Thanksgiving Week 2014

The blog this week will be contributed to by the members of our Glen Haven Young Adult Class and Bible Study group.

What are you thankful for (about the class, your personal life, your family, etc…)

Austin Howard:  I am thankful for this group so much more than words can say. I have never been in a young adults class that is always striving to better one another. I’m thankful for the friends that I have had, the new ones that are building currently, and then to the future ones as well. Without this class and the support of our wonderful leaders (Bro. Warren and Mrs. Jenny) I don’t know where the state of our class would be right now. I’m so thankful for all of you and I’m looking forward to great things happening in and through our class, love you guys!!

Jesse Adams:  I am thankful for a group of young people that loves to be with each other, have fun, and love Jesus. I’ve actually had multiple people in our church come up to me and tell me that “watching our college students be with one another makes me want to be back in college.” We have a unique group at Glen Haven. We also have unique leaders in Bro Warren and Mrs. Jenny. I am thankful for all of the people and everything that we do together. It is always a blast. Were growing and we have the Lord on our side. What better place to be as a class than that. I love you guys! Pigeon Forge here we come!

Sarah Adams:  I’m thankful for friends. They stick with you through the thick and thin of things and Even when you’re not at your best, they still love you for who you are.
I’m thankful for family. Let’s be honest, if you’re like me, you come from a crazy family that loves hard, laughs always and lives life to the fullest. They are God fearing people who’s hearts and crazy amount of love never cease to amaze. They stand by your side even when you’re not sure which side you stand on and their arms are always open.
I’m thankful for my church. I’ve had the privilege of being apart of several churches at once thanks to college but there’s nothing like coming home and knowing that the people around you are part of home as well. There’s an atmosphere around the church that is charged with Jesus and you can’t help but experience it when you’re there and when you’re with the people of the church. Church is where broken people come to be healed and where sinners come to learn about the savior. It’s amazing to me that anyone can come. The broken, the sick, the hurt, the lost, and the weary come and rest at the feet of Jesus. We’re a bunch of really messed up people uniting because we can’t do it alone and because we need each other almost as much as we need our Savior, the only one who can truly help us and that’s pretty awesome.
I’m thankful for nutty bars. Let’s be honest, there are so very few creations and recipes that have mastered the chocolate to peanut butter to wafer ratio successfully. Little Debbie’s have a special place in my heart and even though they are just as amazing, my oatmeal cream pies are up high on my list as well. I take pride in my nutty bars however, and I’m thankful that God has allowed us to enjoy the simple, amazing, tasty, and glorious things of this world.
Finally, I’m thankful for my Heavenly Father. I know that sometimes I forget about him or go against him or even spite him, yet he loves me. He died for me on the cross even when he knew that I would mess up and give him a headache for my stupidity and selfishness. He continues to blow my mind with everything he has done for me and blessed me with. He has great plans for me and each and every one of us and the fact that he knows where my future is headed when I’m not even sure what I’m going is amazing to me. He is my source of rest, strength and peace and I have yet to wrap my mind around how much he loves me.

Jenny Green: I know Warren replied and included both of us, but as I sit here reading these posts with tears in my eyes – I’m reminded how good and faithful our Heavenly Father is to all of us. When we took this class in June although we were very excited because of the relationships we had with many of you the devil wanted to steal that bit of excitement and tell me that we would not be accepted because many of you had been with us already for at least 4 years. I struggled with the fact this group needed someone younger with no children or maybe older with grown children. However, Warren and I knew this is the place that we were called to be.
So, six months later I am thankful for each and everyone of you who make up this group. I am thankful for the love you not only show to Warren and I but to our three children. Not only do Warren and I love this group but our kids do as well. You make them look forward to Thursday evenings, Sunday lunches, and whenever else we have a chance to gather to fellowship.
I am also thankful for so many of you stepping out of your comfort zones as we did and welcoming not only our family but others too. Many of you have stepped out of a familiar place whether a group of friends, a different class, or some even a different church and joined this class. I am thankful that you realize in order to grow sometimes we have to put away our own comforts or selfishness. You have shown me things in my life I need to work on, and I hope we challenge you to do the same.
I am finally thankful for our future together and the relationships that we will develop and people we will impact. We all serve the same awesome God and our goal is to share Him with others. I cannot wait to see what He has in store for our group in the future.
I love y’all and hope you each have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Austin Turner:  I’m thankful for the Cross and what it stands for in its entirety. The cross is a game changer and it changes everyone’s outlook on life. The world would not be the same without it. I’m thankful that I’m in a Sunday school class that loves God and loves people. I come home so much just to come to GHBC no other reason but for a church. One of the last things I’m thankful for is you and your family. You welcome me with open arms and never turned your back on me. You are a good man and a even better disciple of Christ. I came in as a block of stone and Pastor Brady and yourself help carve me and lay a lot of my foundation for my freshman year. I love you and Happy Thanksgiving.

