5th Annual ZG Pool Party!!!!!!!!!!

It's that time of the year again and the weather was perfect for our ZG pool party!  There were noodles and water balls flying everywhere.  Squirt guns galore too!  And let's not forget the slide that led into the pool.  We had a blast, as well as some great food and fellowship.  Thanks to Jennifer Lancaster for letting us use her pool while she was in Italy and to Jason and Amber Carpenter for helping us host and chaperone the party.  Here are some pictures that highlight the day and the fun!

Our Security in Christ

We got back to some basics tonight and spoke to the kids about salvation.....what it is and what it means.  To do this, we did a few "egg"cellent experiments.

First, we showed the kids an egg and talked about how God created Adam and Eve as good, perfect, and in His very own image.  He created them to love and do what is right and true and kind.  Then....sin came along.  To demonstrate the fall, we dropped our egg from about 2 feet into a glass bowl.  When Adam and Eve fell into sin by disobeying God, it was like the egg falling into the bowl.  After the fall, everyone born was born into sin....broken...."scrambled up".  The perfect image of God in us was shattered like the egg in the bowl.

Still, look in the bowl.  You can still tell that it's an egg, even though it's all messed up.  In the same way, people are still God's children, even after they fall into sin.

God still loves us.  He sent His Son Jesus to save us.  When we receive His salvation, He gives us new hearts so we can love Him.  It would take a miracle to put our broken egg back together.  It takes a miracle to change our broken lives and make them whole again...the miracle of Jesus' love for us.

AND GOD CHOOSES US.  THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO TO EARN OUR SALVATION.  There are no amount of good works or attitudes, no amount of money we can give to charities, no number of mission trips we can go on....that can earn us our salvation and make us right with God.

So what does our salvation look like?  We used a glass bowl again and this time filled it with water.  We let the kids each take turns naming different sins as they sprinkled some pepper into the water to "dirty it up".  Every one of us has some "pepper" in our lives!  ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  But when we come to Jesus, ask His forgiveness for those sins, and then choose to turn away from them (repent), God is faithful and just and He will forgive us of those sins (1 John 1:9).  With that, we put one drop of Dawn dish soap into the middle of our peppered bowl of water and watched as our sins were "removed from us as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12).

It doesn't mean we'll never have "pepper" in our lives again  because we will....over and over and over again.  But EVERY single time we ask Jesus for that forgiveness and turn from our sins, He WILL forgive us and remove them from us.

So can you lose your salvation once you have it?

NO!  No one can snatch us out of the Father's hand!  NO ONE!

To demonstrate this, we turned back to our eggs.  Do you know that, if you wrap your fist evenly around a raw egg, and squeeze as hard as you can, you will not be able to break the egg?!  It's because the force and pressure of your squeeze is being spread out over the whole surface of the eggshell.  The egg is designed so it won't easily break in the outdoors and the wild. The egg's shape and its shell are made so it will protect the baby growing inside until it is ready to hatch and come out into the world.  That's how a mother bird can sit on her eggs and not break them!  Isn't God the best architect ever?!!  

So, once saved, we are the contents of that egg.  God is the protective shell around us.  The hand represents the world, squeezing us and forcing us into difficult circumstances and situations, evil coming at us from all directions.  But God is good!  He is all around us, protecting us, shielding us under His mighty wings.

Psalm 91:1-7 - Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.  You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.  A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.  

It was an "eggs"troidinary object lesson we hope the youth will not soon forget!

What is Your Ministry?

Colossians 4:7-18

As Paul closes his letter to the Colossians, he mentions some people God has used in his life to encourage him, help meet his needs, minister side-by-side with him, and comfort him in all his circumstances.

• Tychicus left his family for a very long time and walked and sailed hundreds of miles to assist Paul in his ministry.
• Onsesimus was a slave who ran away from his master, became a believer, and comforted Paul.He was an example of a life transformed!
• Aristarchus gave up his freedom to minister to Paul's needs while he was in prison.
• Mark, though he originally abandoned Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey together, eventually became a great help to Paul.
• Justus took a stand with Paul for Jesus, no matter what the cost.
• Epaphras was a prayer warrior who served alongside Paul.
• Luke, a gentile believer, served with Paul and wrote the books of Luke and Acts.

We discussed with the kids tonight what their ideas of ministry are and how they think they fit into it.  Many youth think they have to "grow up" before they can be used by God and serve in a ministry, but that is simply a myth.  We talked about ways the kids can be used by God now, right where they are.

• Praying for others
• Fundraisers to meet a need
• Yard work
• House cleaning
• Volunteering at local food banks
• "Random Acts of Kindness" (We discussed the 25 RAK the Ellis family embarked on a few weeks back and watched some of their videos on FB from that experience.)
• Visiting Ms. Florene
• Making cards for elderly/sick/soldiers
• All the past Mission 659 mission opportunities

So what stops us from allowing God to use little old us in GREAT BIG ways?

Some of us feel like this poor kid!  "It's impossible!  I can't possibly make a difference.  I can't change anything.  I'm not big enough, strong enough, fast enough, tall enough, old enough, etc..."

Some of us, because of things we've done in our past feel like...

But guess what?!

And here's the proof!

• Moses stuttered.
• David's armor didn't fit.
• Mark was a coward when the going got tough.
• Gomer was a prostitute.
• Jacob was a liar.  So was Abraham.
• David had an affair and was a murderer.
• Abraham was too old.
• David was too young.
• Peter was afraid of death and denied Christ.
• Lazarus was dead.
• Naomi was a widow.
• Paul was a murderer.
• Moses was a murderer.
• Jonah ran from God.
• Miriam was a gossip.
• Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
• Jeremiah was depressed.
• Elijah was burnt out.
• Martha was a worrywart.
• Noah got drunk.
• The disciples fell asleep while they were supposed to be praying.
• Zaccheus was too small.
• The Samaritan woman was divorced.
• Timothy had an ulcer.
• Leah was ugly.
• Joseph was abused.
• Rahab was a prostitute.

And yet ALL of these people were used by God for His glory!

Lastly, some people are just too afraid to be used by God.  Let's face it....it takes faith to allow God to use us the way He wants to.

But in Joshua 1:9, God tells us, "Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

We asked the kids then to practice the kind of faith and courage it took Peter to have when he stepped out of the boat and walked on top of the sea towards Jesus.

Matthew 14:25-29 - Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.  But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”  “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”  “Come,” he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

We filled a long under-the-bed storage container with 24 boxes of corn starch and 36 cups of water.  We added some blue food coloring to make it look more like water.  We asked the kids then to get a running start and run through the mixture having the faith that, if they did not stop or hesitate, they would not sink.  As long as they did just as they were told, their feet never sank into the gooey substance!

In the end, we pray that, through the many Biblical examples God gave us in His Word...and through the faith and the courage that only come from living daily by that Word, these out-of-this-world youth know that, believe, and are open to God using them in both small and huge ways!

We ended with the inspiring video of runner Heather Dorniden.