If you couldn’t make it to The Odyssey, but still want to read the journals, then here is your chance. Here for your enjoyment and edification… The Odyssey journals.

Intro:

odyssey:

noun ( pl. -seys)

a long and eventful or adventurous journey

I want to welcome you to the Odyssey 09 a C3y summer adventure! I don’t know if you are familiar with the original “Odyssey” written by the Greek poet Homer. In Homer’s “Odyssey” he writes about the long adventurous journey of Odysseus trying to sail home from the ten year long Trojan war. Odysseus’s journey takes him through storms, trials, and temptations that result in him being gone for another ten years before he returns home. Along his way he has to fight mythical creatures, he is seduced by a witch, escapes from the clutches of giant cannibals, and tries to win favor from the Greek gods.

After Odysseus set off from Troy with his twelve ships one of his first trials was in the land of the lethargic lotus eaters. The lotus eaters’ primary food was the lotus flower which caused them to fall into a deep apathy.  As Odysseus and his men ate the flowers they lost all meaning and purpose in their lives. It would take being captured by a man-eating cyclops to bring them out of their drugged state.

Once they had escaped from the cyclops they landed on the island of the witch-goddess Circe. Circe turned Odysseus’s men into pigs and seduced Odysseus for a period of one year. Odysseus convinced Circe to change his men back into human form. It was his men that finally convinced Odysseus to leave Circe. After leaving Circe they set sail only to encounter the Sirens.

The Sirens were bird women that sang a song that was so enticing it would cause men to steer their ships into the ocean cliffs and into their own destruction. The Sirens were certainly not the end of the obstacles that Odysseus would encounter.

The greatest obstacle that he faced was Poseidon, the god of the sea. Poseidon would eventually drown all of Odysseus’s men using storms and whirlpools. Odysseus was never able to win the favor of Poseidon.

Like Odysseus you and I are on an Odyssey of our own. We are on a journey homeward. The Bible says that we are “strangers and sojourners” here on Earth, that those of us who call on the name of Jesus Christ have been reconciled to God, and that our citizenship is in heaven.

Along this journey we will face many trials. We may not land on an island full of lotus eaters, but we certainly can be misdirected into apathy. Whether it’s through media, consumerism, drugs, alcohol, etc. the result of giving ourselves over to these things will make us lose sight of our purpose and of the journey we are on.

There will be storms and whirlpools that try to drown us. There will be things that seem so enticing we don’t even realize that they will ultimately shipwreck our lives. Our circumstance is far different than that of Odysseus. In Christ Jesus we have God’s favor upon our lives. Jesus gave us these comforting words, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.

It is my prayer that over the course of this week together you will be strengthened in your faith in God and that you will be better equipped for the journey ahead!

Journal Entry #1

What is Faith? Written by Joe Young

When you first hear the word faith what do you think of? Is it something people have to overcome doubts? Is it a way to look at reality? Does faith begin where reason ends? However, the question really is: what is faith exactly?

In movies and television faith is consistently portrayed as something religious people do. Some of my friends talk about faith as some sort of odd and other worldly way to respond to reality. “Faith picks up where reason leaves off,” is one comment I’ve heard repeatedly. We don’t want to be weird do we? I know I don’t want to be one of those people who are holding up a sign on a corner telling everyone they are going to hell. Neither do I want to be a person who cannot hold a discussion about God in relation to any topic because they rely solely on this wrong idea of what “faith” is.

Is this what it all comes down to? Is faith really something we do when we have nowhere else to turn? We are told that we just need to have faith and that if we have enough of it then all of our problems will be solved. But what does God really have to say about faith? The answer may surprise you.

The writer of Hebrews says “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). What is the writer trying to say here? To our modern ears this sounds like he is saying faith is hoping for things we don’t see.  We have to remember that most of the New Testament was written in Greek and sometimes their words do not translate well into English.

I will give you the Joe Young translation of the text and hope to break it down for you. The word faith used here is the same Greek word used in 17:31 which is translated as proof. I think the best way to think of it is as a deeply held conviction. So to lay this verse out directly then, faith is the foundation of what God will do and the conviction of what we have not experienced yet.

