Today was the Pure In Heart conference for mothers and daughters in Lutz and 4 of the ZG girls were able to attend. There were dramas about peer pressure, great praise and worship time, and sweet fellowship between moms/grandmas and their daughters/granddaughters (even those of us who "played" mom or grandma to the girls we took).

There were sessions for all of us as a group and then sessions for just the moms and just the girls. The girls were broken into groups according to their age and learned about beauty on the inside, saving their first kiss for the man God chooses for them someday, and remaining pure in their hearts....even in our worldly culture saturated with music, movies, T.V. and other media that encourages them otherwise. They shredded popular lies girls their age are told by friends, peers, and even the enemy. They made crafts and participated in ceremonies that crowned them princesses for their Most High King of Kings.

Overall, it was a very sweet time of fellowship, fun, and learning truth for all of us who attended.

A Night of Thanks

Tonight we celebrated all we have to be thankful for with a dinner together and the reading of our thankful wall. The kids write on the thankful wall first thing each week at least one thing they are thankful for from the previous week. We've been doing this since ZG started in July. Tonight, as we fellowshipped and ate together, we reflected on what we have been thankful for. It was a good way to remember all of the blessings God has bestowed on us and all we have to be thankful for every single day, from the smallest of things to the bigger things. Here are just a few examples of what the kids have been thankful for. As you can see, they're not just material blessings, but blessings of family and friends and memories they have.

• My mom feeling better.
• My brother's birthday.
• Getting an A on my quiz.
• My brother getting out of the hospital.
• My friends.
• My sister coming home from college.
• Doing good in the science fair.
• Sleep.
• My eyelids (after Louie Giglio video).
• ZG pool party.
  
  

The Remnant

Mr. Ken preached this Sunday about the remnant who not only followed Christ, but followed him to the highest mountains and through the greatest of difficulties....persecution, rejection, living day by day and not having a permanent dwelling place.

The multitudes followed Jesus in the plains, where it was easy to follow him and there were not many obstacles. In fact, it is where Jesus taught them, healed them, and fed them...so why not follow Him?! Matthew 4:23-25

Then in Matthew 5-7, during the sermon on the mount, the crowds dwindled. There the disciples were among the few who followed Jesus. The mountains represent difficulties that arise during our walk with the Lord....tests, trials, tribulations. No one ever said life would be easy if we followed Jesus. In fact, just the opposite! Mountains can be treacherous. Footholds are not always secure and sure. There are falling rocks, the air is thinner the higher you go making it harder to breathe, the fog can be denser making it difficult to always see where you're going. Though the end result is a deeper relationship with their Savior, many choose not to climb out of fear and uncertainty of the path that leads to the mountain top.

Finally, in Matthew 17, we see that Jesus took only three of his disciples with Him to the high mountain atop where he would allow them to witness His great transfiguration...only Peter, James, and John. It's not that the others were not necessarily worthy, but for some reason these three men were the remnant that were CHOSEN to follow Jesus to the very top, where they were exposed to their Master in all his wondrous glory. Oh to be one of those few! Still, if the climb to the mountain where Jesus taught about the Beattitudes was/is a difficult one, imagine how much harder the climb to the high mountain atop was/is. The self-sacrifice must be a great one in order to achieve the kind of relationship with Jesus that Peter, James, and John must have had with Him to make it to that mountain top.

To teach this to the kids, we played a game of follow the leader. First, we paraded them around inside the warm and well-lit church, going around chairs, under tables, sometimes hopping on one leg. Then we went outside the building and did the same thing. Outside, however, it was dark and cold. There were shadows to be wary of, trees and railroad ties to avoid or go around, and ant hills to be on guard for. Lastly, we took the kids to the parking garage at the Hard Rock Hotel. If you've never seen it at night, it's quite a spectacle...daunting to say the least! There are 5 levels to the garage and 77 stairs leading to the highest one. And yes, we climbed up each and every one of them (Ok, confession - John and the kids did....four-month-pregnant Tara watched from down below.)! There were also two kids who couldn't make the climb because they were too fearful. One attempted, but only made it about 1/4 of the way.

