Mission: Possible

This weekend, will be Mission: Possible. We are going to look at some amazing plans that God has for you and how you can avoid three pitfalls that can prevent you from accomplishing the awesome mission God designed for you.

You can come after school or up until supper. We will be hanging out until around 6, when we will eat supper. After that will be games, a movie and the Bible study. Bring your Bible, some note paper, something to sleep in (clothes and a sleeping bag/covers) and a good attitude.

See you Friday. I can't wait for you to grasp the astounding potential that God has placed in your life!

UPDATE: Some of you are more excited than I knew. We had originally talked about a Saturday outreach, but I was just going to cancel it because of a scheduling conflict at church and because I just didn't think we could get it to work. It turns out that some of you have already invited people - you rock! So with that Saturday is back on! We will probably meet at the softball field and play football and hang out for an hour or so, then I will do a short devotion. If I can work it out to do a movie and a meal somehow we will do that, too.

Spiderman

I just finished up the superheroes of the faith last night. We talked about the biggest superhero in pop culture today - Spiderman. The three movies have broken box office records, while affirming positive values and quality character.

Uncle Ben's words to Peter Parker echo through each movie: "With great power comes great responsibility." To Spiderman that meant because he had been given great powers, he had a responsibility to use those powers in a great way - to do good and protect the innocent. He shouldn't use them to make money (as he tried to do in the first film), give up on using his powers completely (the second film) or use them to gain personal popularity and enact vengeance (the most recent movie). He was always reminded of the message that Uncle Ben gave him and it guided his life as he tried to life up to that standard.

As a Christian, we have an even greater power than Peter Parker - the power that raised Christ from the dead. God has called us through that power to be His people on earth. 1 Peter 2:9:

But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

The second part of the verse alludes to the fact that our calling has a purpose, which Peter more explicitly explains in verse 12:

People who do not believe are living all around you and might say that you are doing wrong. Live such good lives that they will see the good things you do and will give glory to God on the day when Christ comes again.

Our God-given responsibility is to live our lives in such a way that non-Christians around us see the good things we do and they glorify God over them. In fact some people will glorify God on the day when Christ comes again because they have received Him after seeing our good works.

God has saved us for service. Our great power and blessings that God has given us are not for us to simply grab for ourselves and sit inside the church doing nothing with them. We are to use them to live God-honoring lives and see others come to know Him because of our lifestyle. That is a huge responsibility, but God has given us a huge power to accomplish it.

Anytime you see Spiderman, remember the directive that Uncle Ben gave him, but even more remember the mission that God has given you. Remember that while you have great power from God, you also have a great responsibility to live a life that causes unbelievers to recognize Christ in you and glorify God.

Flash

My first introduction to Flash was the early 90's TV show "The Flash." None of you youth are going to remember the show because it was on before most of you were born (Man, I'm old!). But anyway, I always loved seeing The Flash use his super speed to defeat bad guys and protect the city.

Did you know that God gave super speed to one of his Old Testament prophets? The Bible is better and cooler than any comic book because the characters and plot are better, plus it's real.

After God used Elijah to defeat the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, the prophet of the Lord was waiting for the rain to come that God had promised.

There had been a drought in the land for three years because of the disobedience of the people. Elijah had told them that God would withhold rain because of their rejection of Him. Before Elijah went to challenge the false gods, he told the king that God was going to send rain.

Elijah after seeing God consume his offering with fire, told King Ahab to get ready because heard the sound of heavy rain coming. It was going to be such a downpour that the king would not be able to travel.

As soon as the king went to eat and drink, Elijah hit his knees and begin to pray - there was no rain yet, not even a cloud. He sent his servant six times to look for any indication of the impending rain. Six times, he came back with nothing.

How many times has God told us He was going to do something, but we gave up on Him after praying just a couple of times. "God, I've prayed two or three times about this. You promised You would do it, but apparently not. Maybe I just heard wrong."

Elijah was confident in God's direction. He sent his servant back a seventh time and he came back with a report of "a cloud the size of a man's hand." All Elijah needed was this small indication that God was working. He told the king to hitch up the chariot and go before he got flooded out.

How often do we see God moving in small ways and downplay it? It may be an indication of the big work God is about to do. Never ignore even a small sign from God, especially if it is in keeping with a promise he has already made.

As this point, you're wondering where the whole "Flash" thing comes in. It's in the last two verses of the chapter, verse 45 and 46:

Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

I don't know why God wanted Elijah in Jezreel before Ahab, but He did and He gave Elijah the power to accomplish His will. Maybe God wanted Elijah to be the first one to tell the wicked queen Jezebel about God's victory at Mount Carmel and the rain showers coming down the mountain. I don't know, but the story gives me confidence that no matter what God has called me to do, He is going to empower me to accomplish His work.

It's the same for you. If God has called you to do something, just know that He will give you everything you need to complete His task. I don't think he'll make you The Flash, but you'll have power from God and do His will and that's a lot cooler than just being able to run fast.