So first we have to know our subject. We have to actually know what we are having faith in. The more we learn about the subject the more faith we can have in it.  Secondly we have to be willing to submit to that knowledge. And lastly we have to have trust in that knowledge.

If I tell you I will give you a piggy back ride across the sidewalk you may think “Oh, OK, no sweat” however if I give you the same length of piggy back ride, only this time it’s across a tight rope 100 feet up you may be having second thoughts. But why? You know full well that I have never walked a tight rope in my life. And I would probably trip and have us fall to our deaths. Did you catch that? You KNOW I have never walked a tight rope. You have no reason to have faith in me! This works the same with God. He has worked in history through miracles and by speaking through prophets. The supreme example of God’s work in history is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God has demonstrated who He is and has displayed His power for all to see. He is the source of justice, morality, love, meaning, logic, purpose, and hope. But the question is are we willing to truly accept the knowledge of what God has done for us and trust even our very lives with Him?

Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

1. What do you know about God? Do you really believe and trust in what you know about Him? Or do you feel like it’s just a bunch of fairy tales?

2. C.S. Lewis wrote “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  What is Lewis saying here?

3. Little by little we are morphing into something.  Moment by moment we make choices to act in certain ways. What are you doing daily to become more like Christ?

4. Or maybe you don’t do anything. What could you be doing to become more like him?

Journal Entry #2

Faith is…   Knowing God By Dave Johnson

“Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” Genesis 5:22-24

I took a deep breath and thought to myself, “Why am I doing this?” Looking out over the edge of the 160-foot cliff my heart pounded because I was getting ready to step off into the void! At the time I had never rappelled off of anything higher than 50 feet and I had also never set my own anchors before. Prior to coming out to Joshua Tree I practiced all my knots, read everything I could on the way to properly set anchors, and had felt entirely prepared… until the moment right before I actually took the plunge. It was the moment of truth. My youth leaders were down on the desert floor below filming. This was going to be the best Manhunt opener yet.

I scanned back over the three anchors I had set. “There is something crazy about trusting your life to a piece of metal smaller than your pinky,” I thought to myself. I again went over the fact that each one of these anchors should hold 22 kilonewtons, which would be the equivalent of me dropping my truck off of the cliff. I looked at my knots and knew that I had properly tied them. I had checked the rope for any imperfections before tossing it over the side. I had also made sure that my harness was in proper shape. My heart pounding, I took one last deep breath and leapt!

I would have never stepped off of the edge of that cliff without knowing that I had properly set the anchors and that my gear was in good order. It would have meant my death if I had gone ill-prepared while just believing that I was doing the right thing. Can you imagine if I had improperly tied my knots or set the anchor backwards? At my funeral people would have said, “Nice guy, but a total idiot!”

There are two basic meanings for the word faith (pisteu/w pisteuo) in the New Testament. The first is the verb form, which means to accept a statement as true. An example of this is Matthew 8:13 “Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.’ And his servant was healed at that very hour.”  Another example is in Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” In order to be saved we must accept certain things as true.  The second meaning of the word faith is personal trust in someone. John gives us an example of this in his gospel when he writes, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12.

The faith of many Christians includes only the first meaning of the word. They have accepted the truth that Jesus died for them, but they fail to actively put their trust in Him.  Although we face an unknown future we can put our trust in God based on His past faithfulness. So how do we know God in the past when we weren’t there? We read His Word. He is unchanging; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you now as you read His word. Read James 2:14-22

