Side by Side- KGC Youth Ministry

Good News of Christ - ‪Heidelberg Catechism (Live)‬‏

2011-07-09T09:50:00.000-05:00

YouTube - ‪Heidelberg Catechism (Live)‬‏: ""

Catechisms help us remember Truth of the Gospel!

Power and Promise from God- Louie Giglio‬‏

2011-07-09T09:23:00.001-05:00

YouTube - ‪Catalyst West 2010: Louie Giglio‬‏: ""

The Gospel transforms our understanding of God and shows us God's love and power for sinners to come in faith. It is all

ESV Student Study Bible Special

2011-06-12T17:24:00.003-05:00

If you want a great deal on the new ESV Student Study Bible that is coming out at the end of July go to the site below. Crossway is offering a 30% off pre-order price and a free book by John Piper called Think (which by the way is an excellent volume challenging you to love God with your mind!)
ESV Student Bible description

2011-06-11T10:15:00.002-05:00

Christ has called us all to think of others first!!!

Pursue Your Calling Not Your Potential

2011-06-10T10:26:00.006-05:00

Calling or Potential???

Have you talk to Jesus today to see what He wants you to be doing?

Pursue Your Calling Not Your Potential

Whatever it takes... Dug Down Deep

2010-07-29T15:09:00.002-05:00

Check out the video below. It highlights the importance of being in the Word of God. If you haven't read Josh Harris's new book "Dug Down Deep" I would encourage you to get a copy and dig in!

The most costly love!

2008-04-19T14:11:00.002-05:00

What are you thinking about as you wake up in the morning? What consumes your thoughts when you are going throughout your day? I know that I am too often consumed by lesser things. I have a paper due, I have tasks to get done, I have reading I want to finish, I have people I want to meet, I am consumed with lesser things. You may be saying, “Those things seem fine.” I would agree that they are ok to think about but the reality of the Cross of Christ often eludes my thoughts during the course of a given day. CS Lewis in his sermon called the Weight of Glory detailed that all things that are good actually point to the greatest one who is ultimate goodness. Is it possible we are playing in the gutter of lesser goods when the Christ, our Treasure is ignored and not embraced? What do I mean? Well maybe this will help… What is the Gospel reality? What is the message of the Gospel? What is of first importance? Paul says that the message and reality of first importance is that Christ lived, died, was buried, and rose again victoriously (I Corinthians 15:3, 4). This message was not just for unbelievers but for believers as well. How is the message of the Cross affecting your life and relationships? It is the greatest love a man can have as we look at the Cross then the greatest care we can have for those around us is to tell the amazing story that Jesus came to raise us from dead transgressions to life in Him. Our lives have nothing to do with our “glory” and everything to do with His ultimate glory. Who have you told lately of the love that compelled Christ to embrace the cross?

J.C. Ryle (an old guy I highly admire who lived in the 1800’s) once said, “There is a common, worldly Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough – a cheap Christianity which offends nobody and requires no sacrifice – which costs nothing and is worth nothing.”

May that not be the case with each of you as you share the Good News, that if you repent of your sins and turn to Christ, who bled and died to take your sins away. Your friends will never see greater love displayed than in the love of our Savior and Treasure, the Lord Jesus who displayed the most clear and complete love on the Cross!

To Pray?

2008-02-10T19:16:00.000-05:00

Winter Fest 2008 was a huge success! It was great just to go sledding (I loved that jump on the side of the hill). I saw that Meghan Ross already had some picture on her Facebook site. It was amazing that we actually had enough snow, since a week ago they were calling for the whole week to be in the 40 degree range. God is so good to answer prayer (even though my hopes and prayers for the Patriots were ineffective).

Well the next Side by Side Youth Fellowship is not until Feb. 24^th but I was wondering what everyone thought of Pastor Paul’s message today? Prayer is something that I have always struggled with when I am in my quiet times alone. I start to pray and then get distracted or I pray through a list and check off that it is done. It has been fairly recently that I have seen God lead me into deeper times of prayer. What about you? Do you find prayer alone to be easy or difficult? Let me know how I can pray for you all as well.

