YAvillage.com

So we’ve all seen a few too many of those drug commercials w/ the voice-overs listing all the side effects…’side effects may include sore throat, stuffy nose, headaches, bloating, nervousness, sudden urges…’

But what are the side effects of a life lived for Jesus?

Jesus gave his followers a few instructions…

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. LK.9.1/2

…but what does that mean for us today?

Theologian Greg Boyd teaches at Woodland Hills. His recent message entitled The New Way of The New Israel tells how to ‘live like Jesus, look like Jesus, talk like Jesus, think like Jesus, serve like Jesus, and bleed like Jesus.’

Listen to Greg’s message

What are the side effects of your life?
Are they serious?
Are they rare?

Recommended Sites
YAvillage Links // Charity
Off-Road Disciplines

Evan Baxter, in Evan Almighty, asks God to help him change the world. His wife prays for the family to become closer. Evan wants to make a good impression at his new job, but God has him build an ark. Through building an ark, Evan is humiliated on national television, almost loses his job, and his family leaves him; not exactly how Evan expected his prayers to be answered. But there’s a scene where God explains the situation to Evan’s wife…

‘Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does He give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does He give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does He give them opportunities to love each other?’

God uses the process of building the ark to bring the family together. And via the ark Evan does change the world.

Benaiah, a soldier in ancient Israel, chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed it. This act of courage propelled Benaiah from bodyguard to commander-in-chief of Israel’s Army. In his book about Benaiah, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark Batterson draws the conclusion that God sometimes delivers answers to prayers in, what looks like to us as, over-sized problems. He writes in Chapter 7 that Benaiah probably prayed really big prayers.

Comfortable prayers - ‘God, thanks for this meal. Please protect me from harm. Help me do a good job at work. Keep everything going well at home.’ - will lead to a life of blandness. The challenge is to pray crazy prayers. Ask to change the world, pray for courage, pray for opportunities …

Ask God to put you in a pit with a lion on a snowy day!

Recommended Sites
Chase The Lion
Evan Almighty
The Barbarian Way

We’re currently in the middle of a heat wave here. Yeah, it’s so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. But if you think it’s hot here, watch Hell No!, the opener to the Illuminate series at NewSpring.

Recommended Sites:
Perry Noble
Frying Egg on Sidewalk
TNIV.info // Keyword // Hell

Three dreadful words heard this time every year. Remember the effects those words had on you as a school age child? What are you best/worst memories of going back-to-school?

Are you headed to college this semester?

Are you a teacher looking forward to a new class of students?

Share thoughts, experiences, prayers for B2S07 by leaving a comment.

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Chi Alpha