Easter Testimony - Hillary Beth

Hillary Beth Koenig

Before I knew Christ, I had no desire to forgive others; after I understood what He had done for me, and I trusted Him, I wanted to follow Him in things like 1 Corinthians 13: "Love keeps no records of wrongs." Also, as I child, I was fascinated with ghost stories, but after I was saved I realized that the supernatural things that God has done - raising Jesus from the dead, changing my life and others' - that was what my heart really longed to know! Those things were the truth and not just myths!

Amazing Love

Amazing Love

By Sarah P.

“Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews,” but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
~John 19:19-22, NLT

Pilate, the one who allowed Jesus to be crucified, wrote the truth. "King of the Jews," was the inscription he chose. That is exactly what Jesus was, and is! He is the Savior, the Redeemer, God's own Son. Pilate seemed to recognize, at least, that Jesus was no ordinary person. It was written just as Jesus Himself had said it, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world." (John 18:37a, NKJV) Even when Jesus was nailed to the cross, suffering the most horrible death possible, this was above His head. It was the truth, and this truth was the exact reason why He was being crucified.

Yet the same people who falsely accused Jesus of evil and blasphemy were angry. They couldn't stand for Jesus to be justly called the King, even as He died. They wanted the inscription to be changed. These people wanted it to be "He said, 'I am the king of the Jews.'" Not wanting to even think about how they had murdered God's Son, these Jewish priests wanted everyone who saw this to assume that Jesus deserved death.

I was thinking about how evil that was, and I know the truth: Jesus died anyway. He died for us even as He was mocked and beaten and lied about. He endured these people's scorn and pride as they tried to take away even the last bit of truth about who He was. One thing my dad likes to say is that it wasn't nails that held Jesus to the cross; it was His love for us. Can you imagine letting people hurt and mock you just because you loved someone that much? What’s even harder to understand is that Jesus not only died for the people who accept Him, He died for everyone: even the people who wouldn't- and won't- accept Him as Savior. Jesus died for everyone; He paid for everyone’s sins, everyone’s pride, and everyone’s failures, even though He was innocent. That's definitely the strongest and most powerful love ever.

As I was thinking about Jesus’s love, I’ve been reading Romans chapter eight. It talks about many things that encourage a Christian: new life in Christ, living like Christ, looking forward to heaven, and the fact that nothing can separate us from God’s love. Verse eleven says this,

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” (NLT)

Although Christ died for us, and the fact of His death should not be ignored, He didn’t stay there. In fact, what happened after He died can be summed up in three simple words:

GOD’S NOT DEAD.

Jesus is not dead. He’s very much alive, even today! And this verse says that the Spirit of God, the One who raised Jesus from the dead, lives inside of Christians! What are you afraid of? Being unpopular? Public speaking? Death itself? It doesn’t matter: Christ defeated it. And He still does, every day. We can have the same Spirit living in us that defeated death. That’s kind of empowering, isn’t it?

“And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.” –Romans 8:17-18, NLT

If you feel invincible now, just remember that Jesus said it wouldn’t be easy. In fact, He tells us directly, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b, NLT) If we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, we still have to go through trials. Jesus isn’t giving us a free pass on life; He’s just telling us that no matter what troubles we go through, He will give us the strength to bear them.

So, what about Pilate? What did he think about Jesus? Pilate told the Jews many times, "I find no fault in Him at all." (See John chapters 18 and 19). Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but he let Him be crucified anyway. Why? Well, He thought the opinion of the majority mattered more than an innocent person's life. Pilate might have lost his job if he refused to let Jesus be crucified. He was afraid; too afraid to do the right thing. You could probably compare anybody who is a Christian (or an unbeliever, for that matter) to Pilate. We all get scared to do the right thing. That holds some of us back. Sometimes I wait too long to do the right thing because I'm scared. I get scared of what people will think of me, and I don't want to make a fool of myself. That shouldn't stop me from doing the right thing. I need to trust that God knows best and do the right thing, no matter what others think. If Jesus had been concerned about what other, more popular people thought, He wouldn’t have died. There would be no grace, no forgiveness, and no demonstration of true love. Aren’t you glad that Jesus loved us enough to die for us, even though it was hard? He followed God and obeyed Him in everything because of His love for the Father and for us.

