Advent Conspiracy- LAST WEEK

We are encouraging each student to bring AT LEAST $20 for advent conspiracy. Please encourage your student to do so, form their own money

This Week

Dear Parents,
This week in Off Road we introduced our Advent Conspiracy series. The focus of the season that we are in is to Change from me centered to God centered. We also talked about the time of preparation for God’s coming that is found in the Advent season. The first way we focus on this Joyful Preparation is with Hope. Advent is a time to hope for the coming of Christ and to realize that we are not the center. We challenged to students to rethink their giving and receiving of gifts this year and challenged them to raise $1500 of their own money to buy pigs, wells, or other things for needy families in other countries and to take the focus from their own wants and put them on the things that God desires. We asked them to reflect on this with these questions:

What is it like waiting for the best gift you can imagine?
Can you describe what it was like when you finally received that gift?
What can you do to make Advent a time to be excited for the best gift of Jesus?
How can you refocus on the meaning for Christmas?
How can you give the gift of presence and show people you care?

This Week #4-9

This week in OFF ROAD was our second part of our “Rethink Worship” series, exploring why we worship and how we are to worship. The “why?” was answered last week in that God says that we should and that God is the only one who truly deserves it. This week, in exploring the “how?” we looked into John 4, focusing on Jesus’ statement in verse 24. Here Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman who doesn’t understand the difference of worship rituals of the Jews and Samaritan. Jesus clarifies that the old rules of worship (through Jewish rituals God commanded prior to Jesus) will soon not be the standard of true worship. Instead, true worship will happen when you engage in worship in spirit and in truth. This idea is one of giving yourself to God, giving Him your full self, not ritualistic acts that don’t have any truth of worship behind them. We must do the same. In worship (which we established last week is not just singing) we must truthfully engage ourselves in giving ourselves to God. Worship is not about us, it is all about God and to truly worship we must come to God at this level, in spirit and in truth.

• Have you ever experienced an amazing time of worship? What made it amazing?
• What does it mean to worship God in spirit? In truth?
• What can you do to help you always worship God in spirit and in truth?
• What are ways you can give yourself completely to God, making your worship all about HIM?

This Week

This Week we began our three week series titled, “Rethink Worship,” discovering what worship is and why we do it. The goal of this series is to help student really realize the importance that worship plays in our walk with Christ, that worship is so much more than singing, and that our God deserves more worship than we can give Him. In the first lesson we answered the questions, “What is worship?” and “Why worship?” In the bible the word worship actually has very different meanings depend including service sacrifice, submission, reverence, professing faith, praising God, thanking God, and proclaiming truth. When we look at these definitions it becomes clear that worshiping God can happen all the time through the way we live, not just when we sing. We need to understand that worship is physical, mental and spiritual and we need to engage in worship in each of these ways. To answer the question, “Why worship?” we look to Luke 4 and Hebrews 12:26-29. In the former verse Jesus is tempted to worship the devil, but references God’s command to worship Him only. So the first reason we should worship God is because he tells us to. There are a lot of things to worship, but the only thing we should be worshiping is God. In Hebrews it speaks of God’s kingdom that will not be shaken and that our God is a “consuming fire” and because of that we should worship God. God’s great power and authority should give him enough reason to be continually worshiped. He is the only one that DESERVES our worship.

• What is worship?
• What are some ways that you can worship God every day? With your parents? Siblings? Those at school?
• Why is worship so important?
• How might this new view of worship (not just singing) change the way you worship?

This Week #4-8

This Week in OFF ROAD we ended our DUSTY series with, “Yearning to be covered in the dust of the master.” Yearning is an intense or overpowering longing, desire or need and to be covered in the dust of the master means following Jesus so closely that you look like Him. So in OFF ROAD our desire is that we all have an intense longing to follow Jesus so close that we look like him. Luke 6:40, “Students are not greater than their master, but the student who is fully trained will become like the master.” After reviewing this we gave the students a chance to respond in answering the question: Where are you with God and where do you want to be? Students were able to write their prayers down on the chalkboards and it was really cool to see them process this.

Parents: Ask yourself and your child this question too.
Where are you at with God and where do you want to be?
Do you have a yearning to follow Jesus?
When was the last time you day dreamed about being more like Christ? Why do you think it happens so infrequently if ever?

