Purity

In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives a little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it.

Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.

How do we handle our purity in Christ Jesus? This is the question we have to ask ourselves every day. Do we compromise our faith for the sake of convenience? Or do we watch pornography on the internet, magazine or TV for the sake of entertainment? Do we back down from what we believe in Jesus for the sake of not being left out by the “in-crowd”?

We would do well to take a lesson from the ermine when it comes to purity. Are we careful about our reading material, our viewing habits and the company we keep? Or are we entertained by the impurity that surrounds us?

Purity may seem to be a thing of the past, but rest assured, it is still ever bit as much worth fighting for as it ever has been. We need to be diligent in guarding our purity.

1 Timothy 4:12 - Purity

1 Timothy 4:12 - Faith

1 Timothy 4:12 - Love - Agape

1 Timothy 4:12 - Life - Make a Difference

Speech - Bible Reference

The following Bible verses teach us how to use our speech to honor God. Our words have a tremendous impact on people. It’s important that we learn to communicate with wisdom and purity. We must keep in mind that our speech can serve as a reflection of our relationship in Christ.

Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 34:12-13
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

Psalm 37:30
The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just.

Psalm 119:172
May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous.

Psalm 139:4
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

Proverbs 8:13
To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Proverbs 10:20-21
The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment.

Proverbs 15:4
The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

Proverbs 15:28
The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.

Proverbs 16:13
Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value a man who speaks the truth.

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Proverbs 16:21
The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction

Proverbs 18:20-21
From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 21:23
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.

Proverbs 22:11
He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.

Proverbs 26:24-25
A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.

Proverbs 28:23
He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.

Ecclesiastes 5:2-4
Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.

Isaiah 50:4
The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen

Colossians 4:6
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Colossians 3:8
But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips

James 1:26
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

James 3:5
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

James 3:6
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

James 3:9-12
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

1 Peter 3:9-11
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.

1 John 3:18
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 Timothy 4:12 - Speech

“Our speech has an amazing ability to reveal our hearts; it is the loud-speaker of our lives. It broadcasts who we are – for better or worse – far beyond our ability to control it. Our speech can alienate people or get us in a heap of trouble without our even knowing it.” - Andrew Farmer

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1 Timothy 4:12

The Love of God

1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given

All For Love

At the CROSS

In John 15:13, Jesus taught His disciples that no greater love exists than for a person to lay down their life for another person. I am certain the disciples all nodded their heads and acknowledged their factual understanding of that statement. perhaps they even thought of family members or friends and wondered whether they would be able to lay down their life for them. However, Christ did not leave them to wonder whether there was anyone willing to do this for them.

Shortly after making this statement He went out and showed them His love by actually laying down His life in their place. This one display of love was beyond anything these men had ever before encountered. They may not have fully comprehended what was happening at the time, but as their understanding grew, so did the impact this event had on their lives and their ministries.

However, Christ's sacrifice was not limited to the inner circle of the disciples. His love extends to each of us as well. The fact that God loved us enough to be willing to die for us is in reality more than we can comprehend. He was not obligated, or compelled from some sense of duty. His actions were motivated completely out of love, not just for mankind as a whole, but for each of us as individuals.

The most beautiful part of why Christ died at Calvary was that He died there for us. It is sad to think it was necessary, but comforting beyond words to know He was willing to do whatever was required, up to and including dying, in order to have a relationship with us. His love for us is not merely a bunch of words in a book, but a reality expressed in the most visible and memorable fashion possible. Never was any statement more true than the words of the familiar song -

"At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There's no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your Glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now?"

Renewing

No Youth Imapct Meeting on 1st May 2010

Hi Everyone,

Please take note that there will be NO YOUTH IMPACT Meeting on 1st May 2010. We will see you all again on the 8th May 2010.

Stay connected with Jesus and God Bless You.

Serving God

Worship

Quite Time

Satan will fight you tooth and nail to keep you from your daily meeting with the Lord. He hates nothing more than seeing a Christian getting down to business with God, because he knows that such believers are dangerous to his kingdom of darkness. Watch out for these problems:

The Battle of the Blankets

Almost every morning you will be tempted to hit the snooze button and sleep in and shorten or miss your time with God. Resist at all costs! Go to bed early enough and with thoughts of Scripture (the night before leave your Bible open to the passage you'll read in the morning) and get out of bed immediately when you wake up!

