Write.Rewrite. – Bigger Story

Each week I will be posting a series overview and some questions to help parents better communicate what the students are hearing during Fusion. These questions are meant to start conversation between you and your student. I want to make it easier to create a spiritual conversation between you. I will post weekly. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at justin@heartlandchurch.cc.

write.rewrite.

Series Overview

We are all drawn to great stories—whether that’s on the big screen, small screen, in a book or elsewhere. But we may be completely unaware of one simple truth—that our lives are a story as well. The decisions we make every day are shaping the plot. The things we do, believe and trust determine what is being written. And for many of us, the story we are scripting could be so much more if we let God write, or even rewrite, our story. It’s the story we long for, the one our hearts truly desire.

Session One: A Bigger Story (08/08/10)

Whether you’re a thrill-seeker or someone who minimizes risks, we all long for a great story. A great romance. A great adventure. A great mystery. And it could be that the reason we yearn for something so big is because God made us that way. Believe it or not, a big story is unfolding around us, a story God is telling that started long before us and will continue to unfold long after we are gone. The things that draw us, that captivate us, that pull us in are the things that make God’s story great. The question is, are we a part of that story? Are we telling His story? In other words, are our lives reflecting something bigger?

Session One Parent Cue:

• What are some of your favorite stories (in movies, books, etc.)? What specifically about those stories do you love?

• Read Ecclesiastes 3:11. Do you ever wish your life was “more” than what it is now? If yes, why?

Summer in Scripture Week 8

Listening to God’s word throughout my day challenges me to think and pray through the things I hear. I have never known or studied much about the Holy Spirit and His works, but as I listen and read through Acts I have to agree with Preacher that this book is “the acts of the Holy Spirit”. The Holy Spirit does so much through the apostles in this book. It is important for us to realize that it wasn’t simply men who were doing these great works. The bible makes it very clear that the Spirit of God came upon these men.

As I look around me today I don’t see or even hear many people talking about the Spirit working like He did here. It makes me ask myself if we are missing something? Do we believe those events could happen still today? Have the generations lost faith along the way?

God is a trinitarian God. If we believe in God the Father and Jesus Christ, we must also believe in the Holy Spirit and His works.

What does that mean in your life?

Summer in Scripture Week 7

The past week and a half I have been busy with BigStuf and the Passion Play trips. I was able to listen to all of this weeks scriptures on the way home from our Wildside trip to Eureka Springs, AR. It was such a great way to “cool down” and relax from the craziness I had been surrounded by. Although it was busy and hectic I know that God was still there guiding and teaching me. Jesus promised us that He would send us the Helper in John 14-16.  He is here to do many things in our lives. I’m not sure that we allow the Spirit to work in our lives like the church of the New Testament did. I really don’t even know if people today believe that the Spirit will still do the things that was promised to us in the bible. What if God is waiting on us to have faith and believe what He has promised? Can you tell the Spirit is alive in your life?

John 16:13-15 “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.14 He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you.15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

All that the Spirit teaches us and has for us is from the Father.  We need Him more than any other thing we have. Sometimes it is so hard to think about the invisible things in life. But we love love and we go through phases of life where thats all we can think about. Why is it so hard for us to think and meditate on the Spirit? Why can’t we see how real He really is? More importantly, why can’t we live a life where the Spirit guides us?

Pulse Volunteers

Think you want to be a Pulse Student Ministry volunteer? Applications are now ready at www.heartlandchurch.cc/pulse/volunteer. Please print this out, pray about it, and if you feel like this is where God is calling you to serve turn it in to Justin or Janet.  Thank you so much for you time!

Summer in Scripture Week 6

John 12:42 “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in Him, but for fear of the Pharisees the did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”

I said last week in my blog that John was my favorite book of the Bible.  I just love the detail of John’s writings. I had trouble picking which passage I wanted to share about this week! There is an enormous amount of amazing truth here.

John 12:42 stuck out to me most. Let me set it up. Jesus is just coming to the prime of his teaching/ministry years. Leading up to this point Jesus has just recently fed many from little and raised Lazarus from the dead. He has made His way into Jerusalem with a welcoming that would make any man arrogant or “big headed” (except Jesus!). It is the time of Passover in the city so there are many that have come from far to celebrate this time.  Jesus is among the people and just like every opportunity He has been teaching them.

From John 12:37-43, John talks about the unbelief of the people. In verse 42 he tells us that many believed Jesus’ teachings and His words. But not only does he tell us that many believed. He goes to the extent to say “even the authorities”! So not only were many of the people believing, but also the authorities were believing as well. But as he continues he says that they DID NOT CONFESS! And the reason is for fear that they wouldn’t fit in. They were afraid that their friends wouldn’t like them. They would have to find something else in life to do. They would have to find somewhere else to live. They were afraid because they knew that they would be different from the majority!

