RA's 2008

From Blogging with BA

This is a picture of most of the boys in our RA class. All the boys are not there, but to have a night when we are all there is very rare.
Something that has just developed is a partnering with an RA class from Liberia. We are going to send packages to one another which will give the boys to chance to learn what God is doing in boys lives across the world. It is very exciting and very cool to see how God works in our lives in matters like setting this up. I can say that I don't always, if not almost never, stop to see just how God is working in my life. I think as Christians, we can all get to the point where our own actions is all that matters and when faced with opisition, we allow ourselves anger and resentment; when if fact if we've sat back and given God control we would find it less stressful and that pieces more easily fall into place. There is a project that I feel God has laid on my heart with the teens in our community. Last night, on my way home, I started thinking about it and that little quiet voice came up and asked if I was going to pray about it and let God part of it or was I going to charge ahead, steamrolling everything that gets in the way. Well, as we all know, it is easy for us Christians to ignore that voice we know is the Holy Spirit and do what we want to anyway, but this time I listened. I've given this project to God and only ask that those that read this blog will spend alittle time in prayer. Pray for our RA class. These boys are faced with a world that doesn't reflect the things we teach in church. Pray for the boys in the RA class in Liberia. I don't know anything about their living conditions, but to know there is a church starting an RA class is encouraging and I know Satan is raging an attach there. Pray for me, that I will give God control and I will be the example to these young boys that God would have me be. Pray that God would give me patience with the leaders of our church, and that this vision will come to be and will impact the teens in our community and who knows the world. Pray for our teens and children. They face battles we hardly knew exsisted when we were that age and pray for each other. Many times we're told something or see something that ticks up off without ever taking the time to try to understand what the other party is going through that would have provoked the offending action. Church politics is a nasty monster in a church and I truely wish it were banned from all churches. Let us all get on board doing God's will and leave our own agendas at home. I pray that God blesses you all and that a lesson of God's love will be learned by us today. I pray that peace will be in our hearts and our spirit of combativness will be silenced. I pray a smile will rise up from our hearts to our faces and that the lost world would see that smile and be encouraged to allow Christ into their hearts.
Bless you,
Brian

High Attendance Sunday

This past weekend was High Attendance Sunday.

We had a really good turn out. 138 in Sunday School.

Our class, First Steps, had a special treat where I fixed us a breakfast casserole and hash browns, with coffee and orange juice. We started class with a contest where each volunteer blew a balloon to the finish line. The point of the exercise was to think of ourselves as the balloon and the volunteer as the Holy Spirit. We could then imagine how difficult it is for the Holy Spirit to lead us when we are trying to do our own thing. Then we studied some statistics of what unchurched people think of Christianity and religion in general. The information came from the North American Mission Board web site, http://www.namb.net and it really made me think.

One question came up that I thought was really interesting when discussing how we could make it easier for the Holy Spirit to lead us. It was asked, how do we know when what we hear is the Holy Spirit and when is it ourselves? We know that we are naturally sinful and that it is of God any good that comes from us; therefore, any good is to the glory of God. So, it is my opinion that when faced with a decision, I have at least two choices, I know the one that is right and good would be the Holy Spirit leading me, and the one evil and nasty is of me. I need to listen to the Holy Spirit and do what is right and good in order to allow myself to be lead by God.

We concluded our class with a quick presentation of the 4 Spiritual Laws. I gave each person a tract and encouraged them not only to read it for themselves, but to share it with a friend or family member that may be trying to make a spiritual decision.

Class was great, but Brother Jimmy's sermon was wonderful.

You might say that Jimmy gave his version of the "Fire and Brimstone" sermon. I can say with out hesitation that it was done with more love than I've ever heard such a sermon. Most of us have heard something like "Repent or Burn!", but Jimmy talked on what a person in hell would want to say to the people left behind, and he really hit it home when he mentioned what a parent might want to say to their child if the parent found him or herself in hell. How much would a parent want to warn their child of the consequences of their actions.

It was truly a blessing and I feel privileged to have heard it.