Concentration

Your mind will easily wander. Make sure you are ready. Try praying out loud in a whisper to help you stay alert when sleepy. Avoid having your quiet time in bed. Take a shower, drink some coffee, and keep a notebook handy so that when your mind wanders to a task that you need to do that day you can write it down, and then forget about it until later. Take control of wandering thoughts. Keep bringing your mind back with quiet firmness and without scolding yourself.

Dry Seasons

Sometimes you won't feel like you are getting anything out of your daily devotions. Just realize that obedience to truth is more important than following your emotions. Feelings come and go but the Word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:25). If you only had a quiet time when you felt like it, the devil would make sure you never felt like it. Dryness can be caused by:

• Disobedience - is there unconfessed sin in your life?
  
• Your Physical Condition - Are you getting enough rest?
  
• Rushing - Don't try to do too many things. Be simple.
  
• Routine - You have to watch out for staleness.
  
• Selfishness - Start sharing your insights with others. Don't hog them!

Satan's most vicious attacks will come in connection with your desire to be diligent in your quiet time. He knows that if he can keep you out of the Word, he has defeated you. If he can keep you from spending quality time with the Lord at the start of a day, then he's won the battle. Expect these types of attacks. Dropping your quiet time is usually the first step in spiritual backsliding. You must persevere!

Youthwave 2010

Renewing our thoughts!

Picture this — you come home from a long day at school/college — you walk into your living room — plop down on the couch in exhaustion — and there in the corner of the room — your eyes are drawn to something moving — it’s a cobra snake! Do you say to yourself, “Oh, I’m too tired to worry about that now, I’ll deal with it later?” Of course not! You’d jump up right away, find a bat or something of the like, alert your family, call the neighbors, call the fire department and who knows what else! It’s a life-threatening situation!

In the same way, we need to consider it an emergency when a negative thought enters our minds! We immediately need to jump up, put our armor on, alert others and ask for help if needed and take cover in the promises of God! When those unrighteous thoughts enter our minds, we must deal with them immediately — lest they linger and fester — and before we know it, poison our entirety. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says - The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Sadly this is a battle that continuously rages on. We must renew our minds daily — and even hourly in order to remain in a place of peace. Let’s not wait ’till the enemy has us in his grip! Let’s put him in his place at the first sign of attack!

Youthwave 2010

Thinking.....thinking....thinking.....

Philippians 4:8-9 says "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

One evening an old Red Indian man told his grandson about a battle that goes on in every person. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’. One is evil — it is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good — it is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grand son thought for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Red Indian simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Need I say any more?

Let’s start feeding the good wolf, that we might flourish for the Lord and do great things for Him! There’s so much work to be done!!

Character Counts!

Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

Bobby Jones was one of the greatest golfers to ever compete, uniquely known for winning the “Grand Slam” of golf winning all four major tournaments in the U.S. and Britain in a single year. In 1925, early in his career, having reached the final playoff in the U.S. Open, at a certain point in the match, Jones was setting up to strike his ball which was in the rough just off the fairway. His iron accidentally touched the ball. He immediately became angry with himself, turned to the marshals, and called a penalty on himself.

But the marshals had not seen the ball move, so they left the decision to Jones, whether to invoke the penalty — a two-stroke penalty. Bobby called the penalty on himself, not knowing that he would lose the tournament by a single stroke.

When praised for his honesty, he replied, “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank!” Jones may have lost the tournament, but his character was legendary and today the United States Golf Association’s award for sportsmanship is known as the “Bobby Jones Award.”

It’s been said, “Character is what you do when nobody is watching. Character is how you treat people who can do absolutely nothing for you. Character is how you react when the pressure is on. Character is deciding beforehand that you are going to do the right thing.”

Every day we’re faced with decisions — many of which are made when no one is watching, at least no one we can see. But let’s purpose in our hearts to do the right thing — because character truly counts. We may not see the dividends immediately — but be assured that God is keeping track of our decisions, and He will make good on every one

Deuteronomy 28:7

Romans 3:26

No Apologies

Youth Impact - JESUS FIRST

No Apologies - 16th January 2010