Trivia Night

 Heyo! Last night was intended to be a circle time night, but I messed up on the timing and that didn't happen. Instead, we spent half the night in a trivia contest between the guys and the girls. If you missed it, all the questions are below (with the answers down in the first comment). Give it a go and see how you do!

There were 20 questions in total, and all of them were taken from previous blog posts. If you are reading this, you are guaranteed to get at least one question right. Can you guess which one it is?

Summit Trivia 2020-2021

1. The first message of the year (school year) introduced the theme of “WHY?”. In that message I shared about “why” we have a message time during youth group. Why do we have a message time during youth group?

2. What is the name of the Student Ministry Blog?

3. The second message of the year talked about our worldview and compared two opposing worldviews. What were those two opposing worldviews?

4. What analogy did I use to explain the idea of a worldview?

5. The 3rd message of the year addressed why we believe in God. Name one of the reasons why we can believe that God is real. Bonus points if you can name the theological argument I shared.

6. The 4th message of the year focused on why we believe in Christianity. What did we say the entire Christian faith hinges on? Bonus points if you can name one of the historical facts that supports it.

7. The 5th message of the year focused on Jesus and why He was so important. What was the big “problem” that Jesus solves?

8. The 6th message of the year took a look at politics. The blog post was written just following the Presidential election back in November. I highlighted 3 things for Christians to think about as they approach politics, name 1. Bonus points if you can name all 3.

9. The 6th message was a more or less popular one, as we dealt with modesty. I said that people should not be drawn to us because of how much skin we show, or how big our muscles are. What did I say people should be drawn to us by? Bonus points if you remember what shirt I used to model.

10. The 7th message addressed our trust in the Bible. I gave 4 reasons why we can trust that the Bible is true. Name 1. Bonus points if you can name all 4.

11. The 8th message of the year was about suffering. The main idea of this message was for us to turn to God in prayer in the midst of our suffering, and we can do this because of something that the Holy Spirit of God does for us. It starts with an “I”, but can you name it?

12. Our 9th message was our last message from Mrs. Emerson before she stepped down from being a leader, and it was on a topic very near and dear to her heart – prayer. What was her MAIN POINT from this message about prayer?

13. Our 10th message of the year was delivered by our very Senior Pastor, Pastor Miller, and it was on the topic of church. His main reason for why we go to church was that it is “for our own good.” He gave 3 other reasons, name 1 of them.

14. Our 11th message of the year was also the first one in 2021, and it was based on a post from my cousin. What was the analogy she used to explain how Jesus is faithfully there for us, no matter how much we run away?

15. In our 12th message of the year, I started talking about fear, and specifically about fearing the Lord. In what ways did we say “the fear of the Lord” is the beginning of the knowledge? Name 1 thing the fear of the Lord does for us.

16. Our 13th message continued the topic of fear. What did I say was greater than fear?

17. Our 14th message was given right before we left for the Winter Retreat. What kind of sin did I say got in the way of our relationship with God?

18. Our 15th message came right after the WR. What was the specific phrase Pastor Ian wanted everyone to take home from the retreat?

19. Our 16th message focused on puzzle pieces and what happens when we become Christians. What was the main idea of this message?

20. Our 17th message introduced what we’ve been talking about for the last month and a half – entering God’s community, the church. Name all 7 of the devotions of the early church.

Dude, You Need to Hear This!

 HEYO! Last night was an odd one, as everyone seemed to be weighed down by the week. We had some fun, and I even learned a new version of Bananagrams! Although, it seems I'm not very good at it. We mixed things up a bit and had our singing and message time in the middle of the night instead of right at the end, and closed out with Noodle Hockey. If you like hitting things (and people) with noodles and enjoy hockey, you definitely missed out.

The message last night closed out our Devotions of the Early Church series with the final devotion: Welcoming New Members. I shared about how Steam (a gaming platform for the pc) often will have special, limited time deals on games, and how every now one of you will reach out to me and say "Hey Mike! There's a deal out right now to get this game for free! Don't miss out!" It's super cool that they thought of me, but if I am being honest, more often than not I don't take advantage of the deal. But hey, at least they reached out, right? My sister, when she worked at Shoprite, would do the same thing for their deals. "Hey Mike! Shoprite has a deal on 2-liter bottles of soda right now, you should get some for the youth group while the deal is still on!" I think I only took advantage of those... once. =/ But hey, she reached out and let me know, right?