1. What is James saying in this passage?

2. Why was Abraham considered righteous and a “friend of God”?

3. If our actions show our faith what does your life look like?

4. Do you want to be a “friend of God”? Why or why not?

Read Psalm 119:9-11

5. How can we keep ourselves “pure”?

Read John 15:13-15

6. How can you become a “friend of God”?

7. Take some time and pray.

Journal Entry #3

Waiting By Megan Shores

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to wait? We spend a large amount of our lives waiting. We wait for food, our turn, our mail, our friends, our family, etc. Our world is a world where patience is not a very esteemed virtue. We seek instant gratification; the meeting of our needs is what is important to us most of the time. This impatience more often than not extends into our spiritual life. We rush through our quiet times wanting to meet God; do we ever give Him a chance to speak to us? We want to obey God and trust that He will take care of us, but do we give Him the chance to move in our lives? In Isaiah 30:18 it says “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him.” God is speaking to Israel because, rather than seeking God and waiting for Him to reveal His plan to them, they went out and devised their own plans to see to their care and protection. Now they will have “…only shame and disgrace….” Isaiah 30:5. God desires to be compassionate and gracious in our lives and He wants those lives to be abundant and overflowing with blessings. Most of the time we are like Israel and make our own plans because we just don’t feel God is moving fast enough or because we don’t take the time to seek Him. This is where we make a vital mistake: rather than receiving the abundance that only God can provide we settle for the inadequate cravings of man. Psalm 130:5 says, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits and in his word I put my hope.” Our hope is in God and it is in Him (and only Him) that we will find strength and satisfaction. Only when we seek God and follow His ways are we promised His blessings.

Read Romans 10:12.

1. What does it say about all who call on the Lord?

2. Do you seek God out in the decisions that you make? If not what do you think is keeping you from doing so?

Read Psalm 1:1-3.

3. What does it say will happen if we meditate on the Law? How often are we to meditate on the Law?

4. We know that God promises blessings to those who follow and obey Him, so what is it in your life that is keeping you from seeking God and receiving his abundance?

Journal Entry #4

Faith is… Obedience to God By Dave Johnson

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Hebrews 11:7-10

This October 11th my wife and I will be celebrating twelve years of marriage. It really doesn’t seem like it’s been that long to me. In fact, at times it seems like we are just getting started. It is, however, quite an achievement by today’s standards because most marriages last between 5 and 8 years. So what has made our marriage different from the failed ones? I believe it is our mutual faith in God. When we stood at the altar in 1997 my wife and I made vows, not just to each other, but also to God. We made promises of love, faithfulness, and fidelity to one another and to our God. We have remained faithful and obedient to those vows since the day we made them.

Whether you have made a commitment to a friend, your mom and dad, or the Lord Jesus Christ, it is useless unless it is followed with obedience to that commitment. Many so-called Christians today acknowledge Jesus with their lips but deny Him with their lives. In the end it shows that they do not have faith. Faith is obedience to God. It is because we believe and trust in Him that we remain in Him. Jesus said this, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” John 15:5-6.

Paul writes the following to the church of Galatia, a church that is trusting in themselves rather than in Christ: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. People who know Christ are the ones that live by faith because they have given the authority of their lives over to God and have become obedient to Him. If people live to please themselves then they are not living by faith. Those who have no regard for the Word of God or His standards do not truly know God.

Take some time and pray before you read God’s word and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.

Read Hebrews 11:7-19

1. What actions show Noah’s faith?

2. What actions show Abraham’s faith?

Read Genesis 16:1-6

3. How does this passage show Abraham’s unbelief?

4. Are there areas in your life that you have unbelief or disobedience? If so what are they?

5. What are the areas in your life that you show faith toward God?

Take some time and pray. Ask God to help you overcome your unbelief.

Journal Entry #5

Keep the Faith By Joyce Westenhofer

You’ve probably heard the saying the title this study is based on before. When we face troubled times or difficult situations in our life we are told to keep the faith. It’s one thing to say it in encouragement to someone, but are you yourself living it? To have faith is one thing, to keep it is another thing entirely.

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing is impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20. With faith in God, anything is possible. Jesus illustrated others’ faith by healing them when they needed it. Let’s look at how Jesus used faith to heal so many.

Read about a Roman officer in Matthew 8:5-13.

Read about a bleeding woman and a dying girl in Luke 8:40-56.

Read about 10 men with leprosy in Luke 17:11-19.

Read about a blind beggar in Luke 18:35-43.

Read about a demon-possessed girl in Matthew 15:21-28.

