Weekly bible talk week 7 What chair are you in?

So two days ago on friday, my friend Andrea invited my other friend Nicole and I to her church for their youth night. At first I was hesitant on wanting to go but my mom said that I was going to go. I got there and I ended up having so much fun! There was a pastor there named Adrian Depres and he was speaking his message about the four chairs. There are four chairs of being a christian. The first chair is the chair you want to be in; the first chair is the best drug you could ever have. Adrian talked about how the when you are in the first chair, you are completely and madly in love with God and how people do crazy things when you are in love. He told us a story about a man he met at a conference about a week ago. The man was a christian and he was from Egypt, the man had gone to Libya to preach the word of God but since the man was a Christian he got put in jail for about 60 days. Each day the man would be beaten twice a day; five big guards would hang him by his arms and beat him. One of the days when he had just about given in and he couldn't take anymore his wife asked him what he wanted to do with all of his things and he told her to give them away to the poor. One of the guards heard this and was moved, so the guard held the other four guards back and told the man to run as fast as he could. So the man went out of there and he later decided to go back to Libya to preach the word of God because people do crazy things when they are in love. Then Adrian went on to talk about the 2nd chair. He said the 2nd chair is going through the motions. The 2nd chair is not really trying to be christian, feeling uncomfortable around the 1st chair people. The 2nd chair people have gotten used to God. To God the 2nd chair is puke; these people are just going through the motions, really unaware that the sins they are doing are seriously hurting Jesus. The second chair people are like cats, they think that they are God; they make up their own rules on christianity. The 1st chair people almost always take notes, the second chair people never take notes. How is it possible for someone to be a christian but never actually act like it? This is a question the people in the third chair ask. The third chair is the most dangerous because this is the seat the devil wants you to be in. This is the chair of hurt, broken, empty, shame. The third chair can and has led to self harm and or death. The people in the 2nd chair lead people in the third chair away because the 3rd chair people see the 2nd chair people doing the same things that they are but yet they call themselves christians. The third chair people are dogs; they think other people are god. Adrian then began to talk about the 4th chair. The 4th chair people are the ones who are not christian. The 4th chair people always know who the 1st chair people are. In the first chair you are being hurt sometimes but it  is all for jesus. What crazy thing have you done for him lately? You can tell if someone believes in hell or not if they share their faith with other people. The first seat is going to suffer but god had a purpose in every little pain that you experience. Lay down your sins, if you do, everything will change! Are you having trouble with your parents? Let me tell you a story, you are not the only one. Lately I have been getting myself into a lot of dumb stuff and I found myself sitting in the third chair and I became very angry with myself but I took it out on my mom. Adrian talked about the reason you are having trouble with your parents is because you are having problems with your relationship with Jesus. I was just going through the motions, I found myself becoming very depressed a lot. There is another option than just going through the motions and death; there is another choice! That choice is the 1st chair.  At church the second chair people act one way but act a completely different way at home or at school. The way you act is very important to show how christians act to people who are not christian or want to be until they see people going against the way Christians should act. If you are going to be you, then you need to be you everywhere. A Broad road can lead to hell and sadly many people are on that road. You can tell someone is a christian by your conviction of your sins. In the end of Adrian's service, he had everyone who was in the 3rd and 4th chairs that wanted to be a christian and wanted to be in the 1st chair stand up and come to the front. My eyes filled up with tears at the sight of how many people came up to the front to give their life to Jesus. Then he had the rest of the people come up to the front and he had all of us lay down on the ground and pray. I laid down on the ground and I burst into tears, repetitively saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, knowing I have been sining. My best friend who was laying next to me and crying too hugged me and I cried more. This is a day that changed my life and a day I will always remember this message and they day that my I found god again. So what chair are you in? Want to be in the first chair but don't know how? Or maybe you are in the 1st chair but you feel like you are slipping out of it. Email me at michaelaw98@gmail.com

Weekly bible talk week 6 perseverance

So this week at church a man named Jeffery, from another church came and lead the service. Jeffery and Pastor Brandon are very good friends and Jeffery's is that pastor at another church and when our church Canyon Creek was first starting 10 years ago, Jeffery seeded in our church. So pastor Brandon had Jeffery come and speak for the service and he talked about how life is a lot like learning to ride a bike. Sometimes you are going to crash and get hurt but it is your choice whether or not to get back up and keep trying; but I can assure you that if you quit now, your going to be quitting every day for the rest of your life. Some of you might be like "What does she mean by that?" that means that if you give up now you are just going to stop trying. Maybe that means with your work if you think it is too hard or your school, maybe you think people are mean and its just too difficult and you just want to give up, but if you give up now you are never going to be able to be motivated enough to get back on that bike and keep riding. As people sometimes we tend to isolate ourselves from other people; we want to be able to do things on our own without other people helping us. We all need to learn that it is alright to accept a little boost, in fact it is important. You are the person riding the bike but god is the one behind you giving you a little boost when you need it and the one in front of you to help you up once you have fallen. If you have something in your life that you feel like you just cant do it anymore it is too hard or you feel as if the peddles are going to fast and your feet are slipping off them, Email me honestly I am here for you I would love to talk to you about it and help you through any problems you might have. My email is Michaelaw98@gmail.com. Life sometimes is not easy but don't give up get back on that bike and keep trying. One of the last things Jeffery said before he ended the service was " who brought you to come to know Jesus?" This almost made me cry because immediately I thought of my mom. I know I can always turn to her if I need a prayer or even if I just need a friend to talk to. My mom is my best friend in the entire world but honestly sometimes I find it hard to bring myself to talk her about certain things (mostly about boys). I don't know why this is because she has always been there for me and she understands because she has been through high school and shes a girl. I realized I have been living my life in fear of what she might say or think and that's not alright I should be valuing my mother's opinion instead of fearing it. I am working on that because I love my mom and I want her to know that and I want to be able to share anything with her and I am getting there. I want you all to think about who first introduced you to Jesus Christ and I want you to email, text, twitter, or facebook message them and just tell them thank you.