Acts 2:47b contains the last devotion of the early church: Welcoming New Members. However, look at how the verse reads: "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." What is being done in this verse? New believers are being added to the church. This was not an exclusive group. Anyone could join as long as they believed in Jesus. Now, who is doing the work in this verse? The Lord. If the Lord is doing the work, then what is our role in this? Accepting the new members. The early church was devoted to welcoming these new members as the Lord added them. But, is this our only role in evangelism (sharing the Gospel)? Are we just supposed to be welcoming new members? Nope. Check out what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:12-17.

"For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!' But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our message?' Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." [emphasis mine]

Read that last verse again. Seriously, go back a line and read it. What Paul is saying here is that as Christians, we have been sent by God to tell others about Jesus. Matthew 28 confirms this when Jesus commands His disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations". We have been sent. Now notice the progression of Paul's thought process here.

1. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

2. You cannot call on the name of the Lord (Jesus) if you have not believed in the Lord.

3. You cannot believe in the Lord if you have never heard of the Lord.

4. You won't hear about the Lord if no one ever tells you about the Lord.

5. No one will tell you about the Lord unless they have been sent.

So then, who has been sent to tell others about Jesus? The church. Us. You and me. Part of our role as Christians is to tell others about Jesus. When we come across people who have not heard about Jesus (which we do almost everyday), we are supposed to tell them about Him. Then, what they decide to do with that information is between them and God.

We call this evangelism - the idea of sharing the Gospel of Jesus with others. And I think we feel so much pressure about it because we put all the responsibility of it on ourselves, as if it is up to us to save people. We are afraid that people will reject the message, reject Jesus, and reject us. And we are afraid that if they reject God, we will be failures. HOWEVER, this is not the case! Because when we tell others about Jesus - we have already succeeded! Well, partly succeeded.

The second half of this, and what is really meant when we talk about welcoming new members, is that when someone chooses to believe, when they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they join our community. They become one of us. Then, it is our responsibility to show them the ropes. To train them (we use the word disciple) in the ways of God. They come in to learn with us, serve with us, worship with us, pray with us, fellowship with us, and devote themselves to all the things we've talked about in this devotion series. All of those things we are already devoted to, they need to be brought in to be devoted to, too.

So whether somebody believes the message about Jesus is between them and God. God is the one who changes hearts and draws people to Himself. As the church, our job is to proclaim that message to everyone and then to welcome people into our community when they choose to believe.

I think each of you reading this knows someone who doesn't know or doesn't believe in Jesus. How will they ever believe in Him if they never hear about Him? Part of your role as a Christian is to share the news. Just like my sister shared the news about Shoprite's soda deals, we have a much more important "limited-time-only" deal to tell people about - the salvation that can be found in Jesus Christ! So let them know what's up, and let them decide what they want to do with that information.

Then, if they accept and believe, welcome into the church! Welcome them into our community! Guide them on where to go next - reading the Bible, connecting with other Christians, praying, serving, the whole nine yards. Show them the way. That's what it means to be devoted to welcoming new members.

Do You Know God?

 HEYO! Last night was a good night. We had a good crew and shared a few laughs together. I learned that some of yall are VERY EASILY distracted, which I suppose wasn't really "new" information. Sister Spatz brought out her favorite game, Dutch Blitz, which is apparently a fast-paced and fun game (I just don't get it). We attempted to play "keep up" with a volleyball, but this was the part where I learned about yalls distractedness.

We played some Nuke 'Em as our main game and not to boast or anything but I did this amazing diving catch which turned into a roll upon landing. Obviously, I didn't get to see it happen (as I was the one doing it), but in my mind's eye it was EPIC. Definitely one of the coolest things I have done in a while.

Our message last night was a continuation of our study of the devotions of the early church. This is all based out of Acts 2:42-47 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the LORD added to their number daily those who were being saved."

So far, we have talked about being devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer, and true community, and last night we talked about the second-to-last thing, praising God.

