Tuesday Night Middle School and High School Youth GroupWe've been having a blast on Tuesday nights at youth group. Generally, our Tuesday night youth group consists of group games, hanging out, worship, prayer, Bible teaching and small group interaction. This past year we have studied through the books of James, 1 Peter and most recently Colossians. I feel that it is important as a youth group to study God's Word so that we have a firm foundation in life, even starting in our younger years. I know that God's Word will continue to change us and guide us at FacePlant Ministries in all that we do. I just wanted to highlight some points from our most recent study in Colossians.
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Thursday Night Skate Church
We have just moved back indoors into out main sanctuary for SkateChurch on Thursday nights. We are currently studying through the book of John at SkateChurch. Last Thursday night, Russ Manning spoke from John 2 when Jesus turned over the tables over the money changers in the temple. He gave an invitation to receive Christ and 2 new young people gave their lives to Christ. SkateChurch is an awesome outreach to the community and between SkateChurch and Tuesday night youth group, we have now had 82 young people put their faith in Christ for the first time over the past year totaling 162 in the past 2 years. thank you, Lord for the changed lives at FacePlant Ministries.
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Notes On Colossians
CHAPTER ONE
* Colossians 1:2, "Grace to you and peace from God." You will not experience the peace of God unless you have first experienced the grace of God.
* Colossians 1:4, "Your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints." Most people will miss heaven by 18 inches, the distance between the mind and the heart. It's not enough to simply have a head knowledge about Christ, but to put your complete trust in Him, letting Him call the shots in your life asking Him to come and live in your heart.
* Colossians 1:10, "That you may live a ife worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way." How many of us wake up every day saying, 'how can I please You today, God?' as opposed to, "What will I do today that can make myself feel better' or 'How can I get other people to like me." We need to be pleasers of God and not pleasers of man.
* Colossians 1:11, "Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience." God's power through His Holy Spirit in our lives is like an electric guitar...unplugged you aren't making any process, no noise, but plugged in, your life is gonna rock!
* Colossians 1:13, "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness." When we were without Christ we were like people wandering around in the pitch black darkness, running into things, getting hurt with no sense of direction, but when we came to believe in Christ, He flipped the lights on.
* Colossians 1:17, "In Him [Christ] all things hold together." Not only did jesus create all things, but Jesus literally holds our molecular structures together...He causes us to breathe in and breathe out [breath of life].
* Colossians 1:18, "And He [Christ] is the head of the body, the church." When I was younger, I loved doing flips off of the diving board at my Aunt Gail's swimming pool. The key to doing flips is to move your head the way you want to flip and then let your body follow. As a youth group, as a church, we need to follow where Jesus, the head of the body is turning.
* Colossians 1:22, "But now He has reconciled you...to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation." We are set apart from God's enemies. God no longer sees us as defiled by sin, but sees us like He sees His Son Jesus...without blemish. Satan, called the 'accuser of the brethren' now has empty accusations against us.
* Colossians 1:24, "To present the word of God to you in its' fulness." In order to present the Word of God in its' fulness, we need to know the Word of God in its' fulness. What if you didn't know all there is to know about basic math? Let's say you know how to add but not to subtract. What happens when you try to balance your checkbook? You think you have more money than you really do and may even go bankrupt. It is dangerous to only teach bits and pieces of the Word of God. False teachings have occured because Scripture wasn't understood in the context of the whole Bible.
CHAPTER TWO
* Colossians 2:2, "That they may be encouraged in heart and united in love." Some churches leave you feeling horrible, like a hopeless case...discouraged in heart. We should be lifted up inside. The church, or the body of Christ is supposed to build people up, not tear people down. Unity without Christ is short-lived. Love without Christ is incomplete. Unity in Christ + Love in Christ = A church that is strong, impactful and how God purposed it to operate.
* Colossians 2:3, "In whom [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Everything we need to know and the practical application of that knowledge, which is wisdom, is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Do you have your B.A. (Born Again) degree or your P.H.D. (Pray Hard Degree)?
* Colossains 2:4, "That no one may decieve you by fine sounding arguments." If all our wisdom and knowledge comes from Christ, no one will be able to deceive us. Jim Jones, David Koresh, Joseph Smith, Muhammed all deceived people who weren't grounded with a firm foundation in God's Word.
