After a game of chicken & worship we took a field trip.  Saw a visual of how tall Goliath really was.  Thanks to Clint who made himself 9 1/2 feet tall by using a ladder.  He could have stood on Emma’s shoulders but we decided to use a ladder.

We started a series tonight on David.  A humble shepherd, annointed by God who killed a giant, and united a nation.  Trials, temptations & triumphs; King David.  As we move through this series, we are going to look at some student trials and how they are walking through these trials with God.  Like David, he ran to God through each trial and counted on God to help him through each one.

Sometimes, the giant in our life is doing the right thing even when no one else will.  We heard a story about a girl named Angela, who shared about how she stepped out of her comfort zone and approached a girl who no one talked to at school.  Angela was made fun of.  Even other Christians labeled her and made fun of her.  Some Christians even discouraged her from being kind.  However, Angela kept ministering to this girl and she gave her life to Christ. She then became an influencer of others and is now a sister in Christ.  This incident has brought Angela even closer to Christ because she was obedient to what He wanted.

Humility is not talking bad about yourself.  It is about serving others.  It’s not about bad mouthing yourself but stepping up and doing what God wants you to do.  It is about mentioning how God has used you to do His work.  The way that God has made you is good enough.  We often look at all the shiny stuff that others have and don’t think we are able to be used.  God has made us for specific reasons and He can use us just the way we are. 

The things, the enemy,  that come to destroy and kill us are the things that we need to wage a war against and kill.  See, David came to kill the enemy.  He waged war against the enemy.  That is exactly what we need to do.  The battle is the Lords.  Whatever we are facing is threatening, but the battle belongs to the Lord.  The Lord is bigger than the battle.

God is our strength & power.  What sin are you struggling with?  God can help you overcome that sin.

JT shared his story about his struggle with pornography.  He was raised in a Christian family.  He started hating himself and feeling dirty.  He stopped asking for help and forgiveness because he felt hopeless.  He felt everyone was perfect.  He was scared he would be judged.  Once he did share, he found others he could be accountable to.  God delivered him from his sin.

Remember that God has promised us that we wouldn’t be tempted beyond what we could bear.

Please start studying the story of David in 1st Samuel.  Most of us in our youth group are like the brothers of David who were scared and afraid to stand up for God.  David had faith and was able to stand up to Goliath.  He didn’t go the Goliath and say, I, I, I.  He said, my God is going to help me defeat you. He had faith.  David knew it was God that used him.  He was humble because he gave credit was credit was due. 

We need the faith of David to stand up for the impossible & encourage, not discourage.  God can use you!  Do you believe that?

Good time of announcements, times of sharing, prayer, & opening game.  Thanks to Clint & Greg for showing us how to eat m & m’s drenched in ketchup.  Greg was the winner who received a $5 McDonalds card.  Would you eat m & m’s drenched in ketchup?  After much gags & dry heaves…..  Well anyway, let’s get onto the good stuff.

Worshiping the Lord was such a joy & pleasure!  He has blessed the youth worship team with a new vocal singer.  Thanks to Rachel for using her talents to serve the Lord in this way.

The Word tonight is from Philippians 3:7-9.  We discussed how Satan ruins something beautiful & wonderful.  For example the m & m’s were beautiful & wonderful before LeRoy, “satan”  covered them in ketchup. 

Paul tells us that all he is giving up to serve the Lord is like a pile of poo in comparison to serving the Lord.  Is there anything that we are hanging onto that is keeping us from giving our whole heart over to God?  What are some things in your life that you consider is valuable?  Does that matter in eternity?

We hit a rabbit trail talking about Livi’s hair supplies ha ha but back on track now.  Imagine a manure meter that tracked how you acted each day.  What would your score be on a scale of 1 - 10.  10 being I count everything as loss & a 1 being well that is not so bad.  Hold whatever you value up to the manure meter.  If you have obsessed over a sport, a guy, girl, hair… how much control does that have in your life?  Ask yourself why do you need to hang onto these things?  Why is this thing so valuable to you that you are allowing it to keep you from knowing Christ better?

Paul tells us that NOTHING is more important than following Christ.

 ^{verse 8 “}What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him

Tonight’s challenge:

When asked…What is #2 in your life.  We are assuming that Jesus is #1 in your life.   The group answered  girlfriend, vanity, writing, volleyball, food, sleep, guitar.  Maybe we need to be asking is Jesus #1?????