Do you see a common theme here? Yes, Jesus healed those who had faith, but He did so much more than that. Far more than the physical self, Jesus is concerned with the spiritual self.

Read about a paralyzed man in Luke 5:17-26.

Jesus chose to first forgive him of his sins and then heal him physically. Although we need health, we need God’s grace and forgiveness much more. Do you believe you have it?

Read about Peter and faith in Matthew 14:22-33.

1. What caused Peter to sink?

2. Have you ever sank because you took your eyes off of Jesus? Write down one instance when you failed to rely on God.

3. What caused you to lose faith in Christ?

Reread verse 31. Write down a time when Jesus reached out and saved you.

Read Hebrews 11:1. Rewrite the verse below and replace ‘we’ with ‘I.’

Faith in Christ is the basis of what we believe. Remember that. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can do anything in Christ. Come to Him in prayer right now and ask that He strengthen your faith in Him and that He would help you to live as a true Christian. Keep the faith.

Journal Entry #6

How Do We Pursue True Happiness? By Daniel Adrean

If we are to walk with God then we must be like Him. God wants all of us to be as close to Him as we can be. Before Jesus paid the penalty that our sin earned for us, this closeness was extremely difficult to achieve. Today, it still requires time, energy, and effort but, because of Jesus’s perfect sacrifice we now have the Holy Spirit living within us and are able to enjoy a much closer and deeper relationship with our Heavenly Father.

The word “beatitude” comes from the Latin word beatus (bee-at-us), which means blessed. To be blessed is to be happy and Jesus begins His discourse by showing us how we can be blessed. Pause for a moment and reflect on how important that statement is. We live in a world that is constantly pursuing happiness and never finding it. Our founding fathers thought that the pursuit of happiness was so fundamentally important that they established it as a God-given and inalienable right (one of only three explicitly outlined). The other two of these rights directly preceding the right to pursue happiness are life and liberty. This prime location towards the beginning of this extremely important document reveals to us just how vital this idea was to our founding fathers. The impact of the United States’ Declaration of Independence on the rest of the world since its drafting is hard to put into words.

The world has many different (often contradictory) things to say about happiness. It is constantly confusing pleasure with happiness. People seem convinced that so long as they can consistently gratify the flesh they will be happy. The satisfaction that comes through gratification of the flesh is only temporary, however. Oftentimes, after we have given in to our flesh and the temporary pleasure that comes with such gratification has worn off, we feel worse than before. As Dave has said on more than one occasion, we get that new video game and beat it or we finally see that movie that we have been waiting so long for and very quickly the pleasure and novelty of those experiences wears off. No true happiness has been gained through the acquisition of consumer goods, we are merely pleased that we finally got what we wanted. Even the most desirable and expensive items that we have been waiting the longest time for only yield so much pleasure (and that for just a fixed and limited amount of time).

When you’re happy, people want to be around you and your whole outlook on life changes for the better. You are much more able to see the best in things, people, and situations when you are happy than when you are experiencing a negative emotion.

Society seems to view happiness as nearly unattainable. Hopeful voices in the media are almost always drowned out by the cynics and the skeptics. Many people like to justify their own misery by stating that happiness itself is for the dumb and that the smarter you are the more miserable you’re bound to become.

From the beginning God has wanted to be close to us. He created us in the first place and walked with us (literally) in the Garden of Eden. He has passionately pursued us since He made us. After humanity’s fall God could have easily cast us aside and started over with entirely new creations. Instead, because of His great and perfect love for us He continues to offer us opportunities for a lifelong relationship with Him.

Read Matthew 5:1-16 and think about each attribute Jesus talks about individually.

1. Are you living your life as if these are the characteristics that will make you happy? Or, are you living for what the world thinks will make you happy?

