March 23rd - Q&A Night
This Friday is Q&A Night at YG. You can email Ryan your questions.
It's also a gym night, so be sure to bring gym stuff, mainly shoes.
Practical Holy Walk
Speaker: Ryan Short
Date: March 18, 2012, AM
We are not from this world; we have been called out; therefore "I am not from around here"
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. -Ephesians 4:25-32 (ESV)
Structure of the passage relating to practical application
Positive command - "don't lie" - Satan is the father of lies; the world has exchanged the truth of God for a lie; everything we see in the world is based on deceipt; no room for "little white lies"; speak the truth to each other because we are members together of His body (organism, not organization); illustration: nervous system to the brain; truth should be a characteristic of those 'of Christ'
Negative command - "be angry and do not sin" - when we are angry it should not be an opening to sin; we can be angry, but our anger should be about what angers God (actions against Him, injustice to His creation); reference to 'A Tale of Two Cites' (revolution, retribution, redemption); this command has a timeframe (take care of issues without allowing it to fester); illustration: Cain killing Abel; anger can distroy our usefulness for God; remember that "vengeance is mine, saith the Lord"
Negative command - "do not steal" - do our own work; work for what we need; "whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might"; work so we can help others; as Christians we should have a desire to help others less fortunate (don't be hoarders); giving is a true picture of love; marketing creates a desire to get more and more; our giving must be with the right attitude
Negative command - "don't let [rancid] words come out of your mouth" - words are extremely powerful; our communication should be to 'build up one another in love' (edifying); this imparts grace
Reason for the positive command - "that we grieve not the Holy Spirit" - reminants of our old self (pre-salvation) should not characterize who we are as Christians; this takes grace; act like who we are (saved from the former)
Reminder - no YG tonight
Happy March Break everyone!
How do we stay faithful?
Speaker Notes: Chris Schroeder, Sunday PM, March 11, 2012
What a message! This hit us hard.
If you can, get the MP3. Here are the notes. Chris can really hit us where we are.
The Pure Bride is "Not From Around Here"
Tonight's lesson by Ryan (see .pdf of presentation)
"A lot of what
we have covered this year at YG was mentioned in the topic of the Youth Conference in Scotlea and tonight is going to be a little bit of a recap."
WHY A PURE BRIDE?
- the key is that the church may be presented to Christ as a glorious bride (Eph. 6:25-27)
- clean (doesn't just mean sexually, although that's what we often think of first) - holy and not marked up (brides in traditional wedding wear white and take a lot of time preparing for their presentation to the bridegroom)
- sanctified (set apart)
- Christ will present the bride to Himself -- notice this is not about the bride at that time
HOW IS THE PURE BRIDE NOT OF THIS WORLD?
- Genesis 3:6 and 1 John 2:16
- Eve saw that the fruit was good (progression of lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life)
- the world looks like it offers everything, but for the Christian it has nothing to offer us (looks pretty but is empty)
WHAT IS IT THAT CHRIST OFFERS?
1 John 3:1-4
- fellowship that leads to pure joy
- our purity leads to fellowship with Him
- fellowship with Him leads to joy
- we cultivate fellowship through obedience to Him
WHY SHOULD WE BE PURE?
- the world would tell Christians that being pure will choke our ability to have fun and that God is holding out on us (same lie as Satan told Eve in the garden is being told told today)
- our love to Him is in recognition and appreciation for the fact that He loved us and gave Himself for us
- love should lead to obedience ("if you love me, keep my commandments")
- we look forward to the future with a very certain hope (only in heaven will we know what real purity is all about)
- because of this we should want to be pure
a) upon salvation we were saved from the penalty of sin
b) daily we can be saved from the power of sin (requires a close relationship with Christ)
c) in the future (heaven) we will be saved from the presence of sin
(.pdf of lesson Keynote)
Keynote from the seminar Running For God
It's a quicktime movie, so you can play it here or download. Sadly, no music, but the message is good.
Youth Conference 2012: Scottlea Gospel Chapel
To download file, right click on the message title and select 'Save As' or 'Save Link As' and save to your computer
A Pure Bride
Speaker Title Date Jon Benson Session One: Four Weddings Friday Night Jon Benson Session Two: Purity and Protection Saturday Morning Jon Benson Session Three: What am I doing about Purity Saturday Evening Jon Benson Session Four: Return of the Bridegroom Sunday Moring Daniel Denomme The Life of Abraham-True Sacrifice Saturday Morning - Session 2 Dan Lee Running With God Saturday Morning - Session 2 Ian Millson The consequences of Sin Saturday Morning - Session 1
via scottleagc.org
This is the link to the messages from the 2012 Scottlea Youth Conference. If you have not yet heard them, or would like to hear them again, you can download them here.
