Recently I was sent a copy of the book Cupidityto review by Tyndale. For those in love, looking to fall in love, or wondering if they are in love, it is an excellent read. Since so many people seem to make so many mistakes while they are “in love”, this book might help thwart some of those errors. Lets be honest, when someone is “falling in love” they have a tendency to experience “brain freeze”!
There may be 50 stupid things people do for love, but according to Hayley and Michael DiMarco, those stupid things are derived from five basic acts: emotional, mental, physical, social and spiritual. These acts of cupidity are motivated by an erroneous belief system: the assumption that the world’s views on love supersede the logic and direction of God on the matter. Embracing this false assumption—and the lies that spring from it—inevitably leads to “cupidity” [a play on the words “stupidity and cupid] and its snares and pitfalls.
But lest you lose hope and think your “cupidity” is incurable; it isn’t. And this book on the subject goes a long way to enlighten you on how to cure your “cupidity” with a good dose of biblical wisdom. The Spiritual truths they present will detail how the lies you have been buying from the world have been keeping you from experiencing real love: God’s way.
Grab a copy of the book for you or for someone you know who is in a relationship and needs some advise before they make a mistake.
According to new stats released by Barna, having your youth in Sunday School makes a huge difference later on in life. If you consistently go to Sunday School when you are young it has a direct bearing on church attendance when you grow up.
According to Barna, “More than 8 in 10 adults in the U.S. claim they had weekly religious education before age 12. Of those, 69 percent now attend religious programs weekly.”
What does that mean?
Parents that means you cannot overestimate the importance of having your child in church when they are young. Being part of a good children’s program and youth program has a great impact on their spiritual lives later on.
So, to all of the parents reading – here are some admonitions:
1. Model a consistent Christian life for your child / teen. It is even better if they see Jesus in you!
2. Make Sunday School and Wednesday night youth worship/AWANA’s part of your regular routine without fail. I know your child has homework on Wednesdays but if they need to stay up a few minutes late it won’t harm them for life. Being detached from the youth group might. Make sure they are in Sunday School every Sunday. Don’t be a “hit or miss” family when it comes to Sunday School – your children will pay the price later on!
3. Make Christ the center of your home. Talk about Jesus / church all the time in a positive way.Don’t ever let them hear you complain about something going on at church.
We all want our children to grow up to be good citizens and good Christians. It doesn’t happen by accident!
Proverbs 22:6Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Everyone has a picture in their minds of who they want to become. You think about it – dream about it – and even plan for it.
As a matter of fact, this time of year many people make resolutions that revolve around molding them into the person they want to BECOME. Sadly, most people drop their resolutions within weeks.
According to A Marist University Poll,
Keeping Their Word?
33% of Americans recall making a New Year’s resolution last year, but how successful were they? Of those residents, 65% said they kept their promise for at least part of the year while 35% did not. Men were more steadfast than were women. 70% of men kept their resolution for at least part of 2009. This compares with 59% of women.
Dedication has grown among Americans who have previously made a resolution. While 65% of residents kept their resolution for 2009, 60% did so in 2008.
Why do we fail in our New Years Resolutions? Because we don’t know how to change. The Bible gives us clear instructions on how to BECOME the person we would like to be.
Starting this Sunday, I will share with you how you can BECOME all God intended for you to be. I will examine change in general, and then over the next few weeks we will look at some of the New Years Resolutions everyone makes and what the Bible says about them.
If you want to improve your family, finances, organizational skills, and many other things – don’t miss a service.
Last week on Wednesday night we had 165 youth and children on campus – that is 91 youth and 74 AWANA kids! What an amazing number! This week there were 173 on campus - 90 youth and 83 AWANA kids. Wow!
And its not just the numerical growth that is great, but Spiritual growth is taking place as well. Next week I will baptize over 1/2 dozen teenagers and college kids who have been saved recently. I am texted & Facebooked regularly by college and high school kids who ask me Bible questions and Christian living questions. Right now, we have college kids who are fasting from food, media, and television in order to draw closer to the Lord. Every week when I preach it is a huge encouragement to look down at the first 5 or 6 rows in the middle section and see our youth sitting there listening to every word or raising their hands in worship!!
With all of this going on here, I am reminded of something – God often sends revival through youth. One of the greatest revivals the world has ever experienced was the Great Welsh revival of the early 1900’s. Evan Roberts, who was just a young man, went about the countryside preaching a 4 point sermon:
Confess all known sin
Deal with and get rid of anything ‘doubtful’ thing in your life
Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly
Confess Christ publicly
Evan was full of the Spirit of God and for 2 years (until he collapsed from exhaustion) he saw hundreds come to Christ. People were changed in so many ways. The crime rate dropped, drunkards were reformed, pubs reported losses in trade. Bad language disappeared and never returned to the lips of many – it was reported that the pit ponies failed to understand their born again colliers who seemed to speak the new language of Zion – without curse and blasphemy – even football and rugby became uninteresting in the light of new joy and direction received by the Converts.
So, pray for your youth at Liberty. Pray for revival at Liberty. If you know someone who has a teenager invite them to church.
One of the greatest things they can do is to get that teenager involved in a youth group that is on fire for Jesus!
Over 4,000 10 & 11 year olds were studied in Canada. The study was done to determine how their body shape effected their happiness. What they found … http://twurl.nl/ftk0oi … was that society is putting too much pressure on kids. If a young girl has an overweight body, she had lower levels of happiness. If a boy was too skinny, he had lower levels of happiness [hold on boys it will change later in life : -) ]
You know we are living in a hedonistic society when 10 year olds are worrying about their body shape. Obviously, there may be some extreme cases where they should worry. That would be the exception not the rule. A few pounds here and there shouldn’t even be on the mind of a 10 year old!
If you are one of those kids – don’t fall into that trap. Don’t set the rock / country music or Hollywood stars up as your idols.
If you are a parent, don’t push that on your child. Let them be a kid. Teach them the greatest qualities in life are character & integrity. Teach them that their walk with God is far more important than their external looks.
1 Timothy 4:8 Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next.
Johnny Diaz recently spoke to the same issue in his new song…enjoy….
Hey guys. I’m officially starting my blog. Now, this blog is going to be about anything and everything – here are some topics that will definitely be discussed:
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