I guess the closing question is, "What are you going to do?" Are you going to hold back, like Pilate, or give it all, like Jesus? Though Pilate wrote the truth, he was afraid to act on it. Will you choose to live your life fully for Jesus? Or will you let your fears and other people's opinion hold you back? Will you sit on your Christianity and pretend it’s not important, or will you do what you should? Jesus has promised to give us the strength we need to get through our troubles if we depend on Him. The same love that held Him to the cross and raised Him from the dead is living inside of us! This Easter, as you think about Jesus’s death and resurrection, think about His amazing love. He died and rose again: for everyone!

Relationship not Religion

Relationship not Religion 

By Leah F.

My old Sunday School teacher kept saying that Christianity is a "relationship not religion." 
But what does that mean? In most other religions, the followers fear their god, seeing it 
as a hateful figure that wants to destroy them. But according to our Bible, even though 
our God is just, but he is loving and kind. One of the 10 Commandments is remembering
 the Sabbath day, and keep it holy; but what does "keeping it holy" mean? Does it mean 
to make sure not to to any work, like the Pharisees thought? No! It means to praise God 
that day and BE with him! God wants YOU to spend time with him. I was reading articles 
on this subject, and this quote stuck out to me. “The difference between Christianity and 
every other faith in the world is that all other religions are about man trying to reach up to 
God. Christianity is about God reaching down to man.” Do you understand what this is 
saying? It's saying that normally, religion is man trying to make their god happy, trying to 
make it so their god doesn't strike them down dead. But with our religion, God is trying

to get to us. He wants us to feel his love, and he wants us to love him. Pastor Mark 
Driscoll says,
 "Religion is about what man has to DO to be right with God. Christianity is about what 
God has already DONE to provide us the opportunity to be right with Him. Religion says 
you must EARN your salvation by doing good deeds or certain acts and not doing evil. 
Christianity says all we need to do is BELIEVE that Christ has already paid the price for 
the evil we have done. 

 John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son. That whoever believes 
in him; shall not perish, but have eternal life."

This quote and this verse show how God loves us so much, that He shows it. He gave 
up His beloved son, and He let us kill Him. He took away our sins, and now we can live 
with Him for eternity. If He didn't want us with Him, He could just snap His fingers and 
everything would just stop existing. But NO! God wants you to be with Him, and it 
causes Him grief when we forsake or forget Him. He wants you to love Him, so that you 
can be with Him. I hope that after reading this, that you pray to God, and ask Him to help
 you with your relationship with him. Ask Him to help you love Him, and to help others 
love Him as well. 

Websites I used/cited:

http://philippians1v21.wordpress.com/why-believe-in-jesus/why-christianity-is-not-a-religion/

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity-Religion-or-relationship.aspx

What God Says About Anger

What God Says About Anger

By Beatrix C. 

Recently my mother has withdrawn me from my current school and decided 
that I'm to be home schooled.I don't mind that, and I'm actually happy she did.
I wanted to tell everyone, but Mom said to wait. Well, if she didn't think I was
going to at least tell my BFFL (Best Friend For Life), she's crazy. So I told her.

I also had a game coming up - a soccer game, and my team’s first game. 
Well, I wondered if I could at least play that game, so I asked my friend to 
explain to the coach why I wouldn't be at practice anymore, and if I could play 
that one game. And my friend told her not to tell anyone else. Well, she turned
around and told the ENTIRE team! Cat's out of the bag, you could say. She 
also asked my mom about it. So my mom, in turn, got mad at me for telling my 
friend, who told the teacher. That made me mad; I was furious. Coach had 
broken my trust and blew it! So I sent her an angry text on how I didn't 
appreciate the fact that she told the entire team, and that I was going to tell 
them on Friday. The point is that the text I sent was really, really rude. I also 
got my friend in the middle of it. My friend told her mom, and her mom said 
she should apologize to my mom for telling the teacher and that she should 
have just let me tell coach and that she can be blamed. I immediately felt 
awful. I sent her mom an apology text about getting my friend into all of it. She

found what I did understandable because she had done it once or twice. Then 
she sent me a verse. 

James 1:19-21
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to 
listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not
produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth 
and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, 
which can save you.”

That verse really got to me. And lots of guilt slammed on my shoulders. I sent 
Coach another text. This time it was an apology. And that the words that I had 
sent to her were out of anger. I then sent a text to my Mom, apologizing for 
telling my friend, and for not getting her permission first to do so. And everything

was fine between my friend’s and my mothers. Coach hasn't said anything so I 
wonder....The lesson here, girls, is that we should be slow to anger. For when 
we are angry, we often do not have much thought into our next actions. Learn 
from my mistakes. Don't repeat them. They will only make life worse.