Look at what is so important to you?  Look at it in the light of eternity.  Also, make Jesus your first priority in the morning.  Your relationship with Him is what is going to last for eternity.  Everything else is just fuel for the fire and is poop.

John 6:5-12  Jesus feeds the 5,000

This year we started off good with Speed the Light Teams.  Some of the teens have given from their hearts, other were turned off by the competition, others haven’t even tried yet.  The little boy in this story gave what he had & Jesus multiplied.  He gave what he thought wasn’t very important.

If you were sitting in your cafeteria with a small lunch & there came across an announcement that there wasn’t any food left in your school; what would happen in your school?  A riot maybe?

Some of you may not have much to give or even a desire.  However small it may be & whatever it is, if you sacrifice it, Jesus will use it & He will multiply it.  He used what the boy gave; fed 5,000 plus women & children and there was even left overs!

Jesus will take whatever funds and or talents you have, multiply it & bless it & even more so…. bless you!!!  What is important here is that you give whatever you have, how large or small it is.

Reading Luke 9:12  Note that the disciples asked Jesus to send away the people so they could go find something to eat.  Jesus challenged the disciples and told them to give the people something to eat.  The disciples answered that they didn’t have much unless we go & buy food. 

You are the same as the disciples and Jesus is challenging you too.  He is asking you to give the people food.  You give too.

There is more to this life than boy/girl relationships, new clothes, being popular, wherever it is that you seem to find your happiness.  Ask yourself, what have I done to make a difference.  One day you will find out the difference you made.  It will be brought to your attention.

Think about what you have given to Jesus & what you are still holding on to.  He can’t use what you have not given yet.  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the things you are still holding on to.  What you have that He can use to minister to people.  No matter the size.  Put it in His hands & watch Him work a miracle.

Lots of announcements this week……. Chicken BBQ tickets, Upcoming Yard sale and time to turn in STL money.  We are praying about the possibility of building a drum booth to help improve sound & clarity and also opening up a cafe.  All proceeds will benefit STL Missions.

After a time of worship, we started talking about annoying things.  What annoys us?  Then we split up in teams and headed to the gym for a friendly game of tug of war.  Did I say friendly?  Our group is a bit competitive.  Team Ricky vs Team Emma………………And the winner is………………..Team Ricky!  So with a bit of rope burn the game is over.

When we don’t get along in our relationships it is like a tug of war.  We are trying to get “my way”.  It is a constant pulling.  When we aren’t getting along with someone we loose sight of the relationship.  We have taken our eyes off the relationship & started to focus on only us.  What do we have to do?  We need to negotiate & talk to that person.

Here are some tips to do that can help you when conflict arises within your relationship.

1.  Establish a neutral relationship with that person.

2.  Decide who is going to express their opinion first.

3.  When the other person is expressing….listen, do not interrupt.

4.  When it is your turn to express your perspective, don’t own their emotions.   Don’t mention their feelings, talk about how you feel.

5.  When things get emotional like angry…..go back to the beginning.  Start over.  We got to work this out and agree to work things out.

6.  If you can’t come to a compromise, get a third person involved to help out.  Should be a trusted adult.

Romans 12:17-21  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord.  On the contrary

   “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
   if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Very helpful to study & meditate on before you meet with the other party.  This scripture plainly says that God doesn’t give us permission to get revenge.

How do you get revenge?  Ignore people?  Act caddy?  Play jokes on people?

Romans 15:7  “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

How do we accept others like Christ accepts us?  Do we ignore them? Do we ignore God?  What makes it hard to accept people like God accepted us? Sin, our human flesh.  The remedy is LOVE. 

1 John 4:7,8 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Does God take Love seriously?  According to this verse, He does!

John 15:9-11  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

We need to get along and Love one another!  Ask God to help you!

Tonight was intense as we competed in a game of chicken basketball.  Team Ariel won a close game with Team Stanley losing by only 1 point.  There are some really athletic teens in our group!

After a sweet time of worshiping our King of Kings LeRoy shared with us from 1 Kings 20:1-20  King Ahab said sure…..everything I have is yours.  Take it.  He was facing an enemy and he decided to stand back & do nothing.  Today in our schools we are facing an enemy which is Satan.  We don’t wrestle against flesh & blood.  The enemy is not the people in our schools but Satan behind them.  Someone is convincing Ahab that the situation is not hopeless. 

