Mission: Impossible, The Christmas Story

Sorry I missed the Christmas post! I don't have internet at my home in the valley! I didn't have the resources!

Besides, the grand story of Christmas is real and important to remember any time of the year, right?

I think the image of Christmas we often have is one of Christmas trees, ribbon-topped presents, a fat old man in a red and white outfit, bright lights, and last minute performance practice. We think of a little baby in a bed of hay, surrounded by mules and pigs, by a young couple, by three men with gifts, and young shepherd boys.

This year, though, I wondered what the Christmas scene was like from heaven's point of view. I imagined all the angels would be really excited and anxious. Their Lord, their God is going to earth! After all this time, from since the beginning of time, it's almost as if all history was waiting for this moment. If history was a movie, this moment would be when the hero finally comes onto the scene. This is Batman putting on his mask, checking his belt of cool gadgets, and jumping into his Batmobile. This is Neo just as he gets unhooked from the Matrix and starting his journey to become the One. This is... well this is epic. More epic than any of those movies put together.

God, infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, looks down at the world and sees a people who need to be saved. He knows He needs to do something, but before, the time wasn't right. So God waits, the angels wait, wait for the right moment. All the while, people are sinning, are falling, are crying, waiting for something, someone to come to save them. Finally, God sees Mary and Joseph, and He looks at the world. The angels wait in baited breaths. God speaks in a quiet yet firm voice. "It is time." It is not loud and booming, for He knows the great sacrifice that will be made now, but the words still echo throughout heaven. I imagined at that time, there was a great silence and then suddenly a great flurry of whispers. "Now? Now's the time?" and then, all the angels burst out into song. "It is time! Time for the redemption of men to begin!" And all the while, God sits silently on His throne, determined yet saddened for what is to come. I imagine Jesus now, telling His Father, "Father, I am You, I am Yours, Your Servant. Send Me. I am ready."

And so, little baby Jesus was born into the world. This is when I think of the lyrics to this song, called "I Celebrate the Day." One of the lyrics says, "And the first time
That You opened Your eyes, did You realize that You would be my Savior. And the first breath that left Your lips, Did You know that it would change this world forever?"

This is the Christmas story.
It's not just a tie to get presents and toys, not just a time to eat good food, not just a simple story of a baby's birth. This is a story of the epic proportions. Jesus stepped into this world. He, timeless, stepped into time. He, boundless, became bound. He, all-powerful, born as a powerless baby. All for what?

To save the world from itself.

To save us.

To save you.

Wow, what an amazing story this is.

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Christ is Lord!

RISE Skit from InterHigh Fellowship on Vimeo.

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What I want for Christmas

While I figure out what the next entry will be about, watch these videos for now.

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In You

This song just really perked up my day! It's quite teh awesome.

Let the Praises Ring (click to listen!), Lincoln Brewster

Oh Lord my God in You I put my trust
Oh Lord my God in You I put my hope
Oh Lord my God in You I put my trust
Oh Lord my God in You I put my hope

CHORUS:
In You In You I find my peace
In You In You I find my strength
In You I live and move and breathe
Let everything I say and do
Be founded by my faith in You
I lift up holy hands and sing
Let the praises ring!

Oh Lord my God to You I give my hands
Oh Lord my God to You I give my feet
Oh Lord my God to You I give my everything
Oh Lord my God to You I give my life

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God of Small Things

Do you ever wonder about the consequences of your seemingly meaningless actions? Ever wonder how the world would be different if you hadn't got out of school a little late, putting you in the moment and position to be asked directions from someone who, otherwise, would have not arrived at his destination on time and not have met the people he met on the way there? How did he influence them? How did you influence him? How did he influence you? How had your getting out late of school trigger a series of events that led to whatever might have happened? And what factors and events led up to your teacher keeping you in class a little longer?

In middle school (and I think early high school), every time I signed off from AIM, I would type "God bless!" and "good night!" to almost everyone on my buddylist, even if I wasn't chatting with them at the moment. Years later, in my first year of college, I met an old friend again at my Berkeley church by chance. We haven't seen each other or talked for four, five years. He asked me if he remembered that one time, long ago, when I told him "God bless!" that one night, randomly. Of course, I really didn't. Perhaps, just a little but vaguely. After all, I told everyone that nearly every night for a year or so. I couldn't really recall which people I typed that to. He said that he had happened to have a really bad day and was feeling really down. And, somehow, randomly, I had typed him a "God bless!" He said that it had completely made his day. He said that it had made him feel totally better. He still remembered. He said thank you.

