Hey guys!

I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year!!! And share a couple things...

This
new year I want to challenge every one to put God first in your life.
Ok... So yeh guys, I know this time every year (along with camp time)
all of us get all excited about what we are going to do for God... We
all set out with these huge expectations of how we can affect our
entire school!! Well how about at the beginning of 2007 we start by
just changing OUR lives... For most of my friends this year we
graduate... Its an exciting and yet entirely frightening time for us!
But statistics say that like 75% of students walk away from God once
out of high school. This is crucial for us to get our relationship with
Christ on track now... while its still relatively easy to be a Christ
follower!

The first thing to
consider when setting out to know God is to put him first... One of the
biggest problems in Christianity and any religion for as long as time..
is putting traditions before God... In Judiasm some people are more
worried about blowing the Shofar than celebrating God. Well OK so youre
thinking.. who cares... we dont do that in Christianity... no but we do
each have our own traditions... Some of us are used to worshiping in a
certain way, with certain music, with a certain worship leader, sitting
in a certain pew, with your routine.... and when something changes that
you throw a fit.... and your like "no this is wrong! Im leaving!" ok
ok.. fine.. leave your pacifier at the door then... It isnt about how
we worship.. Its simply THAT we worship and thank God for everything he
has and will do for and through us! Sunday is no holier than Tuesday or
Saturday...The whole calendar belongs to God... we should give every
day full of worship to God... Not just our sunday mornings... We have
so fully invested ourselves in the routine of Church that we are
missing the relationship with the Head of the church (Jesus Christ) we
need to follow Ephesians 4:15 when it talks about growing up in Christ.
We all need to establish spiritual maturity.. and that doesnt come from
going to church for 25 years... that comes from establishing a true
relationship with the Head. You can track your maturity by the fruits
you are bearing in your life... Along with putting God first.. he has
to be the ONLY thing you follow... you cant follow two leaders... My
pastor said this morning "Anything without a head is dead, but anything
with more than one head... is just a freak!" You have to have that true
relationship with the head because without Jesus, no matter how
religious or moral you are... you are still dead in sin. You will NEVER
defeat the tendency of Godlisness with just your will! When you
establish spiritualy maturity you are made alive in the spirit...
Colossians 2:13-17 says "...He forgave us all our sins, having canceled
the written code, with its regulations, hat was against us and that
stood opposed to us, he took it away, nailing it to the cross..." There
are dark spiritual forces on this earth CONSTANTLY working against
us... and with this maturity comes the power to fight those forces!
Whether or not you believe there are demons against us heare on
earth... THEY ARE STILL THERE... You could say there is no such thing
as a virus... you are still gonna get colds! When we see something in
the bible we dont like.. its our child like mentality that comes
through when we say.. well i just dont believe that! It is kinda like
when we are little and we are sitting in bed and we think there is a
monster under our bed.. so we put the quilt over our head.. yeh.. like
thats going to really protect us... Well in the end... it all comes
down to you and me... what we choose to believe. God has done what he
is going to do... now we have to decide wether or not we want to follow
him....

So as the in Judaism on Yom Kippur Ill end this by saying...

"May your name be inscribed in the book of life!"