New Year's On It's Way

Hey everyone...I hope you all had a great Christmas! It was good to see you today at service and I pray that God will give you strength and wisdom in setting and fulfilling your New Year's Goals!

Just a reminder. . .
* Service on Wednesday @ Drive Student Center
* Jr. High New Year's Eve Bash @ Drive Student Center (please bring money for food in the cafe) - Ultimate Blacklight Dodgeball @ 11pm
* Hot Hearts - Jan. 22 & 23 (TobyMac, Lincoln Brewster, Clayton King and more!)
* "Landmines" Series starting in Jan.
* Screening of iBilly Movie - 1st Wednesday in January


See you guys on Wednesday!

- MC

Christmas Is Almost Here

As one of the greatest holidays in the world draws nearer, Brittney and I spent another night with family for yet another Christmas party. What's great about these things is that there is always tons and tons of good food to eat! And not to mention presents!!! ;)

I hope that this Christmas your day will be filled with lots of joy and happiness and I can't wait to see you all again next Wednesday at youth! Be blessed!


- MC

Mary Did You Know?

Luke 1:26-28 "In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.'"

Mary ranks as one of the greatest people in all of Scripture. She must have been one amazing girl for God to select her to be Jesus' mom. From the passage above, we see a number of things about Mary that make her great. She was probably in her early teens at the time (people married as early as thirteen in those days), but she displays a faith and commitment far beyond her young years.

- What's in the Bible for Teens

You've Got A Friend In Me

Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 4:10

Big Idea: We need each other to expose and defeat the traps of the devil

How many of us would say if polled, that we prefer to spend all of our time alone? If I had to guess, I would say that none of us want to be that way. I see people all the time who purposefully avoid contact with others and it makes me wonder what caused them to be that way. Why do they want to shut themselves out of the lives of others? Is it ok to be this way?

I’m not talking about whether or not a person chooses to be married. I’m referring to people who choose not to allow others to be a part of their lives – such as friendships.

One thing I have learned over the years is that Satan attacks in many different ways. Every time that I have been attacked by Satan and been alone, I’ve seemed to always fall into the trap he has set before me. So what does that have to do with having friends? Well, I was reading in Ecclesiastes 4 and it talks about this very thing. Verse 7 says “I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun. This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can.” It goes on to say “But then he asks himself, ‘who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?’ It is all so meaningless and depressing.”

So basically this guy is a work-a-holic and he obviously has no wife, children, or family. He works and works and works, but doesn’t have anyone to share his wealth with. Now I don’t know why he is in this situation, but he seems to recognize that something is missing. Verses 9 – 12 says “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” If you haven’t caught on to this yet, God is telling us that we NEED other people! How can we withstand the attacks of the enemy by ourselves? We can’t! The quarterback of a football team doesn’t win the game without the other players protecting and supporting him and then they win as a team. Likewise, we NEED people in our lives to help protect and support us during the good and bad times.

Next week we are continuing with our series - "ROAD SIGNS". It will be Part 3 entitled "YIELD".