-[Read More]-

Do you ever wonder how that one kind action, that one mean word impacted the people around you? Do you ever wonder how it transformed people's thoughts and lives? What do you think might have occurred as a result of that one day when you decided you were too tired to care about anything and, thus, said and did things that you normally would never do. How did that negatively affect the world?

So many say they want to live lives of significance, of purpose. They want to change the world; they want to leave behind legacies. They want to look back at their lives on their deathbeds and think, wow, look at what I've done! Look at how much I helped the world. Does it ever occur to them that, perhaps, changing the world only takes one little push? Do they know that just a smile to the bus driver, a gentle "good morning" to the bum on the street, a second to stop and give directions to a wary traveler, an extra dollar left for tip, and an offhand word of praise to a classmate could change the way the world turns?

Do you ever wonder how much good and bad consequences may have resulted from your smallest, most thoughtless actions?

In Matthew 14, there's a story that all of you are familiar with.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
¹³When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

¹⁵As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

¹⁶Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

¹⁷"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

¹⁸"Bring them here to me," he said. ¹⁹And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

In this, we can see that God is truly a God of small things. Our smallest offerings, our smallest actions. these things God can multiply. He can take 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed over 5 thousand people!

So often we are told to show our friends the Gospel, to bring them to God. But how do we start? What if they laugh or make fun of us? It's scary and you're afraid you don't know the answers and they don't seem to want to listen. But God sees every little thing and every little action, God can do great things with. So by just being nice, smiling, sharing food and sharing advice, actually living out God's Word in your life, God can use all these things to do His work.

That doesn't mean that you just only do these things, but as messengers of the Gospel, you need to pay attention to these things.

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

Don't underestimate the power of a smile. And certainly, do not underestimate God's power.

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The Dance

I read this from a book called, The Irresistible Revolution. I thought that it was an apt and wonderful depiction of Christian life.

"Once, there was a small group of kids who decided to go to a park in the middle of the city, and dance and play, laugh and twirl. As they played in the park, they thought that maybe another child would pass by and see them. Maybe that child would think it looked fun and even decide to join them. Then maybe another one would. Then maybe a businessman would hear them from his skyscraper. Maybe he would look out the window. Maybe he would see them playing and lay down his papers and come down. Maybe they could teach him to dance. Then maybe another businessman would walk by, a nostalgic man, and he would take off his tie and toss aside his briefcase and dance and play. Maybe the whole city would join the dance. Maybe even the world. Maybe... Regardless, they decided to enjoy the dance."

What do you think?

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Life Without Limbs

www.lifewithoutlimbs.org

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What is the Church?: [3] A New Society

The Body excerpt
by Chuck Colson

Chapter 5: On This Rock

"He cannot have God for his father who does not have the church for his mother." - Augustine

Laszlo Tokes lived through the violent days that followed his exile and arrest. After the revolution he returned to Timisoara. Bishop Papp fled the country after Ceausescu's fall, and Tokes was appointed to fill his place as bishop of Oradea.

"Without speculating or organizing the whole movement, it was really a miracle," Tokes told us, reflecting on those December days when the people of God came together in unity. "The people moved together and sang together and prayed together and acted together. The Spirit of God was there above our wills and out resistance. We did what was dictated for us by our faith through our conscience."

When the church is a church, as the believers of Timisoara show us, the people of God moved by the Spirit of God do the work of God, and evil cannot stand against them. That is the mandate Jesus put before His followers centuries ago in a beautiful town in the lush area at the foot of Mount Hermon, source of the springs that feed the river Jordan...

Many believe it to be the pivotal moment in the great drama recorded in the New Testament - that day the young Nazarene and His disciples arrived in Caesarea Philippi. Strange rumors had swirled about this Jesus ever since the wild-eyed prophet called John the Baptist had thundered the fearsome words: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Some even said He might be a King.

This carpenter's son taught the crowds in mysterious parables and bewildering statements like, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." He healed the sick and fed thousands from meager rations. He annoyed and troubled the increasingly restive religious authorities.

Who was this man who was arousing such passions and such controversy in Palestine?

That was the very question Jesus put to His followers that day in Caesarea Philippi: "Who do people say I am?"

"Some say you are John the Baptist," the disciples replied. "others say Elijah, and still others believe you are Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."

Then Jesus looked straight into the eyes of these men who had turned from their trades, even their families, to follow Him: "But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?"

