Can’t wait that long?

Check out what we will be engaging with this summer.

ANCESTORS Preview

ANCESTORS: The Old Testament is not full of characters from ancient bed time stories. These are real people with real problems and yet God is in their midst. We are not unlike them. We are people with problems and yet God is at work in our midst.  We will study each person one by one to see how.

Youth Group is kicking back up on June 3rd!

Can’t wait that long?

Check out what we will be engaging with this summer.

BASIC Preview

BASIC: Trends come and go in our culture and the church seems to follow. BASIC is a seven-part series of short films that challenges us to reclaim the church as Scripture describes it to be. This series speaks to those who have questions about the church and to those who may have lost interest in the church.

If I only had this as my guide…if all I had was the Bible…and I was to read this book and then start a ‘church,’ what would it look like? Would it look like the thing that we’ve built here and all refer to as church? Or would it look radically different? – Francis Chan

GENERATIONAL CHANGE Preview

GENERATIONAL CHANGE: With Generation Change, your teens will learn their value in God’s eyes and what the Bible says about money.

The pressure to be accepted in today’s “stuff-centered” world leaves our teens throwing money away in an effort to “be somebody.” As a result, we’re raising a generation that spends money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t even like! It’s time for a change. – Dave Ramsey

I seek your forgiveness for all the times I talked when I should have listened; got angry when I should have been patient; acted when I should have waited; feared when I should have been delighted; scolded when I should have encouraged; criticized when I should have complimented; said no when I should have said yes and said yes when I should have said no… I often tried too hard and wanted and demanded so much, and mistakenly sometimes tried to mold you into my image of what I wanted you to be rather than discovering and nourishing you as you emerged and grew.

Broken Tablets : Restoring the Ten Commandments and Ourselves. Ed. by: Rachel S. Mikva.

The Details of the Picture

When we first read a section of verses it is crucial to ask, “What do these verses say?” If we fail to ask that question first, we can end up with needless presuppositions that don’t reflect a fair interpretation. Exodus 20:5 is saying that God will “visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children…” The Hebrew word for visit is paqad which means to account for and in some cases punishment. The Hebrew word for iniquity is avon which means more than just sin; it also implies the guilt for sin. Therefore, this verse is saying that God considers the child to be just as guilty as the father even though the father’s sins are the ones being accounted for. This may seem harsh, but it is important to look at the last half of verse 5 which says,”to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me.” This means that these generations are not without sin. They have sinned in their own right by hating God. John Piper offers solid interpretation to this text when he writes, “The sins of the fathers are punished in the children through becoming the sins of the children… The generations to come who experience the penalty of the fathers’ sins are those who hate God. We are not told how the fathers’ sins become the children’s sins. But what we are told is that when the father’s sins are visited on the children it is because the children are really sinful.” This interpretation makes total sense in reality. For example, an abusive and negligent father may have a daughter who is sexually promiscuous and looking for identity in men. On the one hand we can say the sins of the father had a direct influence on the sins of the daughter, but on the other hand we can say they are both completely responsible for their own sins. In other words, the sins of the father became the sins of the daughter. We can conclude that generational sins are real and God punishes children for the sins of their fathers. However, as we asked before, “Is that fair?” Lets take a look at the big picture to find out.

If we still wish to say that it is unfair for God to punish us because of our parents sins, then we must also acknowledge that it is unfair for God to consider us righteous because of Jesus.

The Big Picture

Once we see what particular verses mean, it is crucial to see how they fit into the rest of the bible. This can be hard to do, especially in this case when we read something that doesn’t sit right with us. In many ways, it is like looking at a magnificent painting but standing only 2 inches away from it. We will not be able to see the order and beauty of the painting until we take a step back. Lets take that step back by taking a look at some other passages that are similar to the one we find in Exodus. Leviticus 26 speaks of blessings for obeying the law and punishments for disobeying it. In verses 38 and 39 we read about particular punishments for the sins of parents. It says, “And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies‘ lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.” Joshua 7 speaks about a man named Achan who disobeyed God by keeping some spoils of war. However, in verse 11 God says, “Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them…” In this passage, God is ready to punish an entire nation for the sins of one man.