After returning to church, we discussed which of the times it was easiest to "follow the leader". We talked about how, not knowing what was next, it became a little more difficult and scary to follow us, even though the kids love and trust us. We compared each of our three journeys to the plains, mountain, and high mountain atop that Ken spoke of and the daily disciplines (Bible reading, prayer, etc...) required to press onward, forward, and upward for that goal and prize of a deeper and more personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Judgment Day

Wow, how to teach ten and eleven-year-olds about judgment day! That was the question this week. We decided to take them to court, literally!

Our classroom has a lava lamp that we put out each week while we're meeting. It's actually our second lava lamp because the first one was accidentally broken by a young man in the older youth group who just wanted to check it out one Sunday morning. We decided to re-create this case a little more creatively without the ZG kids knowing what was happening.

Earlier in the week, we stopped by the church and removed the lava lamp from the cabinet we keep it in. In it's place, we left the top cap piece to the lamp and two large pieces of broken glass. Now Kirsten gets to ZG early every week, before anyone else. She arranges the chairs for us and gets the lamp set up and plugged in. We knew that when she saw the broken glass and top piece to the lamp, she would freak. And freak she did! With nine girls in our group, we were sure there would be no shortage of drama for our trial!

When we arrived and Kirsten told of us her find, we acted shocked and even a little angry at what could have happened to our lamp. Hearing the commotion, Ms. Jennifer, our church's audio person who's there for practice every Wednesday night, came out from the sound booth and asked what had happened. We told her our lamp was missing and appeared broken. She then told us that she'd seen Josh, the older youth and culprit the first time around, in the kitchen earlier and even looking in our cabinet (which is also where we keep our snacks and drinks).

John went to get Josh from the youth room for "questioning". On the way over, Josh put several Band-Aids on his fingers and wet his shirt (evidence, you see). In our class, we asked Josh what happened and why he was in our cabinet. He defensively claimed he was there because one of the Pioneer Club teachers, Mrs. Lacie, asked him to come over and look for some glass bowls in the kitchen. He said that he dropped one and it broke and he swept it up. He said he never saw the lava lamp under the counter and didn't even know it was kept there. We asked him about his wet shirt and bandaged hands and he claimed the water was from the bathroom being out of paper towels and his hands were from the glass he cleaned up.

John walked Josh back to class and got Mrs. Lacie next. Mrs. Lacie told our class that she asked Josh to look in the food pantry, not the kitchen and that she had no idea why Josh would have gone to the kitchen and looked in the cabinets for glass bowls when it was water she asked him to look for.

After Mrs. Lacie left us, the debating began. It was great to just sit back and hear the kids brainstorm why or why not Josh could have broken our lamp and what he would have done with it afterwards. The kids even looked in the garbage cans in the kitchen to see if maybe he hid it there. Some kids were defenders of Josh, especially his Aunt Rachel, some were prosecutors, all were his jury and judge it seemed. Being the one who broke our first lamp, made Josh a very easy target. We made a list of the facts and evidence on the white board in the room and then came to the conclusion that someone else needed to be involved in our debate, be it Josh's parents or Pastor Billy. Things were getting serious now!

About this time, we tried to reel the kids back in a bit. We told them that we couldn't believe we'd wasted nearly our entire class on the mystery of the lava lamp and that we needed to get to our lesson for the night. We told them that our mock trial of Josh reminded us of the past week's sermon on judgment day. We discussed the day when each of us will stand before the ultimate Judge who will determine our eternal destiny....heaven or hell. God alone will be our Prosecutor, Defender, Jury, and Judge. And only if we have the assurance of Jesus Christ standing up to testify for us and on our behalf, can we be assured of heaven as our final destination.

