Jeremiah 6

Let me remind all of you who are of age that it is election day, and you should do your civic and religious duty and vote. Elections have a huge impact on what direction our world goes. It's a good thing! Ok, so lets get to the study!

Today I'm going to start by giving you the GN because I want to describe a little about what is going on. I just got this brand new Archaeological Study Bible, now I'm not much on archaeology (I had to turn to the front of the Bible just to see how to spell it) but it has some great information in it that I believe you will enjoy and that will help us in our study of Jeremiah!

GN-Jeremiah 6:13-"From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are al frauds."
GN-Jeremiah 6:19-"Listen, all the earth! I will bring disaster on my people. It is the fruit of their own schemes, because they refuse to listen to me. They have rejected my word.
GN-Jeremiah 6:27-"Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals, that you may determine the quality of my people."
GN-Jeremiah 6:30-"I will label them rejected silver, for I, the Lord am discarding them."

Here in chapter 6 God is telling us exactly what he see's in Jerusalem, He says that the city is so corrupt that He will have to destroy it. Again let us not forget that just a chapter ago God said that if there was even one honest person in the town He would not destroy it, but as we know that did not happen.

I believe it's important for us to see that even the people who were deticated to God's service where not living for God (see v. 13) even the priests had fallen into dispicable practices. I also believe it's important for us to note that this whole destruction is not God' fault (see v. 19) it is the fruit of not listening to God. In v. 27 God lets Jeremiah know that he (Jeremiah) would determine the quality of the people that where there. v.27 if they don't live up to God's standards then He will label them rejected silver.

What a lesson for us today as we often ask the age old question "why did God do that?" when maybe we should be asking what action did we do to bring about these circumstances. I'm sure that after the destruction and Jerusalem starting being attacked that the people probably stood around and wonder why God had not protected them, but God lets us know that it was "the fruit or their actions" that brought the destruction about.

The other thing that really stood out to me is the type of man that Jeremiah must have been. God puts him in charge of going out and determing the quality of the people that must have been extremely difficult for Jeremiah to tell people that they way that they were living would ultimately cause them death.

Wow, is this getting intense or what! I hope that you will take each lesson that I present here or not lesson but just thoughts and you will take God's word and read it for yourself and see what God is asking you to do today.

IN HIM <><

Jeremiah 3-5

Let me start by saying I hope that everyone enjoyed worshipping together and I pray for those who were unable to attend a service yesturday, that everything is ok! Let me just say that when I write it is for more than just the people of Lake Christian Church (LCC) in Palmyra, VA. I believe and know that the God you and I servce is much larger than the small towns or even the big cities that you and I live in. So it's my prayer that this journal will somehow make a difference in your life, because it makes a huge difference in mine.

Jeremiah 3-5
God is revealing to Jeremiah the impending destruction that He is sending on Israel and Judah. It's cool to me how God uses some illustration to describe what is going on and what will happen as God is writing this he knows that on Monday, November 5 that I would be reading this and need some help understanding exactly what is going on so He used illustrations that I would understand to convey exactly what has happen and how faw Israel and Judah have fallen away from Him. God is cool!!
As I was reading about this I learned a little bit more about what exactly was going on. You see there were two different kingdoms of Israel at this time. Israel which was the northern kingdom and Judah which was the southern kingdom. God is wondering why don't the people of Judah get what is going on and turn back to God. Judah had just watched Israel fall to the Assyrians. God had allowed the Assyrians to overtake Israel because Israel had turned their backs on God, now Judah is doing the exact same thing and yet they are failing to turn back to God. Sometimes people just don't get it. Then I think about us, as people living today we have it even worse and we have watched (in the Bible) all of the kingdoms fall because they turned their backs on God yet we continue as a people and a nation to do the same things. God must get frustrated!

GN--Jeremiah 5:1--"Run up and down every street in Jerusalem, says the Lord. Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one just and honest person, I will not destroy the city."

Let me close with this. Many times people will say how can the God of the Bible be a loving God when He destroyed entire cities. To answer this just look at Jeremiah 5:1 God would have spared the entire city if he could have found one honest person, not a hundred, or a thousand, and God wanted was one person. I believe that this is also a lesson to us that God doesn't need the biggest and best, he just needs the committed!

Will you be committed in your walk today!

