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.

I may not need bread alone, but I still need bread. Right?

We are all born into a story. Some are happy with a lot of love and support. Some are more sad and tragic. Either way when we're young, other people begin to write our story on us. Around middle school and high school, we begin to write our own story.

God gave us His word through the Bible, not to be a wikipedia of God, but to give us the story of God engaging us. In the beginning, God spoke through prophets and other various ways. Then He spoke to us through His Son. Today God is continually speaking to us. All of creation is constantly screaming at us the story of God. God is always speaking and His words give us life.

"Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

I used to think that Jesus was just giving the "Sunday School" answer. I remember thinking that we don't live on bread alone... but we still live on bread. I thought Jesus was being an over spiritual tough guy but He really was being literal. He knew that apart from His father, He could turn those stones to bread, but it's not the bread that gives Him life. It's that His Father spoke into that bread that brings Him life. Just like manna, God puts all the nutrients into bread therefore bread gives us life. But if God spoke and said, "be full" then He would be full. Just like He spoke and said, "Let there be light" and there was light.

So if God is speaking constantly and His words bring us life, and we allow him to speak His story into our story, it will change our story. Instead of being what we've allowed others to shape us into, we become what God shapes us into. Instead of trying to be the main character of our own story, we become a part of a story much bigger than us. We become a part of a story that matters.

It's a story that begins with us being created in the likeness and image of God. It's a story about a murderer named Moses, a liar named Abraham, a prostitute named rehab, and a liar, murderer and adulterer named David. We see God go into the gritty, nasty reality of life and take imperfect people to do extraordinary things.

Some of us don't know our story because we're looking in the wrong story. Let God's words breath into your life and find yourself in that story.

If you do the right thing for the wrong reason, is it still right?

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Matthew 7:21-23

There are a lot of people that "do the right thing." People who volunteer their time, donate their money and are kind to people. Some of those people even attend church. This may sound odd, but all of those things can be done out of selfish ambition. There are many people that donate time and money to feel good about themselves or for notoriety instead of being an obedient servant for God. There are many people who go to church for the community or even the entertainment that they get there and they take Jesus out of church.

The scary thing in Matthew 7:21-23 is that there were these people who did all the right things and at the end, they were expecting to get into heaven. And Jesus' answer to this was that He never knew them. You can do all the right things, but if you take Jesus out of it, then ultimately you're doing it for yourself. The key here is you either know Jesus or you don't. You may know who Jesus is, but do you know Him personally? Is He actively working in your life? If you don't see Jesus working, He may not be there.

What a waste to go through life in attempts to become a "good person" just to find Jesus telling you, "I don't know you, go away!" I pray that our quest is to hear "Well done my good and faithful servant." From a worldly view, both can look the same. However there is a huge difference that is imperative: Jesus.

9/13/09 - Recap

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Fall is underway. Hello school, homework, band practice, football practice, work schedules and an overall boost in responsibilities and lack of free time. As the to-do list grows, so does the anxiety and negativity. When your seed of negativity begins to grow into a blossoming tree, relationships begin to suffer and even Fantasy Football starts to wear you out. You feel like you're running on empty because you are.

Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you..." WAIT, WAIT, WAIT... Take your yoke? How is adding more to my plate going to relieve my weary and burdened soul?

How is stopping at a gas station going to get me to where I want to go any quicker? Jesus is the answer to the weary and burdened life because only He can give rest for your soul. He doesn't take away your responsibilities, but He does give you the strength to get through.

For us, Middle School has an hour and fifteen minutes on Sunday morning and High School has 90 minutes on Sunday night to enter a sanctuary or refuge and leave the troubles of life outside. For a short period of time, we get to block out everything to focus on Jesus. We get to come to Him and find rest for our weary and burdened souls. Amen to that.