We looked at Hebrews 9:27, Acts 17:30-31, Matthew 25:31-34 & 41, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Corinthians 4:5, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Colossians 3:25, Romans 12:19-21. We discussed how these Scriptures pertained to us personally and even to how we had just sat in judgment of our brother Josh.

At that, we brought the hidden lava lamp into the classroom and the kids then realized that the whole drama had been a part of their class and learning after all. We then invited any kids who were not so sure of their salvation and eternal destination to see us to pray with them after club.

Gods of Our Own Choosing

We started off tonight by giving the kids their notebooks and asking them to write down "God Is" at the top of one page. We then asked them to make a list of everything they believed God to be, all of His attributes.

Once everyone was done, we asked them to one by one read their lists out loud. Each of the kids was asked to cross off any attributes they had on their lists that were the same as the ones being read. I have to say, we were quite impressed with the kids' answers. They were not "Sunday School" answers. We heard Alpha and Omega, unchangeable, forgiving, eternal, holy, and nearly 40 other descriptions of who these guys believe God is.

We discussed with the kids then how each list they came up with was not complete in and of itself. Most answers revolved around God being loving and kind and giving, you see. We told the kids how, believing that these things were all God was, was in reality creating their own God that made them feel comfortable and fit their way of life. We told them that there was much more to God than what they'd listed.

Each of them then received a homemade scroll and was asked to write down attributes of God on their scrolls as we discussed them one by one. Some of the attributes we covered were:

• Eternal - Psalm 90:2, 1 Timothy 1:17, Rev. 4:8
• Holy
• Unchanging - Jer. 23:24, Psalm 139:7-10, 1 Kings 8:27
• Infinite
• Omnipotent - All-Powerful
• Omnipresent - Everywhere All the Time
• All-Wise
• Omniscient - All-Knowing - 1 John 3:20, Psalm 147:5, Hebrews 4:13, Romans 11:34
• Self-Existent - He does not need us or the rest of creation for anything.
• Self-Sufficient - He does not need what we need in order to survive.
• Good
• Loving - 1 John 4:8
• Gracious
• Merciful
• Sovereign - Has a plan and purpose for everything and is the reason behind everything that happens.
• Jealous
• Just Judge

Again, we told the kids that this list was not exhaustive and that God had many other attributes, but to pick out only the ones that we feel good about or make us feel like better people or more comfortable to believe about God, was to create our own God-like idol to believe in....and this is a sin!

For application, I read some statements and, based on the list of God's attributes they now had, the kids told me whether or not each statement was true about God and why or why not.

• "I know lying is wrong, but it's just a small lie and it's really so no one's feelings will get hurt that I'm telling it so God won't mind." (False - Just)
• "It's not a big deal if I do this just once. Besides, no one is around and so no one will know." (False - Omnipresent)
• " Sure I didn't clean my room like my mom told me to, but hey, no one's perfect. I mean, even Jesus was just a kid once right? I bet He didn't always do everything His parents told Him to do." (False - Holy)
• "I feel so very sad that my grandpa was killed in that car accident, but I know that God was in control. He had a plan and a purpose for what happened." (True - Good, Sovereign, All-Wise)
• "I just don't know what to do about that kid at school who keeps bullying me. No one will understand. No one will be able to tell or show me what I can do about the situation." (False - All-Wise, Loving)
• "It's a good thing I was praying for that missionary all that time. Otherwise, he never would have survived that earthquake." (False - All-Powerful)
• "I just know that losing my bracelet was punishment for talking back to my dad the other day even though I repented and asked my dad to forgive me. It was God's way of disciplining me." (False - Merciful)
• "I am so torn. I want to go to that concert so badly. That band is my favorite! But I feel bad for my friend Cary. Her dad is out of work and her parents have no money to buy her a new pair of sneakers. I feel like I should give her the money I've been saving for the concert and I know it's what God would probably want me to do, but I LOVE music and going to concerts whenever I get the chance. And since God wants me to be happy, I think I should go to the concert." (False - Jealous)
• "God won't mind if I do this just once. Besides, afterwards I'll tell him how sorry I am and He'll forgive me because that's what He does when we apologize for our sins, right?" (False - Just)

In closing, we encouraged the kids to keep their scrolls somewhere they could reference them often and to use them when trying to decide if something they're thinking or saying or doing lines up with God's will for their lives and what is says about who they believe God to be as compared to who He really is.

