Good Water

My people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.  -Jeremiah 2:13

Have you ever tried to drink water out of a puddle after it rains?  I hope not (if you have, you should call me because you need some counseling).

When the Israelites turned their backs on God to pursue their own versions of holiness, God says it is as if they turned away from the cool, fresh, clean water that only He can provide and exchanged it for the stagnant water that is slowly disappearing through the cracks of a cistern (a hole in the ground where they stored water back in the day).

The point is, we all need water to survive.  So if we depend on broken cisterns to quench our thirst, we might be okay for a while but eventually the water is going to run out and we are going to be left helpless!  You can’t rely on your boyfriend, girlfriend, family, friends, money, video games, reputation or anything else to save you, because eventually the happiness you get from those things is going to run out.

Drink from the fountain…it’s a lot tastier and will never run out!

Purity: Addition or Subtraction?

Well, we wrapped up our E.g. series last night by talking about purity of heart.  The biggest key to understanding what makes a heart pure is to understand that you can’t add anything to God’s creation without messing it up.  The principle goes something like this:

• God’s creation was made perfect and pure.
• Man tainted God’s creation by ADDING sin to it.
• Man constantly tries to fix God’s creation by ADDING religious rituals, better politics, more rules, being a better person, etc., but man’s solutions don’t TAKE AWAY the problem, they just try to cover it up.
• Only Jesus can make us pure again: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who TAKES AWAY the sin of the world!” -John 1:29 (emphasis added)

As we move away from this series, I don’t want you to forget the basic principles we discussed.  Just because you are young doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a plan for you right now.  We, as young people, are called to “set an example” for believers of all ages by pursuing Jesus and showing others what it means to live for him.

I love you all!  Have a great week and remember, this is your verse:

 

From Love To Faith

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired. -Martin Luther

Well, we just wrapped up our fourth week in a six-week series on “setting an example for the believers,” and boy was it a doosey!  When you realize that “Love REQUIRES Action, and Action PROVES Love” it becomes easy to see why Jesus’ death on the cross is the best example of love we can imagine.

In this coming week we’re going to talk about faith.  I don’t believe that a person’s age is an indicator of where they are spiritually, because I know a lot of passionate, Christ-loving teenagers, and some adults who couldn’t care less about what Jesus has to say!

The point is: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in…faith,” as 1 Timothy 4:12 says.  Like love, faith also requires action, which we’ll talk more about on Wednesday.

We saw some more new faces this Wednesday, and I would love to see even more next week.  Bring your friends and let’s watch The Underground become the biggest thing Barberton has seen in years!

Bowling

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Indoor_Sports_g219-Ten_Pin_Bowling_p37371.html

We’re going bowling at the alley-formerly-known-as-Magic City Lanes on Saturday!  If you’re under 18, you need to have a parent/guardian sign a parental consent form (which you can find under the “Important Documents” tab at the top of the page).

The trip will cost $8 per student, due when you arrive at TMC.  We’re meeting at the church at 10:45 a.m. and will be leaving the parking lot at 11 a.m. SHARP!  We’re meeting at the church building first so we can get a head count.

 

 

 

Your $8 covers the cost of:

• Two hours of bowling
• Bowling shoes
• A behind-the-scenes tour of the alley
• The opportunity to compete for a bowling pin trophy
• Access to a slide (I’ve never used it, but I hear it’s actually pretty fun)
• Chips and pop

If you want to add a hotdog it’s an additional $1, or if you would prefer two slices of pizza instead it’s an additional $2.

See you Saturday!

Doing BIG Things

Last night we watched this video of a 22-year-old woman who lives out CRAZY faith.  She’s just like the rest of us — young — but she’s doing things that even the most “mature” Christians would be terrified to do!

Also, if you’re interested, here’s another story about Katie from The Christian Post.

 

 

E.g.

This Wednesday we’ll be starting a brand new series at The Underground called “E.G.”  Those two little letters represent the Latin phrase exempli gratia, which in English is used in place of the phrase, ”for example.”

The reason for the E.G. series is because I think many teenagers today don’t believe they have a purpose in the church.  Teens are often looked down on or discarded as invaluable in many churches today and, as a result, I believe many of them are leaving the church as soon as they become adults!

Therefore, we’re going to take a closer look at 1 Timothy 4:12 — which not only suggests teens have a purpose but also indicates they are to be an example even to older Christians — and help The Underground realize that God doesn’t want us to wait until we’re adults to do great things for His glory!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new blog site for The Underground!  I’m going to be working very hard to keep this thing up to date with fresh media, words of wisdom, events, and more so that both parents and students can stay “in the loop” with regards to what’s happening in The Movement Church’s student ministry.

For starters, you can check out this video that we watched on Wednesday, and has been making the rounds all over the Internet in the last week or so: