Living God-Directed, Goal-Oriented Lives

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

This was the verse we discussed this week. We talked about Paul's desire to be more like Christ and that being his ultimate goal and passion in life. To demonstrate aiming for the goal, we blew up balloons and let them go to see which direction they would go in. We tried to predict how they would fly through the air, but they were all over the place...up, down, in circles, spiraling...it was crazy! We talked about how our lives without God's direction are just like these balloons. We "spin our wheels", always busy and running around with things to do, places to go, and people to see...but we never accomplish anything that really matters. Living like this, we will never reach our goal to be more like Jesus.

Instead, we need to live God-directed lives and then we'll "run" straight and not easily diverted lives, towards a goal that really matters...Christlikeness! To demonstrate this, we attached a balloon to a straw fed through fishing line that stretched across our room. We blew up our balloon, let it go, and guess what? It went straight to its goal, never deviating from the path marked out for it! Why? Because it was attached to "God's will and direction" for it. That's just how we'll reach our goal to be more like Christ as well, by keeping ourselves attached to God's will and direction for our lives.

And to reach those goals we first need to learn how to set them. So we discussed goal planning and writing. We talked about big goals and and the smaller goals we can set to help us achieve those big goals. Since our ultimate goal is to be more like Christ, our homework for two weeks from tonight is to set a big goal and smaller ones that will ultimately result in our developing more Christlike qualities.

For some general practice in goal planning and writing, we had a little fun and began planning for Zero Gravity's first ever lock-in. That was our big goal and planning a theme, snacks, supplies lists, games, and dates and times became our smaller goals to help us reach that goal. There's no official date for a lock-in scheduled yet, but stay tuned ZG members because it's coming!

So don't forget your homework guys. There are plenty of goals out there to be set. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Get along better with siblings
Be more respectful and obedient to parents
Not get so angry
Show Jesus to neighbors/people I meet or run into
Memorize Scripture
Spend more quiet time talking with God
Get into God's Word more
Show Jesus through a community service activity
Be a more faithful and kind friend

Now it's your turn guys. Can't wait to hear what you come up with!

A Feast for A King

Thanks Zero Gravity gang for an awesome night of volunteering to help make Mrs. Kim's crazy night, A Feast for A King, such a success. We were in charge of the ice cream sundae room, where making sundaes from on top of ladders truly became an art form in and of itself! It's important to mix our Bible lessons and growing in the Lord with volunteering our time and maturity to helping out the younger kids time and again.....and you guys did really awesome.

The Launch Pad

Zero Gravity's new room is ready! The launch pad is where we meet and complete with glow-in-the-dark stars and a moon, our key verse (Philippians 4:13) and motto (Nothing Can Hold Us Down!), and of course, the ever-popular and all-important lava lamp.

Have You Got the "Goods"?

Tonight we talked about Paul's bragging rights and the brownie points he'd earned before coming to know Christ personally.

Philippians 3:4-9 - 4though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

We took some time to brainstorm and write our own lists of "goods"...what we're good at, what good character qualities we have, what we believe makes us good. Paul calls these things rubbish and so that's exactly how we treated our lists once finished. We crumpled them up and set them on fire before putting them where they belong...in the trash.

We talked about how good works and good character qualities are great and often times a sign of a right relationship with Jesus, but they are not a guarantee for our salvation. As believers, the only good in our hearts is Jesus Christ. In the end, it's not the fact that we're good friends, loving, caring, understanding, good at art, pretty, or great at sports that counts. That's just, as Pastor Billy pointed out Sunday, POOP! It's all about Jesus guys!

Are you a Paul, A Timothy, or A Demas? Do You Know One of Them?

Welcome junior youth group! THIS IS YOUR BLOG!!! We had an awesome first meeting last week. Here's a recap of what we discussed.

Philippians 2:19-30 - 19I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.22But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. 25But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.27Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. 29Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, 30because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.

Paul was a mentor to Timothy. He loved him like a father loves his own son and he taught and encouraged Timothy in the ways of the Lord. In return, Timothy went out from Paul and taught and loved others. Epaphroditus was also one of Paul's good friends and someone Paul mentored.

All of us have people in our lives who have mentored us, taught us. They are the people we go to for wisdom and advice when we face a problem we're not sure how to solve. They are the people who teach us what God's Word says about things in our lives. We talked about who those people are for each of us personally.

In the same way, we each need to be a Paul, a Timothy, and an Epaphroditus to others God has put in our lives. We need to encourage them, give them godly wisdom and counsel when they come to us for advice, walk beside them in what they are going through, love them, and teach them. We talked about those people God has placed in our lives that we can mentor in these ways, such as friends and younger siblings.

Then we looked at the flip side of this coin.

2 Timothy 4:10 - 10for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

Paul helps us see that Demas was one of the seeds Jesus spoke of in Luke 8:14, who fell among the thorns and then the weeds of worries, riches, and pleasures grew up and choked their passion for the Lord.

Luke 8:14 - 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

We talked about those things in our lives that can choke out our passion for Christ and keep us from maturing..."stuff", hobbies, habits, and even friends.