Broken Cisterns

Cistern

Cistern

Still thinking about idols tonight, we shifted our focus just a little to the foolishness of having idols. First we played a little memory game. We had about 50 or so random items spread on the table in the foyer and under a towel. Any one of these items could potentially become an idol, but most were just miscellaneous material things. We gave the kids one full minute to memorize as many of the items under the towel as they could before we covered them up again.

We wanted to put some time between the kids seeing the items and asking them to recall them and so we broke the kids up into groups of three. We spoke to them all about what cisterns are and what they are used for. Cisterns are waterproof containers used for holding liquids, mainly water. They have waterproof linings and are usually built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are generally used where water is scarce so that the rainwater can then be used for cooking, washing, watering crops, and evening drinking. We looked at some pictures of examples of cisterns as well.

Then we gave each group "building" materials (hand towels, napkins, tape, coffee filters, colanders, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, rubber bands, etc...). We gave the groups fifteen minutes to brainstorm and build their own cisterns for holding water. When time was up we took our homemade cisterns into the kitchen to test their "waterproofness". Obviously, since none of the materials the kids were given were waterproof (except the tape maybe), no group's cistern withstood the water test.

Now it was time to test how good their memories were. Each youth was given their notebooks and asked to recall as many of the items under the towel on the table as they could remember and write them down. By now, very few items could be remembered, which was the point.

We talked about how, if the things on that table are here today and gone tomorrow in our memories, like some of the fads that are popular today (Silly Bandz and Webkinz for example), then how foolish is it to spend so much of our time, money, thoughts, and energy on them. It's as foolish as trying to build our own waterproof containers out of materials that aren't waterproof!

Jeremiah 2:9-13 - ⁹ Therefore, I will bring my case against you,” says the Lord. “I will even bring charges against your children’s children in the years to come. ¹⁰ “Go west and look in the land of Cyprus; go east and search through the land of Kedar. Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this? ¹¹ Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God^b for worthless idols! 12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the Lord. 13 “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

We reminded the kids that cisterns were used where water was scarce. Then we asked the kids if they knew of a fountain of water that never stopped flowing and was so plentiful that the residents of that city would never have to fear being thirsty. While they thought about it, we read them John 4:4-15 about the Samaritan woman at the well. Finally, we concluded that only believers in Jesus Christ and residents of the kingdom of God have access to that endless flow of living water.

John 7:38 - ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

With John 7:38, we realized that, if we are followers of the one true living God, our hearts are the waterproof cisterns that God has prepared for His Holy Spirit to occupy. And the supply of the Holy Spirit in our lives is endless. We never have to ask for more. It flows freely and therefore, why would we ever need to foolishly attempt to make new cisterns out of "stuff", idols when they can never satisfy our thirst or our souls.

American Idols

Hebrews 12:1 - ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

We continued our talk about idols tonight and how to practice idolatry is to actually hate God. We talked about jealousy and its meaning and how God is jealous when we have idols in our lives because He loves us so much and knows that we become like what we worship. If we worship God, we become like God. If we worship anything else, idols, we become like them.....nothing!

Then we went outside and decided to see if we could list as many idols between all of us as possible. We brainstormed about idols in Entertainment (sports, movies, music, TV, video games, hobbies, entertainment celebrities and personalities). Then we listed idols in technology (cell phones, Ipods, the computer, Facebook, games and apps). Next came physical health and fitness (diet and food worship, exercising or lifting weights too much to have a certain body, make-up, name-brand and expensive clothes, jewelry, spending a lot of time on our hair and looks).

