Love = Obey

Tonight is Josh's last night with Illuminate. The student ministry is going to be going through a time of change and transition this summer and maybe beyond. I have seen in my life, that satan tries to take advantage of times of change. He sees the opportunity of people being out of their comfort zone, perhaps scared or doubtful of the future, and he urges them to dwell on those negative feelings of discomfort, fear, distrust, doubt, pride, etc.

As a youth group, I think it's important that all be aware of satan's attacks on us and on Illuminate. We need to pray for God's protection on the youth group during this time of change.

My devotional today was on love and obedience. Read 2 John 1:1-6. John begins his letter emphasizing the importance to love one another. He then goes on to remind us of the great commandment that Jesus left us with: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:37-39

So I leave us with this challenge. Let us be obedient to Jesus' command. Let us love one another. Let us look to each other for support. Let us go to someone when they are hurting. Let us share in good times and bad. Let us look to one another for help in understanding and learning about God. And most importantly...let us pray for one another. I do know that satan will try to tear us apart at this time....this is the time we need to be ready to push him away and say 'we know God has a plan for this youth group....and it's awesome and I want to be a part of it!'

See you tonight :)

Getting Beyond Ourselves

For the past several months I have been naughty. I havn't been tithing the way im supposed to. Whenever the offering plate would come around to me id say oh i forgot this week or in my mind I would tell myself that im still just a kid and I dont make that much money and God would understand.

Of course God does understand he understands that I was using excuses to hang on to something that was rightfully his. The problem is that ive just been greedy I have a new house and I have stuff that I want to put in it. I allowed myself to get away from reading the Bible every night and greed crept back into my life.

So when pastor John preached on tithing on sunday it was like every word that he said was directed completly at me. Now I'm not really excited about the whole refund thing, to me that seems like it defeats the purpose but at the same time I understand It's purpose. So I have decided to take the tithing challenge but to make sure I do it with a joyful heart im tithing in cash only so no record can be kept and a no point can I go back and say that it didn't work out and that I want a refund.

Something that we all have to look out for is the sin inside of us that will creep in, because that sin will prevent us from living the life and experiencing the glorious path that God has set before us.

The verse that really sums this up for me is Hebrews 12
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race taht is set before us.

Please study this verse and look into your own heart for the sin that clings closely to you.

My Prayer For You Tonight.

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

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The ever important message of salvation and how to attain it. Trust and believe. That's it. Why is it so critical for us as Christian to proclaim this truth to the nations? Simply put, we never know what tomorrow will bring and if we want our loved ones to enter into Heaven we need to act now.

Some of you may know that one year ago today I lost my brother to cancer. He was my closest sibling, not that I don't love my other siblings equally, he and I just had more in common. (Specifically our love for Carolina football) We spent half of our lives together going to games and watching them on TV. Most of our conversations were centered around the Gamecocks. It took a terrible illness to finally make me understand that I am here for more than just football talk. One night when I was headed to Wal-Mart with my kids, I started listening to the song 'Here I go again' by Casting Crowns and I totally lost it. I cried like a baby. My kids asked me why I was crying. I simply told them it was because I needed to talk to my brother. That week I spoke to my brother and he placed his faith in Christ and I knew that we would see each other again. A week later I spent the night with him in the Hospital and the whole next day, I went home to get some rest and told his wife to call me if anything happened. I laid down to take a nap and all of a sudden I was awoken by a sharp pain in my chest. I thought I was having a heart attack. A couple of minutes later, the phone rang and my brother lost his battle with cancer and went home to be with Jesus. The pain I felt was a piece of my heart dying along with my brother. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to lead my brother home. In the Fall we spread my brothers ashes along the beach and in the ocean. Today I am headed back there to spend sometime talking to God and my brother. I will also be praying for all of you and your walks with Christ.

Cherish the time you have with the people in your life and spend time talking to them about salvation. One of my favorite verses is Philemon 1:6 it says, "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." That will be my prayer for you tonight.

Have a great weekend and I will see you next week at Illuminate.

Fritts

God Is Constant

Wow....not a single post in an entire week??!!

The verses I'd like for you all to read are verses that talk about how God is constant and God is stable.
Read James 1:16-18 16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Don't get me wrong, I have amazing friends and a ton of people I can count on. But there is still something about the fact that we aren't supposed to rely on people the same way we should rely on God. God is truly the ONLY constant in our lives. Until we truly understand that we will continue to be let down and unfairly put pressure on those around us...when they aren't meant to be that source of strength and stability.

Also read Hebrews 13:8 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Does reading that give you a feeling of peace and comfort. It should. If it isn't then I pray that each of us grow to trust God and to depend on this world less each day.

I'll see you all at Illuminate tonight!

Is it really you?

The passages I want you guys to read tonight are 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 and also John 20:10-18.
I really love these passages. To me, they speak about God's awesome power to transform. They also emphasize that we were created in such an amazing way to become a spiritual being so much more than what we are here on earth. I so look forward to the way we will be when we are in heaven with God. We will barely recognize each other. How cool is that? Here on earth we are 'seeds'...round, dirty looking, not too attractive....when God looks at us He sees the kind of 'plant' or tool for His kingdom we will become - the spiritual being He created us to be - the same way we can recognize a sunflower seed even though it looks nothing like a sunflower. Yet we can still picture the beautiful sun flower it will become. That's how God sees us....as the beautiful being we will become when we leave this earth and join His heavenly kingdom.