This Week #4-7

Dear Parents,

This week in Off-Road we continued our Dusty series with the “T” “Telling the Truth of who He is.” We looked at Mark 16 and Matthew 28 which command us to go, proclaim, make disciples, and baptize. The command is what makes the Telling of the Truth part of our jobs as Christians. Then we endeavored to discover what the truth was and we found that “The Truth was Eternal Life, Because Jesus Christ Died for us, and How we follow is to Believe.” The process of telling others the Gospel or the truth is called evangelism and to truly evangelize we need to show who God is in love. But, it is not enough to just love someone we actually have to tell them the truth, because if we don’t tell them they can never know or say yes. We left with the goal to take a picture with a friend who does not know Jesus who we wanted to tell and bring it to Off-Road so we can put it up and pray for that person and so the leaders can help the students follow through on telling their friends. The questions we discussed with them afterward were:

•What makes it hard for you to talk about God with your friends?
•Can you think of any creative ways to break the ice and share Jesus with your friends?
•If you don’t know very many non-Christians how can you find places to share the truth?
•Why is it important for you to share the truth instead of just showing love?
•What can you do to be more prepared to share the truth of the gospel?

This Week #4-6

As we continued our D.U.S.T.Y. series we focused on the “S” of DUSTY, Strengthening our desire to imitate Christ. We want to grow closer to God and imitate the example Christ set for us. Ephesians 4:31-5:2 is a great starting point for our imitation of Christ because it is the motivation for why we should imitate Him. We should imitate Christ because He first loved us. Jesus is not some bully that makes us imitate Him, instead He loves us so much and wants the best for us so we should imitate Him. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 tells us that if we choose to follow Christ imitation should naturally happen AND this is our witness to others. So how do we learn to imitate Him? We need to spend time with Him, get to know Him so we can know what to imitate.

Are you imitating Christ?
What does it mean to imitate Christ?
What do you need to do to imitate God better?
Who is someone you know that really imitates Christ? What is it about them that makes you think they imitate Christ?
How can you be like them?

This Week #4-5

This Week in OFF ROAD we explored what it means to be unified with other believers. John 13 describes part of the last supper where Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment, that they love others the way the He has loved them. Now we can quickly skim over this passage knowing that we are supposed to love each other but when we take time to think about it the idea of a new commandment is confusing. Hasn’t Jesus told us this before? Well he has told us that we need to love others the way that we want to be loved, but now he is calling us to follow His example. We are no longer the standard, He is the standard. That is a huge calling!!! But how is this possible? It is easy to love those that we get along with and like, but how do we really be unified with all other believers? The answer is in John 17. Jesus’ final prayer before being arrested is for the unity of all believers through a unity with Christ. If we rely on behavior modification and just decide that we are going to be unified without making God the focus of our unity it will be very difficult to be unified and we won’t be unified the way Jesus wants us. So let us all develop our relationship with Christ and grow to love Him more so that we can grow to love each other more and be unified with other believers!

-What does it mean to be unified with other believers?
-Is that really possible? How?
-What do you need to do to make sure you are unified with other believers? (Are there any relationships you need to mend?)

This Week #4-4

This Week we started our D.U.S.T.Y. series discussing what OFF ROAD is all about. “We exist to have a lifelong DEVOTION to God, UNIFIED with other believers, STRENGTHENING our desires to imitate Christ while telling others the TRUTH of who He is and YEARNING to be covered in the dust of the master.” In order to be devoted to God we must have a desire to be devoted. A true desire results in action. Many of us say we desire to do this or that, but nothing we do looks like we really desire that (i.e. I desire to play the piano, but I haven’t done anything about it.) This is not true desire. Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Paul is saying that he is devoting himself to God and spreading the word by being disciplined, having direction and determination. These are also key factors in being devoted to God. OFF ROAD is all about Jesus and making D.U.S.T.Y. students. In order to be DUSTY we must have a desire that leads to devotion so are you ready to get DUSTY?
• What did Paul mean when he said we should go into strict training?
• How are you “training” for God?
• What are some steps you need to take to head toward being devoted to God?
• What is stopping you from being completely devoted to God?
• Of the 3 “D’s” (Discipline, direction, determination) which is the most difficult for you? Explain why.

