Prayer & Our Testimony of Peace

Philippians 4:6-7 - ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We talked about prayer tonight and how, if we have not, it's because we ask not. We discussed Aaron, the Old Testament High Priest and how he would offer incense as a sweet smelling offering before the Lord. Bringing our prayers to God pleases Him as much as those offerings of long ago did. He wants us to pray so that He can answer those prayers and be glorified in doing so.

Psalm 141:2 - ² May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

We discussed the ACTS prayer as a good model to follow when praying so that we don't get all caught up in just asking God for things and what He can do for us.

A - Adoration

C - Confession

T - Thanksgiving

S - Supplication

Tonight we also picked names out of a bowl to pair up as accountability partners. We split into our pairs then and filled out our accountability sheets for one another. The sheets list prayer requests and concerns for each of us and Scripture promises that we can share with each other. We discussed the importance of keeping our partner's prayer concerns confident and also the importance of committing to pray for each other throughout the upcoming weeks. We will meet as partners the first Wednesday of every month to talk about how our prayers for each other were answered and share any new prayer concerns we might have.

LOCK-IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Samson, Our "Homeless Puppy"

Scavenger Hunt

The Winning Team

Homeless Dinner

Ben says, "I'd die if this was all I had to eat!"

Painting Our "Houses"

Dinnertime

Pre-Movie Snacks

More Sugar, PLEASE!!!

Breakfast and Bed Hair

The much-anticipated first annual Zero Gravity lock-in finally arrived....and it was sooooo worth the wait! We had a BLAST! The theme was Our Cup Runneth Over and based on teaching the kids more about Terrace Palm's homeless ministry and the importance of serving our community in that way.

We started the evening with a fierce scavenger hunt that Jen Smith (everyone's "Aunt Jen") put together for us. If the rhyming clues to where the next clues were hidden proved too much for the seekers, Jen would give them another clue...provided they could recite at least a part of the Scripture on the back of their clue. She had some very creative hiding spaces and the first team finished in just about 25 minutes!

Their scavenger hunt left them at their appliance boxes they brought to eat and sleep in and there we served them chicken noodle soup (with very little chicken and noodles) and crackers and water.

Once their homeless dinner ended, they got busy decorating their boxes. Some of these kids are quite artistic! While our boxes dried, we ate our real dinner....BBQ beef sandwiches, cheese and crackers, grapes, chips and salsa...We even had the opportunity to feed David some of our dinner. He's the homeless man who sleeps under the church's awning when the rain has soaked his normal dwelling place too much. David was very appreciative and graciously promised to keep an eye out for us during the night.

After dinner, Miss Jennifer cranked up the music, turned out the lights, and sardines it was. Sardines is a game where one of two people hide while others search for them. Once they're found, the person or people who found them hide with the first people until more discover their hiding place. The last ones to find the group of "sardines" are the first ones to hide during the next round. Ben and I hid in a tight spot, but proved to be pretty hard to find for quite a while! Of course we almost screamed when the air handler where we were hiding kicked on....LOUDLY! That should give you a clue where we were hiding!

About 10:30 we put on PJ's and hit the snacks before our movie started. We had chocolate chip cookie bars, Rice Krispie treats, popcorn, and ice cream sundaes. Some of us made root beer floats instead. We had a very strict "no puke policy" in place so we tried to choose our poison wisely!

Then we watched The Blindside, the true story about the once homeless teenager Michael Oher and the family who met his needs and helped him achieve his dreams to become an NFL star. We finally bunkered down about 1 a.m. and slept until 7....leaving us just enough time to get up, pack up, eat up, and clean up before parents arrived at 8! The kids' challenge while they slept was to hide and not lose their tootsie pops that could be "stolen" from them during the night. We talked about how this is just one fear homeless people have on the streets every night. Lucky for the kids, the potential "thieves" were too exhausted to commit the crime!

Thanks to all the parents who brought food and boxes and to all the Zero Gravity kids who helped make this a most memorable lock-in. I've been told it'll be hard to top next year!

The Prodigal Son

We read Luke 15:11-31 tonight and discussed the parable of the prodigal son. We talked about the son's blatant disrespect for his father, the way he chose to squander his life and inheritance, and his humble return to his home once his money ran out. We talked about how his father could have reacted, how we might have reacted were we in his shoes, and how he really did react towards his wayward son when he returned home. His father forgave him completely and even threw him a party and gave him gifts when he returned. Then we talked about how the prodigal son's big brother was bitter towards his brother's return and unconditional acceptance back into the family. The prodigal's big brother was very upset about this, as he felt he deserved all of these gifts and attention for his obedience, when instead it appeared that his rebellious brother was being rewarded for disobedience. In reality, the prodigal son's father was rewarding his son for his repentance, not his behavior that led him there.

To show another example, we watched a clip from the movie Invictus, where Nelson Mandela's lead bodyguard Jason is not happy over his boss's choice of much needed new "white" bodyguards. You see, during Apartheid, many racist white men slaughtered thousands of black South Africans. Jason was not about to accept white men into his circle of bodyguards charged with protecting President Mandela. Mandela explained to his upset head of the security that, "reconciliation starts here.....forgiveness starts here, too." Similar to the prodigal son's father, President Mandela knew the value of forgiveness and reconciliation. We talked about how our Savior Jesus knows the value of them as well, better than anyone else, and He died to earn them for us.

