Dare to be a Disciple, Day 5

Blow Up!
we serve a God who pursues each individual, and can do that through people.
In John 5:15, the paralyzed man ran and told others.
WE are called to be noticeably different, because the world lives for themselves.
"Break my heart for what breaks yours" is a song that embodies this.
We can blow up by learning to LOVE people, and to be dedicated to bring them close to God.
Rom 10:14-15. Feet are beautiful when sent by God :)
1 John 4:8, if you can't describe God, SHOW THEM!
"Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." --> You may be the ONLY JESUS some people see their whole lives.
Philippians 1:25-26 Be people that loves His people.

Jonathan's hope was that we would respond to what He's been doing in our lives. Please continue to pray for WMS as we strive to do that, and to be a rep of Jesus to other people.

Dare to be a Disciple, Day 4

Level Up.
Move to the next step! And be discipled. When you become a Christian, you become a LEADER.
We have the ability to set the tone in the room, to be a fragrant aroma, or a bad smell. John5:14, the man changed his LIFESTYLE.
It is important for Christians to put themselves in a position to constantly be discipled. Jonathan said it would be a waste if Western was the only place to be discipled.
He pushed us not to be content where we're at as people, but to constantly advance in maturity and discipleship.
Jonathan challenged: is there an empty seat next to you that needs to be filled by someone to disciple you?
Is there someone who needs you to disciple them?
disciple= learn

Dare to be a Disciple, Day 3

STAND UP.
to stand up is to respond to God's love. John 5:8-13 "stand up, pick up your mat and walk!" Jesus commanded the paralytic. Jonathan's message was considered our nudge to stand up, which many people did respond to the call.
Stand up in faith, knowing that God is caring and loving, his HOPE is a promise, not an uncertainty.
Stand up in surrender. That means even your hopes and dreams. We are opposing God by keeping parts of our life from Him. And, we don't have to be identified by our mat, but by who GOD IS!
Stand in commitment. We are committed to a God who is also committed to us.
Whatever you do, do it as a representation of Jesus Christ.

Dare to be a Disciple, Day 2

Tuesday. Grow Up.
We are constantly giving excuses. For example, we have excuses not to give Him our whole life, like what others do and say, and what we do and say. Jonathan reiterated that God is an accepting God, not wanting excuses. Though the paralyzed man had a valid excuse not to get in the pool, is was an excuse nonetheless. Don't we have a God big enough to conquer the IMPOSSIBLE?! Matthew 19:26. This was a push to release what is yours to God, because HE can do much greater things with them!
Jonathan used many examples of impossibilities we as humans see. One is RELATIONAL. He once apologized to a friend, who then didn't acknowledge that he had done anything wrong or accept the apology.
It's our responsibility to repair relationships!
a PHYSICAL impossibility. We serve a healer God (amen?) Luke 7:11.
a SPIRITUAL impossibility. God already knows about our sin, and no sin is too great to be forgiven.
BRING YOUR IMPOSSIBILITIES TO GOD.

Dare to be a Disciple, Day 1

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted!
This week was our Spiritual Emphasis Week at school (april 23-27). Jonathan from West Salem Four Square came in to speak to us. He was energetic, funny, and really was able to reach out to a lot of the student body to get them involved and attentive. For the week, he used the passage from John 5:1-14 about the paralytic that had been disabled for 38 years.
Entitled 'Show Up', Jonathan shared on Monday what God's heart is for us as his children. Regardless of our performance, God loves us and is beckoning us into His arms. His prayer for us this week was that we would come to know the LOVE God has for us, and to respond to that LOVE. We are accepted by our Father, our Creator, with or without makeup, the coolest shoes, and nice clothes.
Some important points:
Expect God to do things in your life. Show up whether or not you see God working. Matthew 7: ask seek knock. Choose to submit to the Kingdom of God. God is inviting us to show up and be willing to receive love and healing this week.
As Walt Disney said, "To all who come to this happy place, welcome." That's just like the Kingdom of God. It's our invitation.

Morgan McBride's Talk

So today was really neat because the student body got to hear from one of our own students - Morgan McBride, a sophomore. He shared about the importance of friendship. When his mom dealth with cancer, he had to rely heavily on his friends. Morgan explained what a true friend really is.
We all have our own trials and challenges for a reason, maybe so we can empathize with others who will deal with the same problems later, but overall, trials shape us and make us better people. So many kids our age hide their trials, but Morgan shared good verses about friendship and the importance of having good friends from Proverbs 18:24 and 27:17.
He left us with this thought: We can't take away others' burdens, but isn't helping one person better than helping no one?