For each idol we listed, we put a rock in a book bag. Our bag was pretty full by the time we were finished! Then we discussed Hebrews 12:1 and remembered from our Philippians study how Paul told us life was like a race and we were the runners Philippians 3:13-14, 2 Timothy 4:7). I asked each youth to then run around the educational building. Then each of them took a turn strapping the book bag full of "idols" to their backs and running around the educational building again. We talked about the difference in how it felt to run free from that weight of "sin" and how much easier it would be to win a race were we not weighted down by it.

For one final point, we attempted to fit all of our idol examples from last week's table into a small basket with the word Jesus on it. We had trouble enough getting all of the "stuff" to fit, let alone finding room for Jesus as well. Again, we reiterated that these "things" are not bad persay in and of themselves, but they become bad as idols in our lives when we allow them to take the place of Jesus....when they become more important to spend our time and money and efforts on them than spending those things on Jesus and what we can do in and for His kingdom.

Matthew 6:24 - ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (things).

Pool Party & BBQ

We had an awesome late end of summer pool party at Bridghid's house today. The weather was perfect and the food and fellowship were awesome. There was a jump rope competition, which newcomer Mandi was crowned queen of, lots of swimming, and even a grape eating showdown....as in who could cram the most grapes in their mouth at once without requiring the Heimlich Maneuver! BTW, Ben won that contest hands down with a whopping 17 grapes. Shocking, right? Everyone had a blast!

The Table of the Lord vs. The Table of Demons

Tonight we started talking about idolatry and how it can be seen in the lives of everyone around us, even our own. We first talked about how everyone everywhere worships something or someone, whether or not they have ever heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We talked about the Bemba tribe and their belief in a god named Leza who lives in the sky and controls the thunder, as he is the source of all magical powers. We talked about the Kuikuru peoples who believe that the sun, the older twin brother of the moon, is who created them. They believe in animal and tree spirits and have a tribe with doctor who can speak to those spirits. They hold festivals to the dead with music, singing, and wrestling matches. They believe that when someone dies, they must overcome dangerous obstacles and hazards in order for their soul to reach the village of the dead in the sky.

Then there are the Yawalapiti who believe in many spirits, hold many festival rituals, and also rely on a witch doctor for healing, both physically and spiritually. The Aguaruna tribe focuses mainly on magic and uses charms and special songs to aid them in their hunting, gardening, and other activities. Similarly, the Chimila peoples hold religious ceremonies to, they believe, control the weather. Lastly, we talked about the Paresi people who believe the woods and rivers are full of spirits and that they originated from a rock where two serpents were who decided whether they would be boys or girls when they were formed.

Most importantly, we looked at pictures of people from each of these tribes and, in many cases, they looked just like we do. Nothing they wore or looked like indicated that they were any different than we as believers in Jesus Christ are. Yet the differences are ones that determine whether we will spend an eternity in heaven or an eternity in hell.

We discussed then what our rituals and beliefs as Christians are. We talked about communion and the sacraments. We talked about what they represent and how in taking them we are fellowshiping with Christ and nourishing ourselves with His blessings purchased on the cross for us by His shed blood. We also talked about the celebrations we have in our faith with Christmas and Easter. We talked about baptisms and baby dedications.....all religious ceremonies portraying our Christian faith and belief system.

To close things out for the week and just sort of give everyone something to think about, we had two tables set up before the kids got there. On one, we had a Bible, a devotions book, a communion cup and bread, a pack of Scripture memory cards, a Christian magazine, a tithes and offering basket, some missions newsletters, and a Christian music CD. On the other table we had some silly bands, a teen gossip magazine, a Disney movie, a car, money, a secular music CD, a Webkinz, sports memorabilia, a trophy, a bottle of wine, food/candy, a picture of our friends, nice clothes, a superhero action figure, and more.

We talked about how the one table represented the table of the Lord and all the things on it we could feast on. The other table represented the table of demons and all the things we so often choose to feast on instead. We made sure the kids understood that the majority of the things on the "demon's" table were not bad persay and were even ok to have and enjoy. The problem arises when we place the importance of those things above the importance of the things of God and we desire them more than we desire the things of God.