2012-03-04 - Jon Benson - Final Message
From Evernote: |
2012-03-04 - Jon Benson - Final Message |
- Of Christ - "He sees us as pure because He sees Himself in us." - positional purity
- Of us - "We have a responsibility for purity to prepare ourselves to meet Him." - practical purity
- "Our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be with us for eternity. That is awesome."
- On following our emotions - "What does your heart tell you? No! What does the Word of God say? For the Word of God has been proven true over and over and over again."
- "We need to be looking for Him, our Bridegroom."
- "Though we can't see Him in bodily form today, we can see Him in His Word...for we can see Him as He is."
What a weekend this has been! Above are just a few of the thoughts that came from Jon's message this morning. It has been such a great time in the Word. To borrow from Brian Stapley, who spoke at this year's Winter Weekend, "If you weren't blessed, your blesser's broke!" Having known Jon for an almost embarrassing number of years, it was a joy to hear his ministry again. Please pray that the Word will grow and bear fruit in the days and weeks to come. Watch this site for a link to recordings of the messages. They will bless you in the hearing, be it the first or the tenth time.
Valuable take-aways
As we sit down ready for the last session and this conference comes to a close I'm thinking of the take-aways for the weekend.
The theme of the weekend has been The Pure Bride and the sessions have been great. The three break-out seminars were all tied in very nicely.
As the bride of Christ awaiting His return at any time, there are a few things we need to remember:
SIN'S CONSEQUENCES
An awareness that sin in our lives tarnishes (dirties) our testimony for Christ and our ability to be used by Him will make us want to live our lives in a way that we won't be doing anything embarrassing or not honoring in our lives when our bridegroom returns for His bride.
RUNNING FOR GOD
Our run for God can be a direct indication of our love for Him and our commitment to our coming bridegroom. It would be really nice to be running for God when His Son returns.
SACRIFICIAL SERVICE
When Christ returns it would be really nice to be engaged in service for Him. Our Lord asks us to "occupy until I come". Many times it seems we are preoccupied with other stuff and it's nice to be reminded that we need to be occupied in service for Him. Wouldn't it be nice to be occupied when the bridegroom returns?
Object lesson
James 1:23-24 - For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
2012-03-04 - Jon Benson - PM message
| These are notes from Jon's message tonight. He very clearly deals with what it means for us to be pure. It is definitely worth serious thought and obedience. |
From Evernote: |
2012-03-04 - Jon Benson - PM message |
1 John 2:28-3:3 - 28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
- We are positionally pure - made pure in Christ
- We have a responsibility - we must purify ourselves
- 3:2 - When we see Him, we will be like Him
- If we have that hope, we must purify ourselves
- We cannot just wait around for Him to do it
- The Holy Spirit will work in us to purify us, but we must seek to be pure
James 1:13-18 - Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the sword of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
- We can desire something and not have it be a temptation
- The things that distract us are there, but need not tempt us
- To dwell on it is to be tempted, then, when we act on it, it is sin
- The world is going to offer us everything we think we want
- We must not be deceived and be tempted into sin
- This world has everything we want and nothing that we need
- 1 John 2:15-17 - Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
- We were made for a relationship with God
- James reminds us that friendship with the world is enmity with God
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
- We cannot say that the temptation is too much
- God will provide a way of escape
James 1:19-25 - So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
- Be doers of the word and not hearers only
- We need to learn God's Word and follow it
- It takes intentional action to allow the Word of God and the Spirit of God work in our lives to purify us
Afternoon Activity
Our afternoon activity was at the Pen Centre in St. Catherine's where we all engaged in a verse scavenger hunt. There were eleven people in the mall who participants needed to find in order to get a clue from them.
Some of the mystery folks dressed in subtle disguises to make recognizing them a little more difficult and interesting. In order to figure out who the mystery folks were the groups of teens had to sometimes approach random people to find out if they were involved in the activity.
If they weren't they were to thank the person for their time and offer them a free music CD.
One group of MBC kids (Nicole, Alannah, Kirstin and Joshua) gave away twenty seven CDs that way, through personal contact.
That's awesome!
Supper is now over and we're just waiting for the evening session to begin. What an amazing way to spend a God-centered weekend. It has been a true blessing so far!
