To see, or not to see, that is the question...

Ok... so we had yet another combined Sunday school this past Sunday morning. I'm sure most of the high schoolers are tired of hearing me by now... but hey, welcome to the world of the jr. highers!

I wanted to begin with a couple of worship songs but was unable to find anyone willing to play. That's when I realized "I need to learn how to play the guitar." So... that's exactly what I'm doing. I have began, with the help of my famed teacher - Ricky Blanchette, the laborious journey to becoming a guitar virtuoso. However, I feel this will be quite a long and arduous process, so I hope no one's expecting "Stairway to Heaven" as an opener for next Sunday. But soon enough... yes, soon enough :)

We did, however, begin with a brief story about cell phones, providers and the infamous "fav 5" plan. To see what all this intro entailed look back at my post entitled "who's in your fav 5?"; it's worth it.

Then we looked at our mornings passage, John 12:20, 21. This is the account of some Greeks who traveled up to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover feast. They were Gentiles who were being converted to Judaism and who had an openness of heart towards the God of Israel. They made this wearisome trek, all the while knowing that they would not even be able to partake of the Passover sacrifice. This shows us their earnestness and devotion.

The Greeks come to Philip, who was a Greek himself, and make the following request, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." This was the request of a genuine and hopeful people. They wanted to see Jesus for more than just a quaint "hello" or quick autograph or picture. They wanted to see Jesus because they recognized who He really was! This is what caused them to give up their precious Greek lifestyle in order to become a Jewish proselyte; strangers among a foreign people, in a foreign land. They wished to see Jesus! In all His beauty and glory and wonder! So much so that they were willing to give up everything to see Him. This is the price they were willing to pay.

Then I posed the question, "what are we willing to give up; what price are we willing to pay to see Jesus?"

This is a question we all need to ask ourselves each and every day! We must be willing to give it all up to see Jesus; to draw closer to Him. For He gave up everything in order to draw near to us; to see us. Let's work together to encourage one another to this end, that we may all be completely and utterly sold out for Christ! Otherwise, we'll often catch ourselves wishing to see anything but Jesus.

For His Kingdom...

How Embarrassing (HS Gangway 3/18/09)

Thursday night our wonderfully faithful high school students graced us with their presence again. We truly do have a great group of young people who bring Chris and I tremendous joy as we spend time with them.
This past week I shared an embarrassing story about my first year at WA. It was during half-time at the homecoming football game. It involved driving a convertible Porsche across the field with two of the most popular girls (voted onto homecoming court) sitting parade-style in the back-seat. Well what was supposed to be a very cool opportunity quickly derailed. It is only by God's grace that I was not marked with shame for the rest of my high school days. (You will have to ask your students for the full story).
I transitioned into a similar experience in the Bible. It is the account recorded in the Gospels of Peter walking on water (Mt 14:22-34). Here's what happened:
1) The disciples saw something scary and cried out in fear.
2) Jesus identified Himself and encouraged them not to be afraid.
3) Peter sought confirmation, then stepped out in faith.
4) Peter took his eyes off Jesus, began to sink and cried out.
5) Jesus immediately rescued Peter and asked why he doubted.
6) They returned to the boat and all the disciples worshiped Jesus.
What started out as being an amazing opportunity to do something no one else had, turned into one embarrassing moment. God by His grace teaches us an important lesson through this humiliating time. As I have written about before, I believe the parallels to our situation here at CRPC are apparent. A few months ago we entered an unknown scary situation. We were presented with not just a new head pastor but also a joining of two congregations. Both sides were were not sure what was happening. So we all cried out to God asking if this was of God. God answered He was in it. But before we stepped out in faith, we desired to confirm that Jesus was calling us to step out of our comfort zone (boat). He did. By a unanimous vote of both sessions and 91% of the congregation, God confirmed He was calling us to step out on the water. This is what's happened. Now we find ourselves in the uncharted territory, trying to keep our eyes on Christ while we are getting soaked by the wind and waves. Here is the point that I wanted all the students to grasp as we move ahead. Peter messed up. He took his eyes off of Jesus. He started to sink. After seeing it was Jesus walking on the water, after waiting on Jesus to call him out on the sea to walk with Him, Peter botched it.
All of us are like Peter. Every single one of us. We are all going to mess up at one point or another. From our new pastor, our new leadership teams, and of course even the students themselves. None of us are perfect. So now that we know this, we need to be gracious to each other when (not if) we mess up. Just as I desire grace when I falter, I need to give grace when others do the same. As we move forward to serve God together, let us be reminded that the only one who will never let us down is the one Peter cried out to in faith when he started to sink. The passage tells us that Jesus immediately took hold of Peter. He will do the same with us.
When Jesus and Peter returned to the boat, all the disciples worshiped Jesus. Isn't that our goal? To journey with our Savior in faith, even if we start to sink, and end up with all the saints together in worship. So may we do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with our LORD.