To which the irrepressible Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

One can almost imagine a hush in heaven at that moment. The words had been spoken. Soon the whole world would know that the long-waited day was here. The Messiah had come.

Such faith, Jesus said, could only come from God. "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."

Jesus' next words, however, are critical for understanding the nature of the Christian faith. (-Read More-)For in direct response to Peter's confession, Christ announced: "On this rock I will build my church."

And to that church He promised a vast grant of authority, which He called "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." The church was to be His instrument on earth, and whatever was done in His will would have eternal significance and consequence.

Whether Jesus meant He would build His church upon Peter himself or upon Peter's confession of faith is a point about which Christian traditions disagree. But the critical historical fact remains: Jesus' response to Peter's confession was to announce that He would build His church. And from this declaration we learn four crucial lessons about the church.

First, the church is not a building. The church is a people.
(skipping this part here.)

But it is more than simply a collection of people; it is a new community.
Modern Christians, especially evangelicals, see the Christian faith primarily, if not exclusively, as the gospel of "Jesus and me." Christianity is simply a personal relationship with Jesus. Accept Christ into your life and you will be saved.

This is true as far as it goes, but it falls woefully short. Although we are justified through our faith, Christianity is much more than just a private transaction with Jesus.

When Peter made his confession, Jesus did not say, "Good, Peter. You are now saved and will have an abundant life. Be at peace." Instead, He announced the church and established a divinely ordained pattern. When we confess Christ, God's response is to bring us into His church; we become members of His church - and our commitment to the church is indistinguishable from our commitment to Him.

Radical words. For we know many Christians who say they are believers but are not members of a church. By that, some mean that they are not members of a local congregation. But many mean that they do not need the church in any sense.

Yet according to Scripture, Christianity is corporate. This is why we speak of the body with its different parts, the community of the redeemed, the holy nation and royal priesthood - or, as Carl Henry calls it,"the new society of God's people, the new society of the twice-born."

The church is not civic center, no social club or encounter group, no Sunday morning meeting place. It is a new society, created for the salvation of a lost world, pointing to kingdom come.

And it we properly understand the exchange between Peter and Jesus and the rest of Scripture, we come face to face with a truly staggering truth about the nature of this new society: It is so dear to our Lord that He purchased it with His own blood.

If the good people of Riverton Community Church had realized this awesome, terrifying fact, they would have abandoned their petty, self-centered ways and dropped to their knees.

For we are part of the body for which Christ died!

Therefore, the church belongs to God.
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And the church will triumph.
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There is more to this chapter, but I figured this post was long enough. haha. I can type up more parts of it, if people are interested.

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Thousands of Years Ago

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With Hope

Why did God create Satan?

Why does God create earthquakes and famines?

Who wrote the Gospels and when were they written?

Aren't the Gospels full of contradictions?

Do all non-Christians go to hell?

Does God know the future?

Why is the world full of suffering?

Have you ever had these questions? It's understandable. Almost everyone, Christian and non-Christians, have had these questions.

Well, I want to tell you that the answers are out there! These questions are take directly from a book called Letters from a Skeptic by Dr. Gregory A. Boyd and Edward K. Boyd.

The book consists of letters between an atheist father and his Christian son. These are real letters that they wrote to each other - the father presenting his questions about Christianity and his son answering them as best as possible in a letter. And while these questions may be from an atheist, I think we can all relate as we too have often thought of these questions. I know that I did and reading this book really helped strengthen my faith, showing me that faith isn't just believing but also knowing. Yes, we can KNOW that God is real through historical evidence of the validity (the truth) of the Gospels and through reason.

I encourage you ALL to read this book. Click "Read More" to read a part of the first letter!

The Invitation: To Dad, With Hope

March 10, 1989

Dear Dad,

...Apologetics is the study of defending the Christian faith against objections which non-Christians have and of presenting positive reasons for the truthfulness of the Christian faith...

Dad, I would really love to enter a in-depth dialogue with you about why I have continued to be a Christian for the last 14 years. This isn't only, or even primarily, because I love apologetics. It is mainly because I love you. No one can blame another person for wanting to share something which is the most valuable to them with another person whom they love, and that is what I'd like to do with you...

Would you be willing to do this? I think, at the very least, it would be stimulating for both of us, and we'd get to know each other better. Having one's faith challenged - whatever faith one holds - is always a good thing. If it can't "stand the fire," a faith us not worth holding-whether it is Christianity or atheism. So, in love, let's challenge one another. What do you say?

