Just a reminder on mochas for this weekend -

May 29 - Mandy, Chelsea, Cassie, Eric

¶ 2:45 PM //

John 8:23-30

In this passage Jesus is trying to explain to people that if they do not follow Him, that they will die in their own sins. They ask Him "who are You?" And he replies that He is who He has been all along. This makes me think about whether or not I have been who I claim to be all along.

Have any of us really?
Can any of us really claim to have always been our true selves?

Jesus is the one true and steady light in this darkening world. It scares me to think that there are so many people who don't know Him and will therefore, die in their own sin.

Mandy ~

¶ 2:40 PM //

Blaine, WA is the last town before the Canadian border - we are almost half way to our goal - are you going to be the one to push us accross the border??

If you get some money in you will!! Keep up the great work fundraising and all -

J@<><

¶ 2:37 PM //

Hey all -

I'm back from my northern excursion - sorr about the blog silence - kind of a weird weekend - but I have posted up the devos that I have.

Please get yours in at least by noon on the day of your devo - or do it now and email it and I won't have to track you down -

LAter-

James <><

¶ 2:35 PM //

John 8:12-19

Jesus is once again faced with the ever present Pharisees. They question him, no surprise, and they end up talking about what Jesus believes in. This means a lot to me, because the Pharisee in me, judges people by what's on the outside, and I've been working hard on not doing that- to wait to judge people, to get to know them...
And at the end when Jesus says, "you know my Father as little as you know Me. If you knew Me, you would know my Father also." reminds me of something we may encounter in Vancouver or in our daily lives- that people can tell if Jesus is living in us just as the Pharisees should've seen that Jesus and God were the same.

Theresa -

¶ 2:30 PM //

John 7:45-53

Followers of Jesus seem to create a lot of anger. In this passage the Temple rulers GO OFF!! and demand that Jesus be stopped. I can almost see them talking, feeling so threatened by this new guy - someone who is turning their religious world on its head. They not only lash out at Jesus, they lash out at anyone who sides with him.... LEt's talk about this:

When was the last time you were lashed out at for standing with Jesus? How did it make you feel?

And

Why do you think that Jesus makes people so angry?

¶ 2:21 PM //

John 7:25-44


This passage talks about the Messiah. As I was reading through, I started to think about all the miracles that Jesus has done. Why did they doubt he was the Messiah when they knew about his miracles. In verse 31 I was caught off gaurd when the crowd said "Would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done? " It seemed to me that they thought he should have done more miracles, as if he hadn't done enough already. I liked the section when Jesus promises living water. I made a comparison in my mind that water can fill your thirst, just like Jesus fills our every need. He called out for the people to come get water and I think he called each and everyone of us out to spread his word in Vancouver. In verse 38 Jesus says if you believe in me, come and drink. I took that as you believe in me and your prays will be answered, you will have the holy spirit and be saved.

Kayla

¶ 2:16 PM //

John 7:14-20

This verse was kindof confusing to me at first but after reading it a few times i finnaly got what it meant. I though that this verse was a very good verse and Jesus talks about that if we take credit for what someone told us to do then that is bad but if we say that we did it because that is what he sent us to do. I beleive that my faviorte part of this verse is when jesus says why are u trying to kill me and they all freak out and call him a demon possed man i though that was funny...

Logan

¶ 1:58 PM //

I have updated the Devo Sked - you can click on the link in the right column and it will take you there.

Also - as a reminder, those of you on May 19-24 need to get yours in by Wednesday night as I won't hve my email to be able to post your devos during those days.

J@<><

¶ 12:14 PM //

John 6:61-69

I can understand how it would be hard to follow a man claiming to be the son of God, especially way back then. But i can also understand how frustrated Jesus must be with them still not believing in him, after all he has done. But if Jesus knew who didn't believe in him and if he KNEW who was going to BETRAY him why didn't he turn them away as well? (it's kinda hard to word what i mean) .
I think its amzing how the 12 KNOW he is right and KNOW that he will bring them eternal life. That's how this relates to us, We know that Jesus is the Holy One Of God, and we're not turning away from him, but we're following him and we're going to help others in that as well.

Heidi

¶ 11:50 AM //

This is in a mixed up order, this email got filtered into my spam accidently.