Maci Boling:  What I’m thankful for :

Throughout high school I would consider myself a lukewarm Christian. I made many bad decisions and did not put church as a priority. I was very consumed with the world. If you would have asked me two years ago where I would be during my sophomore year of college I would have answered saying: away at college and consumed with the world and having a good time with “friends”. Through bad circumstances my family was faced with , I made the decision to stay at home. God was using little things, such as staying at home, to entirely change my life. I had no clue about it then, but looking back now, I see how involved in my life God was. Through a friend at school I got invited to Glen Haven for a Wednesday night bible study. Slowly I was changing and the life I was living was changing. I met Austin Howard and through him met his amazing family. He got Savannah to call me and invite me to the women’s bible study. I continued to get more and more involved. I thank God nightly because I am still in such shock of where I am in life and my Christian walk. I am living an entirely different life than I would have ever imagined. There is no longer any excuses I can think of to miss Sunday morning and night church and weekly bible study. I surround myself with positive friends and do activities that give glory to God rather than negative activities. I never would have thought I would find a church that I love as much as Glen Haven, I thought people were being dramatic when people said they were a part of a “church family” but I now know what that means because Glen Haven is my church family. It’s so cool to me to see how all the things that seemed little and minor played part in changing my life.

Jake Postin:  Well, I know this is a late response, but I would rather tell y’all late than never. I can honestly say that I have never been apart of a class where you feel missed when you are not there. I do live at home, but I basically live in Macon between work and school. Warren and Jenny are incredible. They do more for us than what I could ever repay them for. I want all of you to know that I am thankful and love each one of you. No matter if you are there every week, or once a month, you all are special and have a special part in our class. Thank you Warren and Jenny for everything y’all do for us, the time, money, sacrifice and most of all the love y’all give us. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and I look forward to getting to know everyone on a more personal level and watch our class grow closer together!!

Our prayer series has taken us into some uncharted territory for some of us.  When we talk about prayer, most of us either feel conviction because we know we aren’t praying enough or we don’t understand how God could want to talk to us based on how we live.  Simply stated, prayer is the most important tool of our Christian life.  Think about it – prayer changes our heart towards the people we pray for.  It changes our direction when we aren’t moving the way God is.  It causes us to love people who are unlovable.  It release the power of the Almighty God in my life.  He doesn’t need my permission to act, but many times He waits on my permission to enter.

The last couple weeks we’ve started walking through the Lord’s Prayer line by line.

Matthew 6:9-13 says “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy.  Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread,  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”

These few verses give us the model for prayer in the life of a believer.  It is a clearly marked path for us to follow.  I don’t believe Jesus ever intended us to quote this word for word, but I do believe He wants us to follow His lead.

• Your name be honored as holy – Our lives should honor God in every aspect, but we forget to honor Him when we speak to Him.  So many times we just jump right into our needs, wants, and requests to help us out of trouble.  We might even throw in a request to help someone else, but we don’t take time to show Him the honor He deserves.  I realize some circumstances require us to state the facts with no lead in, but most of the time we have plenty of time express our love, appreciation, and adoration for Him.  HE IS WORTHY!  We don’t express our adoration for Him to help Him – He doesn’t need us to complete Him – We express our adoration for Him to help us – We need to honor Him to keep the proper perspective on things.
• Your Kingdom come, your will be done – The fact is, God’s kingdom does not exist here on this earth – at least not yet.  I acknowledge He has a plan for my life, and even though I live in an imperfect world, I want His plan more than anything else.  His plan is perfect, and I want perfect.  My plans are “adequate” at best, and I don’t want adequate.
• On earth as it is in heaven – His kingdom does exist in heaven now – I want His plan to exist in me just as it is meant to.  I don’t want to put Him in my little box, or hide Him in some seldom used corner of my life.
• Give us today our daily bread – We have to learn to distinguish our needs from our wants.  A need is something I absolutely can not live without – water, food, shelter, relationships (God and people).  A want is something I can live without – a cell phone, a large TV with hundreds of channels, your absolute favorite foods, entertainment (movies, great apps, social media, sporting events, concerts, etc) and more.  Honestly, most of us don’t know how to pray for needs.  We have the basics covered in 2014 America. There are people who genuinely need these things, but most of us have them already.  We tend to place our favorite things in the “want” category in the “need category.  The danger of “needing” things we don’t really need is it makes us unappreciative and arrogant when we don’t get everything.  Let me challenge you to regularly write a list of what you have, and what you need – really need.  I think you will find your needs are very few.  So pray for the needs of others, and just simply say “thank you” for the blessings of your life.

