AO Student Website

All Out Student Ministries now has it's very own website!!! At aostudentministries.org you can find general information as well as info on sponsors, events, parent resources, messages and media.

Check it out now and sign up for the high school Spiritual Gifts Fall Retreat or the middle school Xtreme Challenge.

When I grow up, I'm gonna be just like my dad...

When you're little, everything you do and say comes from something other than yourself. For example, my 20 month old has a vocabulary of "I'm a mess" from her Gammy, "more please" from her mother, and "boom, boom, boom" from the Black-eyed Peas. (If you're wondering what she got from me, you should see this girl throw).

When I look back on my upbringing, I see that I'm no different. When I was little, I used to see my dad read his bible at the breakfast table, so I would do the same. I was also a policemen a time or two for halloween. I didn't do those things because my dad told me to, I did them because I saw my dad do them and that made me change how I acted.

My friend Jesus has a similar story.

"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed." John 5:19 &20

Even Jesus, the Son of God and the Savior of the World only does what he sees his father doing. So all that cool stuff that Jesus did on earth... he didn't just make it up. There was a source. John 12:49 & 50 takes it a step further.

"For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."

Jesus obviously had a great relationship with his father. He was constantly looking at what his father was doing so he knew what he should do. Because of Jesus, we can have the same relationship with God the Father as he did. We can look to the bible and we can look all around us and see what God is doing. But question is this: does seeing what God does change what you do?

Don't value the gifts more than the Giver.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

Deep down in our hearts, I believe that God created a void. Within all of us there is something missing, there's a whole in our soul that only God can fill. The problem is we try to fill it with all kinds of different things. The "bad" people fill it with alcohol, drugs, sex and rock and roll. But not us. No, we fill it with good things like playing in the band, sports and other productive activities. Baseball: my anti-drug. That's good, right?

Here's the problem. God created people to give him glory. Then he blessed us with everything around us as gifts from Him to us. Then, with our sinful nature, we took these gifts from God and we made them more important than God Himself. We took God out of that place in our heart and replaced Him with something that He gave us. Instead of keeping it external to us, we give it way more meaning than it was intended. Having stuff isn't bad. It's what that stuff means to us that gets us into trouble.

Jesus addresses this in Matthew 16:24-25.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

Whoever loses their life for me will find it. In confusing but spiritual way, I guess that makes sense. But what does that look like?

Way back in the book of Genesis, there was a guy named Abraham. When Abraham was old enough to be a grandfather, God blessed him with a son, Isaac. Abraham loved his only son so much that he became the light of Abraham's life. That sounds sweet, but at the same time, Abraham took God out of the void in his heart and replaced Him with the gift that God had given him, Isaac.

In Chapter 22, God tests Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his only son (sound familiar?) to God as a burnt offering. At that point, Abraham had a choice. He could either keep his son and disobey God, or he could lose his son for God. He chose to sacrifice his son before God stopped him. Abraham allowed God to reclaim his rightful spot in the shrine in his heart and God blessed him for that.

"and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Genesis 22:18

If you read on, you find out that Jesus came through Abraham's offspring. If Abraham would have chosen differently, the Old Testament would've looked drastically different.

If and when we replace God in our hearts with the gifts He's given us, we too will be tested by God. We'll have two choices and the choice we make will greatly impact our future. Ready?

High School Group time changed for tonight only!!!

For an unknown reason, All Out High School group will meet from 4:00-5:30. See you there.