Ignite Recap for 1/10/09
The Jesus Journey
Most people who take great journeys do so for their own benefit: They want to be the first to scale a mountain or cross an ocean. They want to be famous and receive the benefits of their fame. But, the greatest journey of all time was taken by Someone who had a more eternal purpose. Jesus took the ultimate journey for one reason and one reason alone: you.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
Journey Leg #1: From Heaven to Earth (vs. 5-7)
Picture Heaven in your mind. It’s perfect in every way. And Jesus is there, of course, being perfect, being worshiped constantly, free from all worries and care of being human. And now, He’s given that up. He made a conscious choice to serve instead of being served by coming in the form of a lowly human peasant.
Journey Leg #2: From the Earth to the Cross (vs. 
Jesus could have taken on the form of a king or emperor. Or, like I would’ve done (good thing I’m not God…), as some sort of superhero (of course, the image in my mind is some random Japanimation hero with all kinds of crazy superpowers). But He didn’t. Instead, in the greatest of all paradoxes, Jesus won by losing. He stepped away from Heaven, “became obedient to death”, and allowed Himself to be at the mercy of something He had complete power over. Jesus endured one of the most painful and agonizing execution processes, so that we wouldn’t have to.
Journey Leg #3: From the Grave to the Sky (vs. 9-11)
Jesus’ humiliation and death wasn’t the end of the journey. Our Scripture text tells us that God exalted Jesus to the highest place, giving Him the Name above all Names.
God is in the midst of writing an incredible story of our lives. And of course, we won’t pay $10 to watch a movie where the lead character never has to face any difficulties or tough moments, or even a hard fight. Great stories happen through great drama. And so it is with our story. God isn’t writing an owner’s manual of our life–He’s writing a sweeping epic novel! And that story finds its ultimate turning point when we decide to make Jesus the Savior of our Life. Have you made that decision?
Recap of Ignite Youth Service, December 2, 2009
We all have a few things that we run to for comfort when life is difficult. I run to my wife, to whom I’m thankful that I can share anything and everything. And, being a big geek, I also run to the cloud, whether on my computer or my Blackberry. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these things, but they can become problems if we start looking to them before we look to God, or instead of.
John 15:1-8 says:
1 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.4 “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.5 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.6 Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.7 But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.8 This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples. The Message
3 things happen when we make sure nothing comes before God:
1. When we focus on God, we’re fruitful.
Being united with God can only happen if we spend time with Him instead of other things and other people.
2. When we focus on God, we’re satisfied.
Psalm 103:5 says that God satisfies your desires with good things. There are tons of things we look to for satisfaction instead of God: friends, cars, drugs, academics, sex, sports, music, etc. The problem is that the fix always goes away. They may satisfy for a moment, or even for a season, but they won’t give you satisfaction like God will.
3. When we focus on God, we please Him.
Verse 8 of the above Scripture tells us that God gets the glory when we bear fruit. The story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10 tells us that there is nothing more important than spending quality time with Him instead of getting bogged down in all the other things.
So, what is it that you have been putting before, or with, God to get you through? Is it “God and…”, or just God?
Recap of Ignite Youth Service, October 29, 2009
Bananas.
For the past several weeks, we have been hitting the topic of missions, both in Ignite Youth, and during regular worship services at The Rock Church. Last week, during our annual Speed-the-Light (STL) service at The Rock Church, my wife, Amanda, spoke about missions and all the ways we can reach out to the lost locally as well as internationally.
When we think of a “missionary”, what typically comes to mind is a white guy, living in some remote African or South American, 3rd world village, handing out donated clothes and Bibles. And those folks exist and deserve our support. However, each and every one of us are missionaries, too. We are missionaries in a very specific field: our daily lives.
Matthew 5:13-16 (MSG) says this:
13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.14 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.15 If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand.
Salt has so many uses. Two that come to mind specifically are 1) Seasoning, and 2) Preserving. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch of the imagination to see the metaphors here. As the “salt of the earth”, we’re called to be the spice of life, and givers of a life-preserving Word.
It’s time to wake up and realize what we have! We’ve got Jesus! We need to share Jesus as the answer to EVERYTHING! And not to just be crazy for Jesus, but to affect our surroundings for Jesus.
Check this out: Did you know that as a banana ripens, it releases gasses that help other fruit nearby to ripen as well? Again, not a stretch to see the metaphor. We “bananas,” as we “ripen,” or mature in the Lord, should help others to mature as well. In other words, we should affect our surroundings by our gasses! :)
So, what can you do tonight, or tomorrow, or all weekend, to be an influence on the people around you. Better yet, what WILL you do?
