Spiked Student Ministries

Yeah yeah we know they used to open at 4:00PM. But it seems that since school is out nobody has any reason to come that early to do homework and such and it’s just too hot to play basketball that early on our new, in ground full court hoops. So we’ll be opening up at 5:00PM now instead of a 4:00PM. Spread the word!

Well check it out – it’s Summertime and we are stoked that despite the heat and all the things you could be doin’ – you guys are still hangin’ out with us and checkin’ out Jesus!

Middle School is deep in Dear Galatians! What’s that all about? Well think of it like this…we all like to receive letters. These days they come primarily in an e-mail but in Biblical times, letters were handwritten. The apostle Paul wrote a lot of letters, many of which are included in the Bible. His letters were intended to help the early church sort out what it meant to really follow Jesus. But the Galatians may not have been too excited to get Paul’s letter because Paul was mad. The Galatian church was a mess. People were saying that what Jesus did on the cross wasn’t enough. They were looking around and determining who was in with God, and who was out. So Paul set out to bring some clarity to the situation in the passionate, sound way that only He could. And while this may seem like a great look back in history, we probably have more in common with the Galatians than we would care to admit.

High School is wrapping up the Scarred series learning that Hurt HAPPENS to ALL of us at some time in our lives. We get our physical scars from falling down and goin’ boom – but the hurt stops and we’re only left with a physical reminder. But what about those emotional scars? The things that happen in our lives that affect us deeply on emotional levels? Abuse, ends of friendships, divorcing parents, deaths of loved ones? Well first of all we are not ALONE in experiencing hurt! Then we have to figure out how we handle the hurt – do we hide it and then explode? Do we deny it and try to pretend it never happens? Or do we DEAL with it by recognizing the people God puts into our lives to help us share, relate and figure out that God brought us through it and intends for us to use that for a bigger purpose? What do YOU think? The answer is in the last question!

Hey -it’s smmertime. School is out…you are back from vacation….why not invite a friend this week to come hang out? DO IT!

Many of us are in a serious relationship—with technology. We love it. We need it. It’s a big part of our lives. But some of us could care less. We’re just not that into it. We don’t need to text someone every minute. Some of us don’t even have a Facebook page. (Gasp.) But whether we are totally committed to it, or could easily see our lives without it, we can’t escape the reality that technology exists in our lives. And that’s not always a bad thing. Because technology isn’t evil. But what we do with it, how we use it, says a lot about our relationship with it.

Technology is an integrated part of my life. But don’t judge me, because the truth is, for most of us, it’s a big part of all of our lives. Nothing can throw someone off more than taking away their cell phone for a day, and there’s a reason why people call Blackberries “Crackberries.” It’s what we reach for when we’re bored. We check our phone. We check our computer. We turn on the TV. We turn on the iPod. Technology is always running in the background of our lives, and many of us don’t have a clue how to exist without it.

Each one of you in here has a relationship with technology, whether you’re as addicted to it as I am or not. In some way or another you use it in your world. Some of you have more of a relationship with it than others. Some of you post your every move. I can follow you and know what you had for breakfast, what you watched on TV, who frustrated you, who you love—and quite honestly, it’s a little too much information.

But before I say another word, I need to clarify something. Don’t worry—you can relax. We’re not going to bash technology. I’m not going to tell you to live technology-free. That would be hypocritical. After all, we used technology to download this series. We use technology in this room. I carry a cell phone. I use a computer. I tweet. I text. Technology is everywhere. We can’t escape it. It’s just part of our lives and our world, so the idea is not to get rid of it completely.

But the question is if technology is such a part of our world, how do we relate to it? How do we interact with technology in a way that both acknowledges how important it is to us, but also in a way that doesn’t make it too important?

We can get consumed with technology. We can make this the center of our worlds. We can let this control and feed our every want and desire. We can isolate everyone and everything with one consuming goal—to make this our god. We can use this brick to replace the rightful role of God. We can choose instead to make something else take the place He deserves. And the temptation for us is to put technology in that place.