Shawn from The People's Church

On Thursday, Shawn came to talk to us about attitudes. Attitudes affect others we don't even know. He used the passage of Numbers 13:26-33 about the spies going to check out new land. Only one came back with a good report. Everyone else's attitude affected the Israelites and made them not want to advance to the new land.  He had 3 points for us:
  1. Our attitude is a choice. people make over 3,500 choices daily! Our response to life dictates our attitudes. Caleb, the spy, responded instead of reacting to the situation.
  2. Nobody is responsible for your attitude but you. This is one of our 3,500 choices we can make daily. When we have a bad attitude, we get frustrated with situations quickly and our perspective changes.
  3. Attitudes affect more than we know! Millions suffered because of those bad reports the spies spent out. We have the opportunity to influence others around us!
  4. Attitude isn't automatically good because we're believers. A bad attitude can easily become a way of life, including complaining and negativity.
How can we have a good attitude? Keep god as our priority, it's taht simple.
How we worship is how we spend our time.

Another Love Talk :)

Thursday, Feb 23, Robby shared a question with the student body. Do we know what true love is? We classify it as: never leaving someone, being nice, through our words, and if we're happy. Robby illustrated true love with the passage where Abraham is to sacrifice his son Isaac in Genesis 22:1 and following.
Though Isaac was Abraham's dream and had prayed for a son for a long time, he put his dream on the altar. Robby's challenge to us is to view our lives and dreams as GOD's. My life is not my own is the mentality we should have when thinking about dreams and our future. If we do that, He will put us in places and around people he wants us to IMPACT. He challenged us also to be EXCITED when dreams are take away. There'll be a new dream coming.

For Valentine's Day

On the holiday dedicated to love, our own campus pastor, Robby Gilliam, talked about a topic very fitting -- love. With it being our school's 'fruit of the month', Robby shared about stereotypes of love. First, we say 'I LOVE YOU' very often, so often that it loses its meaning. From person to person, we don't know how to describe love because no one's love is unconditional. LOVE is a choice. I Corinthians 13:1 summed up says that love is the root of Christianity -- faith without love is worthless. Robby got us to think: Is our love selfish? Do we get excited when our enemies fail? Does my love end?
WE have to agree to love others despite our feelings towards them, and whether we agree or disagree with their choices. All it takes is love WITHOUT JUDGEMENT.
Are you loving?

Is Heaven for Real?

Each and every day we are faced with the proposition of what to do with our day. We can choose to face the world head on with grace, strength, and gusto. We can choose to face the world in fear and depression in response to the challenges that are thrown our way. We can also choose to face the world with no future in mind, but try to live each moment to the fullest.

7 year old Graham Thudium is faced with this decision each day...how am I going to live today? Most of us have heard the phrase "Live as if today were your last," but in Graham's case it takes on more meaning. Graham has a rare form of brain cancer. He has lost his ability to walk, hear, and most of his communication skills due to his cancer. Graham and his family are faced with the daunting news that he will die in the coming months without a miracle. Graham and his family have every right to question God's intentions and divine providence through all of this. They have every right to wake up and simply limp through each day in sadness. In fact, I think if faced with the obstacle that he is faced with each day, a lot of people would have a tough time simply going through each day. Not Graham though.

Graham's favorite book is Heaven is for Real by Colton Burpo (childrens edition). Graham and his mother came today to Western Mennonite School to speak to the students about Graham and the journey that he is on. As Graham began to read from his favorite book the students became quiet and wrapped into the story. Graham would read a page and his mother would re-read the page so the students could understand what Graham had said.

Graham's current story is not the fairy-tale story we would like to hear. He is a little boy who is sick and is progressing towards death. The thing that makes Graham's story so powerful is his perspective on life. He is thrilled to go to Heaven. He knows without a shadow of a doubt that he is going to Heaven to be with Jesus. He knows that Heaven is for real. He knows his Savior personally. He knows that he will see his family again one day. Graham's one desire is to see everyone in Heaven some day. He wants his life to impact other people.

