What does God’s word say about Christians being accountable to other Christians?

Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.”

Proverbs 12:15 “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.”

Proverbs 13:20 “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.””

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. “

James 5:16 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

You may ask, how do I choose someone to be my accountability partner?

God Word says we are to be like-minded, evenly yoked, :

• 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”
  
• Philippians 2:2” fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
  

Questions to ask in keeping each other accountable:
1. How has God blessed you this week?
2. What problem has consumed your thoughts this week?
3. Are you having struggles at school with peers or at home with siblings?
4. Have you done your devotionals regularly?
5. Is there anything I can pray about for you?

Tonya Stutzman

Hey Kids, Have you ever thought “What does the Gospel look like in my life?” Since I honesty, sincerely believe, and have accepted the Gospel, (that The Savior, Jesus came to this sin cursed world, and in Sinless Perfection Died on the Cross, was buried and then Rose the third day to save me!, to bridge that separation from God, The Father that my sin caused so that I can have perfect fellowship with Him.) SOOOO, What does the Gospel of Jesus look like in my life? There are several things that should be clearly evident when people look at my life. I want to encourage you to also strive to live like Jesus. Here are the conducts that should be evident.

1. Desire to Proclaim It! Matt 4:23
2. Ability to Defend it, Jude 3
3. Want to Demonstrate it, Phil. 1:27
4. Passion to Share it, Phil. 1:5
5 Willingness to Suffer for it, 2 Tim. 1:8
6. Will not hinder it, 1 Cor. 9:12
7. Not Ashamed of it, Romans 1:16
8. Desire to Preach it, 1 Cor 9:16
9. Empowerment of it, 1 Thess. 1:5
10. Want to Guard it, Gal 1:6-8

I am so ashamed at times at how I fail it these areas. I need to let the Holy Spirit work in my life and yield to its prodding. When I fail God is quick to give His Grace. That is encouagement enough! Love in Christ, MR. WAGLER

Please be praying for those going to the Creation Museum Thursday thru Saturday.

It will no doubt be a great time for the “Equipping of the Saints” to refute evolution. We will not only be getting equipped to refute evolution but also be affirmed in the Truth that we do know!!

Do you get angry with yourself?

Do you get angry with yourself when you can’t live up to your parent’s standards?

• “I need to please my parents and sometimes it doesn’t happen”
  
• “I need to have my parent’s trust and sometimes i break that trust”
  

Do you get angry with yourself when you can’t live up to your own standards?

• “I must get straight A’s”
  
• “I’m not always as organized as I want to be”
  

Do you get angry with yourself when you can’t live up to God’s standards?

• “I will never be holy, like God wants me to be”
  
• “I lie often and God says not to lie”

When you become angry with yourself, you are becoming your own judge. You are not meeting up to the standards that you, your parents, or God has set up. You see that and then become angry with yourself as a sort of punishment for your sins.

“I just can’t forgive myself.” Have you found yourself ever saying these words? Maybe you know that you have sinned against God, and the only way to make things right in your eyes is to punish yourself by being angry at yourself. Let me assure you that if you have asked for forgiveness from God, you HAVE received it (I John 1:9).

If you still say that you cannot forgive yourself, you are declaring that your standards are higher than God’s.

God tells us that we need to forgive others for their sin (Ephesians 4:32) against us and that God will forgive us when we sin (I John 1:9) against Him. He never tells us that we need to forgive ourselves. If God and our friends who we sinned against has forgiven us, it would be self-righteous, if we say we can’t forgive ourselves.

If this has been a struggle for you, please email me (Pastor Matt). I would love to talk with you about how to get over this idea of forgiving yourself or just help with giving you a few more verses.

Getting a Grip: The Heart of Anger Handbook for Teens

The 25 Characteristics of a Fool comes directly from this book. It is a fantastic book for teen on dealing with anger. Click on the picture if you wish to purchase this book.

How many of these characteristics are true of you? Write down which of these characteristics you would fall under. Write down the characteristics that your friends or family members would say you fall under.

25 Characteristics of a Fool (p.16)

• He despises wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7)
  
• He hates knowledge (Proverbs 1:22)
  
• He grieves his mother (Proverbs 10:1)
  
• He enjoys devising mischief (Proverbs 10:23)
  
• He is quick to anger (Proverbs 12:16)
  
• He is right in his own eyes (Proverbs 12:15)
  
• He hates to depart from evil (Proverbs 13:19)
  
• He is deceitful (Proverbs 14:8)
  
• He is arrogant and careless (Proverbs 14:16)
  
• He rejects his father’s instruction (Proverbs 15:5)
  
• He despises his mother (Proverbs 15:20)
  
• He does not respond well to discipline (Proverbs 17:10)
  
• He does not understand wisdom (Proverbs 17:16)
  
• He has a worldly (carnal) focus (value system) (Proverbs 17:24)
  
• He grieves his father (Proverbs 17:25)
  
• He hurts his mother (Proverbs 17:25)
  
• He does not consider discussing any viewpoint but his own (Proverbs 18:2)
  
• He provokes others to strife and anger by the things he says (Proverbs 18:6)
  
• He has a smart mouth that usually gets him into trouble (Proverbs 18:7)
  
• He is quarrelsome (contentious) (Proverbs 20:3)
  
• He is a spendthrift (Proverbs 21:20)
  
• He repeats his folly (foolishness) (Proverbs 26:11)
  
• He trusts in his own heart (Proverbs 28:26)
  
• He cannot resolve conflicts (Proverbs 29:9)
  
• He gives full vent to his anger (Proverbs 29:11)

How many of the ones you wrote down have to deal with anger? Even the characteristic “He trusts in his own heart” causes anger. The problem with this point is that your heart is the source of truth instead of being the source of deceit as the Bible says. So if you follow your heart into sin, you will not want to be corrected. If someone corrects you, you will obviously be angry with them.

