XP3 - Grow Up: Big Faith

BOTTOM LINE: THE FOUNDATION OF HOW MUCH YOU GROW IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS BASED ON YOUR TRUST IN HIM.

At the heart of this series is a desire to be somewhere "farther" than where you are now. And the teenage years are all about reaching certain milestones - middle school, high school, driver's license, prom, graduation, college. Growing up isn't easy, and we can probably all think of some adults who still need to grow up. But growing is a big desire of God's. He wants to see us become more than who we usually settle for - not in the worldly sense of accomplishment, but growing in our relationship with Him, growing our character and even growing in the way we relate to ourselves and the world around us.

Based on our discussion last Sunday night, most of you are struggling with attaining a "Big Faith" because of peer pressure. What is it about peer pressure that makes being an open Christian so difficult for you?

Some of the things you mentioned that could help you this week to begin to "grow up" your faith were praying, being nice to people, being a leader, reading your Bible, and listening to Christian music. Have any of you done any of these over the week? If so, share what you did and how you felt afterwards. If not, what happened? Was it more peer pressure? Did you just forget?

Here are a few Bible verses that deal with peer pressure:

Passage Matthew 4:1-10:   ^{1 -3} Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."
   ⁴Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."
   ^{5 -6}For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone."
   ⁷Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God."
   ^{8 -9}For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, "They're yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours."
   ¹⁰Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."

Passage Matthew 16:23:
   ²³But Jesus didn't swerve. "Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works."

Passage 2 Peter 2:9:
   ⁹So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.

Passage 1 Corinthians 10:13:   ¹³No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.

What do you think of those verses? Do they encourage you at all?

Hope you all are having a great week... Can't wait to see you this Sunday night! : )

XP3 WE DEVOTIONAL 2

XP3 WE DEVOTIONAL 2

Read: Proverbs 27:17

IRON MAIDENS

By Sarah Anderson

I have one friend from college who at the mere mention of her name makes me crack up. Any voice mail, e-mail or letter, literally makes me laugh out loud. Starting our senior year of college, we were cohorts in crime. Following graduation, we moved to Tennessee and worked and lived together for a year. Then we both ventured out west to try our hand at being cowgirls . . . kind of. She worked in Colorado and I worked in Wyoming. She was more of an actual cowgirl. I cleaned cabins and waited on tables. While out there, she met the man of her dreams and asked me to be in her wedding one year later. Eight months later she was in my wedding and now she and her husband are preparing to move to China to be missionaries.

She is a true friend. One time on a trip to a Hard Rock Café, we noticed a sign by our table that said Iron Maiden. (Only recently did I learn this was a band, which explains it’s place in Hard Rock Café, and more recently than that I learned it was also the name of a torture device first used in the 1500s.) We knew neither of these things at the time and took the phrase, adopting it as a name for ourselves. We wanted to be the Iron Maidens, because, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

This was the kind of friendship we desired. All craziness aside, what we craved was a friendship that pursued the betterment of each other, accountability to one another and a deeper knowledge of Christ. And this did not necessarily look like a weekly Bible study, or a scheduled time for prayer, or a twice a week chapel attendance that was required at our college. What it looked like was a sharpening of each other, an intentional smoothing of our rough edges by being friends who cared more about every facet of our friendship than just having a good time and sharing secrets.

I heard someone say once, “When iron sharpens iron, there are sparks.” A lot of times getting our rough edges smoothed out hurts. It is hard to let people in close and with something as sharp as iron, and giving them the access to your heart. But the sparks, the friction, the heat is not a bad thing. It means we are enduring the flames from the fire and being made into a more moldable and enduring vessel for Christ.

This friend made me a better follower of Christ. I did not always like her in the process.  Sparks can burn. But she, along with God, made me what I needed to be. In her friendship, she gave me the permission to dialogue about tough issues, hard questions and nagging sins. That was hard. But we did it. I needed an iron maiden in her, and she needed one in me, and the result was two people who better understood what it meant to be at the mercy of the heat in order that we might come out better believers and followers of Jesus.

She still makes me laugh. She still brightens my life. But her real gift to me is not laughter or silly memories. Her gift is her persisting and enduring ability to shape me into who God wants me to be. I love her for that.

Something to Think About:

• What makes the friends you are closest too, the friends that you are closest too?

• Do you have someone who sharpens you like iron in your life?

• What do you do, or could you do, to help sharpen you and your friends?

XP3: WE Devotional 1

NOT ALONE
By Sarah Anderson

Read: Exodus 17: 8-14

⁸ While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them. ⁹ Moses commanded Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.”
   ¹⁰ So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. ¹² Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. ¹³ As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.
   ¹⁴ After the victory, the Lord instructed Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

People need people. I don’t care what anyone else says. We as humans were created for relationship—and not just with God, but with each other as well. As basic as this seems, I forget that sometimes. Sometimes I think I can curl up on my couch with a good novel and some TiVo-ed episodes of my favorite show and be happy for the rest of my life. But as appealing as this sounds to me, inevitably I realize I need more than a remote and a book—I need people.