This Week #4-3

This Week in OFF ROAD we concluded our series on community looking in to what small groups are all about. We have an acronym that helps guide what we want to accomplish at each small group: M.A.P.S. the “M” stands for meaningful God-centered conversation. As God is the most important thing in our lives He should be the most important thing we talk about. “A” is for accountability. As believers we need to have people that can speak into our lives and we need to speak into the lives of others. “P” is for prayer. Often times prayer becomes a routine listing of needs and not a conversation with God. We desire to commune with God on weekly basis (at least). “S” is for scripture. Part of communing with God is allowing Him time to speak. We know this is most often done through His word, so scripture is an integral part of small groups. So what can we do about it? JOIN A SMALL GROUP!!!!

What percentage of your talk goes to: Gossip, Sports, the opposite gender, school, God?
What does accountability mean to you?
Who do you have in your life that keeps you accountable to living correctly? Is there anyone that you are keeping accountable?
Why do you pray?
What keeps you from reading the Bible more? Why is it important to read the Bible?
Of the M, A, P, S which is the hardest for you to do. Why?

This Week #4-2

This week in OFF ROAD we looked at why is it so important to be in community, especially a smaller community than our Saturday night gathering. Jesus shows us by choosing 12 disciples that in order to be really known and loved and really know and love each other we can’t be in huge groups of people. All of us desire more than anything to be known and loved and this should be fulfilled in a small group of Christians that support each other, go through life together and love one another. Small groups is also a great place to have discussion and deeper understanding of God. We see throughout the gospels moments where the disciples are confused about stuff Jesus said. When they don’t understand they ask Jesus questions to gain a better understanding. If disciples were confused about things and they were living with Jesus we can expect to be confused too, so let’s discuss things and come together and help each other figure this thing out.
So what can we do? JOIN A SMALL GROUP!! Starts tonight 6:40-8:15
• What does it mean to “be known”?
• Who knows you the best? Why do THEY know you the best?
• Where or who have you learned the most about the Bible/ God?
• What questions do you have about the Bible and God?
• What are you looking forward most to in Small groups?

This Week #4-1

Welcome to the school year!!!!! I am extremely excited about the new year here in OFF ROAD, the changes and improvements we have made and the opportunity to love God, love other and love one another this year. Before I describe what we talked about this week I want to remind you parents that there will be a brief meeting after OFF ROAD next week to let you know about all the exciting things happening in OFF ROAD this year. PLEASE DON’T MISS OUT.

This Week in OFF ROAD we began a 3 week series titled, “Community,” to discuss the importance of doing this Jesus thing with a group of people and not alone. We looked at the parable of the farmer scattering seed and the outcome of where the seeds fell (Matthew 13). The students learned that being in the good soil requires GOOD SOIL and good soil usually occurs when we are not alone. Instead we are supported, encouraged, challenged, and held accountable and loved by one another. This all happens in community and is impossible without community. We need each other, and we can’t have all of the benefits of community by just showing up on Saturday. That might be a good time to hang out with friends and get to know each other a little bit, but not a great opportunity for deep authentic community. That is why we have Small groups. Small groups will met every Tuesday from 6:40-8:15 and it will be our chance for authentic community that helps cultivate good soil. SO WILL YOU JOIN?????

• What are your biggest distractions from God (Lack of knowledge, Testing of faith, Worries of life)? Explain how that plays out.

• What do you need to do to be in the good soil?

• Why is being in community so important?

• Will you join a small group this year?

Introducing "Love one Another," and "Love Others"

This year in OFF ROAD we will have 2 types of events (outside of Small groups and Weekend services). They will be call "Love Others," and "Love One Another." Our "Love Others" events will take place the last Tuesday of every month during our small group time. Students are encourage to come even if they don't have a small group and they are encouraged to bring friends. These events will be our opportunity to serve those around us.

Our "Love One Another" events will occur after services on Saturday nights. These are our more wild and crazy events such as laser quest and comedy sports. These events allow us to hang out and get to know each other better. We also HIGHLY encourage students to invite friends to these events as it is our desire to reach the lost and this is a great opportunity for friends to experience the awesome community in OFF ROAD.