2. Which of these attributes are you doing best with? Which ones do you need to work the most on?

3. How are these attributes related to Jesus’s instructions to us in verses 13 through 16?

4. What do Jesus’s instructions in verses 13 through 16 mean to you?

5.  How can you better retain your saltiness and be a bright shining light in each and every area of your life?

Journal Entry #7

Choosing to Walk with God By Andrew Ranalli

Read 1 John 1:5-10

We were born into a dark and sinful world, and without God we are walking in darkness. If we think of the choices we make in our lives as the headings taken by a ship sailing the sea, then God must be captaining our ship because without Him piloting us we are sure to crash and sink into sin. It’s easy to go to youth group and tell everyone you’re a Christian, but after youth group how do you act? Do you still walk in the light as opposed to following what the world does? If we follow the world all week and then go to church on Sunday we are not only lying to ourselves, we are walking in darkness. If you chose to follow God and walk in His light you will see a change in yourself for the better. We need to realize that because we live in an extremely sinful world, we must rely on God to keep us on the right path. Those times that we know that we are living sinfully we must confess our sins to God and repent of them. As long as we mean it and actually want to change, He will always forgive us and help us to change. We need to stop deceiving ourselves by claiming to follow Jesus when we are actually walking on the path of darkness. God wants us to follow Him, He wants to forgive us so that we may live close to Him. When I was seventeen I went to youth group and Sunday church every week. All of my close friends were Christians, my family was Christian, and I told people that I was a Christian. I was living a huge lie. I never read my Bible, I never prayed, and I never did anything that you are supposed to do as a Christian. I was living in complete darkness even though I was going to church a lot and was most often surrounded by other Christians. I was not only lying to myself, I was lying to everyone else. I was always in trouble with my mom and constantly lied to her about where I was and who I was with. When I was at school I was a complete jerk to a lot of people just because my friends thought it was funny. I thought my life was going great. After a while though, things weren’t looking so great. I was lying to my closest friends and started distancing myself from them, my Mom was always mad at me, and I was constantly disappointing people. I knew about Jesus, I knew what I was supposed to do, but I just wasn’t doing it because I was so caught up in my lies and worldly desires. The breaking point came when, one day, I really hurt one of my closest friends. I wanted to stop lying and losing my friends, so I finally went to God and confessed everything to Him. I prayed for about an hour, just letting it all out in my room. After I did that and asked for His forgiveness I felt so relieved. I felt as if I had been carrying around a huge boulder for two years and that it was finally off of my shoulders. The month after I prayed that hour-long prayer alone in my room was so life-changing. My friends definitely saw the change in me because I was nicer to people, I talked more, and I stopped lying to everyone about pointless stuff. My Mom started to trust me more and I cared for her a lot more – so much more that from that point on I have never wanted to lie or disrespect her again. As soon as I chose to follow God’s path I knew that I had made the right decision because with His help I was able to finally come out of the darkness.

People who walk with God know the way God wants each of us to go and then choose to go the same way. God’s path for us is always the polar opposite of the direction our sinful natures want us to go. He is so opposed to sin because He is against anything that hurts those creations He loves above all others (human beings). No matter how good it looks to us, no matter how attractive we find it, God is against all forms of sin and wants us to avoid it because of His great love for us. This means that the person who walks with God is the person who walks away from the sins in her or his own life, who refuses to follow the world, and chooses instead to actively and dedicatedly follow Jesus Christ. However, we still need God to support and strengthen us as we struggle against our sinful natures.

It is vitally important to remember that there cannot be strife between God and us. In Amos 3:3 it says: “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?”. Therefore, we must be in agreement with God if we are going to walk with Him. To be in agreement with Him we must trust in Him and read His Word. God’s Word teaches us that it will light our paths: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119: 105) As you walk in God’s light you will stand out in the dark world in which we all live, your friends and family will see this change in your life and hopefully want to know its source. God wants us to be lights for Him in our churches, our schools, and everywhere else we find ourselves. Ultimately, we must decide if we want to walk in darkness our whole lives or if we want to have a deep and meaningful relationship with God.

1. Can you think of a situation where you decided to follow the world instead of God?

2. What was it? Why do you think you chose that path?

3. Do you think you struggle with staying on God’s path?

4. If so, why are you struggling and what are you struggling with?

5. How can you change your life so that you can keep in step with God?

6. Do you act differently at church then you do at school or home? If yes, do you think that is right and why do you think you do it?