When we read passages like these and the one in Exodus, many of us want to raise our hand and say with gusto, “That is not fair!” In order for us to answer that objection there is one more passage of scripture we need to take a look at. It is the story of Adam and Eve. The classic line about Adam and Eve goes something like this, “How can God punish me for what Adam and Eve did?” Likewise, we could say, “How can God punish me for the sins of my father?” To understand this we must acknowledge the orthodox view of inherited sin. Without getting into intense detail, I want to simply point out that we do not choose to sin, but rather we inherit a sinful nature that leaves us incapable of choosing not to sin. It is impossible, on our own, to say that we are going to reject sin, because we inherited our parents sinful nature. We may be able to resist specific sins that our parents did, but all of us will fall into sin just like our parents did before us. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” The bible does not distinguish between sinners and non sinners. Romans 3:10-12 says, “ As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Left to our own devices, we are incapable of rejecting the sinful nature of our parents. No one has a case before God to say what is fair and not fair, because sin renders us guilty before a Holy God.

The radical part of Exodus 20 is not verse 5, but rather verse 6. God will certainly love thousands who love him and keep his commandments, but the problem is, as we’ve seen in Romans, there is no one who can keep God’s commandments. Therefore, it is fair that God would punish sinners. What is unfair, is that God would even love sinners! In fact it is downright impossible – save for one man. The good news of the Gospel is that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus allows for the redemption of generational sinners. The good news of the Gospel is that God considers us to be just as sinless as Jesus because he endured the punishment our sins and our parents sins deserved. Romans 5:18-19 says, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” If we still wish to say that it is unfair for God to punish us because of our parents sins, then we must also acknowledge that it is unfair for God to consider us righteous because of Jesus.

Breaking Generational Sin

On our own, it is impossible to break generational sin. However, through Jesus we have the power to break it. Ezekiel 18:14, 17 says, “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise…he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live.” The bad news about this passage is that it is impossible for a son to see the sins of his father and not do likewise. The good news of this passage is that Jesus made it possible. Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and (to) be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and (to) put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” God has provided us with a new nature and this nature has the power to reject sin. Without Christ this power would not be possible. We all will still struggle with sin in this life, but through Christ we have the power to resist sin – even powerful generational sin. Now that we have the power to break generational sin, how do we actually go about doing it? May I humbly suggest two things.

1. REPENTANCE. We must repent of the sins we’ve committed and the sins of our parents. We must stop blaming our parents or God and take ownership for the sins we’ve done and inherited. Leviticus 26:40 and 42 says, “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me…then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.” 1st John 1:9 also says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Repentance opens us up to the power of grace. When we understand that God will always forgive us because of Jesus, then we can have great confidence in trying to obey God and rejecting the old self. God does not have opinions about us. He has a declaration about us. This declaration says that the God of the universe who created everything sees us the same way he does Jesus. No amount of generational sin can change that! This should give great joy and comfort for those who have long battled against certain generational sins. Take hope and keep fighting. His grace is enough for you!
2. PRAYER. I know that many struggle with generational sins and feel helpless in conquering them. I also know that many parents fear what sins they may pass on to their children. As a parent to be, I fear what sins my little girl will one day commit on account of me. It is in those moments that I have no other choice but to pray. I used to say, “Prayer is not good psychology. We aren’t just getting things off our chest. We are literally talking to a being that has the power to move heaven and earth.” There is some truth to that statement, but prayer is good psychology because we are telling our mind to stop behaving as though we ultimately have control. When we pray about generational sins we are relinquishing control of the things we cannot change, and asking God to change our way of thinking and behaving. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” In that verse, Paul is not talking about success on the golf course or at work. Rather, Paul is letting us know that even when life does not turn out as planned we still gain everything because our identity is rooted in Christ. We have hope that one day God will destroy sin forever, and on that day generational sin will be on the list.

Art of Marriage Video Event

Friday, Feb 10^th, 7:00 – 10:00

Saturday, Feb 11, 9:00-5:00

Sign up by calling the church office, or Rick Barnes, 216-8633

Cost is $55 per couple, which includes a book for each participant

About the Event

The Art of Marriage^® is a new one-and-a-half day video event built designed to be used by churches, small groups or as a community wide event. The Art of Marriage consists of six video sessions and an accompanying manual that provides couples with projects to help apply the principles taught during each session. The Art of Marriage brings together some of the most respected and influential pastors and experts on marriage and family all in one setting. It also brings a fresh approach to a video event by weaving together some of the following elements to help couples fully experience God’s design for marriage:

• engaging stories
• real-life testimonies
• man-on-the-street interviews
• humorous vignettes

How does freedom make you act and live? There are many definitions for freedom, but I’m interested in what we do with our freedom. When we hear the word freedom most of us instinctively think about our freedom as citizens of the United States. I’d bet most of us are thankful for our freedom and will update our Facebook status to say that we are. However, I feel like many of us, including me, feel inadequate living up to that freedom when we consider the cost it took to give it.  I think the same can be said about the freedom God gives us. God has offered us incredible freedom as sons and daughters of the king and it took and an incredible price to offer that freedom. Yet, what happens when we still struggle with sin? In those moments our shame gets the best of us and we don’t feel like we are sons and daughters of God. But when Christ went to the cross he set us free from having to measure up.

