Student Newsletter - March 9, 2009

ROCK SOLID STUDENT NEWSLETTER #3
March 9, 2009

Contents
1. Something for Your Heart
2. Surf Report
3. Forgettable Fact
4. Potent Quotables
5. Uh, That's Funny?
=================================


1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

Serious Sin

"Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin" (Hebrews 12:4 KJV)
We may not admit it out loud, but I think most of us carry around with us a kind of rating scale for sin. We all know the big ones: rape, murder, adultery, etc. But our list of "little" ones is very different: lying to parents, impure thoughts, envy, gossip, arrogance. Eh, everybody does them. Not a big deal. We can all be forgiven, right?

It's tough to carry that attitude toward sin (even little ones) too far into Hebrews 12. Today's verse should grab us by the shirt and shake us up a little. It's possible the writer is referring to a resistance against "sinful men" or persecution, but it starts a passage about how seriously God takes sin in the lives of Christians.

One thing it tells me is that I should be struggling against my sin. I don't know how often we do that. The point isn't that we should be perfectly sinless already; we're still growing. The point is that we should be in the fight. We should expect it to be a fight. We should expect the "want" to sin to fight back every time we stand up and say, "No, I'm going the other way."

Then this crazy idea: Whether facing persecution or facing down my own sinful desires, the fight is against sin and it can get bloody. Pain and blood always raise the stakes of a fight. Are we just in the fight against our own sin until it gets inconvenient -- or even when it gets deeply painful?

Think: What's the furthest you've ever gone in standing up against your own desire to sin?

Pray: Ask God to help you come up with braver and bolder strategies for saying no to sin.

Do: Pick a sin or two you struggle with and write down a new battle plan for winning your next encounter with that impulse.

**

A Daily Devotional from PlanetWisdom.com, copyright 2009 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.



2. SURF REPORT
- Street Fighter Movie Review
http://www.planetwisdom.com/movies/streetfighter.php

~ Review of Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
http://planetwisdom.com/books/reviews/brisingr.php



3. FORGETTABLE FACT
Harry S. Truman was the last U.S. President with no college degree.



4. POTENT QUOTABLES
"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
~ Socrates

"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."
~ Anne Frank



5. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?
Knock Knock!
~ Who's there?
Lass.
~ Lass who?
That's what cowboys use, isn't it?

Student Newsletter - February 24, 2009

ROCK SOLID STUDENT NEWSLETTER February 24, 2009
Contents
1. Something for Your Heart
2. Surf Report
3. Forgettable Fact
4. Potent Quotables
5. Movie Reviews
6. Uh, That's Funny?
=================================
1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

Our God Is Better

"And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm." (Daniel 1:19-20 KJV)

Our God reigns. Maybe you've sung a song with those words in it, Usually, I think of that phrase to mean that the one true God of heaven is in control of the universe. To modern unbelievers, it means that we believe in God while others don't.

But the ancient world was full of the worship of all kinds of gods. To say, "Our God reigns" meant, "Our God is better than your god." Occasionally, God would graciously prove to unbelieving people that His power was real, while the power of their false gods and false spirituality was either severely limited or completely non-existent.

God used Daniel and his boys to make that point at this moment in history. They were tapped into real power, the power of the God of creation. It's not surprising that they were ten times better than all the other spiritual leaders serving false gods. God used their faithfulness to prove His power.

Think: Does God's power show up in your life in a way that can be seen by others? What is the evidence that God is alive and at work in you?

Pray: Ask God to make His reality in your life through faith in Jesus evident to those who know you well.

Do: Read in Daniel 3 how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego risked their lives to stand up for God -- and how God used that choice to make His power obvious to everyone.

**
A Daily Devotional from PlanetWisdom.com, copyright 2009 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.

2. SURF REPORT
~ Surfshot - How's the surf in Hawaii?http://www.surfshot.com/

~ Love Is Respect - National Teen Dating Abuse Hotlinehttp://www.loveisrespect.org/

3. FORGETTABLE FACT
To burn off one plain M&M candy, you need to walk the full length of a football field.

4. POTENT QUOTABLES
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will."~ Vince Lombardi

"The end of wisdom is to dream high enough not to lose the dream in the seeking of it."~ William Faulkner

5. MOVIE REVIEWS
Fired Up!
http://www.planetwisdom.com/movies/firedup.php

He's Just Not That Into You
http://www.planetwisdom.com/movies/hesjustnotthatintoyou.php

6. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?
Q: What kind of shoes are made from banana skins?
A: Slippers

Our Newest Youth Members

Emma Olivia
Born Oct 16, 2008

James Isaac

Born Oct 22, 2008

Jaylen Shawn

Born Jan 30, 2009

Student Newsletter - February 16, 2009

ROCK SOLID STUDENT NEWSLETTER February 16, 2009
Contents
1. Something for Your Heart
2. Surf Report
3. Forgettable Fact
4. Potent Quotables
5. Movie Reviews
6. Uh, That's Funny?
=================================
1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART
Submit and Resist
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)

What does it mean to give God your heart, to focus yourself on Him above all others? It's one thing to write it in a Valentine's Day card to your Father in heaven, but what does it look like in real life? That's what James describes in verses 7 through 10.

It starts with giving up what I want in order to do what my Father wants and not what His enemy wants.

Submit yourself to God: This means to put yourself under His command, to make yourself His subordinate. "If He says it, I do it; if He says not to do it, I don't." That's submission, and it reveals my heart.

Resist the devil: Or "stand against" him. Stand up to him. Don't negotiate. Don't compromise. Don't look the other way. Make your stand by refusing his offers to sin or to indulge in anger and fear. He will run.

Think: How does choosing to submit to God when I want to do something else show my love for Him? By that standard, how much of your heart has God had, lately?

Pray: Ask God to help you to know when you are making a choice to submit to or resist Him and to help you to choose submission. Thank Him for the promise that the devil will run when we resist.

Do: Read how Jesus resisted the devil in Matthew 4:1-11.
**
A Daily Devotional from PlanetWisdom.com, copyright 2009 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.

2. SURF REPORT
~ Create Your Own Snowflakehttp://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/
~ Webosaurshttp://webosaurs.com/

3. FORGETTABLE FACT
The bark of an older redwood tree is fireproof.

4. POTENT QUOTABLES
"Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone."~ C.S. Lewis
"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."~ Charlie Brown

5. MOVIE REVIEWS
Coralinehttp://www.planetwisdom.com/movies/coraline.php
Takenhttp://www.planetwisdom.com/movies/taken.php

6. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?
Q: What is invisible and smells like carrots?A: Rabbit farts.