Teens, be foolish no more. Resist the temptation to become angry. Pray to God for help. His grace is sufficient for you.

An application follow up from Wednesday

Changing the Heart of Anger

Imagine that on your way to school there is a brick wall that is in the middle of the road. You don’t know how it got there, but it is blocking the entrance to the school so that you cannot get in. This brick wall is preventing you from learning and growing. It’s preventing you from hanging with your friends and eating the delicious cafeteria food.

Sometimes this can be a picture of what is in our heart. The brick wall being anger is preventing us from learning and growing. The brick wall is preventing us from seeing God’s will for our life. The brick wall is preventing us from even seeing the consequences of our anger.

How do we tear down this brick wall and change our heart of anger?

First examine your own desires. Do you desire to be first, to have everything go your way, and have everyone like you? Are you willing to sin in order to get it or do you sin when it doesn’t happen? These are sinful selfish desires. If you don’t get what you want, you become angry or bitter.

Second, If you have anger or bitterness in your heart, you will act angry or bitter. These actions WILL reveal themselves. They will show through by you snubbing someone who was mean to you, lashing out at your parents or siblings, or even just saying something mean to someone else. Your heart of anger will show through.

To changer your heart of anger, your desires must change. The brick wall of anger must be removed so that you can desire God’s will.

First, desire for God to be pleased with your thoughts. When you constantly focus on God, it is hard to focus on selfishness. When you are concerned with what God wants from you, you will be less concerned with not getting your way. Desire for others to get what they want. Whether it’s time on the computer or watching a TV show or allowing your sibling to drive, put others first. If your truly, really, 100% want your siblings to have what they want, then when you don’t get what you want and they do, you won’t be angry. Allow me to illustrate.

Let’s say that your parents decide to give either you or your brother $50 for no reason. You can’t split it. If you desire only what is best for you, you will be angry if your brother gets the money. This shows selfishness. You will complain that they are not fair. They should give you money too. If you desire for your sibling to have $50, then if your bro gets the money you will be happy for him and not angry. Do you see that your anger is hinging on what you desire. Selfish desires lead to anger, but unselfish desires lead to happiness and joy.

James 4:1-3 spells out exactly why we get into conflicts and show our anger.

“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

The heart of anger lies in selfish, lustful, envious desires. Take some time to check your desires when you get angry.

Remember that you can always go to YT’s Biblical Answers on Anger to find more verses on anger.

Hebrews 10:25

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I need the encouragement and the support of other Christians, just as much as they need me. The verse tells me that some of them were not in the habit of assembling together. But we need to pull together in Christ’s name, even more so as we come closer to His second coming. We need to also be grounded in the Word. There will be many who will try to pull us away from His Word and the body of Christ. This needs to be a heart thing. We must desire the fellowship of other brothers and sisters! Do you young adults LOVE going to church to worship and meet with other believers? Do you crave the encouragement that you receive?

Let me ask you this, are YOU an encourager?

It’s easy to love and encourage those who readily give it back, but I challenge us both to show love and encouragement to individuals that are harder to love. We can do this only in Christ and in His strength! Let’s do it!

In Christ, Kevin Wagler

This is a follow up from last night’s YT

In the Biblical sense, “Depression is living by feelings rather than the Word of God.”

In the cultural sense, depression is when you act, feel or think in a discouraged way for an extended period of time.

THE BIG QUESTION: Does God have answers for believers who feel depressed? YES

Here are some Scriptures that can help someone who is depressed.

Help them understand that God is in control even when we are not.

• Philippians 4:13 – Paul explains that he can be content in all circumstances through Christ who gives him strength
  
• Romans 8:28-29 – Paul tells the Romans that God uses EVERY situation in our life for us to become more like Christ. Even the situations that may seem to overwhelm us.
  
• 2 Peter 1:3 – God has given us everything that we need to live a life of godliness.
  
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – The Bible is profitable to help us in ANY situation of life. God even has answers for depression

Help them understand that when we feel down we have reason to rejoice.

• John 13:17 – There is joy is applying the Word of God
  
• James 1:25 – Those who do the Word will be blessed
  

In Luke 9:23, Christ tells His followers to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. How does this verse relate to those who are depressed?

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, Calvary Baptist Church has free counseling available for both adults and students. The free counseling offers hope for the depressed. Please take advantage of this. Depression is a very serious thing. It is better to deal with it sooner rather than later

Here is a great resource that can offer help and hope: The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference pgs.195-223 by Robert D. Smith M.D.