Jeremiah 1 & 2

Ok, here is the new start! I hope that not only my students will find this helpful and challenging but that others will be able to grow in Christ from this blog. So here goes nothing. WOW what a challenge! Ok I don't have a specific amount of scripture that I have to read each day I just read until I find five or six things that stand out to me ("golden nuggets"--thanks Dean Trune). As I go through this if you see "GN" that means that what comes next I thought was a golden nugget!

Today I read Jeremiah 1 & 2

Jeremiah is a preist in the day of Kind Zedekiah. Jeremiah lived in a time when the society around him was falling apart. When I say "it was falling apart" I mean socailly, economically, pollitically, and spiritually. Jeremiah has been sent to share the message of repentence. Repentance is something that we talk about a lot at Church but I believe that a lot of "church people" do not have a firm grasp of what repentance is. One of my Bible college professors taught me that repentace is a change in mind that leads to a change in action. So this would mean that if you truly repent from something that you don't go and do that again. I believe that we get sorry and repentence confused in out lives. I can remember sitting in music class at Roanoke Bible College when a group of students were acting up, which Professor Bondurant does not tollerate; (and I have come to appreciate that) she yelled at the students and they said they were sorry but Professor made it clear when she responded that she did not want them to be sorry but wanted them to repent. Ok, enough rambling.

GN-Jeremiah 1:5"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.
GN-Jeremiah 1:6-7 "O Sovereign Lord, I said, I can't speak for you! I'm too young! The Lord replied, Don't say I'm too young for you must go wherever I send you and say what ever I tell you."
GN- Jeremiah 2:27-29 "To an image carved from a piece of wood they say, 'You are my father.' To an idol chiseld from a blcok of stone they say, 'You are my mother.' They turn their back s on me, but in times of trouble they cry out to me 'Come and save us!' But why not call on these gods you have made? When trouble comes, let them save you if they can! For you have as many gods as there are towns in Judah. Why do you accuse me of doing wrong? You are the ones who have rebelled, says the LORD."

*All scripture from the "New Living Translation"*

If you can't read these few verses and not see the world in which we live today, somethings wrong, that's why these are the golden nuggets for today! Well I must go, my prayer is that you and I will realize that God made you and I special and we all have a job to do no matter what age we are but first we must repent and turn to God.

IN HIM <><

Gone To Long!

Hey Guys,
Sorry I have not been keeping up with this I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks. I am working on a youth website, and if I must admit I believe that it is coming along rather well. It is looking good and I believe that it will be effective in showing what the youth ministry at our church has to offer. I hope that you guys are still reading this as I have updated the upcoming events, remember that if you are planning on attending an event please sign up in the wings of the building or give me a call or I guess shot me an email or text message or voice mail. WOW way to many options thees days! Hey leave me some comments on what you think of our new series "Life on Loan"! Well I must go for now as today I am off to preach a funeral for a lady who was a long time family friend.

IN HIM <><

New Week!

Hey Guys & Girls,
It was great seeing all of you yesturday. I believe we had a great day yesturday. I believe that the "Life on Loan" stuff went great give me some feed back and let me know what you think about the new series. Tell me what you like and don't! I would also love to hear your comments on the devotions that you should be doing each day. Let me know what you think about those devotions and put anything that is thought provoking on here as a comment. I hope that you guys are gaving a good time, and be praying for our group that is preparing to leave on our missions trip.

IN HIM <><

Long Weekend!

Well most of you are getting ready for your long weekend. I know that you get out of school early today. I wanted to let you all know that we will be starting H2O our Jr. & Sr. High Bible study Next Sunday night. Make sure you are there we have some exciting things to study this year. Well here are my plans for the upcoming weekend. Since we have no Church events this weekend, tonight I'm planning on going to the grocery store with my family. Tomorrow the college football season gears up so I will be sitting in front of the TV all day watching football (now that's a good day). I think Monday the family and I may take a road trip, to somewhere we have not been. So hit me up and let me know what your plans are.

Ashley--Glad to hear that your grandmother is doing fine! God hears the groans of those who love him!

Later,

Prayer This Week!

Ok, so I didn't get a chance to blog yesturday but I'm back. Here are the prayer request this week.

1. Ashley Elliots gradmother is having heart problems
2. Christina's brother totaled his car
3. Kayla's boss is going to Korea
4. Ethan Weaver pulled his hammy and had to put off graduation from boot camp one week
5. Phillip is leaving this week for school

So those are the things that you should be praying for this week. You guys are awesome make sure that you leave some comments and I look forward to making this blog a way to get in contact with you and keep you informed about what is going on at Church.