I think God either finds my lapses into this thinking totally insulting or absolutely hilarious. Maybe it is a little bit of both. Usually, He puts me in some sort of desperate situation where I require help from another human—like getting lost in downtown Atlanta, or reaching for something from the top shelf of the pantry—to help me realize, again, I can’t go at it alone.

We just read the story of Moses, a powerful and influential man, who had more reason than anyone else to think he didn’t need people—especially whining and complaining people, like the Israelites. I have to wonder if when he went to the top of the mountain while the Israelites were fighting below, if part of him just wanted to get away.

We have no way of knowing, but I don’t think it took very long for Moses to get tired of holding up his own hands. It takes me about thirty seconds. And in one of the most compelling word pictures I have ever found in Scripture, we see how desperately and mightily he needed friends. He needed their support, their strength, their endurance, their assistance and their persistence—literally.

What do you think was going through Moses’ mind as he sat on the rock and allowed his right hand men to lift his deadened arms in the air? I picture his head bowed, his brow furrowed and his back bent. And I imagine this day being engrained in his memory forever. If he was ever tempted to think he was too good for the help of others, he need only think back to the faithfulness of Aaron and Hur as they tirelessly came alongside him and empowered him to win the battle. And should that memory start to fade, he could just as easily go back to the scroll God had him write after the Israelites won, because this was “something to be remembered.” A great military feat, yes. But I think there was another reason for writing it down as well. God said write this down because Moses, you can’t forget, and Joshua, can’t forget, and those who follow, can’t forget, that you can’t do life alone.

My favorite TV show is way more entertaining when I can comment on it with someone on the couch beside me. Reading is more fun when I can talk about it and process it with a listening ear. And that is just the small stuff. There has been, and there will be, big, hard, stuff that comes along. I don’t want to be, and I can’t be, alone when it does.

People need people. We are not intended to be loners in this world. We need to allow ourselves to take a seat. Allow our arms to be lifted. Allow people to come in. Allow them to come close, whether we feel like we require it not. Because someday it will be essential to have the help and the hands, on either side of us, to make it. We were created for relationships. We were created for this.

Something to Think About:

• Why do you think we sometimes think we can do life alone?

• What is an area of life that is easy for you to ask for help in?

• What is an area of life that is hard to ask for help in?

• What is one way this week where you can be intentional about getting help for someone when you would normally want to do it alone?

THE XP: RELEASE... THE "WHY" FACTOR

CONTENT POST #1: READING THE BIBLE

 

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard -- things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct out energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good -- crucified. Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original (Galatians 5: 22-26 MSG).

 

Before you answer the questions, remember that doing this isn't just a checklist. It isn't just something you have to do. Start by asking God to reveal something to you. Put your focus and motivation to read and answer the questions on God.

 

Now read back through the passage again and ask yourself:

• What does this passage show me about God?
• What does this passage show me about who I am, how I think, how I'm made?
• What does this passage show me about loving other people?
• How can I do what these verses are challenging me to do in a way that shows people that I love them and also lets people see how much God loves them?

CONTENT POST #2: SERVING

In what areas are you currently serving at church, in your neighborhood, at home or at your school?

What exactly do you do?

If you aren't serving, is there anything you've thought about doing?

If you are serving, what are some "good things" that have come from that area of service? What are some of the challenges of serving in that area?

Have you ever wanted to give up serving? Why or why not?

How would what you do change if you approached it as a way to show people God loves them?

How would what you do change if you approached it as a way to show people you love them?

CONTENT POST #3: PRAYER

Is prayer something that is a part of your life?

If so, when you pray, are there certain things that you pray about regularly?

How much of the things that you talk with God about have the words "I" or "me" in them?

What are some ways that you could shift the focus off yourself and onto others when you pray?

How could praying for other people be a way that you love others?

Not only can praying help you to love others, but also it can help you to love God. What can you do in prayer to show God you love Him?

Copyright 2009 The reThink Group, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

The XP : Wanted

Discontent & Disconnect

The Wanted series is all about getting to the root of our desires. What drives us? What captures our interest, our time and our affection?What are we worshipping? And is what we want really going to satisfy us, or are we really desiring far less than what God has made us to have?

This XP is about coming to terms with the things we thought we wanted, we thought would deliver, but have disappointed. The goal is for you to spend some time being introspective (really thinking about it) as you look at the clothes that fill your closest, the DVDs on your shelf, the games in your room, the CDs in your drawer (and songs in your iTunes library) and ask yourself if what you wanted when you purchased them was what you really wanted. Did it deliver or did it leave you feeling empty and discontent?

Now... I want you to go through all your "stuff" and decide on AT LEAST 1 thing that you'd like to give away to someone less fortunate than you. At least 1 but as many as you'd like. And while you're doing this, ask yourself the following questions:

- When did I get this?

- How badly did I want it when I first got it?

- How long has it been since I used it?

- What was I expecting this thing to do for me once I had it in my possession? Was life different before getting it compared to after getting it?

- How long did it keep my interest before I wanted something else?

- Is there something I want just as badly right now? Where will this thing most likely be a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, two years from now?

Be sure and bring your item(s) to church next Wednesday night, January 26. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment or give me a call! See you then : )