Monday, September 19, 2011

Uprising


This week we started the Uprising with our teens at CenterPointe. The Uprising is the theme of the year for our teens. We are going to be learning about and battling against "The Lies the Church Believes" this semester and I'm really excited about what God will do in this youth group.

Last night we read the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abenago in Daniel 3 and we challenged them to stand up and be different; to face the lies and defeat them. We taught them that believing in God means we have to give up our pride, and sometimes our body, for a cause that is greater than us. When God gives us a chance to stand up for Him we don't want to be the one that gives in to peer pressure, because if we stand up for Him it gives Him a chance to show His power and glory to bring more hearts to Him.

Our middle school small group discussion was great. Here are some questions and answers that I thought were fantastic:

Question:Who are we fighting against?
Answer:
Satan, People who take only the parts of the Bible they want, Ourselves.  - I never thought of the last one. It so simple and honest. Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?"


Question
What is our battlefield?
Answers:
Our heart, our friends hearts, the church, our school, the internet, everywhere we go. - These kids really got it!  Hebrews 12:1 says "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Question:
What are you personally going to do to participate in the Uprising?
Answers:
Jacqueline said she was going to hang up posters in her school.

Justin said he has a comic book business and he's going to make comics about Bible stories like Shadrach, Meshach and Abenago.

Olivia said she was going to invite more of her friends to come to church on Sunday nights.

Sarah (one of our leaders who's a nurse) said she was going to talk to more of her patients about Jesus.

I said I was going to blog more about scripture and about the Uprising.

Stephanie (one of our leaders who's a stay-at-home mom) said she was going to get out of her comfort zone and talk about Jesus.

Gavin said "I'm going to talk about Jesus until it becomes my comfort zone, until it's what I want to talk about." (Wow. I was so floored by this answer!)

These are just a few of the amazing answers we got last night in small group.

God is good and we are so blessed.

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