More to come!

WG

God has a plan for every part of your life. He has a plan for your career, your church life, your community service, your financial life, your social calendar, and ultimately, your spouse and then your family.
Jeremiah 29:11-13, Psalm 37:3-4, Galatians 2:20

If we believe God really does have a plan for your life, then to “date” in a way that doesn’t honor Him just doesn’t make sense. So, how do we date in a way that honors God?

Make a list of your “non-negotiables” based on scripture

• Christian – 2 Corinthians 6:14
• Growing in their faith – Philippians 3:12-14
• Kind – Ephesians 4:32
• Compassionate – Luke 10:30-35
• Servant – John 13:1-9
• Trustworthy – Proverbs 6:16-19
• No pressure to do physical stuff – 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

Narrow your pool of potential dates to those who agree with your “non-negotialbles”

• Watch people in various situations
• Talk to people who know them to find out if they’re for real
• Get to know someone before agreeing to go out with them – group settings are the best place to see them for who they really are, and to take the pressure off of you

Make God the center of your relationship

• Pray together – Philippians 4:6, Colossians 4:2
• Study together – not only together, but make God’s Word a vital part of your relationship – 2 Timothy 2:15
• Guard yourself against being alone in compromising situations – Galatians 6:1
• Guard what you watch and hear together – movies, concerts, TV shows, comedy routines, etc – Philippians 4:8
• Guard against allowing friends to soften your convictions – 1 Corinthians 16:13

Enjoy the relationship

• Don’t stress
• Don’t put unrealistic expectations on the other person or yourself – financially, socially, looks, working out, being something your not
• Encourage the other person more than you speak negatively to them 10 to 1
• Be creative planning dates – keep things simple at first – find mutual places of interest or activities of mutual interest

If the relationship doesn’t work out, then that person should ALWAYS say that they are better for having known you.

I welcome any thoughts on this stuff, and I’ll be glad to share them with the group.

Pastor Warren

We discussed the following items in our last Bible Study. The question was asked to begin a discussion about what God thinks about dating the way it’s done in modern day america, and how do we “date” in a way that accomplishes the desired purposes and honors God.

If you had the opportunity to start from nothing and rebuild the concept of dating in a way that pleases God and accomplishes the purposes of dating, what would it look like?

Purposes of dating for a Christian:
To find a spouse
Compatibility/learn what kind of person we’re looking for
Companionship
Learn about ourselves – problems I have, strengths/weaknesses
See where you are spiritually

Where Can I Meet People who think and believe like me?
Church – Just because you meet someone at church doesn’t mean they are the real deal. Watch to see if their life matches what they say they believe
Friends – True friends are a great source of potential dates – However, be sure the friend recommending someone is just a serious as you are about your “non-negotiables”.  You can get recommendations from friends that don’t line up with your beliefs.
Work/school – Ask the right questions before agreeing to go out with someone.  Also, consider the consequences of dating someone you have to see all the time if you decide not to go out anymore.  Choose carefully!
Hobbies – This can be a great place to meet someone you’ll enjoy spending time with, but you must ask the tough questions and be willing to say “it’s just not a good idea we go out” if they don’t share your “non-negotiables”

Where should I not look for people to date?
Bar
Online – Not good for the initial search, but it can be used to continue communication with people once you’ve established a relationship of some sort

What do I hope to gain from meeting people at these places?
Watch people in different situations – I see people in all types of situations when I know them socially before we “date”. See people interact with their family or friends – watch to see signs of positive character traits or troubling character traits
Communicate thru various methods – I have a chance to talk to people with no pressure on either person. You have a much better chance of seeing the person for who they really are – instead of just the “first date” person
Mutual friends – You can find out what others know or think about someone before you decide whether or not to spend time with them apart from group settings

I’d love your input on this discussion.

Pastor Warren