Think about this, Jesus prayed often to His Father. If Jesus needed to pray often, how can we get away with any less without suffering spiritually? One way to start is just to ask God to help you to pray. The Holy Spirit was given as the ultimate teacher of all things so if you ask Him, He will show you how to pray (John 14:26). Paul says several times that we should pray all the time (Ephesians 6:18).

Rather than thinking of prayer as a task I find it extremely helpful to think of it as a dialogue with your closest friend who has all the time in the world to listen and answer you! There is so much more that can be said about prayer but I thought I would leave you with a recent quote I read by the evangelist DL Moody “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.” Let’s thank God today that He is approachable because of Jesus who died on the Cross for our sins to make us sons and daughters of God.

Light in the darkness

2007-12-23T19:12:00.000-05:00

John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

When you think of sin, what image does this conjure up? There were two images that come to mind. The first is darkness; sin is seen in the Bible as darkness. When Christ came into the world, John states that he is the light of life. Just yesterday when Pam and I were traveling, we stopped at a service plaza to fill up the car with gas when we saw a dog that had gotten loose from its owners and was running through the parking lot with owners in tow trying to catch it before the dog could be run over by cars coming and going. The dog thought that this was a game but in fact this was very dangerous for the dog. Sin is much like this when we encounter it in the world. Sin is deceitful and crafty and in our natural state we are unable to see sin for what it is. Many times we are like that dog that runs from its owner; God wants what is best for us and He sent His Son Jesus to the earth as Savior.

The reality of the Kingdom is that Jesus is the Lamb that takes the sin of the world so our trust is in God not in our own goodness. This brings to mind another image that I also saw yesterday. Pam and I stayed at some friend's house on the way out to Chicago who had three dogs and a kitten. When I went downstairs while holding the kitten I passed by a hanging string that was swinging, well you can guess that the cat was enamored by the string :) Needless to say I received much joy by watching the cat bat the string around while resting secure in my arms. Can you imagine the joy God receives when we turn in repentance from sin and rest in the arms of Christ as we joyessly live in light of the Savior's goodness. Can you hear the Father lovingly laugh in your ear as you rest in His grace and truth?
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Snow!!!

2007-12-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

Sunday is always the highlight of the week because that is when Pam and I can worship corporately with all of you @ KGC. This week we really missed getting together with everyone because of the snow cancellation. We still had a great time together listening to a sermon by John Piper and meditating on deep theological truths, but something still was missing. It got me to think about how wonderful and crucial community is to us who are part of the Body of Christ. Think about it, it is so wonderful to be in fellowship with other believers while growing together into Christ-likeness. The Holy Spirit is always sweetly evident within the church service as we worship in song and in the Word together in community. What does community look like to you? How can we live out Christian community together?

Hebrews 10 gives us a good picture of what this means...

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (verses 19-25)

Let me know what you all think!

Aslan is on the move!

2007-12-13T09:10:00.000-05:00

"It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!" said Mr Tumnus to Lucy.

One thing that cannot be denied is the fact that stories hold much weight over our attention. When we hear a good story we cannot help but listen. Eugene Peterson once said that for every book written on good theology there should be five novels written illustrating it. We need great minds like Tolkien and Lewis to draw us into the story for the sake of helping us think through how we are living out the Salvation that Christ has purchased at the cross. How are we to Worship Walk & Witness the Gospel in our every conversation? With that said we must think deeper about these stories and others that are written out there.

Any good and sophisticated story can be traced back to an understanding of God and His interaction with humanity. While C.S. Lewis advocated a view of the world that pointed to God, the Golden Compass is the inverse of this view. God is truth and because of the Holy Spirit, we can see (I Cor. 2:6-16) what God has done is marvelous. This is to say the wisdom of the Gospel is not the conventional (natural) wisdom of the world. Pullman, the author of the Golden Compass, has stated several times "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." In fact Dr Mohler has dealt with this content in depth on his own blog. If you have the time I think that Dr Mohler's treatment on the subject is well worth the time in order to interact with your friends about the movie. There is an awful lot that can be said about this subject and he has done the work to help us think through this clearly.

Now my question to you is what should we do in response to this movie? How can we allow for discussion amongst our friends who have seen it? What can be said that will make our interactions redemptive and Spirit filled? Are you looking for open doors that God has put in your path as your dialogue with friends? Do you see this movie as an opportunity to witness what God has done for the world by sending His Son?

