This past Thursday during our Life Group we talke about how we should not be “yoked with unbelievers”. The Scripture we looked at was 2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1.
In the NIV, we get that familiar language which says “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers” (emphasis mine). I like the way the NLT puts it – “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.” This seems to bring the point together a little better.
Everyone on every team has to be like-minded in order to function well as a team. If you are “teamed up” with someone in a dating relationship, in marriage, in a business partnership, or in a close friendship who does not have the same religious belief system that you have, there will inevitably be conflict. In the end, the conflict will only be resolved by one-side compromising or changing their belief system. Unfortunately, most of the time (especially in dating relationships) that is the Christian compromising or giving up on what they believe in order to please the other individual in the relationship.
As Christians, we should “team up” with other Christians who can help us grow in our relationship with Christ. Our BFFs or those in our circle of 5 … the people closest to us … should be growing Christians.
But let’s be careful here. What I am not saying is that you cut off all ties with non-Christians. The last commandment Jesus left us before He ascended into Heaven was to “go and make disciples”. How are you going to do that if you don’t have any relationships with non-Christians? You most likely are not. Cold turkey evangelism hasn’t proven to be very effective.
One thing to note about this passage for all you dating people out there who says “this Scripture only pertains to marriage.” This Scripture says NOTHING about marriage. It is purely speaking about relationships … ALL OF OUR relationships.
On … and one more thing – just to be on the safe side. If you are married … stick with it. That is definitely a relationship that should not be severed. Check out 1 Corinthians 7 for more info on that.
Luke says that it was ____________________ days before Jesus was circumcised and named.
After 40 days (the time for purification according to the law of Moses), Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to ________________________________________.
A man named __________________________ was waiting in the temple to see them.
Luke says that the _____________________________________________ was upon him.
Simeon took the baby Jesus and _____________________________________ him.
In his prayer, Simeon called Jesus _____________________ __________________.
Mary and Joseph were _____________________ at the things Simeon said about Jesus.
Email your responses to me along with 2 songs that you don’t have, but really want. Also, let me know if you want them on CD or in MP3 version.
That’s it!
Go with God,
Donald Buttram
donald@lifeccyouth.com
I just needed to get something out here for those of you who check this site regularly. I’ve been out of touch with an Air Force TDY to Chicago and vacation coming up next week that I’m struggling a bit in keeping up with all my responsibilities (this blog being one of them).
Here’s a quick recap of what’s going on and coming up:
I’ve been asking myself this question for about 3 weeks now. Let me try to share with you the flow of thought that went along with this.
Me thinking: “We need a name for our youth group? Something cool and fitting?”
Tons of ideas come in to my head, Kristie and I search the web, some of our youth send in suggestions … but nothing is clicking.
Me thinking again: “Why is it so difficult to find a name that fits our youth group which isn’t cheesy?”
Then, I begin trying to answer that question. Which leads to some really deep thinking which begins to get heavy on the mind.
Me thinking: “What does fit our youth group? What are we all about? What are my goals for these students? Where do I want these kids to be when they leave the youth group as seniors? How can I get them there?”
That’s a load.
With all this thinking, I haven’t come up with much yet. But I have come up with this 1 simple thing.
My goal – as youth pastor – for each student that comes through our ministry is to help them become the kind of people who allow God to invade their lives in every area so that every decision they make will be based upon God’s Word and prayer. I want them to answer the question, “How do you determine what’s right and wrong?” with “By looking in God’s Word.” I want them to answer the question, “Why are you so happy?” with “Because I have a great relationship with Jesus Christ.” I want them to decide how to live based upon what they know about God through Bible reading, prayer, church, and their own life experiences.
So … what kind of name says all that? What name expresses these goals?
This is the part I hate about being a part-time Youth Pastor. The full-time job will get in the way occassionally. And that’s what happened this past Thursday.
I really missed not being able to hang out and teach our youth last night, but God has a plan, and it’s a lot bigger than any of us.
I was going to finish up our discussion on Improving Your Serve, but now … we’ll finish it at the next Life Group. So, don’t miss it! And even if my full-time job gets in the way again, my AWESOME and WONDERFUL wife will be ready to lead. She was ready to do it last night, but this just caught us off guard. Never again … I hope.
A bit of an explanation …
I work in the Air Force Operations Group (AFOG). We run a Crisis Action Team (CAT) center. Currently, I am the computer support office for the AFOG. There used to be 5 of us. Now, there are just 2, and the other guy is deployed for 9 months. So, it’s just me for a while. We stand the CAT up for many things, and one of those things is a major hurricane hitting one of our coasts. When we stand up a CAT, I have to be very active during the beginning stages, but then … my participation begins to level out as the contracted computer support team for actual CATs gets thereselves established. And that’s where we are now. We are preparing for Hurricane Gustav.
We took 28 students and 8 adults down to the home of Harry and Linda Bradley for a day at the lake. And we were definitely not disappointed. You couldn’t have asked for a better day. Beautiful weather, wonderful adult chaperons, awesome teenagers, excellent water temperature and lots of food.
Our only sad moment came when Tyler realized he had jumped into the lake with his phone. A moment of silence for Tyler’s phone please…………….
Ok, enough of that.
