Notes and Thoughts - GMAA Session 4

3.14.2009

Alex and Brett Harris

• What is the difference between the challenges of my childhood and the challenges I am facing now?

• The challenges are equal. (They have equal difficulty.)

• The real question is "How do I respond differently?" [or How am I responding differently]
  

• The older we get the easier it is for us to excuse ourselves for things - i.e., "I'm just not a math person." This immediately stems from the low expectations that exist for teens in this culture - if it was expected then the difficulty would be overcome.

• God is not glorified when I do not overcome the difficulties He puts in my life.
• In order to grow I must continue to overcome difficulties. (Muscles grow stronger when you work them out.)

What is the "do hard things mentality"?

• Fighting sin in my life.
• The right thing is harder than the wrong thing.
• Battling discouragement and complacency.
• God has designed my spiritual strength to grow by exertion.
• Doing more than what is required.
• Getting over my fear of failure.
• It looks different for each person.
• It is different for men and women.
• Most often means doing the small things.
• The things that most people will not see.
• Is my best life.
• Not my easiest - the best is not the easiest nearly every time.

Notes and Thoughts - GMAA Elective 1

[Need to add the speaker name]
 
Culture's View

• The culture teaches that gender is learned, not innate.
• The culture also teaches that sex is for pleasure and has nothing to do with God.
• The culture teaches marriage, it is not an institute ordained by God.
• What is the solution to this view infiltrating the church? Glorify God through His design.
  

Biblical View

• Gender is something I am before anything else.
• Sex is first of all for God's glory - it was not just created by God, it was commanded by Him!
• Marriage is not a cultural phenomenon, it is a universal truth given and blessed by God. (A man is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church - I need to take this seriously)
• Marriage is a little example of the Gospel for the world to see enacted in the relationship between a Christian man and his wife.

Notes and Thoughts - GMAA Session 3

Alex and Brett Harris

"The Myth of Adolescence"

• Elephant example of "shackles around the mind"
• The word "teenager" has been around only since 1941 - less than 70 years!
• Adolescence as it is viewed today has been around for about 100 years. Basically labor laws took teens out of the workforce and mandatory schooling was instituted. A whole portion of the population was taken from the role of producer to consumer. Expectations were lowered - both virtually non-existent.

"The ceiling is where the floor should be."

Notes and Thoughts - GMAA Session 2

3.13.2009

Dr. R. Albert Mohler
Questions define a faithful Christian, and ignoring these questions show a "flickering" faith.
Romans 11:33 - 12:2

• When I see the word "therefore" I need to look at the previous verses to see what the context is.
• I need to reboot spiritually every once in awhile, 'cuz just like my computer I eventually overload and my mind just starts spinning.
• Knowing the will of God is part of my responsibility as a Christian, and finding the Lord's will is a never-ending process.
• The will of God is not:
• A game He is playing with me.
• Like buried treasure that I am supposed to find.
• A puzzle that I am supposed to put together when I get the pieces.
• A mystery that I must accept.
• Something that I am not supposed to like.
• It is God's will:
• That I should be born. There is a purpose for my life.
• That it is God's will for me to eventually die - unless Christ returns first.
• That I was born male.
• That I will go through different life stages.
• That I obey God's Word.
• That I obey all authorities - civil, parental, church.
• That I believe in Christ.
• That I do everything for God's glory.
• That I get married or am given the gift of celibacy to do the work of God.
• That I share the Gospel.
• That I be faithful to my church - serving faithfully.
• That I strengthen the church, make a difference in the world, and in every role and relationship show the glory of God.
• I already know most of God's will.
• I won't find just by thinking, but by doing.
• If it's God's will then to change even a small part of it would be to mar the perfection of His perfect plan.
  

Notes and Thoughts - GMAA Session 1

Dr. Russel D. Moore

1 John 3:10-18

• It is not an unusual experience in today's culture for young people to be in love with love. This is not surprising because in the world love means so many things.
• John writes of love as war between children of God and the children of the Devil.
• John is saying that we as children of God need to be alert to the fact that we are in a constant war with temptation.
• This is at the heart of the Gospel - how I know I am a child of God. If I love my brother - not "have feelings of love" but show by my actions that I am looking to Christ as my example for how to live a life that shows my love for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
• I am not to act like Cain - live in hatred of others because I know that there actions are right and my actions are wrong.
• This is a manifestation of guilt.
• I am also to not be surprised when the world hates me for what I do. When I am following Christ I am declaring war on the accepted culture. I am a "rebelutionary" for Christ.
• Satan would rather that I not think about my faith - he would rather that I just go along in life without being a radical. When I become a rebelutionary, Satan will exert greater power to bring me down.
• If I love Jesus then I am to love my brothers and sisters in Christ - if I don't then I am committing murder in God's eyes.
• I can base my definition on what I feel or on the culture around me, but this definition can easily  be twisted.
• Love is giving myself up for another - for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
• What are people going to say about me in 20 years? Are they going to remember me as being a strong Christian or as someone who talked the talk buy doesn't walk the walk?
• I should be preparing myself now for my future wife and children (Lord willing).
• Am I willing to pour myself out for others? Am I concerned that there is a sentence of death on those that I know who are unsaved, or am I content that I am taken care of?

Heading out soon...

I will be heading out soon for the Give Me An Answer Conference at Boyce College in Louisville, KY. This will be my third time going to this conference. I'm looking forward to this year, as the Harris brothers (Alex and Brett) will be the keynote speakers. The breakout sessions look like they will be good as well. I will post up my notes when I get back.

If that is what it takes, God...then so be it.

3.04.2009

Recently I had the opportunity to watch the movie Fireproof. It is a very powerful, convicting movie.

It isn't often that I watch a movie and it changes my whole mindset...that the movie "speaks" to me, if you will. In fact, I don't think that I have ever been impacted by another movie in even close to the level that this movie hit me. Over the past two years, God has gotten my attention in various ways when I start drifting away from Him. I believe that He is using the events in my life right now to get my focus back where it belongs. I have taken my eyes off of my Savior in the past few months, and that has to change.

[Warning: Spoiler about the movie Fireproof]

In the movie, the main character, "Caleb" is having marital problems with his wife. The relationship that he thought he and his wife has is gone - it had been based on feelings that were rather dormant or even nonexistent now. The main point of the movie is that only when Caleb "finds God" and establishes a relationship with Him does his marriage start to get better. When Caleb's wife becomes a Christian as well then they are able to build their relationship with each other, within their relationship with Christ.


The movie brought home the fact to me that my focus had not been on God, and on building my relationship with God. I had let my focus wander off of God and was trying to establish a relationship on my own. I realize now that that sort of relationship is wrong.


In the past few weeks I've come a long way. I have much work to do, I have much time to spend in God's Word before I will be able to discern God's will for my life, but I know one thing. I am God's, He is mine, and when I stay in God's will He will protect, guide, and care for me through my life. No matter what the future may hold, God is my guide, He is my compass, and I will follow Him.