Ultimately, we have to decide how technology plays into our lives. Now, I’m not advocating downloading only Bible apps or posting videos of Bible characters on some online site. This isn’t about starting an alternative social network or even putting Scripture all over your Facebook page. This is more personal than that. This is different from how you and I relate to one another—I’m saying it matters how you relate to something. This is about how I interact with technology. This is about how you interact with technology. This is about your relationship with technology.

These are the questions we need to be asking ourselves. So what is your relationship with technology? Are you using technology for good or evil? How do you use it? Are you allowing technology to have too much ownership of your time and attention? Have you allowed technology to become your life and in some ways replace God?

Have you ever thought of asking yourself any of those questions? Have you ever evaluated the role you have allowed technology to play in your life? If you haven’t, and you do take the time to evaluate, you may be surprised at what you find. You may depend more on the tools than you ever intended to or ever wanted to.

I want to challenge you to think about a relationship that you probably haven’t even considered. It’s not dating; it’s not family; it’s not friends. It’s simply your relationship with an iPod or a gaming system or a computer or whatever. It’s your relationship with a tool that, if we aren’t careful, takes a priority it wasn’t created to have—it becomes a tower, a monument it should never be.

Because whether you realize it or not, you have established a relationship with it. You take that technology and use it as a tool in your life to connect, to entertain, to escape. Some of you use it as a way to encourage, to vent or to destroy. Some of you are still in the process of figuring out how you relate to it all, but you know you do. The point is to figure it out. What is your relationship with technology?

The Cross: week one
People wear a cross on necklaces, sport one on bumper stickers and even slap on across T-shirts, but what does the cross really stand for? What does it really mean? Over the next two weeks, we will take a look at the cross in a different way, a way that moves beyond gratitude and nostalgia to a way of life. The cross teaches us that we live so we can die, and we die so we can live.

Most of us think of the cross as the place where Jesus died for us. That is true. But it’s also about more than that. The cross isn’t just the place where Jesus died. The cross is the place where we die too. Christianity is not just about an event that happened thousands of years ago. It’s about being a consistant follower of Jesus. This week students will discover the ongoing, sacrificial life Jesus called His disciples to lead—a life characterized by the cross.

THE CROSS (1): LIVE TO DIE

Bottom Line: The cross isn’t just where Jesus died. It is where we come to die with Him.
Scripture References: Isaiah 9:6-7, 53:3-11; Mark 8:31-38; John 6:66

1. What did you think of the talk this week? What did you hear the speaker say?
2. What do you typically think about when you think about the cross? What images come to mind? How do you feel?
3. How did the speaker challenge you to think about the cross in a new way?
4. Read Mark 8:34-37. What do you think Jesus meant when He said, “take up your cross and follow me”?
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

5. In John 6:66, we learn that many of Jesus followers stopped following Him after He gave this proclamation. Why?
6. What would it look like for you personally, in your own everyday life, to take up your cross?
7. What is it about your life that you might need to lose in order to really have a full life with Christ?

CLOSING CHALLENGE:
So, if the cross is the place we come to die with Christ, what is it you need to die to? What is it in your life that consumes your thoughts? What do you long to control? Chances are if you spend some time alone this week, you will begin to see one area of your life that you need to “die to.” You will notice something that you should surrender. Use this week to reflect on this. Next week, come with that one thing in mind.

XP3
THE CROSS (2): DIE TO LIVE

Bottom Line: The cross isn’t just where we come to die. The cross is where we come to live.
Scripture References: John 10:10; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27; Romans 6:9-11; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

Life–what an amazing thing! Your goal this week is to paint a BIG picture. This week is all about the incredible wonder of living a life surrendered to God. Be careful not to let it become cliché or works-driven. Let their imagination run wild. You might even share a story from your own life or the life of someone you know who has been a part of something exciting because of his or her decision to surrender to an exciting, creative, and amazing God.

1. What did you think of the talk this week? What did you hear the speaker say? (You may also want to open with a question about what they thought about the XP. How did it feel to lay their note cards on the cross?)