John 4:19-26

This verse is talking about a samaritan woman who is talking to Jesus and asks him why they can pray on the hill but all the Jewish people say that they must pray in Jerusalem but Jesus tells her that there is comming a time when all people can pray to God our father in spirit and in truth for that is the kind of worshipers God wants fowlowing him then the woman says yes we know this when Jesus comes he will explain all of this to us but Jesus replies with I am the Messiah.

~logan

¶ 1:04 PM //

John 5:2-15

Wow. All I can say about this passage is that Jesus... that guy never gives up. A man is sick for 38 years and all Jesus tells him is to pick up his bedroll and start walking. I know that if I was sick for 38 YEARS, I would definitely not plan on getting better anytime soon.
Probably the more important story here is that Jesus sees the cured man later. Jesus tells him that if he goes back to a life of sinning, then something worse will happen to him. I'm sure that if the people in Vancover heard this they would think of the "something bad" as they wouldn't have a meal the next day or they wouldn't have a place to sleep. But Jesus means that the "something bad" is the man not going to heaven. It is really a good lession for all of us to remember. That our actions not only hurt us today but will hurt us even more on our judgement day.


Michelle

¶ 3:47 PM //

Here's a map of how far we have made it on our fundraising efforts so far - at $9.21 a mile, we've almost made it 300 miles!! The whole trip is about 760 miles, though. So continue to be praying for God's provisions here -

And keep up the great comments on the devotions - those are excellent - great interaction and real consideration going on -

J@<><

¶ 12:15 PM //

John 4:4-14

At this point.....
It is noon, and with the sun directly over head this would be one of the hottest parts of the day. Jesus goes over and asks for water, and at first glance it seems casual enough, until you read the reply and find that Jews and Samaritans did not get along. So Jesus just went to talk with the part of society that he should have hated being around(if he were a "normal" person). Sound familiar, eh??? Sort of like what we're going to be doing.


Then I also like Jesus' reply

"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

So if she had known, she would have asked and gotten the gift of living water.
How many people in Vancouver like her, don't know?

-Joyce

¶ 1:35 PM //

John 3:16-21

I think just about everybody knows or at least has heard, at some point or another, John 3:16 . But I think the verses following are almost more important. I love how they talk about how Jesus didn't come send us all to Hell because we're bad, but to save us so we get to go to Heaven. I wish that when I was a kid I would've memorized all of verses 16-21.

¶ 1:32 PM //

John 3:1-8


In this passage a man comes up to Jesus and says he knows he is the son of God...Jesus replies to this saying that no man can come into the kingdom until he is born again. Back and forth with the man scoffing and saying how could it be? It makes sense that he would scoff at that because he is obviously thinking "born again" in the literal sense. It's awesome that Jesus told him this because how else would he know that he had to be born again, his spirit washed clean, etc. I like it.

...Mandy

¶ 8:59 PM //

John 2:12-25

So Jesus is using a whip and trying to get the sheep and cattle out of his father's temple. He pretty much said "Quit using my fathers house as a shopping mall", and that is when his disciples remember the Scripture, "Zeal for you house consumes me." That is when the Jews get upset and say how are you going to prove who you are? Jesus answers,"Tear down this Temple and in three days I'll put it back together."

Jesus is trying to get the Jews to understand that he is who he says that he is... And he is trying to get them to trust that he can build their Temple back up in three days when it took them forty-six years to build. I think that it is telling us that we have to trust that he will build us up for this trip and he is going to be building our love in the Lord while helping others. We just need to trust that he is going to be there at all times for us :)

¶ 9:10 AM //

It may just be me, but I feel like I am forgetting something?

If you want your blog/site/myspace linked up on this site - increasing your site traffic and making your feel incredibly cool - just email me or post a comment here - and bug me incessently until your link is up!!

LAter-
J@<><

¶ 2:43 PM //

Here are the next couple months of dates for the sales of Mochas - if you need to trade, go ahead, just please inform James of your trade so that he can make notes of who's doing what. Thanks -

May 8 - Heidi, Brianna, Kayla, Mandy
May 15 - Chelsea, Lacy, Eric, Tim
May 22 - Michelle, Joyce, Lacy, Tim
May 29 - Mandy, Chelsea, Cassie, Eric
June 5 - Joyce, Heidi, Tim, Eric

Mochas workers need to be at the church no later than 8:30 am and need to work after church until about 12:30. Questions? email james>> james@sacchurch.org

¶ 2:32 PM //