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This WILL NOT mean you get emails everytime people post comments. It only means you’ll get “notifications” when a whole new topic is posted ok? I can check who has subscribed and who hasn’t - and some of you have done it fine. So it definitely works. Just do what I said in the first paragraph - and you really won’t know if it works or not until the next post goes up ok?

Guys - this is very exciting! Thanks to Guru Joe, we are now able to sign up to receive email notifications whenever a new topic is posted here. All you need to do is type in your email address in the space available on the bottom right of this page, and click “Add.” Then follow the instructions! Its that easy! So do it today! And I promise I’ll stop using these!!!!!!

During my teaching on last Thursday night, we were talking about how there are many of us going through “sifting times” in our lives right now. There are a lot of people struggling with doubts, fears of the future, questions of faith, etc.

And if you remember, the direction I gave for how to walk through these times was very simple - 1) go to Jesus, 2) go to each other. However, just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it it easy. For many reasons (busyness, pride, ignorance) it is hard for us to go to Jesus and receive his help when we are struggling. For other reasons (pride again, fear of what others will think, insecurity) we have a hard time going to each other.

In thinking about my teaching afterwards (fighting off the depression of another soccer loss) I realized that I neglected to mention a verse that I think is very powerful for HOW we are to go to Jesus and FOR WHAT. We talked about how we need to actually ask the Lord to give us His strength etc, but this verse makes it even more profound.

In John 14:6 it says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” See, in Jesus we have everything we need. If we are struggling with fear about our future - He is the Way. We can go to Him for direction, guidance, and leading. If we are struggling with doubts and questions - He is the Truth. We sholdn’t be ashamed of our doubts and questions - rather we should take them honestly to Jesus. He has never been afraid of our doubts (see Nicodemus) and He always has the answers we need. And lastly, if we are struggling with just feeling down, discouraged, dissapointed, or just worn out by this world - He is the Life. We can go to Him to receive joy, encouragement, strength, power . . . life.

So I thought this verse might be encouraging to you all, and a good reminder that it isn’t just a religious act to “go to Jesus.” But we really are going to someone who is alive, is currently active in our lives, and is powerful to work in our lives in exactly the way that we need him.

Well, I have to say that last night’s game was wild. In the first half the brave ElanyArts team showed the potential to win (something we had yet to see from them). Even dominating at times, and netting the first goal, Elany closed the half down only 2-1.

The second half, unfortunately, was a different story.

Outscored 3-0 in the second half, Elany seemed to crumble under the desperation for their first win. Despite an improved defense, and tireless work by Isaac in goal, for some reason they just could not stop their opponents.

I have to say, from my perspective, that I HATE losing. It is so frustrating. I have been fighting depression all day. I just keep picturing my SIX SCORING OPPORTUNITIES that netted ZERO goals and just thinking - “What is my problem!!!!” We have got to find a way to score more.

So the final verdict I think is - Better, but not good enough . . . yet.

Next Wednesday, 10:15, Kirkwood. We’re bringing it.

(hopefully)

OK - so hopefully you’ve all checked your email today, but in case you haven’t - I wanted to let you know this — This week we are ending youth group a little early at 9pm so people can try to watch the game if they want to.

NEXT WEEK - we are having a Christmas Party at the Greenplates!!! So no normal youth group next week, we’ll just all go to the Greenplates at 7pm. We will have fusball, ping pong, DDR maybe, Xbox . . . what else would you like? A movie? Which movie? What kind of food would you like? Anything else you can think of?

The pictures that we took at youth group last week have been uploaded to the site, plus I put up a song from Sunday morning for you all to listen to - pretty cool! What do you think? I think Ian sounds amazing! Here’s the link: http://www.vcfbarn.com/thursdaynight/pics.html

Well, the ElanyArts soccer debut was a festive one; a painful one; and a losing one. Although our team showed a ton of heart we just weren’t able to score for some reason. Andrew and Shane notched the season’s first goals with really nice strikes, but Joe and Christian were blanked.

So let’s have some discussion - what did people think of the game? Favorite plays? Worst plays? Who was the MVP?

By the way - next week’s game is Thursday night again at 9:40pm. We’ll see what the youth group will do.

Lately we’ve been talking at youth group about some holiness issues. One statistic I read said that the more “suggestive” material that teens watch, the more likely they are to think that stuff is “ok.” For example, the more physical stuff you see between boys and girls on TV, the more likely you are to do those things in your life - or at least to think they are ok.

Do you agree?

What kind of influence does the media (the stuff we watch, read, and listen to) have on us?

Warning! I know this can be a highly charged and emotional topic. So even if we disagree a little, let’s keep it civil ok?

So I was thinking about my teaching after I gave it at youth group last night and I decided that I had a question . . . for myself! If I could have asked the teacher a question last night, it would have been this:

What is righteousness?

I have always been a little confused by this term. Why? Because the first thing I think of is that righteousness means “obeying God and not sinning.” Which makes it sound like something we “do.” But there are tons of verses that say something like this:

Romans 3:22 - This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Righteousness is often talked about like this in the Bible - it comes FROM God THROUGH our faith in God. So it really isn’t “being good” - it’s having faith in God to make us good?

But then there are a FEW verses like this:

Romans 6:16
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

In that verse rightouesness IS linked to obedience. It seems to be about something that we “do.” So that’s my question - how do you understand this? Is righteousness a gift of God? What does that mean? Does it mean that when God looks at us he sees us as righteous and doesn’t hold us accountable for our sin? Does it mean that as we “receive” this righteousness through faith that it actually helps us to obey? Or is it something we do? Is righteousness something we get BECAUSE we obey?

Help me out here