The kids were curious as to why there were so many more things on the table of demons than the table of the Lord and we discussed Matthew 7:13-14 - ¹³"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

We gave the kids a lot to think about tonight and just left them with the two tables as their visual to think about until we meet again next week. We did ask them to start thinking about what was most important to them and, if they had to, which table they would be able to place those things on, the Lord's or the demon's.

Embrace the One Thing

God is so good. This week we were really stumped as to how to teach the kids Sunday's lesson. We've emphasized to them time and again the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus and how vital it is to their lives. We really wanted to focus on hearing God's voice this week. Missionary, Luther Meier gave us a great visual to end with on Sunday when he spoke of the five or so crossroads we come to as Christians and how it is then we have choices to make. We can choose the paths we feel secure with and comfortable with....paths towards family, friends, the American dream, our careers. Or we can choose the unmarked path that we may not feel so secure with taking at first because we don't know where it will lead us. The only thing we know for sure about that path is that God will be on it with us, making it the only sure and clear path we should choose.

Well that sounded good, but how do you teach that truth to 10-12 year-olds in a way that they can grasp and understand? We prayed about it Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then just last night God gave us the idea. Letterboxing! Letterboxing is a fun, free, family friendly hobby. Each family member has a different rubber stamp and notebook. You print one of the hundreds of letterbox clues from the letterboxing website and the search is on. The clues are sometimes very evasive, full of riddles, and usually require a good sense of direction and a compass. But once you find where the box is hidden, you open it to reveal the box owner's own unique stamp, inkpad, and notebook. You then put the date and their stamp inside your notebook to record its find and you also leave each of your stamp's imprints and the date in theirs. It's like treasure hunting, only you re-hide the treasure for others to find again and again!

So we decided to take the kids to a letterbox we'd found as a family in the past. It's at Woodmont Clubhouse in Temple Terrace. The kids had no idea where we were going, it was getting dark and a little creepy in the park at night, and we had nothing but a set of clues to go by as we searched for something they had no idea or certainty even existed. We followed landmarks, counted steps, used our compass, searched for sign posts, and deciphered the clues one by one. The end result? We found the letterbox! Since the kids didn't have notebooks, we stamped their hands instead to mark their success.

Then we discussed how following God and listening for His voice can sometimes be just as uncertain as searching for that box was. They may not know where they're going or what's going to be at the end of their journey. They may not have the best of clues as to how to get there. But if they stay the course and follow the path God has them on step by step, they will be rewarded for their obedience and faithfulness in the end. We also talked about how there will be times when they will stumble and fall and even wander from the path, but that God will always be there to lead them back towards His will when they seek Him.

We talked about some Biblical examples of these truths. Abraham was called to leave his home and security in obedience to the Lord and just walk with no clear destination, knowing only that he was being led by God. Later he walked another road on his way to sacrifice his only son Isaac in obedience to the Lord's command. Noah, who had never seen rain before and had no idea what a boat was, followed God down a 120-year path of obedience and following clear directions and instructions that would ultimately save his family and two of every living creature God had created. Joseph, being sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, trusted the course God had him on and simply and humbly obeyed Him down every path God led him on, even one to prison! And were any of these men perfect, sinless? No! They were sinners who made mistakes and disobeyed at times in their lives just like we do.

It turned out to be a great lesson and hopefully one the kids will not soon forget....us adults either! God is so good. Did I mention that when we first walked up to the park we were faced with a crossroads of about 4 sidewalks.....fit right in with what Luther taught us. Only God could have given us this lesson.

Contentment & Generosity

Philippians 4:10-13 - ¹⁰I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

We discussed Paul's contentment tonight and how we can become a more contented people and how it's all about being strong in the Lord (Isa. 40:29-31).