Keep an eye out for these in the blog, on the calendar and in announcements.

This Week

This week in OFF ROAD rocked! We took a quick break from our “Hessid,” series to look at pictures and hear stories from the group of students that recently went to Belize. For those of you that didn’t know, every year we have a group of 8th graders that join a more in depth small group called “DE,” which stands for the “Discipleship Experiment.” At the end of their time in DE they have the opportunity to go on a week long missions trip to Belize. We spend our time in Belize serving the town or Crooked Tree by repairing and cleaning houses and the church, putting on a VBS and sports ministry and running the Sunday services as well as a youth service. Our time this year was blessed by God as we saw 5 people come to know Christ and the lives of the people of Crooked Tree changed. I look forward to continuing to build a relationship with this community for the sake of Christ.

This Week # 3-29

This Week in OFF ROAD we started our summer series titled, “Hessid.” This is the Hebrew word for God’s love and really has a deeper, more powerful meaning than the love that we think about. This love can be described as steadfast, graceful, merciful, faithful, loyal, good, devote, unfailing, relentless, pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained and so much more. We will be spending the entire summer looking at aspects of God’s love because He first loved us. The talk this week focused on the fact that if our motivation for following Christ comes from doing what our parents say or just doing what we think is right and not form a love from God and for God that motivation will disappear. We need to understand God’s love so that we can be continually motivated to follow His call.
(1 John 4:7-19) (John :1-5)
Questions for discussion:
How would you describe God’s love?
What aspect of God’s love in the Hessid statement stuck out the most to you? Why?
How do you think your life would change if you really began to understand God’s love?
Why is it so important to begin to understand God’s love?

THIS WEEK

This Week in OFF ROAD we sadly said goodbye to the 8th graders as next week they will be moving on to the High School group. They are loved and will be missed.

BUT this coming week we get to welcome up the new, soon to be 6th graders. We will make them feel welcomed and loved. Unfortunately I have a commitment right after church so I can’t meet with all you new parents, but your child will receive a packet with all the OFF ROAD info you need.

This Week #3-26

This week in OFF ROAD we studied Ephesians 2 and 4, looking at what it means to be part of God’s family tree. As stated in Ephesians 2 we were once outsiders, but because of Christ we have been brought into the family. This is an invitation to everyone to join the family, it is our decision whether we want to or not. Then in Ephesians 4 it states that being part of the family means that e have each been given roles in the family. God has uniquely gifted each and everyone one of us to love each other and welcome others into the family. To be part of God’s family means that we act like Christ, inviting others to join the family and using our gifts to serve the family and others. I asked the kids to start think about Church and OFF ROAD in, “how can I serve this family?” not, “how can this family serve me?” This is so that we can continue to love each other and welcome others into our family, God’s family.
Questions
• Tell us of a time when you felt like an “outsider.”
• Tell us of a time when you were an “outsider” and someone made you feel like an “insider.”
• Why is it so important to understand that we were once “outsiders”?
• How can you be like Christ and welcome “outsiders”, both here and at school?
• What gifts (spiritual) has God given you?
• What role could you play in the OFF ROAD family?
• What steps can you take to be a bigger part of the OFF ROAD family?

This Week # 3-25

This week in OFF ROAD we finished our Sex/ Dating series with a biblical perspective on dating. As we told the students, dating isn’t. “just something to do,” but dating is a BIG DEAL. Why is it such a big deal? Well that question was answered throughout the lesson.
There are 3 big things in our life that belong to God: our heart, our body, and our relationship with Him. Dating distracts or takes away from each of these areas if we are not ready to date (An guess what… as a Junior higher, or high schooler, you are not ready to date!!!). If we are dating, and our heart belongs to God (Prov. 4:20-23), we are giving part of our heart to another person. Dating is a distraction from God, especially when it serves no purpose in JH and HS. If our body is God’s then we should be treating everyone’s body like it is God’s (1 Cor. 6:9). Is being in a dating relationship going to lead us to giving our bodies over to God? Lastly, our relationship with god should be number one. If we are dating someone we are replacing God with them. We are instead finding our identity (Luke 10:27) in them instead of God. If we want to have a healthy dating relationship we must first have a number one relationship established with God.