Journal Entry #8

Seeing People as God Sees Them By Cori Long

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, the Lord looks at the heart’” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Our lifestyles are greatly influenced by the way we are raised and through our experiences growing up. For example, if you were to take a newborn child and place it into the wild, it would grow up being exactly that, wild. Just like when you hang out with a certain group of friends for a long period of time you begin to talk, dress, and act as they do. Now, what if we began to surround ourselves with the Word of God instead of worldly things? Our heart and mind would begin to conform to godly things and, as one example, we would begin to view one another with eyes full of the love of Christ. Nothing is more valuable to God than the people he created and we need to live our own lives in that same way.

God loves humanity so much that the very first chapters of the Bible deal with the origins of life and the creation of man. As you study the Scriptures you will begin to see that we weren’t created for this world; instead, this world in all its splendor was created for us because we are valuable in God’s eyes. Not only did God give us this world, He gave us His only child to be sacrificed to pay for the mistakes that we make and that separate us from God. Yet, when we come into contact with people our first reaction is to judge them on the kinds of brands they are wearing and how fat or thin they look. This kind of judgmental attitude is completely worldly, and God does not approve of it. God wants us to view people as valuable because He planned us before the creation of the earth. As Christians, we should also see our interactions with people as an opportunity to share the everlasting love God continually shows us. There is a song by Brandon Heath whose lyrics find their way into my daily prayers. The lyrics are as follows:

“Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me your heart for the once forgotten”

When you begin to study God’s word, your mind and heart will become sensitive to what He wants you to see. Eventually you will find your heart longing for the things His heart longs for. Keeping that in mind, it becomes much easier for you to be bold in sharing your faith with one another. Let’s take a look at what God’s Word has to say to us.

1. What do Psalm 139:13, Jeremiah 31:3, and Isaiah 40:11 say about God’s relationship with people?

2. According to Psalm 7:9 and 1 Samuel 16:7, what does God see as more important, the inward appearance or the outward?

3. What does 1 John 4:9-12 say about love?

4. In Matthew 9:36-38, what did Jesus ask His disciples to do? How can we specifically be involved?

5. Who was Paul compelled by in Acts 20:20-28 and what tasks was he given?

6. What do you think it means to make the most of every opportunity God gives you? Give an example of an opportunity to share the gospel that God gave you recently. Did you take that opportunity? If you didn’t, what held you back?

For most of us whenever we feel the need to share the gospel a million reasons pop into our head for why we shouldn’t. Some of our reasons (which are really excuses) include: “I will offend them, they are too busy, they may laugh at me.”

7. So how can we overcome these fears? Consider what the apostle Paul said about dealing with his own fears in Ephesians 6:18-20.

8. What talents has God given you? How can you use these talents to spread the love of God?

I want to challenge you today to start praying for God to open your eyes to the things He wants you to see and to soften your heart. We now know how valuable each of us is to God, so be bold and take the next opportunity that God gives you this week to share your faith with someone – whether with your actions or with your words. Once you have taken that opportunity, I want you to write down what happened and how it made you feel in the following thoughts pages.

Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with you.

Joshua 1:9

Journal Entry #9

Ruth’s Walk to Redemption Part 1 By Lara Taylor

This is a story of redemption. You will see how God allows Ruth (a Gentile woman from Moab) and Boaz, the man who became her kinsman redeemer, to be a part of the genealogy of Christ. The story of Ruth takes place during the time of the judges, they were the leaders of Israel before God established the monarchy (King Saul, King David, etc.). During this time Israel continually turned their eyes from God and would suffer from famines and foreign oppression as a result. Despite their consistent rebellion, God delivered them from their suffering again and again. We see during this period how patient God is with both Israel and us.

Now to the story of Ruth the Moabite. During the time this story takes place there is peace between Israel and Moab. So when a famine comes to the land we see Elimelek take his family from Bethlehem to the country of Moab. This was his choice, not God’s. Even though there was no famine in Moab Elimelek’s family still suffered heartache because during the move his wife Naomi and his daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth each became widows. Naomi feels alone and empty so she plans to return home.

