Sword Drill!

Holiness - Drew Harasick; 12/7/08

Sin is breaking God's law.

Holiness is being separate from sin!

How:

*Hate sin
*Realize you're a sinner
*Repent

but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

First Peter 1:15-16
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We enjoyed playing soccer during game time.

Sanctification - Edwin S; 11/30/08

Sanctification - Set apart

Sanctification is possible because of the Bible.

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

John 17:17

God changes your mind.

How can we be Sanctified:

1. Honor your parents
2. Stay away from sin
3. Serve
4. Pray
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In game time we got a work out by playing Ultimate Dodge Ball!

Testimony Time ---> Andrea Hulbirt

I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church in 1984 in Ohio. Throughout my early years in a Catholic grade school I was taught to believe that salvation was not sufficient through Jesus Christ only, but came through the church, its traditions, and my own efforts to do good works. I occasionally attended mass on Sundays with my family, but weekly my school held mass during school hours which we had to attend. I thought I knew God and I thought my religion was right because it made me strive to be a better person. With those thoughts I chose to attend an all-girl Catholic high school. Throughout high school as a whole student body we were required to attend our mass every week. My religion classes taught me that the Bible consisted of made up stories to teach us life lessons and an overall feel-good teaching that “everything happens for a reason.” This was the extent of my faith. During these years I found myself getting wrapped in more and more sin, and I clearly knew that what I was doing was bad. I tried avoiding sin by becoming involved with retreats and youth groups. I was trying to make up for all of my past sins and replace them with good deeds. After high school I went off to college, where I left behind church and my faith in God.

I moved out to Los Angeles in July of 2004, and for the next two years I allowed my mind, heart and body to be consumed with sin and fascinated with the world. I allowed alcohol and drugs to take control, engaging in a lifestyle that seemed to be leading to an early death; however I didn’t try to fix a thing. I kept digging myself into a hole, and it kept getting deeper and deeper.

Last year I found myself in the darkest state I had ever been. I knew that I had to change the way I was living or I would literally die. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own because I’d fail, and all the people I surrounded myself with were living the same lifestyle, I knew they couldn’t help. Then this is when I accepted that this was who I was, and there’s nothing I could do about it, so I continued on with what I thought was “living my life to the fullest.” During this time I was being encouraged to come to Grace Community Church by a few fellow co-workers. I scoffed at the first request of this. But, week after week they asked, and week after week I was just a little more interested. But in the mist of the sinful lifestyle I was living, I was intimidated.

In mid July of 2006 I attended Crossroads; this was my first time coming to a Christian church. During worship everyone was singing and I could hear the passion in their voices as they sang to praise God. I was surrounded by peers, hundreds of people my age coming together for God, not because they had to either, but because they loved the Lord!? I was amazed. After hearing the Word of God spoken and taught in depth by Rick Holland, I realized that I really didn't know Jesus. I never heard these words before. I have never really even utilized a Bible before, I never understood it. I had heard a few Old Testament stories and I knew the Stations of the Cross from the Catholic Church, but other than that, this was all new to me. I didn't know that the Lord is "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Him,” as proclaimed in John 14:6. It wouldn't take long though for me to understand this on a new level. The next few weeks I had the urge to read more from the Bible, and get to know who God is.

Attending church and still livin
Sunday August 6th came around and I attended big church in the morning. This is when I hear the Sermon, “Drop Everything and Follow Him!” taught by Steven Lawson. We took a look at Mark 1:16-20. I took notes, “He chooses the common, looks past the mighty, to call on me”, and The Lord was calling to me to follow Him. I wrote on, “God Himself chooses us. It’s a direct invitation to join Him, a command.” “Follow Christ – Love, serve, and obey Him. Have faith to follow Him with complete surrender. His agenda is my agenda.” This was a lot for me to grasp, to leave everything behind, the thought made my anxious. But I understood that this was the only way and that this is what the Lord wanted, and I was to be obedient. So during closing prayer, I accepted that direct invitation from God, asked for God’s forgiveness from all the sin I had committed, and placed my pride, past and all of my possessions before the Lord. And I gave my life to the Lord and asked that He guide me for His own glorification. The next few weeks were beyond what I had expected. My whole life was flipped upside down, a dying to my old being and a rejuvenation of a clean and new being.

I thank the Lord daily for my salvation and all the knowledge He has given me. I take on no credit for anything good, for it is all through the power of the Holy Spirit. He has giving me the strength to trust in Him and cut all ties from my past life. I feel free and blessed and find joy living my life to glorify God.

So, this was God's plan of salvation. This is the salvation that comes by grace through faith. It could not come from any plan that I had. His grace is a gift and it was given to me so that He would be glorified, so that I could stand here today to respond in obedience to the call and demands of Jesus Christ my Savior.