A lot of us today in our schools whether we are home schooled or not, are a lot of times like Ahab.  We back down.  Since we are Christians we shouldn’t stir up a fuss or stand up for what is right.

Remember that God is on your side.  You will come across opposition.  When we obey God’s word and stand up for the truth God is going to be with us.  What will we do if they laugh at us?  Will you stand up with God on your side?  Or let the enemy come in and take what is yours?

The point of this story is that when we come up against opposition, we need to remember to take our orders from the God.  Just like Ahab, God spoke to him through the prophet, he obeyed and he was successful.

Will you be willing to stand up and be a missionary on your campus?  Check out www.yausa.com.  This site has all sorts of info concerning youth alive & how to become a campus missionary. 

There is a seven’s project coming to New Oxford High School on Tuesday, April 24th.  There will be an assembly in the morning and then in the evening at 7 pm for another assembly.  Be in prayer & invite friends to attend.  This is a wonderful chance for you to share the gospel with your friends at school. 

For more info on becoming a campus missionary or the seven’s project please let LeRoy know.  See you on Sunday!

We started out the night with a special Easter Egg Hunt.  There were a few excited children, I mean, teenagers that couldn’t wait to get out the door.  Some people are so competitive.

Lots of announcements & then LeRoy shared with us from Isaiah 53.  We watched some clips from the Passion movie.  We were inspired to truly reflect on what Jesus did for us.  That He went to the cross because He wanted to.  He had us on His mind.

At the close, Livi shared with us a poem she had written.  It is posted below…

“Days like these, I wander

In the Land of sin. 

I fall down, I cannot conquer.

I don’t feel good in my skin.

I hold my breath, I lie

I turn my back from you

You love me yet I defy

Lord, I don’t deserve you.

dJesus can I hold your hand?

I repent but I cannot stand.

I promise but do not do.

Lord I need you.”

Thanks Livi.  God has given you a gift!!

So happy the warm weather is here!  No more hot tea, hot chocolate or coffee!  Ok, so maybe still some coffee.  So thankful for those water bottles that Mrs. Cindy Flores so generously donates every week!

The Youth Worship Team has picked it up a notch and is committing more time into practicing the gifts God has given them.  The Speed the Light Teams are still plugging away.  Thanks to everyone who is seeking after God as to how God can use them to raise money for missions.  As we seek after our Heavenly Father, He will draw near to us.  This youth ministry is full of many talented teens!

We are gearing up for our 4th year @ Youth Convention!  This year we are listening to the majority and staying over Friday night & attending Hershey Park on Saturday.  We are looking forward to a wonderful time with our Lord, each other & fellow believers in Christ!

LeRoy has been sharing a series by Joshua Harris called, Dug, Down Deep.  The first week we talked about what we are building our life on.  The next lesson was on the importance of knowing God.  We discussed the importance of not living a Double Life, hypocrisy or a lie.    Joshua said, ” Messed up theology leads to messed up living.”  What we think about God affects what we think about ourselves, and it affects the choices we make. 

The third lesson we finished up last evening was on How God makes us right.  We learned what justification means.  We looked into God’s word & discussed how we can be righteous in God’s eyes? We looked at several verses in Romans, one of which is 6:20-23 and discussed being a servant of sin or a servant of God.  The lessons took us through a journey of regrets & guilt to putting our faith in God & trusting the sacrifice Christ Jesus made for us to save us so that God would not condemn us.  When God looks at us, He sees His son, Jesus and He knows our debt has been paid.  We don’t need to carry around guilt anymore. We give our lives over to God through a personal relationship, we are not guilty, we are free.  See Romans 8:1

Looking forward to next week together.  If you have given your life over to God, maybe there is someone you know who hasn’t.  Are you willing to share with them?  Invite them to hang out with us.

Last night started with Team. “Whatever you want it to be” winning the tallest tower creation.  Congrats!!  They won because they had a strong foundation.  We heard God’s word about the Wise & Foolish Man who built their house.  Remember the song from your childhood days….

The wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock & the rain came tumbling down.  The rain came down and the floods came up.  The rain came down and the floods came up.  The rain came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood firm!

Wow.  What great words and awesome motions.  Good memories but any ways we heard that if we do not have a strong foundation in the Lord, we will not be able to stand and handle things that come our way.  When we do have that firm foundation we are able to get through and at the same time be a witness to others who are watching us.  Is Jesus Christ your foundation?

Check out God’s Word in Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:47-49 to hear more of the story.