Just a reminder from the very first post. These rules are still being enforced.

I am only trying this out to see how everyone else responds to the idea. However, I want to lay down a couple guidelines or rules to keep this friendly:

1. This is not an avenue for gossip. If you wouldn't talk about it in our youth group circle or at McDonalds, you probably shouldn't talk about it here.

2. Be nice to one another. We're all Christ-siblings.

3. Try not to draw a line between what's on here and youth group, we should all be like "Hey Lewis, I thought the song lyrics you posted on the youth group blog were really really cool, I left you a comment!"

Added:

4. Some of the fonts and colors used in this blog so far have been rather difficult to read, but I didn't want to just go in and change them. The default font and color works and looks the best.

5. No pictures have been posted yet, but please do not. Links to pictures are fine, pictures in personal blogs are fine, but since the lj-cut doesn't exist on blogger, please no pictures cluttering up the blog.
Edit:
Pictures are now fine, because the new template will hide them until somebody wants to read them.

Let this be a way for all of us to grow closer to one another.

Other than that, posts about issues we're struggling with, cool stuff God is doing, prayer request or praises, scripture that touched us that day or that we think is really cool are all encouraged.

The old has gone, the new has come!

New group, new template, new title; and there will also be a new address for the blog, and it will be:

http://youthgroupblog.blogspot.com

This is not to hide it from anybody. Please share this with anyone you can. But since we are not at the cellar anymore, this is done to remove all ties and semblance from the cellar. Someone could even start another website and call it the cellar blog if they wanted too. But this website is still public, and nobody is being denied access. Anyone who thinks this is misinformed.
Please be aware that the address will be changed, and please inform as many people as possible. Thank you.

The template has also changed to accomodate the occasional long post. The 'read more' tag is now gone, all the posts will be hidden until the link is clicked. This allows more posts to be displayed on the main page, but will not require you to skip around. Any comments onto the new look and style? Any suggestions? This is your blog, your input is welcome.
(PS: The polka dots next to the subject title mean that it's a link.)

The Light Or The Shadows

I just got done reading the last post and i agree with it. We have been given a very Powerfull gift. The gift of the gospel. We can use it to change people's lives including our own. But we can also use it for Satan's purpose. Now I'm not saying satanics. What I'm saying is you can twist anything whether in the Bible inside and out. Sometimes we can even loose the light while still thinking were in its warmth. So as for the bickering, just remember the gospel is a gift, and when used on the internet you can reach infimate amount of people. But when you let Satan get a hold on you then the net can amplify that by ten, if not more. So I pray that we can join together and pray with each other, ask for forgivness for our sins, ask for the knowledge to work together for God. We are family, not by our blood. But by Christ our father's BLOOD. That blood has tied us together, and once your a Christian youre always going to be family. You fall we will help you up, if youre lost in the dark, here you can have my flashlight. This message comes from my heart, and it breaks when hear about our family having problems. I will pray for all of our brothers and sisters, that we may come together, to help others. God be with you always.

Gods Tribulation Force
Brad

SOAPBLOX

Satan does in fact win battles. He wins many battles, particularly in my life. From what I've heard... I don't want to say that satan won the battle, but he certainly wasn't crushed like we have the power to do in Christ. It's not ok, but there is also a sense in which it is ok. As people we are complete failures, and it's God's grace and forgiveness that makes us victorious, and nothing else. Once we lose sight of that, we are blindsided, and satan will throw dirt in our eyes and push us to the ground. A cheap move I know, but he is satan. I agree with the comment that said something to the effect that people won't be attracted to a group of Christians who are wrapped up in their own conflicts and arguments, and enslaved to all kinds of pleasures and ungodliness. Ok, now i'm embellishing (if I spelled that right). My belief is affirmed. Satan did not win any battle. The victories were simply fewer. The IVCF youth group was a victory, because I still praise God for the changes that it made in me. And I know I'm not the only one who fell in love with Jesus there, so I praise God for them also. In short, I agree with Ed. I give him kudos for trying to pull things together along with the other leaders, but from what I've heard (and I know you often can't rely on anything you hear) the youth ministry had become a fighting ring for those who are called to love their enemies, and a place where gossip had spread like cancer. Like a withered branch, good for nothing but to be cut off and thrown into the fire.