In His presence & by His power,
Bear

A scenic route, snake bites and the cross

First off, let me assure you that the title for my blog has everything to do with the Sunday school lesson and nothing to do with drugs, alcohol or the age old art of snake handling. However, I was tempted to bring in a fake snake for visual stimulation but refrained. And who says I'm not maturing...

We had yet another combined Sunday school with a packed house of eager young minds awaiting some prophetic word from their world class bible scholar (oh, wait... that was Dr. Lamerson's class).

However, we did have all of our lovely students together and it was a great time of storytelling and fun. We looked at Numbers 21:4-9. It is a great story about Israel, their frustration and impatience and how God dealt with them. For, Israel's impatience led them to speak out against God and His chosen leader, Moses. They were tired of wandering and eating such bland food and being nourished by water from rocks. So they basically told God that they were fed up with Him and His ways. We would probably chalk this up to stress and brush it off as just blowing off some steam. But God saw it another way; He saw it as sin! Therefore, God sent fiery serpents amongst the people that would serve as a visual manifestation of their sins. Now, when the snakes bit the people many of them died, thus demonstrating for the people both the result and seriousness of their sin.

Now, with the snakes all around them, the painful bites and people dropping dead left and right, Israel quickly became aware of their sin and sought forgiveness and relief. Yet, they recognized that they could not help themselves and thus asked Moses to pray to God to take the snakes away and save them. So Moses did and then God told him to do something pretty peculiar. God told Moses to make a fiery snake, put it on a pole and anyone who is bitten when they look at it shall live. What a crazy way to save the people! I mean where's all the bells and whistles of the Red Sea parting or bread from heaven or water from rocks? What's up with the snake on the pole? All the people have to do is look at it and live? What's that all about?

Well, God answers that for us in John 3:14, 15. Here Christ revives for us this interesting old story that took place back in Israel's wilderness journey. He tells us that just as Moses lifted up the snake so too must He be lifted up. For as the snake on the pole represented Israel's sin, it is Christ on the cross who becomes His people's sin for them (2 Cor. 5:21). As the people of Israel looked to the serpent on the pole, believing God's word of rescue and finding life; we must now look to Christ on the cross, believing His word of salvation, that He took our place and paid for our sins and find eternal life!

That's what the whole story in Numbers is about... it's about Christ! God was preparing His people for the way He would bring redemption through Jesus Christ. The cross is the bells and whistles of rescue and salvation! Therefore, let us all boast only in the cross of Christ and revel in its magnificence and glory!

God was not about to leave His people then to perish in the wilderness and He certainly is not about to leave His people now to perish in their sins. For if you have never been relieved of the deadly and painful bite of sin, then do as the Israelites did and look... look in faith to Christ! It is only in Him that you will find healing and life!

For His Kingdom...

Really Wet Wednesday...

I'm pretty sure that yesterday might have been the rainiest day I've experienced in a long time. It literally rained all day! There were so many puddles that I had to either jump over, walk around or wade through that I considered buying knee high rain boots. It was crazy!

However, this did not stop the masses from coming out to Gangway... oh no!