When I was a kid, I did a LOT of reading on my own time. I had this awesome series of books called "Dinotopia" which was about a secret utopian society on an island where intelligent dinosaurs and humans lived together in peace. I highly recommend these books. Anyway, I used to hate the beginning of a book. It was so boring as they introduced characters and setting and plot. I wanted to get to the action. So, I got in the habit of skipping the first 3 chapters of a book, reading it to the end, and then after finishing I would go back and read the beginning. What would happen is I would start reading in chapter 4 and have to ask "Who is that? What is he doing? Who's that guy? Where are they going? Why are they doing that?" Since I had skipped the intro, I had no clue what was happening in the story or how the characters related to each other. And then, when I would go back and read the beginning, suddenly all the pieces would fit together and those questions I asked in chapter 4 were answered.

Many Christians today (and perhaps you, too) prefer to read the New Testament over the Old Testament of the Bible. Sometimes this is because the OT is hard to read or understand, while the NT is pretty straightforward. Other times this is just because that's all the church covers on Sunday morning. The problem is, only reading the NT is like skipping the first 3 chapters of a book, you miss a lot of the setup and background information. You have no idea who anybody is or why they are doing what they are doing. The early church described in Acts 2 didn't have the NT to read and study like we do. They had the apostles' teaching (which would have covered a lot of what is in the NT) and the OT Scriptures. Their knowledge of God, who He is, what He has done, and how He relates to us came directly from the OT Scriptures. And their praises were based on what they knew of God through those Scriptures.

So as we talk about what it means to be devoted to praising God, we're taking a trip back to the beginning - the very beginning. Click here to open up Genesis 1 on Biblegateway.com. Or, if you would prefer, pull out your Bible and open to page 1. Let's see what we can learn about God from the first 3 chapters of the Bible. (For the sake of space in this post, I will not be including most of the verses so you will need to follow along using your Bible or Biblegateway.com)

Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This is the first sentence in the entire Bible, and it sets the stage for everything else that follows. "In the beginning God..." This verse tells us that God exists already at the beginning of everything, which tells us that He is eternal (has no beginning).

This verse (and the rest of the chapter) also tells us that God is both powerful and creative. We also learn from this first chapter that God's Words are powerful (He creates by speaking things into existence) and that He is orderly - He creates in a specific order, with complexity and purpose.

Genesis 1:27-29 - "So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.' Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'" We learn here that God delegates authority and provides generously for His creation. He put mankind in charge of the earth and made sure they had an abundance of food to eat. Here and also in chapters 2 and 3 we see that God is personal - He interacts with His creation on a personal level. He walks and talks with Adam in the Garden of Eden. He is not some distant god with little or no concern for us - He knows us and is concerned about us.

In Genesis 2 God establishes one rule for Adam and Eve in the Garden - they must not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They have free reign over everything else, just not that tree. This tells us that God is moral - He knows the difference between right and wrong and establishes rules for living rightly.

In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve are persuaded by the serpent (imagery for Satan) to break God's rule and rebel against Him. It is in this chapter that we learn that God is just - when rules are broken there must be consequences, or justice. He sets consequences on all the involved parties: the serpent, the woman, and the man (and through this consequence the earth also becomes cursed).

But we also see at the end of chapter 3 that God is loving and merciful, because even though Adam and Eve rebelled against Him, He still provides clothing for them.

And finally, we learn that part of the consequences of rebellion is separation from God. He banishes mankind from His presence (and the Garden). This is because He is holy and mankind's sin was unholy - those two things cannot go together.

So just in the first 3 chapters we have the establishment that God is eternal, powerful, creative, orderly, generous, personal, moral, just, loving, merciful, and holy. We learned how the world was created, how mankind was made special (in God's image), how mankind rebelled against God and received the due consequences, and how God worked through it all. All of these things we learned about God remain consistent throughout the entire Bible and these chapters set the stage for all of history.

