Popular Phrases Alternatives #3: "Y.O.L.O."

     Hey bro! You've most likely heard someone lately say the dreaded phrase Y.O.L.O.. These words are usually accompanied by some act of such stupidity that you wish the speaker of the phrase just ran head-long into a wall; maybe he did. This phrase simply just bugs me because it's never accompanied by an act of any significance. So I challenge you, when you wish to do something stupid, when the urge comes over you as it does me, leave out the calling of "Y.O.L.O." and instead just pursue your act. Or as an alternative say the whole thing, "You Only Live Once." Or just say nothing; anything but Y.O.L.O..

STATUS UPDATE!!!

     HEY! I thought it'd been awhile since I posted anything regarding where I'm heading in life so here's my status update. I'm on the track to graduate from Peninsula High School in about 3 weeks with the class of 2012 (they saved the best for last). Next year I shall be attending Multnomah University for a double major in Music Ministry and Biblical Theology with one of my best friends. OH! And I was hired at Miracle Ranch for my second summer! This summer I'll be hired/paid College Staff working as the Paintball Supervisor; that should be fun. Anywho, that's what's been going on in my life. Thanks supporting my blog guys!

Josh Lewis- Musicman

Rockets (My first real poem)

I walk through the valley with hands in my pockets, 

thinking of a time where I could still dream of rockets. 

My life yet has drifted so far from peace, 

my head is swimming in thoughts that should cease. 

Give me a thought to calm the camaraderie, 

the pictures I see are of the Father and me. 

I need Your hand, God, to keep me in place, 

You say this life is not chaos, 

it's not just a race. 

I can feel the tears on my face. 

The soft words you say give my life hope, 

it's better than silence to cut this tight rope.

I've left the dark valley with hands in my pockets, 

this life is not over, 

I can still dream of rockets.

Beloved: The Last Supper (Finale part of "The Marriage")

 Song to be played in worship...

Beloved- Tenth Avenue North

     In scripture there are MANY, MANY times where God calls us His bride. One unordinary time is during the last supper. At the time they were celebrating the passover when Jesus, going about His duties as Rabbi, picks up the third cup, the Cup of Salvation. Now, traditionally you're supposed to set this cup aside, but Jesus instead says, "This is my covenant, take and drink it." Under ordinary circumstances this would be an action of no consequence, but to this group of tax collectors and fisherman Jesus was basically asking them to marry him.
     Back in this time when a man saw a women he was interested in he would go to his father and be like, "hey, dad, I really like this chick." So they would go to her dad and strike a deal with him for her. Before you overreact though, this wasn't for her hand, this was a bargain to simply ask if she would; she had the choice. At this point they'd throw a large banquet during which the man would pick up the third cup, offer it to the women and say, "this is my covenant, take and drink it." Now, the women could either go, "ew...no, you're a creeper and I want nothing to do with you," OR say yes.
     If she said yes, the man would leave and they wouldn't see one another for a time. She, from this point on, would no longer be known by her name, but rather as "one who is bought with a price." The man would go home and begin building her a mansion. However, before you get excited, the word mansion in Hebrew translates to "apartment." Oh, and to top it off, it was simply and extension of his parents house; it was called an Insula, or family dwelling. So, ladies, if you don't want this I wouldn't recommend marrying a Jewish boy...only kidding. The guy didn't get to choose when he was finished though, her father had to check off that it was good enough.
     If the "mansion" was good enough the man was permitted to receive his bride. At this point the man would gather his his posy with their Rams horns (Shofars) and run to collect his beloved. Upon seeing him she would walk down to him, essentially down the isle.
     Do you see the metaphor yet?
     After Jesus offered the cup the disciples looked at one another and realized that they'd been with Him that long, they might as well keep going. Jesus then looked at them and told them He'd be leaving for awhile, but while He was gone He'd be building them each a mansion of their own. He did not know when He would return, but when His father gave His blessing Jesus would return for His bride with His holy posy, the 4 angels, and bring us home. We are all disciples of Jesus though, He calls us all His bride. We aren't even a great bride that will give Him stuff and wait on Him, the Bible calls us an adulterous, unfaithful bride. But to foreshadow last weeks message, He knows our sins but He loves us the same.
     So, go now knowing that we are Jesus' bride. We are His lovers. We are His everything.

"This is my covenant, take and drink it." 

-

Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God. 

You Are More (Part 1 of "The Marriage")

Play video after worship, before message...     

You Are More-Tenth Avenue North

Who are you? 

     There's this saying these days, and I'm sure you've heard it, that goes "we are simply the product of our experiences." But is this true?
     I worked at Miracle Ranch for the first time last summer, as you all know. When working at camp you meet kids from all different walks of life; some have had rather trying lives, but others may have gotten everything they've every dreamt of. It's crazy. You begin to wonder how they can possibly connect with one another and worship together. We begin to think that our job is to get the campers' riled up and driven to celebrate and live for God. But what we sometimes forget is that, how can you live for God if you don't know how to live because of God.
   As Christians we walk through life trying to make the best choices in the name of God, but what we often forget is that the gospel tells us that the choices we make don't make us who we are, what Jesus did makes us who we are. Now, here I should probably specify that I'm not trying to undermine the consequences of our actions because the choices we make do determine where we end up, but it is very important to remember that where we end up does NOT determine who you are. And that connects us all, doesn't it? Campers, people who work 9-5 jobs, prisoners, it doesn't matter who you think you are because who you are isn't determined by your life, who you are is determined by the life that Jesus led, the life that Jesus gave up to give you yours back. Isn't that freeing? If you're good, there's more to you than your success, if you're bad, you're more than your failures. You are more than the choices that you make, you are more than the mistakes you've made, you're even more than the rights you have accomplished; you are the sum of our heavenly Fathers love for us.
     This is a short coming of almost everyone I know, Christians and non-believers alike, we all believe that who we are is equivalent to the sum of our successes and failures. We are deluded. Honestly, who are we to think that we have any sort of control over who we are if we have someone as great as God watching over us. We aren't who we are because of our choices because our falls and mistakes pale in comparison to the sacrifice Jesus made upon that cross.
     Have you heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son? Well, the Parable of the Prodigal son is about a father and his two children and their relationship when one leaves for a life of debauchery. Let me read it to you...

