On Sunday we talked about being thankful in Jr. High. We read the story of the 10 lepers from the book of Luke and talked about how/why the one leper came back and thanked Jesus...

Ultimately, the conversation ended with this thought...All of them were probably very thankful, but only one showed it with his actions!

I asked the students how have you shown the people in your life that you are thankful...?

How have you shown God that you are thankful...?

I gave the student a chance to make a simple meal for someone in need, and many of them did...Jordan one of the students shared what she and her family did with the sack meal she made and I wanted to share her story with you! May it encourage and convict you at how much a simple act of love can make a huge difference.

Hey pastor Dan.....I already gave out my sack lunch to a homeless man. He was very happy and thankful. As soon as we drove away we saw him inhaling the sandwich. I feel really good that there is one less hungry person in the world today. My family and I are going to figure out ways we can show people that God loves them too.



Way to go Jordan!

Bottom Line: We are tempted to pursue the right thing the wrong way.

Temptation doesn’t always have to be about doing something bad. In fact, sometimes it’s not the end result that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but how we plan to get there. It’s the shortcut, the path, the compromise. And in this fight, this struggle with temptation, sometimes the punches we throw and the ones thrown at us are simply about pursuing the right things but in the wrong way.

Bottom Line: We are tempted to believe we know how God works and how we think we can work Him.

In the boxing world, sometimes things aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes the winner is known before anyone walks into the ring. Sometimes the outcome is pre-determined by a person who has manipulated things behind the scene. Sometimes a fighter takes a dive. Sometimes a boxer throws the fight. And if each one of us were completely honest, sometimes we try to work things as well in our fight with temptation. And who or what we are manipulating isn’t the temptation, it’s God.

Scripture References: Matthew 4:5-7; Psalm 91:12; Exodus 17:2-3

Question for the week: Are you cooperating with God or are you manipulating him?

Bottom Line: Every time you’re tempted, your confidence in God is at stake, not just your self-control.

When facing temptation, it seems like it’s always about the choice, the decision, the temptation. But it’s always about more than that. It’s not just your reputation or your innocence that’s at stake—it’s your confidence in God. The lure of temptation makes us question whether we can really trust God to come through for us, to be there for us, to provide for us. We begin to think He’s not in our corner, that He’s not looking out for us. But what if we began to see Him there? What if we realized that whatever is luring us away really has nothing to do with what we think it’s about, and there’s a deeper issue, a trust issue, at work? It might completely weaken the pull of that temptation, and it might help us get to the heart of what is really going on.

Scripture References: Matthew 4:1-4; Deuteronomy 8:3, 11-14,17

When you stop trusting, you stop obeying. And when you stop obeying, eventually you stop believing.