Don't Let Satan Phht It Out! (August 26, 2004)
by Barrett Vanlandingham
Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, relatives near or distant... here is your opportunity to do a great favor for a young person you love. A spiritual fire was ignited under a lot of our young people this past summer during our full schedule of youth events. Renewed commitments were made to God and to fellow Christian brothers and sisters that this school year would be different from past years in which the flame dimmed as soon as summer ended.
Here is a list of some things on which we all need to place the highest emphasis in order to give today’s young souls a better chance at spiritual growth:
1. Coming to Bible class and paying attention ~
Remember, a child should never have to ask this
question; "Are we going to class?"
2. Involvement ~ young people need to know
their presence at youth/church activities will not
only help them; it is also an encouragement to others.
3. Even when nobody else knows, God knows.
~ Remind young people that as Christians, we are
here to impress God, not to impress the world ~ this
means the things we say, do, wear, watch, and listen
to should be things of which God approves.
4. Self examination: "What did I do today to bring
myself and someone else a step closer to heaven?"
5. Bible reading ~ God’s Word will judge us one day.
6. Prayer ~ God helps us make decisions.
7. Get a quarterly youth event calendar and other
information from the youth booth; read announcement
sheets, bulletins, and call me if you have questions.
Read these passages on encouragement, light, fellowship, forgiveness, and training; think about the connection to this week’s bulletin article.
Hebrews 3:12-14
12.See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13.But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14.We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Ephesians 6:4
4. Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
1 John 1:6-7
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7.But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
I Am The Vine (August 19, 2004)
by Barrett Vanlandingham
In John 15, the evangelist tells the words of Jesus:
1. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
John’s reference to the vine-tree and Paul’s reference to olive-tree in Romans 11 are both Old Testament symbols for Israel (God’s chosen people, the Jews) that are being used to illustrate a very important point for Christians today: We cannot survive spiritually without a connection to Jesus Christ, the True Vine.
Paul reminds us that branches were broken off when Jesus’ own people, the Jews, did not believe that He was the Son of God. Paul says this should serve as a warning to Christians (God’s chosen people today) that we should not be arrogant in our faith. Romans 11:21 says: 21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
All of humanity has the opportunity to be part of the True Vine, no matter what social, ethnic, or religious beginnings we have. It is our choice where we go from here. In Christ, there is no difference.
May each of us cultivate our relationship with God continually so that we may grow spiritually; and as we grow, may each of us look for ways to bear fruit to God’s glory, not our own. Have a Wonderful Day!
Spearfish SD Mission Trip (August 12, 2004)
Reveals Tremendous Need
by Barrett Vanlandingham
Our eight member mission team was more than happy to see the "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign after a round trip to Spearfish, South Dakota that took us through eight states July 30-August 8.
A few of the trip highlights would include the
sunflower fields of Kansas; a hail storm, a rainbow, and a beautiful sunset in Colorado; the incredibly blue skies, puffy white clouds, and antelope of Wyoming; and more stars than we even knew existed during a night hike to a mountain-top for a camp devotional near the border of Wyoming and South Dakota.
The spiritual highlights would include the worship services each night; the singing was awesome with about 210 campers and staff; three baptisms in the trout pond which was 40-something degrees; lots of burden lifting, Q & A, and sharing time were woven into the week through discussion times, classes, & devotionals.
About half of the kids there were either unchurched or from denominations. Lots of opportunity! The troubling part is the lack of spiritual depth among camp counselors. This means that most of the teaching has to be done during scheduled times because some of the counselors are new Christians themselves, and most are too young to provide much stability in the bunkhouses.
Church camps in that region are difficult to find. So, people drive up to nine hours to attend Black Hills Bible Camp which is held in Newcastle, Wyoming at a state-owned facility called Mallo Camp.
The caretaker had already put restrictions on when baptisms could take place, and the last day we were there, baptisms in the pond were outlawed altogether for health and sanitary reasons.