Sincerely yours, with hope,
Greg.

I invite all of you, too, to read this book and find the answers to your questions, strengthen your beliefs, and truly know your faith.

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More Than Meets the Eye

This article was written by a high school student Christian just like some of you. You should read this even if you're a boy.

“7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way…” “92% of all young women in the USA want to change some aspect of their physical appearance.” “Girls who watched TV commercials featuring underweight models lost self-confidence and became more unsatisfied with their own bodies.”

Doesn’t that all just break your heart? The young people of today are being mercilessly attacked everyday with the lie that who they are is simply not good enough. Can you believe that companies and businesses are deceiving youth with such lies simply to gain more profit? I hit the roof when I found out that even school portraits now offer a “retouching” feature to touch up any facial blemishes with airbrushing and even color enhancement. The message: your face isn’t even good enough for your school portrait. The price: $6. Or a lifelong feeling of insignificance and discontentment. Depends on how you see it. Apparently, the $6 is more valuable to the portrait studios.

The world is telling the young people of today that their only value comes from how they look. “Character” has simply vanished from the definition of beauty by the world’s standards. Ads only campaign for perfect bodies, flawless skin tones, amazing smooth hair so they can make people feel insignificant until they get their product and achieve “perfection”. And did you know that a study showed the average North American girl sees 80,000 ads before kindergarten? Don’t you think the message would get across pretty clearly by then? And what’s even more sad is that models you see aren’t even real—tough luck trying to be like something that doesn’t even exist!

Young people today—both guys and girls—have been reduced to simply objects to be judged and criticized. Day by day, our bodies get older and older—everyday is another step closer to the day when our bodies will decay and be no more. The youth of today do not know that. They do not know that one day, they will stand bare before the judge—with no make-up, no gel, no curling iron, no skinny jeans or plaids—and what will be seen in plain view will be the one thing which all these years they have not taken care of—their image that truly matters, their image of God. I shudder to think how that is going to look for a large majority of those living around us.

Youth need to know what really makes them valued, what ultimately will last, and what can be really beautiful, is their image of God they have been generously given. We were created to be spiritual beings by a loving God who doesn’t care what color hair you have, the number of zits you have, how skinny you are—he created all of us out of love, and youth need to know this.

How can we make a difference? Girls and guys, we need to step up and let our lights shine. We ourselves need to first stop valuing ourselves based on appearance, by not spending hours in the bathroom every morning (myself included!), by not caring so much about our clothes, shoes, make-up, etc. We need to be prioritizing the condition of our hearts and our inner self. Furthermore, we need to stop judging others by what we simply see, because we are all guilty of this. Jesus chose to look past surfaces to see what ultimately mattered, and we need to reflect the way Jesus lived and loved by seeing the beauty of those around us even when they cannot. Girls and guys should never, ever feel insecure about the way they look, because they are sons and daughters of the King of Kings, and He created each and every one of them with His very own hands in His image, and He loves them just the way they are. This message needs to be shared with every single person!!
So, instead of reflecting at youth the wrong image the world is bombarding them with, let’s reflect the beauty that comes from within—the beauty God has entrusted us with which will outlast them all.

Kristen Lee, Davis Senior High School, Class of 2012

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VUPC Fall Yard Sale/BBQ

I don't have any fancy artwork like Christine, but wanted to get some feedback for the Yard Sale this Saturday (9/26).

The church is relying on the youth group to help out with the sales (haggling skills preferred) due the language barrier. In which case I think it would be great to have a price guideline. The toughest part is coming up with that "reasonable initial" price when the visitor asks. So I started a spreadsheet containing the items I saw collected on Sunday. Feel free to take a look and add to it. The "pig" picture (on the right) should link to the spreadsheet.

Also, there was talk about a raffle for service the youth group could provide the congregation. The raffle tickets will be sold for $1 per category and the winner will chosen at the end of the yard sale. Below is a list of what we came up with on Sunday. Please add any other ideas.

1. Wash car (could have multiple one by offering a winner per month ie. Oct. Nov. Dec.)
2. Vacuum house
3. Cook a meal
4. Create a musical CD by the YG
5. Special art (framed) by YG
6. Mowing the lawn
7. Raking the lawn (not included w/ mowing. :P)

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The Workers Are Few

³⁵Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
³⁷Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Matthew 9:35-38

Before the next 30 hours are over, 26,000 children just under the age of 5 will die - most from preventable causes like hunger, poverty, and disease. 14,000 will die from causes related to hunger alone. That's one kid every 7 seconds.