Even Jesus - the perfect man - who never sinned and fully lived out the will that God had for His life....He still was not the same 'seed' as He was 'flower'...after He was resurrected and was now in the heavenly form He would spend eternity with God as - Mary did not recognize Him. She was used to seeing the 'perfect seed'....when she saw the 'beautiful flower' she didn't know it was Jesus...right away. When He called her name - there was something that caused her to recognize that it was Jesus....her teacher...her friend. There was still something in the beautiful flower that allowed Mary to see the Jesus that she knew on this earth.

It shows me that although God will change us - while we're here on earth and more so when we enter into eternity with Him - there is still a core of who he created us to be that shines through in both beings and is recognizable.

I am so excited to see how we will meet our earthly brothers and sisters in Christ in heaven and recognize them - now in their spiritual form....and say 'Wow....look at what you've become. You are beautiful and God is amazing!'

Are you allowing God to transform you?? Or are you resisting? Don't resist...He knows what He's doing...and He does beautiful work!

See you all at Illuminate tonight!

Post Easter

So sunday was such an amazing day at North Point. i heard that Friday night at the church went really well too. well, a lot of times we don't look at what Jesus did or said after His resurrection as much as we do the events leading up to the day of Easter. so tonight read Matthew 28 and Luke 24. both chapters deal with what happened after Jesus came back from the grave. Jesus is alive and loves each one of you more than you'll ever know! have a great night! see you tomorrow night!

*josh

What's so "good" about it?

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:30

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When I think about a good Friday, I think about getting off of work early on a sunny day and going home to my family and maybe heading to the park or golf course. The last thing I think of is being beaten to near death and then being nailed to a cross before finally dying. So why do we call the Friday before Easter "Good". Well if it were not for that horrific event nearly 2000 years ago, then we would have no hope of ever having a "good" Friday or any other good day in fact. You see because of Jesus' death, we who are called Christians have the knowledge that when we are no longer a part of this world we will have a good day everyday for eternity.

There is a saying that I have repeated several times while playing golf. A bad day on the golf course is better then a good day at work. Well think of it this way. A day in heaven is better then the best day on Earth.

Enjoy this Easter weekend and reflect on the true meaning of the holiday. It is the greatest holiday of the year.

Read Chapters 19 and 20 in the Book of John this weekend and reflect on what Jesus really did for us. Hope to see everyone tonight and Sunday.

My Personal Agenda...holding me back

I'm guessing you have noticed that I haven't been at church for a bit. I had some family stuff come up and had to head up to Pittsburgh to be with my family. I'm excited to tell you guys how God was with me and my family during these last few weeks, but I'm not sure when that'll be just yet.

While I was at home I went to church with my cousin, Tom, who had - the week before - lost his mom, his gradfather (my mom's dad), and his other grandfather - within 24 hours. Tom is a new Christ follower and it was so great to see how God entered his life at the perfect time before this tragedy to be with him and carry him through it.

The message that Saturday night that the pastor gave - really spoke to my heart. Their Easter series is called Relent. It spoke about how we need to lay our personal agendas aside. We so often come to God with preconceived notions of what we want to happen or what we expect to happen. What a mistake!

Read John 12:12-19....the Jews praised Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. But they didn't see how this was part of the prophecy being fulfilled in order to free their souls from death. They were short sighted - they thought Jesus - King of the Jews - would free them from Roman oppression - start a war. But Jesus wasn't here to free us from earthly oppression - he came to free us from the spiritual oppression of sin. These same Jews that praised him in John 12 - became dissappointed when Jesus didn't come to fulfill their agenda of freedom from Rome. In John 19 they yelled 'Crucify Him!'.

The people were in the presence of the man who would obey God and freely give His life to free them from an eternity separated from God....yet they were blind to see it because they had their own agenda in mind. Rather than bow at his feet. They spat in his face.

What agenda do you have that keeps you from seeing what God has planned and the gifts that He is giving you?

See you guys at Illuminate tonight - and i hope to see you this Friday at the Passover North Point After Dark service!!

It's Easter Week

so it's the week of Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday!! what a great week in the life of a Christian. this is the week we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus. celebrate death? i mean i know we celebrate the resurrection but the death? well...yes, celebrate Jesus' death. you see without His death there would be no life for you and me. we would have no hope of eternal life without the death. so with that said, this week we are going to spend time reading about those things. this will be your reading plan for this entire week besides what Fritts and Amy put up. tonight i want you to read Mark 14. Tuesday night read Mark 15. And Thursday night read Mark 16. The three of these chapters can also be told at the end of the books of Matthew, Luke and John. So if you want to read them in those as well then go ahead. Enjoy reading and don't just skim through or read it really fast...take your time and read each chapter and really see what all Jesus went through during that time. Love you guys!!

*josh

Please Forgive Me

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Matthew 6: 14-15

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Well first of all let me say that I know this is a day late. I won't make any excuses. I forgot. Anyway, last night I spent time with my Friday night small group and we are going through the Fireproof marriage study. The lesson last night was on forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of those things that is easier said than done. It's hard to forgive, especially if someone has really hurt you. But whether or not its hard doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. After all God forgave us. We in turn should forgive others. I challenged my group and now I challenge anyone who reads this to think about the people that they need to forgive and the people they need to seek forgiveness from and take action and as Nike likes to put it, "Just Do It", before its to late. Pastor Rob Bell has an awesome video entitled Luggage that talks about true forgiveness. If you get a chance, check it out. Also spend time reading Matthew 18:21-35 The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. This passage is a great illustration of how God forgave us, now we should forgive others.

Have a great Weekend and I'll see you Sunday