Read Ruth 1:1-22

Because of the famine Elimelek leaves Bethlehem (the promised land), which means “House of Bread” and takes his family to Moab, which means “Wash pot” (toilet). The famine was God’s judgment on His people. All they needed to do was turn back to Him and God would forgive them.

1. Have there been times in your life when you’ve left God to be on your own due to a “famine”?

2. How did things work out?

3. Who made the harder decision? Why?

Jewish law (Leviticus 19:9 & 23:22) made it so that the poor and foreigners were able to glean the fields after the harvest. This is how God provided for them and gave them food. It is at this time that Boaz comes into the story. It is his fields that Ruth goes to glean from. We also soon discover that her reputation of taking good care of Naomi and choosing to follow God has not gone unnoticed (Ruth 2:11).

Read Ruth 2:1-23

Throughout chapter two the author states that Ruth is from Moab, meaning that she is a Gentile (non-Jew), because of this heritage it will be harder for her to find a life among Naomi’s people.

4. Have you ever been on the outside of a group? How did you feel?

Here we get a glimpse of Boaz taking an interest in Ruth…Just like Christ has an interest in us!

5. What does that mean to you?

Journal Entry #10

Ruth’s Walk to Redemption Part 2  By Lara Taylor

We now find that Ruth has been accepted into the community and that she continues to take great care of Naomi. Boaz has shown interest in Ruth. Naomi has been given hope with the relationship between Ruth and Boaz. This is also where we see Naomi helping Ruth let Boaz know that she is interested in him. She gives Ruth instructions and Ruth does as Naomi says.

Read Ruth 3:1-18

By Levitical law she has the right to marry her husband’s next of kin after his death. A man who chooses to do this is known as a kinsman redeemer. Boaz is like Christ waiting for you to want Him. Jesus does not force His attentions on us because He is loving and patient.

6. How does that make you feel, knowing Christ is waiting for you?

Read Ruth 4:1-22

At this point Boaz takes over; Ruth has asked him to be her kinsman redeemer. Levitical law clearly states that the next of kin is to be the kinsman redeemer. There is another kinsman ahead of Boaz and Boaz goes to the city gates and offers the land and Ruth to him. For whatever reason this other man can’t redeem Ruth, giving Boaz the opportunity to become her kinsman redeemer.

God gave his people the law (first kinsman) but the law can’t redeem us so God gave us Jesus Christ (Boaz, the second kinsman) who died on the cross to shed his blood to save us from our sins. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17

7. If you haven’t asked Christ to be your “kinsman redeemer,” what is it that is stopping you?

If you want Christ to be in your life ask for forgiveness and give your life over to Him.

8. If you have Christ in your life, does it show?

9. What changes do you need to make?

At the end of chapter 4 we find that Boaz and Ruth have gotten married and that they have a son named Obed. Naomi is no longer empty because she has been filled again through the birth of her grandson. Through the story of Ruth we see Naomi go from emptiness to fullness because of the selfless acts of Ruth and Boaz. Plus Ruth and Boaz are in the genealogy of David the future King of Israel, who is also in the genealogy of Christ and He is humanity’s kinsman-redeemer. Their story shows us how much God loves us and wants to redeem us. God has a plan and, like Ruth, wants to use us to further his kingdom.

10. Are you ready for God to use you? Why or why not?

We all have filthy pasts, yet God is still willing and able to use us. Ruth’s new mother-in-law is Rahab and God used her to save Israel’s spies in Joshua 2:1 and 6:17, you can also find Ruth and Rahab in Matthew 1:5. Both women were Gentiles and God still chose them to be in the bloodline of Christ.

11. Is there something in your past that keeps you from a relationship with God?

Maybe now is the time to give it to Him, accept His forgiveness, and forget about it. God is ready to forgive it and forget it. Doing this can be hard, but think of the amazing freedom you will gain by letting go.