Low prices of food in the international market are forcing more farmers in developing countries to levels of extreme poverty. Their children are forced to drop out of schools and families are becoming more dependent on emergency aid.

Entire villages are being devastated by AIDS and HIV, even when medicine to prevent these deaths are available for just a couple of dollars a day. However, the bottom billion of the world's population live on less than an US dollar a day. A coffee farmer in Ethiopia said in a documentary called "Black Gold" said that just getting paid about 5 birr ($0.57) for their coffee could change their lives drastically. But these farmers are getting paid less than that for the high quality coffee they produce.

These are just a few facts about the state of our world today.-Read More-

God tells us to love our neighbors. We must not forget that our neighbors are not just those in our schools, in our churches, in our neighborhoods, but also those in Africa, in countries such as Bangladesh and Paraguay.

I encourage all of you to learn more about the dreadful and devastating problem of poverty. Thousands of people, children and adults alike, will die early and premature deaths today because they were born in the wrong country at the wrong time. I can't tell you why they were born there, but I can tell you why we were born here and why we were given so much even though they were given so little. It is so that we can go to them and help them. Luke 12:48b says:

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. And we have been given much and commanded to love our neighbors. Increase your awareness of the world and the people who share this world with us. For I know God's heart goes out to us and to them. God cries with us, laughs with us, and lives with us. And God is over there, crying with them, starving with them. He loves every person on this earth, so we too must love as He loves, care as He cares. Our hearts, too, must go out to the poor, the weak, and the lonely. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus says:

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

Don't think you are too young to do anything. Don't think that you have too small a number of people to do anything. Paul says to Timothy (and is the heading for this blog):

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

Margaret Mead said:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Pray to God to send you out, to use you to do His will. As Ghandi says, be the change you want to see in this world. And as God commands, love thy neighbor as thyself.

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What Is A Church?: [2] A Family

I like comparing the church to a family. You can't choose who your family members are. You can wish you had a cooler sister or a less strict dad. But your family is your family, no matter how they are. And even if you don't think they're cool enough or nice enough, you still love them and need them. When they are angry or sad, somehow it makes you feel bad too. And when they're not around a lot or always away, you feel a little lonely (though you might not ever EVER tell them). And you seem to care so much about what they do and what they're doing. You get upset if they do something that you think they shouldn't do.

If you fought and argued with friends, then you might just stop being their friend. Even if you fight or argue with family, however, you're still family. If one of them started crying, you would, in your own little way, try to make them feel better because seeing them cry somehow makes you feel sad too.

Family is a group of people who care and love each other even when the other people aren't perfect. - Read More - Family is a group of people that you have a place in no matter where you go in life. Even though I'm away at college for 9, 10 months out of 12 in a year, I still have a place to come back to. There will never be a time when I come home and my mom says, "Sorry, your family-time-privileges have expired. You can't come back." My mom will always welcome me back.

And so the family of Christ welcomes all people, since we are all children of God. He calls us His sons and daughters; we are brothers and sisters in Christ. So we must accept each other, protect each other, and love each other.

In Acts, the Apostles constantly referred to each other and other believers (and non-believers too!) as "brothers."

^{Acts 1: 15}In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) ¹⁶and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus— ¹⁷he was one of our number and shared in this ministry."

^{Acts 6: 2}So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ⁴and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

^{Acts 9: 17}Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

^{Acts 13: 38}"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

Jesus said in Luke 8:

¹⁹Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."

²¹He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

Paul writes in Romans 12:

⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

So, again and again, we see that God wants us to love each other like family. So in 1st Corinthians 8:

⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹²When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

We must not do what makes our brothers and sisters fall or do wrong. Family corrects each other and family does not hinder each other. Not only do you accept each other no matter what, but also you help them turn away from bad habits and choices. And if you are doing something that makes someone in your family sin, then you must stop doing that.

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Mother's Day 2008

Bet you didn't know this was online.

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Majesty

This is where I got the body worship moves from for one of our performances!

Do you guys still remember how to do it?

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What Is A Church?: [1] A Body

My friend asked me once, "What is church for? Can you be a Christian and not go to church?" and when I had told her that you should ask your church about helping you solve some of your troubles, she replied in shock, "Wait, you can do that in church?!"

