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Orphan

This Weeks Cross-Training: the Shame and Horror of the Cross

This week in Cross-Training (Sunday Morning @ 9:45am), we’re going to be focusing on the shame and the horror of the cross of Christ. Last week we began to discuss why the cross became the sign and symbol of Christianity and talked about why the Apostle Paul could say “far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14) The only thing that Paul boasted in was the Cross. For him and the rest of the writers of the Bible, the Cross was the central event in all of history. It’s just as true for us! Just like last week, we’re going to watch a powerful video about this week’s lesson, see what the Bible has to say about the cross, and learn what it means to “[look] to to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2

It’s going to be a great time in the Word and in fellowship, so make plans to be there now! And don’t forget to bring your 50 cents for our new adopted orphan, Oliver!

‘Hank

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Videos

Totally Like Whatever, You Know?

“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” – Matthew 7:28-29

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” – Colossians 4:6

It’s easy to speak like the world, but when Christ redeems us, he seeks to redeem all of us — even our speech! Here’s a humorously serious video of the need for our generation to say something valuable — especially when we’re to be representing the Lord Jesus Christ to those around us.

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

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Videos

Do You Desire God?

To be a disciple or follower of Christ, Jesus said that you must first sit down and count the cost (Luke 14:28). The Christian life is by no means the easy life. It is a life of joy, no doubt, but it is joy in knowing the Savior of your soul. Consider today if you have ever counted the cost of being a follower of Jesus Christ, and if not, ask him right now for “his terms of peace” — and the Bible promises that he will hear and answer your prayer (Romans 10:9). Do you desire God?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngSq7mABZGE]

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Quote for today!

Quote of the Day

“The devil’s aim today is to keep one away from the Bible…Sin will keep you from this Book or this Book will keep you from sin.” – Leonard Ravenhill

New Creation….Now What?

This Wednesday night in the YouthRoom, Drew will be continuing through 1 Peter, teaching a lesson entitled, “New Creation…Now What?” If you haven’t been able to make it on Wednesday nights yet, or if you’ve missed a couple of days here and there, tomorrow night would be a great time to come and catch up on what we’ve been learning about the power of the Gospel in 1 Peter. Nothing is more precious and more powerful than the Word of God, and we can’t wait as a youth group to see it work in our lives.

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…” – 1 Peter 1:22-23
‘Hank
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Preachers We Like Sunday School Videos

It’s All About Christ

Here’s a video from Paul Washer that we watched this past Sunday Morning @ Cross-Training. It rocked us. Hope it rocks you. It is, indeed, all about Christ…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5caksOsm88]

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Orphan Sunday School

Orphan Sponsorship: Starting this Sunday

Along with our new Cross Training series that’s beginning this Sunday morning, we’ve decided as a Sunday School class to sponsor an orphan through Compassion International‘s sponsorship program (we got the confirmation today!). Y’all know that it’s extremely easy to go through every day of our busy lives and forget that there is a huge world out there that Jesus loves just as much as he loves Fairdale, Ky. In 3 John 1:4, the apostle John says that he has “no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” John shows the rest of the church what God’s heart is for all people — to walk in the truth, by worshiping Jesus Christ as risen Savior and King. Children in particular have a special place in Jesus’ heart and so they should have a special place in our hearts as well. When the disciples tried to stop a group of little children from getting to Jesus one day, he rebuked them saying “”Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)  I hope and pray that as a class and as a Church this step in serving and loving “the least of these” will set fire to our hearts, and give an unrelenting passion to love well, love often, and love for the glory of Christ.

‘Hank

P.S. – Youth, don’t forget: bring 50¢ to Church on Sunday so we can start raising our money for this month!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJv7SQ9Wvg]
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Quote for today! Recent Good Stuff

Giving to People “Where they Stand”

If you’re ever looking for some good reading choices to strengthen your faith and encourage your Christian walk, picking up a good Christian biography is definitely a good bet. There are a host of good biographies out there on missionaries, preachers, Christian farmers – soldiers – and even Christian home-makers. John Piper even does a series of sermons that are Christian biographies that are absolutely amazing.

In a biography on the famous Christian writer and literary critic G.K. Chesterton, I found an awesome testimony on the kind of “givers” we should be for the Lord Jesus Christ. It ties in perfectly with the very thing our pastor is talking about this week on his blog. The author writes this about how Chesterton gives money to beggars:

“He seems so frivolous and so careless, but he gives money to beggars, not friviously or carelessly, but because he believes in giving money to beggars, and giving it to them “where they stand”. He says he knows perfectly well all the arguments against giving money to beggars. But he finds those to be precisely the arguments for giving money to them. If beggars are lazy or deceptive or wanting a drink, he knows only too well his own lack of motivation, his own dishonesty, his own thirst. He doesn’t believe in “scientific charity” because that is too easy, as easy as writing a check. He believes in “promiscuous charity” because that is really difficult. “It means the most dark and terrible of all human actions — talking to a man. In fact, I know of nothing more difficult than really talking to the poor men we meet.” He says that if we really believed in democracy, we would not be debating about what we should do with the poor; the poor would be debating about what to do with us.” – from Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton, by Dale Ahlquist

Categories
Recent Good Stuff

Death – Sermon Jam by Paul Washer

This video is amazingly powerful. Jesus is such a mighty King, and such a great Savior!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsMAvZFzylc]

Cross Training (Ct) Starts this Sunday @ 9:45am

Did Jesus really have to die on a Cross to pay for our sin? Was it really God’s plan from all along? What’s the big deal with sin, forgiveness, and stuff like that anyways? How come pastors are always saying “the Gospel” is so important and so powerful? Can what happened at the Cross really change MY life?

Starting this Sunday morning at 9:45am in the YouthRoom, we’re going to start answering questions just like that. We’re calling the series “Cross Training”, because it’s gonna be all about training our minds and hearts in the truth, power, and conviction that we find in the Cross of our Lord. The effects of what Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross press into every single aspect of our entire life. The fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified on two wooden beams on a hill outside of Jerusalem has everything to do with the fact that you are sitting at a computer reading this post right now. No death was ever like His death. No life was ever like His life. No power was ever like His power. Just as the song says, He really does

“[Break] the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.”

To keep up with the lessons and the study, you’ll be getting your own Cross Training binder that you can add to every week, and allow you to use for your own studies when we get finished this semester. Plan on coming Sunday, and let us look to the Cross together and see the power of the King who chose to die there for us.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” – (Col 2:13-14)
‘Hank