Halloweenie

Galatians 5:24-25
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Let's say that one day you noticed that your friend's gigantic dog is not kept on a chain or inside a fenced area. "You let your dog run around loose?" you ask your friend. "Naw," your friend answers. "We've got an invisible fence." You roll your eyes. "Yeah, right. "Your imaginary friend installed it, right?" "No, I'm serious," your friend says. "There's an electric wire buried under the ground. Brutus wears a collar that gives him a little shock if he gets too close to the wire." "Really?" you say. Your friend nods. "He hasn't gone anywhere near the wire since the first time he got shocked." "Wow," you say. "That's a pretty smart dog." "He just stays away from stuff he knows is going to hurt him, that's all." Actually, you've probably heard of invisible fences. You may even use one to keep your pets in your yard. As a matter of fact, you have something like an invisible fence that's designed to keep you away from stuff that's going to hurt you, too. It's called self-control, which we learned a lot about earlier this month. But did you know that self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit, too? Suppose you're tempted to lose your temper because your little brother used your favorite baseball cap to protect his head from the orange and purple paint he used to paint his clubhouse. If the Holy Spirit controls your life, you'll probably feel a surge of strength in your spirit, helping you not to do it. Or say you find yourself alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend, and your heart starts racing and you feel more in love than ever before and you want to do some things you know your parents would freak over. If you're controlled by God's Spirit, you'll have a fighting chance to say no to temptation and find somewhere else to be and something else to do. The Holy Spirit already lives in you if you're a Christian. But you still need to submit to his control every day. One way to do that is by beginning each day with prayer and worship and Bible reading. Then, as the Holy Spirit controls your life, he will reproduce his own nature in you, and you'll begin to see his fruit or characteristics in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

REFLECT: Do you think the Spirit produces his fruit in our lives in order, one at a time? Or do you think he produces the fruit of the Spirit all at the same time? Is he producing fruit in your life? If so, how? If not, why not?

PRAY: Express your thanks to God for this promise from Jesus: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

I think having an image of this could really help us to keep our self control when we go and do stupid things out there. Everytime we do something stupid, it's like hammering in another nail unto Jesus on the cross, for no valid supported reason.

All the sins that we have, he took it and held it upon against himself. Sinning again afterwards is pretty much the same thing as taking another nail and drilling it into him for some pathetic excuse. Those excuses could be something that we use a lot in the praise team, and even in other aspects of our life. I've noticed that as I get older, it's much harder to motivate myself and my love for God. I think it's a very instinctive motion for us to lose faith as we "mature" on Earth, because of all this exposure to more and more opposing opinions. It's sort of like having ourselves be immune to this electric fence that's actually protecting the outside from coming in, rather than the other way around.

God put up these fences for our safety of things coming in, rather than other's safety of us getting out. So before we try to be some dumb punk and rebel against God, trying to get on some level of high and mighty, we should keep in mind that the fence wasn't made for us to trap us, but rather to protect us.

That being said, did anybody go trick or treating tonight?

Just stayed home and watched movies.. :/

I really like this. I like it because after i read it i could recall times when ive rejected temptation. AFter read ing this it makes me want to fight off temptations. When ive been in times when i wanna do something but i know that its wrong, i sometimes can imagine what would happen later and than can decide and etc...

25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives
We are driven by the holy spirit and the spirit should lead our lives. When we are tempted, we should let the spirit help us fight it off and think of the waaay future instead of the short joy.

