Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Challenge Update

Reconciliation. That has been a constant theme the last few days. What a powerful word that is. Reconciliation: to make something right, to make oneself no longer opposed, to re-establish relationship with. When God created Adam and Eve and gave them life in the fullest, they decided they wanted more. The completely rejected the rule God had for them and sinned against Him. Their act of rebellious disobedience caused a break in relationship. They were no longer in perfect unity with Christ. BUT the story doesn't end there. Genesis 3:15 is the fist foreshadowing of the the man who will make a way for that relationship to be reconciled.  Jesus will come and conquer sin & satan. Jesus humbling came to earth as a baby, lived a perfect life and gave of himself for us. He took our sins, he became our sins ( 2 Cor. 5:21). He took our penalty of death upon Himself. Jesus has reconciled Himself to us. HOW COOL!

This theme has been an evident part of the way God has been working in students, leaders and even our speakers the last few days. I've seen students surrender to God, praise God for this reconciliation and be changed because of that. I've seen students realize some of their relationships with each other aren't at peace...and they reconcile those relationships. This morning one of the speakers spoke to the adult youth leaders about how God was molding and shaping him in this area. God is at work and it is so cool to see and be personally a part of.

This morning we continued on in the theme of getting rid of our old way of life and being hidden in Christ. (Col 3:5-11). We are made alive in Christ, we no longer our slaves to our sinful nature, but our slaves to Christ, to righteousness. Craig Cross did an excellent job conveying this to students this morning.  He has a ministry specifically to porn/sex addicts and spoke directly to the hearts of teens in this area. Check out his ministry website here. God is doing a work in our students. Pray for us as we process these intense messages from the word, pray that we would respond in surrender and obedience to our Savior.

Here are a few pictures of the last few days:

Monday, July 2, 2012

Challenge Update

Hello Parents and fellow Wichita friends! We are having a great time in New Orleans! We apologize for the late communication with this blog...we just got hooked up with internet. So we have lots to fill you in on...so I'll just hit some of the main points.

Let me start by saying...your students are awesome! They have gone with the flow, been flexible, had great attitudes. They are a great group to travel with!

Saturday we started the day off hunting for alligators...well maybe not hunting...but we did find some!
I was not able to go on this swamp tour...but I heard lots of cool stories. A lot of the kids got to hold a baby alligator that was a few months old. I am sure you will hear all about the tour...if you haven't already  :)

Yesterday we spent most of the day serving. What a cool day that was! Our group was split up all over the place helping the Challenge staff get ready for the conference. There were several groups standing out in the hot sun welcoming people and directing them where to go, they were groups helping carrying luggage in, there were groups helping with set up...and all of them were excited and ready to work!

Francis Chan hit us hard with some truth of Scripture last night and this morning. We have studied Colossians 1:15-23 in the last 2 sessions.  *You check out some short clips and pictures of that here.*
You can never be told to often or too much who Jesus is and it can never get old. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, Jesus is the firstborn over all creations, all things were created FOR Jesus. WE are made FOR Jesus. Jesus holds ALL things together.  Jesus is our everything and everything belongs to Him and is for Him! The cool thing about all of this...we rejected this magnificent, perfect, holy, Jesus but instead of Him just walking away from us...He reconciled himself to us. He made a way for us to be in unity with Him...the almighty God. Jesus made that sacrifice for us on the cross and paid the penalty for ours sins...so that God could reconcile Himself to us. COOL! It's all about Jesus who has made everything right on the cross.

I am so excited to see God continue to do a work in students and leaders. I know God has already been rocking my heart big time. I will try and give you guys an update every day to let you know what is happening. In the meantime, here are some things you can pray for:
1. God would break down walls and break and humble us.
2. Students would be responsive to God's voice.
3. As we serve tomorrow all around the city that New Orleans would come alive with Christ...that people would encounter Jesus and the freedom He brings.

Check out the challenge Face Book page for more pictures and videos....but here are a few to keep you entertained :)








Thursday, March 10, 2011

Church

As I sit in class my mind wanders to the Church. Perhaps it is because I'd rather be sitting in Dan Kreis's living room studying Jesus with my brothers and sisters. But instead I must sit and listen to a lecture about oceanography.  Growing up I when I heard the word "church" my mind automatically painted a picture of a building with 4 walls and a steeple; the place I went on Sunday mornings.  When I hear the word "church" now my mind goes to an army, an army for Christ; my brothers and sisters.  The people.  What if we constantly had this imagine in our mind, what if we lived like we believe WE are the CHURCH?  We are the Bride of Christ, we are the Kingdom. Oh the power in those statements! Why do we not grasp this? Why do we not live this way? Why do I not live this way?  I was brought to tears watching a group of teenage girls living this out last night.  As I sat and watched and listened to their words, their words of encouragement, the way they loved, how they shared scripture with one another, how they cried with one another, how they prayed for one another, how they were Christ to one another!  The joy that wallowed inside of me came out in tears. We can learn from them.  The amount of love they have for one another reflects just what Paul was talking about in 1 John 4.  They love because they have been loved by Christ, they sacrifice because they were given the ultimate sacrifice.  I long and desire to see this everywhere!  I find myself crying out to God for Him to desperately break me, to desperately break His Church, to show us what it means to love one another.  I see Him moving. Oh how I love my Heavenly Father.


