YOUTHQUEST BASKETBALL

Tonight we had a slightly smaller crowd especially with the seniors since they were finishing up exams. There was some incredible basketball played including a team coming back from an 11 point deficit to win by one with a winning shot in the last 5 seconds. When all was said and done, Ali and Nooman were our MVPs (now changed to MVC - Most Valuable Character). We finished off our month talking about the character matters trait 'fairness.' We also talked about how we were all made in God's image and so have unsurpassable worth.

JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

TEN (5): Unto Others

“I’m not trying to make you good. That has never been My goal. In fact, you are so hopelessly not good that I sent My Son to die for all your sins. Put your trust there. I want to tell you how to live, not for My sake, but for your sake.”

“I want to be the middle. I want you do everything in your life around me.”

He says not to have any other gods before Him.

Don’t try to make anything to represent Him because we will shrink Him down and try to manage Him.

He doesn’t want us to associate His name with anything His name is not associated with—don’t exploit or misuse His name.

He tells us to take time off so we could remember every week how dependent we are on Him.

After He talks about Himself, God does a big turn and spends the rest of the commandments telling us how to treat others.

The Ten Commandments elevate everybody’s status in that community.

TRUTH

"Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12 NIV).

“You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:15 NIV). Honour other people’s bodies.

“You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14 NIV). Honour marriage.

"You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15 NIV). Honour people’s possessions.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16 NIV). Honour others' reputations.

“You shall not covet your neighbour's house” (Exodus 20:17 NIV).

He wants us to honour Him and honor people. And when we cut the problem off at the root, we live free of the enslavement our sin gets us in.

When we read God’s Law, my hope is that we will understand that this incredible book, the book of the Law and the New Testament, was given to us because God loves us so much that He just wants to keep us free.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’” (Matthew 22:54-40 NIV).

Bottom Line: God places value on each person, and desires for everyone to be free.

So Moses went down to the people (Exodus 19:25 NIV).

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance. “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Exodus 20:18-19 NIV).

“Do not be afraid, God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning” (Exodus 20:20 NIV).

Just trust God.

You don’t have to learn the hard way.

God is not trying to make you good; He’s just trying to keep you free.

YOUTHQUEST BASKETBALL

Tonight was a good night back after a week off. We had around 30 boys who came out ready to play! Our Character Matter's Trait of the month continues to be fairness. Today we talked about what that looked like on the basketball court as well as around the world. Since we are blessed with so many resources, (20% of the world using 80% of the world's resources), we were challenged to think about what we could do to make things more fair around the around the world. Congrats to our MVP's of the night. They were fair by letting others play while they sit down, by telling the refs the truth even if it would help the other team, and one even hit a shot right the buzzer at the end of the night!

JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

TEN (4): Do Nothing

We don’t become a Christian simply by following a whole bunch of rules.
It happens because Jesus initiated a relationship with us by dying for us on the cross.
“Because you’re Mine, because I care so much about your relationships and your life, I’m going to give you some helpful commandments to live by.”

“Thou shall take a day off.”
Why in the world would God include that commandment?

TRUTH
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8-9 NIV).
“Six days you are to gather [the manna] but on the seventh day, there will not be any” (Exodus 16:26 NIV).
Moses also says: “Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out. So the people rested on the seventh day” (Exodus 16:29-30 NIV).

God created a situation where Israel was forced to be dependent on Him.
"On [the Sabbath] you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates" (Exodus 20:10 NIV).

So...
The day of rest is a day of remembrance.
Can you trust God? That is the point of the Sabbath.
When you stop, take time to remember.
A time that you reflect and recognize your dependence on Him.

What if, for one day, you let God consume your time instead of everything and everyone else?

Bottom Line: When we stop and acknowledge how God has cared for us and our world, we realize who is really in control.

PARENT CUE

Session Three: That’s Not My Name (Sunday January 9)

Bottom Line: When you use the name of God to dodge the will of God, you will ultimately miss out on God entirely.

Have you ever said God’s name when you were angry or rattled off “OMG”? If so, you may have heard someone talk about you breaking one of the Ten—the one about misusing God’s name. But there’s much more to this command. Just think about it, do you think that’s all God was concerned about? Do you think that was the only reason He put it on such an important list? The reality is that we abuse God’s name when we choose to use it for our own selfish purposes—and that’s a dangerous game that involves more than just a careless slip of the tongue. If we dodge the will of God in the name of God, then we run the risk of missing God entirely.

Session Three Parent Cue: Beyond swearing, what are some examples in history or in our world today of people abusing God’s name. What are some situations when you are tempted to abuse God’s name?

JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

TEN (3): That’s Not My Name

The Ten Commandments were never given as a means of salvation or a means of getting in good with God.
Whenever we start to think of them in this way, we lose God’s intent behind these commandments.
“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God" (Exodus 20:7 NIV).
“Thou shall not call out My name when you lose your temper.” Could that really be what that means?
While it’s important to be respectful of God, there has to be more to it than that for this commandment to make this list.

TRUTH
“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God" (Exodus 20:7 NIV).
Don’t abuse, mishandle or exploit the name of God.
We are not to associate God’s name with something God is not associated with.
Don’t leverage the name of God in order to accomplish something God has nothing to do with.
Don’t use the name of God to get your way.
When Jesus walked into the temple, He was furious. He saw the religious leaders leveraging the name of God and leveraging the Law.
Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling (Luke 19:45 NIV). “It is written . . . 'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a 'den of robbers'” (Luke 19:46 NIV).
“And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others” (Mark 7:13 NLT).
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9 NIV).
“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God" (Exodus 20:7 NIV).
You can spend your whole life believing in God and never have a relationship with God.
You can think you know everything about God, and not know Him at all.
“If you miss it, you will miss Me and all that I have for you. You won’t know Me; you will be religious. You won’t have Me, you will only have some traditions.”

Bottom Line: When you use the name of God to dodge the will of God, you will ultimately miss out on God entirely.

YOUTHQUEST BASKETBALL

We started off the new year with 2 great sessions and over 30 boys! This month, our character matters trait is fairness, "We are sensitive to the needs of each individual. We treat each other as we wish to be treated. We interact with others without stereotyping, prejudice or discrimination. We stand up for human rights."
Congrats to Matt and Raj, our MVP's for the night.

JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

TEN (2): One & Only
The Ten Commandments were not given as a condition of God’s love, God’s approval or God’s acceptance.

The Ten Commandments were given as evidence of God’s approval, love and acceptance.

God initiated a relationship.
God’s people trusted.
God delivered.
Then God gave the law.

God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:1 NIV).

“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3 NIV).

“You should not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Exodus 20:4 NIV).

God’s saying, “Not only do I want to be your one and only God, but I don’t want you to attempt to build any kind of monument, any kind of statue or form anything with your hands that represent Me.”

God wants to be the center of every decision, the One you go to for everything, the One you depend on.

If you take God out of the center, everything else is just rule keeping.

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them” (Exodus 20:5 NIV).

“For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5 NIV).

“I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:5 NIV).

If you try to organize your life around any other god—god with a little “g”—anything other than the one true God, there will be a consequence.

"But showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6 NIV).

We need to be careful about what we put in the center of our lives.
God isn’t trying to make you good. God’s ultimate goal isn’t trying to make bad people good. God just wants to keep free people free.

Has there ever been a time that you made a decision to let God be at the center of your life?

Bottom Line: The most important decision you make is what you place in the center of your life.