We love learning new songs!

Yay, Small Group Time! 11/23/08

We had a different Discovery tonight. The teacher who was suppose teach the lesson was sick. Instead we had an extended small group time. We reviewed what we have been learning this semester. In our group we made it into a game. We divided the girls into teams to answer the questions. The team who got the most points won a prize, which was candy!

In game time we played soccer.

We learned a new song in music time, which was "Shout For Joy"

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We enjoy our small group time ;)

Being Born Again - Will Costello; 11/16/08

Tonight we learned about being born again.

Unless you're born again, you can't even see the Kingdom.

Love is a expression of obedience

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16

1. It prepares us for heaven

2. Preformed by God
A. Titus 3:5
B. John 5:21

3. Proven
A. Second Corinthians 5:17
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In game time we got our exercise by playing Flatlands (same idea as Sharks & Minnos)

Testimony Time ---> Drew Harasick

I’ve been going to Grace Community Church my whole life, and was your average “good kid”. I never got into much trouble, knew most answers to questions, and even had contests in sermons with my best friend to see who could write the most notes. But on the inside, I didn’t care at all, my motives weren’t for Christ. I proclaimed to be a Christian, and even although I wasn’t purposely rebelling against Christ, if you are not a child of God, you are an enemy of God. As I grew older, I was able to sin in worse ways, I listened to music I shouldn’t have, I did wrong things on the computer, and had many negative influences. My sin was purposeful, and I enjoyed it; I didn’t care about hiding it. My life was spinning out of control, destined to crash.

One night in my freshman year of high school, I just couldn’t sleep. I was just lying there, thinking about my sin, the guilt of it was all upon me. I got up to get my dad, and he explained why I was feeling that way. He said I wasn’t a Christian, and told me how to be one. I knew everything he was saying to me, but for the first time, I truly understood it. I realized who I was, a pitiful sinner living for himself in sin, denying God’s invitation to be his son. I realized who God really was, a merciful, just, and holy God who could have, and should have, killed me for any one of the numerous sins I had committed, but loved me in spite of all that, and loved me enough to ask me to be his son. That night I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and changes started to happen.

It’s not that I immediately stopped sinning; the battle against sin only began. I now had Christ on my side, and could resist temptation. My life was altered in many ways. I turned away from the sinful things I had been doing, had desires to read my bible, to do what I knew in my heart was right.

Now, I still struggle with sin and the desire to be holy, but as Philippians 4:13 says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

We enjoy being with friends!

Justification/Imputation - Paul Stewart; 11/9/08

Justification - Christ paid for our sin

Every time you sin, you increase your debt to God.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

Small Group Object Lesson:

We gave each girl different colored Skittles. Each color represented a different amount of money. They each had $35 to start with. Then one of the leader's asked them about different sin, for example: being mean or taking a toy from their sister or brother. Each time they said yes, they had to pay a certain amount. After all their Skittles were gone, we asked them one last question. They could not pay.

Lesson: We can't pay for our sin, so Jesus died on the cross to pay the debt we owe.

In game time we played Capture the Pin.

We enjoy singing

Conversion - Andrew Zekveld; 11/2/08

This past Sunday we learned about conversion.

Saving faith:
*We need to ask for it
*It's a free gift from God
*Produces works

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

What makes something a gift:
*It's free and never taken away

In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice;In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

Psalm 5:3

Repentance - Sylvester; 10/26/08

Sunday night in Discovery we discovered some interesting facts about repentance.

"Sin must be realized before it can be dealt with."

Repentance is:
*Knowing that you have sinned
*Feeling guilt because of your sin
*Turning from your sin
*Turning to Christ

"But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."' "So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

Luke 15:17-21

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In game time we played Capture The Pin

"Jailbreak!"

Resurrection - Will Costello; 10/19/08

Tonight we learned about Christ's resurrection.

Hope is believing something good is going to happen.

A witness is someone who sees something happen

After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.

John 14:19

Will used the example of a empty box; he compared it to the empty tomb when Jesus was buried and rose again!

He has risen indeed!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In game time we enjoyed some exercise with a fast paced game of Dodge Ball.

Our leader's help us understand the weekly lesson.

Substitution

Sunday night we learned that there is an immediate punishment for sin and an eternal punishment. We, ourselves, can’t pay the price for our sins. God provided the perfect substitute for our sins, the Lord Christ Jesus. God is a gracious God not wishing that anyone should perish.

In our small group tonight we asked if anyone could give an example of a substitute. One of the girls gave us the example of a teacher that fills in when the regular teacher is out.

In game time we played Sharks and Minnows.