We applied what we talked about to ourselves then, asking if there had ever been a time we were forced to work with or make peace with someone we couldn't stand and what happened. Did we feel we were treated unfairly or the other person was treated too fairly? We discussed whether or not we were ever in a situation where we had to set the example and forgive someone for a wrong and what happened. Was there complete forgiveness and reconciliation in those relationships?

We compared the South African situation to that of America and talked about a time in U.S. history (9-1-1) when a specific group of people was responsible for bringing misery or harm to fellow countrymen and the reaction from the Americans who felt wronged. We compared those reactions to the reaction of the prodigal's brother. We talked about times in our lives when we felt this way about others as well, as though they didn't deserve forgiveness or acceptance because of the wrongs they had previously committed.

We closed discussing which brother was the better role model, if either. We also talked about how the father's attitude towards his rebellious son was similar to Jesus' attitude towards His rebellious children.

Rejoice Always

Philippians 4:4 - ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

It has been said that people are like tea bags. When they’re in hot water, you find out what’s inside. When trouble comes your way, when you’re in “hot water”, how do you respond – or, what “comes out?”

Well that's what we talked about tonight. And we actually brewed a few cups of tea....one licorice, which didn't look or smell too good...and one chai tea, which, though it didn't look great, the aroma that came from it was very pleasant.

We talked about how our joy is not found in what’s going on in our lives, stuff, or even how we get along with other people. Our joy can only be found in the presence of the Lord (Nehemiah 8:10b, Psalm 16:11).

For a visual, we discussed a list of circumstances and relationships that could rob us of our joy. With each one we talked about, we added food coloring to a clear vase of water. By the time we were through, our "hearts" were pretty dirty and didn't look very joyful.

Then we discussed the four ways Pastor Billy told us we could rejoice in the Lord always.

• Have a knowledge of God (Psalm 1:1-3). We also talked about ways we could get to know God better (i.e. read His Word daily, memorize Scripture, etc...).
• Understand how awesome our salvation is (1 Samuel 2:1, Psalm 71:23). We again talked about ways we could do this (sing praise and worship songs, tell God through prayer how awesome He is and grateful we are, etc...).
• Walk in the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We talked about the fruits of the Spirit and ways we could display each of them.
• Believe that God will supply all of our needs (Matthew 6:28-44). We talked about our "stuff" that seemed so important to us at the time we had to have it and now sits unused or even broken in our homes. We talked about ways to always remember this valuable lesson about God (keep a journal of all the ways He provided for us in the past, thankful journals, memorize Romans 8:28, etc...).

As we discussed these four ways we could rejoice in the Lord always, we added a pinch of Oxy Clean to our "murky, joyless water heart". By the time we were finished, it was crystal clear again!

We talked about some warning signs that joy was lacking in our hearts, like complaining, grumbling, anger, sadness, and having a bad attitude.

Lastly, we discussed what each of us were going to do personally to rejoice in the Lord this next week. We wrote them out on index cards to put on our mirrors or refrigerators so we would see them everyday, pray for them, and put them into practice (to hopefully make habits).

Citizens of Heaven

Ambassadors for Christ

Ambassador Tessa

Ambassador Kirsten

Cheyanne, making sure each bag has a gospel tract

Philippians 3:20 - ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Tonight we discussed how heaven is wherever God's throne is and wherever He has absolute authority and rule, and that includes right here on earth! Paul tells us that we ARE citizens of heaven, not that we WILL BE someday.

So what makes us citizens of heaven?

• Our names are written in the register of the country where we live. Remember the census we recently had to fill out here in America? That was a way we registered ourselves and our families as citizens of this country. But remember, our names are written in another register that's far more important.

Luke 10:20 - ²⁰However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Revelation 21:27 - ²⁷Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

• We're also already citizens of heaven already if we are believers in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:6 - ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 12:22-24 - ²²But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

• We're citizens of heaven because our bank account is in heaven.

Matthew 6:19-21 - ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We talked about what some of the treasures are that we can store up for ourselves here on earth...money, reputation, "stuff", friends, etc... Then we talked about the treasures we can store up for ourselves in heaven...blessings from God!

• Lastly, we are citizens of heaven because heaven's King is our King. As believers, God rules in us.

We talked about what other country we're citizens of...America...and whether or not we are citizens of America first and foremost, or heaven. Agreeing that we're citizens of heaven first, we talked about how that makes us ambassadors here on earth, in America or wherever we may live. Ambassadors are authorized messengers or representatives. God has authorized us to spread His gospel message, His Word. We represent God while we're here on this earth and that's a huge responsibility. Because we represent God, we need to be careful how we live, think, act, talk, respond in difficult situations, etc... People are watching us to learn more about God's character because we represent Him.

2 Corinthians 5:20 - ²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Ephesians 6:20 - ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

While we discussed our lesson tonight, we worked as ambassadors to the homeless community by assembling 100 more brown bags for the congregation to take and distribute to those in need. As ambassadors for Christ, we prayed over our assembled bags, knowing that, with each one put in the hands of someone who may not know Christ as their Savior, we were representing Him and spreading His message.

The Not Alone Again Tour

We were blessed last night to sit in with the youth group on a concert with Tim Serdynski and Natalie Creel. Many of us had already heard Tim play at the Shaun Groves concert last month. Tim and Natalie shared their hearts, their talents, their time, and their love for God with us. It was a great concert. Afterwards, we taught Tim and Natalie the ever-so-insane game of Amoeba and they played Karate Circle with us too. Tim also learned first-hand how seriously some of the guys take their air hockey! Sorry Tim! Maybe next time!