I don't really know who reads this...or if anyone reads this.  But if you are reading this and you want to know more about The Church, about love or just about God in general, I would LOVE to talk with you.
For those reading that claim to be Christ followers, let this be an encouragement to love one another as Christ loved us.  Don't go through another day without reaching out and loving people.

1 John 4:
" Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.  Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

What love really means.

He cries in the corner where nobody sees
He's the kid with the story no one would believe
He prays every night, "Dear God won't you please...
Could you send someone here who will love me?"

Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
'Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means

Her office is shrinking a little each day
She's the woman whose husband has run away
She'll go to the gym after working today
Maybe if she was thinner
Then he would've stayed
And she says...

Who will love me for me?
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me?
'Cause nobody has shown me what love, what love really means

He's waiting to die as he sits all alone
He's a man in a cell who regrets what he's done
He utters a cry from the depths of his soul
"Oh Lord, forgive me, I want to go home"

Then he heard a voice somewhere deep inside
And it said
"I know you've murdered and I know you've lied
I have watched you suffer all of your life
And now that you'll listen, I'll tell you that I..."

I will love you for you
Not for what you have done or what you will become
I will love you for you
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew

1 John 4:10
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

1 John 3:16
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

I see and encounter people who ask the question "who will love me?", they feel alone abandoned and unloved by everyone in their lives.  God has a special place for these people, God loves these people. He gave his son for these people. Jesus went through pain and abandonment far greater just so we could be in a love so great nothing can take us from it.  Jesus has laid down his life for me, my life is now about laying down my life for my brothers and sisters.  This song by JJ Heller makes me cry every time.  This world is filled with darkness, and it breaks me to know there are people asking and saying somebody just love me! I want my life to be about loving these people, love every single person.  I want every single person I encounter to encounter JESUS.  If you are reading this and you feel alone and unloved, read those verses, get in contact with me. I would love to sit down and have coffee with you! Jesus will love you for you!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

New Vision

Summer is quickly coming to an end and for a lot of you it has. You have made your way through your first day of school. Some of you, your first day of high school....those can be scary days but some of the best days of your life. This summer I have reflected back on last school year and looked ahead to this year.  As I searched my heart and allowed God to show me what he wanted from me I found I had failed Him once again. God had given me multiple opportunities last school year to build relationships and direct people to the cross. But I didn't take them.  I came broken before God knowing I had failed and missed opportunities to glorify Him. God is a gracious and forgiving God and for that I am eternally thankful! So God has given me a new vision and passion for school this year. Classes start for me on Friday. After looking at the roster of people who are in my classes I came to find that in all but one class I know no one. At first I was bummed about this...but then it hit me that this was God's way of placing me out of my comfort zone and giving me opportunities again to glorify His name. I am prayerfully looking forward to Friday to connect to people in my class. I want this school year to be about one thing and one thing only, furthering HIS KINGDOM!

So some of you that read that sentence about your first day's of high school being some of the best of your lives may be thinking,"ya right, it was horrible". Start looking at it through the eyes of Christ. Look at the hundreds of people you pass by everyday, hurting people, desperate people, lonely people, lost people, people who need Jesus. You aren't there by accident. God wants to use you in the halls and classrooms of your school...are you going to let Him? I'm done with high school I can't go back....I can't undo my bad attitude, my meanness and my apathy. But you are there now, this is your chance this is your opportunity to change your school for Christ. Allow God to work in and through you and you will begin to see His hand prints all over!

Therefore let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith!!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

What does God tell us to do with the poor?

Old Testament passages




• "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan." Exodus 22:22

• "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits." Exodus 23:6

• "During the seventh year, let the land lie unploughed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove." Exodus 23:11

• "Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:10

• "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly." Leviticus 19:15

• "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 23:22

• "If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave." Leviticus 25:25, 35, 39

• "If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption." Leviticus 25:47-48

• "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18

• "At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied." Deuteronomy 14:28-29

• "However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you." Deuteronomy 15:4

• "If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tight-fisted toward your poor brother." Deuteronomy 15:7

• "Be careful not to harbour this wicked thought: The seventh year, the year for cancelling debts, is near, so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin." Deuteronomy 15:9