Go back and read Genesis 3:14-15 - "So the LORD God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.'" This is God's judgment on the serpent for deceiving Adam and Eve into rebellion. And that last part, "he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel", is an important foreshadowing of something we just celebrated a few days ago at Easter - the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Devil's plan was to kill Jesus (the offspring of Eve) and he succeeded. Unfortunately for him, though, Jesus didn't stay dead. He arose from death, which was the point at which the Devil's demise (his defeat) was realized. Jesus' resurrection was a deathblow to Satan's plans. So, even in the first 3 chapters of the Bible we already have a foreshadowing of God's plan of redemption for mankind in Jesus Christ on the cross. Although we are the ones who broke God's rules and deserve our punishment (death), God entered our world as Jesus and paid the price for us - because He is just (someone needed to be punished), AND because He is loving. John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Getting back to the point for today, being devoted to praising God, in order to praise God we have to know God. We have to relate to Him somehow. And how can we come to know Him unless we read His Word? How can we praise Him if we don't even know Him?

The early church's praise was born from their knowledge and experience of God. Our praise must be driven by the same thing. We must know and experience God personally before we can be devoted to praising Him.

Remember how God banished mankind from His presence? That was a consequence of their sin. Because of our sin, we also are separated from God and cannot know Him personally. But, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we can now have our sin removed from us and be reunited with God! We CAN have a relationship with Him and know Him. To try and know God without believing in Jesus as your Lord and Savior is like trying to look up facts about someone on the internet. You may learn something about them, but you won't know them, not really. To get to know them, you have to be in a relationship with them. It is the same with God. We can know about God by reading the Bible. We get to know God when we believe in Jesus, enter that relationship, read His Word, pray, and experience His love and mercy and forgiveness for ourselves. Then, it is out of this knowledge and experience that we sing praises to Him.

So, ultimately, it is as we are devoted to these other things (teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer, and true community) that we then can be devoted to praising God like the early church was. Praise and worship come out of knowledge and experience.  The question for you is:

Do you know God?

Identity of Love

 Hey guys and gals! Welcome to another Summitable. Last night we played some real spicy UNO (we fixed the rules) and goodness, that's a LONG GAME. We ended up stopping it once one person went out rather than the usual "last one with cards loses". We all just wanted to go play 9-square. So we did! "Jumps McGee" just wanted to be in the air and didn't care if he hit the ball out, so he got out more than he should have. Ah well, as long as we all had fun, right?

The message last night was a break from our current "Devoted To..." series, as Sister Spatz brought a message on biblical friendships. As someone who has struggled with having healthy, biblical friendships since early childhood, she offered a great deal of insight to the issue as well as some practical advice for all of us on how to establish more biblical friendships and relationships with others.

As usual, she opened with some definitions.

Friendship: a relationship of mutual affection between people.

Relationship: the way in which two or more people or groups regard and behave toward each other.

So we can see just from these definitions that a friendship is a type of relationship, and that relationships cover a broad range of interactions (good ones and bad ones) with people.

Christianity aside, we can probably all agree that relationships are hard. Think about your interactions with the people in your life: friends, family members, co-workers, classmates, teachers, etc. Isn't it hard sometimes to know how to act, what to say, or what to do in these relationships? Sometimes we make it hard, other times they make it hard.

For Christians, relationships are even harder. If you are not a Christian, and you don't get along with someone, the culture says to cut them out of your life (think about how our culture talks about toxic people). Christians, however, are called to love our enemies.

Matthew 5:43-45 - "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

Luke 6:27-36 - “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold it from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. [...] But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” 

We are commanded by our LORD and Savior to LOVE our enemies. Which is entirely counter-cultural. Normally, we hate our enemies and it is easy to do so because, you know, we hate them. Loving someone else, anyone else, is difficult. Especially when they are hostile, mean, or talk down to us. Our gut reaction is to strike back, to defend ourselves, to hit them where it hurts. But, as Christians, we're called to think beyond that. We are called to view them as God views them, His beloved creatures.

Now, this message is not centered on loving true enemies (like a burglar trying to kill us or something like that). No, this message is focused on dealing with those people who call themselves our friend, all the while tearing us down with their words, attitudes, and actions. Those "friends" we may have known since childhood but we recognize they are not good friends and they tend to tear us down instead of building us up. How do we obey God's command to love those who call themselves our friend yet choose to hurt us? The answer is twofold.

First, we need to understand and embrace our identity in God. After all, who are we in Christ?

Galatians 3:26 - "So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith." Through faith in Jesus, we are part of God's family.

Genesis 1:27 - "So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them." We are made in the image of God.

Colossians 3:12 - "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." God has chosen us as part of His family, He has set us apart as holy, and He loves us dearly.