The Parable of the Prodigal (Lost) Son

^"11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

     No matter how much the son disrespected the father and no matter how much he sinned while using the money given to him by the father, the fathers love for his son could not be dampened. Do you see the moral here? Gods' love for us is just as the fathers love for his son. Every day we go into the world with what God has given us and we sin against Him, but He loves us the same. God knows that we aren't the measure of our sins, we are who He made us to be in His infinite wisdom. When you come back to Him with an apology in your heart He runs to you and embraces you in an embrace that washes us clean of every sin. And it's all because He knows that YOU ARE MORE. 

     

Read letter aloud...

Fathers Love Letter

     Our Father loves us more than we can possibly understand because He knows that deep down, despite how we sin against Him with the tools that He Himself sculpted from nothing, we are more than that. We are more, you are more than the weight of your sin. You are the measure of Gods love, of Jesus' sacrifice upon the cross. 

     Tonight if you want to accept your Fathers undying love for you and return His warm embrace, you need only pray. I want to spread out for about 5 minutes and give you time to think. You can either sit and pray to yourself or just sit quietly and think. There are prayer partners around the room that would be more than willing to sit and pray with/for you if you so choose, including myself. Please try your best to sit away from someone and resist the urge to talk, just dwell on what God is saying to you in His letter. Go.* 

Optional ending song: 

Strong Enough to Save-Tenth Avenue North

*Last paragraph is the conclusion to the Lakebay Community Church Youth Group delivery of this message. 

**To alleviate any confusion, speaker directions are included. 

Y.O.L.O.F.O.G.

     Now, you're probably wondering what the acronym Y.O.L.O.F.O.G. stands for. I'm going to naturally assume that you've heard the acronym Y.O.L.O, which stands for "You Only Live Once." Well, Y.O.L.O.F.O.G. means pretty much the same thing, except not really. This acronym, coined by yours truly, stands for "You Only Live Once For Our God." I thought of it while on the long drive home after a Mens' retreat I was invited to with a couple guys from church. The whole weekend we talked about the war that rages stronger now than ever between God and the world. It was a long and sometimes brutal talk, but the truth is, the war rages on and the only was to stop it is to rescue people for the kingdom of God and His army.
     Now, you could go around making stupid decisions claiming "Y.O.L.O." every time, but what's the point? You only live once? That's your reason? I can almost guarantee that you won't feel that way if someone gets seriously injured or pregnant. And what's the point? It's a selfish existence. YOU only live once? Isn't the point of life to live for more than just yourself? Isn't the only way to truly live for others to live for God?
    We only live once, so why not live for the man who gave His life so that you may live period. You only live once, no, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE FOR OUR GOD.

Future Sermons!

     I just found out that I am speaking for my youth group not only twice in the coming months, but the LAST two meetings of this year for us. I knew I'd most likely be speaking at least once before the end because it was mentioned to me a couple weeks ago that there was a day open for me to speak, so naturally I began thinking and praying on what to speak on. Then just a few days ago I found out that there were two days and they were the last, and without even having to sit down and pray, God put two songs in my head, both of which by one of my favorite christian groups, Tenth Avenue North. The first song was You Are More from their second album, The Light Meets the Dark. This song describes the person who doesn't think they can believe because they aren't good enough, but God tells us that we are MORE than the products of our experiences, we are what HE created us to be, not what we've made ourselves. The second song was Beloved from their first album, Over and Underneath. The song Beloved quotes scripture in many places where God and Jesus call us His bride. There is a remarkable history behind it but it all boils down to the fact that Jesus bought us with the blood He shed upon that cross. He proposed to us during that scripture when He offered us His cup. We are His unholy bride.
     Needless to say these weeks are gonna be great. These will be my last weeks with the Lakebay Community Church Youth Group and I cannot wait to deliver these final messages as my farewell before I head off to Multnomah and the rest of Gods' plans for me. So stay tuned! In the coming weeks I shall be posting first You Are More and then Beloved, saying that God loves you for who He made you to be, not who you think you are and that's why we accept His blood because His love is undying.
     This year has been great and I can't wait for what's next!

You Are More- Tenth Avenue North

AND 

Beloved- Tenth Avenue North

A Survey For All: Creation vs. Evolution.

     For a class project in Senior English on modern issues a friend and I decided to explain the debate between Creation and Evolution. There are two parts to this project; the first part is the research paper which him and I have handled, the second part, however, is a presentation on the side of the argument we find most valid. Both of us being dedicated Christians, obviously we side with Creation. It is for the presentation we need as much help as possible. So it is now that I ask you, if you are aren't a Christian but yet have questions about our faith and beliefs please ask them now, either by commenting below or emailing me at the address I shall post below. If you ARE Christian I ask you now to ask questions you might pose when speaking to someone who wasn't/isn't Christian, questions you've had people ask you about your faith, and/or questions you think might just be helpful when speaking to people who don't believe. I can do as much research as I want, but I wish these questions to come from the public, not some biblical scholar, so please ask them if you have them.

Feel free to email me as well as comment below,

Thank You!

Email: Odyssey312@Gmail.com