My prayer is that it would not be always winter and never Christmas! May the truth of the Gospel roar through the land with great joy and jubilation!

“I’ve come at last,” said he. “She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The witch’s magic is weakening.”

Scary Day

2007-10-31T20:05:00.000-05:00

Today is often associated with scary images. Imagine this…

Tomorrow you wake up and there is no Bible that you can read. In Fact, the only Bible you know of is in the church in town and it is only in Latin (which you don’t know).

This was the situation 490 years ago and it was a little known monk called Martin Luther on October 31^st nailed 95 theses on the door of Schlosskirche (castle church), this was the way that people entered into debates for thought (I guess kind of like web logs today).

It was this young monk that stood up to the powerful church and monarchy of the day. He eventually would spend much time in the room pictured above translating the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into modern German. God used Martin and other godly men to bring the Bible to the common languages of the people. How is your time in God’s precious Word lately? Have you ever taken God's Word for granted?

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. -Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us ... Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31)

-Martin Luther

Change

2007-09-06T09:09:00.001-05:00

Change is in the air as we start to see the hints of color on the trees around the Merrimac valley. I am continually struck by the extravagant beauty of this season of change. How awesome is our God to create even the trees to change amazing colors in the autumn! As we continue to think about God and how he has transformed us, think about this verse…

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. –James 1:17

That is an amazing concept that boggles the mind. God changes us but is Himself unchanged. This reality of God is redemptive and transforming for if God is not one to change and we are changeable by Him then our hope is not solely in our ability, but it is in Him that we experience true redemptive change.

The Gospel instructs us in this as we look to Christ we see that He is the one who has saved us from sin and our hope is in Him. This should cause us to be dependent upon the Savior of our souls, for we can delight in finding that Jesus as our Treasure. When Paul wrote of this transformation he used the illustration of Moses in the Old Testament. Remember when Moses came off the mountain his face was radiant for he had been changed by being in the presence of the Lord (Exodus 34:29). Paul does not stop there but states that we too, being in Christ, have now experienced this transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. –II Corinthians 3:18

This is a process as God changes us, more and more, into Christ! So my question to you as you read this is… How are you being transformed to Christ-likeness? When you look back over the year do you see the grace of God in how he has changed you? How are your times in His presence? Are you soaking in the Word and allowing the Holy Spirit free reign to change you?

I pray this year finds you, like the leaf, colored with the grace of Christ and changed to be more like Him!

Consumed

2007-08-26T17:05:00.000-05:00

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." –C.S. Lewis

This past week at Youth Camp 07 we looked at the theme of being consumed. When someone is consumed with something they pursue it with all their heart. In fact there are several definitions that it could mean:

Consume:

1: to do away with completely : destroy

2: to spend wastefully : squander

3: to eat or drink esp. in great quantity or to enjoy avidly : devour

4: to engage fully : engross

5: to utilize as a customer

These definitions come from the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. As we enter back into the Blazing Center series remember the definition that John Piper refers to when we talk about Christian Hedonism: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” A hedonist pursues pleasure but a Christian hedonist pursues pleasure in God. Think of the psalmist as he writes these words in...

Psalm 42: ¹As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. ²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Where is your heart trying to be satisfied? Is it in the Living Water of Christ or in the dried empty wells of this world? What are you consumed by?

Evangelism Augustine Style

2007-07-30T21:46:00.000-05:00

After yesterday's great sermon by Pastor Paul on evangelism, I thought how great it is to think about our amazing God who is drawing our friends that don't know Him.

Saint Augustin was very instrumental in his lifetime as he served as a leader of the church in northern Africa. For the first thirty years he lived a life of sin in rebellion to God. But throughout his journey to Faith God used several close friends to plant seeds of the Gospel. But it was in a garden one afternoon where he recorded the events that lead to Faith in Christ.

