TV, Movies and Music. What do I do?!?!

This is a long one but please take the time to read the whole thing. You might just be glad you did!

Entertainment is huge in our culture today. In fact almost the entire time we are awake and even some of us while we sleep are being entertained by something. It could be television, movies, video clips, video games, online gaming, online surfing, IMing, Facebooking, and the list goes on and on. So the question comes: “how do I know what is good and what is not good.”

The first step is to take and look at what the Bible says about the topic. I’m so glad that God put this verse in 2 Romans 1:1 where it says “You should not watch rated R movies or listen to secular music”. So there you go!... JK!!! But what it does say in Philippians 4:8 is “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” When we look at this verse it really makes us think about the whole of what we do and listen to and watch. So basically all of our lives! Yeah, I know. It’s actually a really big deal!

This is a very specific command that Paul gives here. And notice I said COMMAND. I think we often take what we read in the Bible to be a suggestion or just maybe a good idea that maybe we should live by if we want to be good people. But this is something that we are commanded to do. So if what we watch and listen to should be the things that are listed in this verse that really limits us right?!?! Or does it?

Sooooo many times Christians say that there isn’t any Christian music that they like or that if we actually lived by this verse they would never watch or listen to anything at all, tv, movies, or music. This just isn’t the case! In the book Worldiness by C.J. Mahaney it says, “we can watch television or go to the movies and glorify God by it. To do so, we must be motivated by grace, and we must view selectively, proactively, accountably, and gratefully.” So true!!! There is so much in the area of entertainment and movies that there, for sure, ARE things that we can watch that are good and wholesome and enjoyable. But we have to be serious about wanting to please God and to realize that not being selective in our viewing is flat out selfishness and laziness and results in more sin. So watch what you watch!!! It can be helpful and enjoyable to you, OR it can DESTROY you. As we let sinfulness creep into our lives it eats away at us spiritually and kills our joy and peace and contentment that can only be find in a life lived walking faithfully with Christ.

As for music let me say this: if you can’t find Christian music that you like you’re lazy. That’s right. LAZY! I mean that! There are literally thousands of artists in every genre (type: rock, pop, rap, country, sceamo, metal, worship, etc.) of music who have dedicated their lives to making music that is appealing to the ear (sound good) AND glorifies God. I have 9 days of music in my iTunes library. 9 days!!! And to my knowledge I do not have anything that is displeasing to God, and apart from classical music I have no secular music in it. I do not say this to brag(I have friends who have 90 days of Christian music) but to point out that if you care about what you hear and how you are glorifying God in your listening, you WILL take the time to find music that is enjoyable to you and pleases God.

To refute (prove wrong) the common myth that “I don’t listen to the lyrics of that secular group. I only listen to that secular group because I like to beat or sound of the music” think of this: your favorite song by them (the secular artist) you have probably listened to a hundred times because you liked it so much. Think of it in your mind. Now sing it. Gotcha!!! You can probably sing every word! Even when we think we are listening to something for the sound or beat we ARE listening to the lyrics and the more we listen to things that are ungodly the more we become like it. Music sticks with us. It’s like a companion because it stays in our mind even after we have stopped listening to it. When we think about it this way this verse looks a lot different doesn’t it? “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits”” (1 Corinthians 15:33) Believer! Don’t be deceived!!! It IS affecting you. And again, there is TONS of Christian music that is enjoyable and glorifying. Why go dumpster diving for “sounds” or “beats” when they are available in godly forms?

As in every other case when it comes to life the issue is with your heart. God is less interested in your actions as He is in your heart. He wants your heart first. If you give Him your heart, all of it, your actions will automatically follow. This includes all areas of life. Keep this verse in mind: “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23). Believer, guard your heart. Keep it pure. Watch what you watch. Think about what you’re listening to. Be actively pursuing Godliness. Your spiritual life (and maybe your physical one too) depends on it.

If your serious about changing the way you watch tv, watch movies, or listen to music pray and ask God to help you do this. Ask Him to help you to change the things that you like too. Just because we make the commitment to watch and listen to certain things doesn’t mean we stop liking the sounds or we suddenly don’t desire to see a certain movie. But God does help us to desire only good things if we ask for His help and work hard to keep sinfulness out of our lives. Another great idea is to talk with your small group leader or a godly friend and ask them to keep you accountable to make sure you follow through on that commitment.