This Week # 3-24

OFF ROAD this week was wild, crazy and a ton of fun as we had our first Saturday night only service!!! We kicked off the 2 part Sex and Dating series and it went really well. I talked to the guys about purity of the mind and body and how giving that away to either a real person or porn is not what God created us for and is extremely detrimental to them. Christina talked to the girls about “priceless purity.” and how important it is to hold onto that for their husband. I hope that you can follow up with your child, talking to them about this sensitive issue. Here are some questions to guide your discussion. Remember, if they don’t have a safe place to talk about this stuff, the will talk about it in an unsafe place.

(Genesis 1:27-28, Hebrews 13:4, 1 Corinthians 7:3-4)

What kind of sexual stuff do you see people around you (on Tv/ in school) getting into?

What temptations are around you?

How do you handle the temptations around you?

Why do you think these temptations are so great?

What is the outcome of giving into these temptations?

Why does God not want you to give into these temptations?

Do you feel comfortable talking to ME about this stuff? Why/ Why not? Or who can you talk to?

This Week #3-23

This Week in OFFROAD we took a journey through the story of the cross discovering, not only what Jesus went through, but why he did what he did. Many of us have heard the story of the cross over and over and we understand basically what happened, but when we stop to think about it we have a hard time really comprehending why. Why that way? Why death? After looking into more detail about the excruciating pain that Jesus endured the why questions were answered. Why live as a lowly person, being executed with the lowest of criminal? God wants to know that we truly love Him. If he were to come as a great king with power we would all probably love him for his greatness, but he wants us to love Him for Him. Also he was setting the ultimate example of love. It takes little love to have great power and Lord it over others. It takes all the love that exists to go through what Jesus went through for us. But why die? “For the wages of sin is DEATH.” Our God is a just God and what we have all earned is death. Somehow that wage needs to be paid= Death. Jesus takes that on for us, pays the debt and conquers death so that we may live!!!!

Questions for this week:
• Is there anything about Jesus’ death that you don’t get/ still doesn’t make sense?
• What does Jesus’ death mean to you personally?
• In the steps of choosing your fate (Faith, Acceptance, Trust, and Eternity) where would you say you are?
• Have you asked Jesus into your life? If so how has that changed who you are? If not what is keeping you from that?
• What are the benefits (besides eternity) of knowing Christ?
• Who is someone you want to have faith like as you grow. (who do you look to ask an example?) What about them, specifically, do you want to be like in your faith?

This Week #3-22

This Week in OFF ROAD we started to look into the story of Easter, beginning with the night Jesus is betrayed (Matt 26:36-46). Jesus, who is in complete anguish asks his disciples one little favor, stay up and pray, and His disciples FAIL miserably, 3 times! Even though they totally fail Jesus returns to His prayer time with God and allows God’s love to be poured out through Him. From this story we gleaned 2 important messages. #1) God loves us even when we fail Him. #2) Our love for others should be like Jesus’, not dependent on how they treat us. I’m sure none of us would have blamed Jesus if he walked up to his disciples, slapped them in the face and shouted, “WAKE UP!! I’m about to die for you and you can even stay awake, I’m out of here.” In fact that is what most of us would have probably done. Instead Jesus is patient and loves them through it. We need to be like that. But how? Look at Jesus’ example, he stayed connected to God. We can’t do this on our own, we have to stay connected to God though continual pray, making sure we commit ourselves to, “Not my will, but yours be done God.”

Questions for this week:
What would you have done in Jesus’s situation?
How should Jesus’s reaction to the disciple influence the way we act towards others?
On a scale of 1-10 (1 being none- 10 being totally) how connected would you say you are to God? Why?
What are some steps you can take to be more connected to Him?
How should knowing how much Jesus continues to show us love, even when we wrong him, change your relationships with others.
What is one person you need to better at loving, even if they don’t love you? Pray for connectedness to God to help you with this.