2. Is deciding to “die” to something a one time thing or is it a process? Why?
3. The speaker mentioned being afraid of a “lame life.” What do you think he/she meant by that?
4. What is the checklist for your life? How do you expect your life to turn out?
5. Have you ever known anyone who followed God’s lead and went in a different direction than the path they were on (or were expected to take)?

6. Read Galatians 2:20. What does it mean?
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NLT).

7. Part of living a full life is opening yourself up to experience the things God nudges you to experience. Have you ever felt like God was asking you to do something?

8. If you could live outside the expectations (from yourself, others, and our culture) laid out for you, what might God be able to do through you?

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” –Abraham Lincoln

Dear Parents,

I would like to thank you for your continued support of our Spiked Middle School Ministry.  It has been a blessing to each of us who are group leaders to deepen our relationship with your student in a loving and caring environment, which is designed to help build a foundation for a life long relationship with our Creator.  As always, I encourage your feedback, questions, comments and concerns related to how we are doing in this endeavor.

I’d like to take this opportunity to let you know about a change in the process by which we check your student in and out of the Spiked Room.  We have relocated the Spiked Desk to the upstairs balcony area.  We ask that you or the person responsible for your student accompany your student to the check in desk.  Similarly, we ask for the responsible party to return to the Spiked Room to check the student out once the worship service in the auditorium is concluded.

There are two essential reasons for this more structured process.  First, it is very helpful to us as group leaders to to meet and associate parents/guardians with students. Second, this is an enhanced safety measure that ensures a more deliberate process for reconnecting you with your child at the end of the services.

We look forward to working together to help every student Encounter God and Engage in Community!

Please contact me with any questions you may have.  We look forward to seeing you soon.

Earl W. Tye
Parent Support Coordinator
earl.tye@newhorizonchurch.tv

Everyone makes stupid choices—even smart people. Why? Because we’ve all had moments when we know the right thing to do, we have the right information, and we ignore it. We know we should order the fruit cup, but we order the mega-size fries. We know we should not spend all our money on that one shirt, but we do it anyway. We know we should avoid that one relationship, but we just keep coming back because it’s comfortable. So there has to be something more to it than just knowing the right thing to do. It’s not just about knowing the right choice, it’s about actually taking that first step. It’s the difference between knowing the right choice and trusting that the choice will lead you to a better path. It’s the difference between information and submission.

Today, we are going to look at a passage of Scripture written by Solomon that wrestles with this tension. When Solomon was about 17 or 18 years old, or maybe as old as 20, he became the king of the nation of Israel. His father had died and all of a sudden Solomon was in charge, not just of a family, not just of a couple of his little brothers and sisters—which would be enough responsibility to freak most people out at his age—but of an entire nation.

B. One night shortly after Solomon had been made king, God communicated to him in a dream and said: “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (1 Kings 3:5 NIV). Did you hear that? Ask for whatever you want. It’s like God just became Santa Claus and Solomon can ask for anything in the whole world and it will happen. “God, I want a PS3.” Done. “God, I want all the women to want me.” Done. “God, I want a brand new Viper with spinners.” Done. God flings the door wide open and says, “Solomon, just tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”

So with a world of possibilities in front of him, Solomon answers God with his request. Solomon says, “God, I am so overwhelmed with the burden of ruling this nation. I am so overwhelmed because I am so young and I’ve got this vast kingdom. I’ve got to make a lot of decisions about things that I don’t know anything about. I’ll tell you what I want: I want wisdom, and I want discernment. I want understanding. I want to be able to have good judgment. I want to be able to sit with people older than me and interact with them and make decisions that are way beyond my years.”

Wow. I bet that was exactly what you were thinking you would ask God if He were to present you with such an offer. I mean, you’ve asked for some help passing a test before, so there’s no denying that wisdom and judgment can come in handy. But for Solomon, wisdom was the greatest desire of his heart. It was the one thing he knew he needed. And the Bible tells us that God was pleased with Solomon’s request. Listen to God’s response:

“So God said to him, ‘Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life’” (1 Kings 3:11-14 NIV).