I've been thinking and praying a lot lately, and I've never been very confrontational. So I just want to take this moment to use my soapblox (thats not a type-o) to tell you guys something.
Lewis, Eric, Jeremy, Lane (if you are still in this plane of existence), and everybody else,
Don't let the time pass you by. If you aren't walking with Jesus, you are wasting your life away. I have wasted months. If any of you are being sexually immoral, and think you have a relationship with Christ, YOU ARE LYING TO YOURSELF. Stop it. If you are gossiping about your brothers and sisters instead of praying for them, stop. If you are using God's grace as a license to sin (and you know in your heart if you are) stop it. Reading Ed's post made me so sad, and I haven't felt much of anything in a long time. oh whatever, this is probably just another post to contribute to all the confusion. Just let Jesus love you.

The revalency of the old testament

I was thinking today, as I was reading my bible, how easy we have it. Right now, I'm mainly reading in the old testament, because that's where my devotions are. But one of the things that I learned when I was reading it, is we today read it, and think, 'oh my gosh, look at all those rules,' and wonder why God would do that. But what I learned, was that that was the first time a people served a god that communicated with them like that; obviously because up until that point people were serving false gods that couldn't talk to them. They had no idea what their god wanted, and their devotion to a false god may have led them into sacrificing their own children. But the God that we serve is not like that. He is very clear about what pleases him and what doesn't. And the more I learn about mosaic law, the more I believe that the church should operate under those principles. I'm not talking about all the sacrificing and sprinking of blood, that now is pointless as the new testament says. But I'm talking about the principles of dealing with issues. Here are some examples:

¹⁶ The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷ You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him. ¹⁸ And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. ¹⁹ He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.
Deut 26:16-19
That alone is a powerful statement. It's explaining the covenant that we are entering into with God. We agree to do our part, he agrees to do his part. Our part is to love Him and obey his commands, but not halfway, all the way.


15 One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Deut 19:15
2 If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God in violation of his covenant, 3 and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars of the sky, 4 and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death. 6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you. Deut 17:2-7
If someone hears a rumour, it needs to be investigated. No conclusion can be reached based on one witness. Is God calling them a liar? No, it's just a fact that one person doesn't always have the whole story. But there's a flipside to that: If enough witnesses can testify to something, then the person who first heard about it is the person who casts the first stone. People who lead us astray should not be given a way in, should not be allowed to have influence on us. We need to watch our company, because bad company corrups good character.

8 If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the LORD your God will choose. 9 Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. 10 You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do. 11 Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. 12 The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. 13 All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.
Deut. 17:8-13

This is the one I think we all have some problem with. We go to people for advice, we go to our role models, our leaders, our doctors; really anybody in a position to help us. And what do we do? We pick out what we want to hear and throw out what we don't. Today, somewhere in one of my classes I've heard it called doctor shopping. But here God says to carefully do everything that we're told to do.

Naaman Healed of Leprosy
1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. [a]

2 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents [b] of silver, six thousand shekels [c] of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
2 kings 5:1-14

See? The man wants a miracle but doesn't want to do any work. He wants to experience the power of God but wants to do it his way. He has trouble listening because he had prior expectations. But if God's thoughts are not our thoughts, we need to have an open mind to listening to him; not questioning him. Let's look at this from another direction. What if this man had comitted a sin, and that was why he had leprousy? Miriam, mother of moses, was punished for leprosy. Here Naanam is given direction on how to make restitution. He doesn't want to do it. Maybe he only wants to wash six times, and not seven, or maybe he thinks he shouldn't have to do anything at all.

The bible says that God forgives our sin. The bible also says that God disciplines us. Which one do you think are we more likely to focus on? How often do we forget that God can take sin away, but sometimes the affect of the sin is still there? If I punched Ed in the face and broke his glasses, the next day they would still be broke. If a disaster destroyed a town, the next day it would still be destroyed. We can repent of our sins and recieve forgiveness, but that doesn't take the work of restoration out of it. The Civil War ended, the north won, slavery was abolished, everybody was a happy camper. What period followed the Civil War? Reconstruction. Reconstructing takes work, far more work than is necessary to destroy. But in the end, which is better and more rewarding?

