The Mandate is closing in on us! I am extremely excited to share the weekend with my brothers in Jesus and to search the Scriptures together and have the Lord teach us who He has made us to be and what we are to strive for, both now and in the future. I hope you feel the same.
But, before Friday comes, there is some need for a little more basic information which I have provided below.
NECESSARY REQUIREMENTS/FORMS
1) Sign-up by tonight to reserve you spot.
2) Pay $80 (If money is an issue, talk to me before you decide not to go).
2) Fill out the South Shores medical release form (you can sign it upon arrival tomorrow). If you went to winter camp then this is not necessary.
WHEN TO SHOW UP/WHEN WE WILL RETURN:
MEET – We will meet at church at 3:00pm on Friday, May 4th.
LEAVE – We will leave church promptly at 3:45pm
RETURN – We will return to church at approximately 1pm on Sunday
WHAT TO BRING:
1- Bible/journal/pen (if your a journaler)
2- Trunks (Speedos are weird, but acceptable)
3- Sandals/aqua shoes (there are some stickers on the way to the lakeshore)
4- A Towel
5- Two extra shirts
6- Toiletries
7- A sweatshirt (night times can be chilly)
8- Sleeping bag/pillow
9- Sun screen (mandatory for Tim Aney and Jeff Sholar)
10- $20 spending money for snacks (optional)
If you were at South Shores this past Sunday then you heard that we have printed a Family Worship Packet that goes along with the current sermon series we are in called “Uncovered”. If you weren’t there and couldn’t grab a packet, do not worry! You can access an online version of the Family Worship Packet by clicking here.
You can read below in order to get a feel for both the series and the purpose of the booklet. We hope and pray these help the families of South Shores raise their kids in homes where the gospel is cherished, Jesus is exalted and God is glorified!
The Idea Behind the Series
Our teaching series, UNCOVERED: Digging Through the Prayers of God’s People, takes the approach of an archaeologist digging down layer by layer to reveal the different periods of time and the people who lived there. Each week we journey deeper into the trench and further back in time to see the condition of God’s people, how they reach out to Him in prayer and what it tells us about who God is. Join us as we discover real people of history, the Bible and prayer who served and loved the same real God we worship today.
Why This Booklet?
South Shores Church desires to encourage and assist parents in the spiritual leadership of their families. This booklet, guiding Family Worship devotions, is one way we are seeking to integrate the Sunday morning gathering into the weekly pattern of families. Our hope is that as parents you will continually reflect back on the message of the previous weekend and use it to launch new discussions with your children, preparing your family to celebrate Easter and the new life Jesus offers.
Have you ever wondered why CORE Fellowship operates the way it does? Why do we have connection groups afterwards? Why we encourage parents to take the lead in spiritual formation of their children? Why we gather early to play games and sit at tables and talk before CORE even starts? Let me give you some insight to why we do what we do at CORE…
The classic writer Mark Twain’s suggestion, “When a boy turns 13 put him in a barrel and feed him through the knot hole. When he turns 16, plug up the hole”, reflects an ancient communal frustration of what to do with adolescents who are struggling to transition from childhood to adulthood. Many parents wring their hands in worry as they contemplate the decisions made by their aging children. Godly parents search the Scriptures looking for insight on how to raise young adults, who are no longer mere children. The difficulty is that the Bible is silent about teenagers, as adolescence was not a mindset in that culture. However, this lack of specific instruction does not necessitate reverting back to Mark Twain’s methods of “controlling” young adults.
Perhaps Mark Twain was onto something significant though, as historically the age 13 seems to begin the transitional years from childhood to adulthood. Many cultures have ceremonies celebrating this arrival of adulthood, although the exact age varies greatly from age 7 in some Hindu cultures to as late as 20 in Japanese celebrations (Wikipedia: adolescence). Jewish Bar and Bat Mitzvah have become cultural institutions unto themselves. However, these elaborate parties have significant spiritual roots in the Old Testament. Dating back to the time after the Exile, Jewish leaders sought to teach their children the Hebrew language to be able to read the Torah. Not wanting to see their faith extinguished with age, the synagogue schools become a primary method for the instruction of reading, writing and speaking the Hebraic language. “Young boys attended once they reached the age of manhood at thirteen” (Anthony, p. 35). This rite of passage entitled the boy to privileges and responsibilities of adult men, such as serving with other men in the synagogue and in the courts (Anthony, p. 35).