Psalm 139:1-16 - “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue,  you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light as you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one them came to be." God knew us before we were even born, and He knows us even better and more intimately than we know ourselves. He knows us to our very core, and still He loves us.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." God's love for us is so great He was willing to die for us - and He did, so that everyone who believes in Jesus could have life everlasting.

Matthew 10:29-31 - “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.” God places a very high value on us, and I said earlier, He knows us more than we even know ourselves. Not one person is worthless or unknown.

In Christ, we are children of God, loved completely, known intimately, valued and worth dying for.

The second part of obeying God's command to love our enemies is to actually stand on the foundation of our identity in Christ. This means placing a higher value on what God thinks of us than what anyone else thinks of us, including those close to us. Then, as we think about how God views us, we can also think about how God views others. John 3:16 informs us that God so loved the world that He died to save people. He loves and cares for everyone, even our enemies or our bad friends. He values them, too. And when we are confident in our identity in Christ, it allows us to see others the way God sees them, which makes it far easier to love them - because God loves them.

Now, as we begin to embrace our identity of love, we will still have struggles in our relationships with others because we aren't perfect people. We mess up, get frustrated, and lash out. So what can we do to help prevent this?

We set up boundaries. A good illustration for this is the circle of influence.

In the above illustration, you have yourself (and hopefully God) in the very center circle - that is you and your own control in your life. Then, within the next circle you have your close friends and family. The people you go to for advice and look to as an example. Then, outside of that you have your general friends and acquaintances, the people you know and interact with but don't usually go to for advice or look to as an example to follow. And then outside of all the circles is the rest of the world.

Usually, our problem is that we don't have these distinctions. There is only one circle - and everyone is in it, influencing us one way or another. Good friends and bad friends alike are given the power to influence us, and this will take a toll on our ability to stand in our identity in Christ and love others. There are just too many voices pulling us in too many directions. So, we need boundaries. Think through the people in your life. Who belongs in that very center circle? Who do you want in the inner circle, influencing you? Who needs to be distanced from you in the outer circle? And who needs to be removed completely?

It is important to remember that boundaries are not instinctual. We don't naturally just come up with healthy boundaries in the moment. Healthy boundaries in our relationships with others need to be made in advance. For example (this is Michael speaking), I know that the people in my alliance (in a mobile game I play) are not going to be a good influence on me, so I set the boundary for myself that I will not be influenced by them. I won't go to them for advice (unless it is game advice) or counsel. They aren't going to change my mind about something outside the game. My wife, on the other hand, is in my inner circle. She can influence me, she can change my mind, and I will go to her for advice (though not for the game, she doesn't play). We all need to make these distinctions with the people in our lives. Identify the trustworthy friends you can rely on to guide you through life, and let them into your inner circle. Identify the bad friends who will get you into trouble, and move them to the outer circle. This doesn't mean you stop being their friend, but it means you stop allowing them to have power over your decisions and life direction.

So, how does all of this (identity in Christ, loving our enemies, and setting boundaries) relate?

As Christians, we are called to love everyone we come across. This requires us to see them as God sees them. Loving someone doesn't mean letting them do whatever they want to do to us. Using the identity you have in Christ, set your boundaries of how you want to be treated, then defend those boundaries when someone crosses them. If a friend repeatedly throws your lunchbox in the trash after you have asked them to not do that, then it is time to step away from that "friend". This doesn't require violence, angry words, or spreading rumors, it just means moving them to your outer circle. Also, think about your part in the friendship. Are you showing them the same love, kindness, and appreciation that you want them to show you? Regardless if they treat you right, your part in "loving those who persecute you" is to treat others the way God wants them to be treated - with love.

This is a lot to think about. As you think about these things, go back and reread the verses above. Memorize them. Know them. Rely on them. In fact, go into the Bible and find more - there are so many verses talking about how much God loves and cares for us. Read them and know who you are to God. You are loved.

Then, think through your relationships. What boundaries need to be set? Who needs to be moved to a different circle? Perhaps more importantly, what circles need to be established?

And finally, in all of this, in every situation, pray. Talk to God. He loves you and He is listening, so as you struggle to know who you are, who He is, and how to love others, talk to Him about it.