Morgan Bristow (Class of 2012) described chapel this morning this way: "Today’s chapel was very impactful because it helped put my life into perspective. It was neat to see the joy that Graham had despite his conditions and situation. It definitely challenged me to be more bold and joyful because I have a lot in my life to be thankful for. If I could tell Graham one thing it would be to thank him for his attitude toward life. It would be so easy to be sad in his situation, but instead of being negative, he is joyful and happy. I think it is important to have chapels like the one today because it is good to have a taste of reality. It makes us realize how blessed and fortunate we are and that we should be making a bigger difference. Today’s chapel strengthened my belief in God just by seeing the confidence that Graham had. He didn’t talk about Heaven as something that might happen. Instead, he talked about it with a confidence that he will be there eventually."


Today, we had numerous students decide to commit or recommit their lives to God. They made a choice today to live for God, accept Jesus, and see Graham again one day in Heaven. After Graham spoke many students stood and sang from the depths of their heart the song "Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow."


Graham's Mother Louise put it this way, "Graham’s father and I are constantly amazed and overwhelmed that Graham’s simple story of faith can be so moving.  We know it’s not just his story, but the story of Christ’s love for each and every one of us.  Graham makes that story more real – puts a face on it."

After Graham had spoke we had Emma Stubblefield (Class of 2012) come up and pray for Graham, his family, and his message of hope. With grace and love Emma prayed and brought a beautiful close to an amazing chapel. Graham Thudium is a brave little boy. He and his family are embracing this journey with strength and confidence in God. We are so thankful for Graham's life and the impact that he had on our students. We will continue to pray for the family and stand with them through this time.

So is Heaven for real? Absolutely, and for little Graham Thudium, it is a reality that he is embracing!

Goodness

This Tuesday, Dan Steiner came to Tuesday chapel to share about our fruit of the month, GOODNESS. I personally think it's a hard  word to really describe and sum up, and Dan did an awesome job of it.
First, there is conflict between what we believe is good and what God believes is good. The two questions he answered were: how do i make sense of what is GOOD in the world? and how can I live a GOOD life? Romans 3:10 says we are born with a sinful nature. The bottom line is, we can't be GOOD. However, He is perfectly good, all good things come from him. The only thing that can make us GOOD is God acting in and through us. A lie I know I've caught myself thinking is that "I'm not that bad". Not true, without God, there is no GOOD to be found in us. Dan used the example of kids - they need to be taught what is GOOD because their instincts aren't always to do what is best.
God's goodness, however, can counter out wickedness. Goodness is what God finds pleasant and favorable.
So, anything we do well at, HE deserves the credit. He wants us to be good because God helps us to be good. Don't be 'good' to please others, be GOOD to please God, and do it with his help.
In closing, we need to be willing to be ok with the fact that it's GOD THAT'S GOOD.

Cultural Awareness Week

Sooooo....this Thursday in chapel, we celebrated different cultures through videos, an offering for the school's ongoing fundraiser for Project Peanut Butter, listened to Caleb Ivanitsky share about the culture of Nepal, and heard students pray in other languages for our school.
It was eye-opening just to see how people live and all the differences in culture, food, living conditons, etc in Nepal. Caleb's talk was both informative and engaging. I also enjoyed hearing prayers in Korean, French, Cantonese, and German. It is amazing that God hears us in any and ever language because he created them all.

HS/MS Chapel 1/12/12

Jon Martinez spoke to us this morning about 4 chairs. He spoke about how each of us are in 4 different spots. Each of us are sitting in one of the chairs, but challeneged us to think if we are satisfied with which chair we are sitting in.

He challeneged us to think about which chair we'd like to sit in & to ask God about what He has called us to live like.

You can't just be on fire for God & to live your faith out loud without growing. Being in the Word, praying, getting around other believers, & being plugged into a church is just as important to keep going.

He also challenged us to not be lukewarm Christians that are neither growing nor looking for something to do for Christ.

“If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve – and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. But as for me and my family, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!” – Joshua 24:15

God is with you even through depressing times.

In chapel on Thursday, Charlene Schultz shared her testimony. She started off with asking the question "have you ever wanted to die?". She shared how God was with her even in her most depressing times. Life was going well for her. Everything was too perfect. She knew that something big was going to happen to her because life was going too well. And then she found out that her baby boy was going to die and she couldn't believe it. She was sad and depressed but even when Satan taunted her she could find God through her hardships and there she found hope. Don't believe what Satan tells you, it's not true and just. But God is always trustworthy and faithful and he has your best interest in mind.