• "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11

• "Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns." Deuteronomy 24:14

• "Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge." Deuteronomy 24:17

• "When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow." Deuteronomy 24:19-21

• "'Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.' Then all the people shall say, Amen!'" Deuteronomy 27:19

• "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honour." 1 Samuel 2:8

• "as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor." Esther 9:22

• "When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief." Job 24:14

• "Because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him." Job 29:12

• "Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?" Job 30:25

• "If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary." Job 31:16

• "The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9

• "But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." Psalm 9:18

• "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the LORD, I will protect them from those who malign them. " Psalm 12:5

• "You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge." Psalm 14:6

• "This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles." Psalm 34:6

• "My whole being will exclaim, Who is like you, 0 LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.'" Psalm 35:10

• "The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright." Psalm 37:14

• "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay." Psalm 40:17

• "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5

• "Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, 0 God, you provided for the poor." Psalm 68:10

• "The poor will see and be glad-- you who seek God, may your hearts live! The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people." Psalm 69:32-33

• "Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay." Psalm 70:5

• "He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor." Psalm 72:4

• "For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death." Psalm 72:12-13

• "Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name." Psalm 74:21

• "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4

• "But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks." Psalm 107:41

• "For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him." Psalm 109:31

• "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor." Psalm 112:9

• "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;" Psalm 113:7

• "I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food." Psalm 132:15

• "I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." Psalm 140:12

• "He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free" Psalm 146:7

• "The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked." Psalm 146:9

• "I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." Proverbs 13:23

• "He who despises his neighbour sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy." Proverbs 14:21

• "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God." Proverbs 14:31

• "The LORD tears down the proud man's house but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact." Proverbs 15:25

• "Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud." Proverbs 16:19

• "He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished." Proverbs 17:5

• "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done." Proverbs 19:17

• "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13

• "A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." Proverbs 22:9

• "He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich -- both come to poverty." Proverbs 22:16

• "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court." Proverbs 22:22

• "A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops." Proverbs 28:3

• "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." Proverbs 28:27

• "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern." Proverbs 29:7

• "Those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind." Proverbs 30:14

• "Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:9

• "She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." Proverbs 31:20

• "If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still." Ecclesiastes 5:8

• "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

• "The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?' declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 3:14-15

• "to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless." Isaiah 10:2

• "With righteousness he will judge the needy; with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked." Isaiah 11:4

• "The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors." Isaiah 14:30

• "You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall." Isaiah 25:4

• "Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah 29:19

• "The scoundrel's methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just." Isaiah 32:7

• "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." Isaiah 41:17

• "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" Isaiah 58:6-7

• "If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." Isaiah 58:10

• "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1

• "On your clothes men find the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this you say I am innocent.'" Jeremiah 2:34

• "I thought, These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.'" Jeremiah 5:4

• "(They) have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor." Jeremiah 5:28

• "if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm," Jeremiah 7:6

• "This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place." Jeremiah 22:3

• "'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD." Jeremiah 22:16

• "Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked." Jeremiah 20:13

• "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." Ezekiel 16:49

• "He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked." Ezekiel 18:7

• "The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice." Ezekiel 22:29

• "This is what the LORD says: For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.'" Amos 2:6-7

• "Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, Bring us some drinks!'" Amos 4:1

• "Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land." Amos 8:4

• "Buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat." Amos 8:6

• "Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other." Zechariah 7:10

• "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,' says the LORD Almighty." Malachi 3:5



New Testament passages



• "Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" Matthew 19:21

• "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." Matthew 25:35

• "They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." Mark 12:40

• "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed." Luke 4:18

• "So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.'" Luke 7:22

• "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." Luke 12:33

• "But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." Luke 14:13

• "When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" Luke 18:22

• "Beware of the teachers of the law . . . They devour your widows' houses . . . Such men will be punished severely." Luke 20:46-47

• "'Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages.' He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it." John 12:5

• "In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor." Acts 9:36

• "Cornelius stared at him in fear. What is it, Lord?' he asked. The angel answered, your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.'" Acts 10:4

• "After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings." Acts 24:17

• "On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.'" Romans 12:20

• "For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem." Romans 15:26

• "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." Galatians 2:10

• "Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need." 1 Timothy 5:3

• "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

• "Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and becomes judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?" James 2:2-6

• "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18

Friday, June 11, 2010

Remain

Well as you all know...we have made if home safe and sound. As I am sitting here processing the week...I stand in awe of how amazing the God we serve is! He did a mighty work within the lives of your students! I was blessed to be a part of it...and I know I can speak for the other leaders in saying that as well! I will continue to pray for you students...God isn't finished with them yet! I am praying Hebrews 12:1 over each of them!

Students...you are awesome! Run the race with perseverance! Hold each other accountable! I love each of you and look forward to the rest of the summer with you!

Yellow Swarm signing out...