Beware

I caution you, all who read my blog, this is not for the faint at heart or the easily tempered.

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Daily Reading: Deut 8-10
Actually read: Deut 8-10 Prov 15.
In Deut. Moses is still talking to the Israelites. He tells them that the Lord humbled them, and tested them. But God doesn't test for His benefit, He tests for ours. Moses also bring up Israel's sin, also to humble them, to let them know that it is not their righteousness that earned God's favor, but God chose their fathers. So it is, that God chose us, before we could choose Him, and continues to choose us.
Prov 15.
The biggest topic that I find in proverbs is the contrast between the wise and the foolish. The wise become wiser because they accept the teaching of others. A lot of the verses found here have to do with the words that come out of our mouths. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
But what about verse 10 of proverbs 15? Stern correction awaits him who leaves the path, he who hates correction will die. Is that me? Is that us? Do we like to be taught and instructed? Do we like being honest with ourselves and other people? Do we read the Bible just to say we are doing good? The power of God's word comes from its application. It comes from us checking our lives with it. We ask ourselves, am I doing what this says? How does this apply to me? How can I change my thoughts and attitudes to become more like Jesus? If this is not how we read God's word, then we nullify His power and we have no place for him in our lives.

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The Bible says that God's word is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating even to divide the soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) That sounds like surgery. Surgery isn't an experience that we would normally think of as being pleasant, but isn't it necessary for survival? Not all surgery is life essential, but some of it is. The surgery that God wants to perform on us; however, is essential. He needs to go deep inside and slowly begin to remove the sin from us. Sin is like a cancer, and quite a fickle one at that. Just when you think it's all been gotten out, it comes back, with a vengeance. Sin is the most intelligent cancer, because it's directed and controlled by an outside force, and it knows just where to strike. That's why God's surgery on us is so important to our survival.

But there's always two ways to do things, isn't there? You may hear it in a movie: "Alright, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." But what's the easy way, and what's the hard way? God sometimes may not wait around for us to give him permission to remove our sin. I mean, He owns us; right, and we already gave Him the OK back when we accepted Christ, right? So why then would He have to ask our permission and sit and wait around until we gave it to Him? He doesn't. He may decide, in his wisdom and love, that something needs to be taken care of NOW, and just step in. We may not even know it's happening until it's done. Just imagine yourself, sitting on the operating table, God's standing over you, looking a little frustrated, and you're shouting: No! No! That's my tumor and I want it back!!! But don't we do that, when God asks us to get rid of our sin, and then sometimes steps in? We all have sin that we are holding onto. But which would you rather choose, the easy way; which is that of an informed patient who submits to anesthetic, or the hard way; which is somebody who needs to be restrained, and because of their rebelliousness, suffers more pain?

Look at the margin. Does anybody see any of the names run together? I run a different browser than Interent Explorer, so sometimes it will read my html different than IE will. Is there anything that needs to be tweaked with?

Numbers 11:4-6

We remember what we want to remember. We focus on memories so that we shape our emotions into what we want them to be. The Israelites chose not to be content with the way things were, they chose to remember good things about Egypt, not the bad. If Moses had said to them, "Fine, go back to Egypt, go tell pharaoh that you want to work for him again, "them some of them might have done just that. But Moses saw himself as the shepherd that God chose to lead the people, and he was not willing that any of the Israelites should be lost. Neither was Jesus. Do we feel that way about the people that God calls us to shepherd? Do we care if one of our lambs wanders off? And on the flip side, do we wander away from our shepherds and our flock? Do we follow them as the people that God raised up to instruct us in the Word? Do we behave like little kids that need milk, nap and play time, or are we mature, obedient, respecting humble Christians that are ready to sit down and be taught the Word? Which category do you fall into? What category do the people you yoke yourself to fall into?

See You At The Pole

Did you hear about S.Y.A.T.P. ???

Check out this link that will tell you more info.