He was the one person in the world who could have said that and then made decisions based on his own discernment and judgment. But in Proverbs, Solomon talks to his sons, giving them instructions and telling them all his secrets. He wants to tell them how they can know which path to take when they come to a crossroads. He wants to give them the key to successful decision making, and here it is: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5 NIV).

Trust in the LORD with all your heart. That is, trust in the Lord in every arena of life, in every possible path. Trust—lean hard into—not information, not insight, not even facts and information about God, but lean hard into God Himself because the answer to life is not information and insight. It is in the person of God who has invited and commanded us to lean hard into Him.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and shun evil” (Proverbs 3:7 NIV).

The story of Solomon reminds us that it’s not enough to be smart or to have lots of information. We need God. I need God and you need God. You need an attitude of dependence. You need to acknowledge Him in every single one of your ways. Then, when you do, God says, “I will make the path clear.”

C. So here’s my question: Has there ever been a time in your life when you acknowledged God in all of your ways? If you’re a Christian, you’ve acknowledged God when it comes to your salvation. And that’s good. But how much control do you really have over what happens to you when you die? That would be zero. There is nothing you can do about it. So essentially, you have taken an area where you have no control and said, “God, I want to trust You for my salvation.” And God’s happy for you. But I also think He’s got to be up there thinking, “And your other options would be what?” And you’re thinking, “Well, there aren’t any. So I just want to give You control of my eternity.” We do that all the time. That’s not the kind of surrender we have been talking about today.

The kind of surrender we have been talking about means turning to God and leaning into Him in the areas where you do have control and expertise. This is about leaning into God in the areas where you feel pretty smart and where you have experience and where you’re something of an authority. It means acknowledging God in all the areas of your life because you realize that when you begin to trust in your own judgment, when you refuse to acknowledge God, eventually your pride will override even the wisdom and experience God has given you.

D. Have you ever surrendered to God the things that you think you control? This is where Christianity gets real and practical. This is where there is a different kind of tension. This is when you go to bed at night saying, “I can’t believe I did that, but God, that’s what You asked me to do.” This is when you begin to live like you are in a free fall, totally out of control, and God says, “I love that because you are going to experience Me in a way that you’ve never experienced Me before. Now, you are leaning totally on Me, and where I go, you go. And that’s where I want you to live your life.”

Have you ever acknowledged Him with your future? Have you ever prayed something like, “Hey, God, here is what I want to do, but more than my will, I really want You”? If you don’t acknowledge God with your future, eventually, by leaning on your own understanding, you may unknowingly or even knowingly choose a path that takes you where you don’t want to go. If you do, your heavenly Father won’t be angry and hunt you down to punish you. He’s a heavenly Father and He loves you. He will be brokenhearted, and He will meet you there on that day when you have three options and they are all bad. He’ll be there for you, but He sure wants you to avoid that day by making the decision now to simply acknowledge Him in all your ways—both where you know a lot and where you know nothing. Where your friends and parents and teachers think you’re wise, and also where you know that you are absolutely a fool.

Application
When warning signs come up in our lives, when we see danger ahead, we have to make a decision. We either choose to act as a wise person or as a simple person. And once we choose, there are two different outcomes. The result of being prudent is that you look like a fool. You didn’t see that coming? It’s true. Prudent people act like the future is now. They don’t wait until they are at the wall. They stop a few miles ahead. They don’t wait until the brink of disaster. They make changes before they get there. They may look a little foolish to the rest of the world, but they avoid pain. They avoid suffering and unnecessary problems.

And the writer of Proverbs tells us specifically what the outcome is for the simple. Four words—they suffer for it. Because they saw the warning signs and kept going, they suffer. Suffering people often want to blame God. But God works on basic principles. If you jump off a building, you hit the concrete. Don’t blame God. It’s the principle of gravity.

Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that all suffering happens because of poor choices. I’m not talking about hungry children in Kenya or victims of abuse or natural disaster. I’m not trying to put judgment on all homeless people. I’m talking to you about your life. You know when you are suffering because of a poor decision. You know if you saw warning signs and kept going.

The problem with not changing direction as soon as you see the warning signs is that there are points when life begins to unravel and you are left with only bad options. Whether it’s school, dating relationships, party habits, whatever it might be, there are points at which all of your options are bad. You think back to last semester or last year and remember when you had better options. If you could back up, you could have gotten off the path with very few consequences. But there is a point on the path when the stakes go up. If you continue down certain roads, you will run out of good options. You will suffer harm.

You know what? It’s your own fault. God doesn’t love you less. God couldn’t love you more. But the frustration and the pain and the consequences are all because you violated a principle.

We end up where the path leads. I know it may not be your intention. It might not be your hope or your dream, but your path determines your destination. Once you realize you’re addicted, that’s not the time to think, “Hey, I need to be more disciplined.” The opportunity to be more disciplined is gone. You’re an addict. You’ve gone so far down the road, ignoring all the signs, that now none of your options are good. But there was a time where you had good options and people said to you, “You know, I think you are drinking too much. I think you are spending too much time on the Internet. I think you are spending too much time with her.” And you didn’t disagree with them. You just didn’t change. And now you are suffering for it.

You know, the area that this is probably most important for you is in the area of relationships. If you could begin to look at your relationships through the lens of this principle, it could radically change what’s going on around you.

Here’s a good way to begin to apply this principle to your relationships. Never evaluate a relationship based on where it is now. Always evaluate a relationship based on where it’s headed. All relationships move. They are getting better or worse. They are getting stronger or weaker. Are you headed in the direction of a stronger relationship with your mom? With your dad? Are you headed in a positive direction in your friendships? Is your relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend moving you in a good direction for the future?

If you decide to get serious about this principle, there are four words I’d like for you to write down. These aren’t steps. They are experiences along the way. The first one is ACTION. You have to do something. You have to end that relationship. You have to make that phone call. You have to get rid of your DSL. I don’t know what it is for you, but I do know it’s an action that will change the direction you are headed. The prudent see danger and they don’t only pray, and they don’t just think about it, and they don’t sing a worship song. When they see danger, they take refuge, they take action. You have to do more than just feel bad about your situation and feel close to God because you had a religious experience with Him.

The second word is SACRIFICE. This principle requires sacrifice. You have to give something up, and we are not good at that. That’s just the culture we live in. The idea of sacrifice is so different. It is so uncomfortable. But if you apply this principle, you are going to have to sacrifice something. You may have to sacrifice your reputation. You may have to sacrifice your lifestyle. You may have to sacrifice a friendship. You may have to sacrifice a romance. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I do know this—when you see warning signs, you need to act. Those actions almost always require a sacrifice, and that’s why we don’t do it. That’s why we go home to our same lifestyles or same habits or same relationships and say, “You know what, he’s probably right, but changing would just be so complicated.”

The third word is the word EMBARRASSMENT. This is an embarrassing thing to do because the people who know you are going to look at what you do. And they are going to think about you and the decisions you make based on what they see right now. But if you are taking this principle seriously, you are acting like then is now. You’ve decided, “I’m not going to respond to today; I am going to be prudent. I am going to respond to tomorrow. I’m going to respond to the day after tomorrow.” This means you’re going to make some decisions that your friends will not understand. You’re going to make decisions that even the smart people around you may not understand. You’re going to have to make decisions that you could never explain fully because they are so personal in nature. People will not understand your decisions and there may be an element of embarrassment.

The fourth word is RELIEF. This is the good news. One day you will breathe a sigh of relief. You may look back to this day as the day that you got off a path that was going to lead to destruction in some area of your life. A year from now, two years from now, three years from now, you’ll look back and breathe a sigh of relief, and you’ll say, “What if I hadn’t acted? What if I hadn’t made the decision? What if I hadn’t ended the relationship? What if I hadn’t confronted him? What if I hadn’t quit the team?” You’ll breathe a sigh of relief. Action, sacrifice, and there may be some embarrassment, but one day you’ll breathe a sigh of relief.