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, Captain John H. Miller goes on a mission with his troops through Nazi occupied France  to find Private James Ryan. Towards the end of the movie Captain Miller and all his men die trying to save Private Ryan. Just before Captain Miller dies he whispers to Private Ryan, “Earn this.” In other words, live a life of honor, thankfulness and selflessness that resembles the lives given to save his own life. There is no doubt these words changed Private Ryan’s life. However, in the very last scene of the movie he is left wondering if he did enough. He is left wondering if he was a good man. He even asks his wife to reassure him. The dilemma for Private Ryan is he doesn’t know how to pay back a man who has given his life for him? Is there a standard to live up to prove he earned that sacrifice? I think many of us struggle with this same dilemma in following Jesus.

I think most of us have some sort of passion for Jesus. That isn’t really a struggle. We want to serve him and our love for him is real. However, when that passion fades or that love ebbs or we sin – we are left wondering if the sacrifice of Jesus means anything to us. We feel inadequate to follow Jesus. We don’t feel like sons and daughters. The problem is we do not realize the freedom that has been offered us. God didn’t just set us free from the penalty of sin – he set us free from having to measure up. This is the heart of Justification which is one of the central themes of Galatians. If we repent of our sin and place our faith in God then we are justified. Justification means that God has removed the penalty of our sin and has given us his perfect record in following the law. In other wards, Justification means that when God looks at us he sees Jesus.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9. Justification provides us freedom. We don’t have to wonder at the end of our lives if we did enough to earn the sacrifice of Jesus. We couldn’t have earned it anyway.  We are free to follow God’s laws without worrying whether we are doing enough. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” Galatians 5:1.

God didn’t just set us free from the penalty of sin – he set us free from having to measure up.

PARENT’S CORNER

Spiritual leadership goes beyond just taking your kids to Church. It also includes having spiritual conversations in the home. Below are some helpful questions to ask your students to reinforce what they are learning at Youth Group and in Sunday School.

1. What do you think it means to be free? Do you know that the freedom we have in the United Stats is unique? Do you feel like you have earned that freedom? How can you be grateful for that freedom?

2. If you are a Christian, God looks at you the same way he sees Jesus. What does that mean to you?

3. How do you know you are a Christian?

4. What do you do when you don’t want to serve Jesus? Do you feel inadequate as a follower of Jesus?

5. What are some ways that you can serve Jesus?

There is an ancient story that has been retold several times. The general theme of the story goes like this: A child of royalty, power or wealth essentially has no rights under the guardianship of their parents and waits until he or she receives their inheritance at the proper time. Several modern movies are adaptations of this story. Indulge me a bit as I make my adaptation of this story.

Let’s pretend for a second that I’m an alien observing your family, but I can’t hear anything. I can only see how your families interact from my spaceship.

I notice that your parent’s clothe you,
give you water to bathe with,
give you a place to sleep,
feed you,
hug you,
take you to sports for fun and exercise,
get you haircuts and buy you toys.

I also notice this fury little thing that looks nothing like you and yet your parents treat it the same way.
This creature has fur so he doesn’t need clothes and yet your parents buy him sweaters.                            They groom him with exotic haircuts that cost more than yours.
Your parent’s bathe this fury thing and give it a little house to sleep in.
They feed it a ton of food and snuggle with it all the time.
They even let it sit in their laps – you don’t even get that privilege anymore.
They take this fury thing on walks and he seems super excited to be out there.
They even get this fury thing toys to chew on.
I will make the case that your parents care more about this little fury thing then you. Your parents do one thing that is so disgusting that only a seriously caring person would do this. When this little fury thing releases his waste upon the lawn, your parents put a bag on their hands and go pick it up! You only had that privilege for about 2 years. This fury creature has that privilege for life!

As an alien my conclusion would be -  You are no different then the dog. You have the same rights and control that he does which is essentially no rights and no control.

