavior because they don’t see the consequences to be that severe,” he wrote.

Many of you use Facebook and Twitter for noble ends, and this is to be applauded. Many of you are reading this post because of Facebook. But the self-evident reality is that Facebook addiction, like many addictions, is boredom-induced. Facebook is a place to turn when life gets drab, a digital slot machine we pull to win tokens of interesting news or funny videos. It’s designed to be this.

For many users, Facebook is the object we turn to, to satisfy our Boredom-Induced Distraction-Addiction (BIDA). This is when it becomes problematic.

Unhealthy Facebook addiction flourishes because we fail to see the cost on our lives. So what are the consequences of boredom-induced compulsive behaviors? Here are three to consider.

1. Facebook addiction stifles prayer.

There seems to be no study comparing the amount of time spent in social media to the satisfaction of one’s prayer life, but all indications are that there’s a problem brewing.

I recently asked Tim Keller, pastor and author of the new bestselling book on prayer, how widespread prayerlessness is. “This is anecdotal, but everybody I talk to seems so busy, and is communicating so incessantly around the clock, that I do think there is more and more prayerlessness, less and less time where people go into a solitary time or place to pray. I am sure we are more prayerless than we have been in the past.” So what does that say about our spiritual health? “Our spiritual health,” he responded candidly, “is in freefall.”

When life gets boring, we increasingly turn to the surprises (and diversions) of our newsfeeds, not to prayer.

2. Facebook addiction clouds our self-perception.

Second, BIDAs like Facebook cloud our self-perception. This was the insight of seventeenth-century mathematician Blaise Pascal. When observing the youth in his day, he noticed if you “take away their diversion, you will see them dried up with weariness” because “it is indeed to be unhappy . . . as soon as we are reduced to thinking of self, and have no diversion.”

Undistractedness and silence come with a heaviness we try to alleviate with frivolity, Pascal said. And so we are lured to distractions like Facebook, to be entertained, to fit in, to self-express — anything to break the weight of the silence.

Later, Pascal writes, “Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. There will immediately arise from the depth of his heart weariness, gloom, sadness, fretfulness, vexation, despair.”

Without disconnected solitude, we cannot feel the weight of our need; we cannot taste our desperation for God. The weight of boredom is intended to open us to our insufficiency and to awaken us to our hunger for grace.

3. Facebook addiction blinds us to beauty.

As Facebook strategists know well, human beings cannot make peace with monotony. Try it. Your heart won’t allow it.

We were not created to live in boredom. Our boredom follows from our sin, and our unalleviated boredom will eventually make us tremendously vulnerable to the lure of trivial distractions and corrupting allurements.

Sam Storms writes, “Boredom is contrary to the natural, God-given impulse for fascination, excitement, pleasure, and exhilaration.” He warns, when faced with a life of boredom, you either die emotionally or “madly rush to whatever extreme and extravagant thrill you can find to replace your misery with pleasure, whether it be pornography, adultery, drugs, or fantasies of fame and power.” Or in your boredom, you will turn to distractions that seem so innocuous as entertainment and the digital slot machine called Facebook.

How we respond to boredom says a lot about our hearts, and explains why we are so prone to addictive lifestyles and habits, Storms writes.

Many people who fall into sinful addictions are people who were once terminally bored. The reason why addictions are so powerful is that they tap into that place in our hearts that was made for transcendent communion and spiritual romance. These addictive habits either dull and deaden our yearnings for a satisfaction we fear we’ll never find, or they provide an alternative counterfeit fulfillment that we think will bring long-term happiness — counterfeits like cocaine, overeating, illicit affairs, busyness, efficiency, image, or obsession with physical beauty. They all find their power in the inescapable yearning of the human heart to be fascinated and pleased and enthralled. Our hearts will invariably lead us either to the fleeting pleasures of addiction or to God.
This same allurement is behind the “big” addictions, the “little” addictions, and every addiction in between. In the words of an old axiom, idle hands do the devil’s work. But more fundamentally, the bored are quick to make peace with sin. Whatever distraction temporarily alleviates our boredom becomes our ethical blindspot. There’s the problem.

The Cure for Our Boredom

For creatures like us, created to adore glory, we must find an object worthy of our worship. The cure for boredom is not diversion or distraction, but substantive enthrallment, says John Piper. We must encounter God, “to be intellectually and emotionally staggered by the infinite, everlasting, unchanging supremacy of Christ in all things.”

Which means that trying to silence our boredom with the compulsive habit of pulling the lever on the slot machine called Facebook is a habit that can be broken. But that will only happen if our compelling vision of God is grand enough to see him as beautiful and “infinitely creative,” so creative, that for those who worship him, Piper says, “there will be no boredom for the next trillion ages of millenniums.”

Original Article: Facebook Obsession and the Anguish of Boredom
Original Author: Tony Reinke
Original Date: February 28, 2015