There was a small garden attached to the house where we lodged… I now found myself driven by the tumult in my breast to take refuge in this garden, where no one could interrupt that fierce struggle in which I was my own contestant…. I was beside myself with madness that would bring me sanity. I was dying a death that would bring me life…. I was frantic, overcome by violent anger with myself for not accepting Your will and entering Your covenant…. I tore my hair and hammered my forehead with my fists; I locked my fingers and hugged my knees….I was held back by mere trifles…. They plucked at my garment of flesh and whispered, “Are you going to dismiss us? From this moment we shall never be with you again, for ever and ever.”….I flung myself down beneath a fig tree and gave way to the tears which now streamed from my eyes…. In my misery I kept crying, “How long shall I go on saying ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’? Why not now? Why not make an end of my ugly sins at this moment?”….All at once I heard the singsong voice of a boy or a girl I cannot say, but again and again it repeated the refrain “Take it and read, take it and read.” …. So I hurried back to the place where Alypius was sitting…. Seized [the book of Paul’s Epistles] and opened it, and in silence I read the first passage on which my eyes fell: “Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries. Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ; spend no more thought on nature and nature’s appetites.” (Romans 13:13-14). I had no wish to read more and no need to do so. For in an instant, as I came to the end of the sentence, it was as though the light of confidence flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled. (Confessions VIII)

From that day Augustine's life was changed. His conversion did not happen over night and God used several people to relationally build friendships that were stepping stones to Faith in Christ. Be encouraged that your friendships with others, as you live out the Gospel through the power of the Spirit, will result in the scene in Revelation 7:9-10:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

It's for God's Glory!

Who or what transforms you?

2007-06-21T20:05:00.000-05:00

Have you thought about who or what has the power to affect our mind and thinking in everyday life? It is easy to get caught up in the flow of all that happens around and in the culture we live in. It is like a fish in water; we tend to not think about what we do and why we do it in the course of a given day. When you wake up and check email, why do you do that? When you are bored and look to be entertained by a video game, does that truly satisfy you? What is you reason for what you do and when you do it?
When writing about interactions in ministry based around the latest technologies and trends, read this quote from an article on the cbs web site: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/15/eveningnews/main2273034.shtml

"We had some wrong thinking... that fun and games and flashiness somehow brought transformation and we're realizing it really doesn't," says Mark Ostreicher of Youth Ministries.

The reality is that anything we have or do, as good as it may be can be worshipped unknowingly as an idol. Technology is fun but if it replaces community with the idol of self, how will this really effect us? What really changes us? Are you being conformed to the world or transformed by God? (read Rom. 12:1-2)

Better together?

2007-05-20T20:26:00.000-05:00

This morning's message by Pastor Paul
on fellowship and community
(Eph. 4:1-16) was great.
After reflecting on the sermon and
thinking through aspects of how God
has given us this amazing gift of
fellowship to the church,
I thought of a story in Aesop's Fables.

The Four Oxen and the Lion
A Lion used to prowl about a field in which
Four Oxen used to dwell.  Many a time he tried
to attack them; but whenever he came
near they turned their tails to one another,
so that whichever way he approached them
he was met by the horns of one of them.  At
last, however, they fell a-quarrelling
among themselves, and each went off to
pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. 
Then the Lion attacked them one by one and
soon made an end of all four.
United we stand, divided we fall.

What do you think about fellowship in
community as described in the sermon?
Read 1 Peter 5:5-9.
Give some examples how God has blessed
your friendships in the church.
How can you grow in
practicing Biblical community this week?

The very first post (like a tree planted by the streams of Living Water)

2007-05-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Well this is the very first post for Youth Fellowship blog. I thought I would give you a great quote by "the Prince of Preachers" Mr. Charles Spurgeon(thanks to Mr. Jeff H.). Let me know what you think!

As I sat under a wide-spreading beech, I was pleased to mark with a prying curiosity the singular habits of that most wonderful of trees, which seems to have an intelligence about it which other trees have not. I wondered and admired the beech, but I thought to myself, I do not think half as much of this beech as yonder squirrel does, I see him leap from bough to bough, and I feel sure that he dearly values the old beech tree, because he has his home somewhere inside it in a hollow place, these branches are his shelter, and those beechnuts are his food. He lives upon the tree. It is his world, his playground, his granary, his home; indeed, it is everything to him, and it is not so to me, for I find my rest and food elsewhere. With God's word it is well for us to be like squirrels, living in it and living on it. Let us exercise our minds by leaping from bough to bough of it, and find our rest and food on it, and make it our all in all. There are hiding places in it; comfort and protection are there. -Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

So with that quote said, I know that I need the Word of God more than I think I need it. What are some ways we can live in and on the Word of God?