This is very similar to what we see in Galatians. We are like children waiting for our father to grant to us our inheritance and the rights to be sons and daughters.  However, until then we have no rights – we have no say – we cannot control what is ours. We are no better than the dog. That is what it means to be “under the law.” The law was set up to push us to greater dependence on God by revealing our failure. Yet, it is this failure that condemns us and makes us slaves. In the ancient world if you could not pay your debt you were thrown into jail which likely made it impossible to pay it back. Furthermore this debt would continue to grow. Without Christ, we are slaves with a growing debt.  Being “under the law” is the spiritual equal to a dog’s status. However, “…God sent forth his Son … to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). Still, many of us who have received adoption as sons and daughters still act as though we are the dog. We are free heirs to the inheritance and yet we enslave ourselves to the law.  If we are an adopted child of God why do we act as orphans?

When an abused orphan is finally adopted they have serious trust issues about their new parents. Unfortunately you and I are no different. When God says we are justified by faith we have a difficult time believing that. We rush back to our rules, to morality and church functions to improve our status before God. We know justification saves us, but when we fail to live out what God has called us to we forget to stand and use our justification purchased in the cross. We fail to see our inheritance. It is as though we’ve been offered this endless feast, but we still choose to eat dog food from time to time. Ephesians says that the Holy Spirit is the down-payment of our inheritance as sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:13-14). This not only means that the Spirit gives us our ability to call God our Father, but it also means that the Spirit gives us the power to choose justification over the law. If we are sons and daughters of the king who owns everything and will never stop loving us then we should act like it! This doesn’t just mean doing good works. It also means that when we fail to do good works we know that we are still sons and daughters of God.

If we are an adopted child of God why do we act as orphans?

PARENT’S CORNER

Spiritual leadership goes beyond just taking your kids to Church. It also includes having spiritual conversations in the home. Below are some helpful questions to ask your students to reinforce what they are learning at Youth Group and in Sunday School.

1. Watch the movie Richie Rich. Ask the question: Do you think Richie Rich would have actually been successful at running the company if the movie was real? If Richie was 50 years old would he have been successful? What would have been the difference between young Richie and the 50-year-old one?

2. How do you feel when you fail at following the rules of God? Does this make you want to run to God or run away from God?

3. If you adopted a child now, what could you give him or her based on what you own and how much money you make? If God owns everything and he has chosen to adopt you – what could he give you?

4. If you have faith you are an adopted son or daughter of God. On a scale of 1-10, how valuable is that to you? Do your actions in school and at home show that value?

5. Can you ever lose your adoption as a son or daughter of God?

I found this article that really struck a chord in my heart and has a lot to do with this idea of not getting caught up in the new toys and massive money spending. What if we left the space under our Christmas trees empty? Instead, what if we helped children in need that are halfway around the globe?

My husband and I do support a Compassion child, and I was in tears when I read a letter from her the other day. She said,” I thank you for the help and support you are giving me. I have never known anyone who has helped me to succeed the way that you do.” Her life is being changed because of a small monthly financial gift that we provide for her. It made me glad to know that she is a special soul that has come to know and love Jesus.

Anyway, this isn’t necessarily a plug for Compassion International, but please read this article and be challenged to re-think Christmas and maybe make some changes in what kind of gifts we give this year or next year.

Who’s Birthday is it Anyway? From www.aholyexperience.com

~Ashley Weaver

So for those who would like a brief tutorial into the world of podcasts and i-Devices read on.

It’s not as “techy” as it sounds. Okay, maybe it’s a little “techy,” but it’s definitely easier than you think. After all, that’s Apple’s whole claim to fame, is making things simpler than we make it out to be.

If you have an iPod or an iPhone or iTunes-compatible device and would like for the River of Life audio sermons to come to you instead of visiting the site and downloading them directly from there, just follow these basic instructions. (Notice I’ve added red comments on the screenshots to indicate important info)

First. Get iTunes.

Download that here.

After Setup and Launching the program, you’ll see this:

Finding the Podcast

The top right has a search bar. To search the “Store” you must first click the panel on the left column that says “Store.” (See above screenshot) If you don’t click “iTunes Store,” you will merely be searching your local computer, which won’t likely yield positive results. Don’t worry. You don’t have to buy anything from the store to download these sermons.

Type in River of Life Alliance Church if you want to search and find it that way. You could always take a shortcut and click the link shown at the beginning of this blog post.