Matthew 10:28 says “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

So many times in life I feel like these people. I believe in what God says but I don’t always confess it. Every time I meet someone new I want to talk to them about God, but I am always scared that they will make fun of me or something. I never know how they will react. I need so bad to remember Matthew 10:28 in these moments! What if I was the only opportunity that someone had to know Jesus today? Would they miss out on the most amazing story that ever existed?

Man I’m so glad that God does depend on me alone!

Summer in Scripture Week 5

I am so excited to be starting John this week.  I love every book in the bible, but John is one of my top favorites. The way he wrote just amazes me. John was able to spend so much time with Jesus and was his closest disciple. The first 18 verses are so encouraging. Verse 1-3 remind me of Jesus’ words in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  He is everything. He was before everything. He willing came here, suffered, and died for you and me. He is the greatest example we have as man.  I am so excited to be able to listen through John this as we take the students to BigStuf camp next week.

Summer in Scripture Week 4

I love how each book about such an amazing story have such different details and views on everything.  Each one teaches me something different about the same account.

In Luke 6 Jesus talks about being Lord of the Sabbath.  As I listened through this I had to go back and read over it again.  Let’s look farther than just the Sabbath.  It reminded me of how often we get stuck on tradition or religion. Jesus was and still is Lord of everything! Religions and traditions say we can’t dance, wear hats, sing certain ways, or do many other things.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t believe all of these are bad or evil. But so many times we get caught on the idea or the detail itself.  It’s like we are worshiping the religious beliefs or the traditions instead of the God of them.  So many times I think we allow satan to trick us into getting caught up on the smaller details of life.

I am striving for a day when I give everything (traditions, religions, money, ideas, self) up and truly worship and love the Creator of everything visible and invisible. I’m not there yet but I, like Paul, want to suffer to this end.  Colossians 1:15-16 remind me of what an amazing Creator I have!

Summer in Scripture: Faith

Lately God has been challenging my faith so much.  Listening through Mark I’ve realized that this was something that even Jesus’ disciples struggled with.  When I heard the two different occasions of Jesus feeding so many from so little then shortly after the disciples still struggled with believing I thought it was ridiculous! But when I really look into my life, I can’t help but notice that my life isn’t very different. I’ve seen God do some amazing things right before my eyes; and then turned my head to a different area of my life and found myself worrying if God would come through for me almost in the same moment.  Even in my life it seems ridiculous. I would like to offer you a challenge: Pray that God would search your heart and life and show you if there is any way you could strengthen your faith in Him. Better yet pray He would show you some ways you could strengthen your faith in Him. But be ready if you really ask God for this.. It’s not always an easy and comfortable path!

Summer in Scripture Week 2

This week has been an amazing week. Not only have I loved the Scripture we have been listening to; but I have seen God’s word in action.  I noticed that everyone else has talked about how the book of Mark shows more of Jesus’ actions. Throughout the week it was great to see our students in action with the word of God. 

God presented us with an opportunity to do more than just teach and learn.  We were able to go down to the river and spend time and make friends with some unfortunate people. The students were so moved that they decided they weren’t finished after just one visit.  Together they all bought and provided hygene supplies, snack foods, socks, and bottles of water.  We will deliver them this morning around 8:00 am.  While they thought they were reaching out to others I truly believe God has used this to change some of their own lives.  Seeing these students has also encouraged me and filled my heart with joy.  I am so excited to see what God has for the future of our church and students. 

This week Jesus’ words from Mark 1:38 have been stuck in my head.  Especially the last part: “That is why I have come.” If we believe that God gave His only Son to die for us, and we believe that Jesus truly died on the cross and has risen again. If we say we believe that God created us in His image, and Jesus came to be an example for our life style; then why don’t we live out His words here?

“Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

 

Below are some of the friends we made:

Summer in Scripture Week 1

I love that so many in our church have decided to be a part of something so great together. I know that God is going to do great things in many people’s lives through this venture.  It is so refreshing and satisfying to be able to listen to the word of God throughout the day.

Most of my days are spent running here and there, so I have had the chance to listen to it more than just during my quiet time.  I know for some it will make it much easier to meditate on God’s word. For most, a car ride is the only time to be alone.  My prayer for this venture is that, no matter where you listen or the duration of your listening time, that you would understand God’s truth in a way that you may have never heard it before. But I pray even more that as a church we would challenge ourselves to live our lives as the Christians of the New Testament lived and believed.

As the youth pastor, I am super excited for the students and kids who are joining us.  During our trips this summer (New Orleans mission trip and Big Stuf) we will have group devotional times where any student and volunteer who wants to join will sit and listen to God’s word together.  I am really excited to see and hear what God will do in our lives through this experience.