What people see on the outside isn't always what God see's on the inside

In chapel on Thursday the speaker explained how we can be judged for what we look like or act on the outside, but God looks for what counts on the inside. He see's everything about us, he knows exactly what we are thinking and he know's what we are like when no one is watching. He can pull out things about us that we didn't even know were there. God know's everything that is going on in our lives, and if anyone can do it he can take our outside image and show the true beauty that he see's on the inside and leave all the judgments behind.

Praising God with our mouth

In chapel Tuesday the speaker talked about how we should use our mouths with self control. There are two ways to use our mouth, either to praise people up or put them down.
Proverbs 15:4 The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
Use your tongue with thankfulness; use your tongue for building people up. What could you say to someone today to build them up?

"Don't let the good rob you of the best"

On Thursday Robby talked about Jacob and Esau and how Jacob deceived his brother in order to get his father's blessing. But it came back at Jacob when he wrestled with God in the night, and he realized that by deceiving his brother like he did was against what God had planned, and it robbed him of the best. And because he didn't let God give him the blessing like God had planned. He ripped himself off and it didn't work out when he tried to work it out himself.
Dreams
Robby also talked about how "we all have dreams but life get in the way." So many excuses..where did our dreams go? There is no way we can reach our dreams without people in our lives. People who support us. You need people around you that will push you onto greatness. You NEED God, you need the one who will never leave you or forsake you. Brothers are brothers for life. Just like brothers God will always be there.

Robby's Thanksgiving Talk

Hey guys! It's Thanksgiving break! And that is something I'm deflinitely thankful for :)
Today our dear Robby Gilliam shared with us.
He challanged us to think about what we're actually thankful for. Do we actually think about what we have? Many times we pity party about the cards we've been dealt, or the life and circumstances we've been given. I know I've personally done this.  What we forget is that God can change the game and add a wild card (parallel to poker!!). He's put us in the situations we're in for a purpose.
And we also compare ourselves and our situations to others. We think God is pouring more into others' cups and again, pity party.
Robby challenged us to be thankful for the glass itself, and the fact that God is pouring life into us.
I think it's all about a change of perspective.
In Luke 17:11, the parable of the lepors is told. When all ten men were healed, only one came back to thank Jesus for that healing.
So, it's important to be thankful for the hand we've been dealt.
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. I will say it again: REJOICE!
See? It's all about a change of perspective..
Phil. 4:6, Phil 4:8
Let's be thankful this season for our lives, what God's poured into us and how he cares, and all the material things we have. We have so much to be thankful for!

The Prodigal Son

Yesterday, Steven Gates came to talk to the whole student body. He shared from Luke 15, the story of the lost son coming home. He told the story to make it make sense for us today. Though a few weeks ago someone else preached about the lost son, I felt Gates had different points to share.
1. We are spiritually sick, or dead, without Jesus. Ephesians 2:1
2. We have need. We are in spiritual need because of sin.
3. We have value because we're created by Him uniquely. Ephesians 2:4
4. God's grace. In the parable, the father throws a celebration when his son comes home, not caring that his son squandered his wealth. This is an act of grace because the lost son was found, and he had no rights to forgiveness. Ephesians 2:8
We are undeserving of the grace and life we've been given. I think the point is to live that life full of grace to the fullest.
~ calla, Ministries Chair

Tuesday, November 15

This Tuesday, Jim Fitz, a farmer who works for the Christian Peacemaking team came to share with the high school students. He has worked with this team in Colombia for 9 years and stands up to both guerilla groups and the paramilitary in Colombia to bring peace in a nonviolent manner. Both of these groups are considered terrorist groups to the U.S. Fitz shared about how 50 soldiers left the paramilitary and became Christians because of these peace making teams. The Christian Peacemaking team simply talks to soldiers in the paramilitary groups and tries to reslove issues with them and the local people peacefully. One point I remember was his point about our enemies. He said not to make the opposing side the enemy, because God is capable of working through them as well. Fitz encouraged us to seek nonviolent ways of problem solving and showed that peacemaking does work. I encourage you as well as the student body to pray for these teams that go to unsafe places that God would keep them safe and that He would work through the people there.