We talked about what discontentment can lead to by watching a clip from Dreamworks' Over the Hedge, the 2006 animated motion picture about a very discontented and greedy raccoon named RJ. Because of RJ's greed for more food than he needs, he stirs the angers of a killer bear named Vincent and jeopardizes the lives of a host of other forest animal friends as well...friends who, in the past, were very content on the provisions their forest home had to offer them daily. This tied in nicely with 1 Timothy 6:6-10.

We also looked at a real-life example in Achan from Joshua 7:13-26 and how his greed (and disobedience) in stealing things meant to be devoted to God from one of the cities they overthrew cost innocent Israelites their lives, as well as his and his children's lives. Greed is costly and has consequences!

Luke 6:38 - ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Then we moved on to generosity and talked about how it is impossible for us to out-give God. We discussed Luke 6:38 and passed around some object items to get the point across. We had measuring spoons, measuring cups, rulers, and measuring tape. We talked about how we could never use one of these instruments to measure the blessings God has for His children who are generous with what they have. We talked about how, since everything we have is a gift from God anyway (time, talents, spiritual gifts, money), we should be willing to give it away daily.

Based on Billy's challenge from his message this last week, Zero Gravity will also begin collecting tithes and offerings from its kids starting next week. A portion of what we collect will go into the church's general offering account towards the budget. The rest will go into the homeless food pantry ministry to help restock the brown bags items Zero Gravity prepares for the congregation each month.

We encouraged the kids to take this money from their own resources and not their parents. They can use a portion of their chore money or perform some extra chores around the house to earn the extra to bring in. This will be a great way to begin practicing contentment and generosity with what they have, as well as teach them to be good and faithful stewards.

How Great Is Our God!

We watched once again the clip from Louie Giglio's DVD where he speaks about Laminin, the cell adhesion protein molecule that's present throughout our bodies and acts as the "glue" that holds us together. We just spent time reflecting on how great our God is, how evidence of Him is everywhere and in everything, and how we are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. We made visuals to help us remember these truths as well. It was also brown bag night and so we put more brown bags together for our mission.

A Beautiful Mind

We talked tonight about the fact that, as Christians, we have the ability to think in a whole new way because we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:11-16). We also talked about how we must work at thinking right every single day. It's not just something we do naturally (Romans 12:2). Our thoughts can run away from us and go crazy making us think all sorts of untrue things about ourselves, others, God, and the things that we are going through. We need to capture those thoughts and hold them up to God's truths to see how they compare (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Then we looked at our Scripture for this week, which is also our Scripture memory for the month of September:

Philippians 4:8 - ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

We discussed what each of these words means:

• True - Since God's Word is true, do our thoughts measure up to what God's Word tells us?
• Noble - worthy of respect, not trashy or filthy
• Right - righteous, in sync with the Scriptures
• Pure - morally clean
• Lovely - just what it says
• Admirable - having a good report
• Excellent - just that
• Praiseworthy - just that

We talked about how we need to measure every thought we have about God, ourselves, others, and the things we are going through by this Scripture. We used a coffee filter as an object lesson and discussed how it filters out the coffee grounds which would ruin the taste of the coffee and only allows the tasty coffee itself to make it through to our cups. We talked about other filters we know of too...air conditioning, water, pool, aquarium, oil (cars)...and how its also their jobs to filter out the bad.

We also used a colander to get our point across. We set the colander on top of a clear bowl. Each of us threw some rocks into the colander for each bad thought we have about ourselves, sometimes God (He doesn't care what happens to me.), others, and the things that happen to us (It's not fair! I'll never be able to handle this!). Then we poured the clear, pure truth of God's Word (water) over our "bad thoughts" and watched to see what, if we filter our thoughts by Philippians 4:8, should be all that's left in our minds. We even refuted some of our negative thoughts with God's Word.

• Psalm 139:14 - I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
• Matthew 5:43-44 - ⁴³"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
• Jeremiah 29:11 - ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
• Matthew 5:21-22a - ²¹"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
• 1 John 4:20-21 - ²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
• 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.