LANDING
I don’t want to waste my life. I don’t want to waste a year. I don’t want to waste a day. I don’t ever want to get to a place where all of the options are bad because I stayed on a path too long or because I saw the warning signs and refused to turn around. I want to get to the end of my life and breathe a sigh of relief. Not because I did the popular thing, but because when I saw trouble coming, I took refuge.

B. So let me ask you this: Are you on some paths that you need to get off? There’s still time. No matter how far you go down a path, you can change your direction. You may have to deal with the fallout from some of the choices you’ve made up until now, but you can heed the warning signs and head down a different path.

C. The temptation will be to think about all this now, or maybe the rest of today, or maybe even through the week, but then when you think about the sacrifice of making the change you will decide to just keep going. And even if you come back next week, and the next, and you go to summer camp, but you keep going on the path you’re on, you will suffer harm. There may be a day you would do anything to come back to this day and act on what you knew you needed to do.

D. Don’t waste another minute on a path that leads you somewhere you don’t want to go. Whether it’s in the realm of entertainment, or a relationship with alcohol, or your relationship with other substances, or your academic pursuit or whatever it might be, don’t waste another moment. Because your heavenly Father who loves you has put enough warnings in the middle of that road to show you the danger that is coming. Now it’s up to you to do something about it. The prudent see danger and take refuge. The simple, the naive, keep going and suffer for it.

You can’t get to the south beach by driving north, and you can’t get to the top of the mountain if you are walking down it. Why? It’s because our direction always determines our destination. While we all know this basic rule for navigating the roads we drive, we sometimes forget how the same rule is true in our lives. You can’t lose weight by shoving down quarter pounders and watching five hours of TV. You can’t have deep relationships by ignoring the living, breathing people around you. You can’t grow closer to God by shutting Him out of your everyday life or failing to make the effort to know more about Him. So what is the destination you desire for your life? Are you even on the right path to get there?

Our actions are a path leading us to a certain destination. Chances are you have already thought about this in relation to your students. You see the path they are on and you know exactly where they are headed. This week is your chance to address some of these dangers in a general way. Work with your students to explore the principle of the path in their own lives. Try to lead them to come to their own conclusions about the choices they are making. The lesson will be more effective if they can come to that realization on their own. If you think a student is making poor choices, and honestly doesn’t see the danger ahead, next week will be a good segue for you to begin one-on-one conversations with that student about the warning signs in his or her path.
Have you ever been completely lost? What happened and how did you feel?
The “Path Principle” says that your direction determines your destination. What does that mean?
What is the problem with thinking that good intentions will lead you where you want to go?
How would your choices be different if you looked at them as paths rather than just choices?
Think about the following areas of your life. If you could look ten years down the road, where would you want to be? What choices will help you get there? (Hand out the Desired Destination sheets.)

a. Relationship with God
My Desired Destination:
Choices to put me on the right path:

b. Relationship with friends / significant other
My Desired Destination:
Choices to put me on the right path:

c. Relationship with parents and siblings
My Desired Destination:
Choices to put me on the right path:

7. Are you currently making the choices you need to make in order to be on the path that will ultimately lead you to the destination you desire?

8. How can friends, parents, teachers and small group leaders help us see the path we are on? Why is that important?

ATTN:Spiked Peoples!!!!!! This is Wes, the crew and I are bout to pull out of the church to head to unleash. For those who don’t what that is, check out this site http://www.unleash.cc/ trust me it is amazing. also stay up to date by following the blog and facebook. Also you can follow some NHC peeps on twitter.

Spiked PEEPS!!!! What is up? This weekend is the food drop, hope everyone is gonna serve bc we got something cool. We gonna be having a lock-in, starts friday at 7- We will be doing tons of stuff but also will be prepping stuff for the food drop so if u wanna come to the lock-in, you WILL be serving Saturday Awesomeness i know.

M25 food drop