January 14, 2008 Announcements and Questions

WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS
THIS WEEK
WEDNESDAY
$60 for Junior High Retreat Money is due
THURSDAY
Dinner @ the T’s and The Following- 6-8:00pm
Isaac will be leading 1 Timothy 6 Observation and Interpretation Discussion
NEXT WEEK
MONDAY
Catalyst Ski Trip to Dubuque.
Meet at church @ 8:00am, return by 8:00pm
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
Junior High Retreat
Meet at church to leave by 5:30pm (eat before you come), return by 12:30pm on Sunday.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
This week, as we continue our study of John, we will be focusing on John 15:1-10. In this section, Jesus is using an allegory to teach that His disciples/followers are to bear fruit by remaining in Him, thus bringing glory to the Father.
In a culture bent on production, Jesus speaks into our lives that true and abundant production comes ONLY to those remaining, living, and abiding in Jesus Christ. We will be discussion why so many teenagers in America seem to do all the work of church (Sundays, Wednesdays, etc) and yet don't seem to be producing the kind of fruit we see Jesus here talking/demanding.

We will be discussing ways for the teens to remain in Christ (Heart- care about one's purpose; Head- know one's role (as branch and not as vine); Hand- Commit to your focus of remaining in Him).

The take home will be:
Head- God loves you and wants to produce HUGE fruit in your life.
Heart- God desires you be content in Him with a desire to produce fruit.
Hand- God will take care of the production, you have to make the committment and carry out your responsibility of remaining for abundant fruit to be produces.

Questions you may want to ask your child after Catalyst:
1- What is the most important thing you took from tonight's teaching?
2- What are some ways you can make a greater priority of "remaining" in Him in your daily life?
3- What are some things that get in the way of you remaining in Christ? How can your mother and I help you to deal with those things to strengthen your "remaining?"
4- What fruits do you see already growing in your life that bring God glory?
5- What is one thing we can pray about right now?

God is good, all the time. I hope this serves as a useful tool in connecting faith at church with faith at home.

In Him,
isaac t