We had about 6 new visitors stop by to hang with us; it was AWESOME! Also, my friend and New City youth director Dylan hung out with us for the night (I hope we didn't scare him too bad). Oh, and just for the record... Dylan is a stud b-ball player, single-handedly taking it to both Herald Eubanks and Trace Garretson! Good times, good times.

We started out as usual; hanging out, goofing around and playing games... a typical day in the life of Gangway students. Then we split up for the lesson. We discussed Proverbs 7. I talked to the boys about temptation and how it is a sneaky thing sometimes. I asked them to seek God so that He may reveal to them temptations in their lives because sometimes they can catch us off guard and we won't even know that we are being led astray. We talked about the importance of wisdom and good judgement and they are key to navigating life and avoiding temptation. We closed with prayer and asked God to help us both know our temptations and to give us strength to avoid them.

As the night drew to a close I realized something, there are a whole lot of students and only one of me. I love each and everyone of the students God has brought through our doors and I cherish each one of them. However, I can't effectively minister to all of them at once, it's just spatially impossible. That being said, I hope that you as parents will consider volunteering on a Wednesday night. Our students deserve all the attention they can get and I just can't give it to all of them. So, I humbly ask you to prayerfully consider volunteering in the Jr. High department. If nothing else... we know how to have fun!

For His Kingdom...

It's go time...

This past Sunday all Sunday school classes were postponed due to Pastor Tullian filling the pulpit here at Coral Ridge. Every effort was given to focus all attention to his message and the daunting task that would follow.

Therefore, I have nothing new to add regarding the youth department other than that I am thankful for all of our students and am excited to see what God is going to be up to in our midst.

As for the congregational meeting that took place just after the morning service...

91% of the people said "it's go time!"

For His Kingdom...

3-11-09

What a wonderful Wednesday night Gangway we had last night!

We enjoyed a good "get to know ya" game called spider-web. Everyone sat in a huge circle and Lindsey C. started us off. I gave her a big ball of yarn and told her to hold the loose end. Then she stated her name and 1 comment about herself (the funnier the better). After this, she then threw the ball of yarn across the circle to someone else who then repeated the process. Soon we had a huge spider web of yarn in the middle of the circle. I then proceeded with an attempt to navigate from one side of the circle to the other without getting tripped up. It was quite humorous!

After that we all went into the College and Career room to watch a DVD of this past weekend's "Morph Weekend" trip. We reminisced and laughed and told those who didn't go that they need to go next year. It was a great time for everyone!

Then, I talked about 1 Peter 2:9, which was the verse the speaker (David Grant) talked about at Morph. I asked some of the students who went what they remember about this verse and the lessons we went through. Rachel T. talked about how this verse tells us we are "special" because we are chosen by God. It was also mentioned that we are God's people, the church, not some building or pews or the like. Thus, we concluded by praying that we would all recognize just how special we are as God's chosen people and seek to live in the light of that knowledge.

So, may we all remember that we are special, chosen by God, to proclaim His excellencies in all the world!

For His Kingdom...

Holy smokes... we made it!!!

We're back...

At precisely 3:34pm (give or take a few minutes) yesterday afternoon, our Morph Weekend posse returned! It was a wonderful and fun filled weekend. We woke up early, went to bed late, ate fun camp food, played crazy games, goofed around, met new friends and worshiped God together. In my humble opinion, it doesn't get much better than that!!!

I just want to officially say "Thank you" to Glenn Paraday for driving us and staying to help me keep all our wild boys in line. Also, to my marvelous and loving wife who not only has to keep an eye on me when I start acting like a big kid, but also poured her self out to our adventurous young ladies.

I also want to give a shout-out to all the students who went on the trip:

The Boys...
Jacob Jackson, David Paraday, Herald Eubanks, Jordan Mansour, Zack Ferraguti, Alex Griswold, Jonathan Ferguson and Patrick Powell.

The Gals...
Rachel Tyson, Jessica MacClugage, Michaela Garretson, Natasha Baker and Emily Bishop.