Later,

Back to School!

Well, by now all of you are back in school. Hey look at the bright side before you know it you will have completed another year and it will be summer again. I don't know where the summer went it seems like it went by so fast. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun. Well here are the prayer request for this week. Oh, and thanks to all who came out for the lock in we had a great time!

Prayer:

• School Starting


• Elliot's Family friend no doing well


• Kelly-Courtney's stepmom having a baby


• Allen's step grandmother


• Ashleigh's grandma having a heart cath done

Ok, that is all for now have a good time at school and I will talk to you soon!

IN HIM <><

Lock IN Update!

Ok,
Since you all have had so much trouble with this, let me explain it a little bit better. If you have a favorite snack that you would like to bring. Please bring enough of that snack for everyone!

Later!

LOCK IN!

Hey Everyone,
The lock in is this Friday night so I want to see you all here! Lot's of people have already called to tell me that they are coming so there should be lots of you here! Ok, here is the plan. The lock in starts at 8:00pm and your parents should pick you up Sat. morning by 8:30am. I will be getting everything but if there is a favorite game of yours or snack feel free to bring it just remeber that there may be 15 to 20 other people here! We will be watching Simon Birch and I have the Karaoke machine ready to go as well as the Air Hockey table. OH and don't for get about sardines! I will be fixing some pizza to eat when you get here so we will start off by having pizza and doing our devotion. The lesson is going to be on "How Great is Our God" so think about that and come ready to add your thoughts. Alright gotta run I will talk to you all later.

IN HIM <><

Prayer This Week!

Hey Everybody,
It was good to see you Sunday, I hope that you all had a good week last week. Well there are only two weeks until you little kids go back to school, so how does that feel? I know that a lot of you are ready to go back, so that's cool! Well here are the prayer request for this week.

1. Ashleigh--Getting braces Monday
2. Courtney--V-ball tryouts
3. James--New kid going to a new school
4. Ashleighs--mom's friend just started treatment for cancer
5. Roger--has cancer
6. Danny Johnson--liver cancer (Go Danny we are all behind you!)
7. Becky's friend--has amnesia
8. Amanda's--neighbor Bill died
9. All Students--pray for a good school year!

Hey we are also working on getting a new website up and running so be looking for that and if you would like to listen to each weeks sermon you can go to www.lcc.podcastpeople.com Check it out!

Later,

Conflict in Schedule!

Hey,
Due to a schedule conflict I will have to reschedule the Jr. & Sr. High lock in to August 10! I hope this works for every0ne just let me know!

IN HIM <><

A Break!

Hey Everyone,
It's been a little while since I last wrote. Things have been crazy busy! I have been away at camp for two weeks (Oak Hill Christian Service Camp) then I got back and went straight into V.B.S. So my life has been very crazy. These last couple of weeks have been tough on my family as we have not had much time together as it seems that we are always running to something else. I have a wonderful wife who is great support in my ministry. I know that you guys don't always see Courntey but she is the reason that I can be so successful at ministry. Alright enough of the sappy stuff! I hope that all of you are getting ready for the Jr. and Sr. High Lock in on August 3rd. I can't wait I believe that we are going to have a good time! Well I must go for now so I will talk to you all soon.

Prayer!

Ok, thanks for all of you who came to the SURPRISE EVENT on Saturday night! It was great to see all of you on Sunday morning. I believe that we have had a great study going through the Bible but now that we have finished that study it's time to start something new. So we are going to be looking at dating, relationships, and don't say it SEX! I believe that you will find lots of helpful things in this study and I'm sure you will learn a lot. I also pray as we start this study that you will be challenged in what your relationships are made up of and how important it is to build good strong Christian relationships!

Oh and here are the prayer request for this week! Make sure that you pray for one of these things each day, you will have to double up on a couple of days since there are nine prayer request!

1. Mrs. Phillips--breast cancer
2. Hann family--going to Florida
3. Ethan's boss--fell out of a tree
4. Ashleigh's Elliots mom's friend--had surgery for breast cancer
5. Dennis Dawbreakers--mom died on Saturday
6. Kim Bennedict--continues to struggle although her and Reid are relaxing at the beach this week--pray they can enjoy themselves.
7. Students--We have several students at camp this week
8. Ethan Weaver--going to boot camp Saturday
9. Haley's mom's friends ex husband--is dealing with drug addiction

IN HIM <><

Another Saturday!