This Week #3-21

This week in OFF ROAD we dove into chapter 3 of Jonah and learned that: God is looking for people who are lost; he loves the lost and wants them to be found. We shared stories with each other of times that we were lost and scared and compared that to being emotionally lost and far from God. In Jonah 3, we see God’s love for Nineveh and his desire to help them be found, and his great compassion when they turned from their evil ways and towards God. We also looked at Matthew 18:12-14…and talked about the Shepherd’s love for the 1 lost sheep. Students were encouraged to think through areas in their lives where they are lost…and allow God to enter those areas. And challenged to think of one person in their life who they know is lost and far from God and be a Jonah to that person by praying for them and reaching out to them this week.

Questions for Students:
Can you remember a time when you were lost and scared?
How about a time when you felt lost emotionally and needed to call out to get help from someone (maybe a parent, friend, or God)…
Spend some time thinking about the people of Nineveh who went from being ‘Lost to Found’…did they deserve God’s compassion? Now apply this question to us…do we deserve God’s compassion? What does this tell us about God?
Can you think of anyone in your life who you know is lost…share about that person.
What can you do this week…to be obedient like Jonah and share God’s love with this friend or person you know that is lost?
Spend some time in prayer, asking God to help you have courage to help your Lost friend be Found.

This Week #3-20

This Week in OFF ROAD we realized that we need to make the shift from independence to dependence on God. After Jonah is thrown into the ocean God send a giant fish to swallow him. At this time Jonah realizes that he can do nothing without the help of God. It took Jonah getting thrown into the raging ocean and then getting swallowed by a fish for him to realize that he needs to depend on God. In Jonah 2 we see Jonah’s cry for help, admitting that he needs God. We too need to realize that we need to be more dependent on God, that we shouldn’t wait until we are in the worst of places to call out to God, but we should be doing that on a daily basis. One way of seeing how dependent you are on God is looking at your prayer life. Does your prayer life reflect independence or dependence?

Questions for students:

Would you say that you are dependent of God?
What would your life look like if you were more dependent on God? How would that show?
Who in your life do you see as dependent on God? What makes you think that they are dependent on God?
What is one thing you can do this week to try to depend more on God?
Do you find it easy or hard to pray? Why do you think that is?
A.C.T.S. is an acronym that can help you through your prayer time (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supply) Which of these would you say is most prevalent in your prayers? Which of these is lacking in your prayer? Why do you think that is?

This Week #3-19

Continuing our “Shift” series we dove further into the book of Jonah, looking a the first 16 verses. In reading this section of the story it is clear that the main idea is that God is trying to get Jonah’s attention. God uses 2 main venues to get Jonah’s attention. The first is the storm, or circumstance he is in. Unfortunately Jonah’s not the smartest of guys and at first the raging storm doesn’t even wake him. The next thing God used is the people around Jonah. This finally gets Jonah’s attention and he then realizes the circumstance he is in and pays attention to God. So how does this relate to the life of a Junior Higher? Well, just as God used Jonah’s circumstance and the people in his life, God is constantly using the people and the circumstances in our life to get our attention and draw us closer to Him. We need to understand that God is doing this all the time, not just at church, or with church people, but that through the tough stuff at school, home, interaction with friends, whatever, God is trying to get you attention and draw you closer to Him. If we take that perspective into every area of our life we will shift to see those things God sees as important.

Questions for discussion with your child:
• What tough stuff do you face being a Junior Higher?
• What circumstances in your life might God be using to get your attention?
• Who are people that God has placed in your life that God might be using to get you attention? How so?
• What can you do to make sure that when God is trying to get your attention you are ready to listen?
• What do you think god wants to tell you right now?

This Week #3-18

We had an awesome week in OFF ROAD as we took a little bit of a break from the normal schedule and just used our time to pray for each other. Many students were brave enough to share their heartfelt concerns and we were able to just lift each other up in prayer… It was AWESOME!! We also started a new series titled, “Shift.” Over the next few weeks we will be looking through the book of Jonah to see what God has in store for us. The contents of the series will involve shifts that we need to make in our lives. This first week simply looked at Jonah 1:1-3= God tells Jonah to GO and SPREAD HIS MESSAGE and Jonah says, “NO.” We examined how God has called each of us to spread His message and we too have the choice to either do what God sees as important or to be a “Jonah.” The shift that we need to make is: We need to shift to doing what God sees as important.