Myself, Glen Elliott, Beth and Ashley Brannon, and four students: Nick Shaffer, Amanda Coombes, Amanda Frost, and Jenna Arnett all came back with a greater appreciation for Burnt Cabin which is owned by Churches of Christ and governed by our own board, the same as many of the church camps in and around Oklahoma.
Missionaries Jerry Savage and Ken Tackett are called on to fill teaching roles all over their region extending as far as a six hour drive from Spearfish. They are spread very thin and need our continued help in so many ways. Please pray for spiritual leaders to rise up in their area.
Building on The Foundation (August 5, 2004)
by Barrett Vanlandingham
When I was a kid growing up on the farm, my friends and I would re-stack square bales of hay in the barn to make a hayhouse to play in. It was great fun. The only problem is that the hay had already been stacked to tie-in with a tightly woven hay foundation; and so, building a hayhouse in the midst of a well stacked barnfull of hay would sometimes result in a hayquake.
In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Paul tells the church at Corinth, "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."
The spiritual application here is solid. Once a perfect foundation is in place, anything built on top of that structure needs to be right in line with what is already there. Any design changes must fit the original blueprint.
We have the perfect church foundation in Jesus. He was not only with God, and in fact was God in the beginning when man was made in His image, but He also created the very tree that was used to crucify Him, and all the materials used to beat Jesus half to death before the crucifixion. Jesus paid the price for us.
This serves as a reminder to each of us as we worship God on the first day of the week, and as we live out our lives: Each thought, each act, each word; everything should be measured against the perfect example of Jesus Christ; everything should be measured against what we haveBiblical authority to do.
Where will the cultural and traditional pressures that too often shape our religion be on judgment day? 1 Cor. 3:19a says, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight."
Mr. Freeze (July 29, 2004)
by Barrett Vanlandingham
You know, there’s just nothing like being shot out of a tunnel in a roller coaster that goes from zero to 71 m.p.h. in about two seconds! Have you ever felt that you were in a situation in which you had no control over the outcome? It can be a pretty helpless feeling. The youth just got back from a trip to Saint Louis where we experienced a wonderful day-long youth rally that consisted of prayer, singing, great messages, concerts, comedy, and an opportunity to respond to God’s invitation. The next day we went to Six Flags. My personal favorite ride: Mr. Freeze. My opening statement only begins to describe that ride. It turns you upside down; shoots you straight up in the air; does a few cork screws and loopity-loops; and then does it all again... BACKWARDS!
1 Corinthians 1:25 says, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."
The reality that we have no control over so many things in life can be frustrating to think about. But it would be an even more frustrating thought to think that we served a God who was no more powerful and wise than we are. How many times have you or someone you know said, "I just can’t handle this situation emotionally." Well, guess what? You don’t have to. Life is tough enough without carrying around a big heavy sack full of emotional garbage. Let go of it, and from this day forward, renew your relationship with God and be a slave of righteousness who serves God wholeheartedly. There will be no worries in heaven; therefore as citizens of heaven, we need not spend our lives worrying over things over which we have no control.
We all have daily choices and consequences attached to those choices. But as long as we make serving God our top priority, we have the same assurances that Paul had as he wrote from prison:
Philippians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I Will Rise Up (July 22, 2004)
by Barrett Vanlandingham
I am so much looking forward to making the trip to Spearfish, South Dakota the first week of August. The theme at Black Hills Bible Camp during Jerry Savage & Ken Tackett’s session is "I Will Rise Up." It will be a record year for numbers with 240 campers and staffers already registered.
The daily lesson titles are as follows:
Monday: Rising to Hear the Call
Tuesday: Rising to Answer the Call
Wednesday: Rising to Maturity
Thursday: Rising to Ministry
Friday: Rising to Missions
Among other responsibilities, Beth Brannon will be teaching Thursday’s theme to a combined girls/ladies class. Glen Elliott will teach the high school and I will teach the middle school plus preach Monday night.
Please pray for our safety during this trip, and for Bible study opportunities to "arise" for all three of us plus Jenna Arnett, Amanda Coombes, Amanda Frost, Josh Huggins, Robby Branscum, and Nick Shaffer of Tahlequah who will also be making the trip with us.