Providing a “language” for their faith was, and still is today, a primary need for adolescent faith development. This is why at CORE we focus on teaching the Bible and all that Jesus taught (i.e. theology). 2 Timothy 3:16,17 highlights the purpose of Scripture to equip young men women to live and pass on to others the doctrine of God. The Hebrew roots of CORE Fellowship are also found in the educational roles of Old Testament priests. While only boys were allowed to participate in formal education, older boys from the tribe of Levi were apprenticed by older priests (Anthony, p. 28). Elisha’s “company of the prophets” listed in 2 Kings 4:38 provides another type of leadership training group that was present in Ancient Israel. These “prophets schools” are an example of God’s design to rise up the next generation of Spiritual Leadership through mentoring that begins in the family and continues through the larger spiritual community.
These various methods of spiritual instruction would look very similar to Connection groups at CORE today. Small groups of adolescent boys gathered around the local priest or prophet, being mentored in the duties of the synagogue or the teachings of Scripture. The continuation and expansion of faith in the generations to come, we can assume, was their goal, as would be the same for us today.
The model established by God through God’s people to reach future generations can be described as such: begin religious instruction in the family home as spiritual practices, add knowledge through the larger community of faith (i.e CORE gatherings), and provide mentoring from key spiritual leaders for specific practices and duties. Our hope is that you will greatly benefit from this spiritual pathway to Loving God and Loving Others.
The other day I was approached by Charlie Plump (super rad, Jesus loving senior in High School and student at Core) and was offered an invitation I never thought I would hear from a high school student. Charlie invited me to join him in memorizing the book of Ephesians in 2012. I accepted the invitation because what kind of youth pastor would I be if I didn’t? I also recognized the good that could come from it.
But Charlie and I didn’t want to keep this challenge/invitation to ourselves, but want all of Core to join us! So consider yourself invited to join Charlie and I for the 2012 Ephesian Challenge!
So what will this entail? Well, it’s simple. We will strive to memorize everyone of the 155 verses in Ephesians by June 20 (graduation day). We have 24 weeks to do it. I have provided a memory guide here to be downloaded, printed and used. I also put together some memorization helps I got from The Resurgence; you can find those here. I recommend using the memory guides for Ephesians to pace yourself and keep from slacking behind. I recommend using a memory journal as described below.
How to Make Your Own 2012 Ephesians Memory Journal
1. Purchase your own journal. (Have it be at least 5 inches high and four wide so you can tape the memory guides into it.)
3. Cut the weekly Scripture reading according to the border
4. Use double-sided tape to paste the weekly section of verses
5. Find someone who you can partner with for encouragement & accountability
6. Jump in starting January 1, 2012!!!
So who’s with us!?
If you desire to join us in the 2012 Ephesians Challenge shoot me an email at ddill@southshores.org so we can encourage each other as we take God’s Word to memory!
The pain. The suffering. The endless work that always need to be done, but is never completed. The hard reality that sets in when we actually get what we want but still can’t rest.
Why?
Does any of it have a point? Or are we just spinning our wheels?
THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES
Life under the sun is filled with pain, toil and lots of effort and Solomon writes Ecclesiastes to ask why? Is there any meaning to the madness? Is there any redemption in the corruption? Is there any lasting purpose that justifies getting up in the morning? Well, it depends. If one is without God, then, to put it frankly, there is no meaning to their life and they are no better off than the dogs. But if someone knows Jesus through faith they are able to see beyond the here and now, the pain and toil, and wait patiently for the glory to come. In order for life under the sun to be livable we must know Him who lives above the sun.
THE TEACHING SCHEDULE
JANUARY 5 | 1:1-18: IT’S NOT A WONDERFUL LIFE
SUMMARY: Ecclesiastes is a book that teaches through observation of this world. In this beginning chapter Solomon lays down the purpose of his book and tells the truth: this world is not a happy place filled with meaning, but it is meaningless when lived divorced from God.
JANUARY 12 | 2:1-26: CHASING THE WIND
SUMMARY: Solomon continues his quest to find meaning and takes into account pleasure, work and gain in his research. He finds that those these things are pleasurable, they simply aren’t enough to satisfy the heart. Only Christ and His finished work can bring my soul the rest it longs for.
JANUARY 19 | NO CORE ON ACCOUNT OF WINTERCAMP
JANUARY 26 | 3: ENJOYING TODAY
SUMMARY: Although this life is filled with toil and suffering it isn’t without pleasures to be enjoyed or things to be grateful for, but we must understand how to receive and enjoy the good gifts of God in His timing.
