CCC Gainesville | Blog
Acts 19:23-
Theme: The Road to following Jesus is not always easy.
Being an athlete is not easy, in fact its very difficult. If you were to read a news article about any Olympic athlete you would see their achievements and their obstacles. The article will talk about their recoveries from injuries, the mental anguish they may have gone through, the hardship of being away from their family,maybe financial obstacles, and the ways they have overcome hardships in their event.
Have you ever experienced an obstacles? All competitions, all sports have different obstacles that we might go through. Examine a few biblical passages about obstacles we will go through in life. What do these verses say about the obstacles we face?
Hebrews 12:1____________________________________________________________
Romans 8:18-21__________________________________________________________
Genesis 3:17-19.__________________________________________________________
We live in a world where people daily face obstacles. Maybe because of a sin we get entangled in or sometimes because we live in a broken world. Paul also faced obstacles while on the road to following Jesus:
Acts 14:19_____________________________________________________________
2 Cor. 11:22-12:10_______________________________________________________
Romans 7:15-25________________________________________________________
When you think about your road to following Jesus what might be some obstacles you have faced? What has made your road to following Jesus not easy?
Paul is going to learn how God is going to provide for him when the race gets difficult and obstacles get in the way.
To make things look like London–for next week’s VBS. Register today
Amy Reinke was at UF and Christ Community from 2007-2011. You can join her email list simply by requesting at amykreinke AT gmail DOT com. She wrote to us this week as she prepares to travel again to Reynosa, Mexico:
I have been drawn to Mexico ever since I visited on a short term trip about four years ago. The ministry is called Isaiah 55 (http://www.isaiah55.org/) and is located in Reynosa, Mexico. I would encourage you to watch the promotional video on the front page to get a better understanding of the ministry. I55 is a grace-based mission that evangelizes the communities of Mexico through the education of the Deaf along with other side ministries. The missionaries in Reynosa have become a second family to me over the years and I am so excited to get to see them again. It was on a medical trip with this team that the Lord solidified my passion for nursing.I will be leaving this Saturday, July 14th and will be gone until the beginning of August. At this point, I am going this summer to simply be an extra set of hands. But flexibility is the name of the game. My days will vary but I will be doing something along the lines of construction, cooking, VBS, helping future missionaries move down, prayer walking, and spending time with the students and Mexican neighbors……God is so evidently at work in Reynosa, despite what you see on the news. Many of the student’s parents have come to Christ over the past year through discipleship groups and I can’t wait to tell you more about it once I get there. As John Piper has said time and time again- “The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.” And this is what I’m praying we will see one day in Reynosa.I would love for you to be praying for me while I’m gone and the ministry in general. Please be praying for travel safety, physical safety while I am in Reynosa, that I will be an encouragement to the missionaries, and a light for Christ during my time there.Thank you for walking alongside me over the years with my involvement in Reynosa, I am truly grateful for everyone who has prayed with me, prayed for me, and just been there for me in so many other ways. Each one of you has played a vital part and I can’t thank you enough. I will try to send out a few emails while I am there to update you on what God is doing in the crazy, but wonderful city of Reynosa!
There is something really amazing that happens during the Opening Ceremonies of each Olympics, seeing all the different nations participating walking into the arena, together. This year 193 Independent Countries and 11 territories will be sending athletes to compete in the games. That’s 204 nations from around the world, 204 different people groups who will be brought together for games.
Not all of the 204 nations like each other, and it is always possible that unlikely friendships will arise from two weeks of competing together, through life changing experiences. In fact this description can be found on the website of the International Olympic Committee “The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind, in a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”
On day one of our Olympics we are going to learn about a very unlikely friendship that develops in Acts 9:1-22. We will meet a man named Saul. Saul is a man who is setting out on a journey to Damascus with the purpose of persecuting anyone who clams to be a follower of Jesus. Like many of the athletes we will see traveling to London from the far corners of the planet, Saul is traveling very far from home. While the Olympic athletes are on a more peaceable journey, Saul is not. His mission is not one of games but one of stopping the growth of the Christan church. At least he thinks that’s his mission until God meets him on the road and changes his path to the road of following Jesus.
In our first lesson we are going to see God change Saul’s heart so completely that he is no longer racing to Damascus to catch the followers of Jesus but to join up with them in their race. God changes Saul so completely that he becomes a new person all together, and even changes his name to Paul.
Paul becomes a friend of Jesus!
Family Discussion
Have you ever known someone who you didn’t think you could be friends with? Why did you think that?
Talk together about friends who have changed your life and helped you on your road to following Jesus.
What are ways that God has re-routed you, and put you back on the road of following Jesus?
Global Partner Josh Dickenson update from Sunday’s prayer request –
——–
thanks so much for your prayers and for helping me to stay
connected to CCC! It’s always an encouragement to hear back and know that people are praying. The tribal issues seem to have calmed in the district and I’ve been able to coordinate some repairs through local technicians
until I can return. Still waiting on the truck…
Joshua Dickenson, Ph.D.
Water Resources, Development, and Quality Consultant
World Harvest Mission
Bundibugyo, Uganda
