2011 Graduates

Crazy Love

Lately we’ve been going through the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. We started with the first chapter about how incredible, huge, outrageous and infinite our God really is and then we talked about how we as tiny, frail humans should respond to this huge view of God. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about how crazy it is that he, the God of the universe, the maker of all, should love the frail, fragile, and completely preoccupied humans that he made with such a passionate, unending love.

Last week we looked at a profile of a lukewarm person and compared it to what the bible says Jesus asks of his followers. It’s like the rich young man who came to Jesus and said, “Jesus, I’ve followed all the commandments, what else must I do to inherit the Kingdom of heaven?” Jesus reply was that he should sell all of his stuff and follow him. But the young man won’t, so he goes away sad. What about you? Can you give up all that you have to follow Christ? Grace may be free, but it’s also a very costly thing. It costs us everything. Jesus sasy that if we want to be his followers, we must “pick up our cross daily, and follow him.” Or to modernize it, “pick up your leathel injection, your hand gun, your electric chair, or other death device, and follow me, because this will cost you your life.”

This next week we’re going to look at the fifth chapter, where Chan says it is impossible to be a “lukewarm” Christian.

For more informatin visit crazylovebook.com.

Youth Group Name

Elm Springs Youth Group needs a name to give us some identity. Our theme is based on Elm Springs, (so trees and springs) as well as Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinner or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. HE IS LIKE A TREE PLANTED BY STREAMS OF WATER, WHICH YEILDS ITS FRUIT IN SEASON AND WHOSE LEAF DOES NOT WITHER. Whatever he does prospers.

Give us your ideas!! You can even submit them anonymously.

Isaiah 57:1-2

Question: The bracelets in remembrance of Thomas Culp (teacher at HarBer) have Isaiah 57:1-2 written on them. What does this passage mean?

 ¹The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. ²Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. Isaiah 57:1-2

 Then & There: Isaiah is a prophet, meaning God speaks through him to His people. Isaiah writes and speaks to Judah, the southern kingdom of Israelites, during the Assyrian captivity of their northern brothers Israel. Assyria also lay siege to Jerusalem, the holy city for both the northern and southern kingdoms. As they are watching their northern brothers being taken into captivity, God’s main message is this attack was judgment because they, as a people, had turned their back on Him. It was a warning of the coming judgment for the Judah. However, this little caveat is saying that there were a few righteous people, who were a part of the captive Israel. They were suffering all kinds of injustice while the evil men could do whatever they liked. But death, rather than being a punishment as some thought it to be, was a relief and escape from that injustice and evil.

Here & Now: For today, this passage means that while injustice is everywhere, and as a people often turn away from God, there are still a few righteous mixed in there. They suffer injustice undeservingly, but in death, they find relief from the injustice of this world. Thomas Culp experienced an untimely death and will be missed by many, but this passage is one of hope. Rather than death being a punished, he is experiencing relief and escape from injustice and evil. And while he will be missed and we should definitely allow ourselves to grieve his loss, we should also be glad to know that he no longer has to deal with the fallenness of our world.

 What are your thoughts?

The Fall

Tonight we talked again about the fall of man in Genesis 3. One interesting question came up about the whole story of Adam, Eve and the trees in the Garden. We the trees literal trees, did this story literally happen? Or is this a figurative story meant to explain the separation between God and humanity in terms that are simple and easy to understand? Is it necessary to believe one or the other? If we believe that it’s literal, why? Are there reasons that the rest of our faith rest on? If it’s figurative, metaphorical, or alegorical, how does that affect our faith? Does it change anything? What do you think?

Veritas

So we just got back from Veritas yesterday afternoon and it was great! The speaker, though he was slightly cheesey, had some awesome things to say about rising up and getting out there doing the work of God. Things aren’t right in the world, but God in the process of fixing them. We need to join with God, to be God’s hands and feet, in order to bring about that change and right the wrongs that sin brought into our world. Plus we had fun with karaoke, learned about tattoo’s, talked about being leaders, found out some spiritual gifts. So check out these pictures!

Finally

Finally, a decent website for the Elm Springs Youth!!

I’m so excited about finally having a place to post our stuff. So look here for upcoming events, polls, recaps of last week’s lesson, thoughts for next weeks’s lesson, reminders and much more!! Oh, and don’t forget about videos!

So, first post:
Last night we talked about the creation story. After a day to think about it, does anyone have anythign to add? Have anything occured to you? Did anything spark any questions? Do you feel like you got something out of last night? What do you think of telling stories rather than typical lessons? Anything else you want to say?