Well it's Saturday and finally some time to sit and maybe relax a little bit. It seems that the past few weeks have gotten extremely busy. This may have something to do with the fact that I had been at camp the last two weeks, and then I get back and have to get everything together for VBS. I'm really excited about our VBS this year as I have not waited until the last minute to get everything done, like I have in the past. I have been working on this year's VBS for several months now, I hope that it will show.

Tonight I know that all of you Jr. & Sr. High students will be coming to the Church to have a fun time. I'm not yet ready to let you in on what we will be doing but I believe that you will enjoy yourself.

On a more personal note, my life is going well! It's amazing the person God continues to challenge me to be. God is so good, he continues to use me, somone who wanders off frequently and return me to a place where He has called me to be. So for that I owe a big shout to the big guy! Well I must go know as I want to take my family swimming today, get ready for tonights youth event, and even order the UFC--PPV tonight!

IN HIM <><

Saturday's Event!

Alright I know that you all have been dying to know what is going on Saturday! So here it is, make sure that you are at the Church at 7:00pm and that your parents can pick you up at 9:00pm. Sorry that is all the information that I can give you. I hope to see you there! I am very busy right now, so I will right more a little later today, once I get some of this stuff done!

Later,

I'm Back

Sorry I have not written in a while I have been out of town at camp the last two weeks. I had a great time but I am extremely tired. I got to preach yesturday at church so, sorry I did not get to hang out with all my students in class but we will next week. Life is going well, things at Church keep me extremely busy, but I like being busy if I were not busy I would probably be in trouble. Ok, I know a lot of you are wondering what the secret event is for this coming Saturday and all I can tell you is that you will have to wait until tomorrows blog!

What You Want

Well as I sit here in the office trying to make the youth ministry at Lake Christian Church the best possible youth ministry that it can be, I'm stuck wandering exactly what the students want as far as a ministry. What would the students like to do? Where would the students like to go? What type of service projects or ideas interest you? These are all the questions that I'm asking myself today as I try to make this ministry the best it can be. If you have any suggestions please let me know.
I want to make the God that I love and serve real to each and every person I come in contact with, especially the students that I work with. Help me, by telling me exactly what you want and need for this to happen.
Also for any events that we do you can sign up write here on my blog. Just leave a comment that you are planning on attending that event and your name. I will write it down this will help me make sure that I have all the details taken care of for all of our events. Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you!

IN HIM <><

Busy Tuesday!

Hey Everyone,
Well it's another busy Tuesday. I have a ton of things to do today, so I got up really early this morning to get a head start on today. Let me tell you I feel really good about getting up really early. I know that it sounds crazy but I really do feel like I have a lot more energy. Well let me update you on a couple of things! Kayla Taylor wants us to pray for her and her family she is trying to decide if she should join the U.S. Air Force. So make sure that you add that to your list. Oh and someone ask if I could put some pictures of you up on the blog I would be glad to. If you have any pictures just email them to me and I will pick and choose the ones that I like best. I feel this is only fair since this is my blog, that I get to choose what pictures are on my blog. Does that make since to the rest of you? I hope so! Well I must go as my Tuesday calls me to stay busy. I look forward to hearing from you, so write soon and write often!

Chris

Prayer this Week

Hey Everyone here are the prayer request from Sunday!

• Amanda's Dog Truman poked his eye
• Michael is leaving for work on the farm
• Michael and Kaitlin's mom is back
• Ashleigh E. mom has a friend who just found out she has breast cancer
• Kim & Calvin Bragg welcomed Noah 8lb 8oz on Sunday
• Amanda's neighbor from Cal. hurt her neck in a car accident
• Ashley's friend Brian was in a bad car accident

Ok there they are I pray that you will remeber these people in your prayers this week.

Now for what's going on in my life as this blog thing is suppose to be some type of journal and I want you the students and parents to get to know me better on a personal level and I want to get to know you on a personal level.

Things have been very busy in my life. Church keeps me very busy which is a good thing, but I also have a wife and two boys that love attention, and I love giving them attention. I just got back in touch with a student who was a part of my very first youth ministry. He is now going to ECU and will graduate in about a year. It was great to be able to talk to him through email. That's about all that is going on right now!

Later!

First Time!

Well, this is my first post ever to a blog, I guess you could say that I'm diving in! A few weeks ago I didn't even know what a blog was. So now that I am up on technology, I will be updating regularly so that you the people and the students of my Church know what is going on in my life and the life of our student ministry! I hope that you enjoy!