You should see this screen next after you hit “Enter” or “Return.” It’s a list of the podcast search results with the names “River of Life” in them. You should notice the River of Life icon at the top somewhere.

The Podcast Listing

After clicking on the icon or title of the podcast, you’ll be taken to the actual listing. This should look like the screenshot to the left.

Note that there’s a bunch of obvious information about each sermon listed here including date, title, length of audio, and “Going Deeper” notes and description.

The main buttons that you’ll want to focus on are the “Subscribe” button on the left side under the icon, or the individual “Free” buttons on the right. Each will give you access to download the audio free of charge. (The buttons on the right only download audio on an individual basis, while the big “Subscribe” button will do just that and bring all ROL audio content to your machine)

Once you have downloaded the files. They will show up in your “Library.” This is located in the left most column and has access to everything you have on your local computer. From there, you can listen on your computer using the built-in media player in iTunes (find the podcast and click play) or sync it with your device.

Sync it up!

From here, it’s just a matter of syncing your device with your library. I won’t go into the details of accomplishing that task but you can read on about that here:
Apple How- To 

Enjoy!

RECAP

If you take a piece of paper of any size and try to fold it in half 10 times you will be defeated. It is impossible. If I offered you an ipad and a new car it would make no difference. No matter what motivation you have, your hands do not have the strength to fold a piece of paper in half 10 times. I’ll wait 5 minutes while you go attempt to do this as you undoubtedly don’t believe me and want to prove me wrong.

Do you give up?

See, we do the same thing with the law of God. It is impossible to follow the laws of God. I don’t care how noble and pure your motivation is; you and I are unable to follow the commands of God.  This isn’t really shocking. Most of us know that we cannot live out what God has called us to. However, scripture is shocking because it takes it a step further. Essentially, scripture says that when we fail to live out the commands of God then the law did it’s job. The commands of God are meant to drive us to failure because that is a perfect breeding ground for faith.

Most of us know Romans 3:23 which says, “All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” However, most of us do not know Galatians 3:22 which says, “Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” Romans 7:9 says it even better, “I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.” In other words, the law of God was set up so that you would know that your “not” good enough and that even when you try to be it is never enough. The more you try to follow the law, the more failure should follow. That in turn should push you all the more to depend and trust in God. However, some of us have this determining attitude. We will dig our heals in and try with all our might to follow the law. How is that working for you?

Take for example that piece of paper you tried to fold in half 10 times which is now a wad of paper in the waste basket next to you. What if I magically appeared where you are reading this now and said, “If you let me see your piece of paper I have a way of doing it that works.” Some of you would probably give me the paper, but there are some of you who would want to be told the right way so you can do it on your own. Like a child trying to open a tough jar you would scream, “I can do it myself!” By the way, even if I told you how to do it, you are still incapable of doing it. However, I’m a patient teleporter so I will let you try.  Eventually you are going to get frustrated and realize that no matter what you do you are never going to be able to do it. Then you will give up. Yet, that is not the only thing you will do. If I approached you at this point and said, “If you let me see your piece of paper I have a way of doing it that works” won’t all of you throw the piece of paper at me and say “YES!” out of frustration and desperation?

The same thing can be said about the commands of God. When you try to follow them over a period eventually you will become frustrated and desperate because you fail at trying to follow them. When God comes along and says, “I know a way to follow all those commands. His name is Jesus,” you are much more likely to have faith in that moment. You are desperate and frustrated at your failure. The good news about that attitude is that it is a great place to be because faith will likely result. Desperation and failure are good precursors to faith.

Does this make the law evil? No! It makes us evil. The problem is not the law. We are the problem.

Lets look at it this way. If there was a mass murderer who was caught, wouldn’t you want him locked away in solitary somewhere? Wouldn’t you want to see if the jail system could somehow rehabilitate him? Wouldn’t you want him to be disciplined in jail and educated so that he could learn what he did was wrong? Of course. Now, nobody is going to say the jail is evil for doing such a thing and that the warden must be a mean person who doesn’t care about people. Why? The murderer is evil, not the jail. Likewise, we are evil, not the laws of God.