Journal Entry #11

The Fruits of the Spirit Versus the Acts of the Flesh By David Clarke

Have you ever seen a fight in person? Not one between professionals, but between regular people. Two angry amateurs pushing, throwing awkward punches, and yelling at each other while everyone else surrounds them egging them on and laughing at them. It looks ridiculous. No one wants to be in a fight. But the thing is, we are.

There is a fight going on inside of us. A battle between our spirit and our flesh. Between our physical desires and our spiritual ones. A fight that some of us aren’t even aware that we’re fighting, and a lot of us are in danger of losing. But this is not just a battle. This is an all out war.

We as sinners were dead in our sin, destined to be lost forever. Fortunately for us, God is willing to fight for us. He is leading a rescue mission for each of our sakes. On the other hand there is someone trying to stop him. There is someone who actively fights against Him. You may be thinking of Satan right now, but I’m actually talking about each one of us.

Jesus payed the price for our salvation. All we need to do is accept it to be adopted into the Spirit, and then we can share in the inheritance of salvation. So what’s the problem? Why hasn’t everyone done this already? There’s someone in the way, remember. We are combating Jesus. We fight not for what is right, but for what we desire. We ignore what is wrong, so that we can continue to be selfish. We give in to our fleshly desires, doing harm to ourselves when the Spirit is what we truly want and need.

We all have our own reasons for doing this: selfishness; pride; ignorance… The list goes on and on, but they all stem from the same problem. We live for ourselves, but that path ends in destruction.

Read Galatians 5:16-26

1. What is in conflict here?

2. What are the acts of the sinful nature?

3. What happens to those who live this way?

4. What are the fruits of the Spirit?

5. What do verses 24-25 mean to you?

6. What side do you want to be on? Why?

7. Ok, so, how do we not gratify the desires of the sinful nature?

8. And what does it mean to live by the Spirit?

God is there providing for us and blessing us. Jesus is there beside you, guiding you and helping you. A good friend, Joe Young, once said, “There’s a fight between the flesh and the spirit. Feed the flesh and the flesh gets stronger. Feed the spirit and the spirit gets stronger.” If you live performing the acts of the flesh, you’re strengthening the side that will lead you to destruction. If, however, you live enjoying the fruits of the spirit, then you will be able to fight off temptation and oppose sin. So who are you fighting for?

Journal Entry #12

Faith is…  A living sacrifice by Dave Johnson

he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Do you have any regular habits? You know, something that you do every morning or night in your daily routine. My daughter Claire loves her schedule. When she wakes up it’s always with a huge smile and she looks like a giant hairball. I will change her diaper and right away she wants to get dressed and put shoes on. She loves her shoes (typical girl). The next thing is breakfast. Claire loves turkey bacon and waffles with jelly.  She is so into her routine that she’ll do certain things without even thinking – just out of habit. I love to mess with her and change things up just to see what she does. It makes me laugh.
Did you know that habits are what can make or break you as an athlete, student, or person? Let’s use an athlete as an example. The reason an athlete practices a sport or particular exercise is to commit it to muscle memory and turn it into habit. Sure there’s natural talent, but usually the people that love to practice are better than the people who don’t. The same thing is true with studying, doing homework, and being on time for school. Most importantly, it is true of our moral habits. When we practice bad moral habits like gossip, deceitfulness, and lust, we train ourselves to do it habitually.
Jesus tells us, “If anyone would come after me, they must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23. When we become Christians we are to make being like Christ our number one habit. That’s why Jesus says, “…take up your cross daily”. We are to learn from Him and to practice being like Him in all that we do.

Take some time and pray that God will reveal Himself to you as you read His Word.

Read Romans 12:1-2

1. What do you think it means to be a living sacrifice to God?

2. What does this passage mean when it says “Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world”?

3. What is the pattern of of this world?

4. Do you think you conform to the world? Why or why not?

5. What does this passage mean when it says, “…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”?

6. Do you practice transformation? Why or why not?

7. Is it important to you to be able to understand God’s will? Why?

Take some time and pray about what you’ve learned.