BASIC. Fear God

Over the next few weeks, we're going to go through a series getting back to the BASICS. Sometimes, it's easy for us to lose sight of the basic principles in following Christ. The call to follow & imitate Christ is very simple - but executing & living it is totally different. So we're going to break things down & get our minds & heart back to the basics of following Jesus.

Week ONE: Fear God. This concept is so often downplayed in church. We're taught so much about God's love & how loving our God is, we often don't get taught the FULL character of God. If all we know is a loving God - then we don't know the God of the Bible. God doesn't only have one characteristic. Our God is so extravagant, so great & so mighty. Yes, God IS love. But, our God is also to be feared.

Psalm 111:10 tells us that fearing God gives us knowledge, wisdom & understanding. So to know God & understand who God is begins with a FEAR of Him.

When we look at Scripture, every time man enters into the presence of the Living God, they are overwhelmed with fear. We see Isaiah in Isaiah 6 just cry out his impurity. He thought he was utterly ruined for being in the presence of God. Then John in Revelation 1 tells us he fell to the ground as if he were dead. He literally fell to the ground at the feet of the King as if he were a dead man.

So why is our response any different? Why, when we enter the presence of God, do we respond any differently?

So often we see church as a social event instead of entering into His presence. So often we just jump into God's Word without any prayer & just read it without reverence. So often we just show up to church & simply park our bodies there with our mind on something else. So often we can sit in church & take nothing away from the experience of being in the house of the Lord.

How? How can we think we're any better? Any different? That the God they feared is different today?

We've lost a fear of God. And we need to fear the Living God just like Isaiah & John did in the Bible.

In Revelation 1, John is told to "fear not." But notice in the text this is ONLY AFTER John has submitted. Only after John has humbled himself. Shown fear. Reverence. Surrender.

We serve a God who is to be feared. A God who demands we humble ourselves & submit our lives to Him. A God who demands we surrender ourselves to Him as we enter His presence.





JV

Sword of the Spirit

We've spent the last 6 weeks doing a series on the Armor of God. It has challenged us to put on the FULL armor of God so that we can fight this spiritual battle. As Christians, Satan is attacking. He's already lost you, but he's certainly doing his part to make you ineffective. To make you stagnant. To make you unattractive to this lost world. And it's time for us to fight back.

Ephesians 6 calls us to equip ourselves with the Armor of God. To protect ourselves with armor only God can offer. And the last element we are called to pick up is the Sword of the Spirit.

So far, the first 5 pieces of armor have been all about defense. And now we finally get a weapon. We finally get some offense to strike back. And what is our sword? The Word of God. The BIBLE.

Wait. So we're called to fight back with the Bible? With a book? YES. That is how powerful God's Word is. Of all things, our Lord is telling us to fight back with His WORD. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells "all scripture is God-breathed." And from what we know in Genesis when God made man, when God breathes into something, it becomes ALIVE. Time to fight back with the living Word of God Himself.

Now this world will claim our Bible is just another book. Just another religious text to be categorized with the Book of Mormon & the Koran. But let's take a look at what separates the Bible from other religious texts, and what gives us the confidence to know it is the living Word of God & our most powerful weapon in spiritual warfare.

The Bible: 40 different authors. Written over a span of 1600 years. On 3 different continents. In 3 different languages. Authors that came from all different walks/occupations in life. Yet, somehow, they ALL agree. They ALL point to the same living God. They ALL point to Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

Which is different than all other religious texts. The Koran & Book of Mormon? Each written by ONE man. So of course it's going to agree with itself. But take 40 authors all over the world, in different cultures, in different languages, over 1600 years & have them all agree? That's pretty clutch evidence.

We can also look at the OT prophecies. There are 48 different OT prophecies about the coming Messiah. Jesus fulfilled ALL of them in the NT. But, playing with odds, for only 8 of them to come true, the chances for that to happen would be 1 in 100 millionbillion.

The Bible has also never been archaeologically disputed. Need some physical & tangible proof? Everything dug up, found & discovered has only supported the claims of the Bible. Not once has history contradicted the Bible.

So now what? We got some good points on the validity of the Bible, but what do we do with it? Well God calls it a sword, and then calls us to pick up that sword & fight back in this dark world to show His light. He is commanding us to read, study & memorize His living Word - and then guess what? LIVE it. James 1:22 tells us to be doers of the Word. To live out & obey Jesus' teachings.

Mahatma Gandhi says this about the Word of God: "You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature."

How are you treating the Bible? Like another book? Another religious text? Something to pull out for church? Or are you LIVING it? Pick up the sword & fight back.

Be DOERS of the Word.

JV

Camp at the Mount 2011 ReCap!

One week. 65 students. 8 decisions to follow Jesus. 13 to renew their commitment. God doing work.



JV

August Announcements

Here's what happening this month for New Life Student Ministries!

1. Back to School Swim Party! Sunday Aug 14 / after AM service / guys bring drinks & girls bring chips / bring your swimmers to church / no one-pieces or speedos!
2. Back to School Shindig Lock-In! Friday Aug 19 / $40 / meet @ NLBC @ 9:15 PM / Playtime Pizza / Riverdale 10 Cinema / mandatory sign up by Sunday Aug 14
3. Fall Retreat at Camp War Eagle! Sep 9-11 / $60 / deadline to sign-up Aug 24

Exciting things on the horizon! Great time to get involved & kick it with our student ministry!

Camp at the Mount Rules 2011

I had the opportunity to create the rules video for Camp at the Mount 2011! Don't worry. I've kept my day job. Enjoy!