Recap of Ignite Youth Service, September 30, 2009
The War Series, Week 3
By: Amanda Hahn (Yes, that’s my bride! She’s amazing!)
Over the last few weeks we’ve been talking about worship and war. The first week we talked about how worship is warfare. Last week we talked about how worship is a reflection of God’s glory. This week we talked about how worship is a lifestyle. Romans 12:1-2 says “Offer yourself as living sacrifices…don’t conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!” This pretty much sums up in a nutshell that worship is a lifestyle. We can get from this passage 2 things: 1) Worship is an action and 2) Worship is an attitude.
Worship is more than just a 45 minute segment of loud music and singing on a Sunday morning. Worship is a 24/7 lifestyle. Worship isn’t limited to once a week nor is it limited to one form. Worship can be done in numerous ways. God has given each and everyone of us talents and gifts. We can dedicate our life, with all of its talents and gifts, to God in an act of worship. Whether it’s the gift of dancing, sketching, poetry, singing, talking, or any other gift, all can be given to God in a form or worship. 1 Peter 4:10-11 says “Each and everyone of you have a talent, so use that talent to serve others and glorify God!” If we’re not representing God 24/7, then who are we representing?
Worship is not just an action, or a talent that we possess, but it’s also an attitude. Paul said in verse 2 that we need to be transformed by a renewing of our mind. Worshiping God requires more than just us lifting up our hands and singing. Worship should inspire us to focus our thoughts only on God. So many times we get caught up in the motions of worship, but our minds are somewhere else. Many times we let our pride get in the way and we focus on how something might benefit us rather than focusing on how something can benefit God. Worship is not about us! Worship is about Him! 1 Timothy 1:17 says “Worship and glory belong to the eternal King…forever and ever Amen!” We can’t truly worship God if we are worshiping ourselves.
So, is your life a worship service? If your life is going great, shouldn’t worshiping be a breeze? But if your life is going too great, then maybe you’re not doing enough for the kingdom. Satan only attacks those who are a threat to his master plan – to steal, kill, and destroy. If you’re giving God your all, wouldn’t Satan be attacking you and making life tough? If worship is warfare, are we in a battle everyday of our life? We need to take a stand and say “I’m committed to worship, even if life is tough!”
Recap of Ignite Youth Service, September 23, 2009
The War Series, Week 2
This week in Ignite, we continued our discussion of worship: Warship is Spiritual Warfare. Check out the recap of last week’s lesson to catch-up.
Worship is not necessarily a specific action that we take. The most accurate way to describe worship is that it is simply a reflection of God’s glory, as if he were a light shining down, and our worship is the mirror that reflects his glory. But it’s awfully easy to worship God when things are going great. But it’s when we are going through stuff–and we all have our issues, drama, and trials–that our worship is amplified.
Our Scripture text this week is Acts 16:12-40, the story of Paul and Silas in jail and their escape by God’s hands, and the salvation of the jailer’s entire household. Keeping all this in mind, we can remember 4 truths that will help us be better mirrors of God’s glory.
1. We can worship God at all times because He is worthy of praise. We can stay focused on our problems, or we can stay focused on God. Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Our situations may change, but God will always stay the same. If He was worthy of praise yesterday, then He is worthy today.
2. We can worship God at all times because God is with us. God’s promise is not that you’ll never go through trials. After all, Paul and Silas were in the dungeon. His promise is that you’ll never be alone. This knowledge should make a difference in our ability to worship God during tough times.
3. We can worship God at all times because He has freed us. A mom asked her seven-year-old daughter to clean up her bedroom. The little girl didn’t want to clean her room and ignored her mother. An hour later the mother clarified that it wasn’t a request, but a directive. “You will clean up your bedroom.” The little girl got risky and said, “No, I don’t want to clean my room.” The mother responded, “You will clean your room or there will be a serious consequence young lady.” The girl took a deep breath, slumped her shoulders, scowled at her mother, and said, “I may be cleaning my room on the outside, but I’m not on the inside!”
What’s going on inside our hearts and minds is often different than our actions. In this way we can be captive to some difficult situation but still be aware—on the inside that we’re free because of Jesus Christ.
4. We can worship God at all times because He is working. We don’t always see the whole picture, but God does. He is always working something out, and most of the time we can’t see it right away. Many times we never see it. But He has it under control.
The fact of the matter is that our trials are a megaphone for our worship! When people know that we’re going through hell on earth, but we still have an attitude of worship (an attitude that reflects God’s glory), they will sit up and pay attention!
Next week Amanda will end the series for us, talking about a lifestyle of worship, as well as alternative forms of worship. Tune in next week!