We all had a truly amazing weekend, and I'm already starting to miss all the time we had together as a group. I'm not sure what all was retained as far as Spiritual info's concerned (although, the speaker was great... ask you student about him and his lessons) but, I hope that the community aspect of the trip remains and even overflows into our daily lives.

But if not... I'm going to put a call in to the camp security officers and have them make some house calls ;)

For His Kingdom...

Just a heads up...

There is no Gangway this week - either Wednesday or Thursday - due to the ongoing EE clinic. We will resume next week with a variety of exciting and phenomenally hilarious games and activities, as well as a sure word from the Lord!

Also, some of the Jr. Highers, along with my wife Amy and Mr. Glenn Paraday are going to Morph Student Retreat this weekend. It is going to be a fantabulous time!!! Please be praying that we would all grow closer to God and to one another and that we would have the time of our lives!

Until next time...

For His Kingdom

Who's in your "Fav 5" ????

After posting this on the Gangway Facebook page, I realized that not everyone has a Facebook account. So, I thought I'd post it here on our blog as well (I know, I'm too kind).

My wife Amy and I were talking about cell phones (we both want I-Phones) and service providers the other night just before bed. During the discussion I remembered that T-Mobile has what's called the "Fav 5" plan. This allows you to designate 5 people (or numbers) that you call the most, or would like to call the most, so that when you call them it is free. It's kind of a neat idea.

So...

We took this idea and jokingly talked about who would be in our "Fav 5" if we had T-Mobile. We began with friends and family, but it soon escalated to anybody of any time period, any where, dead or alive. At this point the conversation became alot more fun and a lot more revealing.

All that being said, I'd like to pose the question to all of you as well. Thus...

Who's in your "Fav 5" ????

Mine would look something like this:

1) My wife Amy
2) The Apostle Paul
3) Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza
4) C. S. Lewis
5) My brother Brett

Have fun!!!!

For His Kingdom...

1st joint Sunday school of 2009!!!

Well...

This past Sunday I had the privilege of leading and teaching our first joint Sunday school of 2009. Bear, our fearless leader, was speaking in the Contemporary service for our annual "Youth and Children Sunday." He had a ton of responsibility to tend to so he left me in charge of Sunday school... Oh, the potential for mayhem and adventure!

First things first...

I contacted my good buddy Joel Hurst to see if he could lead us in a couple of worship songs. Not only did he agree, but he also recruited Mr. Ricky Blanchete, a wonderful young man and exceptional guitar player. They came up with 2 songs to play for that morning, "You are God" and "Marvelous Light."

So...

Sunday morning arrived and so did our faithful students. It was an incredible sight, both Jr. High and Sr. High students mingling, interacting and preparing to worship together. We began with announcements and then I read a portion of Scripture (Psalm 57:1-3; 7-11) to prepare us for singing, praising and making at least some kind of noise to the Lord. Joel and Ricky then lead us in the 2 wonderful worship songs which, hopefully, allowed us all to express our hearts to God through song.

After the music we opened the Scripture together to see what God had to say to us all. We looked at Philippians 3:1-11. The question we raised was "where is your confidence?" We discussed how the apostle Paul noted that confidence in the flesh (the Jewish way of doing things) is of no value because it opposes Christ. In fact, he refers to it as "rubbish," counting it all a loss for the sake of knowing Christ. We talked about how his confidence was now in Christ alone. Therefore, we concluded that to put our confidence in any thing other than Christ is "rubbish;" it's absolutely worthless. Thus, to put our confidence in people or status or things is utter futility and in the long run, a loss.

We ended a bit early because a bunch of the students had to help out in the service. So, the rest of us just hung out, chatted, goofed around and enjoyed one another. It was a genuinely amazing time!

Also, Bear totally rocked it from the pulpit!!! The students did great passing out bulletins, taking up the offering and performing special music for the service. I am so proud of all our students as well as Bear, whom I respect and admire greatly. May the Lord continue to bless the ministry of Gangway and use us, His lowly servants, to touch the lives of students and families here in this place.

For His Kingdom...