Much thanks goes out to our drivers – Aaron, Mick, and Rich, to our grill master – Ed, to our lady chaperons – Jessica and Ronda, to our jet ski drivers – Jerry and Rich … but most of all to our hosts – Harry and Linda!!! Thanks to you all!
A special thanks goes out to my wife – Kristie – for making this day a success. You think I’m just being nice, but you just don’t know how much work she did to make this fly well.
Let me close by leaving you with this video! Enjoy!
A fun practical joke that was played … and then reversed a bit
A funny story about teeth
Recap of our Study – Are you a sheep or a goat?
Last night we talked about demonstrating love for God by serving others. One of the scriptures we looked at was Matthew 25:31 – 46. In this scripture Jesus is compares all people to sheep or goats. Sheep are those people who have willingly served the widows, the fatherless, those in prison, the hungry and so on. Goats are the people who would not serve them. Each asked a question. The sheep asked, “When did we see you when you were sick, in prison, lonely, etc. and serve you?” The goats asked, “When did we see you when you were sick, in prison, lonely, etc. and not serve you?” Jesus reply to them was when you did serve (to the sheep) or did not serve (to the goats) my people who were in these situations then you did or did not serve me. Jesus is making it clear that if we are really saved – if we really belong to Him as His child – then we WILL be serving other people around us. It may be a widow or a fatherless child. But it also may be a single mother or a lonely friend or a person we know struggling financially or someone who just lost a close friend or relative and on and on. The people we can serve are all around us. We simply have to look!
The one thing I hope we all went away with is if we are telling ourselves, “I don’t have the opportunity to serve because I don’t regularly see people who are needing to be served”, then we are behaving as goats! My challenge to the youth last night was to pray a simple prayer – if they dare! Pray “God, show me the person that You want me to serve.” And then … act on the answer to that prayer!
A Practical Joke – and a slight reverse
Tyler Tingstrom convinced his sister – Britney – and her friend – Natalie – that the Feehs had a swimming pool and a hot tub. They both came ready with their bathing suits and towels. I must admit – I thought this was pretty funny. I brought 10 of us up from the south to the Feehs house in my van. He told all of us in the van, and it was fun to hear them getting excited about a pool that didn’t exist. What can I say? I like a good practical joke.
So, we get to the Feehs – and there is no pool. It took a little convincing to get Britney and Natalie to believe that, and then, they realized they had been had by Tyler. But we came up with a “back atcha” kind of joke. Britney and Natalie went upstairs, got in their bathing suits, got in the shower … and then, came back down stairs. The video to the left briefly – and I do mean briefly – shows Tyler’s surprise. You’ll only see it in the first few seconds where he stops shuffling the cards in his hand with his mouth agape. A practical joke reversed. First, notice Tyler’s pause. Then, listen to Emily and Rita talk about it. They were wondering at first. Finally, check out Angelo’s look through the whole thing. Classic!;-)
All said and done – I think it was all pretty funny!
A Funny Story About Teeth
Tooth Fairy Nightmare
In the previous story, I mentioned how we had 10 people in our van from the south. Well, on the return trip we had an urgent request for a tissue. Britney had lost a tooth. That was kind of exciting and all. But then, Tori didn’t want to be out done, so she pulled a loose tooth out as well.
You’re probably thinking … “Wow, 2 people losing teeth in one ride home.” Well, how about 3. Natalie was feeling lonely, so, she yanked out a loose tooth as well. All in one 20 minute ride from the Feehs to the 234 commuter lot! CRAZY!!!
LCC Student Ministry - Mission Trip 2008 Group Photo
Well, YouthWorks Mission Trip 2008 to Calais, Maine is now behind us. What a week it was! I believe you would be hard pressed to find a negative word from any of our students or adult leaders who attended. I’m not saying everything was perfect, but overall – this was a great eye-opening experience for our group.
Even better, this was the first mission trip for Josh Feehs where he didn’t get sick.
For those of you who were unable to attend, I’ll give you a brief look at our week.
First, we were divided into four groups. YouthWorks created six groups for the week, and we had people in four of those groups (because we had four leaders). So, we were mixed in with members from four different churches (an Episcopal church, a Congregational church and an United Methodist church). Each day, with our assigned group, we were responsible for breakfast, breakfast clean up, dinner, or club set up. We also went to our mission sites with our groups.
For two days, our group did work related ministries. And for the other two days, our group did relational type ministries. For the work ministries, we scraped off old paint, and then, painted houses for some elderly people within the Calais community. For the other days, we either visited a nursing home, organized and ran a Kid’s Club, or spent the day playing with kids in a Boys and Girls club on a Native American Reservation.
I can say with confidence, that no matter what any of our group did … they loved doing it. We all learned how rewarding mission work can be. We all learned to define mission work as helping or serving others in the name of God.
We made a lot of new friends! We learned a lot about how God wants to use us in our own community! And we are going to start looking for ways to continue on with mission work right here in our community!
I am very proud of all of our students. Not only were they well behaved, but they actually opened up and allowed God to work in their lives. Also, I am very thankful for my wife – who is responsible for all of the wonderful organization that took place to make all of this work – and for Russ & Deanna who gave up a week to drive, chaperon and mentor. I know if you ask them, they will say it differently because they don’t feel as if they “gave up” anything. All of us adults are very thankful to even have the opportunity to be part of such a great week!
Homework Assignment ?!?!?!?!?
Lake Anna 2008 was a BLAST!!!