Sacrificial Surrender/Service
Genesis 22
Verse 2: God calls Abraham to surrender what he loves most
Verse 3-9: Abraham takes actions towards obedience
Verse 10: Abraham is ready to give up what matters to him the most
Verse 11-14: God saves Abraham from focussing on things other than God
- the gospel should be everything in a person's life
- the world was crucified to Paul, Christ became his focus
- the idols in our life cause us not to be a Pure Bride
Things (idols) that keep us from being pure:
a) if people think well of me I will be valuable
b) if I am in control of my life, I will be happy (counter: James 4)
c) my value is in my abilities
d) if I didn't have close friends, my life is meaningless (counter: Romans 8:31)
Our idols can be ourselves. We can often figure out what our personal idols are based on our reactions when we are: Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stressed, Tired
Find value in Christ. Above all.
Seminar - Dan Lee - Running with God
Here are some notes from Dan Lee's seminar on Running With God.
The presentation will be posted soon.
Seminar 1: The Consequences of Sin
Part 1: The Consequences of Sin in the Life of the Unbeliever (Ecclesiastes 10:1) - Fly in the Ointment; definition of putrify. How many sins does it take to ruin/influence/spoil? Born with a sinful nature. Great little video clip explanation of John 3:16. Illustration: water supply cut off by a gigantic bullfrog stuck in a pipe coming from the water tower; the frog didn't get in as a frog but rather started out as a small (and rather insignificant) little tadpole.
Part 2: The Consequences of Sin in the Life of a Believer - games of back and forth with God spoils our relationship with Him; practically speaking, God can't use us while we are tarnished by ongoing sin in our lives; we can quickly lose credibility with our unbelieving friends by being allowing ourselves to be under the influence of sin. Illustration: a virus in the body unless dealt with can (quickly or over time) take over our entire bodies disabling us form being engaged in our regular activities and in effect making us useless (until dealt with).
TIPS
A) Avoid the Flies (2 Timothy 2:22)
1. Flee
2. Focus
3. Fellowship
B) Remove the Flies (1 John 1:9)
1) Repent and Confess
C) Use Fly Repellent (Psalm 119:1)
The Importance of Holiness
Jon's message this morning was on Ephesians 5:25-27. The emphasis was on purity. Some of his comments fit so well with what we have been thinking of as those who are not from around here.
He told us that, just as idolatry is putting anything above God, adultery is putting anything above your spouse. Even when still young, we should be keeping pure in the expectation of that future relationship.
Guys, he said, are deceived through the eyes. So we need to be careful about what it is we look at. He also encouraged the girls to think about how they dressed and acted for the sake of not causing their brothers to stumble.
Girls, we heard, are caught through the heart. As guys, we need to be careful how we act because we can show interest and hurt our sisters in Christ.
These messages are so practical in a world like ours, where God's standards are mocked and ignored.
Got to get the CD Set
Jon is mentioning the similarities between idolatry and adultery. One is putting something before God, the other putting someone before your relationship (spouse). A replacement for where our affection should be focused.
This session is being broken into two different conversations, one aimed at the guys, the other to the girls on the audience.
The speaker is now mentioning lust of the eyes -- interesting perspectives, bringing the young women in the audience into the loop of how guys think. "Guys by their Eyes".
"Girls by the Heart". Talking about girls and young women having a need to feel accepted and loved and how that can often be misguided. Great reminder of "accepted in Christ"!!
These topics are so relevant to Christian youth everywhere.
Really wish this stuff was talked about when I was in Youth Group.
Great Seminar Topics Announced
'Sacrificial Surrender', 'Consequences of Sin in the Life of a Believer and the Unbeliever', 'Running/Living a Life for God'. Should be really good. The topics are on target for this audience of 100.
There's a definite build-up to the main topic of the conference: The Pure Bride.
The correlation between human relationships and the fact that Christians are part of the bride of Christ is very interesting to spend some time thinking about.
Sword Drill!
In our continuing live blogging experiment, here's a quick update.
One of our own was recognised for his birthday by everyone.
Also, we held our own in the sword drill.
Be prepared for more fun as the weekend continues, especially thoughts and notes on the messages.
PS. I erred in my last post. The theme is the Pure Bride.
Scottlea Youth Conference night 1
The first night was really amazing. The theme for the conference is the True Bride. The speaker, Jon Benson, is a friend and it was great to hear him. He introduced us to the biblical definition of marriage. It was great.
We will try to keep the updates coming over the weekend. Now, it's time for snacks and then sleep.