Below are some links to great sites for both music and movie reviews. If you are someone who is serious about your relationship with Christ, you will be diligent to make your viewing habits pure. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) God wants us to enjoy life! He wants us to have a good time and He has given us the tools to do just that and still please Him!!! Be diligent! Rock out! Praise God! Enjoy life! He wants you to!!!!

Christ. Community. Music. This site gives reviews of movies and music. You can also find artists in certain genre’s. You can also subscribe to the magazine which provides artist info and all kinds of other things in the world of Christian music.

http://www.ccmmagazine.com/

Plugged In Magazine. This sight is awesome. If you want to know about a movie and its content go here. They have detailed reviews of movies and

http://www.pluggedin.com/

The book “Worldiness” by C.J. Mahaney. If you read books or even if you don’t read books GET THIS. For me it was the most powerful book outside of the Bible I’ve read in months. It addresses TV, movies, music, dress, and what is really going on behind all of it. You can find it on Amazon or order it from the Parable bookstore in Johnson City.

http://www.amazon.com/Worldliness-Resisting-Seduction-Fallen-World/dp/1433502801/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275068955&sr=8-1

Mini Golfing???

So this past Saturday we were scheduled to go mini golfing. I was watching the weather all week hoping for a window of time to be able to go and golf and have a good time and NOT get soaked! Saturday morning the weather said it would be fair skies and maybe rain. We were a go.

An hour before we left I checked the weather again and it was 55% chance of thunderstorms and wind and rain!!! Are you kidding me??!?! I decided that whatever we did we were going and either get wet or go have fun some place else! So that’s what we did!

5 leaders and 5 girls (all the guys either forgot or were gone for the day!) headed out and got over to Skate Estate in Vestal. Upon arrival we saw that NOBODY was out on the course and the wind was whipping and it was COLD!!! So inside we went to decide what we wanted to do.

My dear wife Laura decided to poll everyone and the consensus was to roller skate/blade! A whole lot better than freezing to death following a little ball around in lightning carrying a metal pole!!! So Laura went over to Old Navy and bought long socks for those who wore sandals or had no socks and off we went around and around for an hour and a half. Only a few of us fell on our backsides and all of us had a blast. So it could be said that we went mini golfing…on roller blades!!!

After that we all headed over to Friendly’s and got a cone(in the freezing cold weather) and headed back to good ol’ Deposit. All in all it was an adventure for sure and loads of fun. Sorry if you missed it but come join us in our next outing!!!

Why Read the Bible?

This question has been asked many times by millions of people over the years and I want to address it at least in part now. There are so many different reasons why it is important to read the Bible, and why we as Christians should read and study the Bible each day. I will give some verses and reasons why we should read and study the Bible, as well as some helpful websites that you can check out that will hopefully help you in the question.

One reason is because it is the Words of God and we are commanded to read it and study it and memorize it.

2 Timothy 2:15; Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Tmothy 3:16-17; All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:3; as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

These verses explain that we as Christians should diligently study God's Word and should put in hard work in our study. They also explain that the Word of God is usable and useful to us for us to live godly. Not only that, but it is ALL we need to live a life that is both pleasing to God and full of joy and contentment. God never promises a perfect life or even a life without struggle. But He does promise peace and rest in Matthew 11:28-29, for those who trust in Him.

The following website also gives great insight into reasons for reading the Bible and some other great points about the truth of Scripture and of the evidence of Jesus and the events of the Bible in history. Check it out!

http://www.changinglivesonline.org/why-read-the-bible.html

Please leave comments if you desire!

The Flood

So this last week we talked about the flood of Genesis 6 and 7 and how there is overwhelming evidence to support, not only its happening, but also creation itself and a very young earth. Following are a bunch of links to various videos and info on both the flood and creation and the age of the earth. I would have posted this earlier, but we all know how life goes and how easily things occupy our time. So here ya go!

This is a video of the research done at the site they believe is where the real Ark of Genesis is.
Video 1
Part 2
Video 2

This next video talks with a man who supports the research done on the Noah's ark site. Has some big words, but really interesting.
Video 3
Part 2
Video 4

This website talks about the age of the earth. Check this one out for sure!!!!


This next site is my favorite. Excellent info and support for Scripture. Come back to this one again and again.