Growing in Grace: The Good, The Bad, and The Barbie, By Kate G.

Growing in Grace: The Good, The Bad, and The Barbie, By Kate G.

Short on time today? Head on down to the bottom of the post for a video that condenses some of the things I’m mentioning today.  But otherwise, lets continue on: 

Did you grow up playing with Barbie dolls? You know, those little, perfect figurine-type hunk of plastics…

Barbie’s, simply put, set impossible, unrealistic standards. One of the websites I was looking at said it well: This children’s toy was first debut in 1959, and she was the ideal role model for all girls, or so it seemed. She was perfectly skinny, had a perfect boyfriend and family, perfect hair, perfect house, perfectly… perfect. Yet how was this perfect doll impacting the millions of young girls (older girls, too!) who were playing with her?

This is the clear effects: It’s estimated that 8 million people in the United States has an eating disorder, and only 10-15% of them are male. Which leaves the 85- 90% of them to be female. And 80% of those females are under the age of 20.

How? you ask. Why? Well, besides the point that no real lady (2014 – 1959 = 55) in her fifties should look that young, with perfect skin, not a single blemish at all, it’s important to note that the figurines have horribly wrong proportions!

People argue over whether her life-size body would 5’ 6” or the extreme 6’ 8”, but let’s face it, when you add in her weight- the “Slumber Party Barbie” came complete with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 pounds- she is significantly underweight.

Just look at her: Her larger head rest  on a neck twice as long and six inches thinner. Her 16-inch waist,  thinner than her head, wouldn’t give room for her organs. And like her fragile 3.5 inch wrists, her 6-inch ankles and child shoe-size 3 feet, would prevent her from standing….It'd be an entirely impossible feat requiring her to walk on all fours, her head, as a real woman, would be impossible to lift. (You can see more comparison data here.)

You see, neither normal folk, models, or anorexics can have a body that set at “Barbie Standards”, you wouldn’t even want one. The ones that seem to be, as in media, are photo-shopped and fake!

 You can refer also here to see biblical scriptures on the topic.

And finally, here you are with a question and that video I mentioned: What messages did/does Barbie send to you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c2Mn0TvDbaY

Thank you, Kate for guest writing for us today! Check out Kate's site, Growing in Grace! 
http://www.majesticgoldenrose.weebly.com 

Have a great first week of Spring!

Waiting With Jesus

Waiting with Jesus 

 By Sarah P.

 Patience is not a popular concept. When we’re confronted by anything that causes us to wait, we become angry. We fume. We tap our fingers impatiently. We groan about how we have to suffer through not being able to perform whatever task as soon as we would like. The world does not recognize the value of patience. You can see that in everything from instant messaging to instant microwave pizza. We all seem to have lost the perspective that patience is a virtue.

 As godly young women, what should we do when we’re forced to wait? James 1:2-4 (NKJV) says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” 

Count it all joy. That’s not exactly the easiest response to forced waiting. It definitely seems like waiting is the “testing of our faith,” when we start to become impatient! Yet, with Jesus, we can be patient. We can “count it all joy” and let patience perform its work in our lives. 

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” 

-Galatians 5:22-23, NLT (To see what the work of our sinful natures produces in our lives, check out Galatians 5:19-21. It’s really bad; a direct contrast to the fruit of the Spirit!)

 You see, perfect patience is completely impossible without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. With Jesus, we can always choose patience. Now, do we always? No, we usually choose impatience as the easiest response. Yet through the power of the Spirit, we can overcome the sinful desires of our old selves: even impatience! Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God.” So when you’re forced to wait, remember to choose patience! Choose to count it as joy and wait cheerfully with Jesus.

Fellowship

Fellowship

By Kaitlyn F.

We all go to church just to check it off our to-do list. We go once a week, and we call it good. But what if

church is a place not to just go to but to connect with other Christians in an act of fellowship. Fellowship is a group of people gathering to share a common interest. But God made fellowship to be more than that. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
”We are to encourage each other in our walk with God. Going to school, and hanging with friends, and doing 
homework just drains a person. Church is a place where you can go to fill up with God’s love so that you may pour
out God’s love during the week to people who need it. Church isn’t something that you just do, but something that
 you can use to fill up with God’s love and to fill up with encouragement from your friends.