* Colossians 2:13, "You were dead in your sins...God made you alive in Christ." The definition of being pronounced dead: no brain activity, no pulse, dead, cold, just an empty shell. During heart surgery, the surgeon takes out the bad heart and replaces it with a healthy heart. Sometimes the body will try to reject the new heart...the old flesh or sinful nature has to get used to the new heart Christ gives us...that is why many people struggle with sin so badly, even after God makes them spiritually alive through faith in Christ. Every person adjusts differently and at different paces...but there should be evidence that the new heart is making that person spiritually healthy.
* Colossians 2:14, "Having cancelled the written code, with its' regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross." During Jesus' time if you were imprisoned for your crime and you were paying your time in prison, after you had served the full amount of time for your crime, your sentence was nailed to your prison cell door with "tetelostai" written across it. In Greek "tetelostai" literally means "It is finished" or "the debt has been paid in full." These are the words Jesus cried out from the cross. This is what happens when we put our trust in Him...our debt, punishable by hell, is cancelled, and we get to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus.
* Colossians 2:16, "Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival..." Webster's dictionary defines "to judge" as (1) to pass legal judgment on (2) to form a judgment or opinion concerning (3) to decide or settle authoritatively (4) to think or hold as an opinion (5) to act as a judge in. Religious leaders had turned laws that God created to set Israel apart from others and that were for their own good into strict observations that determined how righteous a person was or was not. Somehow, today in many churches, people have come up with some kind of twisted code that they use to accuse and point fingers at other believers deeming them not right with God because of what they look like or listen to. Rules and regulations don't create permanant change with healthy motivation in peoples lives. Instead, we should default on extending the grace of God and letting Christ change people from the inside out. There is no condemnation or judgment with those who are in Christ Jesus.CHAPTER THREE
* Colossians 3:2, "Set your minds on things of above, not on earthly things." I have heard it said that someone can be too earthly minded to be any heavenly good or too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. I don't know that any of us have to worry about being too heavenly minded these days. What a struggle. In fact, if we are heavenly minded, focusing most of our thoughts on Christ, we will automatically be impacting the world for God. Our mind is our thought life. What we think about most is what is most important to us. If we think on things other than God all the time, those things can become idols.
* Colossians 3:3, "Your life is now hidden with Christ in God." When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ at the end of time, and the brilliance of God's glory streams from His throne, we will be hidden in the shadow of the cross. God will see His Son, not our sin because we are hiddden in Christ.
* Colossians 3:9-10, "Since you have taken off your old self with it's sinful practices and have put on the new self." Changing our clothes...i have an old long sleeve shirt that I still have from before I gave my life to Christ. I used to party in this shirt and live contrary to God's ways while wearing this shirt. That shirt reminds me of my old life before Christ. I need to take off that old lifestyle in order to put on the new life in Christ.
* Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Eat, drink, skateboard, play music, talk, think...do life in the name of the Lord Jesus. But let's caution ourselves to be a good representative of Christ as we are doing these things in His name.
CHAPTER FOUR
* Colossians 4:2, "Devote yourselves to prayer." When someone is devoted to a sport, that person's entire life and regiment revolves around that sport. They get up in the morning to train, practice that sport hardcore, even diet in a way that will help them excel in that sport. What would happen in our lives if we devoted ourselves to prayer? What would happen in the world around us?
* Colossians 4:3, "That God may open a door for our message." As people devoted to prayer we should always be praying that God would create opportunites in our life to share the message of Jesus.
* Colossians 4:5, "Make the most of every opportunity." Have you evet had a missed opportunity in sharing your faith with other people? i have. In Hayward, when I was a young youth pastor, our church housed a senior citizens fellowship every day. One lady in particular, Marcel, I would chat with every day for over a year. I never did talk to her about the gospel. One day, I didn't see her. I found out that she was unconscious in the hospital and close to death. the snior pastor, Drew Helms, and I went to visit her in the hospital. Drew prayed for her but I didn't feel released to leave. I asked if I could share the gospel with her, even though she wasn't conscious. I shared with her, not knowing if she could hear me, about sin, forgiveness, repentance, Christ's death on the cross, His resurrection and salvation. I said that no one could go to the Father except through Jesus. After I said these things she sat up, eyes closed, and muttered, "Thank you," and fell back down to her pillow dying shortly after. Praise God that she heard and responded to the gospel on her deathbed...but I had plenty of opportunities before that to share with her. Let's not miss opportunities to share the gospel of Christ with others.
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Christian Jung
Youth Pastor