Questions to ask your child this week:

• What direction are you heading (are you doing what God has asked, running away or standing still)?
• How have you been a messenger of Christ this month?
• What areas of your life do you think you need to turn around and head towards God?
• When is it hardest to obey God? Why?
• How are you like Jonah?
• How are you not like Jonah?
• How can you shift to making what God sees as important, important in your life?

This Week # 3-17

We finished our “Cheap Talk (A study in James) “Series this week, looking at James 5:7-9. These verse talk about being patient, and the being aware. And the three big applications that can be used here are: be patient with yourself, don’t beat yourself up over failure, but return to God. You won’t walk out of the doors and be perfect, but you need to patiently work on what God is asking you to (In James case- your cheap talk. Secondly you need to understand that our God is a patient God and if you continue to let Him work on you there will be a great harvest. Lastly, and most applicably, we need to live like God is always by our side (cause guess what, He is). I challenged the students that this week, whenever they see a clocks say to yourself , “God is with me.” This will be a continual reminder of God’s presence, helping student’s talk go from cheap to valuable.

This Week #3- 16

James 2:14-20 was the topic of our “Cheap Talk,” Series this week as we looked at the statement, “Cheap talk is saying you have faith…” Read through these verses and James says loud and clear your claim to faith is worthless, it has no value, if it doesn’t change who you are, producing good deeds. Now he doesn’t say that you are saved by your works, but that once you have claimed your faith in Christ it has to be transformational. So if we all know that right answers, say the right things, but our faith doesn’t truly transform who we are, what purpose does it serve? So the challenge for the students was this question, “Can others tell, by your actions, that you have faith in God or do you come to church, know the right answers, but your faith doesn’t change who you are?” “How can you take steps to show others your faith through your actions?”

Questions to discuss with your kids:
-How has your life reflected your faith this week?
-Tell us of a time in your life when it was the toughest to match your actions with your faith.
-When is it easiest to live out your faith?
-Who are people in your life that encourage you to live out your faith?
-What things in your life do you need to change to match your faith with your actions?

This Week #3-15

Hey Parents,

After taking a break for winter camp (which was awesome) we returned this week to continue our series, “Cheap Talk.” This week looked into James 2:1-13. The main idea that was extracted from these verses was- Cheap talk is saying we love God, but not loving those God loves. It is clear throughout these verses that we need to change our attitudes about OUR friends, and OUR groups, but instead need to step out in faith to really love everyone we come into contact with. Sure, we can have our set of friends who we are closer to, but we need to be willing and ready to love everyone that crosses our path as if they were a good friend. At the end of the talk we imagined what OFF ROAD and our schools would be like if we really took this principle to heart, and the response from students was that they would be places where students want to come, where they immediately feel welcomed and loved and a place that really reflects God’s love. So let’s do it!!!

Questions to discuss with your child:
Who around you have you turned the cold shoulder to? How can you apply what James is saying to that relationship?
How does this affect your relationship with those who are mean to you or totally annoy you? How do you deal with that?
What is one step you can take to really putting this idea into practice this week?
What might keep you from applying this principle? How can you make sure that your words aren’t cheap?

This Week #3-14

Welcome back everyone!!!! I hope your vacation went well, that you had a wonderful Christmas and that this year has started of great for you. It was so good to see the students again this weekend, hang out with them and have fun! This week in OFF ROAD we are kicking off the New Year with a 4 week study of the book of James titled, “Cheap Talk.” In this week’s lesson we looked at James 1:19-27. James’ word here a very direct and to the point. He states that we need to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Our transformation to becoming this needs to come from within and is guided by the word of God reflecting the truth in our hearts. In the end religious, “right answers,” are worthless if they aren’t followed by action out of love for God. Pretty straight forward if you ask me. So the question we ended with was. Does your WHOLE life reflect your relationship with God?

Questions to discuss:
What areas of your life best reflect your relationship with God?
What areas of your life least reflect your relationship with God? How can you shift this to align with your relationship with God?
If someone looked at your life (minus when you go to church) would they say they you love god? Why or why not?


ANNOUNCEMENTS:
NO OFF ROAD THIS WEEK DUE TO WINTER CAMP

If you are going on winter camp make sure you are at the church at 11:30 a.m. on Friday. Also, I forgot to put this in the what to bring letter, but make sure you bring a pillow. SEE YOU FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!