Now, look at it through the eyes of the murderer and pretend you are him. Lets say I’m a jailer and I come along and start telling you that what you did was wrong. Every time you do something wrong in the jail I punish you. What is your reaction going to be? One reaction is that you will hate me. You could make up excuses for why the crime wasn’t your fault. You could think that I’m overbearing and that I’m getting on your case all the time. You might think I’m trying to suck all the fun and joy out of life. If I try to educate you, you might think that is boring and dumb because it has no relevance to your life. You are going to hate jail. The other reaction could be a positive one. You could realize you are guilty and accept your punishment. You could correct your behavior with discipline. You could pull yourself up by your bootstraps and educate yourself. You could make your jail time better. However, it is still jail. The interesting part is that even if you respond positively to me you are never getting out of jail. You could realize your guilt, have great behavior, get a PhD and learn to cooperate with inmates. It doesn’t matter. You are never getting out of jail because you are a mass murderer.

You and I are like this mass murderer in jail. We have all come up with excuses that shift the blame of guilt away from us. We all go against the law of God thinking it has no relevance to our lives. We think God’s laws are boring and we just assume that the creator of the Universe – the one who knows everything – would come up with a bunch of rules to make us miserable. We think God is overbearing and at the end of the day we are mad at him until eventually we hate him. Or, we try to correct ourselves with discipline. We dump morality and education upon ourselves and cling to them as saviors. We beat ourselves up over our guilt hoping that by penance we can right the wrong we have done. We reach out to others and try to place behavior modification upon them, but it doesn’t even work on us. The beauty of Jesus is that he didn’t give us rules to correct our behavior. We wouldn’t be able to follow those rules anyways. Therein lies the point. We must come to know with all our being the desperation in our failure to live out what God has called us to. Jesus gave himself in order that we can be released, not just from sin, but also from the prison of the law. We can be saved from the vicious cycle of trying to measure up. Jesus not only fulfilled the law perfectly, but he also endured the punishment for breaking it. Jesus put himself in a jail cell so that we may see the sun and walk on grass. We are free.

The law still plays a role in our lives, but until you realize justification through faith the law will merely be a prison to you. The law of God is a prison to those who try to prove themselves by it. Trying to follow it should make us frustrated and desperate, because that is where faith begins. God gave us the law so that we could see our need for grace.

The commands of God are meant to drive us to failure because that is a perfect breeding ground for faith.

PARENT’S CORNER

Spiritual leadership goes beyond just taking your kids to Church. It also includes having spiritual conversations in the home. Below are some helpful questions to ask your students to reinforce what they are learning at Youth Group and in Sunday School.

1. Watch “Back to the Future” with your student if they or you haven’t seen it. It is one of my favorite movies! Afterwards, mention that one of the characters, Doc, would always say, “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” Ask your student if they think that is true. Ask: If you put your mind to it, do you think you can follow the commands of God?

2. When you fail at following the commands of God, how do you feel? Does this make you want to run away from God or towards God? Does it comfort you to know that you are supposed to fail trying to follow the law so that you see your need for grace?

3. For you, what commands from God are the hardest to follow? Did you know that when you don’t follow a particular command, you probably broke the 2nd commandment? When you break a command from God you are saying that something else is worth more than obedience to God.  In essence, you are telling God you need something else besides him. This is idolatry which is the heart of all sin. You and your child must realize this together. Morality is only a part of righteousness. Therefore, immorality can only be one part of sin.

4. If you are desperate and frustrated about something, are you more likely to trust somebody? Remind your students that they can trust you and bring anything to you. Also mention adults in their lives that you trust. Tell your student if they don’t feel comfortable with you about something to go those people. Frustration and desperation are great places for faith to begin, but they can also be great beginnings for defiant sin.

5. Let’s say I gave you a diploma that says you graduated college with straight A’s. However, there is one catch: You still have to go through all the classes. Would you not care how you did in those classes, because you have straight A’s? Or, would you want to earn the degree yourself and at least try to match the straight A’s?

A. If they don’t care about the classes, then they don’t realize how hard it is to get straight A’s in college. They don’t understand what has been given to them. This is like receiving the grace of God and thinking we can do whatever we want. We don’t really understand what has been given to us.

B. If they want to earn the degree for themselves they will find out how hard it is to get straight A’s. They would also be foolish. What if you fail the classes or get straight B’s? You just rejected straight A’s.  This is like trying to earn the favor of God but refusing his grace. We don’t really understand what has been given to us.

C. We should try to go through the classes, but with the knowledge that if we fail we can still hit the books again because we already have straight A’s. This like being given grace and running to it over and over when we do fail. We can take hope and comfort in what has been given us. This should give us patience and make us more graceful with ourselves and others.