Spend some time looking around on these sites. Educate yourself so that you know what you believe and why!

HEY!!!! Just so everyone knows, you will have to copy and past these links into your browser. I was hoping to have them work right from this blog, but it didn't work cause i'm not smart enough. Later alll!!!!!!

March

So this past Friday night we had our game night! It was a lot of fun. We got some really good pizza from our favorite pizza joint, Little Italy's (best pizza ever!) and chips and soda galore! And, oh yeah, played games too! We played all kinds of things like, Madden Ten, Halo 3, Ping Pong, and Foose Ball. Of course that was mostly the guys. The girls and Rick played a game called Balderdash! A game that is all about words and coming up with definitions of words that no one would ever use in a sentence! Pretty cool! All in all a really fun night. We have some pretty cool ideas for our next game night so keep checking this blog out for info on that.

Our next event is a bowling night in Binghamton on the 16th of April. We will be meeting at the EDGE at 5 to head over and there will be another post about the price and exact times and so on so stay tuned! Should be pretty AWESOME!!! Don't forget that we live in a Every Day Grace Experience! Praise God!!! Drew out!

Bye bye snow! (tear)))

There are so many things happening in our youth group! Spring is here and we barely got another snow party in before the hill was bare! We had a blast though. Paul’s dad made the guys some pretty awesome custom sleds made out of some type of plastic that I think is used on the walls of barns or something like that, that were super fast and impossible to control, which made things really interesting. Tanner about got taken out by one of them which was scary for a second. He had just gone down on his snowboard and then one of the sleds came down with 4 people on it. It was pretty close, but no casualties.

The Girls more or less just hung out at the top of the hill and threw snowballs at everyone else! It was pretty funny. They went down a few times on the tubes and did a few trains.

I got some nice ice burn on my side after I went down on my snowboard. I also almost ended up in Rt. 17 after going down the hill with Gary, Caylie and Babbs (I think, correct me if I’m wrong)! Ok I exaggerated a little. But we went really far! Babbs (David Babcock) was completely soaked from head to toe by the end of the day, and I don’t think anyone was really that dry. It was hilarious! So we are done with snow parties for the year, obviously because there is no snow left on the hills! But we have plenty of other things to do so we will be far from bored!

Our next activity is going to be a game day on the 19^th or 20^th depending on what will work best for everyone. We will be doing some competitions with Halo 3 and Madden and Super Smash Bro’s and fooseball and ping pong too. We will have some other group games that will for sure be pretty cool. Of course we will be having good food and soda all night. And of course a whole lot of craziness will be going down as well!

Stay tuned for updates on activies and recaps of events!

Lets try this again.

So we tried doing this blog thing last year and it more or less didn't work. So what I'm going to try to do is to work on it again, and post elsewhere that it is up! Soooooo....here....we....go.

So this is what wikipedia says a bog is:

A blog (a contraction of the term "web log")is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

So this is what has been going on in the Sherman Bible Chapel youth group we affectionatly call the EDGE. This last weekend we had a snow party! It was a lot of fun. We had about 20 people and we tubed and sledded and snowboarded from 1-3. Tanner and I made a jump for the snowboards and gary and tanner and I were pulling some sick tricks! Ok, not exactly, but we did have a lot of fun.

Cheyenne, Jen, Megan, Katie, and Cassandra made what they called a bathtub out of snow. Hmmmm, not sure how warm that bath would be! Haha. They were carting snow in in the form of snowballs to make it up. It was pretty funny to watch.

David S., Dane, Babsi(not sure if thats how its spelled), Gary, Will, and Rick were all trying to get a snowball big enough to roll down the hill and keep it together!! Their goal was to get it going enough to roll into Highway 17!!! Needless to say it didn't make it. Once they realized that it was never going to happen they decided to make a massive snowman. Soooo, there sits “Frosty” waving to pilgrims of Rt. 17. So make sure oh “reader of blog” that you wave back when you see him!

After we were all snowed out, we all went back to the Sextons house and had some hotdogs, chips, hot chocolate, and cookies(that were the BOMB!) and hung out watching the Olympics. (USA!!! USA!!!)

I personally can’t wait till our next snow party which is happening the 6^th of March. Be there or be square! Seacrest out!!! (Jk, my name is Andrew)