I guess it really reminded me about the misconceptions (the wrong views) people have about what church is about. And I think, in particular, everyone in our youth group has experienced church changes, splits, break-ups, and (just last year) unions. We've all grown up in churches, probably have been going to church for as long as we can remember, and have been told that going to church is the good thing.

But what is church? What do you do at church? What is it for? Can you be a Christian and not go to church? Can you not be a Christian and go to church? - Read More -

I, in my very limited wisdom, will try to answer these questions, and I'll try to make my answer short (but it'll be super long). Thus, this won't cover everything. This is a very large topic so if you want to know more, there are also many many MANY books that try to answer these questions too, such as:

1. Stop Dating the Church!: Fall in Love with the Family of God, by Joshua Harris
2. The Purpose Driven Church, by Rick Warren
3. What is a Healthy Church, by Mark Dever

and more. Thing is that though all these books are Christian, they might not say the same thing. In fact, some might contradict each other. So above all, we should look, not at these books for knowledge, but look in the Bible, which should always remain our ultimate source of truth.

1 Corinthians 12 (as well as other places in the Bible) describes the church as a body.

¹²The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

¹³For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.

²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

I'm sure all of you have at one point read this passage or heard of it before, and I encourage you to read it again! :D

So a church can be compared to one body, and every person is united and a part of that body. So, what, David teacher is a hand? We're all the little fingers and toes? Maybe I'm the spleen. MSN (Pastor) Choi and Kim are the eyes and the mouth: they see all and say all! and Jesus, of course, is the brains, the mastermind!

But this means that we are all connected and we all depend on each other. Even toenails are important in helping you walk firmly and comfortably. And if you look at verse 26, when one suffers we all do, meaning the Body of Christ is more than just us going to church every Sunday, Bible Study, and playing DS with each other. This means that if one of us is going through a difficult time in his or her life, if someone is being mean and rude, if someone is struggling in school, if someone is sad because their dog passed away, if someone is slowing or fading in their faith, we, as one body, have to take care of each other and help one another out.

When you fall and trip and your knee bleeds, you're hand won't go, "Oh, that's just the knee, not me the hand. Whatever, I don't care. Just let the knee do whatever it wants!" and your head won't say, "Ah, whatever, it's just the knee that hurts. This doesn't affect me. It can take care of itself!" No, your head says, "OWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!That HURT! OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW, HAND GO HELP KNEE!" and the hand goes, "OWWWWW!!! That's so painful I feel like it's hurting me too! Okay Head, I'll go get Neosporin and a bandaid!"

In the same way, when one of us is feeling down or needs help, we can't just ignore it. It affects us too. Also, Jesus so completely and fully knows and understands the pain they're feeling just like the head.

Jesus as the head of the body is something to really take note of. This means that Jesus is the one we go to for direction. When the head says, lift up your hand and high five someone, the hand does so. And so we must follow the commands of the head, of Jesus, who will only command us to do what is good for us, for the body. For what kind of head wants His body to ignore Him and harm itself?

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First Post: Have Questions?

Hey everyone! I decided to create a blog for us. I will update it every once in a while with articles, interesting messages, and stories!

I also want to leave this particular post open for questions you have about Christianity, Christian life, God, the Bible, the church, whatever you wondered about your faith! You can also search for it in the sidebar. Just search "Have Questions?"

Now that I've directed you to the sidebar, you can see there is a lot of junk. All the stuff there are pretty self-explanatory so check out some of those books and links and what-not.

So peruse away and enjoy!

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Awesome Book List

Francis Chan
* Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Alex and Brett Harris
* Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations

Dr. Gregory A. Boyd, Edward K. Boyd
* Letters from a Skeptic

Dr. Helen Roseveare
* Living Faith
* Living Fellowship

C.S. Lewis
* Mere Christianity
* The Problem of Pain
* The Screwtape Letters

William Lane Craig
* On Guard

Elisabeth Elliot
* Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testimony of Jim Elliot

Joshua Harris
* Stop Dating the Chruch!: Fall in Love with the Family of God

Lee Strobel
* The Case for a Creator
* The Case for Christ
* The Case for Faith

Corrie Ten Boom
* The Hiding Place

Shane Claiborne
* The Irresitable Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

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Who We Are

We are a church based in San Fernando Valley, on the corner of Woodley and Chatsworth. We believe that Jesus Christ is God and that He died and rose again to save the world.

We meet every Sunday at 11 am. We welcome you to join us!

Don't be intimidated by that man in this picture. :D

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