FEBRUARY 2 | 4:4-16: WE’RE BETTER TOGETHER
SUMMARY: Many like the idea of community, but they don’t like people. Everyone wants to learn, but no one wants to be taught. Everyone wants to be in close friendship, but no one wants to give up anything. We live in a hugely individualistic society that often times colors our following Jesus. In this section we learn some essential truths about the wisdom and necessity for community.
FEBRUARY 9 | 5:1-7: THE TALE OF TWO CHURCH FOLKS
SUMMARY: Often times we walk into church physically, but barely there in mind and heart. Solomon observes two different kinds of folk who come into corporate worship and teaches us that walking into church doesn’t mean God is pleased with our worship.
FEBRUARY 16 | 5:8-6:12: THE REAL “GOOD LIFE”
SUMMARY: The quality and purpose of our life cannot be measured by our bank account. Whether rich or poor, our life’s purpose and quality is determined by how we seek to follow Jesus. God does not look at the bank account of a man but His heart.
FEBRUARY 23 | 7:1-14: YOU WILL LOSE
SUMMARY: Man constantly tries to fight against God’s Word and Work, but with a list of proverbial sayings, Solomon shows that this is the way of a fool. Wise men seek God and accept their lot from Him knowing it is for their good.
MARCH 1 | 7:15-8:1: BE A BLESSING, NOT A CURSE
SUMMARY: Solomon gives us wisdom on how to avoid being a curse to those we are trying to be a blessing to.
MARCH 8 | 8:2-17: OBEY “THE MAN”
SUMMARY: Solomon provides us with wisdom on how to approach corrupt systems of authority and government.
MARCH 15 | 9:1-12: YOU WILL DIE
SUMMARY: Death is something that is intentionally forgotten and ignored, but will inevitably happen to all of us. Solomon forces us to acknowledge the looming presence and inevitable coming of our death so we begin to truly live well.
MARCH 22 | 9:13-11:6: PROVERBS FOR THE PLOW
SUMMARY: Solomon offers a collection of sayings and proverbs that help us live well in this world as we seek to do the things God has prepared for us to do in advance.
MARCH 29 | 11:7-12:14: THE END OF THE MATTER
SUMMARY: After a life long experiment in trying to find the meaning to this chaotic and fallen world, Solomon offers his final conclusion: life only is worth living if one fears God and humbly follows His Word. All other attempts at life will result in nothing more than wind chasing. Don’t waste your life trying to catch something that isn’t there.
Pastor Dave took us into the Bible to learn of the justice of God and the sweetness of His mercy toward sinners like us. Here is the video that was played at Core to hit the same truth with a different tune. Praise God!
This last week Core looked into the doctrine of God’s power and sovereignty over all things. Here is a helpful study about God’s sovereignty by Justin Taylor:
The Bible verses below are far from exhaustive, and each should be interpreted according to its genre and context. But I am convinced that these verses—rightly interpreted—definitively establish God’s absolute sovereignty over all things. And since compatiblism is true, none of this contradicts the equally biblical teaching that Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) and that human choices are genuine and significant.
God Is Sovereign Over . . .
Seemingly random things:
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the LORD.
(Proverbs 16:33)
The heart of the most powerful person in the land:
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD;
he turns it wherever he will.
(Proverbs 21:1)
Our daily lives and plans:
A man’s steps are from the LORD;
how then can man understand his way?
(Proverbs 20:24)
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
(Proverbs 19:21)
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. . . . Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
(James 4:13-15)
Salvation:
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
(Romans 9:15-16)
As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
(Acts 13:48)
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(Romans 8:29-30)
Life and death:
See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
(Deuteronomy 32:39)
The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
(1 Samuel 12:6)
Disabilities:
Then the LORD said to [Moses], “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
(Exodus 4:11)
The death of God’s Son:
Jesus, [who was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
(Acts 2:23)
For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
(Acts 4:27-28)
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief. . . .
(Isaiah 53:10)
Evil things:
Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city,
unless the LORD has done it?
(Amos 3:6)
I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
(Isaiah 45:7)
“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. . . . “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
(Job 1:21-22; 2:10)
[God] sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. . . . As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
(Psalm 105:17; Genesis 50:21)
All things:
[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will.
(Ephesians 1:11)
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
(Psalm 115:3)
I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
(Job 42:2)
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
(Daniel 4:35)