all i got gnitee

God is always watching us 24/7. every single oe his creations, he looks after as hard as it may seem. i really liked the example of an invisible fence because when i read it, i right away knew that the invisible fence isnt meant to hurt the dog, but to protect the dog from any danger outside of the fence. God knows what you are doing and has a plan set out for you. but of course we are human beings and we can completely make a mistake and get off track the path God has set out for us. but even if we get completely off course, God will set us back into the path with his power and love for us. wherever we go, there will always be an invisible fence set up by God so that it will protect us from taking the wrong move. of course it may hurt trying to get out of the invisible fence but we will eventually decide to stay within the fence sooner or later. of course he isnt trying to cage us into our comfort zone, but he is protecting us from the outside. all the evil things like the devil. an example would be this specific day...you guys all probably know that halloween isnt a good holiday at all...it is quite a bad day and goes against Christian beliefs of worshipping the Lord because it is the day when you worship the Devil. our church opened up a hallelujah night specifically on this day to protect everyone from celebrating this day the wrong way, but still allowing everyone to enjoy the key thing about halloween: candy. so there are always alternatives to staying within the invisible fence but still getting a taste of the good that comes out of the bad things beyond.

I remember someone sharing with us, how when he was younger, he would be tempted to steal candy from the local convenience store.
But he never did get to it, as he saw that there were cameras and it wasn't worth the risk, especially if he were to get caught by his mom.
In fear of the punishment, that person had self-control, but never is someone born with that incentive.
That invisible fence restricts us, much like the commandments and the laws.
After growing with Christ, the mentality as grown as well, allowing myself to have self-control, not just because of the punishment, but the ability to see things from God's perspective.
From what is wrong, to what's right, the fruits of the spirit just follow as an outcome.

Over some time, we've been cover various aspects of being a God-like person, including virtues like patience and gentleness and love, but I think this devo wraps them up. Though we work in little steps, there is no one virtue that we should be focusing ALL of our attention on. It's like having a computer with the best video card but a crappy processor, we have to upgrade all facets of our lives. We should all aim to be more like Jesus. Conversely, when we aim for holiness, then Jesus also grows inside us. It's a walk with God, not a follow the leader kinda thing, nor a leading thing. We walk with him simultaneously and when we start to stumble, he'll slow down and help us back up. So work towards improving all the aspects and little things in your life because that is what will eventually lead you to becoming a Christlike person.

I feel like we have two invisible fences.
I suppose if there was a metaphor for it, it'd be like having a thin wire string border as the first fence we'd come in contact with, which would be our self-control.
And a second, electrified fence being God.

Not that he punishes us harshly if we, even remotely, get close to sinning but that self control is something everyone has to a certain degree.
Everyone knows what they should and should not do.
But we also have the hands of God to stop us when we're struggling with sin too much. Like, a friend, parent or maybe even your small group teacher telling you you should stop what you're doing, Or maybe he'll push you in a different direction by putting obstacles in front of you.

Whatever it is, we have that extra boundary that keeps us in check.
Appreciate it!

The holy spirit is always with us 24/7. It pushes us away from evil and leads us to good.
We make bad choices when we have chosen what god has sugested for you. We eventually realsise this and regret that poor choice. Our faith is constantly being tested. As we start to realize and stop to listen to what god wants, we start to take little steps in our life of faith. We can learn and grow even from our mistakes....god uses everything for the better. The thing is that you must choose what you are going to make of it.

~Audrey~

will do tomorrow! Huge geo assignment due tomorrow!

i dont think that the fruit of the Spirit are given to us orderly... just as we experience different things... there are going to be times when we learn each fruit of the Spirit.
So far... The Spirit has continually producing fruit in me and in all of us.
I personally dont think that the fruit of the Spirit are the specific ones we talked about in childrens ministry... i think it is all the characteristics we obtain during life that are related to the Spirit.
We all have produced the fruit of serving and leading others into worship.
Its a blessing to see all of you worship and i hope that we all can produce more fruits and use it for God glory

our invisible fence is our self control
Hm I like that.
I believe the shock that the dog experiences when passing the fence is an analogy for us having that conscience
Not necessarily a conscience, but the holy spirit, influencing our decisions
That is the still small voice of God.
Whether we choose to listen to it or not, is our self control, our fence.
God's there to help us, sometimes to stop us, but God gives us that freedom of choice.