Our mission team is pumped up and ready to go as Glen and his son Kris have now arrived back home safely after a mission trip tp Mexico, and the rest of us have just finished a fantastic week at Burnt Cabin. We had 136 campers, 30 staffers, 11 baptisms, and many lives changed. Please pray that all the young people who attended our camp, other camps, and mission trips will stay strong in the faith, and keep the spiritual camp fire burning for years to come wherever they are.
Acceptable Worship (July 1, 2004)
A Warning for God’s People Today
by Barrett Vanlandingham
In the book of Isaiah 1:1-18 we find a prophecy or vision concerning Judah and its capital Jerusalem. God’s chosen people, Israel, had once again turned away from God. The vision compares them to the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which God burned (Gen. 19:1-29). It was because of the evil ways of the Jewish people living in and around Jerusalem, that Isaiah’s vision says the Lord stopped accepting their worship.
"Stop bringing me meaningless offerings!" (v. 13)
"Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me...;" (v.14)
"When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you." (v. 15)
"...Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." (v. 17)
Sadly, this compares to what we have today. We profess to be Christians; we come to church services, we sing, we pray, we even take the Lord’s Supper; but it’s all a show in too many instances where hearts are filled with sin. Hatred, divisiveness, unforgiving attitudes, mean spiritedness, sins of the mouth, discrediting your Christian brothers and sisters, priorities way out of line, being busybodies, and promoting disunity.
God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Think about your sacrifice to Him. Is it pure? Or is it contaminated just like the rejected worship in Isaiah?
Ask an Elder (June 24, 2004)
Kids need to turn in questions by July 1st!
by Barrett Vanlandingham
Parents, the Bible says the job of an elder in the church is to help guide us spiritually like a shepherd leads sheep. We, as a church, are required by God’s Word to respect and support the elders as they lead us within the framework of the Bible. Christians of all ages and elders need to continually develop this relationship as we look forward to the day Christ returns to take His faithful sheep home. It is scriptural for the older men and women to teach those who are younger.
This summer at Burnt Cabin, there will be "Bonus Group" sessions called "Ask an Elder", "Ask an Elder’s Wife", "The Plan of Salvation", "Life After Camp", and "Service Project." These are in addition to regular classes.
It has rightly been brought to my attention that it would be helpful for those answering the questions if the campers (our kids) would take the time now to write down a question(s) and put them in my hallway box. This will allow the elders, their wives, and others enough time to research if necessary and come up with well thought out and well structured answers to make good use of the limited time we will have.
Parents, if you know of an issue, a life situation, or a scripture that your child has questions about, please urge them to write it down immediately and put it in my box, or send it through e-mail: ftgcoc_barrett@sbcglobal.net. What a great opportunity for kids and elders to have this meaningful interaction in a setting like Burnt Cabin. Please pray that this effort goes well, and that our young people develop a healthy respect for the godly responsibilities of the older generation.
The River of Life (June 10, 2004)
by Barrett Vanlandingham
Every year, somebody drowns in Oklahoma’s lakes and rivers. The causes are carelessness, alcohol, or a host of other reasons.
This weekend, some of our youth are going on a float trip down the Illinois River near Tahlequah. Each young person will be wearing a life preserver even though at first glance, the Illinois doesn’t appear to be dangerous; after all, it’s only a few feet deep, right?
Spiritually speaking, doesn’t this describe our lives? Too often, we don’t take seriously the currents of life only to find out too late that we or someone we love have been swept away in the rushing waters.
It pays to take the necessary precautions to stay afloat spiritually. Psalms 36:7-12 says:
7. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. 9. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
You see, when we refuse to wear the life-saving protection that comes through walking with God, we forfeit the spiritual feasts that can be found only in the light along God’s river of delights.
Whereas, wearing a life preserver is of extreme importance while in uncertain waters, wearing the Spirit of God all the time is of eternal importance. Just like the water that can carry us to our final destination down the river, a proper relationship with God will do the same for us spiritually, with heaven our final destination.